DOWN HOME WITH THE NEELYS: A Southern Family Cookbook by Patrick and Gina Neely
Knopf, May 2009
288 Pages, Hardcover, $27.95
ISBN-10: 0307269949
ISBN-13: 9780307269942

Buy it via Amazon.com

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Meet the Neelys: Pat and Gina, husband-and-wife team, hosts of their own television show, and proprietors of the celebrated Memphis and Nashville eateries, Neely’s Bar-B-Que.

The Neelys’ down-home approach to cooking has earned them the highest accolades from coast to coast. It has also won them millions of viewers on the Food Network. Simply put, the Neelys are all about good food and good times. In this, their eagerly awaited debut cookbook, the Neelys share the delicious food they have been cooking up for years both at home and in their restaurants.

Pat and Gina hail from families with a boundless love of cooking and bedrock traditions of sharing meals. At the Neelys’, mealtime is family time, and that means no stinting on “the sauce.” Indeed, that’s one of the Neely secrets: the liberal application of barbeque sauce to almost anything—spaghetti, nachos, salad, you name it. Of course, there are other secrets as well, and you will find them all in the pages of Down Home with the Neelys, along with more than 120 mouthwatering recipes.

Authors’ Website: http://www.neelysbbq.com

Watch the Neelys online: Down Home with the Neelys – Hulu (clips from their Food Network TV show)

On Facebook:  Become a fan via their Facebook Fan Page.

DELILAH’S EVERYDAY SOUL: Southern Cooking With Style by Delilah Winder
Running Press, November 2006
288 Pages, Hardcover, $29.95
ISBN-10: 0762426012
ISBN-13: 9780762426010

Buy It: Via Amazon.com

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Tradition meets the 21st century in this hip and colorful cookbook that shows that Soul Food doesn’t have to be “country food.”

In Delilah’s Everyday Soul, chef Delilah Winder shares the Southern-inspired recipes that helped earn her the devotion of many, including television’s Oprah Winfrey, the NFL’s Donovan McNabb, and music’s Patti LaBelle. Sharing more than 100 of her favorite recipes and the stories behind them, Delilah reaches back to her roots and forward to future generations of soul food lovers with her fun, eclectic recipes.

For Delilah, Southern food comes from the heart and touches the soul. The recipes in Delilah’s Everyday Soul are arranged by occasion and accented with special memories, tips, and suggestions for preparing and serving. They feature traditional soul food like Delilah’s delectable fried chicken and strawberry lemonade, and also include more modern renditions of the fare, plus alternative ingredients for those who want to try healthier versions of the spectacular recipes.

Publisher’s Website: http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com

Author’s Website: http://www.delilahwinder.com

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Still reeling from divorce and feeling estranged from her teenage son, Trish Taylor is in the midst of salvaging the remnants of her life when she uncovers a shocking secret: her sister is alive. For years Trish believed that her mother and infant sister had died in a car accident. But the truth is that her mother fatally overdosed and that Trish’s grandparents put the baby girl up for adoption because her father was black.

After years of drawing on the strength of her black ancestors, Billie Cousins is shocked to discover that she was adopted. Just as surprising, after finally overcoming a series of health struggles, she is pregnant–a dream come true for Billie but a nightmare for her sweetie, Nick, and for her mother, both determined to protect Billie from anything that may disrupt her well-being.

NEWS FROM CARLEEN

Jill Scott (“No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” and singer extraordinaire) will play Nona in the Lifetime Movie Network version of Orange Mint and Honey, which is called “Sins of the Mother.” Nicole Beharie (“American Violet”) portrays Shay, and Mimi Rogers plays Nona’s sponsor Lois.

The photo is of Nicole Beharie (“Shay”), Carleen Brice, and Jill Scott (“Nona”) on the set of “Sins of the Mother.”

Also, here’s a link to an interview Carleen did with a bookseller at the Tattered Cover Book Store – http://www.tatteredcover.com/carleen-brice-interview.

AUTHOR’S WEBSITE

http://www.carleenbrice.com

In case you missed it, check out our Online Tribute & Celebration.

MAMA DEAREST by E. Lynn Harris
Karen Hunter Publishing, September 2009
400 Pages, Hardcover, $25.99
ISBN-10: 1439158908
ISBN-13: 978-1439158906

Buy it Now

Book Description

New York City, you’ve been warned: Yancey Harrington Braxton is back. The ambitious singer and actress is fired up to move past her recent professional and personal setbacks — including an explosive romance with NFL tight end John Basil Henderson — and prove her talents are stronger than ever. After being out on tour, Yancey realizes what she really wants is to star in her own reality TV series, and she’s even found a rich and well-connected lover to make it happen. There are, however, two women fierce enough to derail Yancey’s plans with ambitions of their own: Madison B., a hot new bombshell taking the music industry by storm, and Ava Middlebrooks, who happens to be Yancey’s own mama dearest.   READ MORE

LET’S CHAT!

Jump in and share your thoughts as we talk about Yancey, Ava & the crew.

Push by Sapphire

PUSH by Sapphire
Vintage, April 1997
192 Pages, Paperback, $13.00
ISBN-10: 0679766759
ISBN-13: 9780679766759

BOOK DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sapphire was born in 1950 and spent her first twelve years on army bases in California and Texas. As a teenager she lived in South Philadelphia and Los Angeles. She graduated from City College in New York and received an MFA from Brooklyn College. From 1983 to 1993 she lived in Harlem, where she taught reading and writing to teenagers and adults. Sapphire is a performance poet and the author of a collection of poetry and prose, American Dreams. She lives in New York City.

Also check out the movie, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, in select theaters November 6th – http://www.weareallprecious.com

Also, check out  Cast Interviews by Jeff Bayer at The Score Card Review

THE WEDDING by Dorothy West
Anchor, January 1996
265 Pages, Paperback, $13.95
ISBN-10: 0385471440
ISBN-13: 9780385471442

Book Description

On the island of Martha’s Vineyard in the 1950s there exists a proud, insular, nearly unassailable community known as the Oval, made up of the best and brightest of New York’s and Boston’s black bourgeoisie. Dr. Clark Coles and his wife Corinne, pillars of this community, are mortified that their youngest daughter Shelby is set on marrying Meade Wyler, a white jazz musician from New York. Equally alarmed is Lute McNeil, a successful black furniture maker from Boston who is new to Oak Bluffs and desperate for social acceptance. Lute has fallen in love with Shelby Coles, or at least the way of life she represents, and he will stop at nothing to pull her away from Meade. As the day of the wedding approaches, the tension surrounding Shelby, Lute, and Meade builds, climaxing in a single tragic act that will forever change the lives of three American families.

The Wedding is a wise and heartfelt novel about the shackles of race and class we all wear and the price we pay to break them. It is also an unforgettable history of the rise of the black middle class, written by a woman who lived it. Wise, heartfelt, and shattering, The Wedding is Dorothy West’s crowning achievement.

Publisher’s Website: http://www.harpswellanchor.com

CHILDREN OF THE WATERS by Carleen Brice
One World/Ballantine, June 2009
336 Pages, Paperback, $14.00
ISBN-10: 0345499077
ISBN-13: 978-0345499073

BUY IT NOW!

Book Description

Still reeling from divorce and feeling estranged from her teenage son, Trish Taylor is in the midst of salvaging the remnants of her life when she uncovers a shocking secret: her sister is alive. For years Trish believed that her mother and infant sister had died in a car accident. But the truth is that her mother fatally overdosed and that Trish’s grandparents put the baby girl up for adoption because her father was black.

After years of drawing on the strength of her black ancestors, Billie Cousins is shocked to discover that she was adopted. Just as surprising, after finally overcoming a series of health struggles, she is pregnant–a dream come true for Billie but a nightmare for her sweetie, Nick, and for her mother, both determined to protect Billie from anything that may disrupt her well-being.

Publisher’s Website: www.randomhouse.com

Author’s Website: www.carleenbrice.com

Sisters & Husbands

SHORT BIO

Connie Briscoe has been a full-time published author for more than 15 years, with six novels, one photo-essay book and one novella published to date. She’s worked with HarperCollins, Doubleday, Ballentine, Harlequin and Grand Central Publishing. Her work has hit many major best-seller lists, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today Weekend, and Essence magazine.

THE AUTHOR SPEAKS

When I wrote Sisters and Lovers, the prequel to Sisters and Husbands, I was single after a divorce many years earlier. Many of my girlfriends were also single. I remember thinking how different life was for us than it had been for my parents’ generation. Back then, most women were married with children at an early age. My generation was less inclined to take the plunge before reaching their thirties. Many of us, whether single by choice or chance, had to learn to accept life without a mate well into our thirties and beyond. That’s how Beverly was born. When the novel opens, she’s 39, still single and struggling with her situation.

Flash forward. In Sisters and Husbands it’s ten years later and Beverly is engaged to be married. After a string of lovers, she’s about to take a husband, or so it seems. By this time Beverly has learned to accept life as a single woman and even to question the necessity of marriage since she’s seen the marriages of her sisters and girlfriends fall apart, and now she’s got cold feet. Will she got through with it?

I went through a similar phase. I first got married in my twenties. It lasted less than a year. He wasn’t the right man for me, and I got out. I couldn’t understand how I could have been so mistaken, and the experience soured me on marriage. But I’ve always liked the idea of marriage–companionship for life, a sex partner for life, raising children and growing old together. My parents had that. So 15 years later I decided to try again, and we’re going on 10 years of marriage now.

With age, wisdom and experience maybe you can succeed where before you failed.

Website: http://www.conniebriscoe.com

MAMA DEAREST by E. Lynn Harris
Karen Hunter, September 2009
400 Pages, Hardcover, $25.99
ISBN-10: 1439158908
ISBN-13: 978-1439158906

Buy it Now

Book Description

New York City, you’ve been warned: Yancey Harrington Braxton is back. The ambitious singer and actress is fired up to move past her recent professional and personal setbacks — including an explosive romance with NFL tight end John Basil Henderson — and prove her talents are stronger than ever. After being out on tour, Yancey realizes what she really wants is to star in her own reality TV series, and she’s even found a rich and well-connected lover to make it happen. There are, however, two women fierce enough to derail Yancey’s plans with ambitions of their own: Madison B., a hot new bombshell taking the music industry by storm, and Ava Middlebrooks, who happens to be Yancey’s own mama dearest.

Ava is out, about, and ready to reclaim her throne. Not even a stint in prison for attempted murder has curbed Ava’s competitive nature, and it doesn’t faze her in the least that her #1 rival is her own daughter. Ava is willing to do whatever it takes to make Yancey pay, including using Madison B. to turn Yancey’s world upside-down by forcing her to confront the past…and making her comeback dreams more exciting and dangerous than she ever imagined.

Taking readers on a wild, passion-filled tour of the entertainment world, E. Lynn Harris’s Mama Dearest delivers sensual thrills and electric plot twists — with one unforgettable woman of radiant star power, sexual magnetism, and unapologetic ambition at the heart of the action.

Publisher’s Website: www.karenhunterpublishing.com

Author’s Website: www.elynnharris.com

See Our Online Tribute & Celebration

SISTERS AND HUSBANDS by Connie Briscoe
Grand Central Publishing, June 2009
288 Pages, Hardcover, $24.99
ISBN-10: 0446534897
ISBN-13: 978-0446534895

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

Ten years have passed since Sisters and Lovers, and Beverly, now 39, is engaged to Julian, a man her family and friends agree is the epitome of a great catch: he’s gorgeous, loyal, trustworthy, successful, and very much in love with her. Since this is Beverly’s third engagement in the past five years, after breaking off the previous two at the last moment, everyone’s happy that she’s finally settling down. For Beverly and Julian, nothing could be better than being in love and planning their wedding. That is until Beverly’s oldest sister’s marriage falls apart and dampens the mood of what should have been the happiest time in Beverly’s life. Now, second-guessing her impending nuptials, Beverly is forced to wonder if marriage really works. Will she stick it out? Or will her fears cloud her judgment once again?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connie Briscoe has been a full-time published author for more than ten years. Born with a hearing impairment, Connie never allowed that to stop her from pursuing her dreams…writing. Since she left the world of editing to become a writer, Connie has hit the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.

Publisher’s Website: http://www.hatchettbookgroup.com

Author’s Website: http://www.conniebriscoe.com

WHAT THE BAYOU SAW by Patti Lacy
Kregel Publications, March 2009
336 Pages, Paperback, $14.99
ISBN-10: 0825429374
ISBN-13: 978-0825429378

BUY IT LINK

Book Description

The past can’t stay buried forever Rising author Patti Lacy’s second novel exposes the life of Sally, set amid the shadows of prejudice in Louisiana. Since leaving her home in the South, Sally Stevens has held the secrets of her past at bay, smothering them in a sunny disposition and sugar-coated lies. No one, not even her husband, has heard the truth about her childhood. But when one of her students is violently raped, Sally’s memories quickly bubble to the surface unbidden, like a dead body in a bayou. As Sally’s story comes to light, the lies she’s told begin to catch up with her. And as her web of deceit unravels, she resolves to face the truth at last, whatever the consequences.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patti Lacy graduated from Baylor University with a B.S. in education. She taught at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois, until 2006, when she began to pursue writing full-time. She has two grown children and lives in Illinois with her husband, Alan, and a dog named Laura.

Publisher’s Website: http://www.kregel.com

Author’s Website: http://www.pattilacy.com

Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
Knopf Books for Young Readers, June 2009
Hardcover, 352 pages, $16.99
ISBN-10: 0375857141
ISBN-13: 978-0375857140

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Book Description
Meet Mare, a grandmother with flair and a fascinating past.

Octavia and Tali are dreading the road trip their parents are forcing them to take with their grandmother over the summer. After all, Mare isn’t your typical grandmother. She drives a red sports car, wears stiletto shoes, flippy wigs, and push-up bras, and insists that she’s too young to be called Grandma. But somewhere on the road, Octavia and Tali discover there’s more to Mare than what you see. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less-than-perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

Told in alternating chapters, half of which follow Mare through her experiences as a WAC member and half of which follow Mare and her granddaughters on the road in the present day, this novel introduces a larger-than-life character who will stay with readers long after they finish reading.

About the Author
Tanita S. Davis is the author of the young adult novel A la Carte, published by Knopf in June 2008. A native Californian, she lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Author’s Website
http://www.tanitasdavis.com

WHAT THEY FOUND: Love on 145th St by Walter Dean Myers
Wendy Lamb Books, February 2009
243 Pages, Paperback, $8.99
ISBN-10: 0375845453
ISBN-13: 978-0375845451

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Book Description

WALTER DEAN MYERS returns to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places. Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn’t want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the “good daughter” who realizes that there’s only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.

Publisher’s Website: http://www.randomhouse.com
Author’s Website: http://www.walterdeanmyers.com

Book Description

In the beginning, there was a drug dealer named Smoke, and Breanne Phillips was one of his most faithful customers. She was smoking crack cocaine to block out an existence she wanted to escape from. Smoke was just money-hungry enough to take her cash-and anything else she had to offer-in exchange for the magic rocks he had. It was a mutually satisfying arrangement, one he forgot about as soon as he got out of the game, dropped the nickname Smoke and started answering to the name Alec. 

Fast forward sixteen years, and Breanne Phillips is back in his life. These days, she’s a businesswoman, who goes by the name of Anne. She’s dragging a sixteen-year-old hoodlum behind her, claiming Alec is the boy’s father and demanding that he straighten out their son.   READ MORE

Check out the Book Trailer – Click Here

Terra Little…in her own words:

I am a writer and Running from Mercy was my debut novel. I created a fictitious little town in Georgia, moved some gossips, some busy-bodies and some two-faced folks in, and let my imagination run wild. What fun! Do me a favor, would you? When you return from your visit to Mercy, Georgia, be sure to drop me a line and let me know what you thought of the trip. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

My next title, Where There’s Smoke, started shaking things up in January 2009. Picture this, three people – a mother, a father, and their 16-year-old son, trying hard to get along in this day and age. Things really get interesting when father and son finally come face to face, after 16 years of not knowing about each other. One of them is an ex-hoodlum and the other is trying to be a hoodlum, with little success. And the lone woman in the mix is the reason the men in her life were completely clueless until now. Is it too late for father and son to build a relationship? Has the teenager gotten in over his head, trying to fit in with the wrong crowd – one of whom is the clown behind him on the cover?

Where There’s Smoke gives you a peek into the lives of a seemingly dysfunctional family, one that you’ll hate to say goodbye to when the last page turns.

Terra Little’s literary goals:

To give readers characters that challenge them, harass them, and make them think about life as we know it. To write outside the box, keep it fresh, and keep it real. To seduce readers with words and foster lifelong relationships, as a result. To write the wrongs in the world. To write one fabulous, award winning all-American novel before I die, one that will shake Mother Earth to her core, make my great-grandchildren proud, and render my muse timeless.

Visit Terra’s site at www.terralittle.com or her blog at www.terralittle.blogspot.com.

Book Description:

From the nationally bestselling and Hurston/Wright award-winning author Tracy Price-Thompson comes a heartbreaking story of loyalty and love that goes beyond the ultimate sacrifice.

Coming of age in the heart of crime-ridden Brooklyn, Shyne Blackwood is one in a set of triplets born into poverty and great tragedy. While his brothers are raised to seek a life of promise, Shyne’s path veers early on. A street-seasoned hustler, he becomes known as a liar, a thief, and ultimately, a killer.

Personifying many of the negative stereotypes attributed to black men, Shyne is accused and convicted of the brutal murder of a child, and an entire city demands vengeance as he’s sent to death row in a cold New York state prison.

On the eve of Shyne’s execution, five people travel to Quincy Correctional Facility to witness the event. As the clock counts down to midnight, and while everyone has long since abandoned Shyne to his fate, a secret at the heart of this unthinkable crime remains to be discovered. It is a secret that will test the bonds of family, the strength of one man’s character, and the redemptive power of a love worth dying for.

About the Author:

Tracy Price-Thompson is the national bestselling author of the novels, BLACK COFFEE, CHOCOLATE SANGRIA, A WOMAN’S WORTH and KNOCKIN BOOTS.  Tracy is a highly decorated Desert Storm veteran who graduated from the
Army’s Infantry Officer Candidate School after more than ten years as an enlisted soldier.

A Brooklyn, New York native who has traveled extensively and lived in amazing places around the world, Tracy is a retired Army Engineer officer and Ralph Bunche graduate Fellow who holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Social Work.

Tracy is a firm believer in satisfying her muse, and takes pride in penning novels that both challenge the range of her creativity, and embrace the expanse of the human experience. A maverick at heart, Tracy feeds her muse first and all others second, and writes whatever pleases her and doesn’t require anyone’s permission to do so. She supports and applauds emerging writers who are dipping their innovative spoons into creative wells, and mentors several new authors each year.

A dedicated wordsmith who diligently studies the art and craft of fiction writing, Tracy is also the co-editor of the anthology Proverbs For The People, and composes professional literary reviews based on established
elements of writing for several print sources.

Tracy lives in Hawaii with her wonderfully supportive husband and several of their six bright, beautiful, incredible children, and she is currently at work on her next novel. 

Website: http://www.tracypricethompson.com

JULY 2009 Alternate BOM Selection

Mass Market Paperback
Kimani, July 2009
ISBN-10: 0373861206
ISBN-13: 978-0373861200

Product Description
When a man finds a beautiful woman asleep in his bed…

…he has only one choice. To seduce her with a night of lovemaking she’ll never forget. Trouble is, Donovan Steele’s sultry new housekeeper is just as determined not to become the legendary playboy’s latest conquest.

Trading the Ivy League for down South, Natalie Ford is helping out with her ailing aunt’s housecleaning service. But she finds that this powerful, potent man of Steele ignites a different kind of chemistry-one that defies every law of attraction the science professor ever learned.

Natalie knows she has to come clean to Donovan about who she really is…especially when he starts believing she’s out to sabotage his family business. Will she lose her chance to love the real man behind the seductive legend?

JULY 2009 BOM Selection

MANEATER by Mary B. Morrison and Noire
Dafina, June 2009
308 Pages, Hardcover, $24.00
ISBN-10: 0758213204
ISBN-13: 978-0758213204

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New York Times bestselling author Mary B. Morrison pairs with Queen of Urban Erotica Noire to deliver two tantalizing novellas about sex, revenge?and getting what you deserve?

Character of a Man by Mary B. Morrison

Seven Stephens seems to have it all?money, mansion and a man?but is taken by surprise when her fianc? tells her the wedding is off if she can?t lose twenty-five pounds in six weeks. In no time, she?s out the door and headed for Punany Paradise for a sensual workout that?s both sweet revenge and sweet surrender?

Sugar-Honey-Ice Tee by Noire

Blow, Nap, and Tomere are three grimy playahs from the hood. Nicknamed Dirty, Dastardly, and Depraved, these three NFL stars have no problem living up to their names on and off the field. But when they scheme to take out their biggest competition, a promising quarterback, they finally meet their match. Not in a vengeful ball player, but in three wicked and sexy sistahs. And it won?t take Sugar, Honey, or Ice Tee long to wreck everything in their path. Because vicious hotties always take whatever they want and ruin whatever they please?

Publisher’s Website: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

Author’s Website: http://www.marymorrison.com

Author’s Website: http://www.asknoire.com

The books nominated are as follows and winners will be announced at the end of the week. Stay tuned!!

If you’re an author with a book that fits any of our themes, let me know so we can share with our members and possibly select it as our alternate read.

JULY – Grown & Sexy (Erotica/Erotic Romance)
Head Bangers by Zane
Hittin the Bricks by Noire… Read More
Up All Night by Delilah Dawson
Maneater by Mary B. Morrison & Noire

AUGUST – Through the Eyes of a Child (YA/Teen)
Just Another Hero by Sharon Draper
Work What You Got by Stephanie Perry Moore
What They Found: Love on 145th St by Walter Dean Myers
Hot Girl by Dream Jordan
Heaven by Angela Johnson

SEPTEMBER – Spending Time w/SISTAZ (chicklit/sisterhood)
Let’s Get it On by Jill Nelson
In Love With a Younger Man by Cheryl Robinson
The Good Stuff by Michelle Simpson
Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe

UPDATE: The results are in and we’ll be reading the following:
July – Maneater by Mary B. Morrison & Noire
August – What They Found: Love on 145th St by Walter Dean Myers
September – Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe

JUNE 2009 BOM (Alternate)

“See that picture? I bet you’re probably looking at it, shaking your head and thinking we look like a couple of gang-bangers, but that’s not entirely true. Well, not for me anyway. My name is Isaiah, but my friends call me Zay, and the guy behind me is Justin. We call him Hood, short for hoodlum, because that’s exactly what he is. That fool ain’t never up to no good and me hanging out with him drives my moms crazy, which is precisely why I do it. I figure, if I cause her to lose a little sleep, then we’ll be even. It’s the least I can do, since she went to all the trouble of telling me about how she used to be a drug addict and all. What did she think, I was going to give her a prize because she straightened out her life? Yeah, right. A heart attack is more like it…”   ~ Isaiah

“I’ve seen that picture enough to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. That’s my son, Isaiah, and his idiot so-called friend, Hood, whose name fits him to a tee. I have talked to that boy until I’m blue in the face, trying to get him to see what I see when I look at Hood – a cretin. But he doesn’t listen and I’m tired of talking. Actions always did speak louder than words, so I think it’s about time I do some acting out of my own. I just hope I’m doing the right thing by tracking down his long lost father…”  ~ Anne 

“Take a good look at that picture, because when I’m done you won’t be seeing it anymore. My son is front and center, looking just like me when I was his age and trying to go down the same path of criminality that I went down. If I had been around when he was growing up, he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m Alec, but some still call me Smoke, because of who and what I used to be, and I’m about to put some heads to bed. For sixteen years I didn’t know I had a son in the world, but now that I do know, keeping him out of the game is my number one priority. To do that I have to go toe-to-toe with Hood and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s been a minute. Apparently Hood ain’t never heard that, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and I’m a little hot under the collar right about now…”  ~ Smoke

Find out what happens when Alec “Smoke” Avery walks back into Breanne “Anne” Phillips’s life and turns everything upside down, including the son he never knew he had. Isaiah is under the impression that he’s in control of his own destiny, but he soon finds out that destiny isn’t something that can be easily controlled. Come to think of it, so does Anne…

Visit Terra’s site at www.terralittle.com or her blog at www.terralittle.blogspot.com.

From the nationally bestselling and Hurston/Wright award-winning author Tracy Price-Thompson comes a heartbreaking story of loyalty and love that goes beyond the ultimate sacrifice.

Coming of age in the heart of crime-ridden Brooklyn, Shyne Blackwood is one in a set of triplets born into poverty and great tragedy. While his brothers are raised to seek a life of promise, Shyne’s path veers early on. A street-seasoned hustler, he becomes known as a liar, a thief, and ultimately, a killer.

Personifying many of the negative stereotypes attributed to black men, Shyne is accused and convicted of the brutal murder of a child, and an entire city demands vengeance as he’s sent to death row in a cold New York state prison.

On the eve of Shyne’s execution, five people travel to Quincy Correctional Facility to witness the event. As the clock counts down to midnight, and while everyone has long since abandoned Shyne to his fate, a secret at the heart of this unthinkable crime remains to be discovered. It is a secret that will test the bonds of family, the strength of one man’s character, and the redemptive power of a love worth dying for.

Armed with their list of essential must-have’s, would-be-nice’s, icing-on-the-cake’s, and total-deal-breakers, they start their search – but soon encounter issues specific to the saved woman on the dating scene. Is online dating okay for Christians? How long do you wait before you tell the hottie you just met that you’re celibate and plan to stay so until married? He’s too fine to pass up – how saved does he really need to be? And of course, how do you keep things holy when he’s oh-so-sexy?

It’s not long before they realize they still have to trust God to know what’s best for them and that He loves them enough to send them everything on The List.

 

January – It’s All True (memoir) 
February – My Life, My Health (health/fitness) 
March – Strong Black Couples (romance, love stories, or biographies) 
April -  Extreme Faith (Christian Fiction/Inspirational)
May – The Love from Mother (mother/daughter relationships)
June – Blood is Thicker than Water (focus on family)
July – Grown & Sexy (erotica or erotic romance)
August – Through the Eyes of A Child (YA/Teen) 
September – Spending Time With the SISTAZ (chick-lit/sisterhood)
October – Stamp of Approval (group recommended/excellent reads)
November – The Classics (classics) 
December -  Sweet Treats (recipes/desserts)