African Urban Fiction

The day Lisara Compton caught her husband in a rather compromising position changed her life in a way neither she nor her sons ever saw coming. Realizing too late that divorcing him would cause a domino effect of turmoil, she is now forced into an uncomfortable life that she can't seem to stay afloat in. With her eldest son acting out and a nonexistent ex-husband, Lisara feels things can't get any worse. That's until her ex betrays her and their son in a way that leaves her in need like never before. It seems she just can't catch a break, until she meets him.

Jahzara, Honey, and Tomeka are best friends 'til the end. The three of them would die for each other and have always had each other's back. They each desperately wanted better lives and were willing to work extra hard in order to attain it. Relationship issues in their personal lives bring the girls closer together than ever before - especially when Jahzara brings a business proposal to the table. Betrayal, lies, jealousy, and murder is only the beginning of what they have to overcome.

Welcome to the fast-paced, high-stakes world of Rasheed, an antihero you'll love to hate, much like Scarface. Caught up in a game of fast money, faster women, and a hustler's dream, Rasheed's secrets and lies threaten to sever his alliance with his baby's mother, Michelle.

Picking up where Rose Gold left off in LA in the late 1960s, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins finds his life in transition. He's ready to - finally - propose to his girlfriend, Bonnie Shay, and start a life together. And he's taken the money he got from the Rose Gold case and has, together with two partners, started a new detective agency. But inevitably a case gets in the way: Easy's friend, Mouse, introduces him to Rufus Tyler, a very old man everyone calls Charcoal Joe.

Bleu is addicted to the luxe life, and it has led her down a road of self-destruction. She knows what it feels like to be turned out by the game. With a crack addiction that she can't seem to escape, she's desperate for a savior. The problem is, she has two great loves who both want to come to her rescue. When her best friend, Noah, comes searching for her, Bleu is faced with a dilemma: Will she let him save her, or will she stick with kingpin Iman, who has loved her since their first encounter? Or will both men lose her?

In the Frederick Douglass Housing Projects, the name of Jada Butler is synonymous with drama. Malika is a young, single mother trying to make a life in public housing. When she meets Teddy, she has new hope for the future. Gucci’s fiancé is now a rising star in the music industry. She’s thrilled when his tour brings him to New York. But she doesn’t know it’s more than music bringing him back.

After news of the attempted murder of his estranged fiancée, Gucci, Animal has two things on his mind: love and gunplay. With the help of his mistress, the deadly Red Sonja, Animal manages to elude his captors in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and washes up on the shores of Miami, Florida. He's one step closer to home, but it may as well be a world away. Animal is still a wanted fugitive, and getting to New York undetected proves to be trickier than he thought.

A menace, I was, the duration of my life. Unsure of what was next, who was next, or where I was headed next. The only for-sure shit in my world was my paper and my people. The ice around my heart was still intact, never being penetrated or as much as tapped.

The LaCroixs are four beautiful Haitian American women bound by money and blood. On the surface, the LaCroix Group is a venture capitalist company, but underneath, it’s so much more. The four sisters run long cons, targeting wealthy, prominent business figures. They have a system: Find the perfect mark, create the problem, then present the solution. For a cost....

In this rambunctious satire, Wallace Thurman, one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, takes his fellow artists and critics to task. The setting is a buzzing apartment building in 1930s Harlem, where avatars for the likes of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and Thurman himself come together to push past old boundaries and test out new ideas. But the heat of this collective energy soon threatens to consume them all, as wild parties, jealous rages, and intellectual conflicts turn the literary circle into an out-of-control hothouse of personal drama.

Camille, Jade, and Shy are best friends and have always had each other's backs. Jade and Shy's boyfriends, Roscoe and James, are partners in a lucrative drug business, but one night they get caught up in a shoot-out that goes horribly wrong. Shy's man, Roscoe, ends up in prison while James walks away clean, and things begin to fall apart between the girls. Jealousy, greed, revenge, and betrayal test the true bonds of friendship. Get ready, because these girls are about to take nasty to a whole new level.

It's been years since their parents were murdered. Twin sisters Shia and Leigh are trying to readjust to life while caring for their baby sister, Remi. With the exception of Leigh's angry, dramatic mood swings every now and then, everything seems to be going great. That is until Demetri, a mysterious stranger, enters their midst and falls right in the path of the newly single Shia. After dating Trent for so long, she is looking for a man to treat her like a queen, and Demetri is heaven sent...until inexplicable things begin to happen.

It's been four years since Monica disrupted the Cinque household, but starting trouble is like riding a bike for Monica, and she's pedaling full steam ahead. The foundation of Jasmine and James Cinque's marriage has been shaky ever since they dared to bring a third person into their union. Now they're trying to repair the damage they've done, to regain trust and repair broken hearts. But with so much drama in their past, it won't be hard for Monica to come in and shake things up a little.

Gaza was born and raised in McGregor Gully, one of Jamaica's grittiest housing projects in the slums of East Kingston. Growing up in poverty, he was exposed to robbery and murder at a tender age. In order to stay alive, he quickly adapted to a life of crime. Now he is one of the coldest killers and richest kingpins to ever walk the streets of Kingston. Whoever comes into contact with him and his crew either loves them, fears them, or wants to see them dead. The entrance of Catherine into his life just might change everything.

Kazimir, the head of the Bratva, has come to New York to find the person who murdered his loyal washer. Nicknamed The Russian Lion because he's credited with over 200 kills, the death of his washer is enough to start a dark and deadly war. Unfortunately, Emily falls on Kazimir's radar. Her brother is suspected of being involved in the murder, and she's determined to do everything she can to save him.

The Dopeman: Memoirs of a Snitch is a complex tale about the life and times of one the biggest drug traffickers the Midwest has ever seen. In the summer of 2009, the FBI has launched an intricate plot to take down one of the most prolific drug organizations, and Seven Smith is their main target. Seven establishes a relationship with an up-and-coming hustler and takes him under his wing. But unbeknownst to Seven, his protégé works for the authorities.

Following the action of Justify My Thug, the story rejoins the saga’s favorite couple, Tasha and Trae, as they try to make their marriage work in the midst of innumerable troubles: a murdered son, shattered bonds, forbidden affairs, deception, blackmail, hate, love, lust, corruption, friends torn apart by treachery, and the threat of going up against one of the most sophisticated and deadliest Chinese crime organizations. In the torrid world of sex, drugs, and crime, Wahida Clark continues the definitive hip-hop soap opera that fans have come to love.

Tiffany, Tyrisha, and Mezzie all have one thing in common: putting up with men who don't deserve them. While demanding what they're worth, they all end up in a web of deceit, drama, and betrayal.

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.

Inner-city Black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence; in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. How you dress, talk, and behave can have life-or-death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. The most powerful force counteracting this code and its reign of terror is the strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative.