Books of Soul

New African American Books: Romance

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

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

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

Rude Buay … The Unstoppable – Coming on Independence Day.

July 13, 2010

LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Author John A. Andrews, son of the Caribbean soil, penetrates inside the belly of the drug world. In an environment saturated with corruption, deception, duplicity, deceit, and inequities of all kinds, Andrews conceives a cross Atlantic, greed driven fiasco, embedded within the drug epidemic. Can Jamaican-born DEA “Rude Buay” save his country from the tyranny of the Dragon Drug Cartel?

Many stories have been written about the horrible threat that illegal drugs pose to our way of life. People involved can be as ruthless at spreading the evil as those whom are dedicated to stopping it. Here, the stakes are raised much higher, when innocent and malicious teenagers are caught up in this debacle and dying off like flies.

This poignant and hard hitting story intensifies, as Rude Buay – pronounced “Rude Boy,” a dedicated and stubborn Drug Enforcement Agent, goes after this powerful drug cartel threatening the government of his country, Jamaica.

Ironically, just over a decade ago, he was forced to flee Jamaica, after his older brother was killed in a drug related incident. So imagine what it’s like returning to your homeland, to fight a war, where you are not welcomed and distrust your own countrymen.

Rude Buay is a gritty action drama with deviant twists, entangled between the thin line of Law and Order. Rick Scott, founder of the James Mason Classic British Book Club gave 5 stars to this twisted-roller-coaster-action-thriller: a teary-eyed, diabolically encapsulating chronicle that will make you think, laugh, cry, applaud, and even scream.

Have you purchased your copy yet? Click here to pre-order Rude Buay … The Unstoppable Pre-order Rude Buay.

Click here Preview to read the exclusive first chapter of Rude Buay.

Rude Buay … The Unstoppable is a blend of Traffic meets Casino Royale with Charlie’s Angels gone corrupt. With the film project currently in development, Rude Buay is expected to go into pre-production in early 2011.

An ALI project. Visit: www.AndrewsLeadershipInternational.com Website: www.theRUDEBUAY.com *Rude Buay is a drug prevention chronicle about teens caught up in the war on drugs and contains content for adults; parental discretion is advised for children.

This hardcover edition of Rude Buay is published by Books That Will Enhance Your Life and distributed by Baker & Taylor.

SOURCE Books That Will Enhance Your Life www.prnewswire.com Copyright (C) 2010 PR Newswire. All rights reserved -0- KEYWORD: California

Jamaica INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENT

FLM

Darius Jones by Mary B. Morrison

July 13, 2010
In Mary B. Morrison’s new book, she returns to the lives of the characters made famous in the Soul Mates Dissipate series.

Darius Jones is the basketball league’s most valuable player. His wife and son travel with him to away games; and his relationship with his parents has never been better. He’s doing well with everyone except his son’s birth mother. When a drunk driver smashes into his car, his wife Fancy ends up in a coma with only a 50/50 chance of surviving–that’s when the drama really begins.

Dafina
August 1, 2010 in Hardcover