Tender, fierce, proudly black and beautiful, these stories will sneak inside you and take root. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Triumphant. --Publishers Weekly
Cheeky, insightful, and irresistible. --Ms. Magazine
This collection marks the emergence of a bona fide literary treasure. --Minneapolis Star Tribune
Full of lived-in humanity, warmth, and compassion. --Pittsburgh Current
These are stories about Black women that haven't been told with this level of depth, wit, or insight before, so it will not shock me if Oprah gets around to selecting it before the end of the year. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions.
There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher's wife. At forty-two, Lyra realizes that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new love. As Y2K looms, Caroletta's same time next year arrangement with her childhood best friend is tenuous. A serial mistress lays down the ground rules for her married lovers. In the dark shadows of a hospice parking lot, grieving strangers find comfort in each other.
With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.
Between Friends & Lovers was an absolute joy to read, with messy, realistic, and deeply lovable characters... Obuobi's perfect balance of humor and wisdom made this one a true standout. -- Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author
An influencer, an actor, and a writer navigate the messy ins and outs of friendship and romance in a world where social media demands perfection--or at least the appearance of it--in this swoon-worthy love story for readers of Kennedy Ryan and Carley Fortune.
To her thousands of Instagram followers, Josephine Boateng is the brilliant, dazzling self-love expert, Dr. Jojo. But off-camera, Jo's grappling with the intense pressures of her career and her love life is nonexistent thanks to an unrequited crush on her best friend, rom-com heartthrob Ezra Adelman.
Then Ezra shows up to his thirtieth birthday party with her childhood bully on his arm--and Jo realizes it's finally time to take her own advice. Enter Malcom Waters, the world's newest literary darling. An introvert by nature, he would rather be home than trying to impress execs and celebs at a swanky Hollywood party. Until he bumps into Jo, and the two of them quickly realize their chemistry is too good to ignore.
But for all three, the line between private and public is as blurred as the one between friendship and love--especially when Ezra decides he might want something more with Jo. The question is, can any of them risk defining those lines to create something real?
Page-turning and propulsive, heartbreaking and hopeful in turn. An important and necessary book that will stay with me for a long time. --Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
From the acclaimed author of Hold My Girl comes a sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race, and secrets.
When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she's pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, her struggle to understand her place in the world as a person who is half-Black, half-white--yet feels neither--is amplified.
Her mother, Evelyn, fled to Canada with her husband and their first-born child during the politically charged Jamaican exodus in the 1980s, only to realize they'd come to a place where Black men are viewed with suspicion--a constant and pernicious reality Evelyn watches her husband and son navigate daily.
Years later, in the aftermath of her son's murder by the police, Evelyn's mother-in-law, Violet, moves in, offering young Kareela a link to the Jamaican heritage she had never fully known. Despite Violet's efforts to help them through their grief, the traumas they carry grow into a web of secrets that threatens the very family they all hold so dear.
In the present day, Kareela, prompted by fear and uncertainty about the new life she carries, must come to terms with the mysteries surrounding her family's past and the need to make sense of both her identity and her future.
Weaving the women's stories across multiple timelines, We Rip the World Apart reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deep and lasting repercussions--especially when people stay silent.
For fans of The Lottery and The Hunger Games, this novel set in a small town with a sinister tradition is chilling in the best possible way.
Curdle Creek is a thoughtful, sinister tour-de-force.Ethic has power, but love has always been evasive. After ordering the hit that mistakenly killed the love of his life, Ethic is haunted with guilt and he refuses to love again. Focused on being a better man and keeping his family safe, he is raising three children, one of which is a defiant teenaged girl, Morgan. No matter how hard he tries to keep Morgan away from the streets, she is determined to defy him. When Morgan finds herself in a vulnerable position, Ethic is pulled back into the deadly game where he was once king.
In this explosive spin-off to Ashley Antoinette's, Moth to a Flame, you will fall in love with Ezra Okafor aka Ethic as he gambles on love and in the streets, in hopes that this time he will win.
Love should burn slowly, but with Ezra Ethic Okafor it is always fleeting. After an accidental killing affects Alani, the woman he loves, she thinks he's a monster. Separated by tragedy, the pair endure a loss like nothing they have ever felt and their connection is impossible to repair.
Ethic is reduced to misery and raising his children alone once again. With Morgan in the throes of a passionate love affair and Bella in need of guidance that he can't provide, Ethic is in turmoil. He's failing as a man and the fingerprint he is leaving on the world is a bloody one.
In this second installment of this epic love story, Ashley Antoinette taps into the soul of her readers as she explores the limits of love and forgiveness. Is anything truly unforgivable? Or is Ethic the one man who can love a woman back from the edge of madness.
Ashley Antoinette is one of the most prolific and successful writers of her generation. The feminine half of the popular duo (Ashley and JaQuavis) she has co-written over forty novels. She is most widely regarded for her racy, New York Times Best Selling series, The Prada Plan. To stay updated on all things Ashley follow her on social media.
Instagram: @AshleyAntoinette
Facebook: facebook.com/authorashleyantoinette
Twitter: @Novelista
An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller - AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION - ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS - BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 - WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times - Time - Washington Post - Oprah Daily - People - Boston Globe - BookPage - Booklist - Kirkus - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Chicago Public Library
Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel - Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction - Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction - Nominee for the NAACP Image Award
Epic. . . . I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family. . . . I've never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me. --Oprah Winfrey
The NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic--an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer--that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called Double Consciousness, a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans--the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers--Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.
Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women--her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries--that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.
To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors--Indigenous, Black, and white--in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story--and the song--of America itself.
The View cohost and five-time Emmy Award winner Sunny Hostin transports readers to Highland Beach in the captivating third novel of her New York Times bestselling Summer Beach series.
In this awakening, spirited novel, Sunny Hostin celebrates family, friendship, and community and reminds us of the importance of the legacies of our collective past and finding one's way in the world.
Founded in the late 1800s by the son of Frederick Douglass, Highland Beach along the Chesapeake Bay is the oldest Black resort community in America. Inside this proud and secluded beach community of about 100 private homes is Olivia Jones's legacy.
But Oliva's legacy comes with thorns--intertwined are secrets of her aunt's death; a controlling grandmother who is determined to crush anyone or anything that will interfere with her son's political career; and a father who wants to rebuild the family he rejected decades ago.
In the midst of tense family drama, Olivia must decide if she wants to return to the beautiful life she's created in Sag Harbor--with the neighbors and wonderful man who've become central to her happiness--or finally achieve her dream of having a family and home to call her own in Highland Beach.
Healing requires separation. When Ethic discovers malice in a woman he thought was perfect, he walks away from their love. Keeping his family safe is his main priority and falling for Alani Lenika Hill is dangerous. The history of their love haunts him however, and getting over her isn't easy.
Alani has beguiled his two youngest children and they crave her presence as much as Ethic. They want a mother. He wants a woman, but with ghosts and lies between them the couple is forced apart yet again.
With love comes pain and Ethic feels all of it. He can't focus on anything and while he is distracted by heartbreak, his eldest daughter, Morgan is caught up in a deceptive affair. With bad boy Messiah, pledging his allegiance to Morgan she is willing to defy everything and anyone to keep his love forever.
The story is a soul-stirring journey of love, loss, and forgiveness. Will Ethic finally receive everything he deserves? Or will karma circle back for him and destroy him for good?
Ashly Antoinette has penned a new classic with the Ethic series. Ride with her as she paints a poignant picture of Ezra Ethic Okafor, the imperfect man who gives perfect love.
It's a good thing that this is only the first book of a trilogy, because after getting to know Tabitha, you won't want to leave her at the end. . . . Written intimately as if you're peering into the mind of a close friend, this book is a true testament to the stresses on women today and how great girlfriends (and grandmothers) are often the key to our sanity. -- Good Morning America
The first novel in a captivating three-book series about modern womanhood, in which a young Black woman must rely on courage, laughter, and love--and the support of her two longtime friends--to overcome an unexpected setback that threatens the most precious thing she's ever wanted.
Tabitha Walker is a black woman with a plan to have it all. At 33 years old, the checklist for the life of her dreams is well underway. Education? Check. Good job? Check. Down payment for a nice house? Check. Dating marriage material? Check, check, and check. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, a paper-perfect boyfriend, and even a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, everything seems to be falling into place.
Then Tabby receives an unexpected diagnosis that brings her picture-perfect life crashing down, jeopardizing the keystone she took for granted: having children. With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist, suddenly she is faced with an impossible choice between her career, her dream home, and a family of her own.
With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the mom jeans-wearing former Sexy Lexi, and the generational wisdom of her grandmother and the nonagenarian firebrand Ms. Gretchen, Tabby explores the reaches of modern medicine and tests the limits of her relationships, hoping to salvage the future she always dreamed of. But the fight is all consuming, demanding a steep price that forces an honest reckoning for nearly everyone in her life. As Tabby soon learns, her grandmother's age-old adage just might still be true: Black girls must die exhausted.
Butterfly is the first novel in an all new series by New York Times bestselling author Ashley Antoinette and an instant USA Today bestseller
Run away from the boy that gives you butterflies, he's going to break your heart. Morgan Atkins had been told that phrase ever since she was a little girl and still she allowed herself to fall for the boy that made her heart flutter. After losing her first love, Morgan is terrified to love again. She's settled for a comfortable life with a respectable man. She has everything. She's living in the lap of luxury and although she's comfortable, she's bored out of her mind. When a ghost from her past blows into town, she finds herself entangled in an illicit affair. It's wrong, but she can't fight the butterflies he gives her and honestly, she doesn't want to. She can't hide the natural attraction she feels and soon, she's so deep involved that she can no longer tell where the boundary between right and wrong lies. Her heart is telling her one thing, but her head is saying another. Morgan Atkins has always been a spoiled girl and she tries to have it all, but when she's forced to choose between a good man and a bad boy, someone will end up hurt. Someone just may end up dead. Morgan Atkins has been through more tragedy than one girl can bear. Will she weather this storm? Or will the ultimate heartbreak ruin her for good?One of the biggest names in Urban-fiction, Ashley Antoinette, is back ... An intense start to this new series with characters that are real and genuine. It's a story about love, trying to put the past behind and moving on with your life - Red Carpet Crash on Butterfly
Morgan Atkins is used to losing, but losing Messiah Williams was the most tragic of them all. Surely, after Messiah, no other man could compare. Settling with Sebastian Fredrick didn't seem like such an impossible task. He treated her well enough, he accepted her children, and he offered her entrance into a well-connected world. There was only one problem: he wanted to change her into someone else. The rules that went along with his lifestyle suffocated her and when Morgan reconnected with Messiah's crew, she no longer wanted to play by Bash's rules. When she falls in love with Messiah's best friend, Ahmeek Harris, she knows she's headed for trouble. His presence heals her in a way that no man has ever been able to do before. Their love affair is electric. Morgan is uncertain about many thing but one thing she's sure of is that she can't let this feeling go. She goes out on a limb and risks it all just to be with Meek, but when Messiah reveals that he's still alive, the battle for one girl's heart just may lead to the demise of them all. She can only be queen to one man. Which one has the true key to her heart? Can Messiah make up for his mistakes or is it too late to save what they once had? Is Ahmeek a rebound or does he offer her something more? Does Bash even stand a chance? This second installment of the Butterfly series will leave you breathless.Ethic is fighting for love. Alani is everything he has ever wanted in a woman, but with tragedy haunting them it is a constant struggle to stay on the same team. Everything between them is an uphill battle and Ethic is willing to do anything to atone for his sins.
Alani isn't as perfect as she seems. When he discovers her hidden truths his world is thrown into chaos.
With Messiah missing in action and Morgan running from the ghosts that love has left behind, Ethic's family has never been more fragile. There are missing pieces and he wonders if there will ever be a time when everyone he loves can pull a seat up to his table.
With deception and treachery lurking, the Okafor Family may never find the happy ending they've been praying for.
In this farewell book, Ashley Antoinette puts this beautiful character to rest. Walk with her as Ethic battles for his life and the safety of his legacy one final time.
Tracy Brown crafts a tale about a master manipulator and serial survivor, who will scorch earth to get what she wants. The question isn't who murdered her; the question is who wouldn't?
Brooklyn Melody James has finally gotten the punishment she deserves after leaving a web of lies, heartache, and betrayal behind her. As her life slips away, Brooklyn remembers the events that shaped her into the cold, calculating creature she became.
The Most Wonderful Time is a lovable, unexpectedly thought-provoking Christmas romp of a novel from the ever-sparkling pen of Jayne Allen! -- Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Alice Network
The author of the beloved, bestselling Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy returns with an intriguing blend of Such a Fun Age and The Holiday--an irresistible holiday rom com about heartbreak, hope, love, and the joy that comes from rediscovering oneself.
With Christmas around the corner, Ramona Tucker is desperate to get away. She has been lying to her family about her engagement to Malik, her (ex) fiancé. But breakups are fickle, and Ramona is convinced that she can make her pretend wedding real again--but only if she can avoid everyone discovering her secret at her mother's over-the-top Christmas Eve party.
Two-thousand miles away in sunny Malibu, Chelsea Flint needs money to hold on to the beloved beachside cottage she shared with her late parents. The taxes are expensive, and her art isn't paying the bills. Once an irresistible star of the Los Angeles art scene, Chelsea seems to have lost that spark that vaulted her to the top. If she doesn't rediscover that magic--and sell a painting--soon, it will be her family's home she's selling instead.
The two women swap homes, just in time, thanks to some careful planning by Ramona's best friend and a sturdy nudge from Chelsea's gallerist godmother. Ramona's Malibu dreams of sun and surf are interrupted as her first night brings an unwelcome stranger to her door, making her question who she can trust--the meddling neighbor Joan, or Jay, the handsome beachside fitness instructor with a secret of his own. Chelsea, desperate for Ramona to stay, hides what she knows--even if that means jeopardizing her budding connection with charming Carlos, whose dreams for his future could be the very key to unlock Chelsea from the weight of her past.
Combining escapist fun and sizzling romance, a dose of poignant self-reflection, and a little holiday magic, The Most Wonderful Time is a warm and relatable novel that will delight at Christmas and throughout the year.
The Most Wonderful Time is a lovable, unexpectedly thought-provoking Christmas romp of a novel from the ever-sparkling pen of Jayne Allen! -- Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Alice Network
The author of the beloved, bestselling Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy returns with an intriguing blend of Such a Fun Age and The Holiday--an irresistible holiday rom com about heartbreak, hope, love, and the joy that comes from rediscovering oneself.
With Christmas around the corner, Ramona Tucker is desperate to get away. She has been lying to her family about her engagement to Malik, her (ex) fiancé. But breakups are fickle, and Ramona is convinced that she can make her pretend wedding real again--but only if she can avoid everyone discovering her secret at her mother's over-the-top Christmas Eve party.
Two-thousand miles away in sunny Malibu, Chelsea Flint needs money to hold on to the beloved beachside cottage she shared with her late parents. The taxes are expensive, and her art isn't paying the bills. Once an irresistible star of the Los Angeles art scene, Chelsea seems to have lost that spark that vaulted her to the top. If she doesn't rediscover that magic--and sell a painting--soon, it will be her family's home she's selling instead.
The two women swap homes, just in time, thanks to some careful planning by Ramona's best friend and a sturdy nudge from Chelsea's gallerist godmother. Ramona's Malibu dreams of sun and surf are interrupted as her first night brings an unwelcome stranger to her door, making her question who she can trust--the meddling neighbor Joan, or Jay, the handsome beachside fitness instructor with a secret of his own. Chelsea, desperate for Ramona to stay, hides what she knows--even if that means jeopardizing her budding connection with charming Carlos, whose dreams for his future could be the very key to unlock Chelsea from the weight of her past.
Combining escapist fun and sizzling romance, a dose of poignant self-reflection, and a little holiday magic, The Most Wonderful Time is a warm and relatable novel that will delight at Christmas and throughout the year.