American Contemporary

In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life. Ballingrud’s stories are love stories. They’re also monster stories. Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires or werewolves.

Jordan Davis is an image consultant for Pro Athletes. He does damage control, branding, marketing and most of all he fixes problems when they arise. His worst client is All Pro Wide Receiver Terrell Cummings, a player with the potential to be a Hall of Famer on the field, but who keeps having character issues off the field. Whitney Cummings, Terrell’s wife has always been aware of her husband’s indiscretions, but she had learned to turn a blind eye despite the fact that she was with him when he had nothing and helped to mold him into the man he is today. She has been a dutiful wife, ...

Six months ago, I gave my heart to a girl. Beautiful, kind, and sexy as sin, she's the only person who saw past my record or the color of my skin. Who ever saw me for me. She loved me enough to let me go, to let me leave this city to find my own path. But without her, I drift, lost without direction. Without me, she spirals, desperate for connection. I gave my heart to a girl, and she gave hers to me. But love shouldn't hurt this much.

Nala Carter is a woman after God’s own heart. She’s beautiful, humble, and generous — an all-round good person. But that doesn’t make her perfect. She’s had her demons in her past, yet she’s fought and conquered them. When she meets handsome car dealership owner, Aaron, she’s pleasantly surprised that he has a heart for God that is just as humble as her own. There’s definitely a mutual attraction between the two, but in the end, can a moment of generosity spark and ignite heaven on Earth for Nala and Aaron?

I knew he had the power to make me feel, but he also had the power to break me. To pull my heart outside of my chest and stomp on it. I knew falling for a man like Capone came with more than I was ready for. He wasn't feared for no reason. Timmy never meant Jaiden any good, and I knew it from the first time I met him. I've never wanted someone dead as much as I wanted him dead. Timmy needed to go, and I didn't care how he went as long as he wasn't breathing. Capone put it on his life that he would always protect me and mine.

Isolated from family and friends because of the one man she thought would be her happily ever after, Scotland is depressed, broke, and a shell of the woman she used to be. But when her man does the unthinkable, it is the last straw, causing Scotland to make a huge gamble in the name of revenge. But when that retaliation follows her home, adding yet another problem to her already hefty plate, Scotland must figure a way out of the hell she now calls life.

Nobody’s perfect, everybody has a flaw or two, right? Yep, Olivia Johnson knows this all too well, but at the same time, she knows that some people carry flaws that are more burdensome than the ones that others are carrying. Seeing that Olivia has ADHD and is nowhere near as quick-thinking as her smart-as-she-wanna-be sister, Lyric, Olivia understands this fact more so than most. However, being a woman of faith, Olivia also wholeheartedly believes that God never puts more on a person than they can bear. So, with the help and love of her closest friends and family members—well, most of ...

Four brothers. Four weddings. Four unforgettable love stories. 💍 The Watson men have finally found the women who captured their hearts, but getting to the altar is just the beginning. From spontaneous elopements to grand Victorian ceremonies, each Watson wedding is filled with passion, laughter, and deep emotion—but also secrets, surprises, and challenges that test their love. Tanya & Mike – A Las Vegas Elopement with a Promise Tanya and Mike are ready to start their forever—now. They take off to Las Vegas for a spontaneous wedding, but Tanya knows her family won’t be happy. Can ...

Alana Powers is a triple threat. Brains, beauty, and intelligence. As a smart and savvy businesswoman, Alana's drive and passion for ensuring the success of Powers Construction is unparalleled. Nothing and no one can get in her way—except marriage. Noah Tate is caring, compassionate, and driven by his need to succeed. Fresh out of jail, past mistakes are now behind him, and Noah is determined to prove that he has learned valuable lessons about life. This time, he refuses to allow anything to stand in his way. Unfortunately, his record is proving to be more of a hindrance than he expects.

Audriana Escobar, a.k.a. Audi, is the 18-year-old leader of the Gucci Girlz - a crew made up of her closest friends. Growing up in poverty, their only current goal is to find a way out of the poor town of Aetna and achieve a life of happiness, love, and luxury. When they cross paths with another crew named the Tru Aetna Boyz, all of their wants and desires seem to be coming true.

Thirty-three year old Sierra North is beautiful, saved, and single. She has patiently looked on as her younger sisters have all gotten married. Sierra is happy for her siblings, but she can’t help but want a special someone for herself. When she develops an attraction to the handsome manager of her local supermarket — Camden Mason — she thinks she’s found her soulmate. Her family and friends try to convince her that Camden isn’t the one for her, but she doesn’t want to hear about that. She finally forms a friendship with Derek Young, a talented, saved contractor who’s settled ...

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday.

He’s young, rich, intelligent, tall and ready to settle down. I’m Louisiana thick, curvy, and I’d like to say fine because it fits, and I keep trying to talk myself out of love. And as fate would have it, I’m stuck in his home on Christmas Day. Being an assistant, to Destiny- the owner and lead decorator at Dobrielle's-has good and bad qualities. It's one of Louisiana's largest and most sought after design firms. And I'm leaning but eager for my opportunity to shine. I get big coins, but I’m still only my boss’s assistant. She gives me the job to decorate the office Christmas ...

It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Unless it's under reconstruction...never close your heart. Essence best-selling author Monica F. Anderson aka Dr. mOe Anderson delivers a delightful, stand-alone sequel to her acclaimed novel “When a Sistah’s Fed Up” in this humorous and heartfelt story about love, family, and the power of forgiveness… Ambitious and beautiful, Faith Henry is a savvy woman. By all measures—her career, friendships, and financial accounts—she is certifiably successful. Right? Not so fast. She’s hopelessly entangled in the ties that bind: Her millennial daughter, Sloane, has returned to the nest ...

The unforgettable story of a young English lady and the warrior who saves her from sure death, a woman and a man from different worlds, two bold hearts who find passion in a divided land and swear to love each other forever. “I am so in love with her books every spare minute has been spent reading them since I found the first one! 3 books in and it's this one that is my favorite so far, I love The Raven!”—Melody Banks Raven watches with his younger brother Takooko through the trees near the Susquehanna River as the enemy Mohawk war party heads north in several canoes with their ...

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Amerie Cross and Arnold Hightower.

Celebrated author Cheris Hodges pens romantic tales that hit all the right notes. In Recipe for Desire, Marie Charles’ party-girl days come to a screeching halt with a DWI arrest and a totaled Jaguar. Sentenced to 500 hours of community service at a local women’s shelter, her only bright spot is a fellow volunteer, TV star Devon Harris. But Devon wants nothing to do with Marie and her selfish ways - until her work at the shelter has her turning over a new leaf.

Nia Ali is the successful owner of a property management company in New York. While expanding her business and selling her way to the top, she realizes her love life is at an all time low. She then meets Darion Brown, a handsome contractor and blossoms a romance. But when her business relationships take a dangerous turn, she finds herself unsure if she can maintain the balance, or possibly lose everything.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads to the colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother - who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter, Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.