Hey hey! New month, new books, new Black authors for y’all to support. Don’t worry though, you can go to Marcus Books out in Oakland, CA to double your impact. See, isn’t that easy? Now go forth, and as always, happy reading!
The Conductors
Nicole Glover
As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband, Benjy, have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won't touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.
What’s Mine and Yours
Naima Coster
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the next twenty years.
On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.
When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers--each determined to see her child inherit a better life--will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.
The Old Boat
The Pumphrey Brothers
The creators of The Old Truck set sail with an old boat and an evocative, intricately crafted exploration of home and family.
Off a small island,
an old boat sets sail
and a young boy
finds home.
Together, boy and boat ride the shifting tides, catching wants and wishes until fate calls for a sea change. Brothers and collaborators Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey’s newest picture book is a masterfully crafted celebration of the natural world and tribute to the families we make and the homes that we nurture.
How to Dispatch a Human
Stephanie Andrea Allen
In this daring collection of speculative fiction, Stephanie Andrea Allen attends to the lives of Black women, mostly lesbian or queer, all keenly aware of the forces seeking to consume them.
A Black lesbian working the gig economy runs into a trio of motorized scooters and helps them escape from Earth. An enchanted sleep mask gives a woman the gift of slumber, but what will it cost her? A suburban housewife is framed for murder by her homophobic neighbor. And in the follow up to “Luna 6000,” a young woman investigates her mother’s untimely death, and learns the truth about her family.
Mutual Agreement
Chiquita Dennie
I’m Sebastian Hunter, President of the United States. My job and reputation rely on discretion. Those around me know their roles. My rivals can’t wait for me to make a mistake. Now that I’ve met her, they have their chance, and they intend to use it to their full advantage.
She and I had an agreement—one and done, but she broke our agreement and I’m left to pick up the pieces and deal with the fallout.
This isn’t what I signed up for, but it’s my reality. If I handle this right and hope I don’t lose her in the process.
Content Note: This is fast paced, adult language content with explicit scenes, alpha male. Don't read if you’re not into steamy content.
The Last Affair
A. C. Arthur
Attending a sex retreat at a luxurious Finger Lakes ski resort isn’t exactly Desta Henner’s vision of an ideal weekend. But if she plays her cards right, she’ll uncover sweet multiorgasmic rewards. Because after three months of unbelievably hot verbal foreplay and straight-up sexy fantasies about “Dear Lover 1686,” Desta’s ready to meet her naughty mystery man in person.
Only, “Dear Lover 1686” isn’t the anonymous stranger Desta expects. He’s Maurice Gold—the hot and delicious glitterati millionaire. To the world, he’s a charming playboy. To Desta, he’s a coworker and friend…whose family owns the renowned fashion house she works for. Now, for the first time ever, sparks are flying!
They have only one weekend to explore the explosive chemistry they’ve just discovered. Come Monday, they must return to their lives—and working relationship—in New York’s high-profile, high-stakes fashion world. But what happens at a sex retreat doesn’t always stay there. And Desta and Maurice’s risky little tryst is about to put their reputations—and their hearts—on the table for one last walk of chance.