“Caution…Will leave you breathless. It’s that intense.” —Essence
-
- Dog Food 2
-
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 12/06/16
Formats: Digital Audy
Running and hiding is looked upon as a way out for the weak. It is something Omar never thought he would do. As a child, he didn’t even play hide-and-seek for that very reason. Unfortunately, after being sentenced to death by his cousin, Demarcus, Omar was left with no choice.
Moving to Detroit wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. It didn’t take long for him to reign supreme. The change of location didn’t change his conniving and coldhearted ways, however. And it didn’t take the locals long to see him for the monster he was. When his lies caught up to him and backed him into the corner, he opted to take the easy way out and leave.
After being off the radar for three years, Omar was now willing to play the game. And he wanted it to end in his cousin’s murder and his reclaiming the throne he was kicked down from. But how many people would he be willing to kill to get back what he felt was rightfully his?
Demarcus’ life has turned for the better. He has a relationship with his newfound father, runs a large distribution ring for heroin—called dog food—and has a few legit businesses flourishing on the side. The sheltered mama’s boy has turned into a man. But suddenly, the bodies start piling up and Demarcus goes from being the most loved man in the city of Memphis to being the number one suspect in every case that crosses the homicide unit’s desk.
Demarcus’past is back to haunt him with a vengeance. But what happens when the true murderer is someone he already knows to be dead?
- Dog Food 2
-
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 12/06/16
Formats: Digital Audy
-
- Luxe
-
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 6/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Antoinette, author of the Prada Plan series, comes a boldly fierce and strikingly dramatic novel, Luxe.
Bleu Montclair knew as a young girl that she would one day escape the hard, unrelenting streets of Flint, Michigan. When her desperate prayers are answered in the form of a scholarship to UCLA, she knows she’s struck gold. But soon after arriving, all her beautiful, bright dreams begin to fall apart. Endless temptations abound in the form of cars, clothes, booze, and drugs, and Bleu cannot keep up. When her roommate gives her the opportunity to make a lot of money fast, Bleu goes all in—and heads straight down a path of violence and addiction that only her newest protector, Iman, can save her from.
Iman is used to the fast, unpredictable, high-rolling life, and it has always been enough … until he meets Bleu. He finally has someone to care for who means more to him than all the money and power he could command. But love on the streets is never easy.
- Luxe
-
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 6/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
-
- Purple City
-
By K’wan
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 4/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
#1 Essence bestselling author K’wan presents three explosive stories in one collection.
Love & Gunplay
After news of the attempted murder of his estranged fiancée, Gucci, Animal has two things on his mind: love and gunplay.
With the help of his mistress, the deadly Red Sonja, Animal manages to elude his captors in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and washes up on the shores of Miami. He’s one step closer to home, but it may as well be a world away. Animal is still a wanted fugitive, and getting to New York undetected proves to be trickier than he thought. This all changes when he meets an old friend of Red Sonja’s, a New Orleans refugee named Diamonds.
Diamonds promises to provide Animal with safe passage from Miami to New York as well as all the firepower he will need to settle his blood debt, but he also brings something far more valuable to the table: the name of the man who shot Gucci. Diamonds holds the key to solving the mystery of what really happened that tragic night in Harlem, but the information comes at a price.
Animal finds himself swept up into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse set in the glamorous Miami underworld of sex, drugs, and violence, where cash is king and death is always lurking. His only ally is a mysterious stripper named Reign, who harbors a secret that threatens to change everything.
Purple Reign
Don B is the owner and headliner of a successful yet notorious record label called Big Dawg Entertainment, whose stars all seem to meet with unfortunate ends under mysterious circumstances. Don B made his fortune off music and his name from the trail of broken lives he’s left in his wake. He is a predator in every sense of the word. Don B’s wealth and power make him believe he’s untouchable, but all this changes during a business trip to Miami and a chance meeting with a stranger who calls herself Reign.
Little Nikki Grind
After years of work on the streets, Felon has finally saved up enough money to retire from the illegal life and pursue a legitimate career in the music industry. Having just inked a distribution deal for his fledgling entertainment company, Freak Show, Felon and a few of his closest friends decide to go out and celebrate at a new gentleman’s club in New York called Purple City. It’s at Purple City where he meets a young dancer named Nikki, who has a story to tell that will turn Felon’s world upside down. When Felon is sucked into Nikki’s web of sex, deceit, and murder, it threatens to ruin everything he’s worked so hard to build and to take him out of the game permanently.
- Purple City
-
By K’wan
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 4/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
-
- No Shade
-
By K’wan
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 4/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
No shade means no offense (as defined by the Urban Dictionary).
Example: Don’t tell her I told you, but your little cousin is a ho. No shade.
Every little girl dreams of a happy ending to her story; a home, children, and a man who loves her enough to share his life and last name. When Billy’s longtime boyfriend Marcus finally pops the question, it’s one of the happiest moments of her life.
Billy calls on her childhood friends Reese and Yoshi to stand with her on her special day. Several years have passed since they’d last come together, and unresolved issues have driven a wedge between the women. Nevertheless, they agree to put their differences aside for the sake of Billy’s wedding. But the truce is a short one when Billy has to decide on a maid of honor. Just when things seem to be coming together, they quickly begin to fall apart. At a time when Billy is supposed to be basking in the sunshine of her approaching wedding, she finds herself the target of shade being thrown from the most unlikely places.
While Billy is going through her drama, Marcus is dealing with issues of his own. An old crime partner of his blows into town unexpectedly, and his presence threatens to destroy the legitimate life Marcus has worked so hard to build.
Even with the universe seemingly working against them, Billy and Marcus are determined to have their dream wedding. But first they have to survive the nightmare of planning it.
There goes the neighborhood … again.
- No Shade
-
By K’wan
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 4/01/16
Formats: Digital Audy
-
- Thong on Fire
-
By Noire
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 9/01/15
Formats: Digital Audy
It’s a hard knock life for Saucy Sarita Robinson, and the rules of the game are clear: get yours or get had. When her father gets popped in an armed robbery and her mother turns to drugs, Saucy is left to scratch out a life for herself on the streets of Harlem, and this city-slick vixen refuses to become a victim.
Young, hot, and hungry for the spotlight, Saucy uses her assets to get whatever she wants: 128th Street has its own rules, and she knows them well. With sex as her weapon of choice, Saucy hustles her way into the heart of the hip-hop underworld, preying upon any man—or woman—who might help her get ahead. But Saucy just can’t get enough. Her calculating nature and insatiable appetite for power and prestige tempt her into dangerous waters, and she finds herself in too deep. The shot-callers of the hip-hop world have a few tricks for Saucy: a plan to force her back onto the very streets that she came from. But Saucy refuses to go down easy. She plots her revenge against some of the most powerful playas in the music industry, never suspecting that her enemies will fight back … and fight back hard.
- Thong on Fire
-
By Noire
Read by Kim Johnson
-
Release Date: 9/01/15
Formats: Digital Audy