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.

At the center: a young woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life, but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love. There is Booker, the man Bride loves, and loses to anger.

Sixteen-year-old Bethany Greene, though confident and self-assured, is what they call a late-bloomer. She’s never had a boyfriend, date, or first kiss. She’s determined to change that but after her crush turns her down cold for Homecoming—declaring her too inexperienced—and all her back-up ideas fall through, she cautiously agrees to go with her best friend’s boyfriend Jacob. A platonic date is better than no date, right? Until Saylor breaks up with said boyfriend.

When the future of Grandeur nears the brink of collapse in the face of band rivalry, Tess finds to her chagrin that she must team up with Brandon in a desperate attempt to revive the company. As Tess and Brandon spend more time together, Tess begins to wonder if everything she thought she knew might not be so certain after all….

The lives of Frankie, Tommie, and Olivia (Livvy) haven't turned out quite as planned. Frankie has a pair of stalkers. The life that Tommie had dreamed of having with Blue has become anything but perfect, and Olivia, despite her efforts, hasn't been able to get over the psychological barrier caused by her husband's affair in Naughty or Nice.

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?

With the amount of lows that happened back to back in this series, you would think that the worst is now over, but it's honestly just begun. One of the biggest lows of this series has to be Emilia's and Ramonte's betrayal of Carmen. We all know that Carmen is very short-tempered, and it doesn't take much for her to lash out. To know that a cousin of hers, who's also her best friend, is pregnant by Carmen's baby's father is a situation where Carmen will be well within her rights to handle it however she wants to.

Kojack has been running the Meurtre (Murder) Mafia since its original founders Adair and Orlando stepped down to become husbands and fathers. Leaving the game for a woman is the furthest thing from Kojack's mind. He's having his way making money and entertaining some of the baddest women in the world. Kojack doesn't have plans to change for anyone or anything—until he meets Rae. Being forced to step up and look after the feisty beauty in the most intimate way forces Kojack to realize he can't keep running from love forever.

Past relationships have left Nova scarred. Finishing up school and opening her boutique were her main focus until she ran into Grayson. Grayson was worried about being a great father and his photography career when Nova ran into him, in the most literal sense. While Nova tries to run from Grayson, afraid he'll turn out like the rest of the men who broke her heart, Grayson is determined to show her different. Not one to let go without a fight, he's determined to show her the beauty he sees behind the lens.

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.

Unsettled… That is the word Desire Chambries uses to describe how she feels. Although her preschool students bring her joy, her personal life needs resuscitating. She’d love to get married, but the dating scene lacks quality men. Most were barely boyfriend material and definitely not fit to be someone’s husband. At thirty-five years old, her hope of finding the man of her dreams and becoming a wife is fading fast, as is the idea of having children of her own. One lonely Friday night, after being stood up for the third time, she sees an ad for Arranged Hearts on social media.

Brooke Alexander, a waitress who has self-esteem issues regarding her lackluster existence and her fluctuating weight is in love with Patrick Sterling, one of the most prominent attorneys in Washington, D.C. On his good days, Patrick is the man in every woman's dream. On his bad days, Patrick's behavior is demeaning, and he is angry at the world.

Publicist. NBA player. Career ending Injury. Family Secrets. Undeniable attraction.

Sophomore Kalvin Shmelton has finally perfected his underground candy-selling hustle at school. He keeps his prices reasonable, his inventory fresh, and himself out of the drama. But when a heartbroken Sterling Glistern—Kal’s longtime crush—barges into the storage closet where he keeps his candy supply, a new source of income unexpectedly presents itself: relationship therapist. He only meant to help Sterling realize she’s dating a jerk—and maybe win her over—but news spreads fast that Kalvin’s not just the master of sweets…but hearts, too!

From New York Times best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey comes this sexy novel brimming with the steamy voices of three desperately intertwined lovers. Dickey centers the story on an L.A.-based writer who is obsessed with gorgeous, nubile Nicole - the very same woman who left him at the altar just three years before. Nicole is torn between her ongoing love for him and her passion for the beautiful Ayanna.

Suvi Summers never had luck in the love department. Failed relationship after failed relationship leads her to an unforgettable interview with the matchmaking service. Blaze Snow was a ladies' man. He’d never had any trouble finding a woman, but keeping her was a different story. When his best friend signs up for a matchmaking service, he goes for moral support but ends up in an interview of his own. Neither of them expects to gain much from the service, but when they meet at the alter a few weeks later, they are forced to come to terms with feelings neither of them were prepared to reveal.

Kachelle Lewis is tired of waiting for love. As a successful pediatric orthodontist, she has everything else going for herself, but the one thing she desires most seems to be just out of reach. Coming home to an empty home has gotten old, and Kachelle longs for companionship. After dating every wrong man, she’s decided to put the fate of her love into the hands of Arranged Hearts, a professional matchmaking service, but there is a catch. While she’ll be paired with what she hopes is the man of her dreams, she will know nothing about him until she meets him at the altar.

In the wake of a devastating teen pregnancy that left her childless and heartbroken, Vashti Alcindor left Catalina Cove, Louisiana, with no plans to return. Now, more than a decade later, Vashti reluctantly finds herself back in her hometown after inheriting her aunt’s B and B. Her homecoming gets off to a rocky start when the new sheriff, Sawyer Grisham, pulls her over for speeding, and things go downhill from there.

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.

"We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. Abby and I were fused, you see. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't." Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life.