After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died - a puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years later, 29-year-old Julie is far too young to have given up on love. She may be ready to risk caring for someone again. But who?

Jennifer Chaise is proud of her life. Coming from nothing, she's used her beauty to her advantage and is swept up in a glamorous world of wealth and privilege as the mistress of a high-flying businessman. But when she walks in on a violent scene in their Las Vegas hotel room, Jennifer knows she can no longer ignore the truth about her boyfriend, and she flees. Desperate to escape the men searching for her, she invents a whole new persona - with a new look and a new name - as she hides out in a small Nevada town.

For twenty-nine-year-old Lola Watson, life is finally looking up: she has fabulous friends, is working her dream job at a popular magazine, and has just inherited a beautiful house from her late aunt. Sure, her love life isn’t in great shape, but she’s got time, right? And so what if her new neighbors are a little too friendly (i.e., incredibly nosy)?

Who says you can't go home again? Amy's fast paced New York City life is interrupted by her mother's illness. She returns home to Fenton, Missouri after many years to find her childhood home on fire and her aging mother in need of long-term care. It's more than she can handle, but with the help of her new found friends, she finds a life -- and love -- she wasn't expecting.

Ellen and Andy's first year of marriage doesn't just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she's living is the one she's meant to live.

The beloved #1 Essence best-selling authors of Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made now deliver a novel in which you'll meet their most unforgettable characters yet. Carmen, Jewel, and Regina could not be more different. When they meet as freshmen at Columbia University, they're pretty confident that a friendship among them isn't in the cards.

When Jessica Harris flies home to Australia to sort out her late brother's estate, the last thing she wants to face is his altruistic investment - an eatery on the rural Bellarine Peninsula. The injured British/Indian elite cyclist just wants to settle up, move on, get rehab, and certainly not have to deal with the restaurant's beautiful owner and artisan foodie, Lillian McAllister, or her sweet, four-year-old daughter. In order to win, Jessica's disciplined life is dedicated to controlling her emotions, and she isn't sure she'd survive letting her walls down now.

Ben thought coming out was his best chance of finding love. Once everyone in his high school learned the truth, he ended up lonelier than before. After a not-so-accidental collision with Tim, an attractive athlete and artist, Ben is convinced that he’s met his soulmate. Their budding romance is soon tested by spreading rumors, the danger increasing along with their passion for each other.

I’ve been listening to my father sing for my whole life. I carry him in my pocket on my MP3 player. It’s just that we’ve never met face to face. My mother would never tell me how I came to be, or why my rock star father and I have never met. I thought it was her only secret. I was wrong. When she dies, he finally appears. Suddenly I have a first-class ticket into my father’s exclusive world. A world I don’t want any part of - not at this cost. Only three things keep me going: my a cappella singing group, a swoony blue-eyed boy named Jake, and the burning questions in my soul.

Evan had a hit single, but that was 10 years ago. Thirty-one now, hes drifting, playing in a local band and teaching middle-aged men to coax music from an electric guitar. Now, 14 years later, he experiences unplanned parenthood when he undertakes to raise the resentful teenage son hes never known. Off beat and disarming, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets portrays a contemporary American family with unfailing honesty.

Maggie Baxter, a practical, rule-following accountant, discovers that her husband of 17 years is cheating on her. All her meticulous life plans are crushed. When he leaves her for the other woman, Maggie and her the-world-is-my-smorgasbord chocolate lab, Kona, are left to put their lives back together. As Maggie begins to develop a Plan B for her life, she decides to be more like Kona. No, she's not going to sniff crotches and eat everything that isn't nailed down; rather she'll try to approach life with more ball-chasing abandon.

Eva Perino is single and proud of it. So proud, in fact, that she regularly boasts about it in her blog, Why I Love Singlehood. But upon learning of her ex-boyfriend’s engagement, Eva discovers her foundation is weaker than her façade. So begins a clumsy (and occasionally uproarious) search for love as she secretly joins an online dating site, tries her hand at speed dating, and gets involved with one of the regulars at her coffee shop, The Grounds.

Edsel Bronfman works as a junior executive shipping clerk for an importer of Korean flatware. He lives in a seedy neighborhood and spends his free time with his spirited mother. Things happen to other people, and Bronfman knows it. Until, that is, he gets a call from operator 61217 telling him that he's won a free weekend at a beachfront condo in Destin, Florida. But there's a catch: The offer is intended for a couple, and Bronfman has only 79 days to find someone to take with him.