Brown’s poetic concerns are both broad and intimate, and at their very core a distillation of the incredibly human: What is safety? Who is this nation? Where does freedom truly lie? Brown makes mythical pastorals to question the terrors to which we’ve become accustomed, and to celebrate how we survive. Poems of fatherhood, legacy, blackness, queerness, worship, and trauma are propelled into stunning clarity by Brown’s mastery, and his invention of the duplex―a combination of the sonnet, the ghazal, and the blues―testament to his formal skill. The Tradition is a cutting and necessary collection, relentless in its quest for survival while revelling in a celebration of contradiction.

    But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction.

    A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers - to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.

    But when her birthday finally comes around, instead of the idyllic life she was hoping for with her true love, she finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are broken, tortured, and sold every day. Forced to become the mistress of the brutal man who owns the jail, Pheby faces the ultimate sacrifice to protect her heart in this powerful, thrilling story of one slave’s fight for freedom.

    When Wise is locked up and sentenced to fifteen years, he tells Emery to go on with her life if it’s meant to be they would get back together. Now years later Emery is happy with a career and family of her own, when Wise is released earlier than expected he sets off to do what he said he was going to do, find Emery. Emery’s heart belongs to Wise but it also belongs to her husband. Now she is forced with the hard decision to choose between the man who was there with her from the start through everything and the man who picked her up when she didn’t have anything or anybody. Who will Emery choose? Filled with sex, betrayal and drama

    

     God has a lot to lose after keeping his wife a secret from Reese all this time. He's in love with the beautiful, charismatic, highly educated doctor but once his skeletons jump out of the closet, he might just lose her forever. However, he's not willing to let her go so easily. But with someone out to destroy him and his empire, he might have no other choice but to surrender his love. Unbeknownst to Nas, he's in the middle of it all. The key to figuring out who's on a mission to take out the Taliban Gang is with him. From the moment he stepped foot onto New York soil, a domino effect of murders, lies, and deceit began. He finds out who his brothers are, but things only get worse from there. He also manages to get Vasii, the girl of his dreams, but what happens when he finds out she's the sister of an old fling? Will he be able to keep her? In the middle of the hailstorm, Young is determined to steal Alexa's heart. He's successful in making her fall in love, but there's just one issue... he isn't like most men. When he loves, he loves hard. Young honestly can't help his possessive ways, given the circumstances, but Alexa may not be ready for it. Then again, she's just as crazy about him as he is her. They're both keeping secrets in the meantime... secrets that could get somebody hurt. Who are the DeLeneau Brothers, really? And are the women they're in love with who they claim to be? Everyone will be shocked to realize they've been dating so close to home. But more importantly, love can blind you from snakes. Who's going to mow the grass and reveal all? Find out in The Plug Next Door II...

    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?

    He is a star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University.There is only one person who seems immune to Henri’s charms: his “intense” classmate and neighbor Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri’s less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school. Henri agrees, seeing a potential upside for himself.Soon what started as a mutual hustle turns into something more surprising than either of them ever bargained for. . . .This is a sharply funny and insightful novel about the countless hustles we have to keep from doing the hardest thing: being ourselves.

    Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

    But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

    This book is about the girls whose lives were ruined by me. I want to write about my story, for it’s the only way to be immortal. I want you to feel the pleasure of falling in love. The lust, the passion, the desire, and the craving that turns into an unhealthy addiction. And I want you also to feel the pain of losing someone, the ache, the agony, the bitterness, and the grief that cripples your soul forever. This is for everyone. The forgotten souls buried under the melancholy of the past. Yes, I will show you how much you hurt me, I will write. This is what my heart holds for you; half pleasure, half pain.

    After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?Fans of Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds won’t want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.