Contemporary African American Fiction

To keep their family ties strong, the five Reeves sisters meet regularly to give each other a reality check. But explosive family secrets begin to pour out like molten lava and forever change all they treasure most.

Tressie faithfully prayed every night that God would send her a thug. It wasn't long before her prayers were answered and she met a handsome ex-convict named Payce Boyd. Payce is a fine roughneck and everything Tressie ever imagined and more. That is until Tressie experiences firsthand the reality of being a thug's girl. Seeking solace and comfort in the sanctuary, Tressie soon learns valuable lessons and shocking truths about herself and others.

Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the deal… Even a famed matchmaker like Nolan Madaris’s great-grandmother can’t get it right every time. Nolan, the notorious fun-loving ladies’ man, could never connect with someone as straitlaced as tech whiz Ivy Chapman. Yet the scheme Ivy proposes is tempting - they can pretend to be a couple, just long enough to satisfy their families. But someone forgot to clue in their hearts. What happens, though, when Ivy’s plan to get her relatives off her back has an unexpected side effect: getting her into Nolan’s bed?

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.

Baby Girl McCoy was given her name when her mother couldn’t even be bothered to give her another one in the hospital after she gave birth. Baby Girl was the product of rape, and she spends her life in a quest for a father figure. Never in a million years did she imagine that she’d find it in the man that she does.

Meeting Porter may be the best thing that ever happened to Winona Fairchild, besides the births of her two beautiful children. But as much as Porter wants to get married, Winona has good reason not to get too close to anyone, no matter how right it may seem. Despite a threat from the past that comes back to haunt him, Porter is willing to stand his ground. But when Winona's long-time secret is revealed to her kids, someone will have to pay.

Essence best-selling novelist Anita Diggs explores Hercsville, Long Island, an African American town where everyone aspires to be rich and beautiful, and where the hunger for sex, power, and money becomes insatiable. Denzel's Lips follows a tumultuous series of events surrounding four women whose lives are destined to become irrevocably entangled.

When Miriam's fireman husband, Chauncey, dies while rescuing students from a school fire, Miriam feels like her life is over. How is she going to raise her three children all by herself? How will she survive without the love of her life? Luckily, Miriam's sister-friend Emily and Emily's husband, Jamal, are there to comfort her. But all the time that Miriam and Jamal spend together - grieving, sharing, and reminiscing - brings the two closer in ways they never planned...

Solomon Stein has dreams of success in the music industry. At the breakout of his music career, he is bought into the fold of Detroit-based, One By One Records (IXI), the hottest hip-hop label in the country. But the deeper Sal gets into the world of IXI, he realizes everything that glitters isn't gold. Pushy corporate reps who want to steal his house, his growing feelings for a mysterious industry executive, and obscure messages hidden in plain sight are making it impossible to know what to believe.

The small town of Belle Haven, Louisiana, is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill, and its residents will do whatever it takes to get it back on its feet. So when local English teacher Carissa Melody Wayne is asked to appear on the weight-loss reality show Losing to Win, she agrees. She doesn't realize that others from her past will be joining her, including her high school nemesis, an acquaintance who's been nursing a long-time crush on her - and most shocking of all, Carissa's ex-fiancé...

No one is going to tear down the farmland that's been in Crystal's family since the turn of the 20th century - especially not the multimillion dollar suits behind Welco Industries. And until Welco's president meets with her, Crystal wages a fiery one-woman protest to prove she means business. When he finally appears, Douglas Wellington III is far from the elderly curmudgeon she expected. Crystal issues a challenge: spend one week on the land he wants to destroy. He agrees, if only to be alone with her.

In Married But Still Looking, a handsome young bachelor struggles to give up his appetite for casual sex when he finally proposes to the woman of his dreams.

Layover is the story of a young, attractive real estate broker stuck in a loveless marriage who falls for her brother-in-law after experiencing a layover in his home city. Nya is a stunning go-getter who refused to be a jumpoff to an NBA mega-star. She cashed in his lavish gifts and started her own real estate company. Soon, she met the man of her dreams - or so she thought. Her handsome husband Kenny turned out to be a selfish bully who cared more about appearances than people. Nya sets off on a business trip that would breathe new life into her struggling company.

When Dwight Wilson is offered a big promotion, the wrinkle is he must move from Florida to Maryland. Although Dwight accepts the job, his wife Tracey decides to remain in their new Florida home. Try as they might, their relationship ends in divorce, and Dwight eventually marries co-worker Alicia Dixon. And that’s when Tracey comes back into the picture—with some rather surprising news.

How was Locksie supposed to tell her boyfriend that she had gone off to church and fallen in love with another man? Locksie grew up in the church - against her will - thanks to her holier than thou mother. But now that she's all grown-up, she's her own woman and church is the last thing on her mind; her live-in boyfriend, Dawson, is the first. When Locksie finally decides to go back to church, she ends up finding more than she could have ever expected.

Spade Spencer's life seems to be coming together. He's engaged to be married to the love of his life, Bria Murray, and he's an up and coming rapper who recently signed a major record deal. When Spade gets diagnosed with cancer, rather than lean on his fiancee for strength, he calls off the wedding, leaving Bria feeling alone and rejected. In an effort to move on with her life, Bria pours her energy into running her new company, The Spa Factory. Kerryngton Kruse, CEO of the record label that signed Spade, begins to pursue Bria romantically.

Dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s affair has not been easy for Sylvia Blackwell. When she vowed to stay by his side for better or for worse, she never imagined that would mean becoming a parent to Jordan, his troubled teenaged love child. Now, Sylvia is facing a new dilemma that could not only be the final straw that breaks her fragile marriage, but could also shatter her already strained relationship with her sister, Janelle.

Tiffanie has lived a sheltered life in a very strict household with her pastor grandfather and her grandmother in Washington, DC. But when she meets Damon, she falls for the successful entertainment businessman despite his history as a drug dealer. Everyone sees a bright future for the couple - yet when Tiffanie meets Trey, her lustful feelings leave her confused just days before her wedding....

Only one thing stands between Frank Mason and his $20-million inheritance - a wife. When he finds Lisa, he doesn't waste any time marrying her, but their fairy-tale romance is not built to last. Lisa's infidelity doesn't go unnoticed, but Frank has his reasons for maintaining his silence - until he uncovers some new information about his Stepford wife that lands him in jail. Only then does their picture-perfect life start to unravel, dragging every last skeleton out of his closet.

In this gripping tale of street love, drugs, lies, and murder, many will not make it out alive, some will find love in a hopeless place, while others get caught in the crossfire. Dive into the life of women who deserve more and find out what it's like to date the plug next door.