"You didn't give me a chance to offer an explanation," he said quietly. "I need to make something clear to you."

I looked at him, unable to speak.

"The other day, I meant to say that I won't marry you because I have to, but because I want to." He reached out and took me into his arms. "Lillian Pharaohs, will you marry me?" he asked softly.

"Are you trying to mock me?" I scowled at him. "You haven't humiliated me enough?"

"If the choice was mine, it would be the same." He looked into my eyes. "And say yes, because you love me, not because you have to. Let it be our decision."

I stared at him, confused. Was he proposing to me?

He didn't wait for a response. Pressing his lips against mine, he kissed me ardently. His kiss was sensual, and when he released me, I looked at him, finally understanding what he meant to say. Had I not argued with my mother and father for the same reason? Did I not tell them I wouldn't marry him out of obligation?

"Lily," he called softly to me.

The sound of his voice seized my soul, and I suddenly wanted him to love me.

Fiction. Homegirl works in a cafe and doesn't know what she wants. Homegirl does live-living things like dating Punkboy and Richboy but doesn't know who she wants. A creepy creeper named Shadow knows he wants Homegirl. A Craig's List witch knows she wants Richboy. And the cafe bitches are always forever knowing they want the one you want cos that's just how they roll.... Homegirl don't care about any of them; she's out for love and vengeance and gots a Glock in her boot to prove it."Raucous, sexy and full of verve, HOMEGIRL will spank you and punch you in your teeth and leave you longing for more. This is a wildly entertaining book and Homegirl's is a hypnotic voice. Ryder Collins bravely digs into the dirt and muck of human relationships and unearths more than a few truths along the way; I will follow her wherever she wants to take me."--J. W. Wang

Jonathan Roberts comes from a long line of naval officers. He has been groomed since birth to serve his country honorably, and as a Navy SEAL, he does not disappoint. Driven to succeed, he is assigned to the CIA in Afghanistan, where he accomplishes more than anyone could imagine.

He assumes an Arab name and poses as a Saudi so he can infiltrate Taliban territory to gather intelligence. Over the next three years, he earns two Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, the Navy Cross, and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Even so, something is missing from his life. He has two affairs to fill the void: one with Sue Walker and another with Becky Simon.

Sue ends up getting married, but soon Jonathan hears Becky will be back in his life, working nearby. Is this a sign? Has he found a woman to love? Jonathan's destiny is unclear. He feels driven to serve his country, but he also dreams of being a husband and father. Is he destined to be with Becky, or is he destined to be married to his work, like so many Roberts men before him?

The Windy City Hart Series is a trilogy full of love, suspense and intrigue. Their love stories will make you laugh, make you cry...and yes, they will make you believe in LOVE. In What A Hart Wants, sexy R&B singer and rising movie star, Derek Hart is too busy traipsing around the globe to settle down. That is until he comes face-to-face with his newly hired, breathtakingly beautiful. personal assistant. After being unemployed for nearly a year, single mother, Kaliya Hunter is thrilled to land the job of a lifetime. Conflicted about her feelings for her boss, she is determined to keep their relationship strictly business. Will Derek be able to convince her to become his leading lady, or will their burning desire for one another turn into just another sad love song?

In Box Hill, a vivid coming-of-age novel, a young man suddenly wakes up to his gay self-on his eighteenth birthday, when he receives the best gift ever: love and sex. In the woodsy cruising grounds of Box Hill, chubby Colin literally stumbles over glamorous Ray-ten years older, leather-clad, cool, handsome, a biker, and a top. (Colin, if largely unformed, is nevertheless decidedly a bottom.) Colin narrates his love-conveying how mind-blowing being with Ray is-in comically humble-pie terms. "If there are leaders then there must be followers, and I had followership skills in plenty just waiting to be tapped. To this day I can't see a fat kid in shorts without wanting to rush over and give him what comfort I can. To tell him it won't always be like this." Mars-Jones uses Colin's naivete to give a fresh view of the world and of love. Before long, however, homophobia, class, family strife, and loss rear their ugly heads. Yet in the end, it seems Colin's modest view oddly takes in the widest horizon: he learns that "people can care about anything." A surprise and a pleasure, Box Hill is an intensely moving short novel.

Cherries Jubilee was created from an actual romantic rendezvous that took place on the Gulf coast of Texas. Years of laughing with girlfriends about the trials and tribulations of relationships with men were the inspiration of the novel. Personal experiences and her friends experiences such as trips, dates and Tricia's single years after 25 years of marriage, all played a part in every page of the book. Tricia's active imagination and personal spirit of adventure painted every page with life's journeys and encounters. Cherries Jubilee fulfills every woman's fantasy and dreams. The flights of imagining coupled with whimsy and desire flood every page. This is a novel to lose yourself in your wildest thoughts, imaginations and expectations. You won't be disappointed.

An amusing, inspiring novel about a disillusioned, middle-aged accountant who spends an eye-opening, empowering day with a quirky college girl named Kyla.

The Last Supper illustrates the definition of an Eat Greedy Girl. You will see that the definition applies to any mini, but how they apply it to themselves is totally different than each other. The Last Supper, illustrates four women with the same purpose going about it in different Eat Greedy Ways . Open this book and see which lady is the Eat Greediest to you, and by the way are you an Eat Greedy Girl?

The Mayan Calendar ends in December 2012. The world expects Armageddon, desolation, horror. The destruction is tempered by the cleansing of the air, water, earth. The One comes in an unexpected form, carrying within his body a virus that can correct the damage in human DNA. It is transmitted in only one shocking way. Those chosen to receive this Gift become younger, their diseases and infirmities gone. The powerful creature visits Moscow, Paris, New York, healing the rich for a great price. He makes his home on the deserted island of Aruba where he shares a special gift with Adam and his wife, one that will change their lives forever.

Dee's young life was filled with challenges she was unprepared to face, but she did all she could to protect her little sister, Karla. Their mother, Lucy, did what she had to do to make ends meet-including selling her body to pay for her various addictions. The battered survivor of a lifelong war with drugs, abuse, and worthless men, Lucy also struggled with crippling mental illness.

Living in those conditions, with a mother who could barely care for herself, the girls barely understood that things like stability, responsibility, or hope even existed. But on those days when their grandmother Norveline cared for them, the girls knew a little peace and a little love. Miraculously, on the day when it all seemed to be too much to handle, Lucy reached out for the help that would save her fragile life. With the support of her therapist, she fought to regain control of her life and her tattered family.

Now stable, Lucy dreams of building a new life with the help of Natalie, a new friend who is also fighting familiar demons. Their friendship quite naturally blossoms into something beautiful and healing. Together, the two women and their four daughters form a healthy new family, and Dee and Karla finally know stability at home.

Finally feeling safe enough to be herself, Dee-now known as Deanna-begins to explore her own curiositi es. What will her life hold, now that she is free to soar?

A scathingly funny, wildly erotic and fiercely imaginative story about food, sex and god from the Women's Prize longlisted author of The Pisces A STYLIST, INDEPENDENT, THE WEEK AND RED HIGHLIGHT FOR 2021 'Sexy and fun and a little weird ... This riot of carnal pleasure will make you laugh as well as gasp' The Times 'A revelation ... Melissa Broder has produced one of the strangest and sexiest novels of the new year ... Exhilarating' Entertainment Weekly 'A luscious, heartbreaking story of self-discovery through the relentless pursuit of desire. I couldn't get enough of this devastating and extremely sexy book' Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of control by way of obsessive food rituals. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Then Rachel meets Miriam, a young Orthodox Jewish woman intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam - by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family - and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey. Pairing superlative emotional insight with unabashed vivid fantasy, Melissa Broder tells a tale of appetites: of physical hunger, of sexual desire, of spiritual longing. Milk Fed is a tender and riotously funny meditation on love, certitude, and the question of what we are all being fed, from one of our major writers on the psyche - both sacred and profane.