For a 17-year-old, Amina has a decent life. But after meeting her father and 23-year-old brother for the first time, things take a turn for the worse. Amina ends up alone, trying to fend for herself and save her boyfriend, Kayne, from 3 years in jail. Amina must prove her loyalty to Kayne, but can you be a Down Chick without being locked down yourself? This is a question that never crosses Amina’s mind, leading her to make the ultimate mistake of her life. Author Mallori McNeal began writing Down Chick at age 14, during the summer before she began her first year in high school. She completed Down Chick and was accepted for publishing at age 16. Mallori currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    From "Essence"]-bestselling author Chunichi comes the pulse-pounding, powerful tale of a street-savvy woman from the hood who is determined to create a better life for her unborn child.

    While struggling to get his feet planted deep in the dope game, he becomes attached to the little boy. Being affiliated with other hustlers and robbers eventually jeopardizes his life as well as the child's. When enough guns go off and enough bodies get laid to rest, Manus better have enough money to buy his son from the woman who threatens to separate them forever.

    Tammy has everything she’s ever dreamed of, that is until she discovers she is not the only woman in her fiancée’s life. Lisa is a free spirit, who falls victim to a vicious attack by a scorned lover. Three very different women with one thing in common, their lives are filled with nothing but drama!

    It's been months since Lou-loc was brutally murdered on his way to freedom and the pain is still fresh. Gutter, Lou-loc's best friend, finds himself on a path to self destruction, vowing to eradicate the entire Blood faction in New York City in the name of his fallen comrade. Sharell urges him to abandon the suicide mission, but his oath won't allow it. Not even for the child they are expecting. But as Gutter slips further into madness, a shocking revelation brings Satin out. In the middle of all this is a man named Major Blood. He has been flown in from Cali with two very simple instructions. Shut down Harlem Crip, and execute El Diablo's murderer. Walk back into the mouth of madness in the not-to-missed sequel to GANGSTA.

    Once Lil C decides he wants to help her and the other Pitbulls run Emerald City, he will not take no for an answer. He pushes the subject so much, their seemingly in tact relationship begins to falter. Yvette tries to maintain control of her relationship with Chris by not being in the relationship. When Chris makes an unexpected move, it causes her to question her feelings and her sexuality. Will being tough get her through an even tougher moment in her life? Carissa has two loves. One makes her feel high, and the other makes her crazy for him. But when she discovers that their private sex life is not so private, she questions who he really is and what he really wants. Kenyetta was never able to fully recover over the loss of Dyson, and because of it, she meets another man who may not be the best choice. And when she betrays her friends she realizes life is more difficult than she can deal with and feels she needs an out. Lil C grows up quickly in this novel, and he thinks he has it all figured out. But a threat he made to Tamir, of the Black Water Klan, causes him to grow up even faster. When an offer is placed on the table to be the drug dealer outside of Emerald, he battles with whether he ll accept and before long realizes he s also in a serious battle for his life.

    Follow Keisha as she discovers that Clarence, the man she wanted to dedicate her life to, is responsible for the murders. The one and only goal of her revenge is to make him suffer like she is suffering. Murdering Clarence and his partner or sending them to jail just isn't good enough. As Keisha devises her plan for the most vicious payback, she meets resistance from DC's most successful and ruthless homicide detective, "The Pinstriped Bitch," who pressures Keisha to give up the evidence against Clarence. As Keisha's thirst for vengeance escalates, she meets Jezebel, a high-priced call girl who teaches Keisha the art of seduction and makes her a brand new woman, helping her get the sweetest revenge possible. HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED.

    She's also babelicious, with ginger-colored skin and more curves than the Liberty Bell. But if Kayla's all that, how come she can't find the one thing she's gotta have: "The One. Someone jonezing for me… someone to chill with, lay up under, and be around."When Kayla sets off on a manhunt for Mr. Right, she finds herself hooking up with every hustler, nut, and fast-talking player in Philadelphia. There's Emar, the basketball hotshot who makes his best moves off-court; good-looking Terry, who gets downright scary during a weekend in Jersey; and Reese, who'd be da bomb if he'd only drop his white girlfriend. But it's Kayla's relationship with smooth and sexy Wil that really rocks her world and teaches her how to fight for a man—and for her own independence. For love doesn't get truly crazy until it's the real thing… and the only people who don't get played are the ones who stay out of the game.Featuring the frank and feisty viewpoint of a modern, streetwise young woman, Yo Yo Love is edgy, uncensored, and wildly entertaining. It's a tour de force that tells it like it is… and tells it all.

    When he catches his son-in-law Sam in a compromising position, Zeke decides to blackmail Sam into carrying out a plan of deadly revenge against someone who wronged him.

    When she stabs him and flees to her mother’s house with her three-year-old daughter, she thinks it’s finally over. Unfortunately, the drama has just begun! “Will she find the courage to leave him for good? And will he let her?” Lisa Perkins, seventeen, is the “strong one,” or at least that’s what Tabitha and Shanice think. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When she leaves her home after her mother refuses to believe that her stepfather has raped and impregnated her, she thinks that distance will solve everything. She finds that she couldn’t be more wrong. Shanice Thomas, fourteen, is giving teenage rebellion a whole knew meaning. Her mother recently found Christ, and the party that was Shanice’s life is apparently over. Thrust into situations she isn’t equipped to handle, Shanice suddenly finds herself learning painful new lessons about the consequences of sleeping around.Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story is fierce fiction peppered with urban grit! It not only explores the girls’ struggles in vivid detail, it highlights their loyalty, love, and kindness for each other! You won’t be able to put this book down!

    Due to their ambition, they unintensionally make the mistake of outshining their mentor.

    Trying to put his past as a drug dealer behind him, Alec runs into one of his old clients, now a successful businesswoman, who asks for his help in stopping their teenage son from becoming a drug addict...Title: .Where There's Smoke..Author: .Little, Terra..Publisher: .Kensington Pub Corp..Publication Date: .2009/01/01..Number of Pages: .326..Binding Type: .PAPERBACK..Library of Congress: .bl2009013328

    In this unforgettable novel, her name is Harlem.Harlem Jones is a twenty-six-year-old bad-ass female who owns her own home, her own car, and her own business. And no, some drug dealer didn't front her the money for any of it. Nor did she have to sell herself to get what she's got. Harlem came up the hard way. She had the perfect family until her mother fell prey to an addiction and Harlem's whole world fell apart. After several life-changing encounters, Harlem seems to have lost everything. But then, under circumstance she wishes never existed, she inherits a modest fortune and opens up her own business. Then into her life comes an unexpected and unlikely love, a street-bred charmer named York. Not your typical hood, York is out for Harlem's heart. But when tragedy strikes, Harlem knows that, as a survivor, she must be the one to decide her own destiny.

    When Menage Discovers that he has a flare for flipping stolen cars into more cash then he can handle he befriends Dwight who helps him with his operation. What Menage soon learns is that when doing shady business, shady characters lurk where you least expect them. Follow Menage as he balls outta control, outrunning the law and bullets that may bear his name.

    I. C. Miller is a gifted high school athlete with a basketball scholarship from Georgia State University. He leaves behind an up and coming hood-rat named Tamara Jenkins who claims to be pregnant with I. C.'s child. Things take a downward spike when I. C. is charged with rape and murder. He is sentenced to death by lethal injection. After years of tricking for money, Tamara lands a job as a prison guard with the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Soon after, Tamara realizes that her baby daddy is on death row at the prison that she works and will soon be executed for a hideous crime. It is only when she discovers that he may be innocent of his crime that she has a choice of either helping her baby daddy, or doing nothing and letting him die, Innocent.