"By The Light Of My Father's Smile" presents a celebration of sexuality, its absolute usefulness in the accessing of one's mature spirituality, and the father's role in assuring joy or sorrow in this arena for his female children, " says Walker. "It examines the ways imposed religion almost always acts to inhibit and harden the hearts of those who would instinctively love, and presents the richness and coherence of an alternative culture's experience of sexuality as a celebration of life, " she adds.The story begins at an outpost in the remote Sierras in Mexico, where an African American family (two daughters and their partners) from the United States come to live for several years. The father, who narrates much of the novel from the grave, finds his fifteen-year-old daughter Magdalena, having sex with a local boy named Manuelito. He beats her in a scene witnessed by her sister, Susannah. While both daughters are wounded by the beating, it is Magdalena who remains scarred throughout her life by this incident. However, it is because of Manuelito and his tradition that reconciliation between father and daughters eventually happens. Manuelito is a Mundo, a deeply spiritual and wise tribe of mixed race, both Black and Indian. The Mundo are unimpressed by a world concerned primarily with exploitation and monetary gain. They treasure their relationship to the earth and ultimately teach the father, who believes his daughter's sexuality is evil, that in fact sexuality is a blessing. In the end, it is the Mundo way of life that leads the father back to his daughters.

In the Sixties, Athene Forster is the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she is also beautiful, spoilt and out of control. When she agrees to marry dashing young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme her parents breathe a sigh of relief. But within two years rumours have begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman. Thirty five years on, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her glamorous mother's legacy. At odds with her father and his second wife, struggling in a stalled marriage, she returns to the place of her birth to find that the ghost of her mother, in differing ways, still haunts them all. The only place she finds comfort is in her shop, The Peacock Emporium, a coffee shop-cum-curio store, decorated in her own image, which provides a haven for other misfits in the town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina. But the spectre of Athene and the shop itself combine to set in place a chain of tragic events, forcing Suzanna to confront the feelings she has disguised for so long - and her family, in their varying ways, finally to deal with the events of the past. And Suzanna discovers the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.

**In the steamy and suspenseful sequel to Sugar Daddy, a heartbreaking rift threatens to unravel a dangerous alliance... and a fragile new love.** After posing as an escort for the Sugar Bowl online dating service, Sela Halstead is looking for one thing: payback. She's closing in on the site's heartless founder, Jonathon Townsend, and she needs Beckett North, Townsend's business partner and her lover, by her side. She'd thought that their intimate nights together had forged an unbreakable bond, but after a shocking betrayal, Sela begins to doubt the brilliant bad boy. When push comes to shove, can she trust Beck to do the right thing? Now that he understands the truth, Beck will stop at nothing to secure the reckoning Sela deserves. But between his desire for her and his disgust for JT, Beck doesn't exactly have a lot of control over his emotional state. Left with no other choice, he must summon all his discipline to maintain JT's trust and pretend that they're still friends. But how far will Beck go to prove his loyalty to Sela? He nearly lost her once. To keep her, Beck might have to kill for her. **Note: Sugar Rush ends on a cliffhanger. Sela and Beck's story concludes in Sugar Free!**

There is an alternate cover edition for this ISBN13 here. Colie expects the worst when she's sent to spend the summer with her eccentric aunt Mira while her mother, queen of the television infomercial, tours Europe. Always an outcast -- first for being fat and then for being "easy" -- Colie has no friends at home and doesn't expect to find any in Colby, North Carolina. But then she lands a job at the Last Chance Cafe and meets fellow waitresses Morgan and Isabel, best friends with a loving yet volatile relationship. Wacky yet wise, Morgan and Isabel help Colie see herself in a new way and realize the potential that has been there all along.

Cosmos Raines is considered to be one of the most brilliant inventors in the world. A prodigy, he is a self-made billionaire who would rather be in his lab than jet-setting around the world. Things change when his latest experiment literally opens a Gateway into a whole new world. Now, not only has his best friend and her family moved to a new star system through the Gateway he has opened but he finds himself with a warehouse full of alien guests, including one very aggravating female that has turned him inside out. Terra ‘Tag Krell Manok has spent her life in the shadows of her three older brothers. Her home world of Baade is a male dominated world where females are few in numbers and protected to the point of captivity. Terra’s father is the high chancellor of the Prime and considered to be the fiercest warrior of their world next to her brothers. No one defies him and lives. Terra is surprised when her father suddenly sends her through the Gateway into hiding to protect her from a clan insisting that she be mated for political purposes. The last thing she expects to find there is her bond mate - in the form of a human male! Cosmos may not have been expecting to find the woman of his dreams on the other side of the Gateway he built but he knows one thing for sure - no one is going to take her away from him - not the clan who wants to use her nor her father who thinks all human males are worthless. When she is taken from him, he will use every bit of his intelligence and ingenuity to not only track her down but steal her back. He will prove that human males are just as much a warrior as a Prime one, especially when it involves the woman he loves.

He Longed for... Race Spencer's gunslinging days are far behind him. He is now a rugged, respectable rancher, but it's a solitary life. Then Fate leads Race to an earthbound angel—lost and alone' the sole survivor of an outlaw attack—and even his hardened heart is moved. He sweeps the ivory-skinned beauty into his arms and carries her away from danger. A Woman to Cherish When innocent Rebecca Morgan wakes up in a stranger's embrace, her life has been changed forever. Race's touch makes her blood sing and stirs up emotions in her she never knew existed. But this man has a fearsome reputation. And though her life may depend on him, can she trust him? Is it love she sees in her rescuer's dark eyes.? Race Spencer's gunslinging days are far behind him. He is now a respectable racher, but it's a solitary life. But then Fate lead Race to an earthbound angel—lost and alone, the sole survivor of an outlaw attack—and even his hardened heart is moved. He sweeps the ivory-skinned beauty into his arms and carries her away from danger. When innocent Rebecca Morgan wakes up in a stranger's embrace, she knows her life has been changed forever. Though Race's touch makes her blood sing and stirs up emotions in her she never kenw existed, she knows this man has a fearsome reputation. And though her life may depend on him, she doesn't know if she can trust him. Can it really be love she sees in her rescuer's dark eyes?

When Rose Jensen’s grandfather dies, he leaves her enough money to save her parents’ failing business and get her through UCLA. The only catch – she has to marry Lee Montenegro, the infuriating half-Spanish, all-playboy transfer. Rose and Lee’s grandfathers were fast friends, and betrothed their grandchildren to each other. Lee wants the money to run from his suffocating family, and turns his full burning charisma on Rose, but she won’t give in. She’ll never marry someone she doesn't love, and who doesn't love her. But memories of a mysterious boy in her childhood haunt her, and Lee insists they know each other. With her parent’s pressures mounting, her scholarship slipping, and Lee’s advances heating up with more than just money-lust, Rose is torn between doing the right thing for her family, and doing the right thing for her heart. **This story contains language and sexual scenes, some of which may be unsuitable for younger readers. **This is the first book in the ARRANGED series.

James Read is a wealthy entrepreneur but he's not so successful in love and it surprises him to think a loaf of bread and the relationship he wants might be found in the same place. He wants more than just the receipt from Hope, his favorite checkout chick at the local supermarket, but Hope seems to have other priorities. Or does she?A fun and frivolous short story for Valentine’s Day.

Lovely Zared Peregrine was the pride of her family, a treasure her rough-hewn brothers would strive at any cost to protect from their ancient enemies, the Howards. The Peregrines had suffered loss enough. Thus Zared's brothers trained her in the arts of war, and dressed her in boy's clothing. Beyond the castle walls, none knew that the youngest Peregrine was a girl.... Yet when the magnificent Knight Tearle Howard returned from a lengthy sojourn in France, it took him but one glance to discover that Zared was most definitely female, and beautiful. Now, as the enmity between their families raged on, Tearle would mount a bold campaign to win the ravishing spitfire's heart -- and save her from his brother's dark and deadly obsession!

Liv's words cut off as Finn got closer. The man approaching was nothing like the boy she'd known. The bulky football muscles had streamlined into a harder, leaner package and the look in his deep green eyes held no trace of boyish innocence. It's been twelve years since tragedy struck the senior class of Long Acre High School. Only a few students survived that fateful night—a group the media dubbed The Ones Who Got Away. Liv Arias thought she'd never return to Long Acre—until a documentary brings her and the other survivors back home. Suddenly her old flame, Finn Dorsey, is closer than ever, and their attraction is still white-hot. When a searing kiss reignites their passion, Liv realizes this rough-around-the-edges cop might be exactly what she needs...

Big-league pitcher Luke Winter needs a new security detail and specialist Katie Lyons is the best in the business. Going undercover as his girlfriend is a no-brainer: she's got to stay close. Unable to resist the hottie hurler, Katie launches into a torrid fling.When playing at being lovers becomes the real-- incredible, irresistible--thing, Katie finds that she's taking her eye off the ball. Posing as his girlfriend and being his true-to-life lover are two "very" different things--and losing focus could cost them both dearly....

Courtney Harte is certain her missing father is a alive, lost somewhere deep in Indian territory. But she needs a guide to lead her safely through this dangerous, unfamiliar country, someone as wild and unpredictable as the land itself. And that man is the gunslinger they call Chandos. Courtney fears this enigmatic loner whose dark secrets torture his soul, yet whose eyes, bluer than the frontier sky, enflame the innocent, determined lady with wanton desires. But on the treacherous path they have chosen they have no one to trust but each other--as shared perils to their lives and hearts unleash turbulent, unbridled, passions that only love can tame.

Remember the true meaning of the holidays with three touching novellas from best-selling author Lurlene McDaniel. In the opening novella, "Christmas Child," 15-year-old Melanie is just getting used to the idea of having a sister when she learns that the child will only live for a few hours.  But Melanie learns much about love during her sister's brief but poignant life.  In "The Last Dance," Brenda is faced with the difficult choice between good intentions and what she really wants when she becomes the last chance for happiness for a dying boy.  In "Kathy's Life," two 16-years-olds seem to have everything on the surface, but not everything is as perfect as it appears.

Recklessly loyal. That's how seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley has always thought of herself. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But lately she's grown resentful of everyone--including her needy best friend and her absent mom--taking her loyalty for granted. Then Arden stumbles upon a website called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, who gives voice to feelings that Arden has never known how to express. He seems to get her in a way that no one else does, and he hasn't even met her. Until Arden sets out on a road trip to find him. During one crazy night out in New York City filled with parties, dancing, and music--the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does--Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.

When Jassenah har Sulh arrives in the Wraeththu town of Jesith to train magically with the famous hienama Ysobi, he's unprepared for the effect this har will have on him. Ysobi opens Jassenah's mind to the potential that hara can reach for and in doing so, also opens his heart. Just as it seems Jassenah has achieved his heart's desire, a new student arrives, in the form of Gesaril, a damaged young creature with mysteries lurking in his past. The magic of both the unseen world and that of harish emotions conspire to destroy Jassenah's idyllic life, until he feels he's forced to stoop to equally cruel methods to salvage his happiness. But at what cost? The Hienama is a rich and deeply erotic tale of the Wraeththu, set in the magical land of Alba Sulh. This is not a story of great leaders who affect the destiny of all, but simply that of hara who live on the land and in the wake of human passing are trying to establish communities. They strive to cast off human limitations but sometimes this task proves difficult, especially when it involves matters of the heart, when all the dark anxieties and jealousy of their previous human condition can rise to torment them. This story is the first in a series of Wraeththu novellas planned by Storm Constantine, involving the hermaphrodite race who comes to replace humanity, first explored in her seminal trilogies: The Wraeththu Chronicles and The Wraeththu Histories.