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.

In Kenya, when a young American man falls in love with the sophisticated daughter of an African chief, their marriage is strong. But tradition will soon put their union to the supreme test. Gripping and soulful, A Woman's Worth is a tale of cultural divisions, emotional wounds, and a love that struggles to transcend them.

In the hood, every day is about struggle and survival, and no one understands that daily grind more than 22-year-old Kaeyla “Goldie” Dennis. She’s been the “wifey” of an older, wealthy man since she was 15, but the discovery of their longtime affair by his real wife brings to a crushing end her hood-fabulous lifestyle in their low-rise project in Newark.

Naeema "Queen" Cole takes care of herself. From the death of her parents when she was just eleven years old to when she found herself pregnant and alone at sixteen, Naeema has had to make her own way in the world. She gave up her son for adoption and became an apprentice at a barber shop, making just enough money to pay the bills and get high. She tried being a wife, but ultimately found that she and Tank, now her ex-husband, are better friends and occasional lovers than partners.

A city full of lies, deceit, and cold-blooded murder, Detroit plays widow to drug cartel after drug cartel, and the Last Kings are the latest to take over the throne. It seems that nothing can crumble their empire, but when an unexpected series of events take place and blood is shed, everything spirals out of control. Can Sadie and Mocha survive the game as the head women in charge, or will disloyalty and treachery threaten to end them for good?

Malek Johnson's hustle is the basketball court, and he's the best Flint's projects has ever produced. He's on his way to the University of Michigan, but not for long, because all the NBA scouts say he's destined for the pros after a year or two of seasoning. Malek finds love in the super fine girl everyone calls Halleigh, and he promises her that he will take her out of the hood.

She was supposed to be mine forever. But the night our fathers were killed, Sydney decided this life wasn't for her. So she ran. She left me, and our club behind. I never expected to see her on my doorstep six years later. With our child. She looks different, but she's still as beautiful as ever. Those hips, her sultry smile, I can't get over her. But she didn't leave the life, and she's got a DEA agent on her tail.

In this hot and steamy mystery, Tennyson is an actor struggling to hang on to his career and redeem his sex-for-pay history, which estranged him from his family, especially his father, a decorated LAPD captain who raised Tennyson to call him "Sir". Now, in the wake of his father's sudden stroke, Tennyson has to save himself from taking the fall for a murder. In the process, he discovers his hidden talents - the hard way.

Nero is the king of Legacy Prep, living a life of power. Elle is the school's punching bag, living a life of fear.

In Scandals, Monica Houston is a newly divorced mom who makes ends meet as an exotic dancer at Scandalous, the hottest club around. But if the ex finds out, she runs the risk of losing her kids. Meanwhile, sexy dancer Robin Wright thinks she might be in over her head when her sister is sent to jail and her nephew is thrust into her care. Unprepared for this new role, Robin finds herself falling for the kid’s “big brother”, even as she tries to prove her sister’s innocence.

My name is Salvador Rosas. Back in the barrio, my past is written on the walls: ESHB. Short for East Side Hollenbeck, my father's gang - my gang. Hell, it's a family tradition, one that sent both my brothers away. They used to call me "Ghost" because I haunted people's dreams. Now I've got nothing going for me except a hipster gringo mentoring me in a new career. An ex-con making craft beer? No mames. Still, people in this neighborhood look out for one another.

Anything a man can do, I can do it better. I’ve lived by that credo my entire life, and with my dangerous "job", it’s always been true. I’m a rich man’s kryptonite; I can pretend to desire you and then execute a plan to take all you own. My brothers and I live a dangerous lifestyle. Then in walks muscles, murky green eyes, and a cocky smile. August needs a place to stay, and he’s saved my kid brother’s life. Now, he’s a god to my brothers. Can he really be trusted? I'll put a bullet to his head if he proves my intuition is right.

Dominic Valetti is only interested in two things: getting paid and getting laid. He's a bookie for the Valetti crime family, and he knows his shit. Dom's busy doing business, no time to dabble in social niceties. The women that chase after him wanting more than a dirty, hard f--k are only gonna get their hearts broken. That is, until Becca stumbles into his office to pay off her ex's debt. A hot brunette who's just as guarded as he is and has a body made for sin...and for him.

It was one freaking kiss with a stranger. I wasn't looking for a hero the day Brent Eden charged into my life. He saw a damsel in distress facing humiliation. We played pretend. Swore I was his. Baited sweet chaos. Blew apart everything. My dating disaster? Gone. Our kiss? Electric. Divine. Toe-curling. His mistake? Oh, boy. Dropping the ultimate F-bomb: fiancée. Especially when my gossipy cousin tells the whole family.

From over a thousand miles away, I watched on the screen of my phone as two men murdered my wife. And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories - until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine.

I don't take women to bed. I take them against the wall, hard and fast, and when I come I make sure they remember. They always do. I'm cocky as hell, I've got reason to be. I own Spades Royalle, the sexiest casino in Vegas. F - k, the sexiest casino in the country. I'm gonna keep building my empire all on my own - my ties with the mafia are in my past, buried with the bones of my family. I like my money clean and my women dirty. That is until I met Emmy Rose.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The day Lisara Compton caught her husband in a rather compromising position changed her life in a way neither she nor her sons ever saw coming. Realizing too late that divorcing him would cause a domino effect of turmoil, she is now forced into an uncomfortable life that she can't seem to stay afloat in. With her eldest son acting out and a nonexistent ex-husband, Lisara feels things can't get any worse. That's until her ex betrays her and their son in a way that leaves her in need like never before. It seems she just can't catch a break, until she meets him.

"Nine Lives" by Kiki Swinson: Wild-card Aiden. Dead-shot Ava. Killing nine targets in 10 days will be this brother-sister hit team's biggest score yet. But as Ava sets up their final target, she falls hard for him and a chance at a normal life. "The Crushed Ice Clique" by Noire: At first all ghetto princesses Honore and Cucci want is quick cash-flow. But after sexing jewelry distributor Slimy Sam and learning his illegal tricks of the trade, they assemble a crack team of thieves for one dazzling scam.

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.

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.

Once the streets pull you in, they own you. Or at least that's the way it's been for Nautica. Growing up in the hood, all she's ever known is the fast life - fast money illicitly made through scandals and relentless scheming. But when a big scam nearly finishes her off, she decides she wants more out of life than the hustle and tries to make a new life for herself on the East Coast.