ShaRonda R.

''It's the penthouse or the morgue.'' This is the philosophy adopted by Keshawn Wilson, a.k.a. ''K-Dawg',' self-proclaimed lord of the streets. Keshawn is the youngest of five kids and one of only two that doesn't belong to his mother's husband. As a little boy he feels the distance between he and his stepfather, and life becomes increasingly difficult for him as the years pass. His childhood and young adult years are spent in a home for boys and state prison, where he serves time for manslaughter.

Emery Thompson hates Calvin Chamberlain. From the way he acts like he’s better than everyone to the way he moves through the world thinking his podcast is the cream of the crop, every little thing about the man gets to him. Even that dashing, oh-so-confident smile. He’d rather be caught dead than be around the man any longer than necessary—or admit that last part out loud.

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Joan Morgan offers a provocative and powerful look into the life of the modern Black woman: a complex world in which feminists often have not-so-clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men, where women who treasure their independence frequently prefer men who pick up the tab, and where the deluge of babymothers and babyfathers reminds Black women who long for marriage that traditional nuclear families are a reality for less than 40 percent of the population.

Late-night radio show psychologist Rain Sommers is used to the crazies calling in to rage from the shadows, but one caller’s chilling obsession with her and her long-ago murdered mother - an iconic singer beloved by the Goth community - has even Rain running scared as a serial killer known as the Vampire prowls New Orleans. FBI agent Trevor Rivette is convinced the caller and the killer are one and the same.

Liza Cole has 30 days to write the thriller that could put her back on the best seller list. In the meantime, she's struggling to start a family with her husband, who is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. With stresses weighing her down in both her professional and her personal lives, Liza escapes into writing her latest heroine, Beth. Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her while she's home alone caring for their newborn. Then the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

In the darkening days of autumn, a murdered journalist's body is discovered in a remote region near the Canadian border. Before she was found, Anne Marie Johnson had been writing an article about a canine research program that uses trained dogs to track scientific data. She was last seen with a man named Reeve Landon, whose chocolate Lab was one of the subjects of the piece. Now he's the prime suspect. Back in the FBI's regional office in Montana, investigator Ali Paige is not officially assigned to the case since the crime was committed outside federal land.

Meet Rain, the eldest and most dangerous of Baltimore's most feared crime family - the Porters. Honing their skills to perfection since their youth, the siblings were introduced to the intricate world of armed robbery, diamond heists, and murder by their mentor and confidant, Smitty. Fearless and daring, the Porter family pulled off dozens of licks, reaping millions over the years.

With their families torn apart by the vicious life of the streets, Sunshine and Rain find each other living with the same foster mother, who has a secret life of her own. With Rain's stern heart of steel and Sunshine's innocent heart of gold, they try to cope with traumatic, unforeseen circumstances that come their way. As these two diamonds hook up and shine, they go from rags to riches. Watch as Sunshine and Rain deal with death, betrayal, love, and sweet temptation. Can their newfound friendship survive all the madness?

Dee Dee is as laid back, sassy, and cute as they come, but having two overprotective brothers like Jay and Bee, who have clout in the Memphis streets, makes finding and building a relationship seriously hazardous to a brother's health. Things move fast for Jay and Bee after hooking up with a new contact. All of the training that Jay was secretly putting Dee Dee through comes into play as Jay and Bee are locked up in the county jail for selling to an informant. The game is dominated by thugs until Dee Dee hits the scene.