African American Contemporary

Debut author Lisa Renee Johnson delivers an edgy, sexy novel about a man who has it all - until one night changes everything. Dubbed the "Sex Doctor" on his local radio show, psychologist Donathan James advises callers on their sexual issues. With his gorgeous and brilliant neurosurgeon wife, Sydney, at home and women flirting with the hot doctor everywhere he goes, Donathan is living the high life. But when he wakes up naked and drugged in a hotel room, with no memory of the evening before, the doctor suddenly has problems of his own.

Unlike their younger brother, André, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Former child star Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to his spiteful former lover, while Brick struggles to return to his uninspiring white-collar job after suffering the dual blows of a health emergency and a nasty breakup with the woman he still loves.

A kingdom of vicious princes, court intrigue, and wickedly dark desires. Years searching for a woman to share, and along comes Madison. The African American journalist stumbles into three princes' plot. Falling into bed with three princes isn't in Madison's job description. Once they taste perfection, the three men won't let go. They always get what they want. Now, they want her, forever.

After one night as a stripper, Cindy decides she can’t take it and quits. Unlike most of the girls she knows from the streets, she’s not ready for that kind of grind. That doesn’t mean she can’t hustle, though. In order to make money without being groped by men in the club, Cindy starts a phone-sex company. Her lip services quickly gain popularity, and she ventures into other aspects of the sex industry.

Kyrell Knight believes life is a game to be played and thoroughly enjoyed. He rarely takes anything seriously, lives in the moment, and indulges in as much pleasure with women as possible. But the sarcasm, money, and women are an attempt to erase the memories of his past as he tries to forget what he came from. It works until his past wants to be a part of his present. Kyrell reconnects with Quinn Halifax at their mutual best friend's engagement party. They spark up a friendship that quickly turns to flames when it becomes a superficial, no-strings-attached relationship.

Connoisseurs of edgy, contemporary African- American fiction find the novels of Wallace Ford prime offerings. In this riveting sequel to Ford's The Pride, a powerful and unscrupulous investment banker learns the hard way that what goes up must come down. Ever since Gordon Perkins made off with his partners' money, he's been living fast, but losing even faster.

I Need a Gangsta: Melody Goldman isn’t about to let her rich, cheating, ungrateful husband walk out and leave her with nothing. Fortunately, ex-con Scotty Harris has no problem disposing of her problems in exchange for plenty of cold, hard cash - and hot, hard sexing. But when Scotty crosses one line too many, Melody’s revenge will be a hustle he never saw coming.… Gentlemen Prefer Bullets: Successful publicist Blake Scott survived by playing the Hollywood game…and keeping far, far away from her gangsta kingpin father. But now the only person who can protect her is his enforcer, Eli Hardwick.

In his new position as head of the Baptiste family business, Saint faces many challenges. Nothing could have prepared him for the challenges that came with dealing with the alluring Naoki Childs. She was the insoluble problem his big brother, Jahad, talked about. A problem that couldn't be handled with a phone call, a meeting, or by simply emptying his clip. Saint thought he'd never be faced with a problem he couldn't handle, especially where a woman was concerned. But he quickly learned that Naoki wasn't just some woman. She was much, much more than that.

Nia Simone Bijou is a woman who has it all - and is driven by the desire for more. Born in Trinidad, reared in Los Angeles, living in Atlanta, Nia is a writer, a thinker, and a woman in conflict. She's dealing with two sides of her Gemini self, feeling as if there are two women living inside her, both struggling for domination.

He's the type of man she should be running far away from. A man she has no business getting tangled with personally. And still, she wants him and all the intoxicating ways of his wild world. Giving away his heart was never part of the deal when it came to women. It was only supposed to be about pleasure. Nothing else and nothing more. He's in for a rude awakening when his world collides with a woman as bold, assertive, and determined as he is.

Essence best-selling novelist Anita Diggs explores Hercsville, Long Island, an African American town where everyone aspires to be rich and beautiful, and where the hunger for sex, power, and money becomes insatiable. Denzel's Lips follows a tumultuous series of events surrounding four women whose lives are destined to become irrevocably entangled.

With ten years into a successful marriage and a thriving business, Destiny Harris was living the life most only dreamed of. There was only one addition that would bring everything full circle, but a harsh reality turned her world upside down. Betrayal and lies replaced the truth she believed to be the foundation of her happy life. MyKyng Masters was a man of substance and structure. Even at a very young age, he had a firm grasp on everyone and everything around him. With an already complicated life, the last thing he needed was a reminder that no one can maintain complete control.

The Freedom Brothers are first cousins who built a brotherly bond while growing up in their grandmother's home in Terror Town. Epic, Angel, and Bishop Freedom eventually matured from little boys to men who run the blocks of the East Side of Chicago neighborhood. Women love them, and men want to be them. Yet, this story about the Freedom Brothers is far from your typical hood tale.

For one night a couple checks in to an upscale hotel. The pair seem unlikely companions, from opposing strata of society, but their attraction is palpable to all who observe them - or overhear their cries of passion. In the course of 12 hours, con games, erotic interludes, jealousy, violence, and murder swirl around them. Will they part ways in bliss, in sorrow, or in death?

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Perry knows Nola’s rhythm as intimately as his own heartbeat. So when the city’s Great Magician starts appearing in odd places and essential songs are forgotten, Perry knows trouble is afoot.

In Low Love, Low Fidelity, we walk through Lennox's heroic journey of choosing love the second go-round. She's the only one advising her heart nowadays, and it's beating for one person. Tobias is ready to love and honor Lennox in a way she's never had the benefit of experiencing. While they get their second chance at love, we'll see them sort out the details of the baggage made from not giving their love a chance when it was first presented. We will experience their happily ever after.

Five years ago, Orlando Duncan created the perfect drug in HEAT. It made the Duncans more than two hundred and fifty million dollars and was on its way to making them billionaires. However, they abruptly stopped manufacturing the drug when it was proven to cause cancer in rats. When Orlando is awakened by an alarm in his old lab, he discovers that not only have all his computers, equipment, and notes been stolen, but the robbers have also taken over a million tabs of HEAT that he’d left behind for future experiments—tabs that he had sworn to his family he would destroy.

Tabitha Knicely is overwhelmed with sorrow and exhaustion caring for her beloved great-aunt, whose dementia is getting worse. When her neighbor Marcus Whittington accuses Tabitha of elder neglect, he doesn't realize how his threats to have Aunt Tweet taken away add to Tabitha's pain. Then Marcus gets to know the exuberant elderly lady and sees up close how hard Tabitha is fighting to keep everything together. Tabitha finds herself leaning on Marcus more and more. And he's becoming more than happy to share her burdens.

Eve is a recovering drug addict, who was just released from prison to a female Christian halfway house. She signed up for the halfway house not to recover but to learn how to stop using drugs so often. Eve has no intentions of staying clean until she meets Reverend Washington. Reverend Washington's wife dies during childbirth, and Eve seduces the newly widowed reverend until she becomes his new wife and the mother to the reverend's three young children. But Eve is very resentful of the deceased Mrs. Washington and plots to make her husband's first wife look like a lying adulterer.

At the center: a young woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life, but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love. There is Booker, the man Bride loves, and loses to anger.