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I have a sick, nauseous feeling in my stomach as I pull into the parking lot. The drive seems to take much longer than it should. I cranked the punk rock CD in my car to distract me. Finally, I'm in view of familiar faces, which seem to calm my nerves as I get out of my car. I'm greeted by a couple of other drivers. They seem a little bewildered and in shock. We all walk in silence with our heads down towards the door to get in. Once we get close, we can see that there is a line waiting to get in. We wait patiently and quietly as the line starts to move toward the door.

Lucy storms into my life, her fire matching mine, and suddenly, my carefully constructed walls start crumbling. Her curses in the elevator made my heart race, but damn, it's the way she challenges me that's breaking through. She's the forbidden fruit, my new assistant in this high-stakes world, and yet, her presence feels essential. Her sharp wit, challenging stare, and undeniable allure deepens my desire for her. Every moment with her chips away at my defenses, and makes me want her even more. As a billionaire and ex-military man, I thrive on control and order. But Lucy’s presence is a ...

In Tokyo, there is a neighbourhood with the highest number of bookstores in the world. It is called Jinbocho where book lovers can browse to their heart's delight and where hunters of first editions or autographed copies prowl the bookcases. The Morisaki bookshop, a small family-run shop, is so packed with books that barely five people can fit inside. Books crowd the shelves and invade every corner of the floor; when a customer arrives, the owner, Satoru, immediately pops out from behind the counter.

When an ageing mother allows her 30-something daughter to move into her apartment, she wants for her what many mothers might say they want for their child: a steady income and, even better, a good husband with a good job with whom to start a family. But when Green turns up with her girlfriend, Lane, in tow, her mother is unprepared and unwilling to welcome Lane into her home. In fact, she can barely bring herself to be civil. Having centred her life on her husband and child, her daughter’s definition of family is not one she can accept.

Thomas, a young German musician, is dying. Leo, a renowned Italian writer and Thomas's boyfriend, finds it impossible to mourn his loss and condemns himself to wandering the Earth, in the hope of finding the dividing line between the living and the dead. He travels through a Europe where past and present overlap, roads intersect, years merge and faces emerge - and tries in vain to bring into focus the blurred lines of their relationship.

Situated in a rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat is a place where the extraordinary stories of ordinary residents unfold. Furnished with a coffee machine, a full bookshelf, and warm lighting, it is a haven from the world for many locals. And when a notebook is left behind there, it becomes a place that brings people together. One by one, customers start jotting down candid diary entries, opening their hearts and inviting acts of kindness from neighbours who were once just faces in the crowd. But there is a darker story behind the notebook...

Playing fake fiancée to a retired basketball star was not my plan. Especially when he’s off limits and my brother’s best friend. No thanks to fate, I’m seated next to Evan on a plane jinxed with bad turbulence. Instead of ignoring the man I’ve learned to hate because of his neglectful family ways, I'm faking an engagement to help win joint custody of his daughter. When Evan plants an unexpected kiss on me in front of his ex, something changes inside of me. The more I see him spend time with his daughter, the more I question my harsh judgements of him. That one stolen kiss ignites a...

Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists—he a photographer, she a dancer—trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.

I’ve planned a wedding for a Mafia bad boy, not knowing that I am the bride. It’s my dream gig, and I’ve planned everything to perfection. My client, Carlo, is best friends with my stepbrother and is an irresistible older alpha. Pure danger lurks under his tailored Italian suit and the chemistry between us is undeniable. On the final night of wedding preparations, I’m seduced in the ballroom of his mansion and he thrusts me into ecstasy - breaking my number one rule of never sleeping with clients. Each thrust has amplified my desire for him. Now, it’s the wedding day, and I’m ...

Tom is a photographer and dreamer, capturing snapshots of the city around him, talking to the people on the fringes of his world, always searching for something he knows is missing but can never quite grasp. He speaks to a beggar. He saves a woman from a gang on a darkened alley. He takes his photos...but only as he develops the negatives does he see the magical, hidden world he has brushed up against in all its beauty, and menace, and danger. And deep in those negatives is the clue he needs to continue his search.

Here is the preface to twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates - with unequaled grace and tenderness - the deepest feelings we have.

Johnny, aka Felix Jones, is Hollywood's go-to action star. About to film his first romantic comedy, he's looking to change his image and show he's more than just a six pack with pithy one-liners. But off screen, he’s got a reputation for other things too, and not all of them are good. Anne, aka Elizabeth Moore was, until a year ago, heiress to one of New York’s biggest business dynasties. Southern Texas is hot. And temperatures do nothing but rise when ‘Anne’ sits next to ‘Johnny’ at the bar. Add in a trip to the ER, a hairless cat, and a NASA movie set, and things get even spicier.

Beatrice Donovan would do anything for her identical twin sister. Including stepping into her hotel management job temporarily and pretending to be her - she’s desperate. What could go wrong? A lot apparently! Because her sister Delilah has hugely understated her role – the hotel is at risk of closure and she’s promised she can turn it around. Now Bea has to find a way to fly under the radar, get the job done before anyone notices their switch up. Sounds easy, all Bea has to do is avoid her temporary new boss Jonah. However, that’s a lot harder than she thought.

In the hood, a snitch is the worst thing a person can possibly be. Rolling over on your best friend, who has been with you through thick and thin, hungry and full, freedom and state bids - that’s “the cruelest lie told in silence”. While Jovan experiences the fruits of the hustle during his partner’s first stint, Bilal humbly does his time like a true soldier, taking a manslaughter charge for his one true friend. When these two are finally reunited on the streets, a chain of events lands them both behind bars facing multiple charges.

When I agreed to work for Dimitri Orlov, I knew I was entering an entirely different world—the dangerous realm of the Russian mafia. As the son of a Bratva boss, Dimitri’s life is thrown into danger and power plays, with enemies lurking in every shadow—and now I’m caught in the crossfire. Every day by his side pulls me deeper into his dark existence, and even though I should be terrified, I can’t resist the pull between us. Even when a wealthy stranger offers me an escape—enough money to pay off my father’s debt—I can’t imagine a night with anyone but Dimitri. His fiancée...

Daisy Hastings has always thought she was born in the wrong era. So when she bags a summer job at the Tower of London helping to run their Knight school, it feels like a step in the right direction. Theodore ‘Teddy’ Fairfax is a loose cannon. A disgraced distant relative of the royal family, he’s tall, dark and now (begrudgingly) helping with the Tower of London’s summer programme – and there’s nowhere he’d like to be less. When Teddy’s oath to be an obstruction almost gets Daisy fired, she declares war. But as the two cross swords, they start to discover they both need a little rescuing.

William Sydney Porter was born on 11th September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At age 3 his mother died from tuberculosis. From an early age it was clear Porter had a large appetite for reading as he absorbed the world around him. He was a member of several singing and dramatic groups when he met 17 year old Athol Estes, daughter of a wealthy Austin family. Despite her mother’s objection owing to Athol’s tuberculosis, they began courting and in July 1887, they eloped and soon married.

Thirty years later, something is wrong with Spence. The Great Man can’t concentrate; he falls asleep reading The New York Review of Books. With their daughter, Sarah, away at medical school, Pru must struggle on her own to care for him. One day, feeling especially isolated, Pru meets a man, and the possibility of new romance blooms. Meanwhile, Spence’s estranged son from his first marriage has come back into their lives. Arlo, a wealthy entrepreneur who invests in biotech, may be his father’s last, best hope.

Every morning, seventeen-year-old Maria Anís Rosario takes the subway an hour from her boisterous and close-knit family in Queens to her private high school on the Upper East Side, where she struggles to fit in as one of the only Latina students - until Rocky welcomes her into this new life. White, rebellious, and ignored by her wealthy parents, Rocky uses her money toward one goal: to get away with anything. To Maria, it’s a dazzling privilege.

Max is thirty, a published poet and grossly overpaid legal counsel for a tech company. She’s living her best life! Or is she? The debris of years of dysphoria and failed relationships rattle around in her head. When she tumbles down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party and wakes up in hospital alone, she decides to make some changes. First things first: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity. Enter Vincent, corporate lawyer and hobby baker. His trad friendship group may as well speak a different language to Max, and his Chinese parents never pictured their son dating a trans woman.