African American Literature Fiction

At 40, Lena Baker is at a steady and stable moment in life—between wine nights with her two best friends and her wedding just weeks away, she’s happy in love and in friendship—until a confession on her wedding day shifts her world.

In the tradition of Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim comes A Pimp’s Life, the story of the rise and fall of Mack Jones. He’s at the top of his pimp game in Queens, New York, until he breaks one of the cardinal rules of Pimping 101 and falls in love with one of his girls. Destiny was once an innocent young girl tricked into selling her body, but now she’s as tough as the most seasoned professionals on the street. Then a tragic turn of events causes her to open her heart once again.

Ceanna is forced to bury her best friend after a sudden illness. Now she's guardian to her best friend's daughter, and Ceanna wonders if she can raise Jalisa and deal with the newly discovered betrayal by Tonya and her husband, Jaceyon. Fighting for a divorce while carrying Jaceyon's twin daughters, Ceanna tries to mask her emotions and deal with her situation. Avantae knows that loving his stepbrother's wife is wrong, but he can't deny his feelings for Ceanna. He is determined to be a better man for Ceanna. Things are finally looking up for him, until Zaria comes back to settle a score.

Negro league baseball players didn’t always get the respect that major leaguers received. And yet many - including Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Roy Campanella - quickly became standouts in the major leagues after 1947. Others didn’t get to prove their mettle in the majors at all - or not until long past their prime. New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford compiles an enthralling summary of Negro league history that includes fascinating tidbits about prominent pitchers, hitters, utility players, teams, and traditions.

George Washington Carver wasn't just an inventor. He was also a botanist, a farmer, and a professor. Young listeners will discover how this teacher not only improved the way people farmed, but introduced the world to more than 300 uses for the peanut.

Gangsta Divas puts listeners on the streets of Memphis, where gang wars are heating up thanks to the arrival of dangerous new players - the Cripettes. Ta’shara is planning to knock her sister off her perch and climbing to the top of the game. Qiana’s deal with the devil places her directly in the crosshairs of forces ready to take her out. And Queen G LeShelle’s list of enemies keeps on growing. But for these gangsta divas, it’s all part of the game - one they’re determined to win.

Maleeka Madison is a dark skinned African-American girl. She feels uncomfortable and wishes she had lighter skin. When her teacher, Miss Saunders, who suffers from a rare skin condition, shows that there is more to people than the color of their skin, Maleeka learns to appreciate and accept who she truly is.

When she was twenty-six and broke, Skye didn’t think twice before selling her eggs and happily pocketing the cash. Now approaching forty, Skye still moves through life entirely—and unrepentantly—on her own terms, living out of a suitcase and avoiding all manner of serious relationships. Maybe her junior high classmates weren’t wrong when they voted her “Most Likely to Be Single” instead of “Most Ride-or-Die Homie,” but at least she’s always been free to do as she pleases.

In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe’s wife, Violet, attacks the girl’s corpse. This novel “transforms a familiar refrain of jilted love into a bold, sustaining time of self-knowledge and discovery. Its rhythms are infectious” (People).

When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise - or happen in front of 45,000 people. When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part - they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans....

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.

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

T'was the night before Christmas and all through house a whole family slept soundly, three kids, two grandchildren, a husband and his spouse...Ezra "Ethic" Okafor and his family are finally complete. After years of loneliness Ethic has met his match in Alani. She's the queen of his castle and is a doting mother figure to his children. Only a few months have passed since they wed, but they've spent them happily and peacefully. Alani can't wait to start new traditions with her family and she is determined to make the 12 days before Christmas memorable for them all.

Xiomara's bad and she knows it. She's not only a cute face; she's working on her degree as well. Left with scars from her past, she's only focused on her money and building her brand. After encountering Jrue in the club, she's offered a job that unknowingly changes things for her, causing her to look at her choices differently.

This urban romance story was created to pull the emotions from deep within and make you fall in love with the content. Use your wildest imagination while listening, and build a relationship with the characters who both are in desperate need of love.

Seth Garrett's family taught him that anything less than the best simply isn't an option. Now he's out to prove he can be the most successful Garrett - and Rachel McNeal fits the bill. She's pretty, hard-working, good in bed - and willing to finance his dreams. He thinks she's perfect wife material - until he meets her relatives and discovers they're far from perfect. No problem, Seth's got a replacement lined up to give him the good life he's entitled to...

Since she was acquitted of murder, Tamia Luke has been on a mission to prove she's a changed woman - especially to the love of her life, Brandon Chambers. She thinks she's succeeded - until Brandon reveals that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, and it's his duty to marry her. With time running out, Tamia is determined to have one last rendezvous to win him back. But she's stunned when the man who blackmailed and betrayed her suddenly reappears on the scene - with an offer she can't refuse, though she knows she may regret it.

When her marriage to an NFL phenom ended, so did Adrienne Sheppard's chance at wealth and security. Now she's betting on her exclusive new nightclub - and her new man - to turn her luck around.… Sexy vixen Shanice Whitaker is taking her pay-for-play schemes to a whole new level to stack up the mad fortune of her dreams.… And Zakiya Lee is sure she knows how to work the sports fame game straight into full-time professional wife-hood with her NBA star.…

Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee. As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting.

In Mules and Men, some of the rich cultural heritage of black America is revealed and preserved. In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her home town of Eatonville, Florida, to collect and record the oral histories, songs, and sermons, many dating back to slavery times, that she remembered hearing as a child. These highly metaphorical folktales, "big old lies", and powerful songs helped her to recover her history, and preserve an important part of American culture.