Book picks similar to
Keeping the Secret by R.M. Johnson


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Crave


Darnella Ford - 2004
    And after spending one night in complete darkness because "pretty didn't pay the light bill," Gerry and I broke up and are no longer speaking.Marshall wasn't a viable suitor because when he finally revealed himself to me, I found out that his breasts were larger than mine because he used to be a she. Marshall and I are no longer speaking.Keith could have been the one. I met him at a taco stand and I was certain he was the "It Man." He was beautiful, articulate, and one my favorite things on earth, employed. When I was in his presence he felt like the last man on earth. But on our first date I became extremely irritated by this simple fact: his wife kept paging him during our meal.So, Jesus, I am down on my knees begging for mercy. I ask for an eligible, employed, nonviolent single man with no current wives or husbands who has more teeth than felony convictions to enter my world and escort me to the rest of my life. Amen.---from Michael (a woman, craving her "It Man")

Laws of Depravity


Eriq La Salle - 2012
    Fall 2012. A priest is found murdered in the most gruesome of crime scenes. The brutal slaying is the work of "The Martyr Maker," a serial killer that for the past 30 years has left behind a legacy of torture and fear. Every ten years, he butchers 12 clergymen in twisted scenes reflecting the martyrdom of Jesus and his disciples. Detectives battling their own demons know that they are working against the clock to catch the murderer before he completes his final cycle of killing and risks disappearing forever. The investigation is made even more difficult when they discover the seemingly unrelated clergyman are anything but the symbols of godliness they would have their community believe.

Dear Drama


Braya Spice - 2012
    Right is leading her down a dark path and bringing her nothing but pain.

Every Woman Has a Price


B.M. Hardin - 2012
    

Backstage


Nikki Turner - 2009
    Backstage is a VIP pass to the glamorous, gritty music industry, a world Nikki Turner knows intimately–as she introduces writers you’ll want to read again and again.

Knockin' Boots


Tracy Price-Thompson - 2005
    . . .Kevin Lawson has a secret. This hard-charging army sergeant is drawn to seedy sex dens, adult bookstores, and kinky encounters with multiple partners. To hide his cravings, Kevin uses his wife to solicit bedroom playmates and to indulge his ever-growing fantasies. A preacher’s daughter, college graduate, and ex-stripper, “Freak Nasty” Fancy Lawson has done it all and loved every moment of it. But now Fancy must face the truth of her husband’s sexual addiction or risk losing the one constant in her ever-changing world.Emile Pinchback is a dark-skinned brotha with issues, especially when it comes to his bootylicious, ghetto-fabulous nubian sistahs. He worships at the feet of the slender, blond-haired Becky Ann. But once he looks past her milky skin and into her heart, his racial stereotypes are blown wide open.Sexy and full of Brooklyn spice, Sparkle Henderson loves on the black-hand side or not at all. Just a whiff of jungle fever can send her flying into a rage, but when she’s caught in a web of sexual trickery, she finds love in a strange place and is forced to reexamine her beliefs.With a fresh look at love and lust in uniform, Tracy Price-Thompson’s sensual characters come alive in this erotically-charged page-turner of urban life.

16 Isn't Always Sweet


Cassandra Carter - 2008
    So when she hears about an open casting call for the hottest rapper's new video, she has the confidence to go for it. She and her best friend, Adrienne, try out with hundreds of hopefuls, but only Jordan makes it. Adrienne seems fine with it. But when Jordan starts getting some serious attention, Adrienne turns into a hater. And after Jordan has an innocent in-the-hall conversation with Adrienne's ex-boyfriend—they dated for one week, like four years ago!—Adrienne plots to ruin Jordan's life by spreading rumors, writing stuff on the bathroom walls and telling Jordan she'd be better off dead. Suddenly Jordan's popularity is fading. Forget sweet sixteen. She soon discovers that what she needs most is to find the strength to be herself.

Cold Blooded


Omar Tyree - 2004
    When Janeia Goode, a beautiful undergrad studying psychology at Chicago State University, meets Warren Hamilton, known as Molasses - or Moe for short - she knows he is dangerous, and yet she finds him to be exciting, mysterious, and undeniably sexy. Janeia realizes that she is a good girl in love with a bad boy - and she must keep his life as a hit man a secret, or else. Although Moe does reveal to Janeia his life as a paid killer, and she seems to accept it, his skill as a notorious womanizer proves to be his most dangerous habit. After an attempt on Moe's life lands him in an emergency room, he begins to reconsider his many enemies, but he does not take into account the scorned women he has manipulated over the years, up to and including his current love, Janeia. Soon Moe and Janeia are locked in a deadly game ruled by pride, passion, and the desire for love, loyalty, and vengeance. Cold Blooded will thrill readers who are already hooked on Tyree's racy tales of urban reality and romance.

Chasing China: A Daughter's Quest for Truth


Kay Bratt - 2011
    She is grateful for her life, but now that she is on the precipice of total independence, she feels she is missing something. Determined to learn more of her past, Mia hops a plane to the country of her birth. As she follows the red thread back through her motherland, she is enamored by the history and culture of her heritage, strengthening her resolve to find the truth of her beginnings, even as Chinese officials struggle to keep it buried. With an unwavering spirit of determination, Mia battles the forces stacked against her and uncovers a truth that will change her life.

What's Done In The Dark


Gloria Mallette - 2006
    Until tragedy touches them both and they are forced to reassess the importance of their relationship.

Get It Girls: A Harlem Girl Lost Novel


Treasure Blue - 2011
    When she and her three best friends venture out on prom night, they’re drunk on young love and excited for their college plans. But a tragic incident turns a night of high school achievement into a crime scene, and Jessica and her girls are left with bloody hands and shattered futures. After spending years paying off a debt that wasn’t theirs, Jessica and her friends return to Harlem to find it very different from when they left. Crack is now king, and its destruction has left their families in ruin and their neighborhoods consumed by its peddlers. Jessica takes a stand, and her friends are there to back her up when demons from the past come beating down their doors. Now Jessica and the girls must pass the ultimate test in order to preserve their lives, their families, and their Harlem.

An Inconvenient Friend


Rhonda McKnight - 2010
    Will she get her man or destroy herself and everyone else in the process?

That Devil's No Friend Of Mine


J.D. Mason - 2009
    . .but he was also manipulative and controlling, especially to those he loved.  His death begins to unravel deep secrets and shocking desires among the people he cared about the most. . . His daughter, Kristine, feels that with her father’s death she is finally free.  His best friend and business partner, Lamar, feels that now can finally have what he has longed for all these years: Kristine.  His protégé, Cole, the boxing champion and rising star, married a woman Bishop never approved of and may have been right about.  Rayne, the blues singer and ex-junkie relied on Bishop to keep her clean and is now slipping down a dark path without him.  And Rhonda, Lamar’s wife, is determined to ignore what has been unfolding in front of her if it means that her predictable life will go unchanged.  And then a newcomer steps onto the scene and threatens to turn everything upside down. Five very different people whose lives are only connected by Bishop suddenly find themselves up close and personal as desires, dreams and passions collide.

Dead Broke


Trista Russell - 2008
    But her memory is ten months behind, and her life went from fabulous to scandalous in the time she forgot. She has no clue that "high class" prostitution was her way of making ends meet. Meanwhile, Sarai's new but forgotten love, Tremel "Mel" Colton, vows to stay by her side. Though she can't remember him, he patiently waits to remind her of the long, steamy nights she spent in his arms. He romances her all over again, but just as lust and love start to blossom, shocking secrets from Sarai's past are revealed and suddenly Mel is unsure of their future together. Also, because she doesn't remember them, some of Sarai's enemies mask themselves as her friends, and Sarai has no idea how much trouble she has gotten herself into. But one thing is certain -- she will never forget her enemies again. In this seductive sequel to her sizzling debut novel, Going Broke, Trista Russell turns down the sheets and turns up the heat in a story about one woman learning that money comes and goes, but good friends, love, and sex are hard to forget.

Poison


K.D. Harris - 2008
    And like a moth to a flame burnt by desire, she's immediately drawn to Spinx, a neighborhood drug dealer, and the one man her sister warns her against. At twelve, she eventually gets noticed by Spinx, despite every chick in Serenity Hills wanting him. Luckily for Nyse he has a thing for young girls even though he makes her wait. On her sixteenth birthday he showers her with gifts and opens her to a whole new world down The Hill. Taking her heart and body, Spinx eventually shows her the man he really is. Not ready for a dose of the real world, his unfaithfulness causes her to turn bitter and conniving. Eventually this Venomous Vixen tears anything and everyone apart who poses a threat. And before anyone realizes it, she causes more drama in the lives of her friends and family than can be repaired. That girl is Poison!