Contemporary African American Fiction

Maddie and Theo have two things in common: 1. Alexa is their best friend. 2. They hate each other. After an "oops, we made a mistake" night together, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa's wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they're comfortable with.

When Desa Rae Jenkins ended her tumultuous relationship with Roc, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do; but now she's second-guessing her decision. Roc moved away to Kansas City, leaving street life back in St. Louis up to the brothas who can handle it. He continues to live his life on the edge, though, and when he returns to St. Louis, Desa Rae shows up at his doorstep to reconcile. Roc is reluctant to go there with the one woman who ripped his heart from his chest.

Harlow Shaw feels naïve for believing in happily ever afters, but she craves a love that lights her up. She thinks she has it all with her boyfriend—Until his promising baseball career overshadows their relationship, and he asks her a life-changing question. It causes her to wonder if what they have is all she ever truly wanted. Harlow is yearning for more than the curated life she is living. A trip to Bali, a move to Seattle, and an alleged burned cup of coffee lead her to a friendship she didn't know she needed and a love so deep she can feel it in her bones.

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.

She's smart, gorgeous, and mysterious. For business executive Nathan Carver, a man with everything, Jessica Bolton is the first woman he can't simply charm, buy, or seduce. And even before Jessica gets a taste of his luxurious lifestyle and irresistible moves, she's determined to eliminate the competition and become this handsome bachelor's one and only. But Jessica's deceptive allure is just the beginning.

In the hood, every day is about struggle and survival, and no one understands that daily grind more than 22-year-old Kaeyla “Goldie” Dennis. She’s been the “wifey” of an older, wealthy man since she was 15, but the discovery of their longtime affair by his real wife brings to a crushing end her hood-fabulous lifestyle in their low-rise project in Newark.

Demonstrating the same verve for storytelling that rocketed her previous novels onto the best seller lists, Deliver Me from Evil introduces Christine Thurman, a vivacious 31-year-old about to enter a dangerous new phase in her life.

Between the fallout from his father's latest shady business dealings and his wife Charisse's alcoholism, Evan Murdoch has his hands full. But he should be most concerned about the scandalous affair Charisse is having right under his nose - with his half brother. Evan's being pushed to the edge, and no one knows that better than Leila Hawkins....

Thalia, a 25-year-old wild girl gone good, moves back to her old neighborhood after a failed engagement and manages to catch the eye of the town's most wanted man - the incredibly sexy, single, devoted, and charismatic Reverend Isaac. Not only is there a large age difference between Thalia and the middle-aged pastor, but he also happens to be the father of Madison, her best friend since junior high school. Madison isn't trying to deal with her father dating anyone after her mother's death.

The day Ximena Solomon met Hiram Moss, the last thing either of them was expecting was to find true love. Yet still, their connection ran deep, their attraction was undeniable, and what grew between them was nothing short of love at first sight. Ximena and Hiram cannot deny the magnetic pull they feel toward each other. They begin to spend more time together, sharing their hopes, dreams, and deepest feelings. With each passing day, their bond grows stronger, and they realize that they have found something truly special in each other.

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.

You ever wonder what events led up to an individual’s inability to trust in love? Rayna Brimm survives a series of betrayals and loss, only to forge ahead into self-preservation. After receiving her degree, she finds herself in California and tries to build a self-contained life. Enter Azmir Jacobs. A tall, dark, handsome, and very wealthy man, whose street credibility and executive power in the corporate world has beautiful women at his beck and call. However, only one woman has caught his eye: the resilient Rayna Brimm, who turns out to be more than he bargained for.

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.

Cashmere and Demarco are married, own three hair salons, and have a big house in Inglewood, CA, with their timid 13-year-old daughter, Dominique, but things are far from perfect or even normal. Demarco holds deep resentment toward Cashmere and wants out of the marriage. His anger toward his wife makes him unable to have a close relationship with Dominique, who looks for a father’s love elsewhere.

It’s the summer of 2019, and Professor Pi Suleman is a Black man from Memphis with a lot to endure - not only as a Black man in Trump’s America but in his hard-earned career as an adjunct professor. Pi is constantly forced to bite his tongue in the face of one of his tenured colleague’s prejudices and microaggressions. At the same time, he’s being blackmailed by a powerful professor who threatens to claim he has assaulted her, when in fact the truth is just the opposite, trapping him in a he-said-she-said with a white woman that, in this society, Pi knows he will never win.

Alexis Griggs has worked hard to get where she is in life. She owns several clinics that service people in need and is a pillar of her community, but looks can be deceiving. Alexis and her brother, Jace, are both leading double lives, which are both illegal and deadly. It leaves little time for Alexis to have a personal life; that is until she has a chance encounter with single father Kevell Farrell.

Morgan and Messiah share many things. Love, hate, lust, trauma, and children. They are bonded forever by the gift of parenthood, but Morgan's attachment to Messiah comes with immense pain. After the discovery of Messiah's condition, Morgan's conflict is intensified. She knows how healing the M&M bubble can be, but she also knows that Messiah has the ability to ruin her. Will Morgan finally take her second chance with her first love? Or will she make the hardest decision of all and let go of the past?

With the skills of Michael Vick and the looks of Tyreese, Andrew "Amir" Davis, a.k.a. Amir, is destined to be a star. But in the streets of Raleigh, North Carolina, NFL dreams can quickly vanish, and a Black man can either go with the flow or become another name added to the local obituaries. Amir has the whole hood behind him. He's a beacon of hope for young men who feel they've been discarded by society. North Carolina is breeding him to be their star, but he has other plans in mind.

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.

With smoking hot hits like Lies Lovers Tell and What Love Tastes Like to her credit, Zuri Day has built a considerable fanbase for her scorching contemporary romances. When 40-year-old teacher Gwen Smith travels home to care for her sick mother, she meets a potential new mate who makes her head spin. A “black Fabio,” 26-year-old Ransom Blake knows his way around the bedroom—and he’s about to take Gwen back to school for some lust lessons.