New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Cole is back with another chilling thriller, set in the world of her megahit When No One Is Watching.

It was too good to be true.

Eboni Goodman has earned her Master’s in Social Work… only to be stuck delivering groceries. So when she lands a position as Administrator for an experimental village designed to reduce homelessness, she’s thrilled. Her stubborn optimism has finally borne fruit, and she is ready to change lives―starting with her own.

Except the South Jersey town isn’t exactly welcoming of their new neighbors. Eboni is determined to prove the program works, even when the hostility outside the gates is nothing compared to the glitches happening inside the village. And the only person she can rely on is Michael, a broody security guard and former local who's only recently returned to town.

As the town's buried history comes to light and strange occurrences stack up, cracks begin to show in the organization’s philanthropic facade. Eboni and Michael are pulled into a web of intrigue that threatens not just the program but everyone living there.

After all, it takes a village…

One word is about to change everything you believe about yourself.

From sought-after coach, speaker, and author Wemi Opakunle, whose content has reached millions, a transformative guide to harnessing the power of “delulu” thinking—radical self-belief paired with bold, inspired action—to create the life, career, and opportunities you want.

For years, we've been told to be realistic, lower our expectations, and wait until we're fully qualified, fully prepared, or fully confident before going after what we want. But what if everything we've been taught is backwards? What if delulu belief is the bridge between who you are and who you want to be?

In BIG. DELULU. ENERGY., Wemi Opakunle introduces an unapologetic, powerful new approach to personal growth built on self-belief, intentional action, and the courage to think bigger than your current circumstances. Far from denying reality, “delulu” thinking is about refusing to let your fears, limitations, or past experiences define what’s possible for your future.

Through her transformative Eight Pillars of Delulu Success, Wemi shows you how to:
* Build unshakable confidence and trust yourself more deeply
* Stop waiting for certainty and move before you're ready
* Transform fear, setbacks, and self-doubt into fuel for growth
* Embody the mindset and emotions of the person you want to become
* Release perfectionism and detach from outcomes you can’t control
* Silence your inner critic and separate your identity from your inner dialogue to create lasting self-worth
* Reinvent yourself at any stage of life and create a future that feels aligned, joyful, and expansive
* Challenge the labels that have been placed on you, including the ones you've placed on yourself

Warm, practical, and passionately encouraging, BIG. DELULU. ENERGY. offers a refreshing alternative to self-help rooted in hustle and perfectionism. This is a guide to betting on yourself, embracing possibility, and becoming the person you’ve always imagined you could be.

Celebrate the paperwork release of Death Doula, Alua Arthur's book, Briefly Perfectly Human! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, April 29 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your copy of Briefly Perfectly Human. If you already have a hardcover copy of Briefly Perfectly Human and you would like to get your book signed, please use the RSVP WITH SIGNING option. 

Note: There are limited RSVP ONLY tickets. Please be sure that you can attend before checking out. Additionally, paperback copies of Briefly Perfectly Human will not be allowed in the venue. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

 For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death—whether imminent or not—will breathe wild, new potential into your life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

New York Times bestselling author Alua Arthur is the most visible and active death doula working in America today. She is a recovering attorney and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization. Her TED Talk titled, “Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life,” went online in July 2023 and has already received 1.5 million views. A frequent guest on TV and radio, Arthur has been featured on CBS’s The Doctors and in Disney's Limitless docu-series with Chris Hemsworth, as well as in national print media outlets, such as Vogue, InStyle, the Los Angeles Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. International newspaper features on Arthur include Brazil’s Estadão and Norway’s Årets Avis. She has appeared on dozens of podcasts, and a Refinery29 video feature on Arthur and her work received ten million views across social platforms. She travels the country and world as a keynote speaker, addressing audiences of several hundred to several thousand people at medical and end-of-life conferences, universities, seminaries, senior citizens’ communities, and more.

An eloquent and original exploration of the Atlantic slave trade―now featuring the essay “Venus in Two Acts” and a new introduction by Dionne Brand.

A monumental work of first-person history, Lose Your Mother traces the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade by recounting a journey Saidiya Hartman took along a slave route in Ghana. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, she reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy and the rippling effects of slavery on three centuries of African and African-American history.

The slave, Hartman observes, is a stranger―torn from family, home, and country. To lose your mother is to be severed from your kin, to be uprooted from your past, and to inhabit the world as an outsider. There are no known survivors of Hartman’s lineage, no relatives in Ghana whom she came hoping to find. Instead, she is a stranger in search of strangers, forging connections with others living in the wake of atrocity.

A rigorous and intimate reflection on the afterlife of slavery, Lose Your Mother is both a book of history and a book of grief. This 20th anniversary edition now includes Hartman’s landmark essay “Venus in Two Acts” and a new introduction by Dionne Brand―perfect for introducing new readers to Hartman’s lived-in way of contending with the past.

Celebrate Brenda Jackson's 150th book, Spilling the Tea! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, May 15 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ninety-something Mama Laverne is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren their perfect match before going home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent—and she intends to keep it that way.

Ninety-something-year-old Felicia Laverne Madaris, known in the family as Mama Laverne, is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren the perfect match before she goes home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent, and she intends to keep it that way.

After sustaining injuries in Iraq, US Army Ranger Chancellor (Chance) Madaris was told he’d never walk again. Chance credits his great-grandmother, Mama Laverne, with giving him the will and fortitude to heal and prove the doctors wrong. He has a healthy respect for her meddling ways and knows he’ll eventually end up next on her matchmaker’s list.

When Zoey Pritchard was eight, she survived a car accident that left both her parents dead. She was sent to live with her great-aunt who refused to speak about her parents. Zoey has no memory from before the crash, but she’s been having the same dream over and over…

Guided by nothing but a hunch and images from her dream, Zoey travels to Houston. Searching for answers, Zoey uncovers a scandal involving her parents and the wealthy and powerful Madaris family. Her trail leads her straight to Chance’s door. The dislike and intense attraction are instant and simultaneous. Was it chance or Mama Laverne’s plan to throw this pair together?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRENDA JACKSON is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than one hundred contemporary multicultural romance novels, including the Madaris Family series, the Westmorelands series, and The Playas series. She was the first African-American author to have a book published under the Harlequin/Silhouette Desire line and the first African-American romance author to hit both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists in the series romance genre. Many of her books have been adapted into movies. Brenda lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and divides her time between family, writing and traveling. brendajackson.net.

From the landmark writer and activist of the Harlem Renaissance, Alice Dunbar Nelson, A Carnival Jangle is a powerful and unflinching collection of stories inspired by her early life in New Orleans.

These are stories of love, betrayal and fortitude, peopled by an array of vivid characters whose dramas bring alive Creole life in the late nineteenth century.

Women must walk a tightrope between respectability and desire in stories such as 'A Carnival Jangle'. Poverty is tackled head-on in the moving stories 'M'sieu Fortier’s Violin' and 'Little Miss Sophie', whilst Catholic faith mixed with Creole spirituality looms large in 'The Goodness of St. Rocque and Odalie'.

This series of pocket-sized paperbacks celebrates the art of the short story and marks Macmillan Collector's Library's 10th anniversary. Each contains a curated selection of short stories from a literary giant: Katherine Mansfield, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, James, Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Alice Dunbar Nelson, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Rabindranath Tagore.

DELUXE LIMITED EDITION first printing featuring stenciled edges

The LONG AWAITED adult debut novel by beloved NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING Dhonielle Clayton: a romantic contemporary fantasy novel set in New Orleans, about a woman pulled back into a forbidden love, kicking off a brand new series

Collette Marchand never wanted to return home to the immortal wards of New Orleans, let alone inherit her mother’s blood-soaked business. Collette left magic and a great love behind a decade ago, tucking herself away in Boston. But now, her mother, Lady Red, the living Conjure Saint and matriarch of the most notorious Conjure House, has died for the final time.

Back in New Orleans, Téo Baptiste is stuck. He’s working at the same hospital where, ten years ago, he lost everything – his sobriety and the love of his life, Collette. Nights at the busiest ER in the city help him bury his feelings and ignore his magical destiny to take over the undead immortal ward. But Lady Red’s death might be his chance to make things right with Collette again, and build a new future for himself.

When Collette is summoned back home to bury her mother, she uncovers Lady Red’s greatest secret: the true source of her power is a stolen card from the Deck of Life. A card that, along with the family business, passes to Collette. Determined to rewrite the past, Collette needs help from the last person she wants to see ever again: her former flame and the man who shattered her heart, Téo. Now, Collette must confront whether she’s destined to become the next Lady Red and rule over the immortal wards of New Orleans and beyond … or take a second chance at love.

In this radiant and incisive debut novel in the tradition of works by ZZ Packer and Toni Cade Bambara, a Black woman fights to reclaim—and reinvent—her world after a little understood illness and a public health crisis threatens to upend everything she has.

Forty-seven-year-old Harmony Johnston is not suited for New York City life in 2019. From shampoos to synthetics to cell phones—the ubiquitous staples of modern daily life cause her physical pain, for reasons no one, including Harmony, understand. Doctors deny her illness is real, after seven years of enduring this private war, Harmony has her doubts too. Betrayed by her body and mind, as well as those closest to her—her obstinate physician sister, her sneaky best friend, and a spectral aunt who appears and disappears at whim—Harmony clings to the one doctor who offers hope.

In war, there are sacrifices: hair, boyfriend, sleep. Conditioned to place the comfort of others above her own needs, Harmony strives to be accommodating in an increasingly inhospitable world. But when the prestigious non-profit she works for relocates to an office with new wiring, painting, and carpeting (and the same old racial tensions) that exacerbate her pain, she quits her job and begins to set firm boundaries that upend her life, make her universe a little smaller, and magnify her loneliness.

As Harmony grows increasingly ill threatening her relationship with her one sympathetic doctor, she cuts herself off completely from the outside world and plunges into depression and literal darkness. When she eventually resurfaces, the world is irreversibly altered. With everyone now nearly as isolated as she is, Harmony resolves to re-connect with all she has lost. But can things ever really go back to normal?

At turns devastating, funny, and affirming, I Can Feel It All Over is an unforgettable debut novel about bodily autonomy, art, connection, and the pursuit of an authentic life amid the world's confines.

Hollywood icon and Emmy Award-winning Abbott Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph shares the personal stories that have shaped her and the advice that has guided her throughout her life—helping readers breathe deeper, love stronger, and rise higher.

Sheryl Lee Ralph understands a truth most of us learn the hard way: There are moments in life when you must let your light shine. Moments when the noise of the world tries to mute your mic and silence your voice, dull your glow, and convince you to forget who you are. She has known those moments intimately—under the bright lights of Broadway and in the quiet hum of hospital rooms, on red carpets and in church pews. Sheryl has worn crowns and carried a few crosses, but through it all remained her unshakable faith in one simple belief: better must come. No matter how many times life knocks you down, you can rise, you must rise, reclaim yourself, and begin again.

You Better Love What You See isn’t a list of commandments to make you feel guilty, a to-do list, or the play-by-play story of an actor’s life. Filled with boundless empathy and wisdom, it’s a moving guide for anyone who wonders if they’re enough, who wants to lead with love and heal themselves, or who still battles with self-doubt.

Sheryl’s reflections draw from her life as a performer, mother, daughter, wife, sister, and above all a wise, wild woman. She shares stories about remaining determined in the face of defeat, overcoming obstacles when systemic oppression tried to keep her down, and how to find strength in every storm, including:

* Experiences from her childhood as the only girl of color in her Catholic school, to being fired from a TV role for not being “Black enough”
* Enrolling in the very first coed class at Rutgers University
* Bringing down the house with her historic Emmy Award win and acceptance speech
* And many more inspiring moments touching on themes such as faith, resilience, choosing joy, and finding purpose

Sheryl’s warm and empowering message is that, bottom line, when you look in the mirror, you better love what you see, because feeling powerful and purposeful won’t come from external accolades or approval—it starts with YOU. Her strong, authentic voice and magnetic presence are evident on every page—and readers will return to it again and again whenever their light is feeling a little dim.

From a powerful new voice in fiction comes a stunning multigenerational epic, spanning from 1920s Haiti to 1990s New York, centered on the disappearance of a little girl from Brooklyn's J'ouvert celebrations

Brooklyn, 1996. Serenity Marcelin and her six-year-old daughter, Jouvay, have spent the summer reeling from an unexpected, devastating loss. Just when the two of them are beginning to find solace within their new family dynamic, Jouvay disappears into a crowd over Labor Day weekend and Serenity’s entire world changes in an instant.

In order to understand the events leading to Jouvay’s sudden disappearance, Serenity must unearth the long-buried secrets―and ghosts―of her family’s shocking past.

Told through the eyes of the unforgettable Marcelin women and the people closest to them, Idrissa Simmonds-Nastili's Backstitch embroiders a profound tale of hope and resistance, transporting readers to the city of Jérémie during the years of the US occupation of Haiti and to the vibrant streets of New York. A sweeping story of motherhood, sisterhood, resistance, generational trauma, and liberation, this novel charts the lives of the ghosts, secrets, and languages we can’t escape from―even when we try to bury them.

We Made the World: Five Centuries of Queens, Warriors, and Other Foremothers traces five centuries of history through twelve extraordinary women of African descent—from queens and warriors to artists and activists—weaving together collective memory, oral tradition, and personal grief into a landmark work that places Black women at the center of world history.

In 1949, a seamstress from a small coastal town in the Gold Coast colony stood up in a room full of men and voted to split from the most powerful political party in the country. Her name was Hannah Kudjoe. She spent the next decade organizing the women who would win Ghana's first democratic election and help make it the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence from European colonial rule. When Nkrumah published his autobiography, she wasn't in it.

We Made the World does for twelve women what it does for Hannah Kudjoe. It finds the woman who was in the room, who was essential to the room, and whose name was removed from the record the moment her usefulness to powerful men was exhausted.

We're talking about Queen Njinga of Angola, who fought the Portuguese to a standstill for forty years and died at eighty still a sovereign. Wangarĩ Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who saved a Nairobi forest by walking upstream through a river at dawn to plant trees while the police watched. Brenda Fassie, the queer Black pop icon who sang South Africa through the end of apartheid and whose music still stops a room on any continent.

The author traveled to eleven countries to write this book. She gathered oral histories from descendants and community keepers across four continents. And she wrote it while experiencing great loss and grief which means this book knows in its bones what it costs to carry someone's memory, and what it costs not to.

We Made the World is five hundred years of history rewritten from the inside. It is the book that asks what we have lost by not knowing these women's names, and begins the important work of giving that back to us all.