Jolene is half of P.G. County’s number-two couple–and she desperately wants what she doesn’t have: namely Barbara’s husband. Pearl owns a hair salon and lives on the outskirts of the posh community with her son, Kenyatta. She’s not only juggling a growing business and a bad divorce, but now she’s has to cope with Kenyatta’s less-than-ideal girlfriend. Candice is white and liberal, but her daughter’s new beau tests her beliefs–and opens a can of worms she never knew existed. Lee is a runaway teen, a girl whose only connection to her father is an old photo and the belief that he’s well-off and waiting for her in . . . P.G. COUNTYFrom the Trade Paperback edition.

    But each time the wedding nears, Mona finds a reason to postpone. William is frustrated and agrees to meet his first love when she emails him out of the blue. Now it's William who is postponing the wedding.

    In this wise, beguiling, beautiful novel set in the era of the Civil War, an award-winning playwright and author paints a haunting portrait of a woman named Always, born a slave, and four generations of her African-American family.

    From athletes to politicians, she's been with them all. When Byran Ward, a wealthy pastor, enters the scene, Allyson could not be more excited. Never one to pass up an opportunity, she turns on her charm and soon finds herself sharing his bed and swiping his Platinum American Express card. Beyond his physical attraction to her, Byran has his own agenda. He's vying to become the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, a ten-thousand-member congregation that is sure to give him more of the prestige and notoriety he craves. He matches all of their qualifications except for one: he needs a wife. Knowing that Allyson is a certified gold digger, he makes her an offer she can't refuse. She can have the life of luxury she desires, an instant social circle of well-known pastors' wives, and anything else she needs to act the part. The only stipulation is she must always remember it's just an arrangement. It's a facade; it's not about love.No one is more surprised than Allyson when she discovers the material perks are not enough to satisfy her. She develops real feelings for her new husband, and she soon wants more attention and affection than Byran is willing to give her. Allyson is left with a decision. Does she give it all up for true love, or does she stick it out and try to prove that money can buy you happiness? The Preacher's Wifey is a well-written, page-turning, intense drama that will stay with you long after you read the last page.A wonderful story of growing faith and learning how to rely on God, this novel is full of messages of God's love and forgiveness. This is DiShan Washington's best work yet. Bravo! --Essence bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray"

    Philo announces herself at their door one Sunday evening with the words, "God pointed me here." A large presence, weighing 240 pounds and bearing tattoos on her arm, Philo smokes, swears, and loves to eat. She is also a mother of five and in flight from her abusive husband, Tommo. In no time at all, Philo has made herself indispensable. At the senior Daycare Center, she gets the old folks talking to one another, singing old favorites, and playing bingo again. And with all the love she's got to give, it's only natural that she helps Cap and Dina-two people at the Center long separated by a bitter feud-come together again. By turns comical and tender, Peter Sheridan's novel is a beautifully written portrait of an unforgettable woman who touches everyone she meets through the sheer force of being herself.

    In this wonderful debut novel, five young women from diverse backgrounds pledge an African-American sorority and learn the true meaning of sisterhood. CAJEN is a naive freshman whose brief affair with Jason, the campus Romeo, has life-changing repercussions. With hardly a chance to cope with her new circumstances, she finds herself dealing with the stress of pledging while battling feelings of depression and guilt. TIARA grew up as the oldest of five children raised by a single mother in the projects of Gary, Indiana. Motivated by Rhonda, her mentor through the Big Sisters program, she has worked hard for everything she has achieved. Simply being in college is a victory for her. CHANCEY is brilliant, with a photographic memory that has allowed her to breeze through school. In fact, she skipped her freshman year entirely and entered college as a sophomore. She has always been made to feel like an outsider because of her intelligence, and the sorority represents an opportunity for her finally to fit in. STEPHANIE is the spoiled only child of a prominent, wealthy family from Savannah. She is used to getting the best and expects no less. But Stephanie is adopted and harbors a secret about her birth mother that she fears win cause others to think less of her. MALENA is ambitious, talented, and smart. She knows what she wants and is steadfast when it comes to achieving her goals. Her strength and resolve ultimately benefit the group as a whole. These five very different young women are thrust together and soon must learn to unite and draw upon one another's talents. During the course of their pledge process, they struggle to discover and define their futures, finding strength in the group and within themselves. In Sorority Sisters, Butler writes with sensitivity and authenticity about issues revolving around class, friendship, self-discovery, sexuality, and love. She has created characters who remain with you long after the last page has been turned. A gifted young storyteller, Tajuana "TJ" Butler has a voice we'll be hearing from for a long time.From the Hardcover edition.

    She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women, mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends, view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. (jacket flap)Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

    Now a successful businesswoman, Michelle still remembers the man she knew only as B.J.. And when fate brings them together again, the feelings she had for him come rushing back. But as soon as Brad Jamison speaks, Michelle realizes that the caring man she once knew is now a hardened businessman without warmth or tenderness, and he doesn't remember her...Brad has heard the rumors that Michelle's success may be die more to her looks than her brain--but he doesn't believe them. He knows how hard it can be for a black woman to get ahead in business. Indeed, when Brad finally meets Michelle, her head for business impressed him--while her almond skin and smooth curves send his mind reeling. She seems so sweet...even familiar. But if he discovers the shared past that only she remembers, will it tear them apart forever?

    Being the first person in her family to gain a high school diploma, she has set the tone for greatness. But her prominent future becomes so nebulous that she turns to the streets for guidance and support. She soon realizes that the ''life'' of fast money and frivolous behaviors has not only plagued her, but other family members as well, suffering the same issues that were handed down for generations. In spite of her failed attempts to overcome her problems, she's determined to triumph once again.

    The members of the Moore clan come together to celebrate the recent marriage of Myles and Marisa, but a dark secret from the past threatens to tear the family apart.

    THE LONELY POLE - A TWO PART MEGA NOVEL BY TAKERRA ALLEN! We’ve all got dreams… How far are you willing to go for yours? Baby, Nyema, Portia, and Rocsi couldn’t have any less in common than what meets the eye. But under dire circumstances and through different walks of life, they all end up in the same place. Dreamz, a seedy strip joint in the backstreets of Dirty Jerz, conceals some of the darkest secrets and holds captive the souls of many pretty girls lost. In a day and age where the strip life is glamourized and celebrated, take a walk with four women who will tell the tale a bit differently. Lost loves, broken hearts, dreams deferred, all in the name of the almighty dollar and it’s only a pop, twerk, and grind away. But how far is too far, and when do you know you’ve gotten there? And even more important, how can you find your way back? At the sad realization that the pole has no mercy, these women must come to grips with their reality. The pole is cold, the pole is greedy, the pole is wicked, the pole is deceiving, the pole… is lonely.

    Making a selection is just the beginning - these ladies are more than mere images, and getting to know them is the really fun part. But just like most things, looks can be deceiving. And while the guys who take this plunge think they're in for the adventure of a lifetime, some of them are headed for their worst nightmare.Featuring five dramatically different voices, these stories travel the tantalizing crossroads between romance and cyberspace.

    It took ten years and a half a million miles of travel across three continents to find it, but finally, in an astonishing feat of genealogical detective work, he discovered not only the name of "the African"—Kunta Kinte—but the precise location of Juffure, the very village in The Gambia, West Africa, from which he was abducted in 1767 at the age of sixteen and taken on the Lord Ligonier to Maryland and sold to a Virginia planter.Haley has talked in Juffure with his own African sixth cousins. On September 29, 1967, he stood on the dock in Annapolis where his great-great-great-great-grandfather was taken ashore on September 29, 1767. Now he has written the monumental two-century drama of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him—slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lumber mill workers and Pullman porters, lawyers and architects—and one author.But Haley has done more than recapture the history of his own family. As the first black American writer to trace his origins back to their roots, he has told the story of 25,000,000 Americans of African descent. He has rediscovered for an entire people a rich cultural heritage that slavery took away from them, along with their names and their identities. But Roots speaks, finally, not just to blacks, or to whites, but to all people and all races everywhere, for the story it tells is one of the most eloquent testimonials ever written to the indomitability of the human spirit.

    She's a successful marketing executive who still believes in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

    Bestselling author Tina McElroy Ansa is back with another tale from Mulberry, Georgia, the richly drawn fictional town and home of the extraordinary Lena McPherson.  Lena, now forty-five and tired of being "the hand everyone fans with," has grown weary of shouldering the town's problems and wants to find a little love and companionship for herself.  So she and a friend perform a supernatural ritual to conjure up a man for Lena.  She gets one all right: a ghost named Herman who, though dead for one hundred years, is full of life and all man.  His love changes Lena's life forever, satisfying as never before both her physical and spiritual needs.  Filled with the same "humor, grace, and great respect for power of the particular" (The New York Times Book Review) as her previous critically acclaimed novels, Baby of the Family and Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With  is yet another memorable and life-affirming tale from one of America's best-loved authors.