Aurelia George was prepared to let the world believe she was dead. Tangled in the arms of her mountain men and bound only by the rules they make, the twice disgraced pop star had found her happily ever after.

Or so she thought.

The only thing surprising about learning her uncle wants her dead is realizing how eager she is to return the favor. Convincing her mountain men to leave their world behind and step into hers won't be easy. Thorin is desperate to disappear again, Khalil is quietly drowning, and Zeke wants her gone.

For better or worse, this quartet of villains will have to leave their Eden.

And now that the tables have turned, Aurelia's the one they'll need to survive. But as she and the rest of the world are about to learn, you can take these men out of the wilds, but you can't take the wilds out of them.

Originally released in 2021, this was a nod to the Black Church and faith. The backing card featured one of those grannies that always kept something sweet in her purse.

Vault items will not be produced again.

Hard enamel pin.

She’s a preacher’s daughter, a runaway bride and now the (not quite) qualified nanny for a sexy tattoo artist with a beautiful daughter—and a dirty mouth.

What’s a bad boy to do with a woman like her?

Everything…

Aaliyah Montgomery isn’t just ditching her wedding. She’s also fleeing her suffocating small town and her family’s expectations. She’s got plans—for college, for finding herself. But landing a job in Chicago that fits her schedule isn’t easy. Good thing Von Howard is desperate to find a live-in nanny. Bad thing that he’s a gritty, grumpy, gorgeous tattoo artist carrying as much baggage as he has ink.

Von’s new hire is inexperienced and a fire hazard in the kitchen. She’s also all thick curls, thicker curves, and a distracting mix of innocence and sensuality. After the upheaval of a divorce, he just needs a nanny, not a sneaky link. Meanwhile, Aaliyah is bonding with his seven-year-old and showing an unexpected flair for tattoo art. Who could resist?

Yet deep down, Aaliyah’s still running—from her feelings and her fear of losing herself to someone else’s expectations again. Even as their pasts return to haunt them, their undeniable heat says maybe it’s time to stand and fight for a love they didn’t see coming.

From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…

Frenemy Fix-Up by Yahrah St. John

Out of Office by A.H. Cunningham

Manila Takes Manhattan by Carla de Guzman

Fake Flame by Adele Buck

*ships in 7 - 10 business days*

From award-winning author-illustrator duo Karina N. Gonzálezand Krystal Quiles comes Churro Stand, a heartwarming picture book celebrating love, community, and the POP, SIZZLE, and CRUNCH of a perfect churro—inspired by the author’s relationship with her own mother.
 
Everybody loves churros!
 
On a hot summer’s day, Lucía and her brother accompany their mother to sell delicious, sugary churros on the bustling streets of New York City. But when a thunderstorm rolls in, and the customers are chased away, Lucía’s mother must improvise with a little bit of magic and lots of amor.

It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Young girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men select wives based on the level of finery a girl displays. If a suitable match is not found, the girls left behind are forfeited—never to be heard from again.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. When she flees the ball in a moment of desperation, she begins a journey that reveals the dark secrets of Cinderella’s tale and leads her to a love she never expected. Her only hope is to destroy the king once and for all.
This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.

*ships in 7-10 business days

Marquis Bey meditates on the antagonistic relationship between blackness and cisgender, showing that as a category, cisgender cannot capture how people depart from gender alignment and its coding as white.

In Cistem Failure Marquis Bey meditates on the antagonistic relationship between blackness and cisgender. Bey asks, What does it mean to have a gender that “matches” one’s sex---that is, to be cisgender---when decades of feminist theory have destroyed the belief that there is some natural way to be a sex? Moving from the The Powerpuff Girls to the greeting “How ya mama’n’em?” to their own gender identity, Bey finds that cisgender is too flat as a category to hold the myriad ways that people who may or may not have undergone gender-affirmative interventions depart from gender alignment. At the same time, blackness, they contend, strikes at the heart of cisgender’s invariable coding as white: just as transness names a non-cis space, blackness implies a non-cis space. By showing how blackness opens up a way to subvert the hegemonic power of the gender binary, Bey makes a case for an antiracist gender abolition project that rejects cisgender as a regulatory apparatus.

*ships in 7-10 business days*

Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV--everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person's ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named "post-race" society.

Randall James Tyrone’s debut collection City of Dis is a searing exploration of contemporary existence intertwined with medieval notions of damnation, invoking Dante’s “Inferno” to craft a modern-day epic. Doubling as a novel-in-verse, City of Dis follows the unnamed protagonist as they navigate a cityscape that is both a circle of hell and also the urban sprawl of 21st-century America. Amidst the cacophony of sirens, construction, and hurricanes fueled by climate change, Tyrone weaves a tapestry where pop culture, late-stage capitalism, and the daily struggles imposed by inequities of race and class in this urban inferno collide with arcane theology, existential dread, and something like divine comedy. Through forms ranging from epistolary to litany, Tyrone’s speaker charts every chaotic inch of this dystopian landscape, encountering Dante himself as they confront the personification of Suicide. City of Dis stands not only as a vivid critique of modern society but also as a haunting testament to resilience in the face of spiritual and environmental decay.

A lyrical picture book from the award-winning author of Heavy, about three Black boys who form a deep connection during a transformative summer trip down South to visit family.

On the ground of that garden, covered in vegetables and dirt, coated in laughter, I want to say that the Mississippi and New York in our Black boy bodies were indistinguishable.

Three Black boys spend one special summer exploring the Mississippi woods and woulds and coulds of sharing the kind of freeing friendship that is love.

Watched over and given space to discover by Grandmama and Mama Lara, New York, Country, and little C find camaraderie in their contrasts and all the unspoken things between them while playing games of marco polo in the thick garden and sledding on cardboard by the underpass.

With text brimming with love by award-winning author Kiese Laymon and deeply evocative illustrations by Ashley Franklin, City Summer, Country Summer illuminates the tenuous and tender bonds of friendship Black boys forge with one another.

*ships/available for pickup in 7-10 business days

A powerful novel in verse by award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo, about two sisters grieving the devastating loss of their father who learn about each other after his death and must grapple with what this bittersweet new bond means for them.

Camino Rios lives for the summers, when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this year, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Eighth grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying, “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” His grandmother has told him that his entire life. But lately he’s been thinking: Even if he works ten times as hard, he may never get the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted. Then, after a visit to his friend Liam’s house, Drew realizes that Liam is one of those privileged kids. He wants to pretend like everything is okay, but even his best friend, Jordan, can tell that something is up.

As the pressures build, and he starts to feel more isolated than ever, will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his friends can truly accept each other? And more importantly, will he finally be able to accept himself?

A gorgeous new edition of Book 3 of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race.

This gorgeous, new deluxe edition includes: 
* A new cover and package
* Premium French flaps and newly designed, full-color interior covers
* High-quality paper with elegant deckled-edges  

Blake Maslin is traveling with his teenage twin daughters through an alternate America marked by volatile class warfare when their car is ambushed. Their attackers appear sickly yet possess inhuman strength, and they transport Blake's family to an isolated compound. There, the three captives discover that the compound's residents have a highly contagious alien disease that has mutated their DNA to make them powerful, dangerous, and compelled to infect others. 

If Blake and his daughters do not escape, they will be infected with a virus that will either kill them outright or transform them into outcasts whose very existence is a threat to the world around them.
 
In the following hours, Blake and his daughters must make a vital choice: risk everything to escape and warn the rest of the world, or accept their new reality—as well as the uncertain fate of the human race.

Cleopatra tells her own story in this evocative and sensuous historical epic from the bestselling and award-winning author of Faebound and The Final Strife.

This stunning edition includes designed endpapers and a custom case stamp.

YOU KNOW MY NAME, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall.

Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.

Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.

How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, and divinely blessed to rule.

Death will silence me no longer.

This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.

She exposed his marriage scandal on live radio. He swore he'd never forgive her. But when they start talking anonymously online...

Bellamy Barnes just wants to forget the mess that cost her everything. Her radio show, her reputation, and any shred of faith in emotionally unavailable men. The last thing she needs is her sister's infuriating neighbor—professional basketball star Cole Howard—calling her "Bella" and looking at her like she's the enemy.

Cole Howard has one rule after his very public, very expensive divorce. No drama. Which means staying far away from his neighbor Bellamy, the journalist who made a career out of exposing scandals exactly like his. She's beautiful, sharp-tongued, and everything he should avoid.

But online? That's different.

Cole escapes through an anonymous culinary account where he shares his passion for food with a stranger who sees him for more than his jump shot.

Bellamy finds refuge in late-night conversations with an anonymous cook who makes her believe in connection again.

Neither knows who's on the other side of the screen.

As their messages turn from flirty to something deeper, their real-world clashes grow more heated. When the truth comes out, will they choose the connection they built in secret—or let old wounds destroy their second chance?

Former NBA All-Star Caron Butler and acclaimed author Justin A. Reynolds deliver another superstar performance in this companion novel to Shot Clock about KO, a budding AAU basketball star as he attempts to find redemption on the court and reconnection with his incarcerated father.

Kofi “KO” Douglas knows how to handle pressure. After all, he is the newly announced #1 ranked AAU player in the country. On the court, his game is as good as it gets—even if his Wolves team lost to the Sabres in the national championship, KO always believes nobody can beat him one-on-one. That is, until his former best friend, Ripp, returns home, just in time for the biggest tournament of the summer, the McNabby. Ripp’s dad plays professional basketball overseas, and Ripp has been tearing up courts there—KO now has his toughest competition yet. 

As KO gears up for this latest challenge, there’s game-changing news at home. KO’s dad, who has been incarcerated for the last seven years, is getting out. It’s been KO and his mom for as long as he can remember, only now his dad is ready to reconnect. It’s another reunion KO isn’t sure he wants to happen, especially as Ripp keeps calling out KO to play him in the McNabby.

With the tournament on the horizon, KO decides to turn to Coach James and the Sabres for help. He may not love the idea of playing with Tony Washington and his former teammates again, but he needs them now more than ever. Can KO prove he’s still the best on the court as his family life turns upside down?

In this companion to Jason Reynolds’s award-winning and New York Times bestselling Track series, meet Coach as a boy striving to come into his own as a track star while facing upheaval at home.

Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99—and his own dad—Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.

Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing—right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?

Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.

Feel the vibes of self-care and dive into the soothing blend of Vanilla Cream, Caramel Custard, and Warm Amber, inspired by those intimate moments of tending to our hair rituals. Let the essence of our shared experiences and culture fill your space with warmth and comfort. 

11 oz (*up to 80hrs burn time) - Double Wick

All Natural Soy Wax, No Harsh Chemicals or Phthalates

"Informative and full of big flavors, this is a delicious and accessible introduction to Caribbean food for novices; will be a welcome addition to library shelves." —Library Journal

Through 80+ recipes, Code Noir tells the interesting and complex story of Caribbean cuisines that are not only incredibly rich in flavor but also in history.

Code Noir is a cookbook steeped in history. Not just because of the title, which hits on a seventeenth-century decree in which King Louis XIV recorded how enslaved Africans in the French colonies were to be treated, but also because it deals with the food and the people that, through the gruesome course of history, came together in the Caribbean.

Inside, chef and culinary activist Lelani Lewis goes back to her Caribbean roots with classics like jerk chicken, salted cod fritters, pepperpot stew, and Guinness punch. She also shares new creations with typically Caribbean ingredients like cassava, corn, coconut, lime, plantain, and chilies: plantain with peanut and lime salsa, sweet potato gratin with ginger cream, and crème anglaise of creamed corn and caramelized guava.

A twisty and prescient new thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling Avery Keene series, by nationally renowned author and leader Stacey Abrams, Coded Justice follows Avery down a dark rabbit hole into the breathtaking—and dangerous—use of AI in the medical industry.

Avery Keene is back! The fan-favorite former Supreme Court clerk has finally gone out on her own, securing a prestigious position at a high-end law firm in Washington, D.C., where she is about to earn real money and get her life in order after a tumultuous run working as a clerk on the Supreme Court. With her reputation preceding her, Avery is quickly tasked at her new job with becoming a corporate internal investigator. Her new client is Camasca—a mega-tech firm that's on the forefront of developing a new integrated AI system poised to revolutionize the medical industry, particularly by delivering vastly improved health care to veterans. The AI potential is breathtaking, but some disturbing anomalies have plagued Camasca in early testing—including the mysterious death of a Camasca engineer. Avery and her colleagues, Jared, Ling, and Noah, find themselves on a journey to determine whether the anomalies are mere technical glitches, or something much more concerning. Full of twists, behind-the-scenes financial machinations, and the continued blossoming of Avery and her vibrant cast of friends, Coded Justice finds Stacey Abrams' riveting series to be in full swing.

What began as an effort to prevent the neglect and potential loss of hundreds of African objects at the University of Texas at Austin has evolved into one of the most significant collections on campus. The art collections at Black Studies were born from the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies’ Art and Archive Initiative, under the leadership of Cherise Smith, Omi L. Jones, and Edmund T. Gordon.

Today Black Studies at the University of Texas boasts approximately 900 objects from sub-Saharan Africa, over 200 contemporary works from African American and Afro-Caribbean artists, and more than 100 pieces jointly held with other collecting entities on campus, adding a diverse richness to the overall collections. Collecting Black Studies gathers and presents these holdings—including costumes, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and photography—and prominently features five Black artists whose work is particularly significant. Scholars and curators examine how John Biggers, Michael Ray Charles, Christina Coleman, Angelbert Metoyer, and Deborah Roberts—artists with deep relationships to Texas—contributed to the Black Studies collections, to art history, and to the culture of our state and beyond.

First published in 2014, Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s Collective Courage quickly became an important tool for understanding the history of cooperative economic enterprises in the African American community. This now-classic work recounts how African Americans benefited greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the nation’s history.

Many of the players in this story are well known―among them W. E. B. Du Bois; A. Philip Randolph and the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Nannie Helen Burroughs; Fannie Lou Hamer; Ella Jo Baker and George Schuyler of the Young Negroes’ Co-operative League; the Federation of Southern Cooperatives; and the Black Panther Party. Drawing on media reports and co-op records, Gordon Nembhard uncovers the challenges they faced and highlights their hard-won victories.

This tenth anniversary edition of Collective Courage features a substantial preface that expands on material in the first edition and addresses the development of the Black co-op movement through the second decade of the twenty-first century. It remains an indispensable resource for readers interested in the history of the struggle for African American economic freedom and equity.

Kyrell Knight believes life is a game to be played and thoroughly enjoyed. He rarely takes anything seriously, lives in the moment, and indulges in as much pleasure with women as possible. But the sarcasm, money, and women are an attempt to erase the memories of his past as he tries to forget what he came from. It works until his past wants to be a part of his present.

Kyrell reconnects with Quinn Halifax at their mutual best friend's engagement party. They spark up a friendship that quickly turns to flames when it becomes a superficial, no strings attached relationship.

Kyrell is struggling with his past while Quinn is trying to secure her future. Neither is looking for more, but fate has other plans.
What happens when two people collide with fate?

Content Advisory: child abuse, death, mentions of suicide

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

Discover a Christ-centered approach to antiracism that will empower you to be transformed as you transform your world.

Michelle Sanchez has discovered through her own journey that it’s impossible to separate racial discipleship from our relationship with God. In fact, deeper racial discipleship catalyzes a deeper relationship with God. Whenever we choose to courageously resist racism, we will discover new opportunities to encounter Christ in fresh and exciting ways.

Color-Courageous Discipleship is our guidebook to a deeper connection with God through the adventure of racial discipleship. Grounded in the gospel, this practical and thought-provoking book:

Time has never moved the same for everyone.

In Colored People Time, Manny Fidel explores how race, culture, and history shape not only our lives, but our sense of time itself. Through sharp, personal, and often humorous essays, Fidel interrogates the myth of linear progress, the politics of punctuality, and some of the ways people of color are forced to navigate a world that rarely moves at their pace or in their favor.

Whether it's a tongue-in-cheek argument that "CPT" should be legislatively supported, ruminations on our longing to return to the summer of 2016, or reflections about mortality through the advent of video game innovations, Fidel confronts the systems that structure time around identity and power. From the slow churn of racial justice to the private time loops of memory, nostalgia, grief, and joy, this book acts as an invitation to readers to question whether they are aware of the way time folds around them.

Colored People Time isn't solely about lateness. It's about how time works differently depending on who you are and where you stand.

Celebrate freedom and exploration with gorgeous illustrations of Black women traveling in style, from Andrea Ballo, the artist behind Coloring with Coco and Coco Michele Illustrations.

Find joy and adventure with an elevated adult coloring book that's all about Black women and their love for travel! Each illustration was created by Andrea Ballo, the artist and influencer behind the popular TikTok account Coloring with Coco. On every page, you'll find spectacular images to color that encourage your love for travel and new experiences!

Stunning illustrations―Color 36 gorgeous illustrations that capture the vibrancy and diversity of Black women.

Get inspired―The artwork in this book is themed around exploration, vacation, and travel! It's an art piece and an experience you can create with your favorite art supplies.

A beautiful gift for you or someone special―This high-quality coloring book for adults features heavy paper, perforated pages, and a thick card stock insert to block color bleed, making it a gorgeous and meaningful gift!

Set off on your next adventure with the Coloring with Coco: Passport to Paradise coloring book.

Celebrate the essence of Black women with this relaxing, inspiring, and empowering coloring book from Andrea Ballo, the artist behind Coloring with Coco.

Rest, reflect, and spend quality time with this elegant, bold and easy coloring book for adults that features Black women embodying their confidence, their style, and their beauty! Each illustration was created by Andrea Ballo, the artist and influencer behind the popular TikTok account, Coloring with Coco. On every page, you'll find alluring images to color that encourage the restfulness and meditation we all need to be our best selves.

Stunning, unique, and empowering illustrations―Color in gorgeous illustrations that capture the vibrancy and diversity of Black women.

Make time for yourself―The artwork, affirmations, and writing prompts in this book are themed around rest, reflection, and relaxation, inspiring you to look inward and get to know who you are and what makes you happy.

A beautiful gift for yourself or someone special―This high-quality coloring book for adults offers hours of fun and space for self-expression, making it a meaningful gift!

Release your creativity with the Coloring with Coco: Rest and Reflect coloring book.

Celebrate the unity, sisterhood, and community of Black women with gorgeous illustrations from Andrea Ballo, the artist behind Coloring with Coco and Coco Michele Illustrations.

Find joy and self-expression with an elevated adult coloring book that's all about Black women and celebrating the connection between them! Each illustration was created by Andrea Ballo, the artist and influencer behind the popular TikTok account Coloring with Coco. On every page, you'll find energetic images to color that encourage love for yourself and the community of Black women around you.

Stunning, unique, and empowering illustrations―Color 36 gorgeous illustrations that capture the vibrancy and diversity of Black women.

Get inspired―The artwork in this book is themed around sisterhood and community! It's a celebration, an art piece, and an experience you can create with your favorite art supplies.

A beautiful gift for you or someone special―This high-quality coloring book for adults features heavy paper, perforated pages, and a thick card stock insert to block color bleed, making it a gorgeous and meaningful gift!

Unleash your creativity with the Coloring with Coco: Sisterhood in Solidarity coloring book.