The 'Commitment' Series
Commitment
The 'Commitment' Series Book 1
It was obvious to everyone but them they were all wrong for each other. Riley is a free-spirited boho writer and Shawn is a magnetic and charismatic rapper, riding the highest crest of his career. She doesn't understand his world and he sure as hell doesn't understand hers. And what's worse, while he's never committed to any woman before, she's committed to someone else. Still, they can't stay away from each other. Along with frequent clashes of their equally strong wills, Shawn and Riley will have to face down opposition from friends, family and one extremely motivated groupie, if they want to forge a commitment that will last the test of time.
Unsuitable Men
The 'Commitment' Series Book 2
Beautiful, accomplished and a little uptight, Tracy Emerson thinks she has it all figured out, particularly when it comes to the kind of man she wants to end up with. And she knows for sure that Brendan Cole is not The One. First of all, he works in the music business, with rappers no less! His lifestyle is wholly unsuitable for a long-term partner, and not at all compatible with hers. But she can't help that she's incredibly attracted to him and also can't overlook that he's always treated her better than any man ever has. So what would be the harm in spending time with him until someone more appropriate comes along? But soon Brendan's spirit and spontaneity break down Tracy's walls and have her questioning whether her criteria for the perfect man might not be all screwed up. Then, to make matters worse, as secrets and lies from her past begin to unravel, Tracy wonders whether she might not also be a little screwed up, and not at all the kind of woman Brendan would want in his future . . .
Maybe Never
The 'Commitment' Series Book 3
The postscript to 'Unsuitable Men'. . .
Tracy is a complicated and sometimes difficult woman, but Brendan loves her anyway. Still, your lover’s foibles are one thing to tolerate when they’re just your ‘lover’. Contemplating forever is an entirely different story. What happens when there are things about the person you love that you still want to change? And what do you do when you have to face the fact that if change is what you need from them, that might happen . . . maybe, never?
The Fall
A 'Commitment' Novel
In the summer of her fifteenth year as a professor at Gilchrist College, Lorna Terry is at a crossroads and, she fears, also on the downswing of her career as the “sole remaining radical feminist in academia.” Having built her life on a theory of non-attachment, she is disturbed to find herself becoming very much attached to the somewhat younger, Malcolm T. Mitchell. A writer-on-the rise, and her college’s newest wunderkind, Malcolm is about to challenge everything she thought she ever knew about her life, her loves, and her work.
Four: Stories of Marriage
The 'Commitment' Finale
The ‘Commitment’ series finale.
Four couples, four transitions, four seasons of marriage …
Grace
Most couples wouldn’t have weathered one mistake of the kind Shawn made when he and Riley first got married, let alone emerge with a commitment that’s stronger, a beautiful family and a love that’s even deeper. Is there any way their relationship can survive mistake number two?
Balance
Whatever Brendan wants, Brendan gets. It’s an arrangement Tracy doesn’t mind, because he provides everything she needs: love, financial security and the comfort of never having to work outside the home. But now, the most important thing she wants, he doesn’t have the time—or maybe even the will—to give. With a relationship built on giving all of herself, is it fair to now ask for a piece back?
Growth
Robyn’s career is in a growth-spurt just as Chris’ seems to be at its natural end. No longer empire-building, he’s struggling with his new reality, and the need for a sense of purpose separate from his work. His wife seems way too busy to notice. That is, until someone else does.
Renewal
Once a mistress, now just a suburban wife and working mother, Keisha doesn’t recognize herself most days. The problem is, Jayson doesn’t either. If he’s reading her right, she wants out. And unless she’s mistaken, he might not mind too much if she decided to go.
The 'Afterwards' Series
Afterwards
The 'Afterwards' Series Book 1
Robyn Crandall thought she had the life she'd always dreamed of, with her childhood sweetheart, until he asked for a divorce. Gone with him are her hopes of a perfect home and family. Moving back in with her mother, broke and broken, Robyn has no plans to do anything other than lick her wounds and hold on to her faltering career. But then she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to a man who has everything, and yet seems to have nothing at all.
Every single milestone Chris Scaife set, he's reached and surpassed. The one place he feels out of his depth is being a father to his three kids--all them practical strangers--and dealing with their mothers who view him as a never-ending source of income. Between that, and managing his music empire he doesn't have time for distractions, but one shows up anyway. Robyn is a woman who deserves the kind of life he doesn't feel equipped to give her, but walking away might not be that easy.
Afterburn
The 'Afterwards' Series Book 2
Chris Scaife is not the man Robyn Crandall thought he was. Now that she’s shown him the possibility of a new life, she knows that Chris wants it. And he’s used to getting what he wants. But Robyn is seeing some possibilities of her own, as a highly-valued member of the legal team at Chris’ multimillion dollar corporation.
Just as he’s given her the confidence to soar, will Chris try to clip her wings? Once an unapologetic bachelor and distant father, Chris Scaife is now a different man. Engaged to Robyn Crandall, a woman whose love he never thought he could have—or deserve—Chris wants a wedding to happen, and happen soon. But Robyn’s plans are somewhat different from that.
Young, Rich & Black
An 'Afterwards' Novella
When Chris “Deuce” Scaife, Jr. and the campus revolutionary, Zora Diallo have an unexpected and powerful encounter just before winter break, no one could have been more surprised than they were. While they’re home for the holiday, what started as a temporary fling continues and strengthens. But will their new bond survive their return to campus?
Back at school, Deuce’s reputation as a wealthy and directionless player, and Zora’s as a young-woman-to-watch mean that their friends, priorities and maybe even their values might be sharply at odds. Can the power of their newfound passion for each other withstand their differences? Zora is looking to change the world, but Deuce is just enjoying being young, rich and Black. And ultimately, maybe the pull of their divergent paths will be stronger than the pull toward each other ...
Snowflake
An 'Afterwards' Novel
Running away from his feelings is the one race he'll never win ...
A star athlete and Olympic prospect, Kal Carter is bound for greatness. Everyone says it, only he's not sure he entirely believes it. Because he’s lost something he can’t replace, and most days feels like he’s holding up the sky; and doing it all on his own.
To maintain focus, he never lets anyone close except in the most superficial ways and he’s become very good at it. Until a long, cold week when the solitary girl next-door who never speaks, smiles or makes eye-contact barges into his life and seems poised to upend the whole doggone thing.
Rhyme & Reason
An 'Afterwards' Novel
“Maybe friendship is all that’s realistic for us right now.”
With those words, Zora ended their long-distance relationship, shattering Deuce’s vision of a life with the only woman he’s ever loved. But after months of silence, he thought he was over it. He’d moved on, hadn’t he? And as far as he knew, she might have done the same. Now Zora is back from California, and he’s thrown into an immediate tailspin. Nothing’s changed.
She’s the one, the only, his rhyme, and his reason …
But this ain’t no college romance. There are serious, grown-folks’ obstacles standing in the way, and the other woman in his life isn’t even the half of it.
And sometimes growing up might mean moving on …
Over a few short summer weeks, Deuce and Zora will have to decide whether the great love they shared in the past, is enough of a foundation to build a future.
Courtship
A 'Snowflake' Novel
Ibrahim Carter needs to chart a new course for his life. Having returned home after almost a decade in prison, he is no longer father to a young son nor husband to a deferential wife. Now, his son is a father himself, and his wife, Jada, is a woman changed by her newfound independence.
Struggling to figure out his future, his marriage, and most especially his very identity, Ibrahim finds that to move forward, he must look back …
Over the course of one weekend, he and Jada revisit the first heady days of their young and often immature romance, remembering the courtship that ripened into love, and trying to decide whether the bond they once shared can be revived or is gone for good.
Unplanned
A 'Snowflake' Drop-In
Ibrahim Carter has a plan; to learn from his family's mistakes and make for himself and his new wife, Jada, the perfect life he never had. But she has something else entirely in mind.
Kal Carter is disciplined and focused and those things have served him well while training for the Olympics. But in preparing for fatherhood, he learns that neither one of those traits is worth a damn.
The Broken
An 'Afterwards' Novel
He might destroy her. She could help put him back together.
If it wasn’t for his music, Devin Parks doesn’t know where he’d be. Now he has a shot at a larger audience than he ever dreamed of. All he has to do, is get out of his own way. But when Devin isn’t fighting salacious rumors on entertainment blogs and rival musicians, he’s battling serious demons from his past that threaten to hold him back just as he’s poised to soar.
Harper Bailey has mixed feelings about being assigned to manage the notoriously difficult Devin Parks' mainstream debut. It’s a career-changing opportunity made much more challenging because she’s fighting demons of her own. Not to mention the persistent pull the former lovers have toward each other. Harper has handled her attraction to the artists before, but Devin is different. The draw isn’t just physical, it’s emotional as well. And getting emotionally involved with someone like him is a non-starter for her career and her heart.
Because if her instincts are correct, he isn’t just ‘difficult’, he’s broken.
The 'Mistress' Trilogy
Mistress
The 'Mistress' Trilogy Book 1
Keisha Crawford is at a crossroads. Just when she thought she’d finally risen above the scandal in her past, her latest “sugar daddy” passes away, and now she’s being evicted from the luxury penthouse she thought was hers. Slinking home to her father’s house with her tail between her legs, Keisha’s only goal is to get out of Brooklyn and back to the lifestyle that she’s become accustomed to. But when you go home again, it’s that much harder to let go of the person you used to be.
Wife
The 'Mistress' Trilogy Book 2
No longer a mistress to wealthy, much older men, Keisha Crawford isn't certain who or what she is anymore. But one thing she is sure of is how she feels about Jayson Holmes, the handsome-as-sin ex-con who gave her a reason--and the courage--to change.
Jayson’s going through an identity crisis of his own. He wasn’t the kind the man who was supposed to wind up in prison, and now that he’s out, he’s serving a different kind of time—living in regret for all that he’s missed, the relationships fractured and opportunities gone for good. Now Jayson needs to make some changes and build a new life. But when he does, he just may find that Keisha shouldn’t be part of it.
Mother
The 'Mistress' Trilogy Book 3
Married to Jayson Holmes, and managing school, an emerging interest in a fashion career, extended family and new friends, Keisha’s life has changed well beyond anything she ever imagined. But Jayson has even more changes on his mind–he wants to be a father.
But how can Keisha, who never believed she would be a wife, come to terms with an even more challenging role? Will she rise to the occasion and embrace the joy, fear and uncertainty of motherhood? Or will she allow old habits–and old friends–to threaten the fragile peace she’s finally found?