Modern American writing (authors A-K)

Destined to meet [ROM]

Kimani, 2008

Love once again [ROM]

BET Arabesque, 2006

A disastrous early marriage and a bitter divorce have left Richard Lowery convinced that the single life is the only life for him. Janine Henderson feels pretty much the same. Men are bad news. So when the two are thrown together by a minor accident they are more than wary of the obvious attraction between them.

Men cry in the dark

Simon & Schuster, 2001

Four childhood friends who grew up poor become successful entrepreneurs, but something - or someone - in their lives is missing. This novel provides a male perspective on relationships, fatherhood and interracial dating.

The prisoner's wife: a memoir

Washington Square Press, 2000

How did a beautiful, talented college student fall in love with a man serving twenty-to-life for murder? And why did she marry him? This novel shatters the myths of prisoner's wives and tells a story of the beauty of love.

When love calls, you better answer

Harlem Moon, 2006

All of me: a voluptuous tale

New American Library, 2000

Serpentine is an ambitious TV news reporter with a close family and a hot new romance, but her struggles with her large frame have influenced everything else in her life. She's tried losing weight, but pressured by fans, she has lost all her self esteem.

Playing by the rules

One World Ballantine, 2006

Sittin' in the front pew

Villard, 2003, Ballantine 2006

Death brings out people's true colours, as Glynda Naylor discovers when she gets the call that her father has died and she must fly from Los Angeles to Baltimore to bury him. As they gather to pay their respects, Glynda and her sisters begin to search for answers about who the real Edward Naylor was.

What goes around

Ballantine Books, 2006

Criminal minded

St Martin's Griffin, 2005

Dime piece

Triple Crown Publications, 2004

Heated [ROM]

Dafina, 2006

Show and tell

Dafina, 2008

In this follow-up to 'Live and Learn' Alize is working side-by-side with Cameron, the only man she's truly loved, Moet is fighting for custody of her daughter, Dom finds out that burying her past is harder than she ever thought possible, and Cristal is befriended by a New York socialite.

Hand-me-down heartache

Villard, 2003

'Hand-Me-Down Heartache' involves a young woman who finds the strength to break the cycle of heartache and abuse

Controversy [ROM]

Arabesque, 2008

Michael is no angel but she's no murderer either, even if she did joke with her sisters about killing her ex-husband, Phil, after their nasty divorce. How was she to know that someone really wanted Phil dead - or that she would become the prime suspect?

Defenceless [ROM]

Arabesque, 2008

Satisfy my soul

Ballantine, 2003

Led by a former singer and member of a mystical African tribe to Africa, Carey is forced to confront profound questions of faith, the aching search for home, the long reach of history and the double-edged sword of passion.

Waiting in vain

Ballantine, 2003

Set in London, New York and Jamaica, Waiting in Vain is a sexy novel that takes the reader on a journey through the love triangles and tragedies, the career trials and triumphs of the modern black man.

Shadow of light [CRI]

Serpent's Tail, 2007

The festering racial tensions in the Tennessee backwater town of Forrest come to the boil after a black grandmother is raped and shot by a gang of white teenagers. Only one man has the capacity to keep a lid on the mounting violence and that's the town's senior black cop, Walter Robinson.

Wild stars seeking midnight suns

Anchor Books, 2007

If love is good to me [ROM]

Kimani Press, 2006

Gifted musician Dosha Steele went to Tenerife, Spain, hoping to heal a broken heart and vowing never to love again. Yet in beautiful Puerto de la Cruz she meets brooding millionaire Christian Montero and he draws her into a sensuous web of passion.

Chasing Destiny

Turnaround, 2007

Billie is known on the streets as much for her unusual beauty as for her sexy yellow Ducati motorcycle. She can handle just about anything she meets on the road - but this time she might be headed for a crash.

Genevieve

Turnaround, 2006

From the author of 'Naughty or Nice' and 'Liar's Game', this is the tale of a good man who loves his wife, yet he finds himself drawn into an affair - with his wife's sister. However, both women share a mysterious and troubled past that raises the stakes even higher in this fast-paced story. (pic)

Liar's game

Penguin USA, 2001

Dana Smith has ditched New York city - and a cheating husband - for Los Angeles, looking for a new man, and some stability. She thinks she's found it in Vince Browne, a hardworking aerospace technician. But she decides to hide the secrets from her past.

The other woman

Turnaround, 2004

He works days, she works nights - the central couple in this novel are rapidly drifting apart, instead of growing together. When she finds out about his affair, and starts her own one, the delicate fabric of their marriage is torn irrevocably asunder, or is it?

Pleasure

Dutton, 2008

What happens when a woman realises that her 'perfect on paper' boyfriend can't meet all her sexual and emotional needs? She leaves him, that's what. When a chance meeting with a sexy, single stranger excites her, she's tempted to find out if he can fulfil her most basic desires.

Sleeping with strangers [CRI]

Dutton, 2007

With a supporting cast of grifters and killers, broken-hearted squares and streetwalkers and three very different women who each want to become bad-boy Gideon's leading lady, this is a world that thrives on the darker passions of revenge and desire

Ain't no sunshine

Dafina, 2006

When a teenage stripper is rescued from the club she works in by the man of her dreams, everything seems to be falling into place. But things are not always as they seem.

Invisible man

Penguin, 1965

American National Book Award winner

Ebony Reads Top 25 title

Spoken Word

The invisible man is the unnamed narrator of this impassioned novel of black lives in 1940s America. Embittered by a country which treats him as a non-being he retreats to an underground cell.

Better than [ROM]

Kensington, 2008

Deborah Lee Jackson has put love at the bottom of her to-do list. Fate, however, has other plans - in the form of successful, free-spirited painter Jason Hastings. Can their romance hold up when real life interferes?

Erasure

Faber, 2003/2004

Avant-garde novelist and college professor, woodworker, and fly fisherman - Thelonious Ellison has never allowed race to define his identity. But as both a writer and an African American he is offended and angered by the success of 'We's Lives in Da Getto'.

Beyond desire [ROM}

Kimani, 2008

Amanda Ross is thrilled when she is appointed junior high school principal in Caution Point, North Carolina. But her promotion will only be a pipe dream if the board of education discovers she's pregnant - and single.

Forbidden temptation [ROM]

Kimani, 2007

Her secret life [ROM]

ET Arabesque, 2006

The patrons of a swanky gentlemen's club know her as Jackie Parks, the chestnut-brown beauty. But waitressing is just her night job - by day, she is cqueline Parkton, Ph.D. Will business mogul Warren Holcomb see past first impressions and learns that things aren't always what they seem?

If you walked in my shoes

Kensington, 2004

Cinder

Vintage, 2008

Banes, Mississippi, 1938. The Catfish creek separates the Patch from the town, black from white. These worlds and their prejudices are hauntingly evoked in the rich accents of the American South in this sequel to Albert French's debut novel, 'Billy'.

A lesson before dying

Serpents Tail, 2001

A bestseller in the US, this book tells the story of a young black man sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, and of a teacher who tries to impart to him his learning and pride before the execution

The accidental hunter

Touchstone, 2004

Hunter is hired by music manager Ivy Greenwich to deliver the ransom to the kidnappers who have captured his latest client, a rising singer called Night. In the meantime, Greenwich wants to safeguard another star, Bridgette Hayes, on her journey from pop princess to urban star. Is Hunter up to the task?

One woman short

Scribner, 2000/2002

One Woman Short is the perfect novel for the woman who wants to discover how men view the dating game. With its funny insights into the male psyche the female reader can find out how to be viewed as a potential bride or categorised as just a date.

The middle sister

Ballantine, 2005

If these walls could talk

Dafina, 2007

Three very different families share the dream of getting out of New York and finding a house in the country. As they embark on their dream with both triumph and tribulation, they're about to discover that it's not always perfect when your dreams come true.

Nothing but trouble

Dafina, 2006

Dana never thought she would be a widow at 38 - but then she never thought she would have such great friends either. Dana's friends, Norell and Cecile are always ready to give her a shoulder to cry on. But Norell and Cecile have problems of their own - big problems - and something is going to have to give.

Where there's smoke [ROM]

BET Arabesque, 2005

After 15 years, soap actress Thais Copeland comes face-to-face with the man she let get away, Lucien Ballard. After the pair exchange phone numbers and begin catching up on old times, Thais finds herself wondering how her life would have turned out had they stayed together.

Breeze [ROM]

Genesis,2008

Tangled roots [CRI]

Sepia, 2006

A pretty local beautician is dead, and Timmy is suspect number one. When he shows up at Kendra's apartment begging for help, it's only one more step before Kendra's back on the road to trouble again, trying to find out the real killer and getting tangled in the deadly roots of desire

After dark (ROM)

Kimani Books, 2007

Chances are [ROM]

Kimani, 2008

Dione Williams knew what it was like to be young & pregnant with nowhere to go. Years later, she had provided a good life for her daughter & started a successful home for teenage mothers & their babies. But from the moment television producer Garrett Lawrence began a story on the teen centre, Dione's hard-won confidence was shaken.

Charade [ROM]

Arabesque, 2008

When Tyler Ellington follows her dreams and attends film school in New York, her heart is broken by a filmmaker. On fleeing home to Savannah her heart is stolen again. With two men claiming her heart, she must decide which love is the real thing.

It's all about the moon when the sun ain't shining

Kensington, 2005

Things seem to be going Maurice Dupree's way when he gets a scholarship to a prestigious law school. But his fiancee is not planning on waiting around for them to start their life together - and someone is waiting in the wings for her. Torn by the ultimatum Maurice finds an ally in a young white woman.

A rage in Harlem [CRI]

Canongate, 2000

Jackson is so unhip that he can't see through the scam he's being offered. After losing his life's savings to a con artist he steals from his boss and so begins his descent into the less-savoury aspects of life in Harlem.

Groove

Bantam Dell, 2005

Bad girlz 4 life

St. Martins Griffin, 2008

Tonya sets up a business running underground sex parties with her best friend Na'eema, and find themselves an overnight success, rubbing shoulders with athletes, rappers and Celebs. But when Tonya's ex-lover, Q, arrives back on the scene, things take a dramatic twist.

Faking it

Urban Books, 2006

When Layla Simone decides to fulfil her dream of becoming a writer in Hollywood, she hardly expects her life to change the way it does

Sister girls

Urban Books, 2006

Crystal, Susan, Jewell and Elsie. Their lives are laced with love, addiction, lust and loyalty. Crystal must deal with a past she can't escape. Susan is in denial and needs to get real. Jewell is looking for a 'good man'. And Elsie is confused about her sexuality.

A family sin

Ballantine, 2007

Married but still looking

Strivers Row, 2003

Pimp: the story of my life [Fiction, Biog 306.7]

Payback Press, 1996, Holloway House, 2005

Iceberg Slim is the name Robert Beck used in the ghetto. He was a pimp and this is his story, told without bitterness and with no pretence at moralising. Ice T, the successful gangster rapper, took his name from Iceberg Slim.

Who's that lady

Genesis Press, 2007

Street life

Urban Books, 2004

'Street Life' is the semi-autobiographical story of Jihad, a young man raised by the Atlanta streets to become the most notorious drug dealer. After seven years in prison his transformation is complete. This is the story of his rise, fall and salvation

The honeymoon is over

Urban Books, 2006

Parris put up with her fiance Nelson being broke their entire relationship, but now she's decided the honeymoon period is over and it's time to move on. She's found another lover, an old enemy of Nelson's. But the fireworks begin when Parris finds out that Nelson became the man she always hoped he'd become - successful.

Little black girl lost

Urban Books, 2005

Stunningly gorgeous and headstrong, Johnnie Wise must rely on little more than her wits to elude the clutches of both Earl Shamus and the ruthless crime boss, Napoleon Bentley, who will stop at nothing to seize this diamond in the urban rough.

The Harris men

Simon & Schuster, 2005

When Julius Harris is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he sets out to make amends for his past mistakes. As he races to reunite the family once lost to him, he finds that his sons are now men facing trials of their own, brought about by the past.

The million dollar divorce

Simon & Schuster, 2005

Desparate sisters

Urban Books, 2006

When LaShonda, Devine and Keyshawn realise that their ever-loving spouses are behaving like anything but, they decide it's time to take action. And get some action. With anonymous sexual encounters and passionate flings, the three desperate sisters embark on a series of hot adventures.

Rockin' Robin

Urban Books, 2007

The known world

Harper Perennial, 2004

Masterful, Pulitzer-prize winning literary epic about the painful and complex realities of slave life on a Southern plantation. An utterly original exploration of race, trust and the cruel truths of human nature, this is a landmark in modern literature.

Gigolos get lonely too

Urban Books, 2006

(also contains stories by Roy Glenn and Jihad)

Three popular authors combine creative forces to deliver three cautionary tales to the players of the world.

The mermaid chair

Review, 2005

Jessie Sullivan has been married half her life, and has become accustomed to her role. But when she returns to the isolated island she grew up on to establish why her mother has been behaving oddly, she is to find a lot more than she came looking for.

The secret life of bees

Review, 2003

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four years old. Now 14, she yearns for forgiveness and a mother's love. When her only friend, a black servant, is beaten, the two become fugitives from justice, and end up following a trail left by Lily's mother.