Kauai Carter was willing to do anything she could to restore her marriage with her husband, Jalen, of five years. Getting married fresh out of high school wasn't ideal, but they'd made it work...or so she thought. When Kauai crosses paths with the sexy, brash, and most of all, irresistible Marvelous James, he will opened her eyes to everything she had been missing in her dead marriage. Will Kauai stray from the only relationship she has ever been in for the love of a thug? Or will the opposites in personalities cause her to clash with Marvelous and have her running in the other direction? Bunny was a reformed bad girl. Her whole life she had lived on the wild side until she met Syren, who was able to tame her and make her realize there was more to life than partying. Bunny was living the life she had only read about in books until her ex-boyfriend, Dice, is released from prison, reminding her of just how dark her past really is. Will Bunny be able to continue to live the lie she had been living for so long? Or will her skeletons come out of the closet to haunt her, resulting in her losing the best thing that has ever happened to her. Loving a thug is never easy and these ladies will find out just how hard it is.

Birds of a feather flock together, and in Kenya and Valentina’s case, that is definitely true. Both women have had their fair share of heartache and pain in their relationships. Both women have sworn off love out of fear. Kenya, the softer of the two, refuses to date. She wants to take no chances with her heart... until she meets Reign. Reign has his own scars because of love – literally – and he promises to protect her heart. But Kenya isn’t so sure if she can trust him. If he was reckless with his own heart, how could she trust him with hers? Valentina on the other hand has no problem dating. She just refuses to commit. She refuses to love. She refuses to give another man the chance to disappoint her. She succeeds at this for years... until she is forced to spend the weekend with Reign’s best friend, Ace. Valentina doesn’t deny her attraction towards him, but the fact that Ace has made it perfectly clear that he wants a wife and children has Valentina dead set on avoiding him at all costs. Will Valentina succeed, or will Ace make her weak for his love? Will Kenya continue to allow her fear of love to keep her from committing and staying with Reign, or will she surrender to her weakness and place her heart in the hands of a man who has a proven track record of loving and living recklessly?

Jersey Warren has had it good for most of her life, until her father does the unthinkable, betraying the whole family. With no way to make ends meet, she turns to the world of stripping in order to keep herself afloat. Jersey feels that she is simply existing, and finds nothing interesting about her life, until she meets Tommy Brownson. Tommy is cute, sweet, persistent, and patient. Jersey finds herself smitten with him, but soon after becomes just short of infatuated with his frenemy Kilexis Camren. Conflicted, Jersey is having a hard time figuring out if she wants the kind and gentle Tommy, after all he did approach her first, or the mysterious, rugged, and frank Kilexis. Not able to decide right away, Jersey dabbles with both, showing a much more favortism to the latter. Will she be able to pick in enough time to preserve the losing man's feelings? Or will fate choose for her, causing a heightened rivalry between the men? Cheyla Austin is a pill popping stripper, who has no idea where she wants to go in life, and to honest she's perfectly okay with that. Living life one day at a time, and having to answer to no one, has proved to be Cheyla's method for achieving contentment. She has no interest in dating anyone who may disrupt her easy going and detached life, until she meets the sexy, ambitious, and clever Kantwan Camren. Kantwan is a no nonsense guy, and refuses to be with a woman who will cower when met with true love or hardwork. Will Cheyla be able to mature into the woman Kantwan needs? Or will she continue to live life as a disconnected and afraid little girl, causing her to lose out on the man of every girl's dreams? Ivy Horne, hasn't had it easy for the past few years. With her child's father being thrown in jail for reckless petty robberies, she is forced to make sure her son has everything he needs. In order to put food into her son Donovan's mouth, she joins best friends Jersey and Cheyla, by dancing every night for cash. Her plan is to focus on making money, while looking for a new job to obtain before her man Portland comes home. In addition to that, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about her being faithful to Portland while put away. That all changes upon meeting the intelligent, handsome, and aggressive Elijah Camren, who tries to show Ivy that she is way too good to hold a man down that has been so disloyal to her in the past. When Ivy falls for Elijah's charm, just a teeny bit, she is stuck with having feelings for him even when Portland returns. Will she dibble and dabble like Jersey? Or will fate have to pick for her as well? Everyone seems to be in a love that's forbidden, frowned upon, or just downright wrong. Follow Jersey, Cheyla, and Ivy, as they all share forbidden love with a thug.

With her parents dead, Jersey is forced to deal with the aftermath of it all. Not only is her father's mistress causing her problems, but an ex of Kill's can't seem to accept the fact that he has moved on to someone else. Will Jersey and Kill be able to press on, and bask in the ambience of their new lives? Or will outside forces ruin a good thing before it's even started? Cheyla has gotten clean, and is enjoying every aspect of her new life; well almost every aspect. When she enlists the help of someone she thought was her friend, she threatens her relationship with Kantwan, and puts herself in danger at the same time. Will Cheyla force Kantwan to throw in the towel because of her constant attraction to drama? Ivy has decided to leave her unfaithful baby daddy, Portland, behind for a much better Elijah. But what happens when you don't know the boundaries needing to be set for your child's father? Portland is unconvinced that Ivy has moved on, and refuses to give up on the one-sided happy home they used to share. Has Ivy truly left Portland behind? Or was she simply in the moment while with, Elijah? Follow the three best friends as they continue to deal with the hardships of being in a once forbidden love. These days, no one seems to be honest about who they really are, and with new couples that no one knew existed springing up, this is sure to be one big roller coaster ride

This book is written for the young and hopeless, for the misguided, misled, misunderstanding, and misunderstood. It's a book of growth to promote growing. A book to reveal that someone understands, can relate, and cares. This book is written out of love and by faith. It's inspired by life and the discovery of the power of choice to shape that life. It's about choosing to know, love, and be yourself. Being a thug or a man is about accepting your humanity, mortality, and individuality; and respecting your own mind enough to trust that you are perfect. Acknowledging, accepting, and respecting that you are always a work in progress serves as a revelation into so much more. It ain't gotta be the way it is, but it is what it is until you choose to do and be different. This book is written with the hope to give both thuggin' and manhood a broader perspective. The hope that we will discontinue the traditional trade of innocence for ignorance. The aim of this book is to break one cycle and begin another more constructive one.

Baby Girl McCoy was given her name when her mother couldn't even be bothered to give her another one in the hospital after she gave birth. Baby Girl was the product of rape, and she spends her life in a quest for a father figure. Never in a million years did she imagine that she'd find it in the man that she does. With a good head on her shoulders and a forgiving heart, Harlem Lee Jones discovers that some things in life must still be accounted for. She may have allowed her heart to find its way to God, but the devil is surely lurking close behind. Has she really left her mean street ways behind her? These two dramatic stories filled with pain, heartache, and ghetto love, remind readers that you can take the girl away from the ghetto, but she'll always manage to find her way back.

Aria and Nawf had a one night stand years ago. When he find out about his daughter he is willing to do anything to get the family he always wanted but there's always a law to love.

Meet Maya Hope. Double-dipped in cocoa with brick-house curves, she's a lover of jazz, a political poet, and a sociologist. Her best friend and roommate, Athena Jackson, is her opposite in every way -- a petite ex-cheerleader who's always blaring rap, grinding out rhymes, and ready to take the next man home. When Maya is forced to pinch-hit in an audition and bust Athena's rhymes, she finds herself on an undercover escapade in the wild world of hip-hop as the raw, sexy, roughneck Jezebel. After striking a deal with her own personal devil, Maya sets off on the tempting roller-coaster ride of a lifetime -- finding music, more fun than she's ever had, and even a man or two...but not without consequences. Brimming with electric sensuality, Dare is an unforgettable, envelope-pushing odyssey of two gutsy women playing by their own rules.

An insightful new resource that looks at the rise of American hip hop as a series of distinct regional events, with essays covering the growth of hip hop culture in specific cities across the nation. Thoroughly researched, thoroughly in tune with the culture, Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide profiles two dozen specific hip hop scenes across the United States, showing how each place shaped a singular identity. Through its unique geographic perspective, it captures the astonishing diversity of a genre that has captivated the nation and the world. In two volumes organized by broad regions (East Coast, West Coast and Midwest and the Dirty South), Hip Hop in America spans the complete history of rap—from its 1970s origins to the rap battles between Queens and the Bronx in the 1980s, from the well-publicized East Coast vs. West Coast conflicts in the 1990s to the rise of the Midwest and South over the past ten years. Each essay showcases the history of the local scene, including the MCs, DJs, b-boys and b-girls, label owners, hip hop clubs, and radio shows that have created distinct styles of hip hop culture.

Lexi and Frankie are finally the happy couple that everyone wanted them to be, but with happiness comes haters. No matter how good their relationship seems to be going, something or someone always brings them down. In this case, Lexi becomes enraged by something her mom says and does something drastic, without realizing the consequences of her actions. SJ got rid of the Whitney, who caused more problems than one. However, with one bad apple, more tend to surface. The people in SJ’s life seem as if they can’t let go. It doesn’t cause any turmoil because Dree is more than comfortable in her spot. Unfortunately, not everyone understands the word no and will learn the hard way. Raya goes on a dummy mission alone and finds herself in a position that she has to get out of. Sadly, no one knows her whereabouts right away, and once they found them, did they make it in time? Was anyone there with her? Take this ride with the crew and see if Raya made it home safe or did she put herself in more danger. Find out if what Lexi did can be forgiven or will the other person say oh well.