Sophia Chang is a badass of the music industry. As the daughter of Korean immigrants in predominantly white suburban Vancouver, she grew up shunning the “model minority” myth. Armed with a fierce sense of independence, she moved to New York City and infiltrated the world of hip-hop, yet remained mostly in the shadows of the artists she supported. With her debut memoir, Sophia Chang is finally ready to grab the mic for herself.

In suburban Indiana we meet Lina, the homemaker and mother of two whose marriage, after a decade, has lost its passion. Starved for affection, Lina battles daily panic attacks and, after reconnecting with an old flame through social media, embarks on an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming. In North Dakota we meet Maggie, the 17-year-old high school student who allegedly has a clandestine physical relationship with her handsome, married English teacher; the ensuing criminal trial will turn their quiet community upside down.

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Unlike their younger brother, André, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Former child star Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to his spiteful former lover, while Brick struggles to return to his uninspiring white-collar job after suffering the dual blows of a health emergency and a nasty breakup with the woman he still loves.

Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly 20 years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit.

These are just a few of the people who tell their stories in Modern Love, Revised and Updated, featuring dozens of the most memorable essays to run in The New York Times “Modern Love” column since its debut in 2004. Some of the stories are unconventional, while others hit close to home. Some reveal the way technology has changed dating forever; others explore the timeless struggles experienced by anyone who has ever searched for love.

In this tender, funny, and sharp companion to her acclaimed memoir-in-essays Amateur Hour, Kimberly Harrington explores and confronts marriage, divorce, and the ways love, loss, and longing shape a life.

Liara Roux is accustomed to being mislabeled and misunderstood. As a child, Liara’s inquisitive, instinctive, and rebellious nature was frequently problematized, in a world designed around the requirements of their neurotypical, cis, heterosexual male colleagues. Coming of age in an oppressively restrictive home, they shuffled tarot and explored self portraiture to rationalize the injustice of chronic pain, toxic lovers, and the cruel silence of divinity.

They were just a couple of tweets, but they propelled actress and Playboy playmate Carrie Stevens into the headlines, as stories swirled about sexual harassment in the movie industry and President Trump’s alleged affairs. Besieged by the media, Carrie was shocked and astounded at the frenzy these tweets aroused. It convinced her that she needed to write her memoir. Her attitude: If they think these stories are sensational, just wait until they hear about all of her life’s adventures.

When her 22-year-marriage suddenly ended, 47-year-old mother of three Laura expected life as she knew it to be over. From G-spots to bald spots, dirty talk to dating fiascos, Available is the unflinchingly honest, empowering and humorous true story of one woman’s love life after divorce.

I’ve been hiding nearly all my adult life to protect myself and my autistic daughter from the mob boss who wants me dead. For those reasons, I’ve sworn off relationships and vowed never to fall in love again. Suro Nakamura gives exactly zero f-words about my vows. I’ve become the dangerous hitman’s sole obsession, and he’ll stop at nothing to make me his. Is there any way for me to escape him…or resist him?

The Great Peace is a harrowing, heartbreaking coming-of-age story set in Hollywood, in which young teenage model-turned-actor Mena Suvari lost herself to sex, drugs, and bad, often abusive relationships even as blockbuster movies made her famous. It's about growing up in the '90s, with a soundtrack ranging from The Doors to Deee-Lite, fashion from denim to Day-Glo, and a woman dealing with the lasting psychological scars of abuse, yet knowing deep inside she desires so much more from life.

Pop culture is the Pandora’s box of our lives. Racism, wealth, poverty, beauty, inclusion, exclusion, and hope - all of these intractable and unavoidable features course through the media we consume. Examining pop culture’s impact on her life, Nichole Perkins takes listeners on a rollicking trip through the last 20 years of music, media, and the internet from the perspective of one Southern Black woman.

When Bozoma Saint John's husband, Peter, died of cancer, she made one big decision: to live life urgently. Bozoma was no stranger to adversity, having lost her college boyfriend to suicide, navigated an interracial marriage, grieved a child born prematurely—a process that led to her and Peter's separation—and coparented the daughter who she and Peter shared.

At Leah's 30th birthday party, she meets a woman whom she's convinced is paid to entertain her for the evening. But in the following days, she discovers that Ms. Margaret Sloan, one of the most cutthroat businesswomen in the world, thought Leah was the paid professional she hired while in Portland for the weekend.