American Contemporary

The author of New York Times best-selling novels like God Don't Play, Mary Monroe is especially adept at capturing the tumultous highs and lows of the unforgettable characters who populate her books. In She Had It Coming,it's the best of times and the worst of times for Dolores Reese, who's married to two different men in two different cities.

Thirty-something, Shawntriece, is a well-paid executive at a Fortune 500 corporation. Her life is practically perfect — at least to her it is. She has a beautiful home, an expensive car, a family who loves her, and two adorable twin daughters to cherish and spoil. However, despite everything that she has in the material world, she's sorely lacking in the spiritual realm. When life throws her a curve ball, will it end up being the chance she needs to find her way back to Christ? Will the relationship she develops with a saved, good-looking, single father grow into much more? Somehow, some ...

In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life. Ballingrud’s stories are love stories. They’re also monster stories. Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires or werewolves.

The revelation of Xavier's mother-in-law's secrets adds a complicated layer to his marriage. It not only puts pressure on their relationship but also raises questions about trust and loyalty. Xavier must decide whether he can handle the weight of these secrets and if their marriage can withstand the challenges they bring. Will or will he not tell? Jessie learned the true meaning of sacrifice, empathy, and unconditional love fairly quickly. This journey opened her heart and mind to new experiences, and perspectives, and ultimately led her to find a deep and fulfilling love she never expected...

Trying to put past hurts behind you is hard when your ex is a fool, but buoyed by child support and alimony, Jo Walker is moving forward with her life, pursuing a career, raising her little girl, and trying to live in peace. She believes she has all the bases covered in her world. But what about her heart? Rap legend Everett "Big South" McClain is divorced, too, knows all about failed relationships, and has relegated his love life to casual connections rather than pursuing something real. That is, until he lays eyes on Jo.

Debut novelist Michele Grant pens a juicy tale in Heard It All Before. Best friends Jewellen and Renee think they know Dallas men like the backs of their hands. But that’s before Jewellen unexpectedly falls for a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, and Renee gets lured away from her own man by a hard-bodied hottie.

Sportswriter Nina Richardson had the perfect life away from her family's famous shadow. But a social media blowup and rejection by her boyfriend brought her back to their peaceful Charleston, South Carolina B&B to figure out what went wrong. So there's no way she's going to trust the crazy-hot sparks flying between her and handsome new employee Clinton Jefferson. It's just reckless, rip-his-clothes-off, one-night-and-forget-it lust - right?

Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times best seller American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny, a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King's glowing assessment of the author as "a treasure house of story, and we are lucky to have him."

In the previous installment, Luvleigh and Dagger has proven that not even a family feud can stop what was always meant to be. Now that the two have been secretly joined as one, they are now faced with the dreading task of telling both of the rivaling families. With hopes that the union would help put this feud at its ends, it actually did the opposite. It made things worse. Worse to a point that has left Luvleigh, incoherent and now unable to fend off her attacker.​ In this second installment, Dagger is out for blood and looking for the person who has violated his wife, but when the ...

She's Been Scarred... She's Broken... Shannon is striving to become a successful professional. After a tragic event occurs in her life, she's left feeling guilty and unworthy of love. She’s on a journey to correct the mistakes of her past, and with God’s help, she knows she can do it. When a familiar face from days long gone shows up in her future, will she be able to open her heart to receive all the love, joy, and happiness that the Lord is trying to offer her? In the end, will Shannon see that God is trying to answer her unspoken prayers? Her unspoken prayer for a happy-ever-after ...

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home.

Thirty-three year old Sierra North is beautiful, saved, and single. She has patiently looked on as her younger sisters have all gotten married. Sierra is happy for her siblings, but she can’t help but want a special someone for herself. When she develops an attraction to the handsome manager of her local supermarket — Camden Mason — she thinks she’s found her soulmate. Her family and friends try to convince her that Camden isn’t the one for her, but she doesn’t want to hear about that. She finally forms a friendship with Derek Young, a talented, saved contractor who’s settled ...

Even the saved struggle when navigating their way through love. This much could definitely be said for the Fold family's middle child, Jadalynn. Having met when they were just 12 years old, Jadalynn and Andrew experienced some of their best and worst moments together. Falling in love was inevitable as they grew older and remained close. And falling out of love was just as certain when the two finally bumped heads.

Can your first crush really turn into your first love? After experiencing heartbreak from a person she thought was her first love, twenty-two-year-old, shy, and awkward Alana directs her time and energy to her future rather than relationships. But that all changes when her best friend, Gia, invites her to a party which is hosted by her older brother, Christian— Alana’s first crush that she never fully got over. Christian is a sexy asshole with a no-nonsense attitude that women tend to flock to, even though he gives them his ass to kiss. At twenty-six, he is a successful entrepreneur ...

For more than 15 years, best-selling author and historian Hampton Sides has traveled widely across the continent exploring the America that lurks just behind the scrim of our mainstream culture. In these two dozen pieces, collected here for the first time, Sides gives us a fresh, alluring, and at times startling America brimming with fascinating subcultures and bizarre characters who could live nowhere else. Following Sides, we crash the redwood retreat of a cabal of powerful military-industrialists, and more.

Three lives are intertwined by ambition, rejection, and seduction, as three men chase their dreams, and hope the end justifies the means. Gary must take on the conservative elite to grasp the political opportunity of a lifetime, while Cabrien pines for love, and holds a secret that could destroy those who’ve hurt him—and many more. Armando receives an indecent proposal that would enrage most men, himself included. But everyone has their price. Love is cheap and memories are long in Tricks for a Trade, where every day is a careful dance between ruin and reward. Gary, Cabrien, and Armando...

Six months ago, I gave my heart to a girl. Beautiful, kind, and sexy as sin, she's the only person who saw past my record or the color of my skin. Who ever saw me for me. She loved me enough to let me go, to let me leave this city to find my own path. But without her, I drift, lost without direction. Without me, she spirals, desperate for connection. I gave my heart to a girl, and she gave hers to me. But love shouldn't hurt this much.

The past is a tricky place. For some, it's a place to be held on to desperately, for others, a place never to be revisited. For Micah Oramah, the pain of a profound loss has caused his faith to be shaken. Blinded by grief, he questions if serving God is actually worth it. Former gay makeup artist, Zainab Baruwa-Phillips is head over heels in love with God. The only cloud is her past which she is desperate to erase. However, she'll learn that her past is a strength God is looking to use for his glory. Almost everything in Shola's life seems to be falling apart. With a rain of emotions ...

Trina had spent the last three years in a perfect relationship with Brandon. Now after planning the perfect wedding with the man of her dreams, everything she had hoped for their lives together was on the brink of coming true. That is, until the day of the wedding when a very important guest didn’t arrive... the groom himself, Brandon. Now Trina is left to pick up the pieces of her life and figure out what went wrong. Why did Brandon leave her at the altar after everything they had been through? Trina wants answers and she won’t rest until she finds them. Her heart won’t let her.

Nobody’s perfect, everybody has a flaw or two, right? Yep, Olivia Johnson knows this all too well, but at the same time, she knows that some people carry flaws that are more burdensome than the ones that others are carrying. Seeing that Olivia has ADHD and is nowhere near as quick-thinking as her smart-as-she-wanna-be sister, Lyric, Olivia understands this fact more so than most. However, being a woman of faith, Olivia also wholeheartedly believes that God never puts more on a person than they can bear. So, with the help and love of her closest friends and family members—well, most of ...