A tragic beginning to life led Jah and Shauka Disciple to homelessness and poverty at such a young age that they grew into men before their time. Yet, they turned their hunger, abandonment, and suffering into diamonds, mansions, and power. The natural hustler instinct they’d inherited from their father was their driving force. Yet, this story starts when Messiah turns 18 and is finally freed from his adoptive parents. Reluctantly, he leaves his twin sister behind as he, Jah, and Shauka run the streets and break yearning hearts along the way.

Morgan and Messiah share many things. Love, hate, lust, trauma, and children. They are bonded forever by the gift of parenthood, but Morgan's attachment to Messiah comes with immense pain. After the discovery of Messiah's condition, Morgan's conflict is intensified. She knows how healing the M&M bubble can be, but she also knows that Messiah has the ability to ruin her. Will Morgan finally take her second chance with her first love? Or will she make the hardest decision of all and let go of the past?

With a unique style, Noire tantalizes readers with erotic tales and wildly entertaining urban dramas. Featuring one of her most unforgettable characters, Natural Born Liar follows the escapades of Mink LaRue - straight out of Harlem and looking to take a big step up in life. Mink’s got a taste for fine living, and when her resemblance to a missing oil heiress gives her an opportunity to take up residence in a 20-room mansion, you better believe she’s going to jump at the chance.

Essence best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and Noire have attracted huge audiences for their sexy, anything-goes fiction. Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless features a novella from each author. Swinson’s electric “Shamelessly Rich” showcases a spoiled bad girl facing a life-changing choice. And in Noire’s “Puttin’ Shame in the Game,” three gorgeous ladies set their sights on a wealthy cop.

All Zarinah wanted was to fall in love. Growing up, she had kissed her fair share of frogs. When an unconventional situation leads her to Lawson, her wishes might become reality. Lawson is the new CEO of his family's hotel casino chain. He's tired of aimless dating and women just wanting his money. When he meets Zarinah, he instantly feels like she's the one.

Celeste Styles is starting over. After losing her cherished salon in a suspicious fire, she has finally left her adulterous relationship and her drama-filled life in Brooklyn for the peace and tranquility of Atlanta, Georgia. But when Rah-Lo heads down south after deciding to leave his wife Asia, Celeste is floored and isn't quite sure if she wants to rekindle their affair.

Law grew up in the trenches. Hustling since the age of 12, his focus was making life better for his mother and brother. Finding intimate love was never a priority because he didn’t have many examples of that around him. Instead, he was taught to focus on getting money, not finding the one. Yet upon seeing her, Zuri pulled something out of Law that was foreign to him. Though he had been with his girlfriend, Whitney, for a long, exhausting decade, he had never experienced a woman taking his heart so mercilessly.

Playboy, wild, rapper Kazier is always in the blogs for some kind of scandal. Never been the one to play by the rules, he loves to test his limits. What happens when one weekend in Vegas he pushes past those limits and wakes up next to a beautiful stranger? Ny'asia has had a rough past. Getting caught up with the wrong guy, her life was going downhill fast. All she wanted was to start over and leave the troubles from her ex in the past. What was supposed to be a weekend of fun in Vegas turned into something life-changing.

On a beautiful island in the Caribbean, a woman with a checkered past has retired from a life of crime. She is now raising her son, trying to spare him from the ills that her former life provided. However, in a blink of an eye it all changes. When a wealthy tourist gets entangled with her son, it forces Aries to show who she really is and her old connections are called.

For Maleek Jones, hockey is his wife. Everything and everyone else is his mistress, an aside. When unexpected responsibilities land in his lap, the balance of his world is disrupted, changing the way he sees everything.

She’s an angel. And she doesn’t mind dancing with a demon. That’s why I’d move mountains, dry seas, and hydrate the desert if it made her happy. She brought goodness to the world. It was only right that I made it hers, along with the two tiny beauties that shared her hazel eyes and perfect smile. For them, I’d do whatever. For them, I’d become whoever.

Jada left home at the age of sixteen, running from her own demons and the horrors of physical abuse inflicted by her mother’s boyfriend. She partied hard, and life seemed good when she was with Born, the neighborhood kingpin whose name was synonymous with money, power, and respect. But all his love couldn’t save her from a crack addiction. Jada goes from crack addict and prostitute to survivor and back again before she finds the strength to live for herself and come out on top.

Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.

England, 1959: Laurel Nicolson is 16 years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Charley sees dead people. That's right, she sees dead people. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Nineteen-year-old Candy Raye Montana dreams of becoming a hip-hop superstar, if only someone would discover her talents. And someone does. Mega music producer and king thug of Harlem Junius "Hurricane" Jackson cuts a deal and puts Candy on the stage. Suddenly she is a hot new artist on the notorious Homicide Hitz record label. Her career takes off and she blazes the charts, but it’s not long before Candy realizes that the man she thought was her knight is nothing more than a cold-blooded nightmare.

It's a hard knock life for Saucy Sarita Robinson, and the rules of the game are clear: Get yours or get had. When her father gets popped in an armed robbery and her mother turns to drugs, Saucy is left to scratch out a life for herself on the streets of Harlem, and this city-slick vixen refuses to become a victim. Young, hot, and hungry for the spotlight, Saucy uses her assets to get whatever she wants: 128th Street has its own rules, and she knows them well.

Lamont "Hood" Mason is a fearless 19-year-old gangsta who was born and raised in the projects of Brooklyn, New York. He was an abandoned child who roamed the city streets and fought hard for survival. The only thing constant in his young life was the safety of a Brownsville barbershop owned by a father figure called Fat Daddy. The barbershop is where Hood comes of age, but cutting hair isn't the only thing Fat Daddy has going on.

Andre "Thug-A-Licious" Williams escaped Harlem’s meanest streets thanks to his stellar hoop moves and explosive mic skills. Now he dominates the rap scene and the ladies, but no matter how many women he takes to his bed, only one has his heart: Carmiesha, his ride-or-die queen, who has stuck by him through thick and thin. But Thug also has a nightmarish history with someone else. Pimp Williams, his cousin and ex-partner in crime, is a cold-blooded killer who spreads havoc all over Harlem and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Nineteen-year-old Juicy Stanfield is the sexy young girlfriend of Granite "G" McKay, owner of Harlem’s notorious G-Spot Social Club and a vicious drug dealer. But the cash and the bling aren’t enough, and Juicy is burning up with unrequited sexual energy. To cheat on G would be a death sentence, so Juicy finds pleasure in secret ways. But as Juicy’s cravings grow, she realizes she’s a virtual prisoner, and as G begins to suspect her of playing him, he tightens the reins.

Zane’s erotic writing has captivated a legion of fans. Her previous short story collection not only became a best seller but also delivered fully on its promise—exploding the myth that men are more sexual in nature than women and that African American women are particularly inhibited. This second volume of Sex Chronicles is Zane’s hottest collection yet. Smart, witty, and extremely sexy, these stories are tailored to women—but perfect for lovers to share.

Dramatic, bold, and racy, Daddy Long Stroke uncovers the shocking and painful reality of some men's belief systems about women and sex. Cairo offers listeners a voyeuristic look into the mind of a womanizer who manipulates and seduces women by using what he's got - good looks, chiseled physique, charisma, and sexual prowess - to get what he wants without remorse or regret.

Essence best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and Noire have attracted huge audiences for their sexy, anything-goes fiction. Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless features a novella from each author. Swinson’s electric “Shamelessly Rich” showcases a spoiled bad girl facing a life-changing choice. And in Noire’s “Puttin’ Shame in the Game,” three gorgeous ladies set their sights on a wealthy cop.

Noire pens the intense tale of Eva Patterson, a tragic daughter of the ghetto who finds peril on the streets of New York. With an abusive mother and a heroin monkey on her back, Eva experiences a series of traumatizing events, forcing her to flee her Brooklyn tenement and seek refuge with her beloved cousin Fiyah in Harlem. But fate is not done wreaking havoc in Eva's life yet. Poised on the brink of progress, Eva meets King Brody, a vicious Harlem drug lord who runs Bricks, the hottest rap club in town.

Newly single and down on her luck Nicole is relieved when her best friend Mae Ruth invites her to stay with herself and her husband Buster until Nicole gets back on her feet. And how does her bestie reward her? By sleeping with her husband. But Nicole can't help it. Buster is sexy, aggressive, and incomparable when it comes to his BBC and his tongue. How can she say no when the man is beyond skilled with his pipe and a masterful licktrician? Can Nicole and Buster recklessly continue their forbidden affair when they're literally cheating behind her best friend's back? Or will Buster be ...