Beneath the self-assured and serious faces we wear, every human life is full of longing, guesswork, and confusion—a scramble to do the best we can and make everything up as we go along. In these wide-ranging essays, Jon Mooallem chronicles the beauty of our blundering and the inescapability of our imperfections.

Lucia Roa needs a miracle to keep her fledgling event planning business from going under. When she gets word about the opportunity of a lifetime to do a Valentine's Day party for an elite club in Washington D.C. she jumps at the chance. It's not until afterward, that she learns the party isn't for just any club, it's for the premier private BDSM club, Wicked.

Listen to the uber-hot, fun-in-the-sun, coming-of-age book that started it all! Ronnie, now a college freshman, has been babysitting for the Baumgartners so long, she's practically a member of the family. When Mrs. Baumgartner - who insists on calling her Veronica - invites Ronnie along on their yearly vacation, the nanny jumps at the chance.

As a high-class call girl in New York, Kara's had her share of generous, and sometimes odd, clients. But she's never had one like this before. From buying out an entire night to showering her with gifts, he's set up a night far beyond anything she's experienced before. But who is this mysterious man, whose name she doesn't even know? And what does he want from her?

I wasn't in the market for a man. I definitely wasn't looking for a man like Clay Nichols, with a dirty mind and a mouth to match. But then he walked into my life one night, and he was everything I wanted. He's also exactly what I can't have. Because there's a price tag on my head. I'm a wanted woman, and I owe debts that were never mine. The dangerous men I owe have threatened to hurt anyone in my life if I don't pay up. So I work off my debts by playing cards in an underground poker ring. One so risky I shouldn't get involved with a soul.

Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few marines. When an airborne "zombie" plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia, and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.

Harper McFadden established herself as an investigative journalist by being both compassionate and fearless. After tragedy strikes her family, she moves to the shores of Lake Tahoe to find some peace. But when mysterious software mogul Jacob Latimer enters her life, her thoughts turn from her own healing to an insatiable desire to get closer to him. No one knows what secrets lurk in the past of Jacob Latimer. He built his corporation from nothing, but rumors abound about his mysterious rise to power. Harper is the last person he should let into his life.

Emma has crushed on her boss, Will, since her first day working at his bar. His boyfriend, Paul, is gorgeous too. Her dirty fantasies feature both Will and Paul. A ménage with the two hottest men she's ever met. However, she'd never have the nerve to act on her forbidden desires. All her inhibitions fade away when she accidentally walks in on the two men, but nothing prepares her for Paul's wicked invitation.

April Bancroft never thought she would find love, and she certainly didn't think it would be in the form of Mads Durkheim - her boss and one of the world's biggest media moguls. It's totally unlike her, but she can't resist his charm, his looks, or the heat of his body when they touch. A part of her hopes that a business trip to Los Angeles might turn their relationship into something more than strictly professional - but high in the Hollywood Hills, she's introduced to a world that she could never even dream of.

A new adult erotic romance that’s filled with second chances, kinky sex, and raw emotions of two damaged people finding each other and learning that life is worth taking a chance.

Harper McFadden established herself as an investigative journalist by being both compassionate and fearless. After tragedy strikes her family, she moves to the shores of Lake Tahoe to find some peace. But when mysterious software mogul Jacob Latimer enters her life, her thoughts turn from her own healing to an insatiable desire to get closer to him. No one knows what secrets lurk in the past of Jacob Latimer. He built his corporation from nothing, but rumors abound about his mysterious rise to power. Harper is the last person he should let into his life.

Anna Rossi lives by one simple rule: Don't get attached, don't get hurt. But Alec Flynn doesn’t play by the rules... Anna never takes on a massage client without screening him first, but the paycheck offered by billionaire Maxim Stein is too good to turn down. Stein is the richest man she's ever laid her hands on, and despite the risks, she trusts that she can take care of herself. After all, she's handled difficult clients in the past.

When Regina's friends insist on setting her up a "Fantasy Fix" to help her get over her cheating ex, she dreams up some kinky out-of-this-world encounters that they could never possibly bring to life. But the next thing Regina knows, her friends have got her laced into a shiny black corset, tight leather pants, and a sexy pair of stilettos. It's time for some downtown vampire-fantasy fun...

Tiernan de Haas doesn’t care about anything anymore. The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. And when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she? Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of 18. She's sent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado.

Gabriel Wolfe, the fallen dark angel and club president of the Hounds of Hell MC. His life has been infused with darkness and trauma since the day he was born, forcing more than just desensitization to violence and chaos. Forcing him to crave it to feel stable. Secure. Whole.

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1, edited by award-winning author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, delivers risky, romantic, heart-pounding thrills. Featuring a diverse range of characters, sexualities and scenarios, these 22 steamy stories revel in erotic adventure, from the sparks between strangers to the knowing caresses of longtime lovers. Women learn "The Ropes", get "Starstruck", and dine with "Two Doms for Dinner".

If you’re looking for your next sexy listen, Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Book 6 is sure to heat things up. These 20 adventure-themed stories will take you around the globe as you meet characters eager to indulge their sensual sides. From competing on a reality show and getting “Inked on My Skin” by an extremely sexy tattoo artist to exploring a “Cabinet of Curiosities”, these characters say "yes" to their most daring desires.

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 3 delivers the kind of sexy stories you want most: daring, bold, and surprising tales of women who pursue their boundless passions anywhere and everywhere....

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 7 features the hottest erotic stories by popular authors such as Lucy Eden, Adriana Herrera, Erin McLellan, Angelina M. Lopez, Holley Trent, Sara Taylor Woods, and many others, edited by the award-winning Rachel Kramer Bussel.

In Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5, award-winning editor Rachel Kramer Bussel takes listeners on an outrageous journey into the world of female fantasy and desire. These sexy stories offer up wild, hot, and steamy tales from today’s top authors. You’ll be swept away by the sexiest business deal ever, break the rules in a future world where skin-on-skin contact is forbidden, and discover the art of getting off by phone sex.

What do women really want? To be sensually seduced or pressed up against the wall for a quickie? To be tantalized by a peep show or the chance to join the mile high club? Acclaimed erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel knows: They want it all. They want to be worshiped, ordered around, sent blindly into ecstasy, and made hot in front of a mirror. They want strangers bearing ice cubes on a hot day and to be the party favor passed around among guests.

What would you give - or give up - to fulfill your most cherished sex fantasy? In this Cleis Press collection, erotica editor Rachel Kramer Bussel brings us femme fatales and shy women, women on a mission and women opening up to new worlds of discovery: women who know what they want and are not afraid to beg for it! Let yourself go with these 20 tantalizing tales of tortuous longing and release.

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 8 is ready to play! The characters who frolic in these twenty-one tales play at just about everything: music, sex games, LARPing, and more! Edited by the award-winning Rachel Kramer Bussel, these sexy stories feature everything from a daring historical tale of two lovers getting intimate in a crowded theater to forbidden love and lust to alien passion, all while exploring the realms of fetishes, BDSM, and the paranormal. So step right up and take your pick, because everyone's a winner when these characters play out their deepest sexual fantasies!

Award-winning editor Rachel Kramer Bussel is back with another action-packed volume of orgasm erotica where anything can happen! With stories by Ruby Barrett, Alexa J. Day, Ella Dawson, Jodie Griffin, Katrina Jackson, Meka James, and many newcomers to the genre, this sexy book delivers the heat with every moment!

What happens when you bring together 69 authors sharing their hottest orgasm stories? If you have top notch erotica editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, you get The Big Book of Orgasms! This climactic collection captures top erotica writers serving up steamy scenarios all focused on The Big O. Whether getting off from exhibitionism, voyeurism, or a very special pair of blue jeans, the characters in The Big Book of Orgasms explore all sorts of ways they can come.