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Say It Ain't So


La Jill Hunt - 2009
    With his talented voice, pretty boy looks, and good guy charms, Warren Cobb quickly rose to the top of the Gospel music charts with hit after hit after hit.But what's the Sensual Seductress to do when she's riding in a car that's involved in a terrible crash? And what's the Prince of Praise to do when he's the one driving?All hell breaks loose and the rumors start to fly; lives are threatened, and the truths are untold in a drama-filled tale that could only come from the imagination of La Jill Hunt.Urban Books presents Say It Ain't So. Because every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future!

The Deal, the Dance, and the Devil


Victoria Christopher Murray - 2011
    Working their way up from the humblest of beginnings, the Langstons have thrived beyond anything they could have ever imagined. Now they live in the finest home, drive the best cars, and indulge in all the trimmings that signify their massive success. But then the recession hits and rips apart the family’s financial stability. Unable to support their three children and other relatives, Adam and Evia find themselves drowning in financial trouble and teetering on the brink of complete disaster. With nowhere to turn, the Langstons have no idea what to do. Until Shay-Shaunté, Evia’s multimillionaire boss, comes to the Langstons with a five-million-dollar offer that seems so hard to refuse. Will the Langstons make this deal? Or will they recognize that the glitter of five million dollars may be far from gold?

In Love with a Younger Man


Cheryl Robinson - 2008
    She just needs change, and a direction. She's found it in Matthew Harper. He's smart, financially stable, drop-dead sexy, and has no baggage. There's just one problem, he's 18 years younger, and he's full of surprises. But what unfolds between them is something neither would have guessed,an unexpected romance about coming to terms, coming of age, and fighting for the love of your life.

Rosamunde Pilcher: A Third Collection of Three Complete Novels. The Empty House / The Day of the Storm / Under Gemini


Rosamunde Pilcher - 1999
    The Empty House is about being in love with the wrong man; The Day of the Storm is about discovering family—and its secrets; and Under Gemini is about deception. A wonderful new omnibus edition of three full-length novels by one of America's favorites.

Lottery


Patricia Wood - 2007
    His grandmother taught him everything he needs to know to survive: She taught him to write things down so he won't forget them. She taught him to play the lottery every week. And, most important, she taught him whom to trust. When Gram dies, Perry is left orphaned and bereft at the age of thirty-one. Then his weekly Washington State Lottery ticket wins him 12 million dollars, and he finds he has more family than he knows what to do with. Peopled with characters both wicked and heroic who leap off the pages, Lottery is a deeply satisfying, gorgeously rendered novel about trust, loyalty, and what distinguishes us as capable.

The Vow


Denene Millner - 2005
    As they embark on their search to find their soul mates, they navigate the full-contact sport known as being a SSBFLA (successful, single, black, female in L.A.) and negotiate the shark-infested waters of making a name for themselves professionally in Hollywood.Can Trista, the hyper-driven celebrity agent, find the time to schedule a meaningful romance? Will Amaya, the sexy starlet, convince the married hip hop-label exec she has been seeing to leave his wife, or will the NBA star steal her heart in the final seconds? After undergoing a complete makeover, will Vivian, the jaded gossip columnist, win back the father of her child?As seductive as it is empowering, The Vow is a page-turner that will keep you cheering for these women as they discover that their desire to find a husband isn't as important as finding themselves.

The Help


Kathryn Stockett - 2009
    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

P.S. I Love You


Cecelia Ahern - 2004
    Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed. The kind of enchanting novel with cross-generational appeal that comes along once in a great while, PS, I Love You is a captivating love letter to the world!

The Bridges of Madison County


Robert James Waller - 1992
    The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere-and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.

The Distance from the Heart of Things


Ashley Warlick - 1996
    Coming home from college to her grandfather's prosperous Carolina vineyard, Mavis takes the measure of the emotional distance she has traveled from the people closest to her heart: her dreamy mother, her practical aunt, her bewildered boyfriend, her prodigal uncle - and most of all Punk, her grandfather, who plans to make Mavis his sole heir. Told with warmth, wit, and brio, Warlick's first novel rejoices in womanhood and the strength of loving ties. As New York Newsday said of Warlick, "Her literary talents, not to mention her prospects, are immense."

Destiny's Daughters


Gwynne Forster - 2006
    Now they're adults, thirty-three-year old women who are as different as can be. But they have one thing in common: they have never given up on the idea of one day finding each other. . .In "More Than This," by Donna Hill, we meet Leticia, whose time in group homes sharpened her street smarts and taught her to use her good looks to her advantage. Now she's on top of the world, ensconced in a lush apartment in the heart of New Orleans. Leticia knows what men want--she runs the most elite call girl operation in the Parrish. But when she learns that the new sheriff in town is planning a raid, she decides to close up shop, have some adventures, and find her family. She soon discovers that one of her sisters is a jazz singer slated to appear at Lincoln Center. Leticia buys a ticket--and gets much more than she bargained for. . .Parry "EbonySatin" Brown's [title tk] follows Jamilla, adopted by an upstanding family who loved her like their own. But despite a life of privilege, Jamilla was always haunted by a sense of foreboding. As a way to escape her demons, she turned to writing. Now she's landed a six-figure book deal. But Jamilla's joy is clouded by a series of disturbing dreams triggered by a woman she saw on television--a jazz singer with her face. . .In Gwynne Forster's "The Journey," Clarissa Holmes Medford has finally decided to kick out her cheating husband--and pick up her guitar. Maybe she can sing her way out of the unhappiness and poverty that have plagued most of her life. When she records a well-received demo, it's just the beginning of a fascinating journey that will take her far from home, and expose her to a captivating new world--and an audience that may include the family her heart has always longed for. . .

Another Man's Wife


Shonda Cheekes - 2003
    But five years ago, her husband of fifteen years walked out on his family without a backward glance. Since then, Yani and her two children have played a waiting game, certain that he is coming back. Now, with the help of her friends and her sister Asia, Yani is finally over her love hangover and ready to get on with her life. At a party, she meets Alex Chance, a prominent New York businessman who's looking for a relationship with a woman who isn't out for everything she can get. Their powerful attraction leads to a whirlwind courtship and a fairy-tale like wedding. But their happy ending is threatened by Jarrin's sudden reappearance, which forces Yani to face the truth about her marriage -- and the life-altering choice she will have to make as another man's wife.With generous helpings of affection, humor, and romantic suspense, Shonda Cheekes has created a story that crackles with wit and the rifs and rhythms of modern life. Alternating between the first-person outlooks of Yani and Alex, Another Man's Wife captivates readers with a sassy tale of brothers and sisters on the move andsearching for love and fulfillment. Imbuded with the author's fresh, unique voice, it is a provocative and seductive look at relationships in the twenty-first century.

Secrets Never Told


Rochelle Alers - 2003
    A Featured Alternate of Black Expressions Book Club, this bestseller by Rochelle Alers examines what happens when a woman who has it all must decide if her marriage is worth fighting for.

You Know Better


Tina McElroy Ansa - 2002
    LaShawndra, an eighteen-year-old hoochie-mama who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up...again. But this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it.Not that her mother seems to care; after all, Sandra is busy working on her real estate career and on the local minister. It's LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former schoolteacher, principal, school board administrator, and highly respected cornerstone of the Mulberry community, who is scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter.Over the course of one weekend these three disparate women, guided by a trio of unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. In this magical, deeply resonant novel, Tina McElroy Ansa goes straight to the heart of women's relationships to reveal the soul that bonds us all.

We Take This Man


Candice Dow - 2008
    They are both excited when Dwight is offered a promotion at work, but the downside is that the job is located in Maryland. After much discussion, Tracey decides that she does not want to leave their new house. Dwight makes the decision to accept the position and return home on weekends. Alicia Dixon has spent her life hating and not trusting men after her father mistreated her mother, but she can't help but fall for the new guy in her company... Dwight. They both try to fight their attraction to one another, but it proves to be a losing battle-Alicia is everything that his southern wife is not. When Alicia ends up pregnant, Dwight decides to end things with Tracey, but the process proves not to be as easy as Dwight had hoped.