African Urban Fiction

There's a saying in Brooklyn that if you come from my part of town, you're from around the way. Around the Way Girls is a fast-paced look at the life of some street-smart women who think they know it all but are about to get the lessons of their lives.

Amber Halloway is what some would call “forbidden fruit” because she is so stunning. When her father is murdered by the local kingpin’s mob, she uses her beauty to her advantage. Step 1: Infiltrate. With the help of her older brother, Dawg, she gets a job at the biggest strip club in the city to gain the attention of the man responsible for killing her father. Step 2: Make him fall in love. Amber just never anticipated that he would be so charming. Step 3: Rob him blind and deliver the same fate as he did her father.

In this urban take on Cinderella, Briella is trying to find her way in the world. She is dealing with her cruel stepmother who forces her to work in a brothel, being a slave to her stepsisters and trying to keep her grades up...Prince has always been a gentleman, even though he was raised by a kingpin. When he meets Briella something else ignited inside of him. He instantly knows he must do whatever he can to protect her, especially from her stepmother who is the core of Briella's rough life.

Keema is back, and dirtier than ever. After oddly maneuvering her way out of the blood bath she left behind in Arizona, Keema is up to her old tricks again. Between sex, greed, and murder, it’s almost impossible to escape from the hood life she’s grown accustomed to. From one scam to the next, she finally comes up with a new hustle that rains money and is sure to give her the riches she thinks she deserves. That is until someone from her past emerges, sending her into mental shock. The stakes become high as Keema fights for her life, still with her mind on her money.

Left for dead, Tilo’s lover, Victória Mendoza, now wants revenge on the woman who broke her family...and her heart. Victória is ready to avenge the deaths of her family members - especially her brother. And she’s bent on destroying the woman who destroyed the Mendozas. As a new mother, she sees things a little differently, and she wants to make a good life for Moses and their daughter. But Tilo is still a complication. Private Detective Moses got played by Tilo, and he wants to settle that score.

Cashmere and Demarco are married, own three hair salons, and have a big house in Inglewood, CA, with their timid 13-year-old daughter, Dominique, but things are far from perfect or even normal. Demarco holds deep resentment toward Cashmere and wants out of the marriage. His anger toward his wife makes him unable to have a close relationship with Dominique, who looks for a father’s love elsewhere.

Ebony, Phoenix, and Joi are three 30-somethings with some serious man problems!

Three years ago, Shimone Johnson found herself struggling with being pregnant and barely out of high school. Now she is a senior in college and majoring in music. Her three-year-old daughter, Ebony, is now her life, and she hardly has any free time to do as she pleases, but Shimone wouldn’t trade her decision to keep her daughter for anything in the word. But it seems that her boyfriend, Marques Anderson, would.

Meet the members of the Love, Joy, Peace, and Deliverance Community Choir, a group of young adults joined together through their passion for singing the Lord’s praises - although their hearts are far from the things of God. Patrice Russell was raised in the church, but she is hell bent on living like the devil, not even trying to get help for the sex addiction she knows she has. Lorene McCall has been Patrice's best friend since childhood. When she's not singing, Lorene is cussin' like a sailor.

Killing her grandmother was a choice Helena Hunter made all by herself, but she wasn't thinking about the consequences of her actions when she pulled the trigger. Back home after eight years in prison, she finds that the little girl she left behind is now a teenage stranger who thinks her mother might be a monster. The family members who labeled her the black sheep want her to forget the fact that they all played a part in her downfall. And the wonder of being free again is overshadowed by the fear of a future filled with uncertainty.

Charity Evans and Lynzee Lavender haven’t always had the best relationship - for the most part thanks to them being writers. But while Lynzee is the wealthy, successful New York Times best-selling author of science fiction books, Charity is just squeaking by. Why is her publisher suddenly reluctant to renew her contract? Charity suspects the worst: Her own sister has had her blacklisted! The rivalry goes into overdrive when Lynzee reveals that the father of the child she gave up years ago is...Charity’s husband!

In a gritty and cautionary tale, a former drug dealer must deal with ghosts from his past when he's reunited with one of his best customers. Smoke used to supply Breanne with crack so she could block out an existence she couldn't escape from, and he was hungry enough to take anything she had to offer in exchange for his magic rocks. Fast-forward 16 years and Breanne is back to tell him he is the father of her 16 -year-old son.

Kayla “Bossy” Ticker is a bona fide product of the streets, spending her time on the grind and settling scores. Years after forming alliances with a couple of the city’s most notorious gangsters, she creates a formula to cook cocaine with a potency most dealers would pay top dollar to get their hands on.

Desire Jones is a young, hot-to-trot teen who lives life on the edge. Abandoned by her mother, she yearns for love and attention. Her uncle shelters her, but life is impossible to bear with his abusive wife. To make things worse, she gets involved with Malik, who shatters her hope and trust by leaving her pregnant and infected with HIV. Hurt and hardened, she decides to do the unspeakable - purposely infect people with her disease. Of course, no one knows of her intent, not even her best friend Jennifer, who unwittingly helps Desire find her victims.

Amina “Mimi” Washington was born in poverty and raised on the south side of New Orleans to parents who were not capable of raising a child. From a very young age, she has had to fend for herself. Young Mimi wants more out of life, and she wants a way out of the ghetto. Fate intervenes on her behalf when she meets one of New Orleans’ biggest dope boys. When she falls in love with the mysterious stranger, everything in her life changes for the better and her future seems brighter. She will soon learn, however, that being a hustler’s wife comes with serious consequences.

Nola wants no part of a relationship with Hot Shot after her family is incarcerated. He has never loved a woman the way he loves Nola, so dealing with that loss on top of the loss of his parents and little brother has Hot Shot on the verge of committing murder. He is determined to get his woman back at all costs, and the streets of Oklahoma City will run red if someone steps to him the wrong way.

Michelle knows being the first lady of Mount Zion Baptist Church is an important and much-coveted position, so she always gives thanks for a dutiful husband and a prosperous life. But she also prays for Darvin to spend more time with her, talking about something other than Mount Zion's affairs. Michelle's faith is further put to the test when the seductive vixen Daphne Carlton arrives on the steps of their church, determined to make Michelle's life a living hell so she can get rid of Michelle and assume her role as the first lady.

It's been a year since the death of Ms. Essie Mae Richardson, the 77-year-old pillar of the Braxton Parks community. Before her untimely demise, Essie's prayers brought redemption to many of her neighborhood's problems, but now the impact of her death and the unfinished business that it left behind is threatening to unravel all that she prayed so hard for God to mend. While Colin Stephens still enjoys a blissful marriage to his wife Angel, unbeknownst to him, she is wrestling with the guilt and regret of never saying goodbye to the woman she loved like a mother.

When it comes to a real friendship, Kayla, Evelyn, and Trina have one last opportunity to get it right. If only for a short period, they appear to be on the same path and willing to put their chaotic past behind them. Evelyn's near-death experience has everyone embracing her, even Kayla's ex-husband Cedric, who uses his wealth and power to get whatever his heart desires.

Jaylin Jerome Rogers, an investment broker worth millions, lives a high-class life with plenty of women to share it with. Nestled in his lavishing home in Chesterfield, Missouri, he captures women with his wealth, charm, nine-plus inches of goodness, and amazingly good looks. Although his bed is never empty, his heart is. He feels nothing for the women who love him dearly and continues his search for the "perfect" one. When Scorpio Valentino, an attractive, seductive, and charming woman saunters into his view, she offers Jaylin a life of altering changes.