Books of Soul

New African American Books: Adult Fiction

Midnight by Beverly Jenkins

September 1, 2010
In a time of peril, she fears nothing — except the forbidden passions of her heart.

In Boston, revolution is in the wind — yet none would ever suspect Faith Kingston of treason. But under cover of darkness, the beautiful daughter of a Tory tavern owner becomes the notorious spy “Lady Midnight,” passing valuable secrets to the rebels. Dedicated to fighting British tyranny, she’ll let nothing distract her — until a dark, mesmerizing stranger enters her life.

A reckless, worldly adventurer, Nicholas Grey has returned to troubled Massachusetts seeking revenge for the death of his rebel father. He suspects a local innkeeper, but it’s the man’s breath-taking, ebony-skinned daughter who has truly captured his interest. Nicholas burns for the sensuous, secretive lady — and Faith cannot mask her own blazing desires. But when destiny unites their causes, the passion that draws Midnight into Nicholas’s arms is as dangerous as it is glorious — and it could spell disaster for them both.

Avon
Available November 1, 2010 in Mass Market Paperback

The First Lady by Carl Weber

August 20, 2010

Dafina
Available December 1, 2010 in Paperback

The national bestselling author of The Preacher’s Son and So You Call Yourself A Man returns with a scandalously spirited new novel about a woman who knows she’s her husband’s First Lady–but doesn’t want to be his last…

Charlene Wilson, First Lady of First Jamaica Ministries, has lived a good life with two wonderful children and her beloved husband, Bishop T.K. Wilson. Now the Lord is calling her home at the age of forty-four. She’s ready to go, but what will happen to T.K. after she’s gone?

The Bishop may be a man of God, but he’s still a man who needs a woman. Trouble is, T.K. is just as naive as any other man when it comes to women–especially slick-ass, bible-toting, man-hungry church women. That’s why Charlene has planned a way to hang around in spirit–to make sure her replacement is a good one.

First in line is Marlene, the mother of T.K.’s illegitimate daughter, Tanisha. Then there’s Monique Johnson, First Lady of Plastic Surgery and Implants. The only thing real about Monique is how much she wants T.K. Next is Savannah Dickens, the church’s attractive new choir soloist, who’s also the daughter of a prominent church elder. And last but not least is Charlene’s good friend, Sister Lisa Mae Johnson, widow of Pastor Lee Jones.

With the help of her friend Alison, Charlene anticipates any scenario that might occur in a series of letters addressed to the lucky ladies. Alison has vowed to keep an eye on T.K.’s social life and deliver them as needed. No one else knows about the letters, but rest assured, they will shake up a whole lot of people. Charlene may soon be gone, but her presence will be felt…

You’re All I Need by Karen White-Owens

August 17, 2010

Dafina
Available October 1, 2010 in Paperback

Karen White-Owens’s compelling tale of love, loyalty, and the law, spans the continents as an irresistible Frenchman turns the life of an ambitious young woman upside down-

Making it as a hotshot legal eagle takes smarts, savvy-and acceptance to a prestigious law school. That’s exactly what independent beauty Tia Edwards has when she’s hit with a thunderbolt on her way up the professional ladder-a request from her boss to help Christophe Jensen, a charismatic new attorney from France, feel right at home-

Sparks fly when the two first meet, yet both are wary of taking things to the next level. But when Tia catches her man with someone else, she lets her connection with Christophe heat up. Happier than she’s ever been, complications arise when Christophe is summoned back to France. Suddenly, the best time of Tia’s life starts falling apart, as she’s forced to choose between her family and her future-with a man whose home is on the other side of the ocean…

SELLOUT by James W. Lewis

July 31, 2010
The Pantheon Collective (TPC)
Available June 7, 2010 in Paperback

People who date interracially are often called traitors to their own kind. Self-haters. Sellouts.

Loan Officer Tammy McDonald has just come out of another failed relationship with a wannabe thug. To break this destructive pattern, she leaves her home city of Dallas for San Diego. As she settles in rainbow California, fantasies of meeting an ebony prince fade, so she eyes Dale Bristol as a potential ivory replacement.

Terrell Jackson is San Diego’s only black optometrist. Women regularly drop in for more than just eye exams, but he stays true to his girl Tasha until a wet dream unleashes a ridiculous outburst. Fed up with her jealous fits, he denounces the common “dedramanators” in his life-black women.

Even though Penelope Miller was raised in the South by a racist father once affiliated with the KKK, she can’t ignore her attraction to black men. But she never expected to fall in love with one…nor did she expect her “interracial felony” to threaten their lives.

SELLOUT follows these three individuals and the consequences of dating outside their race. In the quest to find what they think is missing in their lives, they encounter guilt, fear and mess they never anticipated…including murder

The Cure is Now on iBooks!

July 31, 2010
The Cure
by Antoine Maurice Devine

BluQuill Publishing, LLC
Available September 30, 2009 in Hardcover

Carol Anderson and Thomas Christian, clinical trial examiners performing a routine follow-up investigation, quickly find themselves embroiled in a series of murders linked to the cover-up of one of man’s greatest discoveries – a cure for breast cancer. The former lovers race across North America in pursuit of the records that contain the formula, chased by mercenaries employed by the ruthless CEO of a leading pharmaceutical company. They learn there is more going on behind the “Quest for a Cure” campaigns than they could ever imagine, while struggling to stay one step ahead of the killers who will stop at nothing to keep the formula from the public.

Based upon an actual event in the field of breast cancer research, The Cure weaves the history of the industry into an international action thriller.

Apple now offers The Cure! Just download the free iBooks app, and you’re ready to add the The Cure to your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch library.

Download The Cure with iBooks

32 Candles: A Novel by Ernessa T. Carter

July 29, 2010
32 Candles is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn’t stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams.

Davie — an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi — is positive her life couldn’t be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she’s pretty sure she’s ugly. Just when she’s resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life — Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn’t imitate art. Tormented endlessly in school with the nickname “Monkey Night,” and hopelessly in unrequited love with a handsome football player, James Farrell, Davie finds that it is bittersweet to dream of Molly Ringwald endings. When a cruel school prank goes too far, Davie leaves the life she knows and reinvents herself in the glittery world of Hollywood — as a beautiful and successful lounge singer in a swanky nightclub.

Davie is finally a million miles from where she started — until she bumps into her former obsession, James Farrell. To Davie’s astonishment, James doesn’t recognize her, and she can’t bring herself to end the fantasy. She lets him fall as deeply in love with her as she once was with him. But is life ever that simple? Just as they’re about to ride off into the sunset, the past comes back with a vengeance, threatening to crush Davie’s dreams — and break her heart again.

With wholly original characters and a cinematic storyline, 32 Candles introduces Ernessa T. Carter, a new voice in fiction with smarts, attitude, and sassiness to spare.

Amistad
Available July 1, 2010 in Hardcover

Torn Between Two Lovers by Carl Weber

July 19, 2010
From the New York Times bestselling author of Big Girls Do Cry comes a deliciously provocative new page-turner starring plus-sized diva Loraine Farrow, and the two men in her life-

One of Richmond, Virginia’s hottest, most successful women, Loraine Farrow is finally putting the relationship drama behind her. There’s nothing she wants more than to settle down with her husband, Leon, and focus on her marriage. Trouble is, her ex-lover, Michael, isn’t about to let her go so easily.

But things aren’t so simple with Leon either. He’s dealing with painful issues from his childhood-and some of them are starting to surface in the bedroom. Leon’s seeing a therapist, but what he’s uncovering could destroy their marriage for good-unless Michael does it first.

The short time Michael spent with Loraine was the happiest he’s ever known, and he’s fired up about winning her back-until he discovers a secret Leon’s been hiding. Now he’s faced with a wrenching choice: either sacrifice what he wants most, or cause the woman he loves unbearable heartbreak.

Taking us on a passion-filled wild ride, here is a gripping novel of three indomitable people torn between love and lust, secrets and lies-and the momentous decisions they must ultimately make-

Dafina
Available September 1, 2010 in Hardcover

Tempted by Trouble by Eric Jerome Dickey

July 19, 2010
New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey returns with a flaming-hot stand-alone set in the world of con men and thieves.

We can plan all we want, but sometimes fate has a different agenda…

Dmytryk was a respectable man…once. College educated, happily married, a stable job at a car factory in Detroit. He’s the king of the world with nowhere to go but up. But when a crippling recession annihilates the auto industry, Dmytryk and his wife Cora suddenly find themselves without jobs. And after two years of trying to live honestly, they begin to realize that honesty just doesn’t pay the bills.

Afraid of losing her home and her marriage, Cora compromises her faith and makes some choices that she isn’t proud of. And when a powerful and ruthless crime boss named Eddie Coyle gives them an opportunity to buy back their old lives, Cora urges Dmytryk to man up. All he has to do is join Eddie’s crime ring and rob some banks: two minutes, in and out, nobody gets hurt. Torn between desperation and his moral integrity, Dmytryk gives in, but no sooner does he enter a life of crime than Cora abandons him, taking with her his dreams for a better life and disappearing without a trace.

Now, more determined than ever to get his life back on track, Dmytryk is only one bank job away from having enough money to leave Eddie Coyle and find Cora. But when the job goes dangerously wrong, he realizes yet again that destiny has another plan for him. Forced into seclusion with one of his partners-a dangerous and damaged woman with a plan of her own-Dmytryk wonders if he’ll ever find his way back to his old life. And in the end, will he even want to?

Dutton Adult
Available August 17, 2010 in Hardcover

Holy Rollers by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

July 19, 2010
Looking for Love . . .

Lifelong friends Coco, Nita, and Tia have spent years looking for love in the arms of flashy pro athletes, hoping to land a baller but ending up with a stream of failed relationships. The beautiful and demure Coco has endured years of physical abuse from her boyfriend, Sonny, while Tia, a single mother, has dated her fair share of cheaters and yearns for a stable companion who will be a father figure to her son. And feisty, seductive Nita is tired of being the million-dollar mistress and wants to settle down — if she can find someone worth coming home to.

Changing the Game . . .

Now that the women are approaching thirty, they’re finding it harder than ever to compete with the pro groupies. Determined to change the game and find some worthwhile men, Tia hatches an outrageous plan. Soon the trio is “holy rolling,” masquerading as God-fearing churchgoers at a local conference for young ministers in the hopes of snagging a prominent pastor. But will their big gamble pay off? Men of the cloth are still just men, after all. As the three friends meet their potential life partners, they will have to decide how far they want to take their holy rollers scheme — each risking heartbreak while taking a chance on finding a reliable, responsible man to love and cherish, flaws and all.

Gallery
Available July 6, 2010 in Paperback

Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan

July 19, 2010

An exuberant return to the four unforgettable heroines of Waiting to Exhale–the novel that changed African American fiction forever.
Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale was more than just a bestselling novel-its publication was a watershed moment in literary history. McMillan’s sassy and vibrant story about four African American women struggling to find love and their place in the world touched a cultural nerve, inspired a blockbuster film, and generated a devoted audience.

Now, McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin fifteen years later. Each is at her own midlife crossroads: Savannah has awakened to the fact that she’s made too many concessions in her marriage, and decides to face life single again-at fifty-one. Bernadine has watched her megadivorce settlement dwindle, been swindled by her husband number two, and conned herself into thinking that a few pills will help distract her from her pain. Robin has an all-American case of shopaholism, while the big dream of her life-to wear a wedding dress- has gone unrealized. And for years, Gloria has taken happiness and security for granted. But being at the wrong place at the wrong time can change everything. All four are learning to heal past hurts and to reclaim their joy and their dreams; but they return to us full of spirit, sass, and faith in one another. They’ve exhaled: now they are learning to breathe.

Viking Adult
Available September 7, 2010 in Hardcover