She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage — with rules.As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren’t hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and invited into Eric’s home — though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows.Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Raven Leilani’s Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life — her hunger, her anger — in a tumultuous era. It is also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

    Then the way to fame was leading him toward a mistake that could send him straight to hell...She never looked back.Lies, drugs, too many men-- golden skinned singer Topaz Black would do anything to get a hit to the top of the charts, even walk away from her friends and family. But surrounded by greed and lust, the love the longed for seemed to be slipping away forever.He broke all the rules.Brought up in South Central L.A., movie producer Gunther Lawrence learned early how to get the wealth and women he wanted-- and to turn his back on his roots. Now, blinded by Hollywood's glitter, his illusions may shatter when he discovers who really controls his career.As their lives touch, ignite, and explode, three talented African-Americans pursue fame at any cost...and the price may be their happiness...or their lives..An alternate selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club

    He is the first person she met that seemed to know her before they ever even spoke. Although they have never met in person, she is sure he is "the one"... But there's only one problem: Her beloved 'Jermaine', isn't real. She is being catfished by someone very close to her; someone she thought she could trust.

    She vows to attend church every Sunday, swears off married men, and begins her search for the soul mate she is sure God has for her. Now living in the Big Apple, she has shed twenty-five pounds, shaved ten years off her age, filled her expensive apartment with designer clothes...all to begin her man-finding mission. She quickly meets her dream mate -- a preacher -- who falls head over heels in love with her. Surely, God is good! But things start slipping when another man from Jasmine's past refuses to stay there, and an unexpected pregnancy threatens to sabotage all of her dreams. Will Jasmine's lying and scheming continue? Or will she finally learn that honesty is the only path to redemption?

    Just when everything seems to be going their way, jealousy secretly takes hold of their close friend, Tee. Knowing that women are Keith's weakness and downfall, Tee goes out of his way to bring Keith's success to a devastating halt by using the stunning, sexy Selina to set him up. But his plan falls short when Selina and Keith fall for each other.Keith's down chick and baby mama, Tukey, attempts to regain Keith's love by taking a case for him and ending up behind bars, only for Keith to marry the home-wrecking Selina. Baffled, envious, and full of rage, Tukey plans and carries out a plot so vicious, all the money in the world can't help Keith recover.

     Most people think that money is the key to happiness, but when an ecstatic Nina Lawson wins millions in the Powerball lottery, her world is turned upside down. At first, she and her fiancé, Rick, are delighted with the unexpected windfall and immediately begin planning their future. Soon, family members and friends begin coming out of the woodwork to claim a piece of Nina’s winnings. But the most unexpected request comes from Todd, Nina’s ex-husband. He and his fiancée, Pam (with whom he had the affair that ended their marriage) reveal that the paperwork making Todd and Nina’s divorce official was never filed...and she may be compelled to share half the money with her husband. As the situation begins to spiral out of control, Nina risks losing her heart and her newfound winnings to find out what really matters. With just the right blend of joy, drama, and humor, Billingsley entertains and inspires readers with every turn of the page—it’s no surprise that her readership grows with each new book.

    And I’m still snatching wigs on these hoes left and right. Me and my boo Adrian are finally building our life together. And guess what? We bout to have us a lil crumb snatcher!The only problem is these birds out here can’t stand to see another sister on the come up. Well they asses can fall back and have a stadium full of seats if they think a bitch like me will back down.I got my man, my new home, and bout to have a new baby. That should let you know I won’t let nothing stand in the way of our happiness. Yeah… I got a few issues I need to deal with but in the words of Kevin Hart “They gon learn today!” Pebbles is NOT to be fucked with!ATTENTION: This is a short story 19,860 words

    In this sexy, suspenseful slice of urban fiction, an ambitious womans love ofeasy money and fast living leads her to the brink of destruction.

    Her definition of the perfect man is the one with long pockets and a wife. She only dates married men with limited time and lots to lose. Her latest sugar daddy, Arnold Blake happily funds her business ventures until she finds herself sucked into a truly forbidden love triangle with Tori, her best friend's husband. Tori is the only man she dates for fun. He's gorgeous, well-hung and more romantic than anyone else she's been with. She convinces herself that she is saving Tori from the neglect he's receiving from her best friend. Lauren's choices will lead her down an almost deadly path too difficult to recover from.

    For speaking a few innocuous words in French to a white woman, Armstrong is killed. And the precariously balanced world and its determined people--white and black--are changed, then and forever, by the horror of poverty, the legacy of justice, and the singular gift of love's power to heal.

    The story takes you away from the bright lights of the big cities. Where drug deals take place on city blocks and Street corners, to the backwoods, dirt roads and trap houses of the south. Q a well known and respected hustler faces all the problems that come with the life. Torn between Van a childhood love who has been down from day one. And Tee the well educated and upscale women he believes he needs. He wished all he had to worry about was the law.

    Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

    It centers on Marie Fermoyle, a strong but vulnerable woman whose loneliness and ambition for her children make her easy prey for the dangerous con man Omar Duvall. Marie's children are Alice, seventeen - involved with a troubled young priest; Norm, sixteen - hotheaded and idealistic; and Benjy, twelve - isolated and misunderstood, and so desperate for his mother's happiness that he hides the deadly truth only he knows about Duvall. Among a fascinating cast of characters we meet the children's alcoholic father, Sam Fermoyle, now living with his senile mother and embittered sister; Sam's meek brother-in-law, who makes anonymous "love" calls from the bathroom of his ailing appliance store; and the Klubock family, who - in complete contrast to the Fermoyles - live an orderly life in the perfect house next door.An Oprah Winfrey Book Club pick.

    Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation's capital.Emma Randall is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship, wondering whether there is hope for her and her young daughters. She is desperate, broken, and unloved, tempted to commit the unthinkable. Then Mary Madison introduces Emma to the greatest love of all, greater than any either of them has ever imagined.

    Allison Hobbs offers a provocative look into the lives of three young girls who have been forced into sex slavery by a homicidal pimp, and the one woman who risks everything to try and save their lives. Stealing Candy by Allison Hobbs is a shocking novel about human sex trafficking. Three teenage girls from very different backgrounds have been abducted by a pimp who refers to them as “his candy” while treating them with cruelty and contempt.  Routinely battered, emotionally manipulated, the girls are brainwashed into accepting sexual servitude as their hopeless plight in life. Saleema Sparks has made it her life’s mission to provide a sanctuary for troubled teen-age girls. With dwindling personal funds, she may have to close the doors to her one-woman operation—Head Up—a safe haven for young women in crisis.  But when Portia, a member of Head Up, goes missing, Saleema does not accept that the troubled teen is simply a runaway. She is compelled to look for Portia, forcing an apathetic community to open their eyes and lend a hand in the search for the abducted teen. But can she help Portia and the other sex-trafficked girls break free from the malicious pimp who has abducted them? Determined to save three young lives, Saleema risks everything to get the girls out of the pimp’s murderous grasp.