Showing titles in African American

Life as a single mother was never easy for Vanessa Childs but she did what she had to do in order to provide a good life for her and her baby. Falling pregnant after a drunken one night stand at college graduation, Vanessa had no real idea of who the father of her baby was. That was until several years later she saw a familiar face on her TV. The man's smile was the same one that charmed her that night and his cheeky voice made all the memories come flooding back.

Returning to the city that inspired his first prize-winning book, Lost in the City, Jones has filled this new collection with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is not the city's power brokers that most concern him but rather its ordinary citizens.

Fables and Spells is a vibrant selection of visionary works, both previously published and brand new. Included here is brown’s most beloved story, “The River,” as well as the two sequel tales of her Water Trio.

Peace. That's what Synovi now had and cherished more than anything. Free from all the disturbances his chaotic life once ensued, he wanted nothing more than to keep it that way. With a thriving business and relationship, almost nothing could take him back to that dark place of no love. His Love didn't reside there. His world is still hers, and she is still his. Without warning, Torin inserted herself into Synovi's life and remained. She's the person he can run to when everything begins to fade, but there's a price to pay when you have a good heart.

Only days ago, I had everything. A man I wanted to marry. A prestigious fellowship for graduate school. A perfect new apartment. I’m a psychology student. I should have known she was hiding something from the start… Now I’m shivering under a foil blanket wondering how my life became a nightmare. And when the paramedics check me over, it’s not concern I see on their faces. It’s fear. They think I did this. They think I killed her…

After a heartbreaking loss, Mark O'Neil finds himself back where it all started—Lavendale. With a great push from his family and friends, he makes an appearance at All-Star weekend, where he finds himself reevaluating his life. His list of things to do: regroup, spend time with his boys, and land a contract with the Lavendale Knights. Saving a soft-spoken beauty wasn't on his agenda. When they collide, he is unable to see anything other than her.

Dominique Dom Pickens is an NFL player looking for a home in Atlanta. Wren comes highly recommended when it comes to realtors in the area. One look at Wren, and Dom is already picking out wedding venues. But what seems like the perfect match doesn't come easy. Wren has been hurt in the past, and she knows how professional athletes are, so she's not willing to put her heart on the line again.

Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life.

A critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email thread between friends on why we need an updated Green Book but for public toilets. All across the nation, “Karens” become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young’s groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays, short stories, letters, and rants.

I came home and ended up with two enemies because of the women I choose to love. Kendra was the one I thought I loved, but the feeling I felt when I looked into Alaia's eyes told me that I had never experienced love with Kendra. When I looked into my Joy's eyes, I wanted to give her the stars, moons, and the sky wrapped up with a big fat ass bow. So, for her, I would go to war to make sure Tweety had no part in touching her ever again.

Grace Steele and Eliza Jones make history when they join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Not only are they among the first class of female officers the army has ever seen they are also the first Black women allowed to serve. Everyone is determined to see this experiment fail. Grace and Eliza may be from completely different backgrounds, but they both recognise that to succeed they must be more perfect than everyone else: there is no room for error.

In this evocative short piece, Candace worries that her mother, Annie, has reached an emotional breaking point. When her best friend loses her battle with cancer, Annie is acting in uncharacteristic ways, seemingly less concerned than ever about what her friends and neighbors think of her - a troubling development in her daughter’s eyes. But while Candace may think she knows her mother better than anyone, something deeper lingers beneath the surface, and times of hardship have a way of bringing us closer together than ever.

Ivy Johnson is stunned when Lucas Baylor makes an appearance at her family's event in Seattle. She hasn't seen him in nine years and never expected to again. Avoiding him is a must. She can't let him uncover her secret, but Lucas won't be denied. When her deception is revealed, it throws his life into a tailspin and forces them to face the truth of their feelings for each other - feelings they've both tried in vain to forget.

The distinguished American civil rights leader, W. E. B. DuBois first published these fiery essays, sketches, and poems individually in 1920 in the Atlantic, the Journal of Race Development, and other periodicals. Reflecting the author's ideas as a politician, historian, and artist, this volume has long moved and inspired readers with its militant cry for social, political, and economic reform. It is essential reading for all students of African American history.

At age 45, Dr. Neil Taylor is an eligible bachelor, living a seemingly satisfied existence as a deacon of his church and director of Kingdom Builder's Academy. But despite outward appearances, Neil harbors secret pains that have caused him to erect a well-constructed wall of defense around his heart. Everything changes, however, when Shaylynn Ford, a beautiful young mother, strolls through the doors of his office. There's a marked difference in their ages, but the years that separate them are the least of Neil's worries.

They thought fire would take everything—my home, my woman, and Elijah. That I'd be nothing but ashes. They forgot who I am. I'm King Inferno. I don't burn alone. The Inferno Gods don't just ride—we burn everything in our path.

Bonnie and Mansour are meant to be: two children abandoned by their mothers from opposite sides of the Black Atlantic, who find each other in New York in 1968 and set about making music that will change the world. Mansour’s sound is unique: a fusion of Senegalese prayer songs, and the wild beats of East Coast American jazz. His voice soars and lifts, carrying away the hearts of all who hear him; carrying away Bonnie, a lost American girl with her own troubled past. As they travel together from New York to Paris, to Rio and Switzerland, Mansour’s music forges connections and breaks new ground.

When Audie wakes up after a devastating accident, her mind is a blank slate. The people around her—her devoted partner, her closest friends, even her own family—all claim to know who she is. But every version of her past is different. Contradictory. Suspicious. As Audie struggles to piece together the fragments of her life, a chilling realization sets in: the memory she lost may not be the worst part of her past. The real danger lies in what she is about to uncover.

Fresh out of university, 20-year-old Témì has a clear plan for her future: she is going to surgically enlarge her backside like all the other Nigerian women, move from Ile-Ife to Lagos, and meet a man who will love her senseless. When she finally finds the courage to tell her mother, older sister, and aunties, at the funeral of her beloved father, her announcement causes an uproar - because in Nigerian families, none of your business is private. Not even if it’s about your bumbum.

Nella Larsen's "Quicksand" paints a poignant portrait of Helga Crane, a young woman grappling with her mixed racial heritage in the 1920s. Caught between societal expectations and her yearning for identity, Helga navigates different settings.