A Letter for My Mother by Nina Foxx
Whether they’re from the US, Caribbean, India, or the UK, all of the contributors to A Letter for My Mother share one thing in common: thoughts that have been left unsaid to their mothers and mother figures—until now. In this moving book, thirty-three women reveal the stories, reflections, confessions, and revelations they’ve kept to themselves for years and have finally put into words. Written through tears and pain, as well as joy and laughter, each offering presents the mother-daughter bond in a different light.
Heartfelt and deeply meaningful, A Letter for My Mother will inspire you to admire and cherish that special relationship that shapes every woman.
Purchase A Letter for My Mother by Nina Foxx
Link: http://amzn.com/B00DPM7TYK
Anthony: Unshackled by Joan Vassar
Joan Vassar’s captivating Black series picks up on the gritty streets of New York City during the height of the Civil War. Anthony, mired in pain and still reeling from the death of his best friend, travels to Manhattan on an errand for the legendary Black. Once the task is complete, he finds himself at a brothel specializing in dark women.
When circumstances lead Anthony to steal a young woman from the infamous Hen House, he forever changes the course of his life and the lives of the people of Fort Independence. Fresh out of options, Anthony is forced to seek assistance to right the wrongs his actions have caused. Black comes to his aid and the men ride out to keep peril away from the fort.
Anthony: Unshackled is a gripping tale of redemption, love and liberty. Join Joan Vassar, Black and the men on yet another nail biting, heart-pounding journey.
Anthony: Unshackled by Joan Vassar
Download here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087DXP39B
Books In The BLACK Series (4 Books)
Download here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074CJGBRD
Closer To You by Sheryl Lister
Located an hour away from San Diego, the small town of Blackmont, California is known for its peaceful surroundings and majestic lakes. However, secrets and danger lurk just below the surface. And some secrets could prove to be deadly.
Love may be a distraction neither of them will live to enjoy…
When Zahra Chandler unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s small-town home and bookstore, she jumps at the chance to leave LA. There’s just one problem: she also, unknowingly, inherits a long-buried secret that someone would go to any lengths to protect, including murder. The only thing standing between her and a killer is the town’s arrogant, but irresistibly sexy sheriff—a man who ignites in her a passion she’s never felt.
Kendall McKnight takes his job as sheriff seriously and is always prepared for anything…except his instant attraction to newcomer Zahra. As they’re drawn together in their search for clues, protecting her becomes less about civic duty and much more about carnal desire and he’s in danger of losing the one thing he vowed never to risk again—his heart. But the threat is closer than they realize and the truth, when revealed, could tear them apart forever.
Purchase Closer To You by Sheryl Lister
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Mystery
Amazon: http://bit.ly/CloserToYouSL
Find all of the information, graphics and excerpts on the author’s Seducing the Pen Tour page: https://www.smore.com/shbwd-books-by-sheryl-lister
Sheryl Lister is a multi-award winning author and has enjoyed reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She is a former pediatric occupational therapist with over twenty years of experience and resides in California.
Sheryl is a wife, mother of three daughters and a son-in-love, and grandmother to two special little boys. When she’s not writing, Sheryl can be found on a date with her husband or in the kitchen creating appetizers.
See all of Sheryl’s published books by visiting her books page.
http://sheryllister.com/books-published
Community Workers & COVID-19 by LoLo Smith
Community Workers & COVID-19 by LoLo Smith
(A Children’s Book About Coronavirus)
Looking for an engaging book to teach children about the coronavirus and explain what community workers do? This is it! In Community Workers & COVID-19, kids are introduced to a special town called Share-A-Lot where a doctor, nurse, teacher, construction worker, grocer, chef, emergency medical technician (EMT), police officer, and a mayor all work together to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
Throughout this engaging story, children will learn about the role each community worker plays in the town while learning the virtue of sharing. From the teacher who reminds students to wash their hands, to the research doctor working on a vaccine for COVID-19, to the grocer and chef providing nutritious fresh food and vegetables to keep the body healthy, each worker plays an essential role in the town and they are all happy to do their jobs to help the community get through a difficult time.
But what happens when the mayor decides to offer a special prize to the most essential worker in town? How will they ever decide who plays the most essential role? You’ll have to read to find out.
By the end of the book, children will have a greater understanding of how each community worker helps combat coronavirus pandemic and a newfound appreciation for the community workers keeping them safe in their own community.
Community Workers & COVID-19
Genre: Children’s Book; Community Workers; COVID-19; Value of Sharing; Coronavirus
Purchase Community Workers & COVID-19 (A Children’s Book About Coronavirus)
Dawn (Lilith’s Brood, 1) by Octavia E. Butler
One woman is called upon to rebuild the future of humankind after a nuclear war, in this revelatory post-apocalyptic tale from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower.
When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.
Hopeful and thought-provoking, this post-apocalyptic narrative deftly explores gender and race through the eyes of characters struggling to adapt during a pivotal time of crisis and change.
Delayed But Not Denied 3 by Asia Williams
Delayed But Not Denied 3: Real People Sharing Stories about Healing and Growth by Julia D. Shaw (Compiler) and Toni Coleman Brown (Compiler)
The one common thread that binds over forty-five aspiring writers is the Delayed But Not Denied Book Series. The contributors of all three books share a diverse tapestry of insight, which is woven together by the drive to define their own successes. They share their stories of tragedies and triumphs with the prayer that, a sentence, a paragraph or a chapter will empower others to push a bit harder and to be their authentic self.
In Delayed But Not Denied Book 3: Real People Sharing Stories About Healing and Growth, each woman’s testimony lets readers know that regardless of what you have been through you are extraordinary too!
About the Compiler
Julia D. Shaw is a passionate entrepreneur with more than thirty years of professional experience. Julia’s current business venture is the Collaborative Experience, Inc., a life empowerment company with business partner Toni Coleman Brown. As publishers, they have compiled a series of Amazon bestselling books and created the opportunity for more than fifty writers to become published co-authors.
The series includes Delayed But Not Denied 1: 20 Stories about Life and Resiliency, followed by Delayed But Not Denied 2: Real Stories about Hope, Faith, and Triumph, and Delayed but Not Denied Book 3: Real People Sharing Stories About Healing and Growth. As a freelance publicist, Shaw’s client list included Iyana Vansant, Michael Biased, Circle of Sisters Expo, and the International African Arts Festival, to name a few.
Julia consults with the National Black Writers Conference, the Small Business Bootcamp for Women, The Network Journal Magazine’s 40 Under Forty Achievement Awards, and the 25 Influential Women in Business Awards.
Julia is a contributing author to the Amazon bestseller Network to Increase Your Net Worth, compiled by Toni Coleman Brown, and she was featured in Stepping’ Out with Attitude: Sister, Sell your Dream by Anita Buckley. Shaw is the proud mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three, she resides in Queens, New York.
Toni Coleman Brown is an author, coach, marketing expert, and motivational speaker. She is also the CEO and founder of the Network for Women in Business, an online community for women business owners who seek affordable cutting-edge training and the ability to connect and advance with other like-minded individuals. The motto for the Network is “We EDUCATE to ELEVATE women in business.”
Toni is also the host and creator of the Small Business Bootcamp for Women and the Online Marketing Mastermind Live events. Toni has been featured in the New York Amsterdam News, the Network Journal Magazine, Our Time Newspaper, Black Enterprise Online, Working Woman Magazine, and WPIX 11’s Working Woman Report.
She is the author of Quantum Leap: How to Make a Quantum Leap in Your Network Marketing Business and the compiler and co-author of Network to Increase Your Net Worth and Delayed But Not Denied: 20 Inspirational Stories of Life and Resiliency. Toni is on a mission to fulfill her God-ordained purpose of changing the lives of millions. Toni lives in Queens, New York, with her husband and two daughters.
Eshe: The Fire Breathing Series, Book 1 by J.D. Mason
She’s the first and Andwele Abioye has no blue print for how to fulfill an ancient prophecy that he’s inherited from his forefathers, the Sons of Sango, an order of demigods tasked with facilitating the awakening the spirits of Oya’s dragon daughters. The objectives have been passed down from generation to generation and have been drilled into Andwele and his brothers. And they are crystal clear. Gain her unwavering trust—all of it before the Trial by Fire begins. Don’t die. Reap her human soul. Awaken her dragon spirit. And, oh yeah. Don’t die.
Eshe Taylor is emotionally unraveling and doesn’t understand why. She’s living in a waking dream and with each passing day, her neurosis seems to be getting worse. She can’t sleep or eat. Eshe can’t focus on simple tasks and is becoming overwhelmed by paranoia, anxiety, emotional imbalances that are becoming unbearable.
One evening, her worst fears come to light, and Eshe finds herself living one of her nightmares. But what she doesn’t understand is that things are about to get much worse, and all she has to help her survive this is the man who manipulated her and dragged her into an unbelievable destiny she wanted no part of.
More Books by J.D. Mason: https://www.amazon.com/J.-D.-Mason/e/B001ILFMPI
Failure to Protect by Pamela Samuels Young
The author of the award-winning thriller Anybody’s Daughter is back with an addictive read that tackles bullying and its devastating aftermath.
What Really Goes on Behind School Doors?
When the classroom is no longer a safe space for her child, a grieving mother is determined to seek justice for her bullied daughter. Enter hard-charging attorneys Angela Evans and Jenny Ungerman. From the very start, the two lawyers face more than an uphill battle.
An ambitious school principal is far more concerned about protecting her career than getting to the truth. She flat out denies any knowledge of the bullying and prefers to sweep everything under the rug. But just how low will she go?
As the battle enters the courtroom, the attorneys fight hard to expose the truth. But will a massive coverup hinder their quest for justice?
About the Author
Attorney and award-winning author Pamela Samuels Young writes fast-paced mysteries that tackle important social issues. Her thriller Anybody’s Daughter won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Fiction. A former journalist, Pamela also writes sexy, sassy romantic suspense under the pen name Sassy Sinclair. Visit her website at http://www.pamelasamuelsyoung.com.
Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
A young private investigator finds out the price of keeping deadly secrets when a vicious killer sets his sights on her in this pulse-pounding thriller from the USA TODAY and New York Times bestselling author of the Tracers series.
Private investigator Kira Vance spends her days navigating the intricate labyrinth of Houston’s legal world, and she knows all of its shadowy players and dark secrets.
On a seemingly normal day, she’s delivering a report to her top client when suddenly everything goes sideways and the meeting ends in a bloodbath. Twenty-four hours later, the police have no suspects but one thing is clear: a killer has Kira in his sights.
Fiercely independent, Kira doesn’t expect—or want—help from anyone, least of all an unscrupulous lawyer and his elite security team. Instead, she launches her own investigation, hoping to uncover the answers that have eluded the police. But as Kira’s hunt for clues becomes more and more perilous, she realizes that she alone may hold the key to finding a vicious murderer. And she knows she must take help wherever she can find it if she wants to stay alive…
Written with Laura Griffin’s signature “gritty, imaginative, sexy” (Cindy Gerard, New York Times bestselling author) style, Her Deadly Secrets is an electrifying and scintillating novel that packs a powerful punch.
Purchase Her Deadly Secrets (Wolfe Security) by Laura Griffin
https://www.amazon.com/Her-Deadly-Secrets-Wolfe-Security/dp/1501162438
About The Author
Laura Griffin is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tracers series, the Wolfe Sec series, the Alpha Crew series, and several other novels. A two-time RITA Award winner and the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award, Laura lives in Austin, where she is working on her next book. Visit her at LauraGriffin.com, and on Facebook at Facebook.com/LauraGriffinAuthor.
I Am God’s Work of Art by Yvonne Strachan
I Am God’s Work of Art by Yvonne Strachan
Every child is a blessing from God. No matter where they come from, how they look physically, their gender, or nationality.
I Am God’s Work of Art inspires children to become one with themselves and to embrace their unique characteristics, personality, and appearance. This book empowers children always to know that they are special, creative, wonderful, and love unconditionally by God.
Each reader is assured that they have a special purpose to fulfill. This book builds the confidence of children, reminding them to be confident and courageous in everything that they do. Children will also be inspired to do everything that they desire to do in life and to stay in their own unique lane.
I Am God’s Work of Art is filled with inspiration and power that will assist children to be victorious and never to reject embracing their greatness.
Length: 31 pages
Age Level: 0-12
Grade Level: P-5
Children’s School Issues
Children’s School & Education Books
Children’s Christian Inspirational Books
Love’s Sweet Kiss (Sassy Seasoned Sisters Book 1) by Sheryl Lister
Nzinga Carlyle has finally gotten her life together after her divorce and is happily single. However, the moment she sees her teen crush at her high school reunion, old feelings start to rise. Nzinga isn’t sure she’s ready to move forward, although she can’t deny the attraction between them. And after one sweet kiss, she has to decide how far she wants the relationship to go.
Byron Walker can’t believe his good fortune when he runs into the woman who stole his teenage heart. Once he realizes their chemistry is still explosive, he vows not to let Nzinga get away a second time. Circumstances forced them apart over thirty years ago, but Byron intends to show her they were always meant to be.
Man of the Year by Caroline Louise Walker
Beware the Man of the Year. You may praise him, resent him, even want to be him: but beneath the elegant trappings that define him, danger looms.
Caroline Louise Walker’s stunning debut novel, for fans of Herman Koch’s The Dinner and Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door, delves into the increasingly paranoid mind of a man whose life as the most upstanding of citizens hides a relentlessly dark heart.
Dr. Robert Hart, Sag Harbor’s just-named Man of the Year, is the envy of his friends and neighbors. His medical practice is thriving. He has a beautiful old house and a beautiful new wife and a beautiful boat docked in the village marina. Even his wayward son, Jonah, is back on track, doing well at school, finally worthy of his father’s attentions. So when Jonah’s troubled college roommate, Nick, needs a place to stay for the summer, Hart and his wife generously offer him their guest house. A win-win: Jonah will have someone to hang with, and his father can bask in the warm glow of his own generosity.
But when he begins to notice his new houseguest getting a little too close to his wife, the good doctor’s veneer begins to crack. All the little lies Robert tells—harmless falsehoods meant to protect everything he holds dear—begin to mount. Before long, he’s embroiled in a desperate downward spiral, destroying the lives that stand in his way. It’s only the women in his life—his devoted office manager, his friends, his wife—who can clearly see the truth.
Biting and timely, Man of the Year races along at an electric pace, with a wicked twist that you won’t see coming.
Book Review
“This is THAT book. You know the one I’m talking about…the one hidden under your teetering should-read, have-to-read, said-I-would-read-months-ago pile. The one you grab at the end of the day because, damnit, you earned this deliciousness, and it reminds you of why you loved reading in the first place. Not only because it’s a blisteringly intelligent, breathtaking debut, drenched with a masterful understanding of human nature, brimming with twists, surprises, suspense and razor sharp language, but because it’s witty and hilarious and also – long lost thing – the book is a blast to read: it’s fun. So go grab a copy and disappear yourself, I’ll understand completely.” — Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night
Caroline Louise Walker grew up in Rock Island, Illinois. For her fiction and nonfiction, she has received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, The Kerouac Project, and Jentel Arts. She holds an MA from NYU. Man of the Year is her first novel.
Mine by Courtney Cole
Tessa was prepared for the hurricane. Lindsey was the storm she didn’t see coming.
When Tessa Taylor unlocked her husband Ethan’s iPad to discover nude photos from a twenty-six-year-old bombshell named Lindsey, her seemingly perfect life came to a screeching halt.
With a hurricane barreling toward Florida and Ethan stuck on a business trip, Tessa finds herself imprisoned in her own home with a choice to make: Does she ride out the storm until she can confront Ethan in person, or does she take matters into her own hands?
Increasingly restless and desperate for revenge, Tessa resolves to act. And when she lures Lindsey over a few hours later, there’s no turning back.
What ensues is a battle of wills between two well-matched opponents, blinded by love for the same man but driven by demons of their own. Like storm-ravaged Florida, neither woman will be the same when the skies clear.
He’s mine. Both wife and mistress would stake their lives on it. But only one of them can be right.
Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx
“Momma set me on the jukebox.” So begins the personal story of Denise (Sweetie) Wooten, set between a post-civil rights era New York City and a growing, but stale rural Alabama. We are thrust in the midst of a family longing for normalcy, but instead struggling with illness and all that comes with it; denial, anger and misunderstanding and love.
As cultures clash, we see the family through a child’s eyes and walk with her as she makes sense of war fought far away, but with effects close to home, and a tragedy that changes her life forever.
More truth than not, Momma: Gone is a story of survival, where all the lessons are taught by the child who must eventually lead them through and a classic American story of overcoming life’s misfortunes to find the bloom on the other side. Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx was shortlisted for a Doctorow Award in Innovative Fiction
Praise for Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx
A grief laden journey that will tug at your heart. Profoundly moving.
—Anita Doreen Diggs, author The Other Side of the Game, former editor, Random House
Purchase Momma: Gone A Personal Story by Nina Foxx
My Name Is Ona Judge by Suzette D. Harrison
New Hampshire, 1796. “My name is Ona Judge, and I escaped from the household of the President of the United States. I was the favored maid of George and Martha Washington, but they deemed me a slave and thought me property, and I hear ten dollars is offered as reward for my capture. Now I must write the truth that I have lived, and tell my story…”
Chincoteague, Virginia, present day. Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old, vine-covered property she has been called to survey. She’s too busy to accept a new job, but doing this favor for the grandmother of her childhood sweetheart delays a painful decision she must make about a future with her controlling boyfriend.
But when Tessa finds a tattered journal carefully hidden inside the house’s ancient fireplace, the tragic story of how Ona was ripped from her mother’s arms to live and work in the palatial Mount Vernon, and the heart-shattering betrayal that led her to risk her life and run, has Tessa spellbound. Could discovering this forgotten scandal at the heart of her nation’s history force her to confront her own story? As she races to reach the final page, will anything prepare her for the desperate moment when Ona’s captors find her again? Will it inspire Tessa to take ownership of her own life and set herself free?
A completely heartbreaking tale of love, loss and redemption, based on an astonishing true story from the founding of America. Perfect for fans of Before We Were Yours, Marie Benedict and America’s First Daughter.
Reason by Becky DeWitt
THE CONTEMPT 3-BOOK SERIES BY BECKY DEWITT
The Contempt Series including sequels Reasons and Sabotage, is a maze of mystery with twists and turns that will keep the readers on the edge. The character connections involve murder, suicide, deception, deliverance and salvation.
The series is filled with questions that keeps readers rapidly flipping pages yearning for answers. All three are available on Kindle. Listen to Becky read from the series: https://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C4Vn42bX
Watch the book trailer for The Trilogy – Contempt, Reasons, & Sabotage by Becky DeWitt
Watch the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/S2YnB83f9Xo
Contempt: Lies Deceit and the Miracles by Becky DeWitt
Contempt is the riveting journey through deceit, death, and betrayal which was a way of life. It is the journey of the twists and turns of life, taking toil, leaving one in devastation. Only the arrival of a miracle just in time changes everything. Nothing just happens. Becky DeWitt leads the readers through a maze of mystery and intrigue capturing ones’ fascination.
Who is that girl? The intrigue continues the lives of Tristan, Arianna and Takeshi are exposed in the web of many secrets from their past through their children. Reasons answers the many questions of who, what, when, where and why that were left unanswered at the ending of Contempt. The truth is embedded in every page as the reader attempts to find the conclusion of this story. Contempt lured and captivated readers into a world of a thought-provoking drama. Becky DeWitt has responded to the unanswered questions of the destiny of many lives from Contempt with the sequel, Reasons. Is this really the end?
Sabotage: The Final Chapter by Becky DeWitt
SABOTAGE, The Final Chapter pieces together the dark side of Tristan, Arianna and Takeshi’s lifestyle of murder, intrigue, contempt and lies, while experiencing God’s mercy, grace, eye-opening revelation and truth. The readers who have followed the drama in the previous books, Contempt and Reasons, will experience the conclusion in the maze of mystery that captured their attention. The story ends with answers to the many questions about the life of each character and their unfolding destinies. Your heart will skip a beat as you discover the answers to the truth.
Purchase the Contempt 3-Book Series by Becky DeWitt
Rhythm Bay Love by Patricia A. Bridewell
Antoine Bailey AKA DJ Ant is one of the wealthy heirs to his father’s prominent real estate business. He enjoys his wealth, but life is not perfect. Antoine is ready to move past the drama of his family issues, and ex-girlfriend’s infidelity. Relocation from the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles for a new position is a godsend. Within a year, DJ Ant’s ratings are over the top, and he’s one of the most popular DJs on the West Coast.
Disputes with Jada Carson, a co-worker, becomes a challenge. Even more challenging is their conflict transitions into an attraction that he can’t resist.
Jada Carson’s life has not been easy. Thrust into the parenting role of teenage sisters, at age twenty-two she’s the head of household. Ten years later, she is the Traffic Director at a radio station where she did her college internship. After her love-life dives, so does her trust in men. Then along comes Antoine, who becomes the nail in her side. But he’s oh, so gorgeous.
Although she’s attracted to him, she dismisses the notion of a relationship because she doesn’t want any part of that arrogant man. When Cupid steps in, a romance between Antoine and Jada ignites.
Will Jada and Antoine survive the turmoil that hovers over their blossoming love? Only God knows the answer.
Listen to a reading from Rhythm Bay Love:
http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/CRt29ybX
Purchase Rhythm Bay Love by Patricia A. Bridewell
https://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Bay-Love-Patricia-Bridewell/dp/1732130922
Sabotage: The Final Chapter by Becky DeWitt
THE CONTEMPT 3-BOOK SERIES BY BECKY DEWITT
The Contempt Series including sequels Reasons and Sabotage, is a maze of mystery with twists and turns that will keep the readers on the edge. The character connections involve murder, suicide, deception, deliverance and salvation.
The series is filled with questions that keeps readers rapidly flipping pages yearning for answers. All three are available on Kindle. Listen to Becky read from the series: https://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C4Vn42bX
Watch the book trailer for The Trilogy – Contempt, Reasons, & Sabotage by Becky DeWitt. Watch the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/S2YnB83f9Xo
Contempt: Lies Deceit and the Miracles by Becky DeWitt
Contempt is the riveting journey through deceit, death, and betrayal which was a way of life. It is the journey of the twists and turns of life, taking toil, leaving one in devastation. Only the arrival of a miracle just in time changes everything. Nothing just happens. Becky DeWitt leads the readers through a maze of mystery and intrigue capturing ones’ fascination.
Who is that girl? The intrigue continues the lives of Tristan, Arianna and Takeshi are exposed in the web of many secrets from their past through their children. Reasons answers the many questions of who, what, when, where and why that were left unanswered at the ending of Contempt. The truth is embedded in every page as the reader attempts to find the conclusion of this story. Contempt lured and captivated readers into a world of a thought-provoking drama. Becky DeWitt has responded to the unanswered questions of the destiny of many lives from Contempt with the sequel, Reasons. Is this really the end?
Sabotage: The Final Chapter by Becky DeWitt
SABOTAGE, The Final Chapter pieces together the dark side of Tristan, Arianna and Takeshi’s lifestyle of murder, intrigue, contempt and lies, while experiencing God’s mercy, grace, eye-opening revelation and truth. The readers who have followed the drama in the previous books, Contempt and Reasons, will experience the conclusion in the maze of mystery that captured their attention. The story ends with answers to the many questions about the life of each character and their unfolding destinies. Your heart will skip a beat as you discover the answers to the truth.
Purchase the Contempt 3-Book Series by Becky DeWitt
Sankofa: A Novel by Chibundu Onuzo
Named a Best Book of the Month by Entertainment Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar, and Time • Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Month by Goodreads, PopSugar, PureWow, LitHub, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and Buzzfeed
A woman wondering who she really is goes in search of a father she never knew—only to find something far more complicated than she ever expected—in this “stirring narrative about family, our capacity to change and the need to belong” (Time).
Anna is at a stage of her life when she’s beginning to wonder who she really is. In her 40s, she has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead.
Searching through her mother’s belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president—some would say dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive…
When Anna decides to track her father down, a journey begins that is disarmingly moving, funny, and fascinating. Like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name, Sankofa expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present to address universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for a family’s hidden roots.
Examining freedom, prejudice, and personal and public inheritance, Sankofa is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home, and found something more complex in its place.
Seeds of Deception by Arlene L. Walker
A clash between Cherokee Indians and their former African slaves comes to a head in the tribal town of Feather Falls.
On the same day Sput Louie McClendon is evicted by reviled town tycoon Goliah Lynch, her husband mysteriously vanishes. Has he fallen prey to bushwhackers or timber thieves? Or is Lynch behind his disappearance?
Alone and desperate, Sput Louie turns to town elder Two Bird for help, but with racial tension between the two factions, are his intentions pure?
As Sput Louie’s frantic search for her husband intensifies, she stumbles onto a dark twisted family secret – one that could not only have devastating implications for her, but the entire town of Feather Falls.
Reviews for Seeds of Deception by Arlene L. Walker
“Seeds of Deception has characters you’ll love, a plot that pulls you in and twists you’ll never see coming.”
— Pamela Samuels Young, author of Anybody’s Daughter and Abuse of Discretion, NAACP Image Award winner
“Hypnotic prose, vivid characters. I was blown away. A masterful first novel.”
— Dwayne Alexander Smith, author of Forty Acres, NAACP Image Award Winner
“I wish I could go back and meet all her characters again. Haven’t stopped thinking about them yet. Easily one of my favorite reads this year.” — Lisa Bobbit, reviewer, ReadInColour.com
“Ms. Walker’s writing is uninhibited and honest.”
— C. Knight, Book-a-licious Book Club
Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
Skin of the Sea (Of Mermaids and Orisa) by Natasha Bowen
Teen Young Adult › SciFi & Fantasy Grades: 9 – 12
The must-read Black mermaid fantasy series that #1 NYT bestselling author Nicola Yoon calls “epic and original,” in which one mermaid takes on the gods themselves. Perfect for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and anyone who can’t wait for the live-action The Little Mermaid.
A way to survive.
A way to serve.
A way to save.
Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.
But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable—she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods.
To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There’s the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail . . .
Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she fails, she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.
Survival Math by Mitchell S. Jackson
Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family by Mitchell S. Jackson
An electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the national conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon of his youth.
This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of “hustle,” and the destructive power of addiction—all framed within the story of Jackson, his family, and his community. Lauded for its breathtaking pace, its tender portrayals, its stark candor, and its luminous style, Survival Math reveals on every page the searching intellect and originality of its author.
The primary narrative, focused on understanding the antecedents of Jackson’s family’s experience, is complemented by poems composed from historical American documents as well as survivor files, which feature photographs and riveting short narratives of several of Jackson’s male relatives.
The sum of Survival Math’s parts is a highly original whole, one that reflects on the exigencies—over generations—that have shaped the lives of so many disenfranchised Americans. As essential as it is beautiful, as real as it is artful, Mitchell S. Jackson’s nonfiction debut is a singular achievement, not to be missed.
Telling Stories by Cheri Paris Edwards
Sometimes life throws you a curveball…
Navigating middle-age is a challenge for 45-year old Genelle “Gigi” Golden. First the death of her mother, then her long time live-in boyfriend abruptly trades her in for a new model. Determined to restart her life Gigl packs her bags and heads to the Southwest. When things don’t go as planned, Gigi finds herself caught between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’; and an impulsive decision turns her life in an unexpected direction.
Then ex-military man Desmond Wright enters her life. Although physically changed by a skin disease it hasn’t dampened Desmond’s confidence or lessened his appeal to the opposite sex. But, Desmond’s life is complicated by an spoiled adult daughter, who treats his home like it has a revolving door, and a mother who won’t let him forget that he’s yet to find the love of his life. When things falls apart, Gigi discovers that true friends reveal themselves in the toughest times and that grace comes when you least expect it.
Telling Stories by Cheri Paris Edwards
Listen to a reading: http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C2sNcFyX
Cheri Paris Edwards is the author of four novels, including Plenty Good Room, which was praised by Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly. Edwards earned a Master’s in Composition and Rhetoric from Texas Woman’s University in 2014, and is a Doctoral Candidate in American Literature at the University of North Texas. She hopes to complete her dissertation, Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine: Voices from the Other Side of the Color Line, in early spring 2019.
She is an Associate Professor at Tarrant County College-Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. Edwards is the mother of two adult sons, and lives with her toy poodle Mocha in the Best Southwest area of Dallas County.
The A List by J.A. Jance
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The Key to My Pain by Antoinette Davis
Have you ever shared your deepest darkest pain with someone you love and someone you thought loved you?
The Key To My Pain takes place in Baltimore City in the early to mid-seventies, when racial tension is still high from the late nineteen sixty’s riots.The family of five are living just enough with Mr. Batchler being a police officer after leaving Vietnam and Mrs. Carolyn Batchler is a loving mother and wife to three aspiring sons.
Mrs. Carolyn Batchler is in love with her husband Rodney Batchler Sr. He promised to give her the family she never had but always wanted but she didn’t know her dreams of a happy ever after would unlock doors she never dreamed of.
Rodney Batchler Jr. the eldest of the three sons, he wants to be a basketball superstar, Edwin Batchler wants to be an artist and the youngest of the three Corey is just trying to find himself.
Rodney Sr. runs his house like a jail and his family like a warden. Carolyn is forbidden to work because Rodney Sr. wants to keep her subservient and he controls his sons with pure fear.
Verbal, mental and physical abuse happens every single day in the Batchler home. There is not day Carolyn can open her eyes and enjoy the beauty of the sun nor the sound of the rain. Rodney Sr. has single handedly put her internal light out with abuse and now her sons are starting to look at their mother as weak, helpless and a fool. The abuse is not limited to Carolyn, oh no. Rodney Sr. keeps his sons in line with the same mental, physical and emotional abuse he uses for his wife.
Experiencing abuse will and can lead you to the arms of people you think you can trust until the day that person unlocks the pain you gave them the key to. Love, Pain, Forgiveness and Hurt is all wrapped up in this 230 page novel.
Follow the journey of the Batchler family as they discover life through tainted vision. The Key to My Pain is available as a paperback novel, on audiobook and Kindle Unlimited ebook.
Sample The Key to My Pain by Antoinette Davis
Read an excerpt and the author’s interview:
https://www.smore.com/3v8bp
Listen to a reading from The Key To My Pain:
http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C4rGnBPX
The Last Thing You Surrender: A Novel of World War II by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Pulitzer-winning journalist and bestselling novelist Leonard Pitts, Jr.’s new historical page-turner is a great American tale of race and war, following three characters from the Jim Crow South as they face the enormous changes World War II triggers in the United States.
Could you find the courage to do what’s right in a world on fire?
An affluent white marine survives Pearl Harbor at the cost of a black messman’s life only to be sent, wracked with guilt, to the Pacific and taken prisoner by the Japanese . . . a young black woman, widowed by the same events at Pearl, finds unexpected opportunity and a dangerous friendship in a segregated Alabama shipyard feeding the war . . . a black man, who as a child saw his parents brutally lynched, is conscripted to fight Nazis for a country he despises and discovers a new kind of patriotism in the all-black 761st Tank Battalion.
Set against a backdrop of violent racial conflict on both the front lines and the home front, The Last Thing You Surrender explores the powerful moral struggles of individuals from a divided nation. What does it take to change someone’s mind about race? What does it take for a country and a people to move forward, transformed?
Publishers Weekly Editorial Review for The Last Thing You Surrender
Leonard Pitts Jr., a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, turns again to America’s fraught history of race relations in this unflinching, gritty WWII saga. It centers on a trio of finely drawn characters, two black and one white, all from Alabama, whose worlds collide because of Pearl Harbor.
Marine Private George Simon—wealthy, religious, white—survives the sinking of his ship because Eric Gordy, a black messman, rescues him. Eric dies, and while George recuperates, he pays a condolence call on Eric’s widow, Thelma. She and her brother, Luther Hayes, a bitter alcoholic, are living with the memory of their parents’ lynching 20 years earlier.
George and Thelma begin a correspondence after he returns to active duty; she takes a job in a shipyard. Luther, deciding this is a white man’s war, tries to evade the draft but ends up serving with a tank battalion in Europe. George endures horrific conditions in the Pacific as Thelma faces growing racial hostility at work, culminating in a brutal moment of violence that compels her to make a difficult decision.
While remaining true to his characters, Pitts brings the story lines to realistic conclusions even as he holds out hope for the future, resulting in a polished, affecting novel.
About the Author
Leonard Pitts, Jr. is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who pens one of the most popular newspaper columns in America, weighing in twice weekly on controversies of race, gender, politics and popular culture. He is the author of a series of critically-acclaimed novels, including “Freeman,” “Before I Forget” and his latest, “The Last Thing You Surrender.” Website: http://leonardpittsjr.com
The Last Thing You Surrender by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Thing-You-Surrender-Novel/dp/1572842458
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-thing-you-surrender-leonard-pitts-jr/1128941167
The Wolf Queen: The Hope of Aferi (Book I) by Cerece Rennie Murphy
To fight for her future, she must first discover the magic of her past!
Once great and powerful sorcerers, the Amasiti were hunted to the brink of extinction by the Hir and his followers. For four hundred years, their legacy faded from memory waiting for the hope of Aferi to be renewed…
In the Land of Yet
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest
A young woman lives alone.
Forced to fend for herself after the brutal murder of her family, Ameenah Yemini has made a life for herself as a master tanner and farmer, only venturing into the world to earn her living then return to the safety and seclusion of her home. Until a chance encounter brings her work to the attention of the powerful Hir. And her careful life begins to unravel.
Drawn to the hidden magic that lingers in everything she touches, the new Hir insists on having her for himself, using the people around her to force Ameenah into his grasp.
When she realizes that her greatest enemy may hold the key to a secret she thought lost to her forever, Ameenah is determined to reclaim her stolen past. But, at what cost? As an ancient power waits to be unleashed, Ameenah’s choices will make the difference between awakening a new magic or delivering it into the hands of evil.
The Wolf Queen: The Promise of Aferi ( Book II ) by Cerece Rennie Murphy
To claim their future, Ameenah Yemeni must avenge her past.
War has come to the Land of Yet and though the wolf has awakened within her, Ameenah Yemeni has just begun to understand the legacy behind its magic.
Without the wisdom to wield it, she knows she is no match for the treachery of the Hir, whose lust for absolute power threatens everything she holds dear.
Her only chance – Yet’s only hope – is for its people to band together and fight.
But the Hir’s iron grip reaches deeper than they ever realized and the land that once stood together is more divided than ever. While Ameenah travels to the isolated Province of Harat in search of allies and the remnants of the mythical Amasiti, the man she loves must take a different road, each uncovering terrible secrets, centuries in the making that could unravel their rebellion before it has time to take root.
In a desperate race to rally a force strong enough to defeat the Hir, Ameenah’s quest plunges her into the depths of a cursed land to recover what remains of an age-old promise—but the cost of saving her people just might be her life.
The final chapter of The Wolf Queen adventure is here.
About The Wolf Queen Duology
The Wolf Queen duology follows the journey of Ameenah Yemini, a young woman who after years of rebuilding her life from a terrible tragedy is confronted with a secret that shatters the quiet comfort of her existence – bringing a long lost hope and a new destiny to light. Inspired by the culture, language, and traditions of ancient northeast Africa, the story explores themes of female divinity, elemental magic, belonging, and the many layers of personal identity.
Book II finds Ameenah struggling to understand her place in a magical world she can no longer deny. But, time is not on her side. While she is just discovering the potential of the magic in her blood, the Hir has sought the power of the Amasiti all his life and has every intention of taking her birthright for himself. To stop him from assuming control over her power and the land she loves, she must both reclaim the legacy of her people and build a new coalition of creatures and men with the will to come together and fight behind their true Queen.
Listen to a reading from the novels: http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C82MCY9X/
Unfortunately Francine (Unfortunate Series Book 1) by Joan Vassar
Georgia, 1995–A gentle push from her sister causes Francine Adams to agree to one date with the handsome, Jalal Dorsey. When his ex-girlfriend makes an appearance, a perfect evening takes a turn for the worse. Blinded by humiliation and desperate to put distance between herself and the drama, Francine flees the upscale eatery. Unfamiliar with Atlanta, she wanders down a dark side street and encounters a series of unfortunate events.
Troy Bryant has spent seven years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Upon his release, he realizes the man he was before prison is gone. Now, he’s everything he was wrongfully accused of. After witnessing a young woman running from a restaurant in the heart of Atlanta, Troy follows her hasty retreat down an unlit side street, forever changing the course of both their lives.
Troy decides to keep her–no matter the cost, and Francine is forced to need the man who stole her from her life. Two souls collide, and a dark romance begins to bloom. Unfortunately Francine spins an erotic tale of anger, love and acceptance.
Unveiled by La Rhonda Crosby-Johnson
Attorney L. Morgan Franklin finds her well-ordered life at a prestigious New Orleans’ law firm turned upside down when her younger half-brother, Winston, dies of a heart attack in their small hometown of L’Ouverture, Louisiana. When it becomes evident Winston’s death may be a homicide, Morgan begins a search for answers that lead her to new discoveries and expose long-hidden secrets about the people she loves the most.
The mysteries of family, life, and love all converge in this story of one woman’s refusal to accept things as they appear.
Listen to a reading from the book: http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/CTbnBLTX
About Author La Rhonda Crosby-Johnson
La Rhonda Crosby-Johnson is a contributor to the award-winning Life Spices From Seasoned Sistahs anthology series and has also published work in Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write To The New First Lady, Sassy, Savvy and Bold After 50, Jubilee’s Journey an e-book, serial novel, and All The Women In My Family Sing edited by Deborah Santana.La Rhonda is co-founder of Ideate Publishing, LLC. Ideate’s debut project, an anthology of short stories by women writers titled Where’s My Tiara? was released in the fall of 2017. Unveiled, her first novel was released in 2019. Read more: www.ideatepublishing.com
Watching You: A Novel by Lisa Jewell
The instant New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Then She Was Gone delivers another suspenseful