Kirjahaku

Where were you in the summer of '69? Picketing, peacemaking, or falling under the spell of a magic man?The day Adele Robbins turns eighteen, she flees her mother's house to escape her lewd stepfather. She aspires to help people, but for now she simply needs a roof over her head. When she stumbles over a generous-and sexy as all get-out-hippie playing guitar on the street, she grabs at the chance for a temporary refuge.While replacing the family he lost to tragedy as a child, Jeremy Dobson also plans to make the world a better place. Recruiting new followers should be easy, but one headstrong woman threatens to upset all his plans.Unpeeling the layers of this unusual man makes Adele wonder if she's jumped from the frying pan straight into the fire. She refuses to be a doormat like her mother, but Jeremy's magnetism is a force not to be trifled with. When he beckons her to the edge to pursue their mission, will she follow?

When Pearl's sheltered life shatters in the 1930s when her mother dies, her only option is to move in with poor family relations and shuck oysters in the local plant on Oyster Island, Maryland. Determined to live a morally proper life, the last thing she wants is an affair with a white man, but Caleb, the plant owner, knows a pearl when he sees one. The successful widower is the "oyster king" of the island, but his intense desire for his forbidden new employee, a woman of color, threatens everything he's built. What begins as a private sexual liaison flowers into strong feelings that don't fit the social mores of the island. When their secret is discovered, they risk losing everything. They dared to pluck the pearl, but will their love be strong enough to keep it forever?

When Leroy gets promoted at the new oyster plant on Pearl Point, all he cares about is working hard. Then he meets flirtatious artist Rose, and soon nothing matters except getting her to the altar and into bed. He's healing from a recent loss, and isn't about to let her go too. Because Rose's strict, social-climbing father doesn't approve of dark-skinned Leroy, they court in secret. Although Leroy's raw passion can convince her to do almost anything, why can't he understand she needs freedom, not marriage? However, in the 1930s, freedom for any woman is hard to come by. In Leroy's arms, Rose finds unimaginable sensual pleasures, but she's torn by desire and duty. Her father wants her to be white; Leroy wants her to embrace her black heritage. Playing both sides of the fence leaves this young biracial beauty exposed in more ways than one.

After her husband leaves her for another woman, Sadie Johnson feels unattractive. Unable to face a dreary future of shucking oysters and living with her critical mother, she dreams of being a businesswoman. But in 1936, opportunities for women of color in Oyster Island are limited. An oysterman at heart, Henry Rockfield would rather sail than run the local branch of his brother's oyster company. He's not happy about belonging to the town Klan either, but he'll do anything to keep the peace and help his family. When sassy Sadie proves she can run the plant, he can't resist putting her secretly in charge so he can return to the sea. But when desire resurrects a tragic mistake from his past, he learns business and pleasure are a dangerous mix. When racial conflict hits home, forcing them to choose between love and duty, will Sadie surrender?

Despite the racial tensions brewing in Oyster Harbor in the 1930s, three interracial couples have found love. When a hurricane blows through, will hate finally be washed away or will it grow back stronger than ever? Jonathan Carter, filled with hate from a childhood incident, cares only about keeping the Klan strong on the island. Cali Waters, still grieving for her husband who died from a Klan attack, longs to use her healing gift instead of being the Carter family cook. When a hurricane threatens the hospital Jon started to build, an injury puts his life in her hands and a chance to heal more than his flesh. Jonathan's sister, Mary, is tired of the sheltered existence she's lived since being raped. When Jimmy Clark, a black oyster shucker, rescues her during the hurricane, she heals from his gentle love. But if her brother finds out, both relationships will be put to a test fiercer than any storm.

Desi Warner is ready to end her life after an accident disfigures her face and destroys her modeling career. Instead, she goes back in time to 1974 to meet her destiny-R&B superstar Bernie Benson. Although her scars vanish, she and Bernie only have one month before a car accident will supposedly claim their lives.The enigmatic singer ignites her senses, but her restored beauty is an illusion she can't trust. Abandoned by his mother in childhood, Bernie has his own trust issues. Obsessed with completing his album, he's just as hooked on his perfect singing career as Desi is to modeling.Although they open each other's eyes to different paths, change is not easy. When the fated day of the crash arrives, they must choose between life and perfection. A love that is deeper than perfect may be their only key to survival.

When three African-American women meet at a resort on the Jersey Shore in the 1920s, they say goodbye to their old lives. Finding men as intoxicating as bootleg liquor, they pin their futures on happily ever after. But love can be worse than a hangover when the men's flaws threaten to destroy them. Hannah knows it's time to replace her fianc who died in the war, but when Clive, a mysterious white stranger, propositions her to be his muse, can she give up her dream of marriage? Belle longs to ditch her latest meal ticket, but is Raoul, the rich African-European owner of an upscale hotel, out of her league? And while Edie struggles to face her upcoming arranged marriage, Drake, a rugged Hispanic-white fisherman, decides to stake his own claim on her. When opening their own hotel, The Three Dolls, pushes the women's relationships to the breaking point, who will be left standing?

Gavin Douglas joins a Scottish mission as a carpenter to escape painful memories of his wife's death from a back-alley abortion she tried to keep secret from him. The last thing he expects to find in Africa is instant attraction to a native.For the past year, Zenda has devoted her time to Claymore Missionary, secretly erasing everything taught to her tribe's children to prevent them from becoming whitewashed. Nothing else matters except claiming her tribal identity as a woman. But before her eagerly awaited rite of passage can take place, Gavin lays his own claim on her body, igniting desires she can't face losing.Gavin is horrified to learn of the physical transformation-and associated risks-she insists on undergoing. When he realizes his biggest loss may be yet to come, his only mission is to teach Zenda pleasure.Daughters of Africa African women who shaped the world and the men who love them