. . She looked at me like she could fall for me, fall in love with me, or maybe like she already had. She looked at me like she wanted to know everything I had to say, to peek inside my brain and tease out the parts I kept deliberately tucked away." — "Mother Knows Best" by Rachel Kramer BusselRomance is an experience that encompasses a panoply of emotions: euphoria, despair, exhilaration, the thrill of sexual awakening, the excitement of new beginnings, and the quiet contentment of the familiar. This collection of love stories features the best romance writers around, including Anna Meadows, Charlotte Dare, Miel Rose, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Rebecca S. Buck, Radclyffe and a dozen others. The juicy, seductive tales of Best Lesbian Romance 2011 capture the eroticism and lyricism of love, from the first blush of recognition to the forever embrace of shared hearts.

    After a full weekend of celebrating her birthday, she goes to work thinking it will be just another typical workday. That thought comes to a crashing halt when she flips the “Closed” sign to “Open” and finds an elderly mustachioed man standing at the door.Gordon LeVitt, Attorney at Law drops a bombshell that will flip Cassie’s life upside down. The man that she believed to be her father for the last thirty-three years is not really her father, and her recently deceased biological father Collin Masterson has named her as an heir in his Last Will and Testament. The catch: Her presence is required at the reading.Cassie heads to Masterson, West Virginia and has a blow-out that sends her car careening off the side of the road. With her heart racing in her chest, she is relieved when the most gorgeous creature she’s ever seen stops to help and then Cassie does something she has never done in her life—make mad passionate love with a complete stranger named Eelyn M. Carmichael who has agreed to drop Cassie off for her appointment.After Mr. LeVitt’s introductions, Cassie gets an even bigger shock when Eelyn comes strolling into the room and takes a seat next to Lenora, her father’s widow. Feeling sick to her stomach and thinking her world is crashing down, Cassie does the only thing she can—she runs with no intention of looking back. The one thing Cassie forgets is that things are seldom what they seem and Eelyn M. Carmichael has already made up her mind that Cassie Reynolds is not going to be the one who got away because some things that happen in the now, can and do last forever.

    Since there's never a shortage of casual playmates at the tropical resort where she works, most of the time she gets it, too. Welcome to Sanibel Island, Florida and Cancun...where each new day brings plenty of swimsuits, sandy beaches, wine, sailing and more women for Brandy to enjoy. When an all-lesbian tour group arrives for a week, Brandy is sure she'll be in paradise on earth. So used to having paramours fall at her pedicured feet, she isn't prepared for her encounter with Celina Griffin. Celina, a celebrity in the lesbian community as a humorist and writer, tells Brandy under no uncertain terms that she's not interested in a quickie with an addled sex kitten who can't get her thinking above her crotch. The encounter haunts Brandy for some time, changing the way she views her playmates as well as her thoughts about the future. When Brandy and Celina come face to face under different circumstances, will the encounter lead them to happiness...or just to a hot and steamy embrace sure to lead them both longing for more... Karin Kallmaker's first Bella After Dark novel is so hot... you may need sunglasses to read it...

    All her years of loving women have cost her more than life itself- her family. Without looking back after being kicked out of her parent's home when they discover her secret life in a shoe box of love letters, Sand unexpectedly receives a phone call from a family friend, bearing the tragic news that her mother has passed from breast cancer. At her family's request, she's asked to not attend the funeral. With so much agony already instilled, Sand just adds that to the collection, turning to her liquid pain killer to temporarily ease the hurt. Over the next few months, Rene's 'alone time' has allowed her a chance to evaluate her relationship with her lover, Sand, and forces her to question her own sexuality. Recycled through the foster system as early as four, Rene is one whose become accustomed to change. Even when she falls for a banker who just happens to be white, doesn't surprise her. But the day he proposes to her, does. As she struggles with ways to tell him she's currently involved with another woman, observing his gay-bashing behavior makes it difficult to do. While her heart says one thing her mind says another, leaving her confused and secretive all over again. As Sand and Rene face separate challenges, that is the least bit of their problems. The neighborhood's 'queen-pen' who everyone knows as Chyna, is not one to be played with. With her ears to the streets and her eyes on every dollar floating around Dallas, Texas, it's impossible for anything to get past her. So when she propositions Sand and Rene, it's no strange coincidence. Not when you have a motive of your own.

    She's a lesbian. In a moment of weakness, she gets caught in a love affair. Now, she must start all over as a divorced woman with little clue how to navigate the complex world of being single. Along this new path, she gets tangled up in a web of euphoric highs and lows that test her character, friendships, and future. As Hope struggles to preserve what's left of her integrity, what ensues is a dance between right and wrong and truth and forgiveness. This book beats a tantric rhythm as it explores romance, sexuality, women in love, bisexuality, and infidelity.

    It proves to be a steep learning curve, until her teacher Giselle implements some alternative educational methods.

    Three years later when offered a business opportunity she can't pass by, she decides it's finally time to return home—even though she’s far from sure of her welcome.Katherine Hunter took a different path in the face of loss, throwing herself into her work to fill the emptiness in her heart. She doesn't have the time to date, even if she wanted to. But then fate drops Devon on her doorstep—literally—and Kat begins to question if the life she has painstakingly rebuilt is really enough.Despite Devon and Kat’s powerful attraction, the past stands between them—preventing them from taking a chance on the future. Will what is growing between them be enough to convince them that from this moment on, anything is possible, even love?

    Tully Stephens wants only to survive her sophomore year. They soon realize how desperately they want each other, but that’s easier said than done.Tulley is a nineteen-year-old new initiate in the Gamma Alpha Epsilon sorority who has never loved a woman. Sue is the twenty-six-year-old resident adviser who jumps from bed to bed. Tulley is discovering her true self while Sue wants to discover more about the sexy young butch who’s invading her fantasies.A sorority house is never the ideal location for keeping a secret, especially when the secret is a blossoming affair. Can their love withstand the strain of the concealment? Will their time together always consist of stolen moments? Or will they complete their Initiation of Desire?

    Locke has lived over two centuries and works like a demon, both figuratively and literally. As the owner of a successful pharmaceutical company that specializes in blood research, she has changed the way she can live her life. Wanting for nothing, she has smartly compartmentalized her life so that when she needs to, she can pick up and start all over again, which happens every twenty years or so. Love is not an emotion A.J. spends much time on. Since losing the love of her life to the plague one hundred fifty years ago, she vowed to never travel down that road again. That isn't to say she doesn't have women when she wants them, she just wants them on her terms and that doesn't involve a long term commitment. A.J.'s cool veneer is peeled back when she sees the love of her life in a lesbian bar, in the same town, in the same day and time in which she lives. Is her mind playing tricks on her? If not, how did Clarissa survive the plague when she had made A.J. promise never to change her? Clarissa Graham is a university professor who has lived an obscure life teaching English literature. She has made it a point to stay off the radar and never become involved with anything that resembles her past life. Every once in a while Clarissa has an itch that needs to be scratched, so she finds an out of the way location to scratch it. She keeps her personal life separate from her professional one, and in doing so she is able to keep her secrets to herself. Suddenly, her life is turned upside down when someone tries to kill her. She finds herself in the middle of an assassination plot with no idea who wants her dead.

    Now, having made a breakthrough discovery at her biotech company, she finds her business a target for industrial espionage and a hostile takeover. She needs an expert to watch her back and spy on her enemies, which is how she finds herself in a bizarre nightclub trying to hire a woman with a flogger in one hand, a camera in the other, and a pair of corseted twins fondling her body.Penn Harte makes her living the way lots of former CIA agents do, selling her unusual skills to the highest bidder. Lately she's also been doing her best friend Lila a favor by helping out in Lila’s upscale fetish club. When Unity approaches Penn with an offer to work for her, Penn can’t believe her luck – she’s already been hired by Unity’s biggest enemy, who wants a blackmail tape. Penn figures she’ll have Unity, the perfect subject for seduction, on film in a compromising position within days. The problem is, Penn doesn’t know if she can see Unity as just another job.Power, passion, sex, and danger drive a high stakes plot in this gripping erotic romance.

    But when she comes face to face with her first lover, she is overcome by the rush of desire that threatens to ignite the dangerous flames of rekindled passion.

    Since childhood, she has idolized her favorite actress, Ursula Moore. She is stoked to find out that Ursula will be a guest at the Atlanta convention she’s attending with fellow fangirl friends Cree and Nia. When Temple’s girlfriend attempts to ruin her weekend, the only thing that can turn it around is meeting Ursula. To her surprise, more savory options than getting an autograph are presented. Temple has to decide if she is going to stay a devoted fan or cross the line and find out what it’s like to sleep with her favorite celebrity. Taryn’s and Nina’s lives unite in an intense and fiery connection through their one common link: Layne, the woman they both loved. Taryn, a reserved wife, is unaware of her own astounding beauty and lurking alter ego. Nina is Layne’s tempting mistress. With their damaged hearts, they challenge the unacceptable and cross boundaries into a disturbing affair that pushes the limits of erotic gratification and exploration. Their stormy battles are fought not only against one another, but also within. Secrets are exposed, hidden agendas are revealed, and the line to the forbidden is erased.Chloe has always had a crush on Kai, her mother’s best friend. She hoped that when she went away to college, her desire would go away, but when she returns home after losing her straight-out-of-college job, she finds that her attraction to Kai is stronger than ever. When she runs into Kai at a local fair, the sparks fly between the two women in a way that cannot be ignored. Chloe becomes determined to seduce Kai, vowing to have the older woman, no matter the cost.

    She dismisses her mother’s writings as fiction until the truth becomes undeniable and the conclusion inevitable.Evelyn Goodwin is dying. Her daughter Jessica Goodwin is sleeping beside her mother’s bed and wakes up in time to see a young woman standing over her mother’s bed before quickly disappearing.From her poverty-stricken College Years in 1971 to being the owner of an international Law firm in 1999, Evelyn through her diaries tells her extraordinary life story, which began when she met Talia Holmes, a strange French girl who showed up at her apartment door on a winter’s night offering to rent the apartment with Evelyn.With her endless supply of money and distaste for conventional thinking, Talia and Evelyn are at odds from the start before Evelyn slips into a thick blanket of depression and is saved from suicide by Talia.Becoming more and more curious about her roommate Talia reveals that she is a vampire and a relationship develops between them before a devastating terrorist attack leaves Evelyn critical in hospital and as Talia is forced to run and leave Evelyn to fend for herself.The Embrace brings a dying mother and her daughter together for the final time as Jessica reads Evelyn entries from Evelyn’s diaries as secrets, betrayal and love are laid bare against a background of poverty, illness and terrorism

    She spends the weekend in The Bay Area prior to a Monday morning job interview only to meet the dark and dangerous Katrina. Katrina is a domme and introduces Bethany to a world she's only imagined in her darkest fantasies. This novel is 61,000 words. This story features sex between two women, bondage, domination and submission.

    When a beautiful woman named Erato appears at her house and claims to be her muse, Kate isn’t certain whether Erato is mentally ill or truly her supernatural savior. Either way, when the incredible sex Erato offers leads to genuine inspiration, Kate isn’t inclined to refuse her unusual brand of help.When a little fantasy fulfillment with Erato inadvertently leads her to the shy and gorgeous Olive Johnson, unexpected feelings threaten to derail Kate’s motivation once again. Erato is just as determined to keep her writing on track as Kate is to explore her very real attraction to Olive—which leads to friction that threatens not only Kate’s ability to meet her deadline, but also her burgeoning romance with Olive.Caught between a contractual obligation and her heart, is there any way for Kate to have it all?