American Contemporary

For more than 15 years, best-selling author and historian Hampton Sides has traveled widely across the continent exploring the America that lurks just behind the scrim of our mainstream culture. In these two dozen pieces, collected here for the first time, Sides gives us a fresh, alluring, and at times startling America brimming with fascinating subcultures and bizarre characters who could live nowhere else. Following Sides, we crash the redwood retreat of a cabal of powerful military-industrialists, and more.

Widely hailed for her best-selling fiction, no one combines sizzle and sass like Lutishia Lovely. With their soul-food business firing on all cylinders, brothers Malcolm and Toussaint Livingston seem to have the world at their feet. But playboy Toussaint’s penchant for risk-taking is often more than not-quite-happily married Malcolm can stomach, and a particularly spicy blend of circumstances is about to turn up the heat to record-setting levels.

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, ...

Andre Monroe is ready to move on from heartbreak, and the first step is bringing home his rescue pup. He’d bonded instantly with the playful Zeus and was already planning their first adventures. But one thing he definitely hadn’t daydreamed about was Zeus accidentally being promised to someone else - or that he might go home empty-handed and brokenhearted all over again.

During football season, when NFL coaches gear up for war on the gridiron, their wives are left to fend for themselves. NFL wife B.J. Almond has had enough. When she walks in to find her head-coach husband in bed with one of his assistant coaches' wives, she is livid. But what really sets her off is when she discovers the other wives knew about the affair all along. Now she's furious and hungry for revenge. And what better way to exact that revenge than to air everyone's dirty laundry in a juicy tell-all book!

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?

Broken Children often Become Broken Adults… Thirty-something Penny Carson is the textbook example of a broken woman who’s running away from childhood neglect and trauma. Yes, Penny has gotten a bad start to life, but that doesn’t mean that she has to let brokenness define her forever. With just a smidgen of faith and a dash of courage, Penny begins the long road to healing, one shaky step at a time. When a God-fearing brotha with a heart of gold enters the picture, Penny is sure he isn’t going to be interested in someone with a past as checkered as hers. But God is in the blessing ...

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.

Amari is forced to confront her own struggles and the threat of her mind consuming her. Trapped in the crossfire, she must find the strength to reclaim her life and her love before it's too late. With the stakes higher than ever, Domonick will stop at nothing to eliminate all threats to his family. But as he fights to protect what's his, he uncovers earth-shattering revelations that challenge everything he thought he knew.

When an unexpected blizzard grounds all flights, Nia and Andrew’s holiday plans are put on ice, and they’re stuck spending Christmas Eve at the airport. Soon the pair of travelers decide to make the best of it and team up to spread holiday cheer to the other stranded passengers. After all, just because their flight is cancelled doesn’t mean Christmas is. Now they’re about to discover that with the right person, home for the holidays can be anywhere—and life’s crossroads are the perfect place to begin a new story.

Award-winning authors Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley are both beloved for their strong female leads and juicy plotting. In Sinners & Saints, Murray and Billingsley join forces to tell a tale packed with drama, scandal, and redemption. Jasmine Bush and Rachel Adams both want their husbands to be elected president of the National Baptist Association, and they’re willing to use plenty of low-down tricks to win. But when another woman joins the fray, she proves more devious than either of them could imagine.

Synopsis: Justin Miller Jr. was a single father who had fallen on hard times. After losing everything, he doesn’t have time to wallow because he has a nine-year-old son to take care of. Just when he thinks things couldn’t get worse, they do. Leaving Justin to think of doing the unthinkable, until he runs into the one woman who got away. Hope Porter is the youngest black woman to own a law firm in Tennessee. Not to mention, one of the best and sought-after divorce attorneys in the state. Even with all her success, her personal life has become monotonous and lonely. But one chance reunion...

Naomi Mills, a police sergeant out of the Gary Police Department, is emotionally conflicted when it comes to protecting and cleaning up the streets of G.I. When she and her team of detectives run across a murderous group of masked assailants known only as the Death Dealers and whose sole purpose is to terrorize the streets of G.I., Naomi is determined to bring the killers to justice, but when the Death Dealers suddenly target her and her loved ones, she suspects police corruption in her own department.

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.

Blessings Await the Faithful… God has blessed Alana Daniels with a gift: a beautiful voice that moves the congregation at her church every Sunday morning. Yes, she loves singing in the choir at Mount Zion, but Alana — a gorgeous young woman with a heart of gold — has a desire to make it to the world’s stage with her talent. She puts a lot of effort into perfecting her vocal skills and it shows big time. Her mother thinks that a woman Alana’s age should be married by now, but Alana has no desire to pursue love because as a kid, she watched her parents’ marriage dissolve into ...

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.

Kyrell Knight believes life is a game to be played and thoroughly enjoyed. He rarely takes anything seriously, lives in the moment, and indulges in as much pleasure with women as possible. But the sarcasm, money, and women are an attempt to erase the memories of his past as he tries to forget what he came from. It works until his past wants to be a part of his present. Kyrell reconnects with Quinn Halifax at their mutual best friend's engagement party. They spark up a friendship that quickly turns to flames when it becomes a superficial, no-strings-attached relationship.

Falling for the Rancher A steamy, small-town cowboy romance featuring an alpha rancher, a strong-willed city girl, and an undeniable love worth fighting for… Edye Dolson never planned on staying in Texas. She came to check on her sister, not fall for a ruggedly handsome cowboy who pushes all her buttons—good and bad. But Luke Stanley isn’t like the men she’s used to. He’s intense, protective, and knows exactly what he wants. And what he wants is her. Luke knew from the moment he laid eyes on Edye that she was trouble—the kind that tempts a man to risk it all. She’s independent...

She spilled vodka on the wrong man. He saved her from a beating then made her kneel in front of the whole club to clean it up. Jada is a broke law student working in an underground Bratva fight club to save her sister’s life. She keeps her head down and mouth shut until a spilled tray of vodka puts her in the crosshairs of a dangerous captain. But it’s Ivan who steps in—Bratva enforcer, monster in the ring, and the man whose cold gray eyes see everything. He doesn’t hit her. He humiliates her. And then he keeps watching. Ivan is used to being obeyed. Feared. Alone. But the girl in ...

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.