. .Life is good for the Livingstons. Business is booming, Taste of Soul is launching a West Coast division, and Bianca Livingston and her brother, Jefferson, are vying to head it up--which means their long simmering rivalry is about to boil over. . . Having completed a culinary course in Paris--along with a hot love affair--Bianca feels more than ready to take the reins in L.A. Her parents' insistence that she marry a man of their choosing only fuels her ambition. Jefferson is hoping the position will free him to be with the secret L.A. love his family would never approve of. But the two soon realize that between their meddling cousin, Toussaint, and the return of an enemy bent on crushing the Livingston empire, they aren't the only ones in this competition. And when company money mysteriously starts disappearing, they'll find it's hard to run a business when no one can mind their own. . . "Lovely once again expertly illuminates the wacky world of the devout and devoutly devilish." --Publishers Weekly on Reverend Feelgood"Vibrant characters, artful storytelling, and an original voice make Lutishia Lovely worth every moment." --Donna Hill"A great new taste in the literary world." --Carl Weber

    When Gina and Princess meet and realize that they share a common problem, they sent into motion an unforgettable plot that will solve all their problems…

    Now she turns her eye to matters of the heart, with an endearing main character who can’t seem to keep bad men out of her life. Bernita Brown is a quick-thinking, tireless social worker who is good at practically everything—except love. Her first marriage ends in divorce, a painful experience Bernita refuses to think about. Instead, she dives into a series of sad relationships and overwhelming commitments to community and church. But not even church can keep her from being courted by dogs; Bernita’s married pastor begins making passes at her, then blames her for his backsliding. Along the way, the ghost of Bernita’s aunt Babe weighs in with plenty of advice (after all, Aunt Babe says, “You don’t need to be alive to tell folks how to live”). When a marvelous man finally enters Bernita’s life, only time can tell whether she will be able to trust him. Written with Berry’s signature warmth and reliance on African-American ancestors who deliver homespun healing, When Love Calls, You Better Answer addresses a host of powerful topics, from abusive relationships to corrupt church leaders. Ultimately, Bernita’s story will inspire readers to find the love they need, especially the love that can only come from within.

    In Rena, Audrey finds the loving relationship she longs to have with her own troubled daughter, Francesca. When Audrey's son, Stiles, comes home from Duke Divinity School, Audrey is overjoyed because he has decided to follow in his father's footsteps in the church. Upon his return, Stiles finds Rena all grown up and quickly takes notice. It doesn't take long for the two of them to fall in love, but Rena's fairy tale life is disrupted when her old flame, Frankie, learns about the relationship. In this explosive novel, the old adage about what's done in the dark turns out to be more true than anyone can imagine.

    Newly divorced, 40yearold Desa Rae finds herself alone now that her son has gone away to college. She's taken to her bed, watching life pass her by-until Roc, a 24yearold with a jawdropping body comes along. Desa Rae can't keep her eyes open or legs closed to a man who excites her like no other man has. But can she really be serious about a man who is almost the same age as her son? Avery Belmont is a diva in her own right. Smart, sassy, and successful, she has always had it going on; so much so that not only did the fullfigured beauty catch the eye of Duke, the sexiest dude on the block, but she encouraged him to leave the dope game and become legit. Now, seven years later, Avery is working hard and trying to move ahead, but it seems that Duke isn't feeling the same way. Working with Kurt, her attractive coworker, isn't helping her situation. Is the love between Avery and Duke strong enough to keep them together, or will the strength of that love make them realize it's time to let go?

    So after hearing of her daughter-in-law's sudden death, Delilah decides that coming to the rescue of her long-estranged son, Jessie, and her granddaughter, Tamara, would be a good look.  .  .though Lord knows she'll have to dig hard to find her maternal instincts.But Delilah quickly discovers Jessie wants nothing to do with her. And Tamara, who's following in Delilah's musical footsteps, isn't interested in her career advice, especially since Delilah got ahead using the singing couch. And Delilah's old flame, Deacon Pillar, an ex-convict who's traded in his gangster ways for a Bible, is stirring up a past that's sure to shock..."Hilarious faith-based romp.  .  .Walker shines a little light on a wacky family reunion with her usual inspirational, knee-slapping style." --Publishers Weekly "A comic novel about mistakes and second chances." --Library Journal

    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.

    Claire finally finds the courage to move on; then she discovers among the remnants of her shattered world her husband’s last manuscript. It’s intimate, stirring—and unfinished. An idea comes to her…What if she can find someone to give David’s novel the ending it deserves?Whitaker Grant is famous for his one and only bestselling novel—a masterpiece that became a hit film. But after being crippled by the pressure of success and his failed marriage, Whitaker retreated from the public eye in his native St. Petersburg, Florida. Years later, he’s struggling through a deep midlife crisis. Until he receives an intriguing request from a lonely widow. To honor David’s story, Whitaker must understand, heart and soul, the man who wrote it and the woman he left behind.There’s more to the novel than anyone dreamed. Something personal. Something true. Maybe, in bringing a chapter of David’s life to a close, Claire and Whitaker can find hope for a new beginning.

    The Supreme Court has ordered the state to desegregate its public schools; on the heels of the failed "massive resistance" movement, the county has instead voted to close them. With only a few weeks in which to establish a private, whites-only system, most of Ben's family is involved in the effort: his grandfather, Daddy Cary, has the ringleaders making speeches at his sixty-fifth birthday party; his father and his older brother "borrow" Farmville High's lights for the new football field; his mother volunteers at the library book drive. Come September, the Negro children will have no schools to attend, and that includes Ben's close friend Burghardt, the son of the hired hand who works on Daddy Cary's farm. Ben has always known that the lives of Negroes and whites are separated by a "color line," but none of what he has known seems to make sense anymore. When events lead to an explosive climax, Ben finds himself facing choices beyond his years; it will be a long time before he begins to understand all he learns that summer-one of the hottest on record, and, for him, the longest and most important.In this, his fifth and finest book, Dennis McFarland evokes, with his customary art and compassion, a wrenching chapter in our nation's history.

    Poole, three women are determined to ride their rich men's successes to the very top. . .When her marriage to an NFL phenom ended, so did Adrienne Sheppard's chance at wealth and security. Now she's betting on her exclusive new nightclub--and her new man--to turn her luck around. . . Sexy vixen Shanice Whitaker is taking her pay-for-play schemes to a whole new level to stack up the mad fortune of her dreams. . . And Zakiya Lee is sure she knows how to work the sports fame game straight into full-time professional wife-hood with her NBA star. . .But Zakiya's all-access pass to her man isn't keeping him from straying, or endangering her dreams. Shanice's exploding stardom is putting all her dirty tricks of the trade under the merciless media spotlight--and her future on the line. And Adrienne's insatiable greed for having it all right now is blinding her to business-ending secrets. Soon all three will learn the hard way that truly making it on their own will cost more than they bargained for. . ."Poole's latest sizzles with sex, dazzles with drama, and captivates with boundless emotion. . .Exciting and compelling from the first to the last page." ??RT Book Reviews, 4.5 Stars on Another Man Will"A definite must read." --Candice Dow on Somebody Else's Man "Colorful. . .if you love scandal, this is the book for you!" --Anna J on A Rich Man's Baby

    His former identity as a successful investment banker and eligible bachelor has disappeared. A beleaguered graduate student, she's got no money, no man, and no Ph.D., yet. A year of predoctoral research in Haiti leaves Noire drained. And a trip home to Côte d'Ivoire offers Innocent little more than intermittent sexual gratification. In the aftermath of 9/11, Innocent and Noire are back in New York City and find solace in each other's bed. But even that arrangement collapses under the weight of Innocent's revelation that he has unfinished business in Africa. For Innocent and Noire, patching together their unraveling lives becomes an exercise in hope and humility. With Hunger, Turnipseed lives up to the promise of A Love Noire and has matured into a writer who fearlessly explores the intersection of sex, love, identity, and loss in a cross-cultural context.

    . . 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.

    Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heartAfter losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm.  As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed.  She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients' lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband.  But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed.  Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy.  Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

    It's a place where the famous come to party like locals, the locals party like rock stars behind velvet ropes, and the press is savvy enough to know what not to report. Rachel Baum is a sheltered, career-oriented everygirl when she moves to South Beach from her quiet Miami suburb, searching for a life less ordinary. Quickly making friends among SoBe's most exclusive scenesters, she spends her days building a career and her nights building a reputation. But in a town where friends become enemies faster than highs become hangovers, the life less ordinary turns into more than Rachel bargained for. As she pursues the endless party in penthouses, dive bars, after-hours clubs, and cocaine speakeasies, Rachel struggles to balance her goals and ambitions with the decadence and excess -- especially her drug-fueled, on-again off-again relationship with Yale-graduate-turned-addict John Hood -- that threaten to destroy everything she's always worked for. With tremendous wit and razor-sharp insight, Diary of a South Beach Party Girl portrays the innermost sanctums of South Beach's privileged Beautiful People through the eyes of a no longer innocent heroine.

    She’s piled everything she owns into a U-Haul and driven with her husband, Peter, and their three little boys from their cozy Texas home to a multiflight walkup in the Northeast. She’s left behind family, friends, and a comfortable life–all so her husband can realize his dream of becoming a professional musician. But somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane, it hits Lanie that she once had dreams too. If only she could remember what they were.These days, Lanie always seems to rank herself dead last–and when another mom accidentally criticizes her appearance, it’s the final straw. Fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she’s willing to count since the day she said “I do,” Lanie longs desperately to feel like her old self again. It’s time to rise up, fish her moxie out of the diaper pail, and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her entire existence.Lanie sets change in motion–joining a gym, signing up for photography classes, and finding a new best friend. But she also creates waves that come to threaten her whole life. In the end, Lanie must figure out once and for all how to find herself without losing everything else in the process.Katherine Center’s Everyone Is Beautiful is a hugely entertaining, poignant, and charming new novel about what happens after happily ever after: how a woman learns to fall in love with her husband–and her entire life–all over again.