Urban African American

Jewel used to be content with being a ride or die chick, playing Bonnie while the men in her life played Clyde. But now she realizes that it was her connections and street smarts that helped her man, Calico, rise to the top, and Jewel wants to be the one in control. She's tired of taking orders from men. She's willing to do anything to be queen of the streets, but when a deal she makes with the enemy comes back to haunt her, her dream is turned into a nightmare. Hopeless and struggling to keep her head above water, Jewel meets Misty, who seems to be her savior.

Veteran authors Ashley and JaQuavis offer up their first solo efforts, and they're hotter than ever! Along with Ayana Ellis, they introduce listeners to some "real sistas" who know how to get what they want at all costs. For these women, if it's dangerous it just means the payout will be that much sweeter.

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.

Meet Ceazia, a very attractive, very good girl who has just left the safety of her parents' home and entered into the world of bad boys and fast money. Ceazia thinks the world belongs to her when she meets Vegas, one of the Tidewater, Virginia, area's most notorious drug dealers. Even though a relationship with Vegas goes against everything her parents taught her, she still can't resist his bad boy persona.

In the early 1990s, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his brother, Terry "Southwest T", rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. They socialized with music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, did business with New York's king of bling Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members struck fear in a city.

Drama Queen features Kayla Hopkins, a woman who finds herself in a complicated situation. Kayla is in love with a man, but the matter is complicated by the fact that the man she's in love with isn't the father of her unborn baby. Now she's got some serious juggling to do before all her hopes for the future come crashing down.

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.

A crippled economy changes Lola Jones' silver-spoon status to copper. Only one thing can save Lola's children from the claws of poverty, and that comes in the form of a million-dollar life insurance policy. It is, however, just a useless piece of paper unless she's dead. Lola vows to make the ultimate sacrifice for her children's well-being. There are two problems - she doesn't have the guts to kill herself, and her insurance doesn't pay out on suicides. Lola turns to Blase, a desensitized hit man with a "no turning back" policy, to execute her murder.

Jewel climbed up the heap to become queen of the streets, diva of all divas. But now that she's expecting a baby, she's concerned about just one thing - giving her child a good life, away from the guns, the drugs, and the lies. However, that also means a life away from the glitz and glam that Jewel still craves, and she's not quite ready to give it all up...not until she's back on top. Flat broke and miles away from her fugitive baby daddy, Jewel will have to put every bit of her street savvy, as well as her sharp business skills, into action to gain back her place and her power.

Brooklyn Johnson had it all - money, jewels, designer clothes, a successful modeling career, and men falling at her feet. Now she's struggling to keep up the facade. When life was good, she wasn't always good to those around her. Even as she developed a drug addiction and struggled to maintain her sanity, she never felt she needed anyone. Now that an illness has turned her life upside down, she finds herself having to make amends with all the people she's wronged.

After they are in a car accident together, video vixen Paisley Lawrence and gospel singer Warren Cobb are mobbed by media speculation. And if that’s not enough, Warren’s wife has a few questions of her own. With rumors flying and speculation rampant, these two must straighten out their stories before tempers get out of control.

Sisters from Trinidad, Violet and Lily have never had much in common. Stunning Lily arrives undocumented in New York and makes her way as a stripper. But Harvard-educated Violet is this close to the perfect assimilated life, thanks to a prestigious job, and her rich bougie fiance.... Until she's wrongly accused of helping a notorious strip-club mogul embezzle millions of his workers' earnings. Violet loses everything - except the determination to get her life back. Now Violet's on his track with the help of his vengeful ex-wife and the Lower East Side Women's Health Clinic's resourceful crew - which includes Lily.

Trayce is an Internet entrepreneur in Chicago, and she has moved on. Solomon never moved away. Janet, head cheerleader and homecoming queen, fell from grace after graduation. Karim, the handsome and successful New York music video director who is on everyone's lips, wasn't always like that. Ten years ago, he was bullied and ridiculed by the Crew, the most popular clique in school. At their 10-year class reunion, how will these four handle it? And what are their motives?

Gutta Mamis includes four novellas featuring cold-hearted women who get ahead in America's grimiest underworld: "Twisted Loyalty" by Kai, "Three the Hard Way" by C. J. Hudson, "The Face of Death" by Brandie Davis, and "Chasers" by N'Tyse.

Derrick. Ricky. Jamal. One's responsible; one's still a player; one's upwardly-mobile. Sentenced to the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute at 12, they grabbed the chance for better futures. They beat the odds and turned their lives around. But now, these three best friends will go head-to-head with ambition, deception - and each other.

Several years have passed, but Sylvia McMillan still can’t run and hide from the truth that continues to tear at her soul. Her love for Jonathan Taylor, her ex-friend’s husband, remains. Jonathan has moved on, though. In less than six months, he plans to watch his new bride cascade down the aisle as they join hands in holy matrimony. He’s not about to let Sylvia’s slickness derail him again - but then again, how can he resist the one woman who is willing to honor every single one of his wishes?

What if you were raised to be a hooker and, worst of all, your father was your pimp? In "Keepin' It in the Family", this isn't just a nightmare for the Collins daughters, this is reality. Raised without the guidance of their mother, Diamond, Essence, and Chanel were forced onto the streets at a very young age. They were expected to make that money by any means necessary or face the wrath of their daddy, Dallas Collins. Can the girls band together to free themselves from Dallas?

When Candice "Candy" Hardaway, the daughter of deceased New York drug kingpin Eric "Easy" Hardaway, set out to get revenge on the people who killed her entire family, she positioned herself knee-deep in the game. While getting close to her father's alleged enemies, Candy uncovered some long-buried secrets that were never meant for her to find out. These secrets also destroyed the only family member she had left - her Uncle Rock.

In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman examines the revolution of black intimate life that unfolded in Philadelphia and New York at the beginning of the 20th century. Free love, common-law and transient marriages, queer relations, and single motherhood were among the sweeping changes that altered the character of everyday life and challenged traditional Victorian beliefs about courtship, love, and marriage.

Let That Be the Reason begins when a drug dealer abandons his girlfriend, Pamela Xavier, leaving her with nothing but a stack of bills, an empty refrigerator, and an impending eviction notice. Backed into a corner and with no prospects in sight, Pamela decides to get her hustle on. Transforming herself into Carmen, she learns to deal with the streets, the playas, the drug lords - and, of course, the law - by any means necessary. In no time, she is running a call girl service, a fencing operation, and a drug cartel, all while still being a mom.