Hey Girl!
Check out these new Black Romance releases from July 8th-14th.
Excess Baggage (Flights & Feelings Book 1) by Nicole Falls
Winifred “Freddie” Brown’s got an admirer. He’s handsome, charming, and persistent. The only problem? He’s eleven years her junior and she’s not trying to take anyone that close in age to her child seriously.
Elijah Woolford, however, is undeterred. He’s had his eye on Freddie for some time now and is willing to do whatever it takes to break down her walls and get her to let him in.
One fortuitous night at a local hangout changes everything and the two embark on what is supposed to be a casual thing. Only Freddie soon comes to learn that there’s more to Elijah than what meets the eye and she finds herself bewitched by his charms.
Say You Love Me by Tanon
Jabari White doesn’t just play baseball. He bleeds it. His hard work and determination finally lands him in the MLB, but are his skills enough to keep him relevant in the fast paced sport?
A twist of fate catapults Damara Martin right into Jabari’s life, which puts her directly in the limelight. She’s left with no choice but to grit and bear the paparazzi and their invasions of privacy, but she fears that she might not have what it takes to withstand the ongoing pressure.
Will fame chew up and spit Damara out before she’s ready to accelerate her career?
Will Jabari make his way to the Future Hall of Famers list or will he fall off before he can hit his first grand slam?
For the Night (A Sun Series Bonus Story) (The Sun Series) by Rae Lyse
Still reeling from a messy divorce, kindergarten teacher Venus Thibodeaux is on a self-proclaimed healing journey and adamant that she’s done with love. She’s determined to move on from her toxic past with a fresh start in a new city, but starting over isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Anthony “Nuney” Nunez is young. He’s unpolished, unpredictable, and according to his daughter’s kindergarten teacher—a lousy parent. In fact, the two can’t see eye to eye on anything except the strange attraction they have for each other every time their paths cross.
After Anthony and Venus find themselves on a wild date that shouldn’t have been, they become embroiled in a torrid affair that threatens her healing journey, exposes the secrets in his sketchy life, and makes her question if she’s really done with love after all.
Content Note: This is a slow burn adult contemporary romance that contains mature themes and subjects that may be disturbing to some readers.
Lessons on How to Love (The Keating Family Book 1) by DeeAnn
Love (noun): an intense feeling of deep affection
For the Keating family, love is a lesson they learn more about daily. As a family of educators, they have mastered mostly everything in life except for the one thing that is supposed to come natural to them all. When it comes to spreading it amongst themselves and others around them, they have a hard time grasping the lesson being taught.
Each member of the Keating family has a love story they’re trying to focus on outside of their family problems, but life has a funny way of intertwining it all together for them.
Nashville Unforgettable by Joy Avery
Dumped before her birthday trip to Nashville, Journi Moore embarks on a solo venture to Tennessee. Despite her apprehension about traveling alone, she’s determined to make the most of her getaway. What begins as a disappointing escape quickly transforms into one of the best weeks of her life, all thanks to a stranger who takes on the role of her unofficial tour guide.
Von Thornton doesn’t form attachments. However, there’s something about Journi he simply can’t ignore. Her zest for life draws him in and holds him close. As they explore his hometown together, their connection deepens, threatening to crumble the wall he’s erected.
Can a chance encounter and an unforgettable week turn into something more? Or will their bond fade into just a distant memory made in Music City?
The Brooklyn Way by Tracy Gray
Brooklyn Waverly just wants to be happy.
Unfortunately, happiness seems like a pipe dream for her. Her career as a social-media-famous dress maker is derailed by scandal when a client with her own social media following steals Brooklyn’s man. Now jobless, man-less, and potentially homeless, Brooklyn needs to start over from scratch.
When a friend offers her the opportunity to start over in a small coastal town, Brooklyn reluctantly takes her up on the suggestion. The gag is on Brooklyn when she realizes that her new residence is the guest house of her friend’s twin brother—the very gorgeous, very successful professional basketball player, Cameron Field.
When Cameron Field returns home for the first time in five years, he’s surprised to find his guest house occupied by Brooklyn Waverly— a woman he’s met numerous times (due to her relationship with his twin sister), but can never seem to remember. Until now. This time she’s… different. Maybe it’s the proximity of her living on his property. Maybe it’s the fact that they see each other every day. Maybe it’s the lust-filled, intimate encounters that they can’t seem to stop having.
Physical entanglements are one thing, but what happens when emotions and hearts get caught up, too? Can the flames from a summertime fling burn past the season?
Ghàidheal : The Consortium Book Five by Dandridge Monroe
Strangers to friends to lovers to enemies to…this? No one tells you how to pick up the pieces of your broken heart when your one great love becomes your greatest hate.
Liam and Francesca were the stars and the sky until betrayal tore them apart. A secret that comes to light forces them into close proximity once again, but nothing is the way it used to be. They oscillate between love and hate, resentment and acceptance, trying to find balance that seems so far out of their reach. How much blood will need to be shed in order to cleanse the wrongs of the past?
This is a DARK, Black mafia romance. Morally gray is a kind way to describe the characters you will meet. This is an explosive then slow burn romance as two broken people try to reclaim what they lost.
This book is written in dialect because the MMC and some portions of his family have Scottish accents. Please be forewarned before you indulge.
Hosea’s Reine by Riley Baxter
In Hosea’s Reine, Hosea’s life takes an unexpected turn when he is sentenced to community service and forced to work on a construction site. Cynical and guarded, he expects the experience to be nothing more than a chore. However, everything changes when he meets Omoni, a vibrant and determined woman who owns the nonprofit that is orchestrating this project to help others.
Omoni’s unwavering positivity chips away at Hosea’s defenses, revealing a softer side he thought he’d buried long ago.
Hosea’s Reine is a story of redemption and the power of love. Join Hosea and Omoni as they discover that sometimes, the most challenging walls to break down are the ones we build around our hearts.
The Cost of Love (Jenkins & Sons Construction Series Book 6) by Sharon C. Cooper
A marriage of convenience was not exactly what he had in mind when he vowed she’d one day be his.
Antonio Jenkins is resigned to being a bachelor for life. Everyone around him is getting their happily ever after, leaving him without hope of ever finding his special someone. Until he meets Scarlett. He instantly knows she’s the one for him. Yet proving it to her is going to be the biggest battle of his life.
Single mom Scarlett Rowsey craves that toe-curling, heart-stopping, undeniable love she’s seen in the movies. But history has shown her it’s impossible. She’s incapable of falling in love. However, everything changes when she learns her daughter, Bella, might be in danger. There’s nothing Scarlett wouldn’t do to protect her—even marry someone she may never love. Antonio is everything she longs for in a man—kind, gentle, and protective. Still, Scarlett fears she might crush his heart in the end.
For Antonio, a marriage of convenience is a small price to pay to love and protect the woman of his dreams. But will Scarlett lower her guard enough to see this arrangement as more than a transaction?
*Books in the Jenkins & Sons Construction series can be read as standalones.
Moth to a Flame by Khara Campbell
They are an unlikely pair to be drawn to each other. He’s a drug dealer and she’s a widowed Sunday school teacher. She teaches about the love of Christ. He ascribes to a dangerous life. She’s seen as the good in the world. He’s seen as the problem. Despite the differences, the undeniable attraction is there. Yet, it doesn’t need to be acted upon. They know this. They try this. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Though, the heart is not always right.
Family Found by Turtleberry
To avoid being sent to a group home, 16-year-old Kaylin ran away in hopes of finding her birth parents. Instead, she ends up staying in shelters and not getting up the nerve to look for the people who gave her up at birth.
One night she arrives too late at the shelter to get a spot and ends up wandering around town. That’s when she meets Lance and one lie changes her whole life. When confronted with the consequences of her actions and the family she’s been searching for, Kaylin runs away again.
When Kaylin finally gets connected with her birth family, she gets a lot more than she bargained for. She makes a quick decision to help her navigate her new life. Before she knows it, Kaylin is settling into life with a family she wasn’t sure she’d ever have.
Infinite Soul Ties: Illusional Love by Miss Candice
He’s dreamt of her since he was a boy. She didn’t have a name but she made Jahad feel. And with her, he had a life. He loved her. Madly. Undoubtedly. But she was just an illusion. An illusion Jahad found himself obsessing over. For years, he spent every bit of his free time looking for her. He knew he could’ve been wasting his time, but he wouldn’t stop until he found her. And if he never did, he’d die a man who’d never experienced true, waking love because he refused to love anyone who wasn’t the girl from his dreams.
Sienna’s lived a life of darkness with hope and happiness far out of reach. But when this man… a man who made her feel in amazing ways… makes time stop and music fade, the darkness around her seems to fade too.
Infinite Soul Ties: Illusional Love is a short story about how different versions of Sienna and Jahad met in a parallel universe.
My Sugar in Sugar Land by Dee Osah
A dream role with his dream girl. What could possibly go wrong?
When Nollywood actor Silas Harry seeks refuge in Houston to escape a scandal, he never expects to land the role of a lifetime.
Aspiring screenwriter Ibelema Pepple is about to realize her filmmaking dreams, but a missing lead threatens to derail her movie submission to a film festival.
Silas steps in to fill the role, and their undeniable chemistry sets the stage for an improbable romance that could change their lives forever.
But as they navigate the blurred lines of reel and what’s real, can Ibelema find the courage to embrace this unexpected future? Will Silas finally break free from his past roles and become the leading man in Ibelema’s heart?Sweetened for those who love contemporary romance with less heat, My Sugar is the first in Dee Osah’s Improbable Romance Series, a collection of novels about the journey of self-discovery and finding love in the most unlikely places.
Confessions: Part Three by Victoria Fletcher
Steamy, Angsty, Bisexual, Coming of Age Romance. Love can happen when you least expect it and come from the person you least expected. Maxine is Twenty-Three and Bisexual but no one knows her secret. Does Maxine have the courage to live the life she loves?
Maxine Carpenter has faced challenges over the past five years since moving far away from her hometown and her controlling parents. Some of those challenges were because of the life laid out for her. So she decided to grab the reins and live how she wished. Does she get everything she has ever dreamed of? What happens when living for herself goes wrong? Does she end up hurting everyone around her? Does she find equilibrium? Life is about choices. Can Maxine make the right ones and stay in love, or will she lose the love of her life? Can she choose what is best for herself? If she can figure out what that is first.
Naeem : The Educator Bae Series: Book One by Toy
Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other.
Naeem Cowells is a man who has never taken women seriously. He wasn’t against settling down, it just wasn’t something he thought about. A single man going on trips with his two best friends in which meeting and enjoying different women was normal. A weekend in Colorado was supposed to be a trip just like any other until he met her. They were two strangers one looking for fun the other looking for something she had been without for a long time.
Dr. Karissa France was a woman who would be considered a boss from the outside looking in. On the inside, she was a woman dealing with the trauma of a cheating ex-husband and of being the outside child of her father. After accepting a getaway from her brother after her divorce was finalized she had no idea how her life would change.
Find out what happens when two strangers meet at a bar miles away from their hometown. It only takes one interaction to change the course of their lives. Or in this case; one weekend.
Love Takes Time by Cherice Harris
Caught in the chaos of a troubled relationship, Kaior Richards spontaneously joins her friends on a getaway, where she encounters a captivating stranger. Intrigued by his charm, she ventures into a whirlwind romance filled with pure bliss for only a few days. But upon returning to reality, Kaior is hit with the ultimate betrayal from the one person who was supposed to love her unconditionally. As she navigates the fallout of her relationship drama, she discovers that her recent actions have caught up with her in an unexpected way.
Meanwhile, Akeno Creed can’t get the beautiful woman he met on that impromptu trip out of his mind. Despite having everything a successful man could ask for, he feels an unshakable sense that something is missing—Kaior. As secrets unravel and betrayals come to light, both Kaior and Akeno must confront their feelings and decide if love can truly conquer all.
Under The Lights: A Supernatural Romance Novelette by Lee Stevens
What’s done can’t be undone. Right?
Six months ago, Grady Jackson made the decision to end his relationship for the good of the pack. And for six months, he’s questioned that decision. He loved Alma but she was human and that would only cause problems.
A brief encounter with Alma, seeing and hearing her voice, brings all those doubts to the fore. Over the course of a few days, he begins to question why he chose the pack at all, especially once he learns new information.
Can Grady undo what’s been done?
Under The Lights is a supernatural romance novelette centered around second chance and werewolves. It ranges from low to medium-level drama. No sex scene.
Love Pieces: Shayla’s Story by Sienna B. and Abesa Miko
Love Pieces: Shayla’s Story is book one of three following three young adults on a journey to love and self discovery. Shayla’s jolted from her California lifestyle with the news of her mother’s failing health back home in Georgia. The only thing more complicated than her departure from her hometown of Bainbridge almost nine years ago is the reality of the life she’s lived since then. A failed and abusive marriage later, Shayla’s return home is not one of glory. The saving grace is the opportunity to connect with her childhood best friend, Benjamin, who has been a constant bright light in all of this. Shayla will soon discover things have changed in the days since their early friendship, and Benjamin will quickly be added to a growing list of relationships, Shayla will need to reassess.
Hostile by Jacki Renée
Kadeem Harper, a business strategist prodigy, lives an understated life. But beneath the surface lies a man whose net worth rivals the richest people in the world. Secretly, Kadeem owns a multi-billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions conglomerate that orchestrates hostile takeovers. His latest target: Cox Properties Inc.
Jaquetta Irby, the fierce and loyal Chief Financial Officer of Cox Properties Inc. has spent her life plotting the demise of her godfather figure, Douglas Cox. Haunted by the memory of her sister’s lifeless body and driven by the injustices her family has suffered, Jaquetta meticulously plans to bring Douglas down from the inside.
Unbeknownst to Jaquetta and Kadeem, they share a common goal. As they get to know one another, they decided to reveal their secrets to one another. And their partnership transforms into a deep, romantic bond. Together, they decipher hidden clues left by Kadeem’s grandfather and Jaquetta’s sister, leading them on a dangerous journey across downtown LA to find the evidence needed to expose Douglas’s illegal activities.
But with an inside informant watching their every move and Douglas growing ever more desperate, Kadeem and Jaquetta must navigate treacherous waters to bring him down. In a climactic showdown at a condemned hotel, can they survive the wrath of Douglas Cox? Or become yet another one of his many victims?
“Hostile” is a gripping tale of ambition, betrayal, and redemption. Join Kadeem and Jaquetta as they navigate the high-stakes world of hostile takeovers and discover that sometimes, love is the most powerful strategy of all.
How It Began: His Perfect Wife Prequel (Orange Valley Shorts) by Aminata Coote
When love and ambition clash, will they find common ground?
The first time Latonya McPherson met Malcolm Hall Jr., she saw forever in his eyes. Their connection is immediate and deep. As their relationship blossoms, Tonya envisions a future together, even if it means forgoing higher education.
Mac, on the brink of starting his pastoral internship, finds companionship with Tonya fulfilling—until her dreams of an immediate marriage clash with his career goals. Haunted by his mother’s regrets of sacrificing her dreams for marriage, Mac hesitates.
As differing goals create a rift, Tonya and Mac must navigate their desires and doubts. Can their love withstand the test of time and ambition?
How It Began is a Christian contemporary romance with a cliffhanger ending. Tonya and Mac’s story continues in His Perfect Wife.
Entangled: A Hollywood Scandal by Marion Meadows
DWAYNE
If I’m the King of Hollywood, Shameeka is my Queen.
We live the life most only dream of.
Marriage. Three kids. A Calabasas mansion, black credit cards, an entertainment empire worth millions.
While I was out hustling, my woman held it down at home.
We promised to stay true— that’s why I got her name tattooed on my chest.
But now my homie Troy is telling me some crazy sh*t.
He’s telling me my wife’s been going down to the city while I’m gone.
She’s seeing another man.
I don’t believe it. I can’t.
I guess my babygirl forgot who I am and where I came from. She forgot what I’m capable of.
I can let my true love destroy me, or I can make her and that gangster pay with everything they have…
SHAMEEKA
You can judge me, but you don’t know the whole story.
You don’t know what I’ve been through.
You don’t know the truth.
Read it for yourself, aiight?
This is how I became ENTANGLED…
A Holly Jolly Cowboy by Parker J. Cole
Julian Caldwell is a no-nonsense, business executive who lives his life making money hand over fist. He’s so used to it that it doesn’t thrill him anymore. When he gets into a car accident, he realizes what he’s missing out on – life! One of his dreams as a child is to be a cowboy and now, he wants to fulfill that dream.
Lorissa Rhinehart left her job as interior designer to come back home to take over her father’s horse ranch as he fights cancer. With the ranch run down, and medical bills piling up, she’s got to figure out how to keep it afloat. She devises a plan to make rich, pampered executives feel like a cowboy for three weeks.
When Lorissa meets Julian, they’ve got preconceived notions about each other and sparks fly. Find out if this rancher girl can turn this business executive into a Holly Jolly Cowboy
Only In My Dreams by Shelia E. Bell
Fantasia Runsome has it all – beauty, brains, her own art galleries, homes across the country, and everything else money can buy. What Fantasia doesn’t have and never has desired is LOVE. She holds on to bitterness and anger from when her father died when she was just a young girl. Fantasia swears that she will never fall in love because she doesn’t want to experience the hurt, pain and grief that her mother Ruth Runsome went through when her husband (Fantasia’s father) died. A highly religious man, Fantasia feels that God destroyed their once perfect family. Fantasia feels that she has no reason to trust or believe in God, and she definitely has no room for a man in her life…unless it’s a man that she seems to find Only In Her Dreams. Randall Hughes, a partner in a line of men’s clothing stores that cater to the rich and famous is handsome, secure and a man after God’s own heart. He desires the woman that God has designed for him and he is willing to wait patiently until God reveals her to him. When he meets Fantasia Runsome,the good friend and cousin of his business partner’s wife, he is immediately drawn to her beauty. What disturbs but yet intrigues him is Fantasia’s disdain toward his faith and him. So why is he still attracted to her? This surely can’t be the woman God has for him….could it? Fantasia and Randall are two souls unknowingly seeking the same thing – to be loved. Will they find it in each other?
Grown Women: A Novel by Sarai Johnson
In this stunning debut novel, four generations of complex Black women contend with motherhood and daughterhood, generational trauma and the deeply ingrained tensions and wounds that divide them as they redefine happiness and healing for themselves.
Erudite Evelyn, her cynical daughter Charlotte, and Charlotte’s optimistic daughter Corinna see the world very differently. Though they love each other deeply, it’s no wonder that their personalities often clash. But their conflicts go deeper than run-of-the-mill disagreements. Here, there is deep, dark resentment for past and present hurt.
When Corinna gives birth to her own daughter, Camille, the beautiful, intelligent little girl offers this trio of mothers something they all need: hope, joy, and an opportunity to reconcile. They decide to work together to raise their collective daughter with the tenderness and empathy they missed in their own relationships. Yet despite their best intentions, they cannot agree on what that means.
After Camille eventually leaves her mother and grandmother in rural Tennessee for a more cosmopolitan life in Washington, DC with her great-grandmother, it’s unclear whether this complex and self-contained girl will thrive or be overwhelmed by the fears and dreams of three generations she carries. As she grows into a gutsy young woman, Camille must decide for herself what happiness will look like.
In masterful, elegant prose, debut novelist Sarai Johnson has created a rich and moving portrait of Black women’s lives today.
Ursula’s Wedding Dilemma: The Matchmaker and the Mother-in-Law by Parker J Cole
In this gothic-inspired historical romance, a woman with a dark secret and a man with a hardened heart find themselves in the machinations of a mother who only wants the best for her son.
Ursula D’Antignac, reeling from the death of her father, finds herself in the genteel yet unforgiving world of a prestigious matrimonial college. Here, amidst women who vie for wealthy husbands, she stands alone, marked by whispers that speak of her mysterious past.
Noel Ashford has been hardened by betrayals vows to avoid love and marriage, much to his mother’s chagrin. Noel finds his resolve tested when Ursula, with her enigmatic beauty and haunting vulnerability, captivates him against his will. Torn between his mother’s matchmaking schemes and his own guarded skepticism, he struggles to know what’s best.
But when Ursula’s dark secret comes to light, will Ursula be cast out, or will love prove strong enough to conquer all?
It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant
A fast-paced, completely delightful new mystery about what happens when parents get a little too involved in their kids’ schools, from NAACP Image Award nominee Elise Bryant.
Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee.
As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting, when the new principal’s plans leave Trisha absolutely furious. Later that night, when Mavis spies Trisha in yellow rubber gloves and booties, lugging cleaning supplies and giant black trash bags to her waiting minivan, it’s only natural that her mind jumps to somewhere it surely wouldn’t in the light of day.
Except Principal Smith fails to show up for work the next morning, and has been MIA since the meeting. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Mavis, along with the school psychologist with the great forearms (look, it’s worth noting), launches an investigation that will challenge her views on parenting, friendship, and elementary school politics.
Brilliantly written, It’s Elementary is a quick-witted, escapist romp that perfectly captures just how far parents will go to give their kids the very best, all wrapped in a mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end.
Ballad of a Playboy’s Heart by Diana Anyango
On the surface, famed musician Koli Ogot has it all: fame, money, and women. But deep inside, Koli’s heart has a void that not even outside success can fill. With redemption just a fleeting hope, Koli resolves himself to the idea of a future empty of love. Then, he meets Allison…
At twenty-five years old, Allison Gor is as naïve as they come. When Koli expresses his interest, she is caught off-guard. The sexy maestro could have any woman he wants, so why her? Still, Koli is relentless in his pursuit to conquer not only her body but her heart and soul. Allison fears getting played, but the heart wants what it wants. Love and beauty await them on the other side. Will Koli and Allison be brave enough to do what it takes to fight for their hearts’ desires?
My Parents’ Marriage: A Novel by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Acclaimed children’s author Nana Brew-Hammond makes her highly anticipated return with this soaring and profound story about love and understanding told through three generations of one Ghanian family.
Determined to avoid the pain and instability of her parents’ turbulent, confusing marriage, Kokui marries a man far different from her loving, philandering, self-made father—and tries to be a different kind of wife from her mother.
But when Kokui and her husband leave Ghana to make a new life for themselves in America, she finds history repeating itself. Her marriage failing, she is called home to Ghana when her father dies. Back in her childhood home, which feels both familiar and discomforting, she comes to realize that to exorcize the ghosts of her parents’ marriage she must confront them to enable her healing.
Tender and illuminating, warm and bittersweet My Parents’ Marriage is a compelling story of family, community, class, and self-identity from an author with deep empathy and a generous heart.
Sounds Like a Plan: A Novel by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith
One Missing Person. Two Rival Detectives. Infinite Chemistry. This rollicking thrill ride told in alternating “he said/she said” perspectives is an irresistible blend of mystery, sexual tension, and humor.
Jackson Jones and Mackenzie Cunningham have a lot in common. They are both hard-working private investigators with their own firms in Los Angeles, each happily single, and very good at their jobs. But when they’re together, they are like oil and water.
After they find themselves working the same missing persons case, the idea of collaborating seems about as likely as a blizzard in Beverly Hills. But once it’s clear that they have been set up to take the fall for a murder, they have no choice but to join forces and make a plan that will expose the truth.
Bickering their way from Century City to Malibu and beyond, they find it increasingly hard to deny the sparks flying between them. But with a small army of mercenaries in hot pursuit and a killer intent on covering his tracks, there’s not a lot of time to sort through their complicated feelings. Told in alternating perspectives, this rollicking, romantic thrill ride makes for a swoon-worthy mystery.
If there are any new releases that we missed, please feel free to send them our way and we will share them ASAP.
