African Urban

Contentment is a luxury, and for the first time in Amon Black’s life, all the pieces have fallen into place. His role in the Powers family is solid, and he has the woman he can’t live without. Brie Barnes has what most would perceive as the perfect life. Things have always been family first—but this time, she’s the one who’s living the dream. Not only is everyone she cares about happy and healthy, but she’s madly in love. Amon and Brie are meant to be. However, life has a way of challenging even the strongest bonds.

The honeymoon stage for the four couples is over, and Nic is feeling extremely vulnerable due to her current situation. Much to her dismay, she has plenty reason to feel unsafe. The King brothers have enemies coming from every which way, and they're not just after the brothers but their women too. Can the brothers protect their operation, all the while keeping their ladies happy? Or will both worlds collide causing them to lose one?

She won’t quit until she gets justice. He won’t stop until she’s safe. After her brother dies under a cloud of suspicion, Alexis Douglas will do whatever it takes to clear his name. Enlisting the help of TJ Roman proves a double-edged sword. Her brother’s onetime best friend, the...

On the run from the law, Mayhem seeks refuge in a new city. But what he soon discovers is that New Orleans' hustlers are even grimier than the dudes he left dead in Atlanta. Lines are crossed; friends turn into bitter rivals; and the only certainty in Mayhem's life is death and bloodshed, until he stumbles upon Keedy, a diamond in the hood.

Welcome to Detroit, Michigan, home of the grittiest, illest, most hardcore, crime-infested, poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the country. It's sometimes referred to as the Murder Capital because of the huge murder rate that never ceases to surprise us, the Murder Mitten, or the Dirty Glove because of the state's shape on the US map.

There's more to 24-year-old Sdia Mitchell than looks. This native Washingtonian has brains and brawn to match, but not without baggage. She was sexually abused as a child, which is more than a load for this beauty to carry. Just when Sdia begins to find peace and self-acceptance, along comes Mel Simmons, a handsome, fast-talking, womanizing barbershop owner from South Jersey. He not only takes pride in the control he has over his career, but, also in the control he has over his women. Soon Sdia finds herself struggling to escape Mel's demands, obsession, and narcissistic rage.

Tanisha Hopkins, aka Tiny, dreams of living the glamorous life by any means necessary. A bona fide, certified, authentic material girl in every sense of the description, Tiny is Feenin' to live life fast and furious and has found the perfect man to make all her dreams a reality. But everything that glitters isn't always gold. Meeting her match, Roscoe proves to be a disaster in the making. A hustler with a dream, a scheme, and his hand in the mix of everything. Tiny quickly learns why many people not only despise Roscoe, but fear him, too.

Best-selling author La Jill Hunt dishes the dirt in Old Habits Die Hard. Hunt focuses her attention on the fine ladies of the premier nail salon After Effex. Ya Ya, Camille, Taryn, and Monya bring the crazy drama as their love lives go for a rollercoaster ride.

James Parks's thriving bloodline, Ashley and Alex Black, have transitioned back to Baltimore living, and the drama they thought was over continues to plague them. It seems like chaos and drama is hardwired in their DNA. Ashley is hard at work in her career and is enjoying her new life, but an old flame comes back into the picture and wants to play for keeps. Throw in her boyfriend, Braxton, with his own secrets, and the drama explodes.

They say a good man is hard to find. Kardell Spencer and Lewis Turner know this all too well. Neither is lucky in love. Kardell Spencer is a hard-working, successful advertising company owner who has a no nonsense approach to work and professionalism. Lewis Turner is Kardell's flamboyant, over-the-top employee. They are polar opposites. Lewis speaks how he feels. Sometimes the things he says are so shocking that they leave people around him gasping for air.

Kalif is everything his adoptive family wanted him not to be: treacherous, conniving, and coldhearted. As much as he wishes to please them, he can't deny who and what he is destined to be. The hot-tempered young man is indeed his father's son. While off his meds, Kalif discovers the circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of his birth parents. In a matter of seconds, he totally snaps, ignoring the possible consequences.

When Desiree Johnson receives an unexpected call from her brother, Ernest, Jr., about their father, she and her 16-year-old son, Tyree, pack up and rush to her family's summer home in Idlewild. Desiree hasn't been to Michigan in over 17 years, but when her family calls, she feels she has no choice but to answer. As the summer heats up, Desiree struggles to balance the joy of returning to the community that shaped her childhood with the overwhelming memories of the love and pain she suffered the last summer she spent there,

People who were once deemed loyal have now turned their backs and shown their true colors. The competition has elevated to a deadly level, and now, it's everybody for themselves. The saying "blood is thicker than water" has not been proven true with the Valentine brothers...who are still at war with each other.

In Making the Second Ghetto, Arnold Hirsch argues that in the post-depression years Chicago was a "pioneer in developing concepts and devices" for housing segregation. Hirsch shows that the legal framework for the national urban renewal effort was forged in the heat generated by the racial struggles waged on Chicago's South Side.

Author Thomas Healy resurrects a forgotten saga of race, capitalism, and the struggle for equality in this fascinating, forgotten story of the 1970s attempt to build a city dedicated to racial equality in the heart of “Klan Country”.

Renee is queen of the city and runs it with an iron fist, but everything changes when people from her past resurface to seek revenge. They will stop at nothing until she's dead. Molested by her stepfather and verbally abused by her mother, Renee channeled her pain into passion and became the most ruthless queen-pin New York has ever seen. Haunted by her past and unable to let go of what was, she struggles to achieve inner peace while inflicting mayhem on the streets of New York.

Jada and Dolla were the ideal couple. Through thick and thin, Jada was a ride-or-die companion for her street hustla, Dolla. She fought everyone and everything off - foes, obstacles, and side chicks. Jada was a straight shooter and a force to be reckoned with. She loved her man, family, and crew with all of her might...and then her world came tumbling down. Being the typical man, Dolla ruined their relationship with one unprotected act. Now, Dolla is a single father of twins, and Jada is alone, after nearly 10 years of faithfully standing by Dolla’s side.

Sand Cove is a beautiful secret haven tucked away from the city, entirely off-limits to everyone except for its residents. Sand Cove seems like the picture-perfect place to live, but when Luca Moretti is found dead in his home, FBI agents Tyler and Stanton expose the residents' deepest secrets to find his killer.

Life couldn't get better for the Crescent Crew. With an exclusive Mexican pipeline, they've got the Southern drug trade on lock. Former founder Qwess is leveraging rap superstardom to break the music industry's commercial stranglehold. And former leader Reece is fresh off a five-year prison bid - and out to forever secure the Crew's dominance. But as Reece is working a brutal vendetta, a Crew mutiny will drag him back into all-out street war. Now, between the ambitious young Crew and ruthless OG Reece, only one can live to reign....

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE A blazingly original story collection about the interconnected lives of the residents of a public housing project on the South Side of Chicago “The residents and their buoyant dreams are documented, celebrated, honored. I bow to this writer...