She partied hard, and life seemed good when she was with Born, the neighborhood kingpin whose name was synonymous with money, power, and respect. But all his love couldn't save her from a crack addiction. Jada goes from crack addict and prostitute to survivor and back again before she finds the strength to live for herself and come out on top. And her stormy romance with one of the fiercest hustlers on the streets makes White Lines one of the most unforgettable urban loves stories of the year.

    That is, until nationally renowned relationship expert Lance Montgomery bursts on to the scene. Twice divorced, Montgomery is now on a mission to perfect the art of being single. His tantalizing book The Playa's Handbook is causing quite a stir. His rules include:*Never give a woman the key to your apartment.*Playas "have sex"; they don't "make love."*Don't be afraid not to commit, no matter how hot the sex is.*A woman can't use you if you use her first.One night, while watching the game and drinking beer, friends Marcus Lowery, Samuel Gunn, and Phillip McKenna all admit to buying Montgomery's book. Recent divorcees, Phillip and Sam are looking to unleash their hidden playa. And after being a widower for a year, Marcus is ready to cautiously ease back into the dating scene. So, they decide to put the rules to the test. . .and end up going on one of the wildest rides of their lives.

    Scorned by the father who was incapable of showing him affection and nearly consumed by the mean streets of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Carson did what no one else could: he saved himself. After joining the police force and building a family with his wife, Bunny, Carson is finally in control of his life in the enclave where African American wealth and privilege shares the same zip code with black American crime and tragedy. Both Carson and his wife have great careers and three beautiful children: Roslyn, Roseanne, and Juwan. Carson is a devoted father, determined not to be the father that Jimmy Blake was to him. But while Juwan’s astounding artistic talent is his father’s pride, the boy’s close relationship with classmate Will conjures up emotions and questions in Carson that threaten to spill over and poison the entire Blake family.And then, one night in March, nearing the end of a routine shift, Carson stops a young black man for speeding. He orders Paul Houston to exit the car and drop to his knees. But when Houston retrieves something from his waistband and turns to face Carson, three shots are fired, one man loses his life and two families are wrenched from everything that came before and hurled into the haunting future of everything that will come after. When it is revealed that Paul, a son of educators and a teacher in Southeast D.C., was only holding a cell phone, Carson’s carefully woven world begins to unravel.After is a penetrating work of discovery for a man whose life careens more than once off the edge of disaster. Golden’s astounding prose will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

    Growing up in a notorious South Augusta neighborhood called Barton Village, infested with goons and heavy weight drug dealers. Summer made it her business to get in where she fitted, using her well-shaped body and looks to get her where she wanted to be. Regardless if it was male or female, Summer was taking all invitations and wasn't turning nothing down but her collar.Highly motivated by the streets and the material life that came with it, Summer becomes a mother of twins at sixteen and a mother of four before she's twenty. Soon tragedy strikes for Summer and she looses her first real love along with her dear brother and furthermore she looses her mind. That's if you let the public tell it.As she picks up the ball where her brother and baby daddy fumble she begins to evolve into one of the most treacherous women that the city of Augusta would see. After being released from a women federal prison. Summer is back and she feels that the world owes her. With a new mind frame and ambition out the roof, Summer is heartless and ruthless towards any and everyone. The Pawns are set in place but when she make one wrong move all hell breaks loose.Crazy Summer is a captivating tale that's written from the imagination of Cole Hart with strong dialect and believable characters that'll keep you on your toes from the first page to the last one.

    Reprint.

    Her Name Is Knight is a propulsive character story and action thriller driven by retribution, passion, strength — and coming to terms with your own true self, regardless of what anyone calls you.

    . . When Pastor George Landris, the dreadlock-wearing minister of the new mega-church, Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center, urges his congregation to approach the altar and cast off their strongholds--also known as their weaknesses--it's the start of intense soul-searching for many.From a married couple's twin addictions to gambling and gluttony, to a female member's adulterous affair, a computer expert's obsession with cyber-porn and a therapist's workaholism, the Pastor's church family is about to open the proverbial floodgates. And that's just the beginning. There's also the woman whose battle with mental illness hides a buried trauma, and the religious devotee who's so busy fearing the devil she's forgotten what faith is really about. The plot only thickens when the Pastor's wife lightens his load by helping him counsel--and finds herself at the center of a decades-long deception.Insightful, witty, and always poignant, Vanessa Davis Griggs delivers another compelling novel, taking readers behind the scenes of mega-churches, and showing the amazing power that redemption and faith can have on people's lives.

    Yet fate and a Ph.D. in black studies force him back to his rural origins as he seeks to understand himself and the black community that produced him. A cold, nonchalant father and an emotionally indifferent mother make his return, after a ten-year hiatus, practically unbearable, and the discovery of his baby sister's death and her burial in the backyard almost consumes him. His mother watches his agony when he discovers his sister's tombstone, but neither she nor other family members is willing to disclose the secret of her death. Only after being prodded incessantly does his older brother, Willie James, relent and provide Tommy Lee with enough knowledge to figure out exactly what happened and why. Meanwhile, Tommy's seventy-year-old teacher--lying on her deathbed--asks him to remain in Swamp Creek and assume her position as the headmaster of the one-room schoolhouse. He refuses vehemently and she dies having bequeathed him her five thousand-book collection in the hopes that he will change his mind. Over the course of a one-week visit, riddled with tension, heartache, and revelation, Tommy Lee Tyson discovers truths about his family, his community, and his undeniable connection to rural Southern black folk and their ways.

    No other version has so vividly expressed the horror, cruelty, beauty, and outrageous imaginative flight of Dante's original vision.

    Belly Anderson now in the autumn of her life, reminisces about the last summer of her childhood. A strong-willed and free-spirited eleven-year-old, she reluctantly leaves her home in rural Pharaoh and goes to Jamison to help her mean Aunt Rachel recover from surgery. Belly has two reasons for deciding to go to Jamison: She's left alone when her only friend becomes pregnant and is sent away, and she hopes that she'll be allowed to take piano lessons from her mother's childhood friend. While taking lessons from Miss Ophelia, she learns a terrible secret about her beloved teacher--a secret that forces Belly to grow up and learn what it really means to be an adult.

    The only problem is that she doesn’t believe the man is in love with her. What makes it even worse is that the man is her husband. Musik really starts to doubt his love for her when she uncovers secrets on his social networking page. Having given that man 15 years of her life, Musik is not going to walk away without getting answers, and more importantly, without getting revenge.Sabrina Rogers is devastated when she finds out that the man of her dreams has another woman. She’s mortified when she discovers it’s her mother! At odds for years, mother and daughter finally settle their differences to join forces against Blake Harrison. Revenge never tasted so sweet as they team up to put this player out of commission for good. But after the dirty deed is done, will forgiveness and faith be enough to keep their relationship together?Where do broken hearts go? If you’re Tamera Watson, you go to the pawn shop to buy a gun. Tamera’s husband is gone and so is her life savings. With the last of her pennies, she pays a private detective to hunt him down—so she can gun him down. When she finds him, will she be able to pull the trigger, or will the God of her heart stop her before she lets her desire for revenge take her too far?

    What Ocean didn’t know was that Bryce had his own meaning of the word marriage and faithful was nowhere in his vocabulary. Knowing her worth, Ocean decides to call it quits with Bryce and focus on herself, not knowing that her thug in shining armor was right around the corner. Lucas swoops in and shows Ocean that there is more to life than what she is accustomed to and the two engage in a whirlwind romance. Only problem is Lucas has some baggage of his own. Sony Sharp is smart mouthed and hood as they come. He knows exactly the kind of woman he wants, or at least he thinks he does. When River, a plus size beauty with an even bigger personality steps on the scene he’s left confused and fighting his developing feelings. Will the thick bombshell break down the barriers of his heart or will she find solace with another man? Running the streets of Charlotte isn’t easy but the Sharp brothers do it with ease. Lucas and Sony handle business with an iron fist and handle anyone who tries to stop them. Life has been pretty easy for the both of them until they meet Ocean and River. Will they be able to separate the growing love they have for the ladies and their love for the streets? Find out in this page turning hood romance.

    Will the bonds of family keep strong when murder, deception and lies threaten to tear them apart? Two men find out in this intriguing saga set in 1950s Louisiana by Victor McGlothin.

    We follow former rule-breaker Leonid McGill as he's buffeted between the overlords of New York's underbelly, desperate to turn straight, but unable to say no to a nicely paid job. When we're introduced, he's calling in old favours and greasing NYPD palms to uncover seemingly harmless information for a high-paying client. But when the former schoolmates on his list are bludgeoned to death one by one, McGill realises that a friendly reunion wasn't quite what his taskmaster had in mind. And the awkward questions that follow seem almost welcome in comparison to a visit from Willie Sanderson, a trained killer and 'modern-day Frankenstein', now primed to ensure that McGill breathes his last. THE LONG FALL shows Walter Mosley at the height of his powers, breathing new life into American crime writing with sassy dialogue and unflinching social truths. Vividly capturing a city not nearly as cleaned up as its politicians would have us believe, this is new Mosley - and it's just as good as the vintage kind.

    Can this exotic dancer turn a customer into the love of her life?