At once heart-rending and eye-opening, this true-life memoir is a shocking yet intensely moving first-person account of one woman’s experience of growing up in Japan’s yakuza society. Born into the family of a wealthy crime boss, Shoko Tendo lives her early years in luxury. But labeled “the yakuza kid,” she soon becomes the victim of bullying and discrimination from teachers and classmates at school, and of her father’s drunken rages at home. As her family falls into debt and her father’s influence wanes, Tendo falls in with the wrong crowd, and other men begin to appear in her life. By the age of fifteen she is a gang member, by the age of eighteen a drug addict, and her twenties are marked by a series of abusive and violent relationships with men. Tendo sinks lower and lower, time and again an unwitting victim as she struggles to define her role as a woman in the violent, sexist, and drug-addled world she is thrust into at a far-too-tender age. After the death of her parents and her own attempt at suicide, she begins a tortuous, soul-searching reevaluation of the road she has taken—and it is only a startling, unconventional act of empowerment that brings her back from the brink. Initually an OEL, it was first published in the West and then serialized as manga in the East.

In high school, Molly was a little plain and chubby and yet her crush, Des, asked her out! She thought things were going well between them until Des left for college without saying a word of goodbye. Years later, Molly has transformed into a beautiful woman. When Des returns to town, he doesn't even recognize her. But the wounds he left on her heart still haven't healed... (Source: Harlequin Comics)

After losing his job, Michimata finds part-time work at a bakery. Nothing seems to be going right for him until one day, Kamiya, a regular at the bakery, snaps him out of his haze. Things take an interesting turn as a different kind of relationship blossoms between the two.

Part of the Ai to Meiyou no Tame ni series (愛と名誉のためにシリーズ), also called the "Love and Glory" series, which goes as follows: 1. Kono Ai wa Kizutsukanai 2. Tsubasa o Oranaide 3. Eikyuu no Kikan 4. Kono Yoru ga Aketara Orders were orders, but battle-weary undercover agent Kit Anderson chafed at seeking refuge from death threats in the house of her new boss, Coast Guard Lieutenant Noah Trayhern. Noah's cold authority masked inner demons that rivaled her own; his rough kindness sliced through her careful defenses. Suddenly her safe house was under siege—from the inside!—and Kit's heart was in danger...

from fictiondb: Would he ever see how she truly felt? Katrina had known Lucius Massey all her life, and her childish hero worship had grown into a comfortable, warm friendship. She and Lucius had become engaged just to teach her selfish sister Virginia a lesson, nothing more. She knew Lucius would never think of her as more than a friend. But as more and more people congratulated Katrina on her match, a mysterious sadness began to creep into her heart....

Part of the Ai to Meiyou no Tame ni series (愛と名誉のためにシリーズ), also called the "Love and Glory" series, which goes as follows: 1. Kono Ai wa Kizutsukanai 2. Tsubasa o Oranaide 3. Eikyuu no Kikan 4. Kono Yoru ga Aketara Years later, the Korean War is a distant memory for the parents hosting their children for a Christmas party. But when an old photograph rekindles those memories, they’re soon wrapped up in telling their children how they fell in love. As a nurse and a downed pilot, they’d found themselves on the run from the enemy—but the only thing that could snare them was true love.

Part of the Ai to Yomei no Tame ni Series (愛と名誉のためにシリーズ), also called the "Love and Glory" series, which goes as follows: 1. Kono Ai wa Kizutsukanai 2. Tsubasa o Oranaide 3. Eikyuu no Kikan 4. Kono Yoru ga Aketara from fictiondb: Marine captain Morgan Trayhern couldn't risk staying in the States, yet he didn't dare leave. Fragile, gutsy Laura Bennett had been injured saving his worthless skin, and a Trayhern never dodged duty. Despite the danger, he had to protect his sweet guardian angel. To his surprise, Laura's bulldog stubbornness matched his own, and her love implored him to unearth what he thought he'd forever buried on that bloody hill seven years ago. But once he faced his entire past, could he ever count on a future?

Part of the Ai to Meiyo no Tame ni Series (愛と名誉のためにシリーズ), also called the "Love and Glory" series, which goes as follows: 1. Kono Ai wa Kizutsukanai 2. Tsubasa o Oranaide 3. Eikyuu no Kikan 4. Kono Yoru ga Aketara from fictiondb: Fresh from grueling years of pilot training, Alyssa Trayhern couldn't believe the navy was about to crash-land her career. Butwhy else assign her as copilot to cocky jet jockey Clay Cantrell? Aly vowed to defy Clay's cruel hatred of her Trayhern name. Then rare glimpses into his vulnerable soul shook her rigid defenses ... and left her longing to surrender to the heady onslaught of bittersweet desire.

from fictiondb: The whole thing was rigged! What else would you expect from lawyers and a judge with family connections? Former detective Sam Owen Brimstone was not looking for work, but now he was stuck with it and had to admit that in this case, the body he was assigned to guard was an awfully attractive one. Too bad that curvy, petite Jamie Gibson was a lawyer and, true to her profession, persistent in getting answers. But Sam's initials weren't S.O.B. for nothing. Tempted as he was, he wasn't about to let Jamie sweet talk him, that is, until circumstances took a turn for the worse and the job suddenly became personal.

From fictiondb: Billionaire collects debt -- of passion! Ben Dexter had become a powerful and respected businessman, earning billions. But money could no longer satisfy him. For years, Ben had forgone a wife and family after becoming convinced Caroline Harvey, the woman he'd loved, had betrayed him. He'd never been able to find the kind of passion he'd shared with Caro -- and it was time to get her out of his system. He'd find her, indulge in a short, intense affair and then he'd finally be able to get on with his life. But things didn't go quite as he planned....