Now, as the national spotlight shines on a town already rife with racial tension, Jamal is a murder suspect on the run. And all of Jasper—even the Reverend’s congregation—rushes to judge the boy they thought they knew.But Gloria Jones knows her son best, and she races to find Jamal before the law does—to the outrage of her workaholic husband. Once she finds him, she has to decide whether to turn him in or help him run. With ruthless prosecutor and Houston mayoral candidate Kay Christensen hungering to put another young thug behind bars, Gloria will face her biggest battle yet. And when long-hidden secrets and shocking lies come to light, throwing Jamal’s case and his destiny into a tailspin, all Gloria can do is pray that the truth—and a mother’s unconditional love—will be enough to redeem the mistakes of the past and ultimately, save her son.

    Sweet Jones pays tribute to the extremely talented - yet bipolar and complex - musician who embodied the Southern dream. Written by the founder and Editor-in-Chief of esteemed Southern rap publication OZONE Magazine and compiled from interviews with Pimp C himself, his mother and manager Weslyn "Mama Wes" Monroe, UGK rap partner Bun B, and hundreds of friends, family members, and collaborators like Snoop Dogg, Scarface, Too $hort, 8Ball & MJG, Jazze Pha, David Banner, Mannie Fresh, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Trae, and Willie D of the Geto Boys, Sweet Jones is a must-read for any Southern rap fan.

    Discover Your True Purpose in Life You have been uniquely created by God… to fulfill your divine purpose! In a day where so many people are frustrated, looking in different places to discover their life purpose and true meaning, you have the answer.  Look no further than who you are! In Identity, TD Jakes reminds you that the key to finding your purpose is rediscovering the person you were made to be! Learn how to: Prepare for destiny-defining moments that push you into new realms of supernatural living Resist everyday enemies that distract you from finding your identity in Christ and accomplishing your dreams See the greater picture of your purpose—your role in a plan that is bigger than your life and will outlive you Locate your places of deposit and invest into people, purposes and places that are instrumental in advancing your destiny Stop searching for purpose… and begin your life-changing journey to discovering your true identity and calling today!

    Side chick. Other woman. She doesn't care what you call her--just as long as you know she belongs to him. Desirae has everything--a great body with hot curves, a tell-it-like-it-is personality, and the ability to have any man she wants. Right now, she wants Tron, and she doesn't care that he's with someone else. The late-night secret booty calls keep her alive with passion and hunger--a hunger only Tron can feed. Desirae wants more - but Tron has been with his girlfriend for over three years, and he's not quite ready to jump ship. When his main starts getting suspicious, she'll do anything to catch her boyfriend with his pants down. When Desirae begins to see Tron for who he really is, will she accept that she might be more than just some club owner's side chick?

    She struggles to provide for the kids, working a dead-end job while going to school. Stuck in a meaningless relationship, which only involved midnight creeps into her bed, she ends things with Darius in hopes for something better in life. Just when Cassandra isn't looking for anything or anyone, that's when Marco comes along; he's handsome, a great father to his son, and a business owner. Marco's had his share of women and often juggled relationships, but upon meeting Cassandra, his desire is kindled and he has to fight against wanting anything more than just a casual thing. With each day, they both fight the obvious; they want each other. A night of forbidden passion leads them into bed together; they soon wind up going back and forth, as Cassandra begins to date Damian to distract her from the one she really wants--Marco. The attraction is strong and the chemistry is explosive--will their efforts to ignore their hearts' desire trump love, or will they finally give in to what is obviously meant to be?

    Or the second. Now in her third marriage, Angelia is hoping for her happily-ever-after with former pro-football player Darren Holley. But soon after they move into their sprawling mini-mansion, Darren’s new job as a high school football coach in a trophy-hungry Texas town consumes him, leaving Angelia feeling like a single mother to her two children as well as Darren’s twin diva-daughters. Not to mention the drama from Darren’s mother, who can’t get over the fact that her son has married a woman with so much baggage. When Angelia confides in a few ladies from the local church, their nice, sweet, holy-wife advice may prove ineffective and too burdensome. Should Angelia cut her losses and get out before the ink settles on their marriage certificate, or will she finally learn the true meaning of marriage as she and Darren attempt to blend two very different backgrounds in the face of adversity and nosy church folk? A New Beginning is the first book in the Blended Blessings series by newcomer CaSandra McLaughin and bestselling author Michelle Stimpson.

    Among them are a mute woman who believes that the photos of starving children in the newspaper are speaking to her, a loading-dock worker who sits in a cemetery and ponders the meaning of life, and a man who finds his perfect match only to be accused of her murder. An elderly couple clings together as flood waters rise, and a lone fireman fights off a pack of wild dogs before the book concludes with a young woman who returns home and discovers messages in the storm's debris that illuminate her past and future.

    She was always picky about who she gave her heart and her time to and she always paid attention to the "signs". She didn't mind being alone, but at some point everybody wanted to be loved; even a successful, arrogant, impossible to please, woman like Tori. Tori refused to be a statistic and as she finally found herself back in the dating game, finding a man that had everything on her list was like finding gold at the end of a rainbow; he didn't exist. An upbeat, hilarious story of love, lies and deceit with more than enough twists and turns to knock your socks off, this story proves why it is so important to "Read the Warning Label First"

     Still reeling from the discovery that she's pregnant with Tron's baby, Desirae wrestles with how to tell him. When he finally agrees to meet with her, she soon learns the club owner is in no way the fairytale father she'd dreamed he might be. Desirae's illusion of the man is shattered as he attempts to convince her to get rid of their child. When Tron's ex-girlfriend confronts Desirae, their argument quickly turns violent, landing the two behind bars. Forced to spend time with one another in jail, they get to talking, discovering together just how manipulative and shady the man they share really is. The former enemies shape an alliance, vowing that Tron will soon pay for his infidelities. Will Desirae find the courage to not only stand up to Tron, but to become more for her unborn child than just some man's side chick?

    But he should be most concerned about the scandalous affair Clarisse is having right under his nose—with his half-brother. Evan’s being pushed to the edge, and no one knows that better than Leila Hawkins…   Leila is back in Chesterton, divorced, penniless, and desperate enough to do anything to save her mother’s home from foreclosure—including turning to Evan, her former best friend. But Evan isn’t interested in friendship. Instead he makes Leila a shocking indecent proposal…   Meanwhile, Evan’s newlywed sister, Paulette, wants to be the perfect wife. But a blackmailing bad boy ex has reappeared in her life—and he’s threatening to reveal her most painful secret...   The scandals just won’t quit—and for everyone involved, desire, betrayal, and lies are all in a day’s work…

    Williams unearths Lucy by working her own mojo of intelligent vengeance and a dual aesthetic of inquiry and minimal, tour de force exegesis. Travel with Williams through the sublime racial moments of famous sonnets to a cultural critique of the work of Mr. Whiteness Him Bad Bard Self, William Shakespeare. Lucy as radical muse. Lucy as newly-freed verse news. Move over Othello, no more easy getting' ovah, Lucy Negro aka Black Luce has, double-brilliantly and double inventively, fully arrived on fire!Thomas Sayers Ellis, Co-Founder--Dark Room Collective, Author, Skin, Inc.

    But by the late 1960s and ’70s many regarded Baldwin as being out of sync with the political and social currents transforming America: too integrationist for the champions of “Black Power” and others on the Left, yet too “pessimistic” for many white readers. As a result his final three novels—Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Just Above My Head (1979)—have yet to receive the consideration given his earlier fiction. Now, these late novels, carefully annotated to clarify Baldwin’s many musical and other cultural references, are collected for the first time in a single-volume edition, a companion volume to The Library of America’s Early Novels and Stories.Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, inspired in part by Baldwin’s unhappy experience collaborating with the Actors Studio for the staging of one of his plays, begins with the sudden heart attack of its thirty-nine-year-old protagonist, the celebrated actor Leo Proudhammer, whose rise to fame from impoverished beginnings in Harlem is recounted as he recuperates. Although wholly fictional, it is a profoundly personal work, as Proudhammer’s conflicted assessment of his life and career mirror Baldwin’s own struggles in the mid-1960s. If Beale Street Could Talk, the only Baldwin novel narrated by a woman, is a love story in which a young couple must weather a false accusation of rape and the predatory misconduct of the police. Baldwin’s final novel, the sprawling Just Above My Head, follows the troubled life and tumultuous times of world-famous gospel singer Arthur Montana; here Baldwin’s continued critical engagement with the African American church and with black music, begun decades earlier with Go Tell It on the Mountain, brings his career full circle.

    With his main girl Kierra Lawrence by his side, DeWayne rules the town. Sneaking in and out of beds but DeWayne was always about to slither his way out of any whorish problem he got himself into. DeWayne and Kiara had their share of ups and downs from women to extra kids but they always stayed together until Ariane came along. Kiara is a lawyer with money and brains but Ariane has a body with hustle and street smarts and with DeWayne mixed in, disaster isn't far behind. There is no way to stop the madness and with DeWayne caught in the world wind, the women have no choice but to fight for the love of their life, but at what cost? Find out in Main Chick vs. Side Bitch

    Jackson in several films. But this book is not about her career, and it’s not about Hollywood. It’s not even about her rise to stardom. Charting her family history as well as her own life from childhood to the present in this compelling memoir, Debbi reveals the fear, doubt, and insecurities she’s struggled with for much of her life—and how she escaped a vicious cycle of pain to find self-confidence, happiness, and success. Early on in her family history, an ugly pattern of abuse developed into fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and emotional trauma, which passed down from one generation to the next. From her maternal grandmother, who was beaten by her husband as they struggled through the Great Depression, to Debbi’s mother, who became pregnant as a young teen and suffered the same abuse as her mother, down to Debbi, who internalized the physical abuse she watched her mother endure, a deep-rooted fear plagued all three generations of women. But through it all, Debbi endured, and with a good dose of humor and self-compassion, she emerged with the deepest love of herself—and her mojo quite intact! Told with intense emotion, candor, and a barrage of belly laughs, Debbi shares a deeply moving, explosive, yet inspirational journey about what it took to break the cycle and emerge as a confident, fearless woman.

    His family taught him that anything less than the best simply isn’t an option. Now he’s out to prove he can be the most successful Garrett—and Rachel McNeal fits the bill. She’s pretty, hard-working, good in bed—and willing to finance his dreams. He thinks she’s perfect wife material—until he meets her relatives and discovers they’re far from perfect. No problem, Seth’s got a truly flawless replacement lined up to give him the good life he’s entitled to…Steady and sensible, Rachel always believed the best about people. She thought Seth was the man of her dreams. But she can deal with the hurt and move on. Until she discovers the true reason Seth dumped her—and just how deep his contempt for her runs. She’s done forgiving, much less forgetting. And taking his world apart piece by piece is only the beginning of her long-game payback…

    Will Derrick pay for his crimes or will again his father bail him out of trouble yet again. Although an upstanding member of her church will Laura show her true colors and what she is really made of when it comes to protecting her family. You know what they say,, “You can take the girl out of the street, but you can’t take the street out of the girl.” The Hemphill family is in for the ride of their life with the court case and other unknown issues they will soon have to face. Is church really over? Will they finally get to the benediction of this story?

    Their marriage was one that she always dreamed of when she was little girl. What woman wouldn’t believe a man would love her when she sees how much he loved God. Any man that loved God the way that her husband did has to love his wife just as much. Rochelle left her job in corporate America just to work part time at the church and be a full time wife to her husband. After spending so much time in church and around her husband she realized that the man that she married was just Playing Church.

    Released in commemoration of Strayhorn's centennial, this luxurious coffee-table book offers intimate details of the composer's life from musicians, scholars, and Strayhorn's closest relatives.Perhaps best known for his 28-year collaborative role as Duke Ellington's "writing and arranging companion," Strayhorn has emerged in recent years as an even more meritorious force in shaping the jazz canon. Strayhorn begins by describing Billy's abusive upbringing and early success, and goes on to cover his music, family, intellectual pursuits, involvement with civil rights, and open homosexuality.Strayhorn features contributions from Strayhorn's biographer David Hajdu, film director Rob Levi, music scholar Walter van de Leur, as well as commentary from jazz greats like Lena Horne, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, Terell Stafford, Herb Jeffries, and more. With lush photography and rare memorabilia like handwritten scores, this is a book to be treasured by jazz aficionados and music lovers everywhere. Enthralling and visually captivating, Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life lauds a beloved jazz legend and captures a prodigious legacy that will influence generations to come.