American Literature

It's 1876 and Dr. Viveca Lancaster is frustrated by the limits placed upon female physicians of color. When she is offered the chance to set up a practice in the small all-black community of Grayson Grove, Michigan, she leaves her California home and heads east. The very determined Viveca knows all about fighting for her rights. But she may need more than determination to face down the distractingly handsome Nate Grayson, the Grove's bull-headed mayor.

Starrshima Fields, aka Starr, is a young, bodacious, and bold beauty. She is also the leader of the Double G's, a powerful and ruthless social club of plus-sized women. Starr is guided by Queen Fem, the founder of the Double G's. Queen Fem set up the group of professionals-by-day, gangster-biker-chicks-by-night to prove that this isn't just a man's world. The Double G's put the squeeze on their primary targets: men of power and privilege. Blackmail and manipulation are their choice of weapons, and they are skillful in both.

Sasha Campbell’s sizzling debut follows Nikki Truth, a radio talk show host who has no trouble dishing out relationship advice on the air, yet can’t seem to follow that advice in her own life. With Nikki’s marriage on the rocks and her husband overseas, her best friend Trinette urges her to seek happiness elsewhere. But once Nikki realizes she’s not ready to move on, she may have already lost her husband for good.

The most ruthless ride-or-die women of Memphis saved their empire by nearly destroying the streets. But as unexpected new rivals rise and brutal secrets shatter lives, betrayal means winner rules all. Putting out chaos with gasoline is one play that even the women of the Dirty South can't control. One merciless kill vaults good-girl-gone-bad Ta'Shara into gangland's power elite - but an enemy she doesn't see is targeting everything she can't afford to lose.

Coreen Treadwell heads a prominent social welfare agency, but she is haunted by her past. Raped and impregnated as a teenager, she gave up her baby without ever seeing her. Now the legacy of violence continues in her daughter's life. Abused by her adoptive father, the young woman has vowed vengeance on Coreen for abandoning her.

There can be only one: one man with two loyal friends and secrets from the past that will ultimately shake up the entire hood in Chicago; one man on a mission to destroy anyone who doesn't abide by his rules, including tricky bitches who drop to their knees behind closed doors yet stand tall against him when the time comes to collect the almighty dollar; one man with enough swagger in his walk and confidence in his talk and the skills and mindset to build an empire.

Jun Nakayama was a silent-film star in the early days of Hollywood. By 1964, he is living in complete obscurity, until a young writer, Nick Bellinger, tracks him down for an interview. When Bellinger reveals that he has written a screenplay with Nakayama in mind, Jun is intrigued by the possibility of returning to movies. But he begins to worry that someone might delve too deeply into the past and uncover the events that abruptly ended his career in 1922. Like the changing social and racial tides in California - and the unsolved murder of his favorite director.

The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at 20. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both. But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart.

When an elderly local woman is found poisoned, Sheriff Walt Longmire begins an investigation that soon has him ensnared in a deadly spider's web. From Craig Johnson, author of the acclaimed novel The Cold Dish, comes this enthralling Sheriff Longmire mystery. With a distinctive literary flair, Johnson leads us into the wide open space of Absaroka County, Wyoming.

Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God.

Finding love in the club wasn't working for Soraya after she dumped her ex for going to jail, so she tries to find love online. Thousands of women have found love with a simple click of the mouse, and she wants to test it out for herself. Just when Soraya thinks that spending hours online looking for a man is a complete waste of time, she finds YoungGucci90's profile. Looking at his hazel eyes in his pictures, she falls in love instantly. Though her roommate is convinced that he's a catfish, Soraya sees him at a concert. Fast romance blossoms and everything seems to be too good to be true.

Renee is queen of the city and runs it with an iron fist, but everything changes when people from her past resurface to seek revenge. They will stop at nothing until she's dead. Molested by her stepfather and verbally abused by her mother, Renee channeled her pain into passion and became the most ruthless queen-pin New York has ever seen. Haunted by her past and unable to let go of what was, she struggles to achieve inner peace while inflicting mayhem on the streets of New York.

Sylvia Blackwell has it all, or so she thinks. She and her handsome husband, Garrett, are the epitome of success: an immaculate house of their dreams, a beautiful and talented 17-year-old daughter, flourishing careers, and nearly 20 years of perfectly wedded bliss. Just as they are making plans for their vow renewal celebration, a call in the middle of the night interrupts their picture-perfect lives. Now Sylvia has to deal with the reality of Garrett's dead mistress and a love child she never knew about.

Life can be cruel. Sometimes it's hard to play with the cards you've been dealt. Growing up in the ghetto can be hell; good or bad, everybody has a story. Toni is young and sexy, but her life story is limited with her mother's drug addiction and her older brother, Sheek, doing life in prison. She struggles day by day, stripping and sometimes doing more in underground clubs to support herself and her family. Toni eventually befriends a rich pretty boy from Long Island, whose life was sheltered from poverty since the day he was born.

Ra'Keeyah has million-dollar dreams. She's determined to come up, and she won't stop until she does. Nothing is going to stop her from getting the hottest clothes, the finest men, and money to burn. Easily influenced by her conniving girls Shayna and Quiana, Ra'Keeyah resorts to shoplifting, stealing married men's credit cards, and passing bad checks to get what she wants. Ra'Keeyah is struggling and has sunk to an all-time low when she meets Brick. He's a savvy, street-smart hustler who will surely take her young heart for a ride and make her want to change.

Urban Books' popular Around the Way Girls series is back, bringing readers more dramatic tales about the lives of some tough, resourceful women who can hold their own when things get rough on the streets. Growing up poor and biracial, Shannon never quite fit in. Not truly accepted by either side of her family, the confused teenager turns to the one thing that loves her back unconditionally - the streets. With a bottle of liquor at her side and a worthless mentality in tow, Shannon allows the local strip club and the pole to become her new family.

Havana, Cuba, 2003: Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn't there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub. Lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn't bargain for: the police and secret service have him down as their main suspect.

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.

Picking up where Essence best-selling author La Jill Hunt's Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda left off, Too Close for Comfort follows Paige Michaels and her no-nonsense friends as they search for love. Paige has finally broken loose from her no-good man, and she's loving the single life - until Quincy Westbrooke shows up.

In this suspenseful Southern tale, we are introduced to King, a Southern born and bred hustler who is determined to take the drug empire handed to him by his father into the legitimate world of the music industry. Little does he know that when the streets birth you, trying to leave can be deadly. King's life is looking good when he meets a beautiful, classy queen.