African American Sagas

Essence best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson’s fifth installment in his ongoing "Little Black Girl Lost" series picks up where the fourth book left off by continuing the diary of Josephine Baptiste. As more details about Josephine’s past come to light, the African heritage of modern-day Johnnie Wise is further explained.

The year was 1877 and Reconstruction was working until Presidential politics removed the union troops from the South unleashing violent cold-blooded men to pray upon black Americans. Bertha and Tucker were raised in the ways of the Elders: maintain your dignity, know your history, and never compromise your values. Their children were more than sharecroppers. Junior, the oldest, was an astute businessman and new leader. Joan was a teacher. Joseph, the brother, no one wanted to fight. Rose fell in love with the wrong man. Gladys, the youngest, helped Rose through tough times. "If the Elders ...

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story - Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.

American freedom is typically associated with the fight of the oppressed for a better world. But for centuries, whenever the federal government intervened on behalf of nonwhite people, many white Americans fought back in the name of freedom—their freedom to dominate others. In Freedom’s Dominion, historian Jefferson Cowie traces this complex saga by focusing on a quintessentially American place: Barbour County, Alabama, the ancestral home of political firebrand George Wallace.

To keep their family ties strong, the five Reeves sisters meet regularly to give each other a reality check. But explosive family secrets begin to pour out like molten lava and forever change all they treasure most.

Tressie faithfully prays every night that God will send her a thug. It isn't long before her prayers are answered, and she meets a handsome ex-convict named Payce Boyd. He is a fine roughneck, everything Tressie imagined and more - that is until Tressie experiences firsthand the reality of being a thug's girl. Seeking solace and comfort in the sanctuary, Tressie soon learns valuable lessons and shocking truths about herself and others.

The Road Beasts: Gator – A Slow-Burn, Enemies-to-Lovers MC Romance 💀 He’s a silver-tongued flirt. She has strict rules. But when hearts and minds clash, will love rewrite the rules? 💀 Joseph "Gator" Zenek has a reputation—charming, cocky, and always up for a good time. As a loyal brother in the Road Beasts MC, he’s never had trouble attracting women. But lately, the thrill of casual flings is wearing thin. He wants something real. Something lasting. Then he meets Tiffany Brigman—fiercely independent, blunt, brilliant, and completely uninterested in his advances. She runs her...

For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.

Jesse Peterson is nothing but trouble. He’s got a reputation around town and, being honest, it’s about as filthy as that old truck he drives. His tendency to let his fists do the talking might have a little something to do with that. I couldn’t remember ever hearing anything good about him. In fact, had I not gotten a flat tire outside his house one blistering afternoon, I might not have known he had another side. A side that made me wonder whether the good in him outweighed the bad. It didn’t take long to see he was kind and funny and maybe even sweet. But … I’m not allowed to ...

At almost a year without drama and chaos, Penny is ready to branch out from underneath the shadows of Polo. Her gangster is relentlessly trying to show her love and affection to prove his devotion, but something doesn't smell quite right to Penny. The familiar scent of lies and control lingers in the air. Behind his back, she dominates and sets out to be better than her teacher of the streets and first love, but not without consequence. A new budding love interest appears at her side to help her conquer all she seeks, yet Polo is not having it. If he can't have Penny—the woman he built ...

The year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs, playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, and trying to catch glimpses of nudity on late-night cable TV. After a tragic mishap on his first day of high school, when Benji reveals his deep enthusiasm for the horror movie magazine Fangoria, his social doom is sealed for the next four years.

Armand Blackstone wants very little in life, and needs even less--he's a millionaire in his own right, and scion of the Blackstone Empire. He has everything at his fingertips, everything a man could want--except Jo Dawson. His borderline obsession has lasted for over a decade, and he manages it the same way he controls everything else around him: with icy perfection. Simultaneously distancing himself and yet staying constantly aware of her, he's managed to keep his dignity intact and stay away from the one woman that drives him past the point of control. But now she's at risk, his younger ...

The Road Beasts: Fox – A Gritty, High-Stakes Legal Thriller MC Romance 💀 He’s a ruthless defense attorney. She’s a disgraced prosecutor. A case this dangerous could cost them everything—including their hearts. 💀 Victor "Fox" Cosby built his reputation on two things: winning impossible cases and never letting emotions cloud his judgment. As a high-powered criminal defense attorney and a trusted member of the Road Beasts MC, he walks a fine line between law and loyalty. When his club leader, Cougar, asks him to defend a scientist accused of espionage, Fox knows he’s stepping ...

They were women whose lives began in slavery, who weathered the Civil War, and who grappled with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the 20th century. Through it all, they fought to unite their family and forge success on their own terms.

Growing up poor in Texas, Vera Lomax used every gold-digging trick in the book to land a rich husband. Now living in the lap of luxury in San Francisco, her only job is to fawn over her much-older husband, so it's been easy for her to balance a life of shopping and affairs with younger men with a major secret: the 16-year bribery of one of her husband's mistresses to keep her pregnancy under wraps. Vera figures that a little hush money every month will ensure her husband's fortune is hers alone....

In the early 1900s an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea, just as the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule. Orphaned by the sunk vessel are two sisters and their half-brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them. Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic.

Bootlegging was Milton and Yvonne Hamilton's ticket out of poverty, prison time, and plain bad luck. Now they've moved on - to a bigger, richer pool of clientele - right in their own respectable new middle-class backyard. And their growing friendship with seemingly-perfect couple Joyce and Odell Watson is proving golden in more ways than one. As Milton soon learns, Odell is hiding an outside family and dubious business dealings. It's the perfect recipe for a blackmail scheme that will help Milton hide his own dirty secrets - even from Yvonne....

The Yusef sisters are settled and happy in Philly. Their weekly family affair turns into a nightmare after the true nature of Eli's millions is exposed by an unknown snitch. The sisters' better halves are marched out of the family estate in cuffs facing life in prison from a high-profile witness with no proof and much hearsay. Lola is given the option to walk away and move back to Chicago or stay in Philly and take her man's crown. Lola reflects her father's character, so she stays in Philly. She is tasked with protecting the family while replenishing the millions that the government seized...

Professional basketball player Nate Guillory has a good life. He enjoyed his childhood as the only child in a single-parent home. There is only one thing he feels he missed out on: knowing his father. Although he had a great upbringing, he feels that it is his right to know the identity of his father and why they weren’t afforded the opportunity to have a relationship. Because his mother isn’t as forthcoming with information, Nate seeks out rapper, Noah Brooks, who is the bonus son of his now deceased father.

"Detroit Life After 15 Years" Amidst the chaos of a sudden emergency, a group of friends frantically navigate their way through a series of unexpected events. With urgent calls and last-minute arrangements, they come together to support each other in a time of crisis. As they wait for a cab, tensions rise and emotions run high, revealing the complexity of their relationships and the challenges they face. Their journey to the hospital becomes a test of patience and strength, as they confront the harsh realities of life and the need to come together in the face of adversity." Book 1 is ...