Contemporary African American Fiction

Something’s always been off with Eva Moss, but in the African-American community, everything is prayed away, including "crazy." What happens when the answer to prayer is therapy and medication? According to Eva’s mother, that’s taboo. All it takes is a little more Jesus, and Eva will be normal. Normal never lasts long. After Eva’s brother, Michael, is killed in a car accident, she is finally admitted to the psych ward for help.

Ms. Nova sacrificed her childhood to be a teenage mother and provider for her family. Working a dead-end job barely pays the bills, but her luck is due to change when her homegirl suggests she shake her ass at a jumping strip joint. Weary and self-conscious, she is reluctant at first, but the money is fast and easy and makes her life a lot easier. Although she has more bread, her bedroom life is at a standstill. Thinking with her head and not her heart, she makes a boss move on the club owner and is able to wrap him around her pinky.

Life can be hard to navigate at times, but for Lazarus Mitchell, it’s been a constant battle. Marrying his high school sweetheart and putting his dreams on hold to help her fulfill hers, he kept pushing through life’s adversities in hopes of seeing better days. Throughout the journey, he realized that she didn’t have the tenacity he had or the wherewithal to look difficulty in the face and choose to overcome it.

There’s a saying that if you come from my part of town, you're from around the way. Urban Books bestsellers Treasure Hernandez and Marcus Weber bring listeners a fast-paced look at the lives of some street-smart women who think they know it all.

Yves worked so hard to build a better life and rid herself of her ex-husband. When she sees him in Vee’s kitchen, her entire world feels like it went back to the day her daughter died. With her ex-husband back in her life, she has to deal with all the past traumas that their marriage has caused. If Khalif re-entering her life isn’t enough, a blast from the past comes back into her life proving to still have the keys to her heart.

No matter how many times she promised herself she wouldn’t go there, Reign couldn’t resist Jahiem, her best friend’s brother. Now caught between her friendship and her relationship, Reign is forced to prove where her loyalty lies. Jahiem had no intentions of ever starting a relationship with Reign because he was already in a relationship with Samantha. Now that he’s broken things off with her, Samantha shows up, and she’s not alone. Jahiem finds himself in a difficult situation when he realizes he’s torn between two women who have more in common than he thought.

1999, and Sincere has finished his tour in the United States Army. He’s come back home just in time to find his little brother, Maurice, taking his place in the streets. Maurice is hanging out with Drip-Drip and Voltron. The trio commits a home invasion on a stash house belonging to Zulu and executes the occupants inside. Unbeknownst to them, they’ve left behind a survivor who’s seen one of their faces.

Zahi was young and living life to the fullest. Then, he was thrust into fatherhood and forced to change his outlook on life, love, and happiness. The self-proclaimed bachelor did not expect to be swept up in emotions he'd never felt. However, caring for his daughter, Zuri, charged a part of his heart that he thought was dead. The spark awakened a need for more out of life. From the moment he laid eyes on India, he was drawn to her. The pull was so intense, and no matter how many times he told himself to stay away from her, he just couldn't follow his own command.

Catch my gaze means your eyes better always find mine.

Silk Bovan is head over heels for the infamous Kane Styles. In her eyes, they’re soulmates destined to be together forever. That’s until Kane suddenly dishes out a bone that Silk can’t chew. Ramifications which leave Silk in a world of smoke and mirrors. Will her and Kane’s undying love stand the test of time? Or will Kane prove to be the biggest dog of them all?

Juleena doesn't know who she can trust anymore. She is truly in a battle of her heart over family. Who does she choose, and what does she do? Her brother has always been her right hand, someone she could trust with her life. When that changes, who can she truly depend on?

Monique Starr’s music career is at an all-time low: she’s in danger of losing her label contract and an embarrassing event has her front and center in all the gossip blogs—for all the wrong reasons! She decides to head back to D.C. and the MacLaine Academy of the Performing Arts to revamp her image, give her career a badly needed boost, and get her groove back. But she comes home to find her old Academy ailing financially, her mentor battling cancer, and her ex—whom she left behind to seek fame and fortune—very angry and unwilling to give her a second chance.

With Yves carrying not one but two blessings, she wants to be the mother that she couldn’t be for her late daughter. Coming home from rehab, there are a lot of feelings that Yves can’t shake. Roddy is the love of her life, but why does everything in their relationship seem so hard? With their past, she wonders if they’ll be able to restore what they used to have. Or is it best to call it quits and focus on their kids?

Driven by the need to avenge the rape of her nine-year-old sister at the hands of drug lords, Monica Deitrich has spent a decade training for a career in law enforcement. When she is hired by the DEA, she receives her first assignment: Infiltrate and bring down King Kochese, a ruthless killer who controls the Texas drug trade. She soon finds her job is not so simple. Never mind the danger of working undercover—the simple fact is that King Kochese is a virile, complicated man whose attractiveness distracts her from the job at hand.

Lyra Hart, a teacher’s assistant working her way through college, lives a simple life. Her sister Natalie is a constant reminder that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. After a lifelong trail of arrests and stints in rehab, Natalie lands on her sister’s doorstep with a promise not to end up like their mother, who overdosed just a few years prior. Lyra’s first mistake was trusting her younger sister. Her second was the one-night stand she thought would drown her sorrows.

Remi Wilson is a true Army brat. As the the daughter of a General, her life’s plan was set in motion from the minute she took her first breath. The expectations are simple: Be the ideal general’s daughter and marry an Army officer. Not once has she considered deviating. Why would she when following the plan will lead to a blissfully bright further that mirrors that of her parents.

His eyes would always follow her signature strut with her tall heels and fitted dresses. He always had something witty to say to her because he just had to say something. But the small talk was no longer cutting it. He wanted to know the real Felicity James.

Life Through the Eyes of a Woman is a compilation of stories about women walking through the storms of life. These women deal with the abuse, neglect, and loss that come with poor relationships, but also the love, security, and passion that should accompany healthy relationships. Yet, no matter what these women are put through, they always find it within themselves to come out on the other side stronger than before.

Romulus St. Claire operates under the guise that he’ll never marry. In the back of his mind, he knows it’s a lie. He would marry if the woman was special enough—someone like his best friend, Siderra Monroe. He’s in no hurry to make her his. He’s still in limbo with his feelings, and he doesn’t believe he’s ready for a woman like her, even though he has a feeling she’s in love with him.

The old saying about how a leopard never changes its spots was true in Robin Delli Richardson’s case when it came to loving her son’s philandering father. It didn’t matter how good Robin looked, or that she was an educated woman with a great job with benefits, designer labels in her closet, Louboutin red bottoms on her feet, or how well endowed she was in the bedroom, Saxon Anderson had it made it clear that he was incapable of being monogamous.