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Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. ―Aces

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.

Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.

As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

Ace of Spades

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In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto

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Jayce Ellis's sexy, contemporary High Rise series features the bustle of DC and the hustle of love.

After a week filled with nonstop work, André Ellison heads to the club to blow off some steam. One night off is the perfect distraction from the project that’s about to make his career—or tank it completely. A few drinks in and he leaves with a smoking-hot stranger for some scorching, burn-the-sheets-up sex.

Marcus Thompson is going places, so he can’t think of a bigger waste of time than being put on loan to a two-bit firm to prepare some small-time report. The last thing he wants—or needs—is his impeccably dressed, hot-as-hell one-night stand as his boss.

As they work side by side, their attraction grows to a fever pitch, but there will be no kissing, no touching and absolutely no sex until the project is over—if they can wait that long.


André

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Ava Thomas is an attractive, wealthy, older single Black woman who practices abstinence, that is, until she meets a shy, quiet bartender at her friend’s private club who loves purple as much as she does.

Patience Meeks has been observing Ava throughout her dinner with friends. When a drink order from Ava’s table comes to Patience, she decides to mix a special concoction in honor of the sexy purple designer dress Ava is wearing. The tasty purple drink and Patience’s quiet observations during dinner arouse Ava’s curiosity. Patience feels foolish as she stutters and stumbles over her words and simply walks away from Ava in mid-sentence and hides in the employee lounge until Ava leaves.

What should be the end of the connection between the two women is not. Ava wants to know more about the shy, female bartender who loves purple, has a devilish cockatoo named Socrates, and loves taking pictures of anything and everything, including “night people.” And hence begins a seesaw relationship between the two women.

Is a love of purple, pictures, and birds enough to keep two women from far different worlds together? Find out in Ava & Patience, a purple love story.

Ava and Patience

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By night, he’s Blaze, St. Louis’s dark and powerful superhero. By day, he’s Jordan Wells, a quiet mechanic. Jordan has accepted that it’s his destiny to walk alone in the shadows…until he meets Daniel, a sweet, untrained submissive. Jordan dreams of dominating the young man, of finding respite from his harsh life as a vigilante by losing himself in Danny’s loving submission.

Danny Griffin is thrilled to attend an exclusive D/s club, where he meets Jordan, a sexy and experienced Dom. Jordan is the perfect man to help him explore his submissive fantasies. But Danny is also attracted to Blaze, the elusive hero who is always there when he needs him. When Danny starts to fall for both the Dom and the superhero, how will he choose between them?

The passion between the hero and his lover is electric but Jordan knows that in order to keep Danny safe from Blaze’s enemies, he should let him go. Unfortunately, he can’t make himself walk away from his lover’s gentle smiles and soft kisses. Can Jordan risk a relationship with Danny when his life as Blaze puts the innocent man in danger?

BLAZE is Book One in a steamy superhero romance series. It has dramatic rescues, evil villains, and an emotionally satisfying Happily Ever After. Fans of comics and superhero movies who want to see their favorite heroes kiss will love this series!


BLAZE

'30th':40C 'a':5C,12C,86C 'absenc':19C 'along':68C 'and':11C,35C,57C,79C,83C 'are':85C 'around':42C 'attach':56C 'be':36C,78C 'birthday':41C 'blame':15C 'blkgrl':1A 'build':58C 'can':77C 'candic':2B 'corner':44C 'eager':47C 'edmignon':20C 'ever':29C 'father':6C 'felt':65C 'for':17C 'get':49C 'go':93C 'grow':66C 'habit':82C 'harder':88C 'heal':76C 'her':16C,31C,39C,54C 'his':18C 'how':32C,74C 'is':24C 'just':73C 'learn':72C 'let':92C 'life':23C 'lot':87C 'love':22C,34C,37C 'mccoy':3B 'met':10C 'mother':13C 'never':9C,62C 'no':27C 'of':53C,94C 'one':28C 'or':64C 'other':90C 'pain':75C 'peopl':84C 'proof':25C 'root':52C 's':8C,21C,46C,61C 'seen':63C 'she':7C,45C,60C,71C 'some':81C 'someth':59C 'taught':30C 'than':89C 'that':14C,26C,80C 'the':43C,51C,69C 'to':33C,48C,50C,91C 'unhealthi':55C 'up':67C 'way':70C 'with':4C,38C

With a father she’s never met and a mother that blames her for his absence, Edmignon's love life is proof that no one ever taught her how to love and be loved. 

With her 30th birthday around the corner, she's eager to get to the root of her unhealthy attachments and build something she's never seen or felt growing up. 

Along the way, she learns just how painful healing can be and that some habits - and people - are a lot harder than others to let go of.


BLKGRL

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Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love. 

Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today's hip-hop.

Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.

Bad bitches: this one’s for you.

Bad Fat Black Girl

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Bedweather is a lullaby on intimacy and isolation told through rap music, romantic vignettes, sexy interludes, and satire on American empire. The poems track a second-class entity's pursuit of love and personal empowerment within a country that has left them to fend for themselves.

Bedweather

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An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way.

One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them.

Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.

Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir

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An inspirational, thought-provoking and emotional collaboration of free verse poems about Black love, skin, hardships, stereotypes & myths.

From poems about living in Black skin to experiencing Black love & the myths that Black love doesn’t exist this collection sheds light on real world issues from the perspective of a young Black woman who portrays what it’s like loving and living in a society where stereotypes, racism and prejudice are a reality. Black Love Isn’t A Myth strives to create a sense of awareness, community, unity and pride as its a reminder that Black Love is beautiful and magical but not mythical.

Black Love Isn’t A Myth

'a':9C,38C,75C,139C,147C,154C 'abil':29C 'aliv':53C 'allur':73C 'an':98C 'and':20C,51C,100C,118C,127C,169C 'apprehens':80C 'at':16C,112C,165C 'be':12C,128C 'best':14C,62C 'bite':77C 'blood':1A 'break':10C,39C 'busi':44C 'but':11C 'cedric':40C,130C 'centr':19C 'communiti':18C 'd':25C 'deserv':8C 'desper':123C 'despit':78C 'doesn':32C 'dream':59C 'edojah':7C 'erot':72C 'everyth':170C 'fantast':58C 'first':113C 'flesh':2A 'focus':55C 'for':37C,89C,115C 'forc':101C 'friend':63C,96C 'fuck':155C 'go':104C 'goe':171C 'have':35C 'he':24C,31C 'heart':137C 'hide':21C 'him':90C,102C 'himself':134C,144C 'his':27C,49C,57C,61C,79C 'home':52C 'how':23C 'human':69C 'in':67C,135C,146C 'intervent':99C 'is':42C,86C,167C 'it':109C 'just':22C 'keep':47C 'less':150C 'liber':48C,106C,166C 'loung':50C 'love':126C,129C 'lure':66C 'lust':111C 'magic':3A 'mean':30C 'much':88C 'murder':168C 'no':157C 'nwaneri':41C 'obtain':26C 'of':74C,83C,151C,162C 'on':56C 'one':152C,161C 'oniomoh':5B 'profit':85C 'rather':132C 'realli':34C 'relationship':148C 'renown':28C 'resist':92C 'rich':68C 'runo':6C,94C,122C 's':95C,110C 'saddl':143C 'samaritan':15C 'shit':173C 'sight':114C 'stab':133C 'stage':97C 'stake':141C 'suggest':64C 't':33C 'talk':149C 'temptat':82C 'than':142C 'thank':158C 'the':13C,17C,71C,81C,84C,116C,119C,136C,163C 'then':160C 'they':65C 'time':36C 'to':46C,54C,91C,103C,105C,107C,125C,172C 'too':43C,87C 'tri':45C 'unwind':108C 'up':145C 'vampir':76C,117C,164C 'viano':4B 'want':124C 'when':60C,93C 'while':121C 'winch':120C,156C 'with':70C,138C,153C 'wooden':140C 'would':131C 'you':159C

Runo Edojah deserves a break. But being the best Samaritan at the Community Centre and hiding just how he’d obtained his renowned abilities means he doesn’t really have time for a break.

Cedric Nwaneri is too busy trying to keep Liberation, his lounge and home, alive, to focus on his fantastic dreams. When his best friend suggests they lure in rich humans with the erotic allure of a vampire bite, despite his apprehension, the temptation of the profits is too much for him to resist.

When Runo’s friends stage an intervention and force him to go to Liberation to unwind, it’s lust at first sight for the vampire and the winch. While Runo desperately wants to love and be loved, Cedric would rather stab himself in the heart with a wooden stake than saddle himself up in a relationship, talk less of one with a fucking winch. No, thank you.

Then one of the vampires at Liberation is murdered, and everything goes to shit.

Blood, Flesh, & Magic

'a':16C 'accept':33C 'and':9C,30C 'black':18C 'boy':1A,12C 'catalog':15C 'clariti':11C 'destruct':27C 'douglass':5B 'emot':10C 'famili':23C 'honesti':8C 'in':2A,13C 'jeopardi':3A,14C 'journey':21C 'love':29C 'millenni':19C 'queer':17C 'relationship':24C 'ryan':4B 's':20C 'self':26C,32C 'self-accept':31C 'self-destruct':25C 'sex':28C 'through':22C 'unflinch':7C 'with':6C

With unflinching honesty and emotional clarity, BOY IN JEOPARDY catalogs a queer Black millennial's journey through family relationships, self-destruction, sex, love, and self-acceptance.

Boy in Jeopardy

'a':23C,47C,51C,129C,138C,149C,172C,180C,193C,223C 'aaron':4B,12C 'about':239C,249C 'advertis':57C 'after':46C 'agent':156C 'all':123C 'also':248C 'an':111C 'and':35C,44C,50C,70C,91C,98C,142C,191C,222C,242C,252C,269C 'approach':102C 'as':158C 'asap':90C 'at':120C,256C 'author':14C 'awkward':260C 'back':72C 'bar':259C 'be':22C,228C 'best':107C 'between':167C 'black':27C,277C 'blow':202C 'boy':1A,235C 'boyfriend':131C 'breakup':52C 'but':247C 'by':11C,94C 'chang':229C 'charact':234C 'chat':274C 'cheat':55C 'choos':166C 'citi':41C,224C 'clement':110C 'come':2A,236C 'copywrit':58C 'cours':271C 'date':88C 'deadlin':100C 'deal':199C 'debut':9C 'defin':276C 'desper':134C 'detroit':20C,79C,160C,284C 'devast':48C 'dissatisfi':140C 'distanc':175C 'dom':105C 'dominick':59C 'drama':268C 'estat':155C,198C 'ex':56C 'exit':85C 'famili':267C 'fast':103C 'father':141C 'figur':213C 'find':118C 'first':3A,237C 'five':97C 'flee':61C 'foley':5B,13C 'follow':25C 'for':32C,179C 'frenemi':266C 'friend':108C,145C 'friendship':34C,205C,221C,246C 'full':231C 'gay':28C,278C 'get':71C,92C 'gibson':60C 'got':82C 'grindr':261C 'group':273C 'has':161C 'have':211C 'he':80C,132C 'hell':65C 'hiccup':253C 'high':195C 'high-stak':194C 'highlight':251C 'hilari':7C 'himself':119C 'his':54C,62C,76C,127C,143C,162C,204C 'hold':136C 'hometown':77C 'hookup':262C 'how':16C,215C 'idealist':112C 'in':19C,38C,64C,75C,126C,281C 'is':238C 'it':169C 'jackass':24C 'jobless':43C 'kitchen':67C 'known':157C 'late':254C 'layoff':49C 'left':116C 'life':63C,128C,280C 'live':18C 'local':181C 'long':174C 'long-dist':173C 'look':31C 'love':33C 'lover':176C 'make':168C 'marri':93C 'meanwhil':104C 'men':30C,125C,210C 'michigan':117C 'microaggress':264C 'millenni':29C,279C 'motor':40C 'mr':159C,182C,189C 'name':165C 'navig':217C 'never':115C 'night':255C 'not':187C 'novel':10C 'now':184C 'object':84C 'odd':121C 'of':15C,78C,220C,232C,244C,270C 'on':73C 'one':83C 'onto':137C 'or':177C 'other':144C 'out':214C 'overnight':230C 'own':163C 'patton':147C 'perpetu':139C 'pitfal':219C 'pool':89C 'problem':164C 'profession':36C 'quit':188C 'rag':151C 'rags-to-rich':150C 'real':154C,197C,245C 'remi':146C,148C 'rich':153C 'right':183C,190C 's':66C,81C,101C,106C,133C,186C,283C 'seem':226C 'settl':178C 'shallow':87C 'singl':45C 'situationship':265C 'stake':196C 'success':37C 'sudden':42C 'teacher':113C 'that':225C,275C 'the':39C,86C,99C,124C,208C,218C,240C,250C,257C,272C 'thirti':96C 'thirty-f':95C 'this':6C 'threaten':200C 'three':26C,209C 'to':17C,68C,135C,152C,201C,212C,216C,227C 'today':282C 'touch':8C 'track':74C 'tri':69C 'trial':241C 'tribul':243C 'troubl':130C 'troy':109C,207C 'unforgett':233C 'up':203C 'when':192C 'who':114C,185C 'wine':258C 'with':53C,122C,171C,206C 'without':21C 'work':170C 'workplac':263C

This hilarious, touching debut novel by Aaron Foley, author of How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass, follows three Black gay millennial men looking for love, friendship, and professional success in the Motor City. 

Suddenly jobless and single after a devastating layoff and a breakup with his cheating ex, advertising copywriter Dominick Gibson flees his life in Hell's Kitchen to try and get back on track in his hometown of Detroit. He’s got one objective — exit the shallow dating pool ASAP and get married by thirty-five — and the deadline’s approaching fast.

Meanwhile, Dom's best friend, Troy Clements, an idealistic teacher who never left Michigan, finds himself at odds with all the men in his life: a troubled boyfriend he's desperate to hold onto, a perpetually dissatisfied father, and his other friend, Remy Patton. Remy, a rags-to-riches real estate agent known as “Mr. Detroit,” has his own problems — namely choosing between making it work with a long-distance lover or settling for a local Mr. Right Now who’s not quite Mr. Right. And when a high-stakes real estate deal threatens to blow up his friendship with Troy, the three men have to figure out how to navigate the pitfalls of friendship and a city that seems to be changing overnight.

Full of unforgettable characters, Boys Come First is about the trials and tribulations of real friendship, but also about the highlights and hiccups —late nights at the wine bar, awkward Grindr hookups, workplace microaggressions, situationships, frenemies, family drama, and of course, the group chat — that define Black, gay, millennial life in today’s Detroit.

Boys Come First

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Charlene "Charlie" Mack is a PI in Detroit. Born and raised in the city that America forgot, Charlie has built a highly respected private investigations firm through hard work, smart choices, and relentless ambition. Her team of investigators are highly skilled and trustworthy, but she secretly struggles with her sexual orientation and a mother with early-onset Alzheimer's. When Charlie and her crack team head to Birmingham, Alabama following the trail of a missing person, what should be a routine case turns into a complex chase for answers. Shady locals and a southern patriarch with dark secrets dating back forty years obscure their path. It seems like everyone has something to hide, including Charlie. When the case turns deadly with a double murder, and Charlie is attacked on a quiet neighborhood street, everything suddenly becomes personal. Who can Charlie trust, and will she ever solve the riddles of the Magic City?

A Detroit native, Cheryl A. Head now lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, where she navigated a successful career as a writer, television producer, filmmaker, broadcast executive, and media funder. Her debut novel, Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, was a 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist in both the African American Literature and Historical Fiction categories. When not writing fiction, she's a passionate blogger and user of Twitter, and she regularly consults on a wide range of diversity issues.

Bury Me When I'm Dead

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Her childhood was filled with domestic violence, school bullies and sexual confusion. Then, a grown man leads her astray, delivering astonishing heartbreak that leaves her searching for salvation.

Author KishaLynn takes us on a journey that begins as Kisha—a thornless rose growing from concrete—learning how to live life on her own terms. The only child of a teenage single mother, KishaLynn emerges as a resilient teenager, destined to triumph by any means necessary. 

CHILDish is a cathartic chronicle of growing up as a poor, black, queer, female millennial. Its pages are filled with heroic honesty and poetic words that are infused with a perfect balance of pain and humor.

CHILDish is not a children’s book.

This is a coming of age narrative that every woman and man should read for their own healing. You’ll leave it wanting revenge for little Kisha and craving more stories from KishaLynn. Fortunately, the journey doesn’t end here—CHILDish is only part one.


CHILDish

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Two very determined women—in love, at odds, and risking a lot on a second chance.

After years away from home, Summer Graves is back in Austin, Texas, to accept a new teaching position. Of all the changes to the old neighborhood, the most dispiriting one is the slated demolition of the high school her grandmother founded. There’s no way she can let developers destroy her memories and her family legacy. But the challenge stirs memories of another kind.

On the architectural team revitalizing the neighborhood, hometown girl Aiko Holt is all about progress. Then she sees Summer again. Some things never change.

Neither can forget the kiss they shared at their senior-year dance. Neither can back down from her unwavering beliefs about what’s right for the neighborhood.

For now, the only thing Summer and Aiko are willing to give in to is a heat that still burns. But can two women with so much passion for what once was and what could be, agree to disagree long enough to fall in love?

LGBTQ+