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.

From New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Shanora Williams comes a forbidden romance about a college woman who helplessly falls for her best friend's father.

There’s a myth that floats around in my city. They say the president of the local biker gang is ruthless, heartless, and that once you cross him, you’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. There are whispers that he was once lost in a forest, and when he was found, he was surrounded by a pack of wolves that were protecting him. Many will tell you he’d never let his guard down for a woman, and that if he ever did, it would be bad for her. The one thing this city doesn’t know about me is that I’m not your average woman.

There are things that women want and things that women need. I know deep down, with every fiber in my body, that I need Mr. Ward. He started out as my landscape designer but became so much more. Now, my life is on the line while living with the devil himself. I have been torn down and broken, and I don’t think I can take anymore. The man I need was never the one I married. No, the man I need is the one I was never supposed to have. He’s the one who showed me gentleness, kindness, and true love. Ward would put up a fight for me at any cost.

The last thing any man wants to see is the woman of his dreams getting engaged to his brother. I thought I still had time to win Marlena back, but seeing the brother I despise lock his arm around her waist at his engagement party catches me completely off guard.

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?

The job offer she expected after taking an unpaid internship at a major shoe company didn’t come through. The friend who’d offered her a place to stay suddenly gave her 48 hours to vacate after a misunderstanding. And when she’s forced to move back to her hometown to live with her father and his mistress-turned-wife, it almost seems impossible for things to get any worse...until she runs into her former best friend, who’s only gotten fine with time.

Known playboy and award-winning R&B singer Wesley Johnson Jr. puts his dating rules to the side when he has a second chance encounter with the woman he can’t stop thinking about. Finding himself in unchartered territory, he realizes he can’t rely on his fame to earn the affection of this one special woman. Will his new ways be enough for her to let her guard down, or will someone from his past ruin their chances together?

Dr. Ezekiel Green is ready to make a fresh start in a new city after the divorce from his high school sweetheart. What was supposed to be a professional business dinner with a future colleague quickly transformed into a love at first sight encounter, or so he thought. Dr. Jemma Holiday was spirited, brilliant, beautiful, and another man’s wife.

I am done with men. I like my life the way it is. Calm, quiet, and very private. I may be a brash New Yorker, but I keep a tight circle, and I prefer it that way. Enter Colt Chastain, rising NBA star and magnetic single dad. He's set his sights on me and he's determined to change my mind. I told him he's the absolute last man I would ever be with. So, why does he think getting me into bed is a slam dunk?

I was supposed to be in charge. That was always my intention. Until that slick corporate raider, Ethan Bradford, clicked his fancy pen and poof! Just like that, I was under him, instead of on top. Rich and powerful men - especially arrogant, handsome ones - are all the same. I know exactly how to handle him, but when my father pulls rank and orders me to play nice, my plans of putting him in his place vanish. I know his type. I've been around men like him my entire life, but one chance meeting with him and his son, makes me question everything I thought I knew.

My new neighbor is a firefighter - and a scorching-hot single dad - but I swear I didn’t set off that smoke alarm on purpose. (And I was beyond mortified when he rushed in and saw me naked.) Nothing happened, of course - because I, Winnie MacAllister, romance junkie and owner of a constantly broken heart, have sworn off men for one solid year. Even protective men with chiseled jaws, bulging biceps, and deep brown eyes that make my breath come faster.

Wrong. Sinful. Taboo. I know I shouldn’t want him. I know I shouldn’t touch myself in the middle of the night as thoughts of him run through my mind. Thoughts of his kiss, his touch, his love. I’d spent years obsessing over the man I thought I couldn’t have. But as it turns out, he wants me too. And he wants me now.

Elias Omari exists in the darkness that clouds his mind. Cress Devereaux exists in the light that inspires her soul. Together, they create beautiful shades of gray. An arranged marriage forces two families to smooth the edges of their jagged past with the hopes of a new beginning. But can a union tainted with secrets and uncertainty promise an unbreakable alliance? The one thing that Elias and Cress share in common is family over everything, but should they continue to fight for family when that same family has never truly fought for them?

He is a spoiled playboy prince whose family is in desperate need of money. She’s an American heiress who can only get her inheritance through marriage. According to their families they are a perfect match. According to each other, arranged marriages have no place in modern times and this could not possibly work.

There’s a myth that floats around in my city. They say the president of the local biker gang is ruthless, heartless, and that once you cross him, you’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. There are whispers that he was once lost in a forest, and when he was found, he was surrounded by a pack of wolves that were protecting him. Many will tell you he’d never let his guard down for a woman, and that if he ever did, it would be bad for her. The one thing this city doesn’t know about me is that I’m not your average woman.

A brutal tragedy ended Ivy Hill’s happy family and childhood. Now in her 20s and severely troubled, she barely has a life - or much to live for. Until the day she discovers the name of the woman who destroyed her world: Lola Maxwell - the mega-wealthy socialite with a heart, Miami’s beloved “first lady” of charity. Accomplished, gorgeous, and oh-so-caring, Lola has the best of everything - and doesn’t deserve any of it. So it’s only right that Ivy take it all away....

After a divorce and a thousand-mile move, Dr. Sloan Copeland and her twin daughters are finally getting the hang of their life in Los Angeles. When their live-in nanny bails with no warning, Sloan is left scrambling to find a competent caretaker to wrangle her smart, sensitive girls. Nothing less will do. Enter Rafe Whitcomb. He's all of those things, not to mention good-natured and one heck of a whiz in the kitchen. It doesn't take long for the Copelands to invite Rafe into their home, and just as quickly, both Sloan and Rafe find themselves succumbing to a heady mutual attraction.

Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has.

The last thing any man wants to see is the woman of his dreams getting engaged to his brother. I thought I still had time to win Marlena back, but seeing the brother I despise lock his arm around her waist at his engagement party catches me completely off guard.

Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. She has the chance to make lasting change at OurCode—a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code—but a recent scandal puts its reputation at risk. Further complicating things, Pearl didn't expect the one man she never stopped thinking about to join as the newest member of her board of directors.

Plus-size beauty Ebony Drake has been poor all her life. Instead of wishing for her situation to change, she decides to change it. She moves away from her drug-addicted mother to start her life anew. The last thing on her mind is love until she meets the mysterious Rain Tanaka. Ebony doesn’t know what he sees in her, all she knows is that he scares her with the way he makes her feel.

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he's also helping her prove that she's far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she's never been happier to stand proudly by his side... Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail.

He's known as Father Anton to his teammates - the brooding, sexy captain of the NHL's Chicago Blaze has a reputation for...not having a reputation. Just like his diet and sleep routines, celibacy is part of Anton Petrov's on-ice mojo. Or so they say. Anton stays mum on the subject. If the world thinks he chooses to abstain from sex, so be it. Better that than the truth getting out: There is a woman he burns for, but he can never have her. She's his teammate's wife, after all.

Ever since Zara Porter and Cole Grant bumped into one another at their local coffee shop, they haven’t stopped thinking about each other. Zara is quiet, shy, and a bit of a klutz, while Cole is laid-back, charming, and wickedly handsome. Every time they cross paths, he wants her more than before, and she wants the same. The truth is, they could be together if it weren’t for one teensy, tiny problem - he’s her college English professor.

After an erotic one-week fling with a musician she meets in a bar, Thea Cunning never expects to see Levi Black again. Then Monday morning comes around, and she discovers that her former lover is not only her professor, but he's also one of the top criminal lawyers in the state of Massachusetts.

Instagram model, party girl Luna Star had closed herself off to love, content with her life as a local celebrity. She enjoys the fast life and didn't see herself slowing down, until meeting Bash one night at the club. What was supposed to be one night between Bash and Luna Star turns into more than what either of them were expecting.

Peaches Monroe and Jamie Hunt are core members of their Texas friend squad and have so much in common. They’re successful at their careers in personal care. They take Austin’s “Keep It Weird” vibe to heart, each leaning into their own unique talents and sense of style. And they’re both ready to go on to even bigger things. Is pushing past the boundaries of friendship into something deeper one of them? The red-hot fantasy is there…but so is real life.

Losing everything doesn't have to be the end. Sometimes, it's a chance to find something different.

Picking up where Essence best-selling author La Jill Hunt's Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda left off, Too Close for Comfort follows Paige Michaels and her no-nonsense friends as they search for love. Paige has finally broken loose from her no-good man, and she's loving the single life - until Quincy Westbrooke shows up.