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Audiobooks Narrated by Kim Johnson
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In 1955, a Black family passes for white and moves to a "Whites Only" town in the suburbs. Caught between two worlds, a teen boy puts his family at risk as he uncovers racist secrets about his suburb. A new social justice thriller from the acclaimed author of This Is My America!
Calvin knows how to pass for white. He's done it plenty of times before. For his friends in Chicago, when they wanted food but weren't allowed in a restaurant. For work, when he and his dad would travel for the Green Book.
This is different.
After a tragedy in Chicago forces the family to flee, they resettle in an idyllic all-white suburban town in search of a better life. Calvin's father wants everyone to embrace their new white lifestyles, but it's easier said than done. Hiding your true self is exhausting -- which leads Calvin across town where he can make friends who know all of him...and spend more time with his new crush, Lily. But when Calvin starts unraveling dark secrets about the white town and its inhabitants, passing starts to feel even more suffocating--and dangerous--than he could have imagined.
Expertly weaving together real historical events with important reflections on being Black in America, acclaimed author Kim Johnson powerfully connects readers to the experience of being forced to live a life-threatening lie or embrace an equally deadly truth.
From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of This Is My America comes another thriller about a wrongly accused teen desperate to recclaim both his innocence and his first love.
Life can change in an instant.
When you're wrongfully accused of a crime.
When a virus shuts everything down.
When the girl you love moves on.
Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn't feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre's suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn't commit even taint his friendships. It's as if his whole life has been erased.
The one thing Andre is counting on is his relationship with the Whitaker kids-especially his longtime crush, Sierra. But Sierra's brother Eric is missing, and the facts don't add up as their adoptive parents fight to keep up the act that their racially diverse family is picture-perfect. If Andre can find Eric, he just might uncover the truth about his own arrest. But in a world where power is held by a few and Andre is nearly invisible, searching for the truth is a dangerous game.
Critically acclaimed author Kim Johnson delivers another social justice thriller that shines a light on being young and Black in America-perfect for fans of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Dear Justyce by Nic Stone.
Running and hiding is looked upon as a way out for the weak. It is something Omar never thought he would do. As a child, he didn't even play hide-and-seek for that very reason. Unfortunately, after being sentenced to death by his cousin, Demarcus, Omar was left with no choice.
Moving to Detroit wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It didn't take long for him to reign supreme. The change of location didn't change his conniving and coldhearted ways, however. And it didn't take the locals long to see him for the monster he was. When his lies caught up to him and backed him into the corner, he opted to take the easy way out and leave.
After being off the radar for three years, Omar was now willing to play the game. And he wanted it to end in his cousin's murder and his reclaiming the throne he was kicked down from. But how many people would he be willing to kill to get back what he felt was rightfully his?
Demarcus' life has turned for the better. He has a relationship with his newfound father, runs a large distribution ring for heroin-called dog food-and has a few legit businesses flourishing on the side. The sheltered mama's boy has turned into a man. But suddenly, the bodies start piling up and Demarcus goes from being the most loved man in the city of Memphis to being the number one suspect in every case that crosses the homicide unit's desk.
Demarcus'past is back to haunt him with a vengeance. But what happens when the true murderer is someone he already knows to be dead?
From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Antoinette, author of the Prada Plan series, comes a boldly fierce and strikingly dramatic novel, Luxe.
Bleu Montclair knew as a young girl that she would one day escape the hard, unrelenting streets of Flint, Michigan. When her desperate prayers are answered in the form of a scholarship to UCLA, she knows she's struck gold. But soon after arriving, all her beautiful, bright dreams begin to fall apart. Endless temptations abound in the form of cars, clothes, booze, and drugs, and Bleu cannot keep up. When her roommate gives her the opportunity to make a lot of money fast, Bleu goes all in-and heads straight down a path of violence and addiction that only her newest protector, Iman, can save her from.
Iman is used to the fast, unpredictable, high-rolling life, and it has always been enough ... until he meets Bleu. He finally has someone to care for who means more to him than all the money and power he could command. But love on the streets is never easy. "Caution...Will leave you breathless. It's that intense."-Essence
No shade means no offense (as defined by the Urban Dictionary).
Example: Don't tell her I told you, but your little cousin is a ho. No shade.
Every little girl dreams of a happy ending to her story; a home, children, and a man who loves her enough to share his life and last name. When Billy's longtime boyfriend Marcus finally pops the question, it's one of the happiest moments of her life.
Billy calls on her childhood friends Reese and Yoshi to stand with her on her special day. Several years have passed since they'd last come together, and unresolved issues have driven a wedge between the women. Nevertheless, they agree to put their differences aside for the sake of Billy's wedding. But the truce is a short one when Billy has to decide on a maid of honor. Just when things seem to be coming together, they quickly begin to fall apart. At a time when Billy is supposed to be basking in the sunshine of her approaching wedding, she finds herself the target of shade being thrown from the most unlikely places.
While Billy is going through her drama, Marcus is dealing with issues of his own. An old crime partner of his blows into town unexpectedly, and his presence threatens to destroy the legitimate life Marcus has worked so hard to build.
Even with the universe seemingly working against them, Billy and Marcus are determined to have their dream wedding. But first they have to survive the nightmare of planning it.
There goes the neighborhood ... again.
#1 Essence bestselling author K'wan presents three explosive stories in one collection.
Love & Gunplay
After news of the attempted murder of his estranged fiancé, Gucci, Animal has two things on his mind: love and gunplay. With the help of his mistress, the deadly Red Sonja, Animal manages to elude his captors in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and washes up on the shores of Miami. He's one step closer to home, but it may as well be a world away. Animal is still a wanted fugitive, and getting to New York undetected proves to be trickier than he thought.
Purple Reign
Don B is the owner and headliner of a successful yet notorious record label called Big Dawg Entertainment, whose stars all seem to meet with unfortunate ends under mysterious circumstances. Don B made his fortune off music and his name from the trail of broken lives he's left in his wake. He is a predator in every sense of the word. Don B's wealth and power make him believe he's untouchable, but all this changes during a business trip to Miami and a chance meeting with a stranger who calls herself Reign.
Little Nikki Grind
After years of work on the streets, Felon has finally saved up enough money to retire from the illegal life and pursue a legitimate career in the music industry. Having just inked a distribution deal for his fledgling entertainment company, Freak Show, Felon and a few of his closest friends decide to go out and celebrate at a new gentleman's club in New York called Purple City. It's at Purple City where he meets a young dancer named Nikki, who has a story to tell that will turn Felon's world upside down. When Felon is sucked into Nikki's web of sex, deceit, and murder, it threatens to ruin everything he's worked so hard to build and to take him out of the game permanently.
It’s a hard knock life for Saucy Sarita Robinson, and the rules of the game are clear: get yours or get had. When her father gets popped in an armed robbery and her mother turns to drugs, Saucy is left to scratch out a life for herself on the streets of Harlem, and this city-slick vixen refuses to become a victim.
Young, hot, and hungry for the spotlight, Saucy uses her assets to get whatever she wants: 128th Street has its own rules, and she knows them well. With sex as her weapon of choice, Saucy hustles her way into the heart of the hip-hop underworld, preying upon any man—or woman—who might help her get ahead. But Saucy just can’t get enough. Her calculating nature and insatiable appetite for power and prestige tempt her into dangerous waters, and she finds herself in too deep. The shot-callers of the hip-hop world have a few tricks for Saucy: a plan to force her back onto the very streets that she came from. But Saucy refuses to go down easy. She plots her revenge against some of the most powerful playas in the music industry, never suspecting that her enemies will fight back … and fight back hard.
“Saucy Robinson returns with a vengeance in Noire’s latest Harlem street tale, with Noire’s most sophisticated plot to date.”—Publishers Weekly
I. With only two hundred dollars, Unique packed her suitcase and headed to New York City for a brand-new start. It’s there that Unique meets big-time boxing promoter Kennard, and it is love at first sight. After nine months of living in the lap of luxury with Kennard, skeletons from Unique’s past show up, and it will cost her a cool million dollars to keep not only her relationship but her life. Unique isn’t about to lose it all. With the help of her best friend, she devises a major heist; to pull it off all she has to do is stay alive.
II. Kennard is stunned to learn about Unique’s past, but more importantly, he is not about to let anyone get away with hurting his woman. As Unique and her best friend, Teeydah, set out on a path of revenge, a new menace and betrayal rises.
III. The blade of revenge cuts both ways. However, that is not going to stop Unique from getting those who are out to get her. And she is determined to be the last woman standing.
Always Unique gathers together three popular Unique novellas from bestselling author Nikki Turner.
Pappy tries to break out of the game before the head of his crew, Black, gets them all killed. Against his better judgment Pappy agrees to do one last job, but only because it’s the price of his freedom. He knows Black can’t be trusted. He knows his “brother” would rather see him dead than let him walk away. Yet he still agrees to do the job because Black isn’t the only one who can’t be trusted. Sometimes you have to kill for what you want.
Further developing the stark realism and uncompromising streetwise narratives of his lyrics, H.N.I.C. cements Prodigy’s position as one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary urban life. Simultaneously a fast-paced crime drama and an engrossing, unsentimental moral tale, it peers into the dark heart that underpins the codes of loyalty and friendship, betrayal and vengeance.
With H.N.I.C., Prodigy inaugurates Infamous Books, a revolutionary partnership that pairs the Infamous Records brand with Brooklyn-based independent publisher Akashic Books. Infamous Books’ mission is to connect readers worldwide to crime fiction and street lit authors both familiar and new.
“You can tell that a true lyricist created this gritty tale about greed, betrayal, and street romance. The wordplay is dead on. Combine that with the details that give the freshness of immediate experience and you are no longer reading the story, you are suddenly a character in it. This is what good writing does—it puts you right there in the middle of the action. Excellent read. Salute!”—Miasha, author of Secret Society
