Urban African American

Ananda is on her way to the top. A frail heart and mistrust of men once took her soul to the bottom. Her sassy personality is how she forges her way through life and remains in control. Until she meets the man most women's dreams are made of. Ananda can't believe she'll finally get a happily ever after - until a tawdry secret reveal splits her world in two and forces her to realize that dreams are for children, and she is a grown woman now.

On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers?

Lyfe Simmons is on top of the world. He has an empire that has been growing bigger every day, a group of friends who would die for each other, and a wife who is down for whatever. What could he possibly be missing? He has basically anything he could ever want right at his fingertips, but he doesn’t have the one thing he wants most: the woman he fell in love with and hasn’t stopped loving since he first laid eyes on her. With so many obstacles and bitter people in the way, can love really conquer all?

This national best-seller chronicles the true story of two brothers coming of age in the Henry Horner public housing complex in Chicago. Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers are 11 and nine years old when the story begins in the summer of 1987. Living with their mother and six siblings, they struggle against grinding poverty, gun violence, gang influences, overzealous police officers, and overburdened and neglectful bureaucracies. Immersed in their lives for two years, Kotlowitz brings us this classic rendering of growing up poor in America’s cities.

Secrets are revealed in more ways than one. The truth always has a way of revealing itself. What happens when everyone is hiding something from the other? When relationships and bonds are tested in more ways than one. Will these relationships end before they could fully start?

The year is 1978. The Duncan brothers and their tough-as-nails women have vanquished their rivals and taken their place as the leaders of Waycross, Georgia's criminal enterprises. However, their rise to power has not gone unnoticed, and the family is rocked when their mother, Miss Bettie, is kidnapped and her body is found in a swamp. No one knows who the killers are, but instead of drawing closer, the family is split when their grief-stricken leader, LC, is offered membership in the South's most powerful black organization, the Council.

Peace. That's what Synovi now had and cherished more than anything. Free from all the disturbances his chaotic life once ensued, he wanted nothing more than to keep it that way. With a thriving business and relationship, almost nothing could take him back to that dark place of no love. His Love didn't reside there. His world is still hers, and she is still his. Without warning, Torin inserted herself into Synovi's life and remained. She's the person he can run to when everything begins to fade, but there's a price to pay when you have a good heart.

Detroit hustlers Free and Six have been together seven years, but their relationship has been nothing but drama. Free hasn't been faithful, and Six has taken out her hurt by physically hurting the other women. Free ends up in jail for three years, and when he's sprung, he's not happy to learn that Six has been living the high life on his dime and has blown through $100,000! Then Six gets entangled in one of Free's schemes and finds herself in a role almost too good to be true.

They say when it comes to hood love it’s double or nothing and all is fair when it comes to the streets. Although it may not show up in a fairytale fashion, love shows up when you least expect it. After dealing with a heartbreak, Jania learns the hard way until an unexpected love drops in her lap during one of the most fearful nights of her life. Jania would do anything to get her ex off of her mind just for something to do until she realizes just how official her new love interest proves to be.

It was the night before his wedding, 15 years ago, when the nightmare began for Jay Crawford - locked up for a crime he never committed. Now he's escaped prison and wants nothing more than to clear his name and protect his family. To get justice,he'll need the help of the three best friends who have always had his back - Wil, Kyle, and Allan. But a man on the run requires absolute trust...and Jay may just be setting himself up for the ultimate betrayal.

What happens when a double-crossed female goes to the greatest of all possible extremes to get her revenge? Absolute mayhem! This is a mind twisting, unpredictable, romantic nail biter from the same veins that brought you A Love Story and Bankroll Squad! The twists in this book are guaranteed to blow you away, all the way to the last paragraph.

It's been four years since Monica disrupted the Cinque household, but starting trouble is like riding a bike for Monica, and she's pedaling full steam ahead. The foundation of Jasmine and James Cinque's marriage has been shaky ever since they dared to bring a third person into their union. Now they're trying to repair the damage they've done, to regain trust and repair broken hearts. But with so much drama in their past, it won't be hard for Monica to come in and shake things up a little.

When Snow Wilson graduated from high school, she would have never imagined that such unimaginable deadly circumstances would snatch her off of the campus of the HBCU and land her in the whirlwind of the drug game. Yet, she juggled it all to the best of her ability in order to take care of her brothers, Killion and Prince, and her incarcerated best friend, Bae. She found her strength to push past her pain with the help of Zo, a single father, with the same reason to hustle hard in order to survive.

I was marrying the love of my life, only he didn't see me in the same way. Falling for my fiance hadn't been the plan, but when did things ever go as planned? They were promised to one another before birth. Their marriage will solidify an alliance more than a decade in the making. Neither expected for love to find its way into their hearts well before they said I do. She craved his heart and he was more than willing to give it.

When love leaves 19-year-old Loyalty Wallace with nothing but a pair of bruised ribs, she finds herself with $500,000 in stolen cash from her boyfriend, Whip, and a target on her back. She plans to use that money to escape her toxic relationship, but what she doesn’t know is the money she stole wasn’t his to keep. It was a loan from the Belmonte family, one of the most dangerous families in the heart of the Big Apple.

Mother Doreen has left New Day Temple of Faith in Malvonia, Ohio, and moved to Kentucky to help her diabetic sister. Her sister's husband, a truck driver, pretty much lives on the road. Mother Doreen feels in her spirit that she's needed to intervene on her sister's behalf, especially when the assistant pastor of her sister's church seems to be there just a little bit too much. Her suspicions really grow when her sister's belly does too.

Rhea's neighborhood is fading away—the mom-and-pop shops of her childhood forced out to make space for an artisanal kombucha brewery here, a hot yoga studio there. And everywhere, the feeling that this place is no longer meant for her. Because while their little corner of South L.A. isn't perfect, to Rhea and her two best friends, it's something even more important—it's home. And it's worth protecting. But as more white people flock to their latest edgy, urban paradise, more of Rhea's friends and family are pushed out. Until Rhea decides it's time to push back.

Mama Black Widow tells the tragic story of Otis Tilson, a stunning black drag queen trapped in a cruel queer ghetto underworld. In hopes of escaping the racial bigotry andeconomic injustice of the South, Otis' family journeys north from their plantation to an urban promised land. Once in Chicago, Otis and his siblings become prisoners to a wasteland of violence, crime, prostitution, and rape. This is the gut-wrenching tale of the destruction of a family and the truest portrayal of homosexuality in the ghetto ever told.

After being thought dead, Animal resurfaces on the streets of New York to keep true to his promise and make it rain blood over Harlem. All those who had wronged him would feel his wrath, including Shai Clark, boss of the New York underworld. But touching a man like Shai Clark proves easier said than done. Using Animal's soul mate, Gu­cci, as bait, Shai sets a trap for the young killer.

A notorious self-made millionaire, who made his fortune in the sex trade, breaks out of prison to get revenge against his one-time top girl, Sienna, who set him up and brought his empire down. Known for his ruthlessness, Chatman is hardly ever crossed by anyone, but when and if he is, his wrath is felt. In The Return of Chatman, Chatman is on a murder rampage as he tracks down his nemesis, Sienna, killing anybody who stands between them.