Poetry with art, Love poems and loving during the pandemic

Foreplay Busy African American executive Jesmond LaVilliard, while in the park, accidentally collides with a kind, tall, handsome white stranger who offers to have her damaged camera repaired at his expense. She is initially unimpressed by his celebrity, but her friends are not and have questions as to how they met. Yet despite her seeming disinterest, his stunning good looks and charming manner are continually running through her head. Her camera is a total loss but not the young mans growing interest in Jesmond. Later that week, Jesmond receives a special package in her office. What are this stunning bachelor billionaires intentions toward the beautiful executive? Coitus No one wants to work with the handsome, arrogant, bullying white executive senior VP Kevin Daly, who screams at and demeans his staff on a regular basis. The increase in requests for transfer from his department has the top executives at Bannon Communications making a serious decision regarding Kevin Dalys future with the company. Enter Dr. Loren Clarke, African American female organizational communicator. Kevin Daly continually ignores her meetings and suggestions and refuses her help. Yet could there be a hidden humanity there? Then something serious and surprising occurs.

A raucous and surprising novel filled with wonderful details about wine, Rex Pickett's Sideways is also a thought-provoking and funny book about men, women, and human relationships. The basis for the 2004 comedy-drama road movie of the same name starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church. Sideways is the story of two friends-Miles and Jack-going away together for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young and single: pinot, putting, and prowling bars. In the week before Jack plans to marry, the pair heads out from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez wine country. For Jack, the tasting tour is Seven Days to D-Day, his final stretch of freedom. For Miles--who has divorced his wife, is facing an uncertain career and has lost his passion for living-the trip is a week long opportunity to evaluate his past, his future and himself.

New York Times–Bestselling Author: They’re reunited—and the spark is reignited . . . “I’m madly in love with the Kowalskis!” —Nalini Singh, author of the Guild Hunter series Liz Kowalski is heading home to Whitford, Maine—this time for good. Eager for time with her family, a fresh start, and some fun, she doesn’t count on being rescued by the chief of police her very first night back in town. Drew is everything she’s not looking for . . . so why is she still so attracted to him? After a brief, forbidden rendezvous at her brother’s wedding, Drew Miller expected Liz to return to New Mexico and stay there. He’s searching for someone to settle down with, not a casual fling with his best friend’s sister. But when they’re stuck together on the annual Kowalski camping trip, things start going a little sideways. Keeping their hands off each other proves just as impossible as keeping their secret from becoming public knowledge. Amid family, mud, and melted marshmallow, Liz and Drew try to fight what’s growing between them. But a little time alone, a lot of chemistry and too many opinions might be just what it takes to bring together two people so determined not to fall in love . . . Praise for the Kowalskis series “One of those stories that you don’t want to put down.” —Night Owl Reviews “Sexy, sassy and immensely satisfying.” —Fresh Fiction

A girl navigates the chaos of eighth grade while handling a family tragedy in this funny and honest novel by the author of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. Claire’s life is a joke . . . but she’s not laughing. While her friends seem to be leaping forward, she's dancing in the same place. The mean girls at school are living up to their mean name, and there’s a boy, Ryder, who’s just as bad, if not worse. And at home, nobody’s really listening to her—if anything, they seem to be more in on the joke than she is. Then into all of this (not-very-funny-to-Claire) comedy comes something intense and tragic—while her dad is talking to her at the kitchen table, he falls over with a medical emergency. Suddenly the joke has become very serious—and the only way Claire, her family, and her friends are going to get through it is if they can find a way to make it funny again. Praise for Falling Over Sideways “It’s a powerful and profound look at a family coping with unexpected change.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Authentic, funny, dramatic, fantastic.” —Kirkus Reviews “[Sonnenblick]does an exceedingly good job developing his adolescent characters . . . I would highly recommend this novel for any collection serving a middle school audience.” —School Library Journal

How can love be understood globally as a problematic transgression rather than the narrative of "happy endings" that Hollywood has offered? The contributors utilize varying methodologies of textual analysis, psychoanalytic models, and cultural critique and engage with a broad range of films to explore issues of gender identity and spectatorship.

For Elizabeth Hayworth, tiny Peak Town, Colorado is a far cry from her life in L.A., but working at her best friend’s cupcake shop makes her think things are pretty darn good. Until she’s forced to spend time with said best friend’s grumpy future brother-in-law. Dade Denning takes the hard work of running a horse ranch seriously. What he can’t take seriously is his future sister-in-law’s flighty best friend. Lizzy is everything he’s not—flirty, outgoing, and loud. The woman just rubs him the wrong way. So why does he fantasize about rubbing her the right way? When circumstances force the two together, sparks fly and passion ignites. But sometimes the wildest love can burn too bright and the consequences can leave a lasting impression.