At the tender age of eight, her mother sold her to men in order to supply her drug habit. After her mother overdosed, Brandy was sent to live with the father she never knew, who promised to give her the world, only to rape her and put her out on the track.While working one night, she meets a gentleman who changes her life and makes her believe that someone finally has her best interest at heart. Soon after falling in love with her savior, she finds out that he’s not the man she thought he was. Fed up with being lied to and used, Brandy vows to never again let another person get close enough to hurt her. Revenge leading to a stacked bank account isn’t enough—she wants more.Coming up with scheme after scheme, Brandy steps on quite a few toes. While doing that, she begins to make enemies along the way; some chalking up their losses, while others want payback in blood. Take this journey filled with drama, sex and lies with Brandy, and see if being Heartless brings her a life of wealth or death.

    However, she didn’t count on falling for the youngest of the clan, Hawk Pattel. Hawk is wealthy, handsome, intelligent and charming. Raven tries to resist him, but when a Pattel wants something, nothing will stand in his way. Just when Hawk is on the verge of convincing Raven that the two of them could have something special, something real, all of his skeletons start falling out of the closet, one ugly bone at a time. Self-preservation takes over for Raven, and the only thing she can do is run. But Hawk is determined not to give up. He’ll break down the walls she’s had time to rebuild one brick at a time if he has to. However, old hurts and secrets are revealed that will test Hawk and Raven beyond anything they’ve come up against. Will they be strong enough to withstand a storm a second time? The Pattels: Hawk and Raven II is the continuation of the first book in the hot new series by National Best Selling author S.K. Hardy. It’s sexy, thrilling, and intriguing, all of the elements that S.K. is known for. This exciting saga is a story that will engage every one of your emotions: anger, happiness, laughter, and fear. The Pattels is a spin off of S.K.’s previous bestseller, The Sin City Heat Series. However, it is not necessary to have read Sin City Heat in order to start this new series. **Warning: This book is an erotic romance novel. It contains strong sexual language and themes that is not appropriate for anyone under the age of 18.

    His love for Ocean and the news of the baby they created may be the only thing that will save her life but will it be enough to save what they’re trying to build? Sony and River just can’t seem to get it together and the back and forth between the two is stopping anything that they’re trying to develop. Ivanka is trying her best to make herself relevant in Sony’s life but her constant run ins with River’s savvy banter is stopping her at every corner. With their past in the way can the two come together and be what they both desire? After everything that Cherice has been through, she again finds herself in a situation where she has to choose between the man in her life and her family. Unbeknownst to Cherice, Bryce has an ulterior motive that may cause her to lose everything. Will she be able to see past his deception or will she once again fall victim to love? With new threats on the rise and old snakes still lingering, will the Sharp brothers be able to hold their reigns in the streets and keep the women they love safe? Or will they get sucked up in the world of being a Carolina Hustla?

    Samson captures the essential images of contemporary life. Whether on the streets of his beloved and bewildering hometown of Winnipeg, an outpost in Antarctica, or a room in an Edward Hopper painting, he finds whimsy and elegance in the everyday, beauty and sorrow in the overlooked.This collection gathers together Samson's writing, starting with his band The Weakerthans' 1997 debut album Fallow, through Left and Leaving, Reconstruction Site, and the award-winning Reunion Tour. It also features lyrics from Samson's newly released solo album, Provincial, and selected poems.

    The Seventh Octave features some of this great young poets most revered poems. From "OHM," to "Sha Clack Clack," Saul's words are breathtaking and powerful with every read. The Seventh Octave is a must-have collection for any aspiring poet or seasoned writer. Lyrical and electric, full of brilliant imagery and truth. The Seventh Octave is for lovers of language and the magic poets can create.

    From the ramblings of an opium-riddled adventurer to treatises on life from a mind rattled by the world; from the tragic end of a teen queen to a day in the life of a rock star; from the execution of the Self by the Other to the pull between rules and freedom, this is a landscape located halfway between imagination and reality, a world that rocks between imagination and reality, a world that rocks between sleep and wakefulness, sanity and insanity, sobriety and inebriation. A must for fans of The Matthew Good Band, this book isn't Disneyland, but it will take you on a ride you will never forget.

    With acid tongue planted firmly in cheek, author Aldous J. Pennyfarthing takes on the president’s unsurpassed ignorance, rampant racism, shocking pettiness, vertiginous dishonesty, and more. Based on the viral Daily Kos post of the same name. Approximately 345 pages.

    . . .  Jazz aficionados . . . should be grateful to have so much good writing on the subject in one place."--The New York Times Book Review"Alluring. . . . Capture[s] much of the breadth of the music, as well as the passionate debates it has stirred, more vividly than any other jazz anthology to date."--Chicago TribuneNo musical idiom has inspired more fine writing than jazz, and nowhere has that writing been presented with greater comprehensiveness and taste than in this glorious collection. In Reading Jazz, editor Robert Gottlieb combs through eighty years of autobiography, reportage, and criticism by the music's greatest players, commentators, and fans to create what is at once a monumental tapestry of jazz history and testimony to the elegance, vigor, and variety of jazz writing.          Here are Jelly Roll Morton, recalling the whorehouse piano players of New Orleans in 1902; Whitney Balliett, profiling clarinetist Pee Wee Russell; poet Philip Larkin, with an eloquently dyspeptic jeremiad against bop. Here, too, are the voices of Billie Holiday and Charles Mingus, Albert Murray and Leonard Bernstein, Stanley Crouch and LeRoi Jones, reminiscing, analyzing, celebrating, and settling scores. For anyone who loves the music--or the music of great prose--Reading Jazz is indispensable.  "The ideal gift for jazzniks and boppers everywhere. . . . It gathers the best and most varied jazz writing of more than a century."--Sunday Times (London)

    His life offstage was just as vibrant, and until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made. The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject-almost medieval-poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown's unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used "Say It Loud (I'm Black and Proud)" as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith's meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. At the heart of The One is Brown's musical genius. He had crucial influence as an artist during at least three decades; he inspires pity, awe, and revulsion. As Smith traces the legend's reinvention of funk, soul, R&B, and pop, he gives this history a melody all its own.

    Erica learns that falling in love with a Rude Boy isn’t easy. The boundaries of her relationship are tested when outsiders seek to destroy the love she’s found. Will love withstand the test, or will she fold under the pressure? Erica isn’t the only one who falls for a Rude Boy. Jade finds herself slowly falling in love with the handsome, yet mysterious Detective Keenan Elba. The loving and doting father of three managed to sneak past the wall she built around her heart. There’s just one problem standing in the way of their chemistry… his wife! Will these ladies truly find happiness or will Falling in Love with a Rude Boy prove to be more complicated than they ever imagined????

    If a person loved you they would hurt you. She believed that and after experiencing that kind of love in a abusive home Sa'dai knew she had to get out unlike the girls around her she didn't use her body to escape the pain she used her brains.  When her dreams of becoming a nurse and securing a better future are coming true. She finds after a chance encounter that there is love in Hip-Hop and falls for a local rapper who promised her love in exchange for lies and deceit. With a heart full of hurt will she be able to feel her heart with love again? Savage Johnson was living up to the name his daddy gave him. He carried himself in the streets and in the sheets with many different women like a Savage should. Being proud of it until he ran into Sa’dai. Those eyes instantly drew him in. No woman had ever captured his heart just from a glance. Sa'dai was everything he wanted his future to look like. He hadn't spoken a word to her but he knew he had to make her his. Seeing she wasn't being treated right he was determined to turn from being a savage to her savior. He was going to love the hurt from her heart. ​In this urban tale of love and redemption we will uncover the story of two lovers battling the world as well as mending broken hearts.

    Despite his past infidelities, she pushes hard to make it work. A night of snooping brings out a few secrets that could destroy their love forever. But someone in her corner might be willing to take Bianca's pain away if she let's them. Damita Paxton had been dealt a bad hand. After losing her job and being forced to move in with her cousin, Bianca, she tries to start her life over and begin a new. But a secret that she left back in Atlanta not only threatens her happiness but her life as well. Sunset Richmond is in love with a man who may never love her the way she loves him. With two kids on her hip, all she desires is to be a real family. Is she doomed to being the side chick forever? Will anyone be able to find the happiness they so desperately seek or is this a setup for failure?

    Devastated that Juelz married his long lost fiance, Ciera has to make a hard decision for herself and her unborn child. Will she be able to get through her pregnancy drama free or will she be forced to return and face Juelz? Two of the people who Juelz considered closest to him have committed the ultimate act of betrayal. The excitement of Kenya's return is causing him to walk around blind to the truth. Will Juelz be able to see through the lies and realize who is really in his corner before it is too late, or will loyalty be his ultimate downfall. While rescuing Ari and his niece Kari, bullets hit Zelan and it may be the end of their perfect romance. Will Zelan be strong enough to pull through, and grow old with Ari? He is the key to Juelz finding out Kenya's hidden lies, but will he live to reveal them? In the end, everyone will have to make hard decisions that they never saw coming. Ari and Ciera will be forced to admit that a Billionaire Finessed their Hearts but is that a good or bad thing?

    She's smart, beautiful and takes pride in being a shoulder for everyone to cry on…but when no one is around and reality sets in, she's filled with hurt—a hurt that she can't seem to overcome. Everywhere she turns, she's reminded of the reasons that trust isn't too high on her priority list. But when her heart forms a bond with the one man that she's been trying to steer clear of, her entire mindset begins to change. For most of his life, Caleb has been that guy—the one that no woman should take seriously. He's a playboy, and he doesn't shy away from the title. Women know upfront what he's bringing to the table, and if they don't like it, then they can keep it moving. But what happens when the tables turn? Caleb isn’t used to being the one begging for more, but when it comes to Gabi…that’s exactly the case. He can't stay away, and he doesn't want to. Determined to get what he wants, Caleb goes the extra mile to win Gabi’s heart. But when lines are crossed, and trust is broken, everything takes a turn for the worst. Something so promising quickly turns into heartbreak. Will there be a future for Caleb and Gabi? Or will walking away from each other become their only option?

    In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story builds on The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project,” which reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This book substantially expands on the original "1619 Project, "weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself. This legacy can be seen in the way we tell stories, the way we teach our children, and the way we remember. Together, the elements of the book reveal a new origin story for the United States, one that helps explain not only the persistence of anti-Black racism and inequality in American life today, but also the roots of what makes the country unique. The book also features an elaboration of the original project’s Pulitzer Prize–winning lead essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones on how the struggles of Black Americans have expanded democracy for all Americans, as well as two original pieces from Hannah-Jones, one of which makes a case for reparative solutions to this legacy of injustice.