Showing results by narrator "Adenrele Ojo" in All Categories

To seventeen-year-old Angie, who is mixed-race, Marilyn is her hardworking, devoted white single mother. But Marilyn was once young, too. When Marilyn was seventeen, she fell in love with Angie's father, James, who was African-American. But Angie's never met him, and Marilyn has always told her he died before she was born. When Angie discovers evidence of an uncle she's never met she starts to wonder: What if her dad is still alive, too?

In the aftermath of a devastating tornado that rips through the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, at the height of the Great Depression, two women worlds apart - one Black, one White; one a great-grandmother, the other a teenager - fight for their families' survival in this lyrical and powerful novel.

Jesus didn't say that the world would know we are his followers by our biting rhetoric, our political leanings, our charity work, or even by our knowledge of Scripture. He said the world would know us by our love for one another. Yet it's so easy to put others at arm's length, to lash out, to put up walls. Deidra Riggs wants us to put our focus on self-preservation aside and, like Jesus, make the first move toward reconciliation.

In the wake of San Francisco Noir, Los Angeles Noir, and Orange County Noir - all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series - comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller, the "Czar of Noir", this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint.

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. In the wake of Chicago Noir, Twin Cities Noir, and Kansas City Noir - all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series - comes the latest Midwest installment, St. Louis Noir. Masterfully curated by Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest (adapted for film, starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton), this volume will chill the listener with heartland menace.

Gabby was what you would call your average seven-year-old girl. Or at least she was average when you first met her. She had a big brother, she loved her mommy and daddy, she hated going to bed, and she definitely hated brushing her hair.

Marriage is an adventure unlike any other. At times, you andyour spouse may feel so close, connected, and in love that you're ready to takeon the world together. But other times, things grow distant, and you wonderwhere all the joy and excitement has gone. What is the secret to a happy,healthy, God-honoring marriage - one that will last through anything that comesyour way? Join Tony and Lauren Dungy in The Uncommon MarriageAdventure, a series of daily reflections for couples.

The heralded Queen of Hip-Hop Lit presents an addictive collection of celebrated urban authors with their fingers on the pulse of the streets. Street lit’s finest female voices—Keisha Starr, Tysha, LaKesa Cox, and Monique S. Hall—deliver searing stories about women who make hard sacrifices to stay on top of their hustle and seize the power, money, and fame they can’t live without.

"Work hard, and don't look for excuses", C. Vivian Stringer's parents told her, "and you can achieve anything." But her faith and perseverance would be tested many times. A gifted athlete, she had to fight for a place on an all-White cheerleading squad in the 60s. In 1981, just as her coaching career was taking off, her 14-month-old daughter, Nina, was stricken with spinal meningitis. Yet Stringer brought a small, poor, historically Black college to the national championships.

Skylar and Storm Morrison may be gorgeous twin sisters, but they are as different as night and day. Skylar is savvy and book-smart; Storm is shrewd and street-smart. But a twist of fate lands Storm in jail, where she must trade her Fendi bags and Prada boots for an orange jumpsuit and laceless white sneakers. Meanwhile, Skylar makes a name for herself by transforming the restaurant that once belonged to the twins’ late father into Legends, Philadelphia’s hottest new nightclub.

Andra Lawler lives isolated at her family’s horse ranch, imprisoned by the memories of an assault in college. When she needs help training her foals, she hires a Haitian-Creole cowboy from New Orleans with a laugh as big as the Montana sky. LJ Delisle can’t stand the idea that Andra might be lonely - or eating frozen TV dinners. He bakes his way into her kitchen with a lemon velvet cake, and offers her cooking lessons that set them on the road to romance. But even their love can’t escape the shadow of what they've been through.

When MaryAnne Howland's son was turning 13, she organized a "Black Mitzvah" rite of passage celebration for him. Max is one of the one-in-three children in America being raised without a father in the home. Among African Americans, that number is reported to be as high as 72 percent. To help fill the father-shaped hole in Max's life as he transitioned from boyhood to manhood, MaryAnne invited four men from different corners of her life - an engineer, a philanthropist, a publisher, and a financial planner - to become Max's mentors.

Angel started dumpster diving out of curiosity when a woman at church mentioned it to her, but it quickly turned into a sizeable side-business to help support her growing, blended family. She learned quickly that dumpster diving is far from a last resort for those in unfortunate circumstances. It can be a fun and profitable family activity! In Finding Your Treasure, Angel shares how dumpster diving fits into her family’s Christian mission, how she started her business, and the moral case for reusing and recycling what your neighbors throw away.

Why I Run: 35 Progressive Candidates Who Are Changing Politics is a collection of original essays from women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and progressive allies who have recently run for office. Contributors like Stacey Abrams, Deb Haaland, Jason Kander, Andrea Jenkins, and Michelle Lujan Grisham share what inspired them to run, what it takes to win, and what lessons can be learned in the face of a loss. 

Superstar actress Paige Mills is America's sweetheart. But with a shocking divorce, she's burning her powerful husband's house of lies right down to the ground. Reeling from ugly revelations and unable to trust anyone, she takes refuge way off the celebrity grid in her family's remote Michigan lake house. But the brilliant agent who helped shape her success won't give up his client - or his long-simmering passion for her - without a fight....

Copeland Cane V, the child who fell outta Colored People Time and into America, is a fugitive. He is also just a regular teenager coming up in a terrifying world. A slightly eccentric, flip-phone loving kid with analog tendencies and a sideline hustling sneakers, the boundaries of Copeland’s life are demarcated from the jump by urban toxicity, an educational apparatus with confounding intentions, and a police state that has merged with media conglomerates - the highly rated Insurgency Alert Desk that surveils and harasses his neighborhood in the name of anti-terrorism.

Based on interviews with currently and formerly incarcerated artists, prison visits, and the author's own family experiences with the penal system, Marking Time shows how the imprisoned turn ordinary objects into elaborate works of art. Working with meager supplies and in the harshest conditions - including solitary confinement - these artists find ways to resist the brutality and depravity that prisons engender. The impact of their art, Fleetwood observes, can be felt far beyond prison walls.

It’s been three years since Ashiya Waters walked away from Russell — and made the biggest mistake of her life. She knows she shouldn’t dwell on the past. Love isn't meant to last…and nobody taught her that better than her own family. But when her grandmother unexpectedly dies, leaving Ashiya in charge of a multimillion-dollar company, Russell is the only one who can help her…and things get complicated fast.

Elaina Robidoux knows how people view her: coldhearted, ambitious, ruthless. But it doesn’t matter. Running the family business is all she’s ever wanted, and she’s so close she can almost taste it...until her father fires her and hires her nemesis - arrogant, unflappable Alex Tyson. Elaina may be hurt, but she refuses to be defeated, so she throws herself into creating a business of her own. But she never dreamed that to close her first deal, she’d need Alex’s help....

Attorney Nicole Campos hasn’t spoken to local mechanic Fletcher Austen since their high school friendship went down in flames over a decade ago. But when her car breaks down during her return to Wickham Falls and Fletcher unexpectedly helps her out with a custody situation in court, they find themselves suddenly wondering if this time is for keeps...or if their past differences are just too much to overcome.