Book picks similar to
Grown: The Black Girls' Guide to Glowing Up by Melissa Cummings-Quarry
memoirs
transracial-families
b-t-ya-nf
black-community
Kissing is the Easy Part
Christine Duan
Some of the words she hates include economy class, second-hand clothes, and budget. She likes fashion, dating, not being on time and getting what she wants - until she meets Sean, who is like the clock striking midnight; he makes all her magic power wear off.He is as mature and sophisticated as the dark roasted coffee he drinks, while she is a lollipop, colorful on the outside with empty calories and artificial sweeteners on the inside.The attraction is instant, but getting a kiss is only the first step. Flora is soon to learn that getting the perfect guy doesn't guarantee a perfect relationship, and what brought them together in the first place may turn out to be what pushes them apart.
The Oak Tree Letters
Lora Lindy - 2014
She loves their new home called Oakley Plantation, especially when she finds old love letters dated back to the Civil War. Unfortunately, she has only one side of them—letters from Lt. Stanton Winston Tate. Little does she know that across the state, a young man named Trevor Whitfield finds the other half—letters from Constantine Oakley. They both research the couple and find lots of history of the old plantation—and some not so good. In the meantime, Sheriff Carlton Adams is trying to solve all the cold cases before he retires. Three murders are left; all were in the late 1800s, and all involve the Oakleys. Fate intertwines their lives and research. When all seems to come to a dead end, a century year old lady named Mable Carter helps. However, her help unveils a curse and the spirits. Can Issy, Trevor and the Sheriff solve the case? Can they undo the curse?
We Are Not Broken
George M. Johnson - 2021
Johnson that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory!This is the story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul -- four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold each other close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken.Complete with letters from the grandchildren to their beloved matriarch and a full color photo insert.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah - 2007
Beah tells how, at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and became a soldier.My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”“Because there is a war.”“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”“Yes, all the time.”“Cool.”I smile a little.“You should tell us about it sometime.”“Yes, sometime.” This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Buck: A Memoir
M.K. Asante - 2013
MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation’s dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone—his mother in a mental hospital, his father gone, his older brother locked up in a prison on the other side of the country—and forced to find his own way to survive physically, mentally, and spiritually, by any means necessary. Buck is a powerful memoir of how a precocious kid educated himself through the most unconventional teachers—outlaws and eccentrics, rappers and mystic strangers, ghetto philosophers and strippers, and, eventually, an alternative school that transformed his life with a single blank sheet of paper. It’s a one-of-a-kind story about finding your purpose in life, and an inspiring tribute to the power of education, art, and love to heal and redeem us.
Navigate Your Stars
Jesmyn Ward - 2020
Speaking about the challenges she and her family overcame, Ward inspired everyone in the audience with her meditation on tenacity in the face of hardship. Now, in book form, Ward’s moving words will inspire readers as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives, whether, like Ward, they are the first in their families to graduate from college or are preceded by generations, or whether they are embarking on a different kind of journey later in life.Beautifully illustrated in full color by Gina Triplett, this gorgeous and profound book will charm a generation of students—and their parents. Ward’s inimitable voice shines through as she shares her experience as a Southern black woman and addresses the themes of grit, adversity, and the importance of family bonds. Navigate Your Stars is a perfect gift for anyone in need of inspiration from the author of Salvage the Bones, Men We Reaped, and Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Pretty Lives Ugly Truths
K. Elle Collier - 2014
it also has its downfalls. Langston Monroe redefined the R&B genre but his children paid the price. Growing up, Malcolm, Lance and Lacey appeared to have the picture-perfect life. But their reality was nothing anyone could have ever suspected. Now, twenty years after their father’s death, his children are still struggling with their tumultuous past and fighting to keep it from ruining their current lives and most intimate relationships. Malcolm Monroe, his own worst enemy, is a filmmaker whose struggling career threatens his marriage. Lance Monroe, the highly successful ex-NFL player turned commentator can't seem to get his life together, standing accused of countless charges from a night gone wrong, he struggles to put his self-made demons behind him. Lacey Monroe, the R&B diva and wild-child who desperately seeks the stability and love she never got as a child, clings to a man she hopes will save her from a secret revealed. Together, these three siblings fight to break free of their father's painful legacy, years of hurt and deceit, and forge their own path once and for all.
Do It Like A Dude
Dark-Shadow - 2011
I may act like a normal teenage girl during the day, but I’m the most fearful street racer the moment the night falls. The thing is that nobody knows I’m a girl. In their eyes I’m just a guy who has a talent for street racing. My whole world turns upside down when Blaze, my sworn enemy, finds out my secret. That, my friend, is the very moment that hell breaks loose.
Anon.
Diamond McKinney - 2013
She's smart, funny, witty and charming but there's one little problem. No one knows these things about Chelsea except for her blog readers. You see, Chelsea isn't exactly the Prom Queen or captain of the cheer leading team. In fact, she's just as relevant as the ten year old stale gum on the bottom of her desk. Well, at least that's what she thinks of herself. Join Chelsea as she blogs through three and a half weeks of torn friendships, betrayal, love interests and crumbling relationships.
Knight School
Andrew Mayne - 2013
To win, they have to battle for control of the forest and obey a code of conduct to keep their war from spilling into the outside world.The woods between the schools are filled with dangers and dark secrets. Central among them is Venn Maddox, the youngest student to ever lead a clan in the game. Brilliant and manipulative, some think he’s a sociopath who may have killed to protect his own secrets.New kid, Marv Whitlock, already dealing with his own troubles, finds himself in the middle of the decade old conflict and has to use his wits to avoid being one more pawn.Bestselling author Andrew Mayne, brings you Knight School, an adventurous cross of Friday Night Lights and Game of Thrones.
Playing with the Enemy
Madison Wright - 2019
Tall, Dark and Douchey is causing me all kinds of problems... Working 3 jobs while at college and struggling to maintain my GPA, I crashed pretty hard. The result. I’m being punished and I have to share a room with the biggest name and hearth-throb on campus. The trouble: • He’s the burning hot, bad-boy superstar of the football team • Biggest sports star on campus and even bigger jerk • Sexy as hell My only problem, I’m a SUCKER for a bad boy and damn if his dominant attitude isn’t skin tingling. And now he sleeps on a bed only a few feet from mine! One game day with him and my life changes forever. Will I be able to make it through this semester with my GPA and dignity intact?…
Breakup Poems: Vol 1
J.R. Rogue - 2018
Rogue returns with her newest collection of poetry, Breakup Poems. In six sections – five devoted to the stages of grief and a final one for her dedicated group of online fans – the author examines the various emotions women go through as they mourn the loss of lovers, ranging from almost-relationships to marriage.
BEST FRIEND'S BABY
Layla Wilde - 2016
Now he’s the father of my baby and a football star! We were inseparable until college took him away from me for two years. And it sucked. Reuniting with him meant one thing – mind-blowing, sheet-mingling time together. He was still the boy of my dreams – time apart or not. I never planned to be more than friends with him. Certainly didn’t plan for a friends-to-lovers tryst. But it happened. And it was good. And no, I won’t give him up. Who would want to give up a golden boy with endless blue eyes and messy hair? Victoria was perfect, maybe too perfect. She was everything I wanted but didn’t deserve. She was the perfect girl-next-door. You know, the naïve girl you love so but can never touch. The kind of girl whose heart you know you can’t break? But two years of watching her grow up via video chats had done a number on my heart. And now I want her – in my heart, in my bed, underneath me. I need her more than I cared to admit. Best Friend's Baby is a sexy romance series! This is book one of three books. All three books are complete and published!
The Street or Me: A New York Story
Judith Glynn - 2014
Michelle Browning is 33, drunk and a former beauty queen who nears death after six years of homelessness. Judith Glynn is divorced with grown children and struggles to support herself in her adopted city. After their first hello, neither woman is the same as they embark on a remarkable journey for two years. This memoir is a raw yet enlightening read that graphically depicts the homeless subculture. But as Judith sets out all alone to rescue Michelle is her fixation worth the sacrifice? At stake is whether Michelle will choose possible death in a gutter over Judith's guiding light back into society. Enrolled in Kindle Book Lending that allows users to lend their book after purchasing to their friends and family for a duration of 14 days. For full details, review the Kindle Book Lending Program.