African American Literature Fiction

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.

Desire raises the stakes - and the danger. This collection includes Desperate Housewife, Sinful, and L.A. Confidential.

Ifemelu—beautiful, self-assured—left Nigeria 15 years ago, and now studies in Princeton as a Graduate Fellow. She seems to have fulfilled every immigrant's dream: Ivy League education; success as a writer of a wildly popular political blog; money for the things she needs. But what came before is more like a nightmare: wrenching departure from family; humiliating jobs under a false name. She feels for the first time the weight of something she didn't think about back home: race.

Trudy Bell needs to do something to spice up her life and hopes that her new job with the Bon Voyage Travel Agency will do the trick. But envy for her boss' glamorous lifestyle turns into a downward spiral that could end up costing her more than just her job.

Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by society and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters to God. The letters, spanning 20 years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women.

A star athlete and Olympic prospect, Kal Carter is bound for greatness. Everyone says it, only he's not sure he entirely believes it. Because he's lost something he can't replace, and most days he feels like he's holding up the sky; and doing it all on his own. To maintain focus, he never lets anyone close except in the most superficial ways, and he's become very good at it. Until a long, cold week when the solitary girl next door who never speaks, smiles, or makes eye contact barges into his life and seems poised to upend the whole doggone thing.

Jonas, the only boy in a family of four children, has always been a fighter. From the neighborhood bullies to the stepfather who uses him and his siblings as punching bags, his life has always been one battle after another. When he crosses paths with rogue homicide detective Louis "Lou" Ceavers, he's offered a bargain that will change the course of his life. Detective Ceavers becomes like a guardian angel and surrogate father to Jonas, teaching him the game and guiding him in his quest for power.

For Evan Murdoch, the bad news just won't stop. As he battles an attempted murder charge, he's on the verge of getting forced out of the family corporation - and fears he can't trust his new wife, Lelia. Enter savvy family matriarch Ida, whose wild-card schemes might be the answer to his prayers - or lead to disaster like he's never seen.

Carmen has gotten her wish. Renee is no longer queen. Being stripped of her title and the power that comes with it, Renee must start from scratch and rebuild what she once controlled. Having turned their backs on one another, Renee's once strong circle is now dismantled, and each individual is after what ripped them apart - Carmen. Carmen's making it hard for them to capture her and doing whatever she must to survive. Renee wants revenge along with everyone else, but will she achieve it, or will she die in battle without the help of Julian and Dane?

In this compelling urban tale, Karim Spencer becomes a successful businessman - despite being raised by a bootlegger in a bad section of town. His sister is a down-on-her-luck stripper with a gangsta-wannabe son, and his despondent brother is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit.

A Charleston belle with slavery on her conscience. A slave with rebellion in her heart. In South Carolina in 1858, no friendship could be more dangerous.

During the civil rights movement, the state of Mississippi created an elaborate spy network. Its mission was to preserve segregation by any means necessary—including voter interference, sponsorship of white supremacy groups, and even murder.

The stark grief of a brother mourning a brother opens this novel with a stunning, unforgettable experience. Here, in a monumental saga of love and rage, Baldwin goes back to Harlem, to the church of his groundbreaking novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, to the homosexual passion of Giovanni's Room, and to the political fire that inflames his nonfiction work.

The beloved #1 Essence best-selling authors of Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made now deliver a novel in which you'll meet their most unforgettable characters yet. Carmen, Jewel, and Regina could not be more different. When they meet as freshmen at Columbia University, they're pretty confident that a friendship among them isn't in the cards.

From the outside looking in, the residents of Sand Cove are perfect, but their countless secrets and lies are under the guise of expensive perfumes and honey-sweet smiles. Summer has come around again, yet it doesn't feel like summer. The sky isn't blazed in blue, and the sun isn't a celebration of oranges and yellows. It has been eight months since Luca Moretti's murder, and Agent Tyler must deal with the fact that Luca's murder may never be solved.

Patricia Haley’s inspirational series following the drama-filled Mitchell family shot her to the number-one spot on the Essence best-seller list. Anointed transports listeners back to the saga’s beginning, when Dave and Madeline Mitchell were still married, raising a family, and building a million-dollar business. Then Dave hires a pretty young assistant named Sherry Henderson, and temptation gives way to desire - setting events in motion that will haunt the Mitchell clan for decades to come.

Max Reddick, a novelist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter, has spent his career struggling against the riptide of race in America. Now terminally ill, he has nothing left to lose. An expat for many years, Max returns to Europe one last time to settle an old debt with his estranged Dutch wife, Margrit, and to attend the Paris funeral of his friend, rival, and mentor Harry Ames, a character loosely modelled on Richard Wright.

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.

The Black household is swiftly deteriorating. Frustrated and angry at her prosperous preacher husband's obvious infidelities, Tanya cannot believe the man she once loved has been replaced by this pathological liar obsessed with material wealth.

New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe takes you on the ultimate twist-filled ride with her Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart series. For two restless women looking for satisfaction, too much of a good thing is never enough - even as a lethal passion closes in. Best friends Lola Poole and Joan Proctor-Riley have finally found the love and excitement they've always longed for. Online-dating an endless line of wealthy, no-strings-attached lovers is the perfect escape from their unfulfilling lives.