Book picks similar to
Karma's a Bitch by J. Gail


adult
lies
pub-jazoli
urban-fantasy

Hunger


Erica Simone Turnipseed - 2006
    His former identity as a successful investment banker and eligible bachelor has disappeared. A beleaguered graduate student, she's got no money, no man, and no Ph.D., yet. A year of predoctoral research in Haiti leaves Noire drained. And a trip home to Côte d'Ivoire offers Innocent little more than intermittent sexual gratification. In the aftermath of 9/11, Innocent and Noire are back in New York City and find solace in each other's bed. But even that arrangement collapses under the weight of Innocent's revelation that he has unfinished business in Africa. For Innocent and Noire, patching together their unraveling lives becomes an exercise in hope and humility. With Hunger, Turnipseed lives up to the promise of A Love Noire and has matured into a writer who fearlessly explores the intersection of sex, love, identity, and loss in a cross-cultural context.

Unspoken Lies


Darrien Lee - 2010
    From four-time "Essence"-bestselling author Lee comes the compelling tale of a marriage that is tested when infidelity--and tragedy--come into play.

Candy Licker


Noire - 2005
    Harlem. 145th Street. Grab a seat and brace yourself as I show you the kind of pain that street life and so-called success can bring. . . .Nineteen-year-old Candy Raye Montana, an ex—drug runner for the Gabriano crime family and a former foster child, dreams of becoming a hip-hop superstar, if only someone will discover her talents.Someone does. Mega music producer and king thug of Harlem, Junius “Hurricane” Jackson, CEO of the House of Homicide recording studio, cuts a deal and puts Candy on the stage. Suddenly she is a hot new artist on the notorious Homicide Hitz record label. Her career takes off and she blazes the charts, but it’s not long before Candy realizes that the man she thought was her knight is nothing more than a cold-blooded nightmare.Caught between the music and the madness, between the dollars and the deals, Candy belongs to Hurricane–body and soul–and must endure his sadistic bedroom desires while keeping his sexual secrets hidden from the world. But Candy has some strong desires of her own that simply cannot be denied, especially when she finds herself turned on by a brilliant investment baller who just happens to be Hurricane’s right-hand man. Candy longs for her freedom, but if Hurricane gets wind of her betrayal the blowback will be lethal–and not only will she risk losing her recording contract, she just might lose her life.

Becoming


Chance Valentine - 2009
    She can't eat, she heals quickly and she dreams of nothing but blood. She also finds that she has a hot cop working her case. Can she find her attackers and discover what has happened to her before her secrets are exposed?

Baller Dreams


Tasha Macklin - 2012
    He is forced to make a number of decisions that will change his life. Choosing school over the mean Detroit's Eastside streets, the sudden reality of his poor circumstances make him painfully aware of the fortunes that can be made if he embarks on the career path of a hustler. Deciding that he wants to be a baller, Dre meets and forms an alliance with an older, very beautiful female named Destiny. Unbeknownst to him, she had a secret and motive that draws her to him, which causes her to assist him in making all of his plans reality. Dre and his closest friends will create a clique called the Eastside Syndicate and set a hustle in motion like Detroit has never seen. No one else in the city will be able to compete with the murder and muscle game that they release upon the streets. However, when he falls in love with another and finds himself at odds with Destiny, the beautiful temptress who helped to make his dreams come true will stop at nothing to bring Dre and the organization that he created to its knees. Dre has everything that a hustler could ever want. Only when the tide turns, he will quickly realize that the dream life he once lived was no more than a nightmare in disguise.

Swordsman of the Rift


Brandon Varnell - 2019
    When an acquaintance comes to him with a job, he takes it. He doesn’t care about the pay or the job specifics. He just wants to escape the nightmares. But in trying to run from his past, he runs into an even more terrifying nightmare when he and four others journey into the Rift Plains—a dimension connected to hundreds of other worlds. His party is overwhelmed and Bryan is taken prisoner. Now he must team up with an archangel who has lost more than half her power and a low-level succubus to escape, get back at the woman who captured him, and defeat the Dungeon Master of this unknown world. Simple, right? Warning: This novel contains adult situations, harem relationships, nudity, sex, and a former Marine turned magic swordsman fighting in a world that seems kinda like those virtual reality MMOs you keep reading about in stories. You have been warned.

Sawn-Off Tales


David Gaffney - 2006
    Each story goes off like a tiny depth charge in the mind, leaving you with the trace memory of some new urban myth - comic, absurd and disturbingly true.

Dark Embers


Tessa Adams - 2010
    It falls to him to protect his people—and their ancient magic. He has one more duty: to provide an heir.Like all dragons, Dylan can only procreate with his destined mate—for whom he’s searched for five hundred years. His dark, rampant sexual appetite has earned him quite the reputation, all in the pursuit of his one true match.But his search is delayed when a deadly disease sweeps through the Dragonstars, and Dylan must venture to the human world to find a cure. He tracks down renowned biochemist Phoebe Quillum, never imagining the beautiful scientist will be the mate he’s been seeking for centuries. But no sooner do they meet then Phoebe and Dylan are besieged by an obsessive, overpowering sexual desire.Their passion turns to something truer—and they know in their souls and bodies that they’re in too deep to get out. And when Phoebe is kidnapped by Dylan’s oldest enemy, he must risk everything to reclaim the only woman he’s ever loved, or his clan will be wiped out forever.

Surrender Trilogy Boxed Set


Maya Banks - 2014
    A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes dreams joys and tragedies through a unique secret language

How Can I Be Down?


Brenda Hampton - 2003
    He's private, full of secrets, and running from a life of crime. If that's not enough, he's got more setbacks than any one man can handle: an arrogant troublesome brother, a sneaky playa-hating friend, a friend who turns to him for everything, and a woman who claims to have his back.After moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis, Kiley soon realizes that trouble follows him anywhere he goes. Fighting to stay on the right track, a secret from his horrifying past evolves and refuses to let him do so. And when Kiley's paranoia and desire for women start to take effect, the outcome of his decisions could very well be costly.

Beautiful Hell (Trinity High #2)


Savannah Rose - 2019
    Forced to fear love. Forced to make me enemy number one. It’s not like my tale is any different. Our families spent their lives trying to remake Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We were pitted against each other from birth. We were taught just how to throw punches and where to land them for ultimate effect. I’d always been a fast learner. Never been weak. Never had to pick myself up from ground zero, but somehow, someway, I found myself there. Right at the bottom, struggling for air, uncertain of whether or not I wanted that last breath. Until he showed up. Until he reached out a hand that I was sworn against taking. I couldn’t have the enemy save me. And I sure as rain couldn’t fall for a man I’d spent my entire life hating. But I did. I fell fast and I fell hard and I learned that no matter how good I was at taking punches, I didn’t have a clue how crippling it was to take a punch to the heart.

Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story


Julia Press Simmons - 2008
    When she stabs him and flees to her mother’s house with her three-year-old daughter, she thinks it’s finally over. Unfortunately, the drama has just begun! “Will she find the courage to leave him for good? And will he let her?” Lisa Perkins, seventeen, is the “strong one,” or at least that’s what Tabitha and Shanice think. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When she leaves her home after her mother refuses to believe that her stepfather has raped and impregnated her, she thinks that distance will solve everything. She finds that she couldn’t be more wrong. Shanice Thomas, fourteen, is giving teenage rebellion a whole knew meaning. Her mother recently found Christ, and the party that was Shanice’s life is apparently over. Thrust into situations she isn’t equipped to handle, Shanice suddenly finds herself learning painful new lessons about the consequences of sleeping around.Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story is fierce fiction peppered with urban grit! It not only explores the girls’ struggles in vivid detail, it highlights their loyalty, love, and kindness for each other! You won’t be able to put this book down!

The Maintenance Man


Michael Baisden - 1999
    Do you know where your woman is?Every Woman’s Dream: Malcolm Tremell is handsome, charismatic and a great lover; but in his world sex is not a game…it's serious business. Every week his schedule is booked with secret rendezvous, extravagant dinners and sessions of passionate love making, all for the right price. But Malcolm begins to reflect on his gigolo lifestyle when he meets Toni, a talented dancer and choreographer. But can her love transform him into the man he wants to be and the man she needs to make both their lives complete?

One Better


Rosalyn McMillan - 1997
    Spice Witherspoon, a prosperous Detroit restaurateur, has two grown-up daughters. Mink has always been a joy, but Sterling has always been Trouble.

Country Boy


Blake Karrington - 2011
    The story takes you away from the bright lights of the big cities. Where drug deals take place on city blocks and Street corners, to the backwoods, dirt roads and trap houses of the south. Q a well known and respected hustler faces all the problems that come with the life. Torn between Van a childhood love who has been down from day one. And Tee the well educated and upscale women he believes he needs. He wished all he had to worry about was the law.