The untold origin story of the 5 Muses from Disney’s Hercules is revealed in this rollicking YA fantasy filled with mythical adventure, music, and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

The Muses narrated Hercules’s story. Now, in this novel for fans of the New York Times bestsellers Go the Distance and Fire & Fate, they’ll narrate their own "gospel truth."

Living in a quiet seaside village with their overprotective mother, teenaged sisters Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, Terpsichore, and Thalia are talented performers with no audience. If Calli had her way, she'd pursue her dream of writing epic stories in the city of Thebes. But family comes first, and as the eldest, she'd never leave her beloved sisters behind.

Then, following a disastrous public music performance, their mother reveals a shocking secret: she is Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory, and for nearly two decades, she’s been on the run from the gods of Mount Olympus, desperate to keep her daughters safe from their machinations. Before she can share more, she is kidnapped . . . and though the girls don’t know it yet, the villain pulling the strings is none other than Hades, fiery God of the Underworld.

Under Calli’s leadership, the sisters embark on a journey to save their mother and to learn more about their own divine origins. But the path ahead is filled with mythical trials and tribulations, and they’ll need to rely on both their individual talents and the strength of their sisterhood to ensure that they ascend from "zeroes" to "heroes"--or more accurately, heroines.

Penned by New York Times bestselling author Farrah Rochon, this YA fantasy uniquely blends a twist on a Disney classic with a fresh take on Greek mythology.

Celebrate the release of That Girl Won't Die with Jumata Emill!

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, January 19 @ 7PM CST

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

How: 

• RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.

• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy That Girl Won't Die, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.

Please Note: Copies of That Girl Won't Die purchased from other retailers are not permitted in the bookstore and are not eligible for the signing or photo line. To participate in the signing and photo opportunity, you must purchase a copy from Kindred Stories. If you already purchased your book from Kindred Stories, you may select the RSVP Only ticket option and bring your Kindred Stories copy to the event.

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the event, your ticket is non-refundable. If your ticket includes a book, an email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A new student arrives at Prentiss Everton Academy, a renowned boarding school attended by America's Black elite, bearing a striking resemblance to its previous Queen Bee—who mysteriously died the year before—in this juicy thriller filled with lies, wealth and murder for fans of Gossip Girl.

THIS CASE ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE...AND NEITHER IS SHE.

Kennedy Churchwell has decided that her senior year at Prentiss Everton Academy is going to be her best. After the accidental death of her classmate and ex–best friend Whitney Templeton last semester, she’s taken her rightful place at the top of her school’s social pyramid. Whitney was the Academy’s queen bee, but now she’s gone. And she’s never coming back.

But when new student Tessa Edmond shows up on move-in day bearing a striking resemblance to Whitney, all Kennedy’s best-laid plans go out the window.

Did Whitney have a secret twin? All of campus is talking, but no one knows the truth.

Tessa is keeping a secret: She isn't who she says she is. 

Neither is Kennedy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jumata Emill is a journalist who has covered crime and local politics in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. He earned his BA in mass communications from Southern University and A&M College. When he’s not writing about murderous teens, he’s watching and obsessively tweeting about every franchise of the Real Housewives. Jumata lives in Houston, TX, and is the author of four novels: The Black Queen, Wander in the Dark, I Don't Wish You Well, and That Girl Won't Die.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

N.E. Davenport is the author of Our Vicious Oaths, the Blood Gift duology, and the YA novels Out of Body and Love Spells Trouble (as Nia Davenport). When she isn’t writing, she enjoys vacationing with her family, skiing, and being a huge foodie.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

Jacqueline Woodson's National Book Award and Newbery Honor winner, now available in paperback with 7 all-new poems.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

From the New York Times bestselling author of What’s Mine and Yours, a rich, panoramic exploration of female friendship, class, new motherhood, and independence

Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other and became immediate best friends. Then, they bonded as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now, they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. When Milly suggests Val move to New York to raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it’s a resounding yes.

Despite their excitement, the pair secretly wonder if their friendship has always worked best as a trio. From that first trip to France, these two motherless daughters were taken under the wing of an older woman named Helene. She showered them with money, love and attention, and showed them the possibilities of a meaningful future. But without Helene, who are Milly and Val?

Milly, a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, is occupied with her desire for independence. Val, a brilliant journalist, is struggling to write her first book and fit into her old friend’s new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they’ve grown. And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to the rift that began all those years ago in France. What they’ve long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood.

Weaving between Brooklyn brownstones and the glittering beaches of southern France, Take What You Can is a dazzling novel exploring what it means to be a mother when you have none, a sister without blood ties, and a woman in pursuit of the life she wants. With her signature sharply-observed prose, Coster illustrates what it means to be—and to stay—someone’s person through all phases of life.

*ships in 7-10 business days*

From the best-selling author and global feminist icon—an illustrated, guided journal containing her most powerful and inspiring quotes, as well as an introductory essay written exclusively for this publication, to help readers discover their own feminist journeys.

Her award-winning novels, including Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah; her stirring calls to arms We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele; her collaboration with Beyoncé; sharing the stage with Michelle Obama—each of these accomplishments has contributed to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s becoming one of the most iconic feminist figures of our time.

Now, in this beautiful journal, her most inspirational words encourage you to find your own voice, to define what feminism means to you, and to tell your own story. Featuring a series of writing prompts, quotes, and important events in the history of feminism, We Should All Be Feminists: A Guided Journal promises to give readers the tools to understand feminism, as well as to empower them to become better, more confident writers and communicators.

Celebrate the release of The Baby Dilemma with Elle Wright!

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, January 26 @ 7PM CST

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

How: 

• RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.

• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy The Baby Dilemma, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.

Please Note: Copies of The Baby Dilemma purchased from other retailers are not permitted in the bookstore and are not eligible for the signing or photo line. To participate in the signing and photo opportunity, you must purchase a copy from Kindred Stories. If you already purchased your book from Kindred Stories, you may select the RSVP Only ticket option and bring your Kindred Stories copy to the event.

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the event, your ticket is non-refundable. If your ticket includes a book, an email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A disciplined Detroit executive who’s sworn off marriage and kids is thrown off balance when his longtime situationship—a successful Black gamer with plans of her own—reveals a life-changing surprise in this sexy, emotional contemporary romance perfect for fans of Kristina Forest, Talia Hibbert, Mia Sosa, and Danielle Allen.

Hendrix Batchelor manages his personal life as carefully as his professional one. For the Batchelor Corporation executive, avoiding romantic commitment means staying safe from the turbulent family dysfunction that still haunts him. Sure, his comfortable, long-time situationship with Brianna Cobb ended /because they wanted different things, but the split was uncomplicated. . . . Until he learns Brianna is pregnant and wants to raise the baby alone.

With a baby due just as her career is thriving as one of the few Black girl professional gamers, Brianna is making tough but necessary choices. Why would she and Hendrix work now, when they never have before? Yet the more time Hendrix spends by her side as her pregnancy progresses, the more she starts to fall for the man he's proving to be.

After all this time, can Hendrix convince Brianna that what they have is the real thing? Or will Batchelor family drama force everyone to question whether they have the courage to abandon their best-laid plans . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elle Wright is an award-winning author of edgy contemporary romance loaded with heat, humor, and scandal. Her novels feature strong, intelligent, courageous, beautiful, yet flawed, heroes and heroines of color. There was never a time when Elle wasn't about to start a book, wasn't already deep in a book--or had just finished one. She grew up believing in the power of reading to transform, to heal, and to enhance life and love. She became a lover of all things romance after her mother convinced her to take a chance and read something new. She resides in Michigan with her husband and children. Connect with Elle online at ElleWright.com, Facebook ElleWrightAuthor, Twitter @LWrightAuthor, and Instagram: @lrwrightauthor.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

ROBBI RENEE: Loss, grief, & anxiety birthed Robbi Renee in December 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. She pens stories of love, heartbreak & healing. A love for reading transformed into an obsession with writing authentic Black characters, living beautiful Black lives in thriving Black communities that pay homage to her hometown of St. Louis! Robbi Renee enjoys writing contemporary & urban romance that takes readers on a wild ride.

*ships in 7-10 business days

Intimate poems that explore feminine shame and violence and imagine what liberation from these threats might look like, from the award-winning author of The January Children

In Girls That Never Die, award-winning poet Safia Elhillo reinvents the epic to explore Muslim girlhood and shame, the dangers of being a woman, and the myriad violences enacted and imagined against women’s bodies. Drawing from her own life and family histories, as well as cultural myths and news stories about honor killings and genital mutilation, she interlaces the everyday traumas of growing up a girl under patriarchy with magical realist imaginings of rebellion, autonomy, and power. 
 
Elhillo writes a new world: women escape their stonings by birds that carry the rocks away; slain girls grow into two, like the hydra of lore, sprouting too numerous to ever be eradicated; circles of women are deemed holy, protected. Ultimately, Girls That Never Die is about wrestling ourselves from the threats of violence that constrain our lives, and instead looking to freedom and questioning:
 
[what if i will not die]
 
[what   will govern me then]

Celebrate the release of If This World We're Mine with Arriel Vinson!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, January 28 @ 7 PM CST

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

How: 

• RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.

• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy If This World We're Mine, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.

Please Note: Books purchased from other retailers are not permitted in the bookstore and are not eligible for the signing or photo line. To participate in the signing and photo opportunity, you must purchase a copy from Kindred Stories.If you already have a copy from Kindred Stories feel free to choose the RSVP only option. 

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the event, your ticket is non-refundable. If your ticket includes a book, an email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arriel Vinson is a Midwesterner who writes about being young, Black, and in search of freedom. Her debut YA novel-in-verse, Under the Neon Lights, is a 2026 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, a Reese’s Book Club LitUp selection, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. Arriel earned her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and is a Tin House YA Scholar, Highlights Foundation scholarship recipient, and Walter Grant recipient. Her sophomore novel, If This World Were Mine, is forthcoming in spring 2027. You can connect with her on social media at @arriwrites and find her work at arriwrites.com

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

LIARA TAMANI grew up in Houston, Texas, where every spring meant one thing: rodeo season. She loved getting decked out in her best cowgirl gear and soaking up the music, food, and electric energy of the rodeo, a joy she now shares with her daughter and husband. Her deep Texas roots shine through her storytelling, capturing the spirit and rhythms of the state in all her acclaimed novels: Calling My Name, All the Things We Never Knew, and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, television production assistant, home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

A BreakBeat Poets anthology of writings by Muslims who are women, queer, genderqueer, nonbinary, or trans.

The collected poems dispel the notion that there is one correct way to be a Muslim by holding space for multiple, intersecting identities while celebrating and protecting those identities.

Halal If You Hear Me features poems by Safia Elhillo, Fatimah Asghar, Warsan Shire, Tarfia Faizullah, Angel Nafis, Beyza Ozer, and many others.

Fatimah Asghar is the creator of the Emmy-Nominated web series Brown Girls, now in development for HBO. She is the author of If They Come For Us and a recipient of a 2017 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. She is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and a Kundiman fellow. In 2017, she was listed on Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list.

Safia Elhillo is the author of The January Children. Sudanese by way of Washington, DC and a Cave Canem fellow, she holds an MFA from the New School. In 2018, she was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.

In this unforgettable summer novel perfect for fans of From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Maggie, her best friend Daija, and her new half-sister Callie team up to create the ultimate hair-braiding business.

Maggie's world is turned upside down when she learns that her father, whom she admires, has a second daughter, Callie, whom no one knew existed. But she won't let a new family member get in the way of her summer plans with best friend Daija. They're determined to make tons of money braiding hair for kids around the neighborhood.

Daija's always felt like she had a sister in Maggie. So she can't let new half-sister Callie take her place! And she can't let her interfere with their new Braid Girls business, either. She needs the money to pay for extra ballet lessons so she can go en pointe and earn a spot in the fall dance showcase, making her distant father proud at last—if she pulls this off, he'll have to pay attention to her.

Callie's still grieving her late mom. Now she's leaving her old home in the Bahamas behind, including her old school and friends to move in with the father she's never met, plus his family. When she hears of Maggie's and Daija's business, she sees a chance to prove her skills and a way to be accepted.

With three very different girls on board, the Braid Girls arrive to a summer camp full of kids with locs begging to be braided. Business is booming, until rival Angela shows up with her friends and starts a new braiding business—the Sistahs Who Braid. With competition heating up, the Braid Girls are sure to have an unforgettable summer.