Contemporary African American Fiction

Beautiful disaster. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of her. Who hurt you? The first question comes to mind when I open my mouth to greet her. Although it wasn't the easiest to reach, I knew her heart was pure. Gentle to the touch yet stubborn as a bull, she made it hard to resist her. Unintentionally, she sank her hooks in me. She was the calm before my storm. A thunderous, darkening storm with lightning that graciously exposed the paternity of my brother and me. Though the gloom of it all lingered above both our heads.

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY DWIGHT GARNER, THE NEW YORK TIMES NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle | NPR | The Root | The Telegraph | The Globe and Mail NATIONAL BESTSELLER FINALIST, PHILLIS WHEATLEY BOOK AWARD TEJU COLE WAS NAMED...

For fans of Ashley Herring Blake’s Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and Chencia C. Higgins' D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding comes an utterly charming and queerly irresistible romantic comedy…where all’s fair in love and bowling. This is how love rolls… For teacher Ava Williams, some...

ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S 10 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF 2025 A clever and hilarious new mystery about a mother who thinks she has to do it all—even solve a murder—from the author of It's Elementary After rage quitting her job, Mavis finally has time to get all the rest she’s been putting...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book This fiery and provocative novel from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner weaves a tale about the way the sufferings of childhood can shape, and misshape, the life of the adult. “Powerful.... A tale that is as forceful as it is affecting...

Tori’s afraid, but putting forth her toughest exterior to forge ahead with the mess she’s made. And Ashton? Well, he’s confused and angry. It’s his last semester, one that had been planned meticulously by himself and others well before she even knew what a Panther was. Will Tori can fight her way out of the quandary she’s created at BSU? Will Ashton’s well-planned future be derailed by the new underdog-turned-"banger" on campus?

Best friends? With a celebrity? Impossible. That's how Sesali feels after a chance encounter with super producer Dash Dean. His offer of friendship has to be a smoke screen for an ulterior motive. Besides, she already has best friends, and one of them has staked a claim on Dash.

One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award One of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize “A triumph.”—New York Magazine From one of the most celebrated new voices in...

Kenya has mastered the art of keeping people at a distance. After a painful betrayal, she's convinced love is nothing more than a weakness she can't afford. Sanchez, however, is a man who knows exactly what he wants—power, legacy, and a love that can stand the test of time. Their connection is undeniable, but Kenya is determined to fight it, unwilling to risk her heart again. Sanchez, steady and relentless, refuses to play by her rules. He challenges her, breaks down her walls piece by piece, but never loses himself in the process.

A struggling event planner and a sinfully hot astronaut must decide if their fake relationship is worth a shot at happily-ever-after, in this starry debut. Risk-averse event planner Amerie Price is jobless, newly single, and about to lose her apartment. With no choice but to gamble on her shaky...

In every sense of the word, Santiago Acevedo is a boss. Men respect and fear him, and women worship and desire him. But not all is well within the Acevedo family. Santiago learns of his wife Melanie's affair from his second in command, Basim. Murder then becomes his motive, and every move he makes thereafter proves detrimental to his precious daughter, Eva; his troubled son, Tariq; and his moneymaking empire.

Affairs of the heart can be lethal in this sensual, action packed novel from New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey. As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger, but nowhere does he feel it more than in his tangled romances. Divorced from one woman, in love with...

Audrielle Freeman hasn't really been dealt a fair hand when it comes to love. After having her heart broken for the last time, she decides to take a breather from relationships and focus on the thriving shoe store she owns with her sister, Ariana. Cairo Broussard isn't looking for love, but at the same time, he's open for it to happen if it comes. He never thought in a million years that he'd practically fall in love at first sight after walking into the custom shoe store one of his players told him about.

Pregnant by a man she learned wasn't who she thought he was and starting a new career, she's forced to step up and show everyone around her she's more than the hothead, feisty, girl they believe her to be.

Xiomara's bad and she knows it. She's not only a cute face; she's working on her degree as well. Left with scars from her past, she's only focused on her money and building her brand. After encountering Jrue in the club, she's offered a job that unknowingly changes things for her, causing her to look at her choices differently.

An electrifying first novel that shocks by its language, its circumstances, and its brutal honesty, Push recounts a young black street-girl's horrendous and redemptive journey through a Harlem inferno. For Precious Jones, 16 and pregnant with her father's child, miraculous hope appears and the...

Hearts are broken and healed. Scars, both physical and emotional, are formed. Happiness is found, then lost, then found again. Over the course of a year, these sisters face shattering blows and remarkable triumphs as they embark on a journey, figuring out that pesky little thing called love.

“If you enjoyed An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, read The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls...an absorbing commentary on love, family and forgiveness.”—The Washington Post “A fast-paced, intriguing story...the novel’s real achievement is its uncommon perceptiveness on...

Sugar arrives in the small town of Bigelow, Arkansas, like an ominous storm. She saunters down the street in a blonde wig and spiked heels, cigarette dangling between red-painted lips. Without even speaking to her, the women in town hate her. But when she moves in next door to Pearl, a woman who tragically lost her daughter 15 years earlier, the two women bond over tragic pasts.

"Through a lively, engaging performance, Miles shows the dynamic between shy and reserved Bee and her spirited childhood friend, Awilda." —AudioFile Magazine Bea and Awilda have been best friends from the moment Awilda threw her fourteen year-old self across Bea’s twin-sized bed as if they...