This exasperatingly headstrong beauty refused to heed the best advice or accept the sternest orders, no matter what the consequences to her social position and physical safety. She was the despair of her distinguished if dull fiance, Lord Babcoke, who was shocked by her flouting of the conventions. She was a worry to her powerful grandfather, who warned her not to meddle in affairs of state and perilous international intrigue. And she was an irresistible challenge to handsome, mysterious Lord Dalven, a nobleman of many moods and masks, who had known only easy conquests on the fields of love-- until he met and tried to master -- Lady Pamela

    While she figures out what to do next, she heads back to Florida to live with her grandmother, Nan. But Katie quickly learns there’s a lot she doesn’t know about Nan—like the fact that in her youth Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Although most of the mermaids have since lost touch, Katie helps Nan search for her old friends on Facebook, sparking hopes for a reunion show. Katie is up for making some fabulous costumes, but first, she has to contend with her crippling fear of water. As Katie’s college love Luca, a documentary filmmaker, enters the fray, Katie struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety, and begins to realize just how much Bark’s fears are connected to her own, in this thoughtful, charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

    Calling on strength she never knew she possessed, Adele builds a new life for herself and becomes a stronger woman in the process. Now ready to move forward—she never expects love to waltz into her life when she least expects it. Stefano Indellicati feels an instant attraction to Adele and is determined to get to know her better. Something about her calls on his protective instincts, and he realizes he would do anything to call her his own. Willing to stand and fight for what he believes, Stefano will prove to Adele that he is the only man for her present and her future.

    Ty usually dates blonde hair blue eyed pseudo models, not curvy African Americans. Mecah had never dated a white guy before. They went from friends to friends with benefits. Is this a temporary relationship or a love of a lifetime? Is Ty ready to step aside and let Mecah find her forever guy or will he step up and claim her as his own?

    Schoolteacher, Eden Warner is fed up with politicians using school children for their staged press conferences. However, when she comes face to face with the politician of the hour, her anger suddenly dissipates as she finds herself physically attracted to the man. Mayoral candidate, Chase Mathews has always dreamed of one day being mayor. But in the midst of his first press conference, all he can think about is the beautiful teacher staring up at him, daring him to saying something different. So when Chase announces that he will be spending a week in her classroom, Eden can't believe what she is hearing, nor can she fathom her sudden excitement to the news. White, handsome, and privileged, she shouldn't be falling under his spell. And Chase shouldn't be thinking of crossing the color line with a political race to win. But when love calls, he'll risk it all in The Politics of Love.

    These perspectival, character-driven stories center on the margins and are deeply rooted in New Orleanian culture.In "Beg Borrow Steal," a boy relishes time spent helping his father find work after just coming home from prison; in "Ghetto University," a couple struggling financially turns to crime after hitting rock bottom; in "Before I Let You Go," a woman who's been in NOLA for generations fights to keep her home; in "Fast Hands, Fast Feet," an Army vet and a runaway teen find companionship while sleeping under a bridge; in "Mercury Forges," a flash fiction piece among several in the collection, a group of men hurriedly make their way to a home where an elderly gentleman lives, trying to reach him before the water from Hurricane Katrina does; and in the title story, a young man works the street corners of the French Quarter, trying to achieve a freedom not meant for him.These stories are intimate invitations to hear, witness, and imagine lives at once regional but largely universal, and undeniably New Orleanian.

     Lashawnda Price has lived years in the shadows of her friends and even her sister getting married and settling down before her. Everyone tells her that love will come soon but soon is just not quick enough. Lashawnda can’t seem to find luck in any aspect of her life as she is always falling, tripping or creating some type of havoc. That is until the day the self-proclaimed klutz has a freak accident and becomes transfixed by the gorgeous man with the beautiful green eyes named Sean. Settling in a new town, Sean Colcord is set to accomplish his own self-imposed journey. At six-foot-five-inches of all American sexiness, this handsome man does not fit the stereotype imposed on him. Sean is a geek with anxiety that has had his own mishaps in the love department. After a disaster occurs in the office, his eyes become mesmerized by Lashawnda. Overhearing one conversation has made Sean determined to prove that he is interested in more than a friendship. Over the Hedge, explores the lives of Lashawnda and Sean as they take a chance on finding love. Will they embrace the challenge and get the courage to explore the unimaginable with each other? Does unforeseen danger lie ahead? Part One of Over the Hedge will leave you on edge in anticipation of what happens next!

    This enormously entertaining yet serious novel tells a story of African-American women struggling against all odds to express what lies deepest in their hearts. Like Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, it ranges freely through time, fact, and fiction to weave an enthralling story about history and art and their place in the lives of three women. “My mother believed in the power of movies and the people in them to change a life, to change her life.” So explains Tamara, daughter of Angela, granddaughter of Mildred — the three women whose lives are portrayed in stunning detail in this ambitious novel spanning three generations of one family. Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1970 is not a place a smart black girl wants to linger. For Angela, twenty years old and beautiful, the stifling conformity is unbearable. She heads to Los Angeles just as blaxploitation movies are pouring money into the studios and lands a few bit parts before an unplanned pregnancy derails her plans for stardom. For Mildred, movies have always been a blessed diversion in a life marked by the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa race riots. But after Angela leaves Tulsa following a bitter fight, the distance between them grows into a breach that remains for years. It falls to Tamara, a budding documentarian — raised in LA by Angela as though they have no family, no history — to help mother and grandmother confront all that has been silenced and left unsaid in their lives.A bold, beautifully written, and deeply involving novel, Third Girl from the Left deftly examines the pull of the movies, the power of desire, and the bonds of family in a quintessentially American story.

     Falling pregnant after a drunken one night stand at college graduation, Vanessa had no real idea of who the father of her baby was. That was until several years later she saw a familiar face on her TV. The man's smile was the same one that charmed her that night and his cheeky voice made all the memories come flooding back. It was then that Vanessa came to realize who her child's father really was and from that point on, life would never be the same again.... If you are looking for a romance that is different from the norm then this is it. This is a love & pregnancy romance that will keep you reading right till the very end!

    A once-promising guitar prodigy, he’s been living without direction since abandoning his musical dreams. Now into his thirties, having retreated from every opportunity he’s had to level up, he has lost his family, his best friend, and his own self-respect.But Joe finds an unlikely path to redemption when he starts working as a carpenter for the bohemian conceptual artist October Danko. The job returns him to his hometown, loaded with bittersweet reminders of his former life, in the shadows of his beloved redwood trees. As Joe’s relationship with October develops, he yearns to take a daring step toward a bold future, but struggles to escape the craven decisions of his past.Sorrow is a stunning, moving novel that explores masculinity and suspended adolescence, all the while begging the questions: Can courage be learned? And is it ever too late to follow your heart?

    But when his assistant and secretary both quit rather than take another second of his abuse, he's paired with Alayna Jackson, a young black paralegal with "issues" of her own. When fire meets ice, the steam practically rises off the page as Alayna and Ben discover the pleasure of the business of loving each other.

    But he guards his own secrets closely, especially those surrounding his adoption by the powerful Wainwright family. Meeting attorney Aziza Fleming at a party, he's captivated by her ambition and sensual warmth. Although Aziza insists she's not looking for anything serious, their casual dates spill over into sultry, pleasure-filled nights.Aziza has been burned twice before—first by a bad marriage, then by a harassment case that nearly destroyed her career. Sophisticated and irresistibly sexy, Jordan could be everything she wants, if he proves to be the trustworthy man she needs. However, he'll have to choose—between keeping a decades-old secret, or embracing their newfound passion.

    He’s found love with the woman of his dreams and he’s learning how to control the strange psychic power within him. Well, maybe control is the wrong word, but at least he’s not running from it any longer. Sidney Fairchild is slowly putting the pieces of her shattered life back together. But what’s a girl supposed to do when she’s not certain who she is anymore? She’s found a love that she’s determined to hold on to, but figuring out her purpose is proving to be a bigger struggle.When a new case suddenly puts one of Isaac’s siblings in jeopardy, and long-buried family secrets come to light, Isaac and Sidney must work together to get to the truth. But will their efforts be enough, or will their broken family legacies destroy them all?

    They've been divorced for five. With a little more time on her hands, Dyanne realizes she still wants Jack. For sex at least. Jack just wants Dyanne. Let the games begin. But on whose terms?

    Years of trying destroyed her marriage and left Maya unwilling to give her heart to another man. Taylor Whitfield has a wish: to have a mother. The seven-year-old never knew her mother and longs for someone to love her and her father. Nic Whitfield also has a wish: to make his daughter happy. He knows that she desperately longs for a mother, but he doesn't want to put his heart on the line again. A chance encounter turns neighbours into friends, and friends into lovers. When love makes wishes on the verge of becoming true, will the trial of prejudice and past secrets create a family? Or will it destroy their hopes of happiness?