Contemporary African American Fiction

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Perry knows Nola’s rhythm as intimately as his own heartbeat. So when the city’s Great Magician starts appearing in odd places and essential songs are forgotten, Perry knows trouble is afoot.

Tiffany Richardson went from the bottom to the top in a matter of months, because she stumbled into a job that landed her executive producer and head writer for a hit television series called Boy Crazy. All was well and things were perfect for Tiffany until the day she got the news that her show was going to be cancelled, before going home to catch her man in bed with the hired help.

Debut novelist Michele Grant pens a juicy tale in Heard It All Before. Best friends Jewellen and Renee think they know Dallas men like the backs of their hands. But that’s before Jewellen unexpectedly falls for a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, and Renee gets lured away from her own man by a hard-bodied hottie.

Yazmeen Franklin is as green as they come. Her only real friend is her older sister, who raised her after their mother died. Because of their father’s poor example, Yazmeen has little trust in men, so dating is foreign to her. During her sophomore year of college, she lets her guard down and finally gets close to a man. However, he is a known womanizer, and she keeps him in the friend zone to protect her heart.

As an emerging star with her girl group Genesis Rising, lead singer Tina Braddon’s career elevates at every turn. She has the best of friends and her close family she cherishes more than anything. Beautiful, healthy, and a lover at heart, Tina absorbs all the goodness life has to offer—including her healthy competitiveness to win. But the man of her dreams is the one person who remains out of her reach. He’s here today and gone tomorrow, and Tina can’t help but wonder if it’s for the best.

The day Christopher Johnson decided to kill me, I already knew what it was like to die. I had already experienced it once. Having the life leeched from my body, blood stolen from my veins, oxygen pulled from my lungs. When he decided to walk back into my life, I was in the middle of my third resurrection, healing from the loss of my brother when I was still raw from losing him.

Nia Simone Bijou is a woman who has it all - and is driven by the desire for more. Born in Trinidad, reared in Los Angeles, living in Atlanta, Nia is a writer, a thinker, and a woman in conflict. She's dealing with two sides of her Gemini self, feeling as if there are two women living inside her, both struggling for domination.

Gutted, I was the day you left my side, but I understood it was no one's fault but mine. I pushed you away, wearing my pain on my sleeve while pursuing a passion that stemmed from that very pain. In the end, you decided to choose yourself, and I could never fault you for that. But it hurt, and still does 'til this day.

Eight years after moving away from her hometown of Miami, Cherokee is back home to take care of her sickly grandmother. While trying to stay low and off the scene, she puts all her focus into her job and her family. That is, until the man who broke her heart many years ago unexpectedly walks into her life once again.

Unlike their younger brother, André, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Former child star Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to his spiteful former lover, while Brick struggles to return to his uninspiring white-collar job after suffering the dual blows of a health emergency and a nasty breakup with the woman he still loves.

The hardest thing Morgan Atkins has ever done is let go of love. After losing Messiah, she never thought she’d find someone who understood her again. Until she reunited with Ahmeek Harris and their friendship quickly transformed into something deeper, but there was one problem...she was engaged to a man she didn’t love and he’s holding a deadly secret over her head. If that wasn’t enough, her long-lost love Messiah returned to claim her as his own.

If there is one thing Constance Hawkins is good at, it's working hard. Her dad was in a car accident that paralyzed his legs, and her sister Charley is in her sophomore year of college. With her mother not in the picture, Constance started working to help her family at a young age. Now, at twenty-six years old, she has a good job working at a bank. Until her awful boss, Sandy, decides to let Constance go because of cutbacks.

Whole, I became, the moment God answered those prayers I put in and blessed me beyond measure. From that day, my priority has been and will always be catering to your every desire because you deserve a love that doesn't make you wonder, whimper, or worry. I've got that kind of love, and I'm here to give it to you.

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?

Award-winning author Tiffany L. Warren has been celebrated by ReShonda Tate Billingsley for novels delivering “a riveting story and a faith boost.” In The Favorite Son, handsome brothers Camden and Blaine Drake sing God’s praises in their popular gospel group. But as rumors fly about one brother, a heartbreaking betrayal threatens to destroy the group—and their family.

In this gripping tale of street love, drugs, lies, and murder, many will not make it out alive, some will find love in a hopeless place, while others get caught in the crossfire. Dive into the life of women who deserve more and find out what it's like to date the plug next door.

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.

Pregnant by a man she learned wasn't who she thought he was and starting a new career, she's forced to step up and show everyone around her she's more than the hothead, feisty, girl they believe her to be.

I wasn't supposed to take on any new clients. All my current couples were already a handful. A marriage therapist with a failing marriage. If only they knew. That is until Kami Lynn walked into my office without her husband. I only treated couples. I was supposed to help save her marriage, instead I was the main reason for its destruction. I did everything the way I was supposed to. I graduated college. Went straight into my career. Got married and had a few crotch goblins and even accepted an outside baby for that man.

To young Neeka Perry, Denny is one thing. In the streets, he's a whole other entity. She was brave enough to love both sides, upside down, all around, and back again. He provided her with all a girl could believe she dreamed of—security, desire, and, most enviably, genuine love, all wrapped up in gold and diamonds. He removed her far from the course of her ordinary college girl lifestyle and swept her into his world of whimsical madness. For this and more, her love went beyond loyalty. She was devout… devout to him. But is there such a thing as too much passion? Can you love someone too much?