Contemporary African American Fiction

A menace, I was, the duration of my life. Unsure of what was next, who was next, or where I was headed next. The only for-sure shit in my world was my paper and my people. The ice around my heart was still intact, never being penetrated or as much as tapped.

Before there was E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey, there was Zane’s Addicted. Once described as “the hottest paperback in the country” by The New York Times and now a major motion picture, this wildly popular novel by the Queen of Erotica follows one woman’s life as it spirals out of...

Siblings Brenda and Brian Andrews think their good looks, money, and charm should afford them the pick of the litter among the abundant singles scene in Atlanta, and they've never been too shy to sample. Unfortunately, all pawns in their single life games aren't playing nicely, nor are they willing to take being manipulated lying down. As though they aren't dealing with enough, the doorway to hidden family secrets is suddenly slung open when their alcoholic, philandering, and often abusive father's body is discovered floating in their parent's pool.

In Something Old, Something New, Lily Fontaine and Trent July are finally planning their wedding. But when well-intentioned neighbors - including Bernadine, the town fairy godmother - insist on inflating the intimate gathering into the event of the decade, Lily and Trent start wishing they'd simply eloped.

Tempting Fate Justice Manning is talked into a lingerie modeling job...and forgets her inhibitions after meeting the sinfully gorgeous photographer, Black Savoy. When the photo shoot turns hot and heavy, the last thing she pictures is that lust might turn to love. The Perfect Seduction College...

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEY’S WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION From Attica Locke, a writer and producer of FOX’s Empire, this sophisticated thriller sees lawyer Jay Porter—hero of her bestseller Black Water Rising—return to fight one last case, only to become embroiled in a dangerous game of...

This fearless debut novel explores racism, injustice, and self-expression through the story of a promising Black football star in Louisiana. The system is rigged. For guys like Russell Boudreaux, football is the only way out of their small town. As the team’s varsity tight end, Rus has a...

When you’re sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on the biggest sporting stage in the world and see the man of your dreams, he’s nothing more than a distraction. But there’s nothing like this type of distraction. And nothing like a little mental motivation to show up and show out when someone has their eyes on you. At least that's what my sister thinks when I meet professional basketball player Devin Grant, a two-week distraction that could turn into forever.

Loving hard doesn’t do anyone any good when the love isn’t reciprocated. If Rondo Simpson could have a do-over in his love life, he would jump at the opportunity. The woman he’s loved for over ten years has committed the ultimate betrayal and has convinced him that love just isn’t in the cards for him. Even attempts at love before her seemed to be one-sided and left him heartbroken. However, unexpectedly, the type of woman he’s been longing for walks into his life when everything is in disarray, stealing his attention from the word go.

Celeste Styles is starting over. After losing her cherished salon in a suspicious fire, she has finally left her adulterous relationship and her drama-filled life in Brooklyn for the peace and tranquility of Atlanta, Georgia. But when Rah-Lo heads down south after deciding to leave his wife Asia, Celeste is floored and isn't quite sure if she wants to rekindle their affair.

The Witch Sphere is in turmoil. In the years since a stunning betrayal sent shockwaves through society, the Sphere was hit with another crisis: witches are giving birth to more typics (non-witches) and their numbers are diminishing. Nadia is determined to help but finds hers efforts at the Witch Health Organization entangled with the political machinations of her powerful mother.

Ava couldn’t believe she’d let her best friend talk her into coming to a mind numbing holiday party on the night before Christmas. As Ava counts the minutes before she can leave, all she can think about is how much she wants to snuggle up on the sofa with a crappy holiday movie and drink too much eggnog (with rum). That is, until an old classmate, Elias Young, sits next to her at the party. Elias is way too charming to be any good for her, but fate forces Ava to put that tired theory to the ultimate test. Is it happenstance? Serendipity?

From national best-selling author Rochelle Alers comes a sizzling, sensuous story of three diverse 30-something women whose lives are forever changed when they are invited to join the exclusive world of the Pleasure Seekers.

"How to Wrestle a Girl is a work of stunning grace and rhythm. In these stories Venita Blackburn reminds us she is a writer unlike any other, her stories propelled by voice and wit and harsh beauty." --Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Friday Black Hilarious, tough, and tender stories from a...

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 American literature, a brilliantly inventive and...

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.

Bruce was threatening to expose a big secret of the Yoshida family—he wasn't Lee's biological father. Aside from Lee's CEO title on the line, the real hurt was the identity of his real father. That was about to shake the entire family upside down. Also, Lee has been keeping certain details about himself from Constance. Eventually, he'll have to come clean which terrifies him that he could scare her off for good.

Lyle DeLeone has always had the mentality of a hustler. Having grown up with a weak, drug-addicted mother and an ignorant, misogynistic father, she had to learn early on to protect herself and handle her own. Unfortunately, her ways caused those around her to deem her unlovable. So, it was no surprise that when she met the handsome Rashawn, she quickly snatched him up, hoping to prove that she, in fact, could be loved by a man. Married life with Rashawn isn't bad, but it isn't good either.

In Crush, three of today’s hottest romance authors offer tempting tales about crushes that compel women to risk it all for love. In Wanted: You by Lutishia Lovely features a man receiving erotic letters at his place of employment that shock his assistant. In White Mocha by Michele Grant, a woman who’s normally conservative about romance gets all fired up after enjoying an eyeful of a handsome coffee shop owner. And Cydney Rax’s From One Lover to Another stars a woman who shows her badgirl side when her ex refuses to take no for an answer.

"We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. Abby and I were fused, you see. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't." Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life.