Celebrate the third installment of the Legendborn Cycle with the New York Times Bestseller author, Tracy Deonn! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, March 11 @ 7 PM

Where: 3719 Navigation Blvd, Houston, Texas 77003 (THIS IS AN OFF SITE EVENT)

How: Grab your ticket here! Each ticket comes with a book as well as some other goodies! Books will be available for pick up at the venue. 

There are NO REFUNDS for event tickets. Please use the link if you can no longer attend the event but would like to pick up your book in store or have it shipped to you at cost. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Severed from the Legendborn. Oathbound to a monster.

Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.

But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.

Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war while their Round Table is fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to grant him an audience, the Order’s Merlins imprison him. No one knows what he will demand of the Regents…or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.

As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Spring is in the air, and love is on the page. Join D.W. Brooks, Alexandra Lechelle, and Zee Renee at Kindred Stories for a celebration of local romance authors.

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, May 23 @ 6PM

Where: Kindred Stories: (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK to support the authors and our store programming. There are four options available: you can choose to support an individual author or select the Romance In Spring Bundle, which includes one book from all participating authors.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

D. W. Brooks

D. W. Brooks  is an author who has independently published three romantic suspense books and two contemporary romance novels. In addition to writing books, D. W. is also a retired ophthalmologist and a kidney transplant recipient of over eight years. She is originally from Alabama but now lives in Texas with her husband and daughter.

Alexandrea LeChelle

Alexandrea LeChelle is a contemporary romance author whose stories explore love, grief, healing, and the complicated beauty of human connection.

Her novels unfold between Houston and Louisiana and center Black characters navigating family legacies, emotional vulnerability, and the quiet courage it takes to love deeply and unapologetically.

Through rich, emotional storytelling and cinematic detail, Alexandrea writes the kind of love stories she rarely saw growing up and entering adulthood. Stories where Black characters are allowed to be flawed, passionate, and deeply human.

What began as a way to process emotions and channel creativity through her own healing journey, slowly evolved into something much bigger: an urge to create and share stories about love, healing, and the complicated paths of life that bring people together.

Her stories often explore themes such as emotional healing, family dynamics, grief and growth, healthy Black love, the courage to begin again. Every story is planted in the belief that love, in all its forms, has the power to change us for the better.

When she’s not reading, Alexandrea can be found working her way through her own TBR, journaling or planning new creative projects, adding recipes to her personal cookbook, and listening to playlists that eventually inspire new stories.

At the heart of everything she creates is a simple hope: That readers will find pieces of themselves in her stories.

Zee Renee

Writing is where Zee thrives, finding peace and purpose. Her journey began at thirteen with a black-and-white composition book, later blossoming on Wattpad, where she captivated over two million readers. In December 2023, she released her debut novel, All In, and was nominated for the 2023 Black Girl Who Writes Best New Author award. By November 2024, Zee became a National Best-Selling Author with the release of When He’s Not There, her third book.

Crafting urban fiction and romance, Zee transforms raw emotions into powerful stories. Her characters are deeply personal, each carrying a piece of her spirit. She is grateful for the opportunity to share her God-given talent and hopes readers will feel the same passion in her words as she does in writing them.

UPDATE: We have added a waitlist for this event. Waitlist tickets are not guaranteed. If a ticket becomes available, you will receive an email with steps to get a ticket 

Celebrate the release of Rich and Rotten with Jahquel J!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, May 1 @ 6PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St., Houston, TX 77004).

What: This event is a signing only. You will have the opportunity to get a signed copy of Rich and Rotten and take a photo with the author. Each Signing Line Ticket comes with a copy of the book of Rich and Rotten.

How: Purchase a SIGNING LINE TICKET to guarantee a spot in the signing line. Each Signing Line Ticket comes with a copy of the book of Rich and Rotten. You can bring up to 5 previous books by Jahquel that you would like signed. Please note that each ticket is for entry of ONE person. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Explosive, sensual, and unapologetically raw, Rich and Rotten delivers Jahquel J.’s signature blend of passionate romance and high-stakes family drama—where love is the most dangerous game, and trust is the rarest luxury.

In Greenwich Pointe’s world of Black wealth and power, Tatiana Rich has everything money can buy—except freedom. When her kingpin father forces her into a strategic marriage with the Sterling dynasty’s heir, she begs Nazir Kane—the man she fell for during her college years—to run away with her.

By morning, he’s vanished without a word.

A decade later, Tatiana is rebuilding her life after her husband Karim’s tragic death. While raising their daughter and growing her luxury spa empire, an assassination attempt on her father brings an unexpected guardian: Nazir Kane—now a powerful security specialist assigned to protect her family.

Living under the same roof as the man who shattered her heart is torture enough. But as old flames reignite, darker truths emerge about the father who controlled her and the husband she mourned.

With enemies closing in and whispers that her husband’s death wasn’t an accident, Tatiana must decide if the man who once betrayed her is the only one who can save her now . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

What’s February without a little sex?  Well, we can at least talk bout it!

Join Kindred Stories’ first D.A.T.E Night in partnership with Normal Anomaly as we discuss safer sex options when it comes to consent, communication, and pleasure. This is a safer space that will be facilitated by Joelle Bayaa-Uzuri & Jordan Edwards. Feel free to bring questions, comments, boos, and/or concerns. Kindred Stories staff member, Kadie,  will be in attendance offering titles that support the conversation! There will be complimentary cocktails and non-alcohol beverages and MUCH to discuss!

Email kadie@kindredstorieshtx.com if you have any questions.

About the facilitators:

Jordan J Edwards is a Program Director at the BQPlus center of Libertarian at the Normal Anomaly Initiative. Jordan serves the black queer plus community by increasing opportunities for sustainable employment, linkage to care services for those living with HIV and those interested in PrEP. His first experience with HIV was when he watched a family member pass away of AIDS complications in early 2000, talked down a friend down from planning attempted suicide from receiving an HIV positive diagnosis, but the shift in his life changed once he got his HIV positive results in 2013. Jordan became a Heavy Hitter Pride ambassador in 2019, received
an Emerging Leader award from AASOTF and Impulse Group Houston 2019. In 2021 he received the Phoenix Rising award from the Mahogany Project. He can be found in the Advocate, VoyageHouston, and Outsmart. Jordan spends most of his time being creative, gaming, in an animal shelter, and spending time with family and friends.

Joelle Bayaa-Uzuri Espeut (she/her/hers), Director of Programming, oversees the ancillary programs of The Normal Anomaly Initiative, including P.O.W.R. (Positives Organizing Wellness and Resilience), T.A.C. (Transgender Ally Collective), and Project Liberate.  Joelle’s social advocacy experience includes assisting with program planning and implementation as well as serving as Communications Manager for The Mahogany Project, Inc. since 2018.  Aside from her work with the Mahogany Project, Joelle has worked with AIDS United, GLAAD, Gilead/Compass Initiative, and Emory University.  She has also been awarded the Rising Star Phoenix Award in 2020. 

 When Joelle is not fighting for liberation and social justice, you can catch her thrift shopping, blogging/writing, or being a plant mom. 

Registration is closed via our website, but please register directly via Crowdcast

ORDER South to America here for an exclusive signed copy!

We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In SOUTH TO AMERICA: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, one of our most important thinkers and critics, acclaimed author Imani Perry tackles her most ambitious project yet, moving across the color line to grapple with the mix of intimacy and racial violence in Southern and American history, showing that what it means to be American is inextricably linked with the South.  

Imani Perry will be in conversation with Dr. Melanye Price of Prairie View University

Event Details

When: Tuesday, February 1 @ 6:30 PM CST

Where: Virtual via Crowdcast

How:  Register here or on Crowdcast.  Although the event is free, we encourage you to support our store and future programming by purchasing the book here.

About the Author: 

Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University where she also teaches in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Law and Public Affairs and Jazz Studies. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D in the history of American civilization from Harvard University. Perry is the author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, winner of the Bograd-Weld Biography Prize of 2019 from the Pen America Foundation. She is also the author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation, and May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem, which was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Nonfiction. Perry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chicago, lives outside of Philadelphia with her two sons.

About the Moderator:

Dr. Melanye Price is Endowed Professor of Political Science at Prairie View A&M University and principle investigator for their African American Studies Initiative, which is funded by grants and gifts from the Mellon Foundation. Her research/teaching interests include black politics, public opinion, political rhetoric, and social movements. Her most recent book, The Race Whisperer: Barack Obama and the Political Uses of Race (NYU, 2016) examines the multiple and strategic ways that President Obama uses race to deflect negative racial attitudes and engage with a large cross-section of voters. Her first book, Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion (NYU, 2009) examined contemporary support for Black Nationalism. Her new project is called “Mountaintop Removal: Martin Luther King, Trump and the Racial Mountain,” which uses MLK’s “Mountaintop Speech” as a lens for understanding the rise of Trump and the 2016 election.

Celebrate the release of Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)?  with Jay Ellis!

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 @ 7PM (Doors Open at 6PM)

Where: STAGES (800 Rosine St, HTX, 77019)

How: Grab your ticket today! Each ticket come with a signed copy of Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (Or Just Me)?: Adventures of Boyhood.  Books will be available for pick up at the event.

*NO REFUNDS*

ABOUT THE BOOK

What to do when you're the perpetual new kid, only child, military brat hustling school-to-school each year and everyone's looking to you for answers? Make some shit up, of course! And a young Jay Ellis does just that, with help from every child's favorite co-conspirator—their imaginary best friend. Born in the perfect storm of especially ferocious rain and a sugar-fueled imagination, Mikey, his imaginary best friend, steps in to figuratively hold Jay's hand through various youthful shenanigans. 

A testament to the importance of imagination, trusting oneself, and making space for your creativity, Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend or Just Me? is a story of a 90s kid who confided in his imaginary sidekick to navigate everything from parallel pop culture universes, like watching Fresh Prince alongside John Hughes movies or listening to Ja Rule and Dave Matthews, to a lifetime of birthday disappointment (being a Christmas season Capricorn will do that to you) and hoop dreams gone bad. Mikey also guides him through greater tragedies, like losing his teenage cousin in a mistaken-target driveby and the shame and fear of being pulled over by cops almost a dozen times the year he got his driver's license. 

As imaginary friend morphs into adult consciousness, Ellis charts an unforgettable story of looking within yourself for guidance to some of life’s biggest (and smallest) challenges, told in the roast-you-with-love voice of your closest homie.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Sumter, South Carolina, to a military family, Jay Ellis spent his childhood inventing new personas for every town he landed in. Too many to count. After college, he realized the NBA wasn’t good enough for him and he didn’t want to crush other players’ dreams as he dominated the league so he decided to take his one-man show to Hollywood, where he got his start on BET’s The Game. Now an accomplished actor, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, Ellis is best known for his role as Lawrence on HBO’s Insecure, for which he won an NAACP Image Award. He appeared alongside Tom Cruise, flying jets through the skies, in the Oscar-nominated film in Top Gun: Maverick. When he’s not on set filming he spends the majority of his days cleaning up the messes that his daughter’s imaginary friend “Jack” made. Karma.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Kendrick Sampson is an actor, producer and activist who leverages his platform and storytelling to shift culture for good. 

Growing up in Houston and Missouri aka “Mo City”, Texas, Kendrick Sampson was dropped into a unique and deeply rooted culture of music and art.

His most acclaimed and notable characters from "Nathan" on HBO's Emmy-nominated comedy series, Insecure, to "Ethan" in Prime’s popular romantic comedy Something from Tiffany’s and his personal favorite, the surrealist satire I am a Virgo from Boots Riley - Kendrick has been achieving his lifelong goal of shifting culture through storytelling and uplifting nuanced, diverse, and authentic portrayals of Black men.

He uses his platform to amplify transformational grassroots work in intersectional mental health justice, sexual health and liberation and fighting state violence. Kendrick co-founded BLD PWR which includes a production company and social impact (501c3) arm whose mission is to “Reimagine and Realize the liberated future we know our people deserve” by organizing Hollywood and shifting the culture toward nourishing and protecting nuanced Black, Indigenous, and marginalized leaders and everyday people, especially our storytellers and their stories.

“The life and teachings of Swamini Turiyasangitananda are precious spiritual jewels waiting to be discovered. This book reveals many inspiring and unknown parts of Swamini’s life. Numerous personal accounts of divine healings enhance her quiet yet determined focus to be of service locally and globally. Perhaps most moving is this servitor’s willingness to take on herself, the effects of others’ negative karma. Portrait of Devotion is a doorway that leads to the life of a modern saint. If we pass through this door, there is a good chance that our own life will change for the better.” — Purushottama Hickson, H.Y.T.

“A.C. Swami Turiyasangitananda is a bhakti yogi who practiced karma yoga, a spiritual guru who, with dedication, followed the footsteps of her Satguru. She was a living example of true mental detachment ...while still physically being in the midst of society. She is spiritually evolved in the truest sense.” — Sai Ram Iyer of Mumbai

“Many of us are aware of the musical talents of Alice Coltrane, a gifted pianist, harpist and composer. In this beautiful book, the author takes us on a journey of the spiritual transformation of the artist, Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, who became a teacher of life with feminine strength and conviction. The author brings out what a pure relationship is like between a Guru and student, and most important how a spiritual journey may be straight and narrow at any moment, but that moment will pass on to the next moment of joy. Lastly, the story and lessons of Clarity, Compassion, and Courage, which Alice taught day in and day out to her students will call us to embrace our own spiritual journey.”
— Stephen Rosen, Ph.D

2 inch round button with pin back

Through his work across many media, Houston and Los Angeles-based artist Vincent Valdez bears witness to the world around him, chronicling an America at the margins. Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream… features work from over twenty years and writings addressing Valdez's work through the lens of politics, history and humanity. Valdez's approach to imaging his country, its people, politics, pride, and foibles includes boxing, lynchings of Mexican Americans, border walls, politics, greed, the Ku Klux Klan, and the failings and triumphs of American society. Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream… accompanies survey exhibitions of his work by the same name at the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston (CAMH) in 2024-5 and MASS MoCA in 2025-6. The bilingual (English/Spanish) publication features both full-color works and a gatefold for The Strangest Fruit as well as a sewn-in booklet of behind-the-scenes studio images. Texts include a reprint of Joyce Carol Oates' On Boxing, essays by exhibition co-curators Denise Markonish and Patricia Restrepo; and a text by Evan Garza on the artist's relationship to Texas.