LibraryAware june 2025

What's New in 2025 so far

Joy goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
by A'Lelia Perry Bundles

"Dubbed the "joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s" by poet Langston Hughes, A'Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the author's great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. After inheriting her mother's hair care enterprise, A'Lelia would become America's first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homes -- a mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terre -- where she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties. Now, based on extensive research and Walker's personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous mother's sphere. In Joy Goddess, A'Lelia's radiant personality and impresario instincts -- at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler -- are brought to vivid and unforgettable life"

The girls who grew big
by Leila Mottley

Banished to her grandmother's small Florida town after becoming pregnant at sixteen, Adela finds an unlikely sisterhood among a group of young mothers who, despite societal judgment, support each other through friendship, love, and the complexities of motherhood and adolescence.

Fearless and free : a memoir
by Josephine Baker

This memoir chronicles the life of Josephine Baker, the groundbreaking dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist, from her rise to fame in 1920s Paris to her daring role in World War II and her activism during the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

Can't get enough
by Kennedy Ryan

"Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry's rarefied air...Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer's hottest party, Hendrix feels like she's met her match. Only he can't be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired, but he's the last one she can have...this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she's set for herself. "

The dark maestro : a novel
by Brendan Slocumb

Curtis Wilson, a cello prodigy from D.C. who rose to classical music stardom, is forced into witness protection after his drug-dealer father turns informant, but when the cartel remains untouchable, Curtis and his family must use their wits and his musical gifts to fight for survival.

Misbehaving at the crossroads : essays & writings
by Honorâee Fanonne Jeffers

Explores the journeys and possibilities of Black women throughout American history and in contemporary times.

Harlem rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray

In 1919 Harlem, literary editor Jessie Redmon Fauset is at the forefront of a Black cultural renaissance, discovering talents like Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen, but her ambition and a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois threaten her legacy.

Plus size player
by Danielle Allen

"Julie Murphy's If the Shoe Fits meets Talia Hibbert's Take a Hint, Dani Brown-USA Today bestselling author Danielle Allen brings another steamy, witty novel about finding the perfect partner-and how sometimes what you're looking for is right in front ofyou. "I only spend time with people I enjoy. I only do things I want to do. I only have sex with people who get me off. So, my time is never wasted and my energy stays high." Nina Ford doesn't like to put all her eggs in one basket. She works multiple jobs, she enjoys multiple hobbies, she dates multiple men. In her thirty years of life, Nina has never come across a man who has all the things she's looking for. She loves fun and excitement-and she has a man for that. She loves confidence and humor-and she has a man for that. She loves intelligence and ambition-and she has a man for that. She loves passion and romance-and she has a man for that. She's always been content rotating a few men in and out of her life to get her needs met. But when Russell Long, her designated "Fun Guy", shows her that he's good for more than just thrills, it seems too good to be true. Nina finds herself in a predicament. She's found everything she's ever wanted in a career in one job. She's found everything she's ever wanted in a partner in one man. Inevitably, her eggs are bound to get cracked. Like her back"-- Provided by publisher

I am nobody's slave : how uncovering my family's history set me free
by Lee Hawkins

This memoir examines a Black family's pursuit of the American Dream, exploring generational trauma from slavery and systemic racism, revealing how racial violence shaped their lives, and uncovering the emotional toll and resilience passed down through generations. 75,000 first printing.

Mainline mama : a memoir
by Keeonna Harris

Is a devastating, triumphant memoir about creating self-love and community—crucial acts of radical resistance against a prison industrial complex that is designed to dehumanize and to separate and shut away incarcerated individuals and their loved ones from the world.

The ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery : a novel
by Clarence A. Haynes

"In a fast-paced, sexy, ghostly adventure, a publicist at the top of her game must confront her secret mystical past. To be a client of Gwendolyn Montgomery's-New York's most powerful publicist at Sublime Media-is to be infused with a certain oomph, a mysterious glamour. She seems to have created the ideal life with her handsome new boyfriend, the perfect match. But Gwendolyn has a secret: She's a mystical practitioner who can tap into the interdimensional, metaphysical realm of the dead known as El Intermedio. Gwendolyn has hidden her powers, buried her old life, and started anew. After a grisly, bizarre incident at the Brooklyn Museum, Gwendolyn begins to realize that something nefarious is happening tied directly to her past, right as Fonsi Harewood comes back into her world. Fonsi is a queer Latinx psychic from the South Bronx who's caught up in a love triangle with a ghost and his mortal ex. He's able to communicate with the dead, having established a robust business interpreting messages from departed loved ones. And he comes with a dire warning for Gwendolyn that the barrier between humans and spirits is weakening. Gwendolyn would prefer not to have anything to do with ghostly drama. Yet in order to get to the bottom of the spookiness derailing her life, she must face the demons she'd long left behind. Or the spirit world will be unleashed, threatening her very existence and all of New York. The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery is a sensuous, funny, mystical adventure that will leave you spellbound as you keep the pages turning"