Contemporary African American Fiction

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on first through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated, often to its own detriment, by what their younger son, Trelawny, calls “the exquisite, racking compulsion to survive.”

The author of New York Times best-selling novels like God Don't Play, Mary Monroe is especially adept at capturing the tumultous highs and lows of the unforgettable characters who populate her books. In She Had It Coming,it's the best of times and the worst of times for Dolores Reese, who's married to two different men in two different cities.

Baby Girl McCoy was given her name when her mother couldn’t even be bothered to give her another one in the hospital after she gave birth. Baby Girl was the product of rape, and she spends her life in a quest for a father figure. Never in a million years did she imagine that she’d find it in the man that she does.

The "construction laborer" is really a wealthy felon with too many inexplicable circumstances to fathom for her narrow worldview. Will Jas share more of his complexities? Will Ashira be able to absorb them with understanding, leaving the judgment behind? Two souls, still galaxies apart, bound by love. The unanticipated UFO has collided with her world like a ferocious asteroid.

Brooklyn Melody James has finally gotten the punishment she deserves after leaving a web of lies, heartache, and betrayal behind her. As her life slips away, Brooklyn remembers the events that shaped her into the cold, calculating creature she became.

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.

All Zarinah wanted was to fall in love. Growing up, she had kissed her fair share of frogs. When an unconventional situation leads her to Lawson, her wishes might become reality. Lawson is the new CEO of his family's hotel casino chain. He's tired of aimless dating and women just wanting his money. When he meets Zarinah, he instantly feels like she's the one.

Isolated from family and friends because of the one man she thought would be her happily ever after, Scotland is depressed, broke, and a shell of the woman she used to be. But when her man does the unthinkable, it is the last straw, causing Scotland to make a huge gamble in the name of revenge. But when that retaliation follows her home, adding yet another problem to her already hefty plate, Scotland must figure a way out of the hell she now calls life.

When scandal erupts, playboy and heir Darius discovers that his current girlfriend Fancy is a true friend until she reveals a secret that renews his distrust of women, plunging him back into a world of fast money and fast women until he discovers what he truly wants in life - Fancy.

With his drama-filled marriage behind him, Evan Murdoch has finally found happiness with his longtime friend turned fiancee, Leila Hawkins. But when his party boy brother, Terrence, is seriously injured in a car accident, a gossiping press puts the family back in the spotlight. Soon Terrence could face a lawsuit - and much worse if his vengeful half brother, Dante, has his way. Terrence's only bright spot is journalist C. J. Aston - but is she really on his side, or does she have another motive?

Life at the Houston Report for investigative journalist Desiree Stevens is no longer a fulfilling one. She's contemplating moving back to Chicago where her family resides, but Desiree can't deny that returning to her hometown for the sake of employment isn't her only reason. Just a few weeks prior, Desiree had the pleasure of meeting philanthropist Julian Alexander Rose, awkwardly enough, at the hospital. And since the strange encounter, getting Julian off her mind has been Desiree's biggest failure.

In Low Love, Low Fidelity, we walk through Lennox's heroic journey of choosing love the second go-round. She's the only one advising her heart nowadays, and it's beating for one person. Tobias is ready to love and honor Lennox in a way she's never had the benefit of experiencing. While they get their second chance at love, we'll see them sort out the details of the baggage made from not giving their love a chance when it was first presented. We will experience their happily ever after.

Sienna Shaw thought she’d found forever when she met the wealthy and charming Tyir Willis. For months, Tyir wined, dined, and wooed Sienna until she agreed to relocate to be closer to him. In the blink of an eye, Sienna’s would-be fairytale love is snatched away. Being a single mother was never on Sienna’s list of things to do. When her prince charming turned out to be a frog, she’s left to figure out how to navigate through motherhood alone.

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.

When Glockman finds out that the woman he's fallen for is responsible for the death of a close friend, he knows he has to do what's right and put her down. However, it is much easier said than done, making the man who once deemed himself gangsta, tried and true, question his own character. Should he be loyal to the people he loves and the ones who depend on him to be trustworthy? Or should he have the back of a woman he only just met but has fallen hard for?

Koda Perry is a self-made millionaire who can't seem to form his own identity as anything other than a spoiled rich kid. Determined to build his own legacy, he branched out on his own, built a company from the ground up, and became a millionaire before the age of thirty—but for his billionaire father, that's not good enough. In his mother's eyes, Koda's life will never be complete until he gets married and has kids. All Koda wants to do is live his life the way he sees fit on his own terms.

Covina Hurley has lived a privileged life as the daughter of a retired major league baseball player. With privilege comes shelter, and with shelter comes ignorance to many life experiences. When she makes the choice to open herself up to new experiences, she never thought that love would be one of them. Will her new life experiences be damaging to who she is as a person, or will it grow her in ways that she never thought were possible? Will it do both?

When you’re sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on the biggest sporting stage in the world and see the man of your dreams, he’s nothing more than a distraction. But there’s nothing like this type of distraction. And nothing like a little mental motivation to show up and show out when someone has their eyes on you. At least that's what my sister thinks when I meet professional basketball player Devin Grant, a two-week distraction that could turn into forever.

On the night of her husband Matt’s fortieth birthday, Rachel Abbott receives a sexy, explicit text from her husband that she quickly realizes was meant for another woman. Divorce is inevitable, and Rachel is determined not to leave her thirteen-year marriage empty handed. Meanwhile, Matt, a rising star mayor with his eye on the White House, can’t afford a messy split in the middle of his reelection campaign. They strike a deal: Rachel gets one million dollars and lavish house in the wealthy DC suburb of Oasis Springs, as long as she keeps playing the ideal Black trophy wife until the election.

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.