Showing results by narrator "Susan Spain" in All Categories

Winner of the African American Literary Award for Fiction, Essence® best-selling author Victoria Christopher Murray delivers a cautionary tale about debt and the dangers of an overly tempting offer. Married at 17, Adam and Evia Langston have worked their way up from rags to riches. But as they are enjoying all the trappings of their success, a financial downturn leaves them teetering on the brink of disaster. And that’s when Evia’s boss makes the Langstons a fivemillion dollar offer they can’t refuse.

Critics have compared her work to that of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but J. California Cooper has a warm, witty style that’s definitely her own. Each of her short stories is a gem of downhome wisdom, polished with a bit of gossip, some heartbreak, and lots of humor.

Sometimes you go in search of a new beginning. Other times, it finds you. Tonya Martin enjoys her job as a professional chef for a Wall Street bank, her East Harlem walk-up, and the freedom to live and love by her own rules - right up until the day she finds herself suddenly downsized. But a spontaneous trip to New Orleans opens up a new opportunity. With time on her hands and her daughter soon graduating college, Tonya has the chance to reach for her own long-cherished dream - opening a restaurant on her friend Hannah's beautiful Garden District estate.

Depressed from the complications of a head injury, Serena Manchester seeks solitude in the hometown she left almost 25 years before. Unknown to Serena, her hometown's landscape has changed and unseemly elements have seeped into the quaint Southern seaport town.

Landon Michaels is on a mission to fulfill this grandmother’s request for a one-of-a-kind Black angel ornament. With dementia setting in, this might be the last Christmas she remembers. Gina Christmas is the gatekeeper of unique handcrafted ornaments. It’s tax season, and the accountant is too busy crunching numbers to track down an ornament, especially since the holiday is months away. When Granny Lonna wants something, Landon, her favorite and only grandson, is determined to make it happen. But what she really wants for Christmas is for Landon to find the perfect love.

A.G. Gaston, the poor grandson of slaves, was born in the Deep South in 1892. Over the course of his extraordinary life, he amassed a fortune of over $130 million and a vast business empire. The story of his remarkable life is written with eloquence and grace by his niece, an Emmy¿ Award-winning journalist and her daughter, who holds degrees from Yale and Harvard.

Serena Sampson has traveled the world with the gift of prophetic healing, deliverance, and the sword of the Spirit in her hands. She claims victory when she is used by God to set women free from all types of bondage. The world reveres her as a powerhouse of a preacher and a woman of God whose faith is on fire. Women flock to conferences whenever she is in their city. Serena has been molded and shaped for ministry of such magnitude in her mother's church; however, they seem to be two totally different vessels that God uses to reach his people.

In one shattering instant, schoolteacher Cassandra Miller lost everything that mattered to her. Stricken with guilt and sorrow, she has no reason to care about tomorrow. The last person she wants help from is the man she wants to forget. In childhood, Wylie Everett was her cherished best friend. In adulthood, he was the secret lover who left her without explanation. Now he's the person who won't let her go down without a fight.

Nappily Married follows the lovable, sharp-witted Venus Johnston as she strives to make a name for herself while juggling the responsibilities of marriage and motherhood. Former flame Dr. Clint Fairchild just might be the one to give her a hand.

With a string of successful novels, Sherryle Kiser Jackson has won a reputation as a fresh voice in Christian urban fiction. In Land of Promiscuity, her mother’s death prompts Rebi Lewis to return to her hometown after years away. It’s not long before all the insecurities of her youth begin to resurface and Rebi finds herself slipping back into her old pattern of promiscuity. But then she reconnects with her former friend Will, and together they discover a long-buried secret - one that will test their capacity for forgiveness.

Convinced that unnamed babies are not truly alive, King Tuthmosis I’s wife Ahmose immediately names her newborn daughter Hatshepsut. This tiny girl will one day rise above her name and become not just "the foremost of women" but ruler of all Egypt. Growing up in pharaoh’s palace, the young princess prepares for her future by learning the essentials of Egyptian religious, political, and social life. After 12-year-old Hatshepsut’s father dies, she - following the royal custom - becomes queen by marrying King Tuthmosis II, the son of one of her father’s lesser wives.

Honored by the NAACP and optioned by major Hollywood film studios, the top-selling novels of Trisha R. Thomas are favorites of readers everywhere. After the hospital high jinks of Nappily Married, Venus and her husband Jake are ready to get away from all the nonsense. So they move to Atlanta - and that's where the drama really begins.

A criminal lawyer working in Miami, Yoshi skips town when the pressure cooker of her job threatens to turn deadly. But after landing in Norfolk, Virginia, Yoshi quickly realizes she better watch her back when she witnesses a drug dealer committing murder.

The Power Playbook is the empowering guide to forging professional success, establishing financial independence, and finding balance for a truly satisfying life. The author of the number one New York Times best seller The Love Playbook, La La Anthony is again opening up her playbook to share her no-nonsense advice. La La is a self-made entrepreneur with a successful fashion line, a cosmetics company, a reality show, and a budding acting career to her credit.

Zoe Clarke is a spiritual woman with good friends and a good job. But her seemingly perfect world is turned upside-down on the day she plans to marry her college sweetheart. She is flabbergasted when he leaves her for his pregnant girlfriend. With her whole existence in complete disarray, Zoe wonders if it's prudent to seek comfort in the strong arms of her former fiancé's best friend.

The small town of Belle Haven, Louisiana, is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill, and its residents will do whatever it takes to get it back on its feet. So when local English teacher Carissa Melody Wayne is asked to appear on the weight-loss reality show Losing to Win, she agrees. She doesn't realize that others from her past will be joining her, including her high school nemesis, an acquaintance who's been nursing a long-time crush on her - and most shocking of all, Carissa's ex-fiancé...

It wasn't easy for Yvonne Cable to get over a heartbreaking relationship and revamp her life. But now the once-broke single mom is Atlanta's most sought-after interior designer - and one-half of the media's hottest power couple. She and her celebrity fiance, Nathan, are a perfect, practical match, on - and off-camera. And with their new home improvement reality show the object of a fierce network bidding war, there's no limit to how far they can go....

Thirty-something writer Regina lives in Harlem with her four-year-old daughter. And no matter what she does, drama follows her wherever she goes. Her world is thrown for a loop when shady Little Joe re-enters her life looking for some action. Unfortunately, her lingering feelings for her congressman ex-husband aren't helping either.

An unstable childhood and a bad marriage have left Nova unable to trust anyone - especially herself. She'd do anything for her young son but feels she'll never be a good enough mother. She's got major talent as a stylist and makeup artist, but big-time success would mean leaving the safety of Martha's Vineyard and the only family she has left. Still, she needs to kick-start her life in a new direction. The last thing she needs is her childhood frenemy, Tanner Brennan, confusing her even more.

Janelle Marshall's life is finally going according to plan. Her perfect, upscale career - and her perfect, successful boyfriend - will make her future as secure and predictable as her childhood never was. And with luck, Little Bill, the grandfather who raised her, will someday understand why she'd rather play it safe than be impulsive. But just when she should be happiest, she gets a distressing call: Little Bill has gone missing. Now Janelle must go to the one place she's long avoided - the tiny mountain town of Mammoth Falls, South Dakota.