Sapphire's Grave


Hilda Gurley-Highgate - 2002
    On the harrowing voyage to the Americas, she is beaten for her unrelenting will and staunch pride. When she arrives, she gives birth to a daughter who is called Sapphire because of the "black-blue-black" complexion she shares with her mother. Sapphire has also inherited her mother's strength and defiant spirit, and despite a life of poverty and opression, she grows up to mother several daughters of her own. Even when tragedy strikes and part of Sapphire dies, her strength gives rise to a legend that will sustain the women who follow her, "each carrying something of her mother, her grandmother, her aunts; each passing on to her own daughters blessing and cursing, the consequences of her own choosing.Through the lives of Sapphire and her descendants, Hilda Gurley-Highgate not only creates a poignant and engrossing saga of black women in America, she brilliantly illuminates the meaning of roots and the links between women and their female ancestors, a tie that often appears tenuous, undefined, and distant, but is strong, palpable, and much closer than we imagine. Written in luminous prose, SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE is an astonishing work by an author poised to take the literary world by storm.From the Hardcover edition.

Second Chances


Riley Jordan - 2020
    Things are going well; their mutually held animosity gave way over the years to respect and cooperation, something that can’t be said about their parents nor a certain overprotective best friend who takes holding a grudge to a whole new level.There is still tension among their families and friends, but the only thing they’re concerned about is making sure they’ve created the best life for their son.However, something else suddenly enters the picture. Something neither of them saw coming.Love.Love?Didn’t they learn anything the first time around?The stakes are much higher and, if things go bad, it’s guaranteed to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to build.Should they keep old feelings buried and focus solely on their son? Or should they throw caution to the wind and give love a second chance?

The View from Here


Rachel Howzell - 2010
    She has issues. Abandonment issues. Marital issues. Conception issues. And she thinks her house in the hills is haunted. It doesn't help that her husband Truman spelunks and climbs, making her worry more with each adventure he takes. As the two grow apart, Nicole makes decisions that may ultimately shatter her fragile marriage.Her life changes on the afternoon she receives a phone call from the harbor. During a scuba dive, Truman disappears. No one—not his diving instructor, not the Coast Guard—can find him. Is he still alive? Or is grief making her believe the impossible?

Her Baby, His Gift


LaShawn Vasser - 2021
    She’s pregnant. The situation isn’t ideal, and that’s putting it mildly. Mommy, daddy, and baby make three, right? Try four.Could one call her predicament a love triangle when love isn’t really involved? Harlem has no idea how she’s fallen so far down the rabbit hole, but she has to climb up and out.After the clouds of confusion lift, Harlem finds that she more than welcomes motherhood, but will she also find her soul mate?

Frostbitten


Destiny Hawkins - 2018
    I wanted it all to end. I stood at the edge of the rooftop ready to jump when my tired eyes met her glowing blues. They weren’t natural. Nothing about her was natural, but I wasn’t afraid. It wasn’t until her ice-cold fangs sunk into my neck did I find myself terrified. But why? Wasn’t death what I wanted? For once, wasn’t I getting exactly what I wished for?Maybe I had hoped that in death, I would be reborn. Who knows, maybe I would be.

The Letter Opener


Kyo Maclear - 2007
    When her co-worker Andrei, an enigmatic Romanian refugee who has become the object of her fascination, suddenly vanishes, Naiko, an employee in the Undeliverable Mail Office, searches for clues to explain his disappearance and discovers the elusive nature of truth.

Love after Betrayal: An Interracial, Billionaire Romance


Yuwanda Black - 2019
    An unexpected pregnancy. A new love waiting to be explored. An old flame longing to be rekindled. Could there possibly be Love after Betrayal? *** How do you flush twelve years of marriage down the drain? Can you flush twelve years of marriage down the drain? When Gunner, Bria's husband of a dozen years, tells her that he's fathered a child outside of their marriage, her whole life plan is turned upside down. While she freely admits that she's been married to her career, she thought they were on the same page: she'd make partner at her corporate law firm, his construction firm would thrive, and then they'd start a family. They'd be financially secure – creating a life without the money worries they both grew up with. That's why Bria couldn't process what Gunner was telling her. *** "I'm sorry, but I had to tell you. I'm sorry, Bria. You have to believe me," Gunner pleaded. "I want to work through this. I'm hoping that in time you can forgive me. I love you. You're the only woman I've ever loved. You know this." He looked sincere. He sounded sincere. She knew this man. She loved this man. But … "Work through this?" Bria laughed humorlessly, drowning out the voices in her head and the love in her heart. "Let me get this straight. You‘re telling me that you've been cheating on me; that you have a one-month old baby with whoever the slut is, and you want me," she said, putting her index finger to her chest, "to somehow find it in me to work things out with you? Have you lost your ever-loving mind?!" she exploded. *** It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. But it was. And she had to accept it. But when Bria suddenly finds herself pregnant, will she and her ex-husband find their way back to each other? Or, will she find lasting love with a new flame?

Always Wrong (Billionaire Romance, #4)


Xyla Turner - 2020
    Not once, but twice.She didn't do seconds, she said.She had two jets, her friend said.She'd eat me alive, they said.It was all true.Yet, I couldn't get her out of my head.Sheryl: Jacquez Costa was supposed to be a conquest. I conquered and moved on. Well, until the unthinkable happened and all the money and technology in the world could not stop what we did. It changed my life forever, and for once, I was not the prepared CEO when it came to this territory. Neither was he, and therefore, we kept getting it wrong.So I thought.

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace


Patrick Cottrell - 2017
    She’s accepting a delivery from IKEA in her shared studio apartment when her uncle calls to break the news: Helen’s adoptive brother is dead.According to the internet, there are six possible reasons why her brother might have killed himself. But Helen knows better: she knows that six reasons is only shorthand for the abyss. Helen also knows that she alone is qualified to launch a serious investigation into his death, so she purchases a one-way ticket to Milwaukee. There, as she searches her childhood home and attempts to uncover why someone would choose to die, she will face her estranged family, her brother’s few friends, and the overzealous grief counselor, Chad Lambo; she may also discover what it truly means to be alive.

Until Serena


Chiquita Dennie - 2021
    Fiercely independent and prideful, she’s doing everything she can to keep them afloat and not ask for help. That plan works out fine until Mother Nature, crying kids, a car that breaks down, and a sexy Alpha male with enough cockiness to make her swoon, collide and force her to leave her comfort zone. Khalil has two focuses: his career at the investment firm and enjoying single life. That would be a lot easier if his meddling parents would stop trying to fix him up with high-society locals. He just might get his wish when he stumbles upon an accident and meets the woman who can make him change his outlook and possibly get him to settle down.Find out what happens when a feisty woman meets her match in the anti-prince charming! Will it lead to a happily ever after?Until Serena is part of Aurora Rose Reynolds's Happily Ever Alpha World. If you loved Until December, then you will want to read Until Serena.

The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You


Amulya Malladi - 2019
    The best Zara store is in BCN (Barcelona, Spain). The best airport to buy whiskey at is ARN (Stockholm, Sweden). When stopping at CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris), you must have a long layover because of those damn funiculars; and never forget that the international terminal in ORD (Chicago) has no food after ten in the evening. Airplanes, airports, and hotel lobby bars make Asmi feel just as much at home as her apartment in Laguna Beach does. A marketing director in a biotech company, Asmi rose through the corporate ranks and never really took the time to think about couple-hood. She has good friends, a terrific sister who lives close by, and a married on-again, off-again lover in Paris she sees while she travels around the world for work.But as Asmi reaches the big 4-0 and contemplates making some life choices; her boss announces he is retiring, and she is suddenly thrown into a corporate Hunger Games against her nemesis Scott Beauregard III to win a promotion.Worried that her inability to commit to a real relationship with a man is a personality flaw and afraid that she’s unqualified for the job she desperately wants, Asmi must learn to lean in to have the career and life she wants and deserves, without worrying about what society expects from her.

Zen Wisdom for the Anxious: Simple Advice from a Zen Buddhist Monk


Shinsuke Hosokawa - 2020
    The sayings include:Pay attention to what is right in front of your eyesNothing happens by chance. Every encounter has its meaningBe careful not to confuse the means and the purposeKeep flowing just like waterNothing will control youEven a bad day is a good dayCheck the ground beneath your feet when you're in troubleYou'll never walk aloneThese 52 mindful sayings mirror the 52 steps traditionally taken to achieve Buddhist enlightenment, and they also coincide with the 52 weeks of the year—passing through the seasons, both in the natural world and our lives. Each page has an illustration and a simple, meditative reflection to help you see into your own heart, accept your current state of being, reduce anxiety and find peace.Whatever the time of year, whatever your time of life, by browsing the pages of this book you are sure to quickly find a piece of universal wisdom that will resonate with your soul.

A Passionate Love


Delaney Diamond - 2016
    She’s a wealthy socialite looking for a suitable husband. A man with the right pedigree and an economic status that matches her own. He’s part owner of the hottest nightclub in Atlanta with his siblings. Someone who loves cooking, the outdoors, and women, not necessarily in that order. After one night together, their sizzling chemistry makes it difficult to stay away. Then comes the hard part—navigating their differences to salvage a relationship that, while it may be imperfect, overflows with love and passion.

The Swimmers


Julie Otsuka - 2022
    But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief. One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese internment camp in which she spent the war. Narrated by Alice's daughter, who witnesses her stark and devastating decline, The Swimmers is a searing, intimate story of mothers and daughters, and the sorrows of implacable loss, written in spellbinding, incantatory prose. The most commanding and unforgettable work yet from a modern master.

Chasing the Sun


Natalia Sylvester - 2014
    Then he learns that the unthinkable has happened: she’s been kidnapped. Too much time and too many secrets have come between Andres and Marabela, but now that she’s gone, he’ll do anything to get her back. Or will he?As Marabela slips farther away, Andres must decide whether they still have something worth fighting for, and exactly what he’ll give up to bring her home. And unfortunately, the decision isn’t entirely up to him, or up to the private mediator who moves into the family home to negotiate with the terrorists holding Marabela. Andres struggles to maintain the illusion of control while simultaneously scrambling to collect his wife’s ransom, tending to the needs of his two young children, and reconnecting with an old friend who may hold the key to his past and his wife’s future.Set in Lima, Peru, in a time of civil and political unrest, this evocative page-turner is a perfect marriage of domestic drama and suspense.