Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything. It couldn’t save their marriage. Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

Raising four very different daughters on her own in rural Arkansas wasn't easy for Miss Pearly Bell. And she's always regretted that the sisters went their separate ways for good - and never wanted to see each other again. But when Pearly is stricken with a terminal illness, she summons them all home - determined to somehow help them get right with each other and forgive.... But that means dealing with past secrets and lies first.

Serena, Michelle, Kenya, and Lynette have been best friends since they were small children. And as sister friends forever, they have always been there for one another, through good times and bad, no matter what. This year is a crucial turning point for each woman. Serena, still single, is questioning why love hasn’t found her yet. Michelle is engaged and ready to walk down the aisle—until an old flame strolls back into her life. Kenya is happily married, but at the same time, her husband’s ex-wife won’t allow them or their family to live in peace.

For 17 years, Sheridan and Quentin seemed to have the perfect marriage. Now he is leaving her for another man. Her life shattered, Sheridan wonders how she can help their two children live through this crisis, while keeping her own emotional turmoil under control.

Essie Mae Richardson means the world to the residents of the Braxton Park subdivision. So when she dies, all the hard work she did to rebuild fraying relationships and bolster broken families begins coming undone. But there are some who won’t let her efforts go to waste, and they will fight to keep this angel’s legacy alive.

Sara Hawthorne is a dedicated attorney, a loyal wife, and the mother of two 19-year-old girls. When her husband succumbs to cancer, Sara has to battle the grief and also the addiction to which one of her daughters falls prey. Maximus Tempest, eager to get his estranged wife to sign the divorce papers, is frustrated when she is taken to the hospital after overdosing. When Sara and Max see each other after 20 years, old feelings spring to life.

Meet Blake and Jasmine. They have been friends since they were two years old. Nothing has ever been able to come between them, not even the difference in their skin color. Blake's young life is hit with opposition at the hands of his abusive father, Frank, at the mere age of nine. He still refuses to give up his friendship with Jasmine.

Growing up, Cassie Carter and her sisters, Karen and Nichole, were incredibly close - until one fateful event drove them apart. After high school, Cassie ran away from home to marry the wrong man, throwing away a college scholarship and breaking her parents' hearts. To make matters worse, Cassie had always been their father's favorite - a sentiment that weighed heavily on her sisters and made Cassie's actions even harder to bear.

Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother's warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life. Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie - a boy who has never known his father.

Daisy Parker is Jasper's lover and mother to Jay, his nine-year-old son. But when Jasper doesn't come home one too many nights, Daisy decides she's had enough. But Jasper hasn't been partying; he's been murdered. In shock, Daisy is further devastated to learn that Jasper was married and has left everything to his wife. Now without a home or a job, Daisy must figure out a way to support herself and Jay. And when a sexy ex-boyfriend resurfaces, Daisy's life becomes even more complicated.

With smoking hot hits like Lies Lovers Tell and What Love Tastes Like to her credit, Zuri Day has built a considerable fanbase for her scorching contemporary romances. When 40-year-old teacher Gwen Smith travels home to care for her sick mother, she meets a potential new mate who makes her head spin. A “black Fabio,” 26-year-old Ransom Blake knows his way around the bedroom—and he’s about to take Gwen back to school for some lust lessons.

When Miriam's fireman husband, Chauncey, dies while rescuing students from a school fire, Miriam feels like her life is over. How is she going to raise her three children all by herself? How will she survive without the love of her life? Luckily, Miriam's sister-friend Emily and Emily's husband, Jamal, are there to comfort her. But all the time that Miriam and Jamal spend together - grieving, sharing, and reminiscing - brings the two closer in ways they never planned...

Victoria Christopher Murray writes Essence best-selling novels of relationships, life's trials, and the faith that saves. In The Ex Files, four very different women see their lives fall apart. They react differently, but each struggles with how to pick up the pieces devastation left behind. After their pastor asks the four women to meet for weekly prayer, their lives take another unexpected turn.

After a devastating loss at work, he leaves for Newport where he meets his friend's new girlfriend, Caroline. Over that first weekend, Ted and Caroline fall in love. When they later act on their feelings, shock and disbelief ricochet through his tight-knit group of friends and family. A highly respected doctor, a beloved son and grandson, a loyal friend, Ted is stunned by his sudden free fall from grace.