Red Hats by Damon Wayans

Meet Alma, a mother and wife, who's brutally honest and bitter.  Disappointment and heartbreak have left the once vital and joyful woman so cynical and self-protecting that she has forgotten how to love anyone, including herself.

She has become so accustomed to being resentful of her husband, James, that even when she wants to show him love she doesn't know how. He made some mistakes over the course of their decades-long marriage, but she made some mistakes, too, which alienated not only her husband but friends and neighbors as well. Deep down she is sorry for what happened and still loves Harold, but stubborn pride eats away the short time they have left to make amends.

When she finds herself widowed with grown children in far-off places, a deep loneliness sets in and she starts to give up on life. That is until a group of red hat ladies—whom she once thought of as belonging to a cult—extend hands of friendship and reintroduce her to herself and, possibly, a new love.

In this debut novel, Wayans has crafted unforgettable characters in Alma, her family, and friends, and a charming story that stays with the reader long after the last page is read and reminds us of the enduring power of love and friendship.

In My Father's House 
by E. Lynn Harris

Before he died in 2009, Harris wrote this bangup first installment to a projected series about a bisexual owner of a Miami modeling agency. Bentley L. Dean III runs the Picture Perfect modeling agency in South Beach. His father, a homophobic Detroit millionaire, disowned him after he broke off an engagement and had an affair with a male TV sports reporter, and though the agency's been a success, the recession has taken a big bite out of Bentley's business. 

Strapped for cash, he reluctantly agrees to supply “gay, bi or very open-minded” eye candy for a VIP party hosted by Prosperity Gentleman's Club, which is run by “Emperor” Seth Sinclair, a closeted gay celebrity. When Jah, an 18-year-old student Bentley's been mentoring, covers for a no-show model and begins an affair with Seth, big trouble looms. Harris's wry tale about second chances highlights what readers have long loved about his work: his ability to depict the pursuit of love and self-respect, regardless of societal and family pressures. (June)

Dane: Lords of Satyr 
by Elizabeth Amber

The dark sensuality of the Lords of Satyr returns to 1880s Italy, where these powerful men indulge their lust without inhibition...

An Appetite For Pleasure
When Dane Satyr approaches Eva for her services as a matchmaker, she offers him more than just introductions. Dane has discovered that Eva is a Satyr like himself, full of insatiable passion and dark desires. Their attraction combusts instantaneously, unlocking pleasures that neither can resist repeating...even as Eva seeks out a mortal bride for Dane...

A Demand That Can't Be Denied
Dane knows that the anonymous enemies of his past are now smiling in his face, but unmasking them is no easy task. A ring of sex slavers is at work amidst the high society he courts, and revealing his sensual powers could expose his greatest vulnerability. But having sampled the delights of a satyr mistress, Dane finds his own desires rising against him as well...

Praise for Elizabeth Amber and Nicholas...

"A steamy, hot tale that scorches the pages. Amber's imagination skyrockets!"
 -Coffee Time Romance

"Highly erotic ... kept me spellbound." -Joyfully Reviewed

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore, Tavis Smiley (Afterword)

Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a year of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader.  The other is serving a life sentence in prison.  Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.
 
In December of 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship.  The same paper ran a huge story about four young men who had killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery.  The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers.  One of their names was Wes Moore. 

Wes Moore, the Rhodes Scholar, became obsessed with the story of this man he’d never met but who shared much more than space in the same newspaper.  Both had grown up in similar neighborhoods and had had difficult childhoods.  After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he finally he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.  His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting Wes: Who are you?  Where did it go wrong for you?  How did this happen? 

That letter led to a correspondence and deepening relationship that has lasted for several years.  Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own:  they were both fatherless, were both in and out of school; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and had run into trouble with the police.  And they had both felt a desire for something better for themselves and their families—and the sense that something better was always just out of reach.  At each stage of their young lives, they came across similar moments of decision that would alter their fates. 

Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.  
 
 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. 

If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons--as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

…one of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time.  A thorny and provocative book about cancer, racism, scientific ethics and crippling poverty, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks also floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of  "Erin Brockovich," Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The Andromeda Strain. 

More than 10 years in the making, it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write. It signals the arrival of a raw but quite real talent…[The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks] has brains and pacing and nerve and heart, and it is uncommonly endearing.

Chocolate High by Mika

New Author Spotlight

How do you say goodbye to the one you love? Is this even an option when you've invested your body, mind, and soul into your relationship? 

Charisse Farrell is a successful, beautiful corporate attorney who has it all, but when the love of her life David Richards betrays her, she has to reevaluate her future. 

Tempted by the desire to love again and her need for revenge Charisse is haunted by a demon from her past that turns her life upside down. When love knocks her down, Charisse has to get back up fighting. Fighting for love.

The Truth As I See It
In Poetry & Prose
Author: Nakia R. Laushaul

New Author Spotlight

Nakia Laushaul poetically gathers the myths and misconceptions about life that threaten to hold the heart captive into her first bound collection titled: The Truth As I See It: In Poetry & Prose. 

She expresses her views of The Truth about Me and You, Love, God, and Life in powerful poems that make the truth look painfully simple and prose that tenderly draws you into the world as she sees it. 

The Truth As I See It: In Poetry & Prose beautifully fuses together and creates light after tackling difficult and often times taboo topics. Out of pain and anger comes healing. Out of despair and disappointment comes hope. Out of the darkness of lies shines the truth.