American Dream Women

Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.

Can a simple pair of garnet earrings put out an internal fire that has been burning for some fifteen years? A young woman stands at the brink of middle age with a long-standing anger towards her mother that has stalled and clouded her dreams of the future. When the garnet earrings suddenly appear, they receive such an emotional reception that questions are finally posed that unlock secrets of the past. The woman learns the fire inside her started two generations ago with her grandmother and the question remains: After all this time, is it possible to contain the flames? This book takes you ...

Inspired by a true story, The Bravest Among Us is Hillbilly Elegy meets Casablanca, the story of three unlikely heroes who come together in a tragic love triangle to bring The American Dream to reality for impoverished children. Aria, a grieving widow and once a teen mother, rises from humble beginnings to become a warrior for social justice. But which man will join her daring journey, the ambitious actor bent on capturing her heart or the wrongfully convicted ex-con sworn to protect her? One will risk everything to help her find hope, while the other will forsake his happiness for the ...

Jewell Parker Rhodes follows up her acclaimed Voodoo Dreams with a present-day mystery surrounding the gifts of an ancestor of the Voodoo Queen. Doctor Marie Levant can't explain why she's drawn to New Orleans, or why it's comforting and unsettling at the same time. And she can't shake her haunting dreams. But when she delivers a dead woman's baby, Marie knows malevolent forces are at work, and it's up to her to stop them.

Kiyo's father arrived in California determined to plant his roots in the land of opportunity after leaving Japan. He, his wife, and their nine American-born children labored in the fields together, building a successful farm. Yet at the outbreak of World War II, Kiyo's family was ordered to Poston Internment Camp. This memoir tells the story of the family's struggle to endure in these harsh conditions and to rebuild their lives afterward in the face of lingering prejudice.

América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don’t look her in the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her; her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her; and their 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for.

The Wind River Reservation agrees to a nuclear-waste storage site in exchange for jobs and millions in revenue. But murder points Vicky Holden and Father John toward a larger plot.

The Shahanis came to Queens - from India, by way of Casablanca - in the 1980s. They were undocumented for a few unsteady years, and then, with the arrival of their green cards, they thought they'd made it. This is the story of how they did, and didn't; the unforeseen obstacles that propelled them into years of disillusionment and heartbreak; and the strength of a family determined to stay together.

Having escaped her urban existence, middle-aged Juanita Lewis enjoys her new life in Paper Moon, Montana - but she still has a long list of places she wants to visit. With her true love's blessing, she embarks on a journey of American exploration. When her eccentric friend Millie suddenly dies, however, she rushes home and learns she has inherited Millie's bed-and-breakfast. At last Juanita has it all - true love and financial independence! But does this diner cook turned entrepreneur have too much on her plate? This novel overflows with gentle, self-effacing humor.

When Ashley discovers that the goal of achieving the American Dream is not her key to happiness, she frees herself from the shackles of her perfectly planned life to travel the world in an adventure through thirty-six countries in an attempt to discover what her new life’s dream will be. From the beginning, her path around the globe is riddled with earthquakes, tsunamis, and civil uprisings that force her to adapt and evolve to the road. Planned tours fall apart to reveal that hitchhiking and couch surfing with strangers is the best way to travel. Dreams of far off lands become a reality ...

Ingrid Yung's life is full of firsts. A first-generation Chinese American, the first lawyer in her family, she's about to collect the holy grail of "firsts" and become the first minority woman to make partner at the venerable old law firm Parsons Valentine & Hunt. Ingrid has perfected the art of "passing" and seamlessly blends into the old-boy corporate culture. She gamely banters in the corporate cafeteria, plays in the firm softball league, and earnestly racks up her billable hours.

Winsome Earle-Sears sent shock waves across Virginia and the country at large when she pulled off her stunning upset victory in November 2021 and became the first woman lieutenant governor of Virginia and the first Black woman, the first naturalized female citizen, and first female veteran elected to statewide office. She earned intense national coverage because of her unwavering support for Second Amendment rights and her strong commitment to education opportunity for all students. Now Winsome will tell her story and explain how she arrived at that historic moment in time.

Born in the picturesque town of Taxco, Mexico, Julissa Arce was left behind for months at a time with her two sisters, a nanny, and her grandma while her parents worked tirelessly in America in hopes of building a home and providing a better life for their children. That is, until her parents brought Julissa to Texas to live with them. From then on, Julissa secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant, went on to become a scholarship winner and an honors college graduate, and climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs.

About STRUGGLE She has always seen me for who I am… Not what I was trying to be. And it frightens me that despite the things I’ve gone through, she still seems to be waiting on me. My struggles caused me to run from her, but her love stayed solid. Even when I turned my back on her and left her holding to fend for herself, she never gave up on me. Most women would never want the challenge of being with a man who’s decided to do the total opposite of what the world feels is right. But she’s convinced… Her God told her that I was her husband and she doesn’t care what I’ve done, ...

Eddie Brownlee's Hollywood dreams turn into a nightmare when his safety is threatened. Lee Everett, his father's best friend, steps in as his reluctant bodyguard, stirring up unexpected emotions. As they navigate the desert landscape, stuffed together in the cramped trailers of Hollywood's filming locations, Eddie's long-standing crush on his dad's old adventurer buddy complicates things.

Pival Sengupta has done something she never expected: She has booked a trip with the First Class India USA Destination Vacation Tour Company. But unlike other upper-class Indians on a foreign holiday, the recently widowed Pival is not interested in sightseeing. She is traveling thousands of miles from Kolkota to New York on a cross-country journey to California, where she hopes to uncover the truth about her beloved son, Rahi.

AN AMAZON #1 BEST-SELLER Deeply heart-touching. -Inked Pages An achingly heartfelt portrait of family and young love, The Dream is perfect for fans of YA romance. Most people call her Delilah. But he called her Daisy. He was seventeen and a guest in her family’s home the summer she turned fifteen. They weren’t supposed to fall in love. But Everton knew two things early on. One: He knew that she was a rule he was most likely going to break. And two: He knew that if anyone discovered their secret, he would be forced to leave. That day came in early August. And it came without warning—or...

When their mother passed away a decade ago, Evie Ross and her sister, Suda Kaye, were each left a stack of letters, one to be opened every year on their birthday. While the letters encouraged Suda Kaye’s wanderlust, taking her away from Evie for years, their free-spirited mother’s wish for her more cautious daughter was to discover what her heart truly desires. But steadfast Evie discovered long ago that wishes rarely come true. A successful life stems from planning, building a stable career - and keeping your heart guarded at all costs.

2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist - Historical Fiction Seeking to pursue his dream in music, and harboring a grave secret, young Gerard Rougeaux leaves his native Montreal for New York City in 1909, embarking on a journey that then takes him to Paris at the height of the Jazz Age. There, years later, Gerard becomes haunted by strange dreams of a boy falling through space, as his story entwines with the family he has left behind-his half-sister Jeannette and her two children, struggling to make their way in New York after the economic crash of 1929. Continuing the family epic ...

For the first time, music legend Tom Petty’s spouse and muse of 25 years opens up about their intimate, shared lives in this memoir filled with personal anecdotes, and bittersweet reminiscing.