Contemporary African American Fiction

This sharp-witted, timely novel explores cancel culture, anger, and grief, and challenges the romanticization of America's racist past with humor and heart—for readers of Dear Martin by Nic Stone and Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson. Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old...

Something’s always been off with Eva Moss, but in the African-American community, everything is prayed away, including "crazy." What happens when the answer to prayer is therapy and medication? According to Eva’s mother, that’s taboo. All it takes is a little more Jesus, and Eva will be normal. Normal never lasts long. After Eva’s brother, Michael, is killed in a car accident, she is finally admitted to the psych ward for help.

Ms. Nova sacrificed her childhood to be a teenage mother and provider for her family. Working a dead-end job barely pays the bills, but her luck is due to change when her homegirl suggests she shake her ass at a jumping strip joint. Weary and self-conscious, she is reluctant at first, but the money is fast and easy and makes her life a lot easier. Although she has more bread, her bedroom life is at a standstill. Thinking with her head and not her heart, she makes a boss move on the club owner and is able to wrap him around her pinky.

Life can be hard to navigate at times, but for Lazarus Mitchell, it’s been a constant battle. Marrying his high school sweetheart and putting his dreams on hold to help her fulfill hers, he kept pushing through life’s adversities in hopes of seeing better days. Throughout the journey, he realized that she didn’t have the tenacity he had or the wherewithal to look difficulty in the face and choose to overcome it.

There’s a saying that if you come from my part of town, you're from around the way. Urban Books bestsellers Treasure Hernandez and Marcus Weber bring listeners a fast-paced look at the lives of some street-smart women who think they know it all.

Fate brought Terrence Montgomery and Tiffany Tate into each other’s lives. They seem like the perfect match. However, they couldn’t have met at a more inopportune time. Terrence is considering divorce from his wife, Patricia, who he’s never truly been in love with, while also struggling with the recent and sudden death of his father. Tiffany just got wind that her ex-fiancé, David, is battling cancer—supposedly. His dying wish is that she’ll give him another chance at love. Her heart wants to be there for him, but will this cost her newfound love with Terrence?

No matter how many times she promised herself she wouldn’t go there, Reign couldn’t resist Jahiem, her best friend’s brother. Now caught between her friendship and her relationship, Reign is forced to prove where her loyalty lies. Jahiem had no intentions of ever starting a relationship with Reign because he was already in a relationship with Samantha. Now that he’s broken things off with her, Samantha shows up, and she’s not alone. Jahiem finds himself in a difficult situation when he realizes he’s torn between two women who have more in common than he thought.

25-year-old Dreux McCoy was in no condition to fall in love. When she loses someone close, the easiest thing for her to do is shut down, but after running into Kamron Vega, he woke up something inside of her that she’s had closed off for so long. As secrets start to unravel, Dreux does the one thing she’s best at, run.

Detective Jones is back on the scene, obsessed with bringing down Sade for multiple murders. But his relentless pursuit masks a shocking personal connection that drives his thirst for catching her far beyond the bounds of justice. Meanwhile, Sade is carrying Dante’s baby and is entangled with Atlas—the man responsible for Dante’s accident and amnesia. As Atlas’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and threatening, Sade must decide whether to run or fight.

When it comes to Jabari Hicks, competition is non-existent. With a keen focus on securing a championship ring, Jabari’s only competition is himself. On the court, he is deadly. Off the court, he’s a protector. And as a Lord, he’s fierce and loyal. Kinnidi Trent has a light that illuminates the dark spaces of her mind, but she can’t completely shine until she lands in a place of peace. When she escapes the restraints that stifle her creativity and happiness, Kinnidi finds herself in the right place at the right time.

Life tends to go awry when you least expect it, and Khalila Skyers learns this lesson the hard way. In one devastating blow after another, she loses her cozy existence. Then Douglas Blythe overtakes her life like a flood, and she's not equipped to deal with an attraction that seems forbidden and overwhelming. But her body and heart want what they want, and leave her wondering if she ever knew herself at all. Douglas is determined to help Khalila move beyond her obsession with the past and reach for love a second time.

In Sunrise, Javier De Barre, a young Haitian-American and top graduate, faces the harsh realities of the IT industry during the late ‘90s. After losing his best friend and love to a tragedy in Elizabeth, NJ, he embarks on a desperate journey south in search of a fresh start. He confronts his grief, unfriendly towns, and financial instability along the way. Finding a job in a small town in South Carolina, he clings to hope and believes he’s finally back on the path to his dreams.

Destiny Montgomery has just landed the opportunity of a lifetime to write singer and dancer, Jacob River's biography. She's more than thrilled to be a part of his project and travel closely with Jacob on his concert tour. However, Destiny doesn't expect the sparks she feels whenever she's near him and is irresistibly attracted to the sexy superstar as he slowly reveals his life and himself to her.

Grace, a budding junior accountant, desires a family and a home with the ideal mate. After three years of a torrid romance with her college sweetheart, Maurice, she fully expected he would propose. But Maurice, focused on his art career, continually negates any marriage plans. Rather than continue waiting, Grace chooses to move on.

Kelaya Harper knows two things when it comes to Hezekiah Perez. One, she loves him. Two, they can never be together. They are from two different worlds and blending them will be a tragic misstep. Hezekiah knows his heart belongs only to Kelaya and will do anything to prove that they are meant to be. Just when he thinks they are finally locked in, everything implodes and he fears his life will never exist with the love and balance he craves.

In relationships, Calisa Harper has clear rules: no expectations, no commitments, no one gets hurt. She doesn’t need a diamond ring to bring her happiness. She just needs Jared. Fine, fit, and ferocious in bed, Jared is Calisa’s ideal combination of friend and lover. But the no-strings status they’ve shared for years is about to get very tangled.

Milena Bane’s routine stop at the dealership becomes anything but usual when Lorenzo Irish, the unusually handsome service manager, steps into her orbit. Attraction instant, Milena contemplates how to get to know him better—intimately better. Of course life is anything but routine and the Universe has plans of its own for our would be lovers. Old flames reappear with hopeful plans for the future, relentless secret crushes, and warring families form the perfect storm of chaos.

First, it started off as a little fling for the then nineteen-year-old Imani Bleeker. It was advantageous, beneficial, and fun because it was something forbidden, something and someone she knew she had no business doing. A man who watched her grow up, a man who taught her how to fight, and a man who accompanied her to her sweet sixteen. Deep down Don "Greedy" Davidson, fifty-four, is disgusted with himself for fooling around with his goddaughter Imani but he can’t stop from falling in love with her beauty and timeless, familiar grace.

Opposites attract in this contemporary, sweet, sapphic romance about two girls who reluctantly come together for a summer challenge. Heaven and Saylor could not be more different. Saylor is bubbly, popular, athletic, and always partnered up. Heaven is grumpy and artistic, prefers her skateboard...

In this crackling portrayal of friendship in peril, a young woman's world is upended when a tragedy in her best friend's life tests the boundaries of their sisterhood—a sharp and compelling debut novel from a Ghanaian-American writer. Dzifa has always felt a bit off. Maybe it's the family...