African American Literature Love

Issa Chambers is the executive assistant for the richest black man in Jackson, Mississippi. She's a hard worker, but she's given up on finding a faithful, Yah-fearing man. Dominik Yates is a member of the hated Abrahamic Elites, looking for a place to call home. When fate brings them together at the Feast of Tabernacles, things are electric between them. But with Issa's fear of the Abrahamic Elites and Dom's desire to keep his head down and avoid women, the odds seem stacked against their chances.

Love can be messy, painful, and heartbreaking, but it can also be revolutionary, profound, and hopeful. With twelve stories ranging from love that’s found on one of the oldest HBCU campuses in the country, to modern-day romance budding against the rhythm and spirit of homecoming, You’ve Got a Place Here, Too is a celebration of Black love as well as everything HBCUs have given the community.

Have you ever been in that "chapter of your life", where everything that could possibly go wrong does, so you just wanted to curse God and die, or questioned if God even really exists? What would you do if you simply wanted to live the blessed life of a devoted Christian, to excel in school, make your family proud, find true love and live happily ever after, yet everything comes crashing down when evil interrupts.

Tamina's childhood revolved around one person, her best friend, Markus. Ever since he moved across the street, she had been fascinated by him. They played ball together, went to school together, and hung out at the corner store all the time. Everyone at school would say they were together, but Markus never said anything. Tamina wanted to be with him, even if it was against her mother's wishes. Markus' father was a big time gangsta, but Tamina was sure Markus was nothing like him, until she came home from school one day and saw him getting put in the back of a police car.

The old saying about how a leopard never changes its spots was true in Robin Delli Richardson’s case when it came to loving her son’s philandering father. It didn’t matter how good Robin looked, or that she was an educated woman with a great job with benefits, designer labels in her closet, Louboutin red bottoms on her feet, or how well endowed she was in the bedroom, Saxon Anderson had it made it clear that he was incapable of being monogamous.

The return of Bricks. People thought the cocaine trade was exclusively for the kingpins of Mexico. But Miami was where it all had originally began....

Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators - including Renee Watson (Piecing Me Together), Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Meg Medina (Merci Suarez Changes Gears), and Adam Gidwitz (The Inquisitor's Tale) - engage young people in frank discussions about racism, identity, and self-esteem. Featuring stories filled with love, acceptance, truth, peace, and an assurance that there can be hope for a better tomorrow, The Talk is an inspiring anthology and must-have resource published in partnership with Just Us Books.

Silk Bovan is head over heels for the infamous Kane Styles. In her eyes, they’re soulmates destined to be together forever. That’s until Kane suddenly dishes out a bone that Silk can’t chew. Ramifications which leave Silk in a world of smoke and mirrors. Will her and Kane’s undying love stand the test of time? Or will Kane prove to be the biggest dog of them all?

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' words all too well.

JEWEL is a young, beautiful girl with her entire life in front of her. A bright, happy future seems assured until an unexpected tragedy occurs, sending her world until a tailspin. Despite her new struggles, she never loses sight of her goals. But will she be able to achieve them? With so many things against her, Jewel tries to fill the voids in her life with love and friendships that are questionable at best. Betrayal rears its ugly head and deceit is soon to follow. What Jewel must learn is that wolves often come in sheep's clothing. And the price of loving the wrong man can be astronomical.

Engaged, pregnant, and unsure of her baby's father, Raegan's troubles have multiplied. In the sequel to the award-winning title, Love, Lies, and Consequences, Raegan learns what it feels like to be loved completely. In turn, she must learn to forgive and return that same love that was given to her. Forgiveness and understanding won't come easily. Caleb has promised to stay by her side - but will her guilt push him away? When Caleb's past catches up to him, will Raegan remain by his side as he promised to stick by hers? Or does she hold him to a different standard?

Down on her luck and broke, Jennifer Dudley long ago traded dancing in the chorus line for swinging from a stripper pole to make ends meet. She’s hoping an offer to come back home and teach dance at her old performance academy will be the opportunity she needs to fix her life. When she moves in with—and falls for—a fine software developer with brains and a boyish smile, she decides she might be well on her way to a second chance at success—and love. But her X-rated past may come back to haunt her, compromising her newfound happiness and hurting the ones she loves the most.

Dating in Atlanta is a struggle, and Arianna knows all too well. She is a beautiful, 28-year-old successful entrepreneur who has everything but what she really wants: A MAN. She feels doomed to be single forever after dealing with an ex that abandoned her and baby momma drama. She thinks God has cursed her until she meets Maurice; a charmingly handsome investor who sweeps her off her feet. She wants to give him her all, but doesn’t want to move too quickly and fall into yet another “situationship” and be left heartbroken.

Latavia Carter can't face the present because she's stuck in her past. Lies, secrets, and infidelity have caused her life to spiral out of control. But is it her fault? How can it be, when just about everyone in her immediate circle has a secret of his or her own? Who can she trust? Better yet, how can she trust anyone when she can't even trust herself? Darnell Carter makes the decision to keep a one-night stand a secret. It sends the world he's worked so hard to build crumbling down, placing him in a life-or-death situation.

I've been getting real used to being his lady. Being loved, made love to, and feeling like this is where he belongs. Then realization happened.... The words of my mother became real. Why buy the cow, when you can get her milk for free? I discovered there's no place I'd rather be than in his bed. But, only if he decides whether this thing between us is for real or a situational deal. I refuse to play house if he's not willing to be husband. And I refuse to be his sex toy for the sake of having a wonder boy.

Rico gambled with his marriage when he cheated on Chloe. Breaking his vows and risking everything for temporary pleasure, he lost his wife’s respect and trust. Rico returns to God, searching for a quick fix to win Chloe’s heart back, but his heart is the one that is changed. He is a self-proclaimed changed man, but he just may be too late. Has Chloe given up on him? She has forgiven him before, but this is different. With the law and the Word of the Lord on her side, she finally gathers enough courage to walk away. But then tragedy strikes.

Jamal is frequently away from his supermodel wife when racing nationally and abroad. Doing so has made his trackmate, Shay, breathless with a racing heart and his wife restless. Shay has been fighting against desires for Jamal for a long time, and she knows she shouldn’t feel the way she does. Every time she sees him sprinting, all she can think about is making love to a married man and snatching this young king from his wife.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. Most people have a skeleton or two in their closets. But Keyon (Hondo) Baptiste has an entire graveyard hiding in his closet. Secrets that could cost him his life and the lives of the ones he loves. When he betrays his wife, the only person who knows of his secrets, he will learn the true meaning of the saying "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

Smiddy's Dry Cleaners is a staple in the Jackson, MS, community. Although, it wouldn't have survived without the hard work and dedication of Ruth Ann Sumner and San Winters. The ladies have been friends and coworkers for years. Ruth Ann can't find love and yearns for the day her heart will become whole again. San's toxic relationship hinders her from becoming a successful hair stylist.

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on first through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated, often to its own detriment, by what their younger son, Trelawny, calls “the exquisite, racking compulsion to survive.”