African Urban

After everything that he has been through, Omari can't even see himself in another relationship. Just the thought of Simone Campbell makes him turn away from any chick. Whether it's the baddest bitch or a foreign chick, he'll pass. But then she came into his life, and that all changed. He's ready to live and love again, and she just might be the one. That is, if Simone doesn't ruin it like she has everything else in his life.

Imagine this… You've planned everything perfectly for your sixth anniversary, hoping to make it a special day. But then your beloved stands you up, leaving you heartbroken and alone at home. Later, your best friend calls with some shocking news—she saw your boyfriend with another woman in his car while she was stopped at a traffic light. In a fit of anger, you grab your trusty bat and arrive at the scene to take out your anger on his car—only to realize later that it wasn't your boyfriend's vehicle after all. The owner happens to be a gorgeous gangsta, and he is pissed.

Ethic has power, but love has always been evasive. After ordering the hit that mistakenly killed the love of his life, Ethic is haunted with guilt and refuses to love again. Focused on being a better man and keeping his family safe, he is raising three children, one of which is a defiant teenage girl, Morgan. No matter how hard he tries to keep Morgan away from the streets, she is determined to defy him. When Morgan finds herself in a vulnerable position, Ethic is pulled back into the deadly game where he was once king.

Jada left home at the age of sixteen, running from her own demons and the horrors of physical abuse inflicted by her mother’s boyfriend. She partied hard, and life seemed good when she was with Born, the neighborhood kingpin whose name was synonymous with money, power, and respect. But all his love couldn’t save her from a crack addiction. Jada goes from crack addict and prostitute to survivor and back again before she finds the strength to live for herself and come out on top.

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker - and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world.

After they are in a car accident together, video vixen Paisley Lawrence and gospel singer Warren Cobb are mobbed by media speculation. And if that’s not enough, Warren’s wife has a few questions of her own. With rumors flying and speculation rampant, these two must straighten out their stories before tempers get out of control.

Trick Baby tells the story of White Folks, a blue-eyed, light-haired con artist whose pale skin allows him to pass in the streets as a white man. Folks is tormented early in life, rejected by other children and branded a "trick baby," a child conceived between a hooker and her trick. Refusing to abandon his life in the ghetto and a chance at revenge, Folks is taken under the wing of an older mentor, Blue. What happens next is unbelievable.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

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....

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.

Legendary King lives up to his name: a true legend and a king in the streets. His life was perfect with his dream woman by his side. That was until tragedy struck, causing him to lose it all and end up behind bars. His only plan when he gets out is to get back to the life that he worked so hard to build, but it doesn't take him long to realize nothing will ever be the same. He's haunted by the night that changed his life, and simple tasks, like breathing, prove to be difficult. He does all he can to shake the nightmare, but nothing helps. That is until he comes across the rough beauty.

This national best-seller chronicles the true story of two brothers coming of age in the Henry Horner public housing complex in Chicago. Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers are 11 and nine years old when the story begins in the summer of 1987. Living with their mother and six siblings, they struggle against grinding poverty, gun violence, gang influences, overzealous police officers, and overburdened and neglectful bureaucracies. Immersed in their lives for two years, Kotlowitz brings us this classic rendering of growing up poor in America’s cities.

Welcome to Detroit, Michigan, home of the grittiest, illest, most hardcore, crime-infested, poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the country. It's sometimes referred to as the Murder Capital because of the huge murder rate that never ceases to surprise us, the Murder Mitten, or the Dirty Glove because of the state's shape on the US map.

A hard-working daddy's girl, Precious Cummings is sure she's going to college. But when her father is murdered, she discovers he lied for years about money they never had - and hid a shocking family secret. Shattered and lost, she starts hangin' with savvy hood chick Keisha - and falls hard for DaVon, LA's most powerful drug dealer. As his new lady, Precious soon gets the best of every luxurious thing - and fast learns the ropes of her lover's lethal hustle.

At first, med student Misty Heiress just wants to help. With her cousin Jillian in constant pain, and the doctor refusing to prescribe, Misty steals opioids from the Virginia Beach pharmacy where she works. But when Jillian starts reselling them to local dealers and gets big money, Misty grabs an unbelievable opportunity to get out of crushing debt. Soon Misty's boss, Sanjay, learns the truth and wants in. In no time, their illegal business dominates the street - and racks up a fortune. But when demand quickly outstrips supply, Sanjay way overplays his hand - and the Feds come calling.

American Apartheid shows how the Black ghetto was created by Whites during the first half of the 20th century in order to isolate growing urban Black populations. It goes on to show that, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, segregation is perpetuated today through an interlocking set of individual actions, institutional practices, and governmental policies. In some urban areas the degree of black segregation is so intense and occurs in so many dimensions simultaneously that it amounts to "hypersegregation".

When Ava Dunning's mother is killed in a senseless act of violence, it feels like the world has ended. Now on her own, with the bills piling up, Ava is forced to take a job with a company called Maid For You. Trying to clock as many hours as she can, Ava jumps at the opportunity to do some overtime on the side, only to discover that she's bitten off more than she can chew. Just like that, she becomes a cleaner for King Dex, one of the most notorious kingpins on the West Coast. It's nothing for him to pay a couple thousand dollars for her to clean up his dirty work.

Derrick. Ricky. Jamal. One's responsible; one's still a player; one's upwardly-mobile. Sentenced to the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute at 12, they grabbed the chance for better futures. They beat the odds and turned their lives around. But now, these three best friends will go head-to-head with ambition, deception - and each other.

I knew he had the power to make me feel, but he also had the power to break me. To pull my heart outside of my chest and stomp on it. I knew falling for a man like Capone came with more than I was ready for. He wasn't feared for no reason. Timmy never meant Jaiden any good, and I knew it from the first time I met him. I've never wanted someone dead as much as I wanted him dead. Timmy needed to go, and I didn't care how he went as long as he wasn't breathing. Capone put it on his life that he would always protect me and mine.

On the surface, it appears that Sunny has got it all: looks, money, a beautiful home, a healthy daughter, and friends who love her. But Sunny has a secret—something she hasn’t even told her best friend. The truth is Sunny is unhappy. She still misses her beloved Dorian and worries that no other man will ever captivate her the way he did. She’s dated some very powerful and successful men since Dorian’s death, but will she ever find love again?