Showing results by narrator "Ruffin Prentiss" in All Categories

The daughter of a hard-working restaurant owner, Louise Brooks always sees the best in people—and in helping them no matter how difficult her own life gets. She's lived through tragic loss and running the family business on her own, even in the face of a failed marriage. So, she's delighted when she finds a best friend in Della Thornton, a woman struggling with bad breaks and unlucky romances. When Louise's father and her prosperous second husband suddenly pass away, Louise takes Della in and makes her the restaurant’s right-hand woman as it grows more successful than ever . . .

Firefly meets The Breakfast Club in this high-concept LGBTQ+ romance from #1 New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff and bestselling author Nina Croft.

With mysterious serial murders putting peaceful Lexington, Alabama, on edge, Jessie and Hubert Wiggins’ steadfast calm and devotion to each other reassures everyone that faith will see them through. But Jessie and Hubert have paid a terrible hidden cost to maintain their devout facade and respectable standing. Nothing can allay the guilt they feel—or stop the growing distrust between them.

Otto and Sheed are the local sleuths in their zany Virginia town, masters of unraveling mischief using their unmatched powers of deduction. And as the summer winds down and the first day of school looms, the boys are craving just a little bit more time for fun, even as they bicker over what kind of fun they want to have. That is, until a mysterious man appears with a camera that literally freezes time. 

When he graduates with his law degree, handsome and charismatic Langston Hudson is ready to hit the ground running as a lawyer with his family's firm, but a routine traffic stop during a night out with his friends quickly derails his plans and turns his world upside down. Langston and his friends are arrested after officers find half a million dollars' worth of drugs in his car. When Jacqueline Hudson learns of her son's arrest, she immediately begins to build her case. She is one of the top lawyers in the country, with a reputation for being a shark in the courtrooms.

'BRILLIANT AND IN-DEPTH'' Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author of There's Always This Year and A Little Devil in America A culturally connected celebration of the groundbreaking hip-hop group De La Soul, and how they changed the look, sound, and feel of Black America. Music...

Forty-something widow Jessie Tucker is beloved throughout Lexington, Alabama, for her kind heart and endless generosity. But she feels it’s past time she rewarded herself—especially when upstanding Hubert Wiggins tragically loses his wife and son. Making herself indispensable, yet discouraged by Hubert’s lack of romantic interest, Jessie cooks up a deception she knows will make pious Hubert do right by her …

You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for ourselves? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives? The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration for kids ages 10 and up to help them succeed on and off the court.

A “wildly entertaining” (NPR), “gripping” (The Washington Post) work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night, from the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever. Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of...

In this biography of Chester B. Himes (1909-1984), Lawrence P. Jackson depicts the improbable life of the controversial writer whose novels confront sexuality, racism, and social injustice. In absorbing detail, Jackson explores Chester Himes's middle-class origins, eight years in prison, painful odyssey as a Black World War II-era artist, and escape to Europe, where Himes became internationally famous for his Harlem detective series.

In an instant, Ossie Brown’s entire future is in jeopardy when a torn ACL ends his promising basketball career. Now that basketball is no longer a major part of his identity, Ossie—a Black teen who doesn’t come from wealth and privilege—must navigate his new place in the social and academic ecosystems of his affluent, predominantly white school.

Charlie isn't looking forward to sixth grade. If he starts sixth grade, chances are he'll finish it. And when he does, he'll grow older than the brother he recently lost. Armstrong isn't looking forward to sixth grade, either. When his parents sign him up for Opportunity Busing to a white school in the Hollywood Hills, all he wants to know is "what time in the morning will my alarm clock have the opportunity to ring?" When these two land at the same desk, it's the Rules Boy next to the Rebel.

Yasir has always felt he was meant for more…he has no idea how much. A native son of the Island Republic of Kindara, he is ripped from his homeland as a small boy, escaping an invasion that decimated his family. For the past decade, he has been living with his uncle in the small town of Oakwood Grove, Georgia, while dealing with life as an outsider—in more ways than one. All that would change over the course of a few weeks, thanks to a series of unfortunate incidents that brings Yasir into the spotlight.

The exhilarating and riotously entertaining science fiction romance blending queer counterculture, joy as resistance, and banging disco hits, perfect for readers of Kaliane Bradley, Vajra Chandraseker and Victor Manibo. In 1977 - a world in which America launched its space program shortly after...

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Fiction From the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Heavy, comes a “funny, astute, searching” (The Wall Street Journal) debut novel about Black teenagers that is a satirical exploration of celebrity, authorship, violence, religion, and coming of age...

Nominated for the International Thriller Award for Best Audiobook! A twist-filled psychological and domestic thriller packed with family secrets, shocking twists, and suspense, following a woman who protects her stepson from a murder accusation only to discover deadly secrets in her home...

Meet Marcel and Sabrina, a hitman and a bookkeeper for the Mob. The couple should have never met, let alone fallen in love. When they decide to go against the grain, all hell breaks loose. Somebody wants them dead; they just don't know who. It could be Leo, Marcel's jealous older brother; Othello, Sabrina's crooked father; or it could be The Family, a roundtable of the top contenders in the underworld. There is no honor amongst thieves. Marcel and Sabrina will find the old adage to be true the hard way. 

Brian has always been anxious, whether at home, or in class, or on the basketball court. His dad tries to get him to stand up for himself, and his mom helps as much as she can, but after he and his brother are placed in foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. And he doesn't know if things will ever be normal again. Ezra's always been popular. He's friends with most of the kids on his basketball team, even Brian, who usually keeps to himself. But now, some of his friends have been acting differently, and Brian seems to be pulling away.

Unlike the majority of Logan County's residents, Missus Nedraw of the Rorrim Mirror Emporium remembers the time freeze from The Last Last-Day-of-Summer and how Otto and Sheed took her mirrors without permission in order to fix their mess. Usually that's an unforgivable offense, punishable by a million-year sentence. However, she's willing to overlook the cousins' misdeeds if they help her with a problem of her own. One of her worst prisoners has escaped, and only the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County can help bring the fugitive to justice.   

Brian knows that anxiety and depression aren’t magically fixed overnight, but he still doesn’t understand why it’s all hitting him so hard right now. Sure, his dad is in prison and middle school is stressful, but he’s seeing a therapist, he’s got good friends, and he’s doing really well on the basketball team. He should be fine, so why does he feel too tired to get out of bed some days? And why does he turn into “Cursed Monster Brian” and snap whenever someone asks him what’s wrong?