Rainbow Lit

02/06/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3xbiqHA (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3R9ETf6 (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3R6r6WH (Hardcover) https://amzn.to/45bCxlB (Paperback)

Winner of Lambda Literary's 2024 Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction

A TODAY and LGBTQ Reads Most Anticipated Book of 2023 • A Goodreads Buzziest Debut Novel of the New Year • An Electric Lit Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of Spring 2023 • A Bustle Most Anticipated Book of Spring & Summer 2023 • A Nylon April 2023 Must-Read Book • An Ebony Required Reading Pick for April

For fans of Bolu Babalola and Tia Williams comes a “tender, soulful, and sexy” (Phoebe Robinson) debut novel about finding love in an unexpected place.

Elsie is a sexy, funny, and fiercely independent woman in south London. But several things in her life have gone terribly wrong. She’s estranged from her family; is failing to make it as a poet; and has just been evicted from her social housing. As fierce and independent as she is, even Elsie must admit that being a carefree 28-year-old is proving difficult—and that she’s running out of options.

Juliet, her best friend since childhood, has always been Elsie’s lifeline. So even though they haven’t spoken in months, Elsie is soon snuggled up on Juliet’s couch, back at home among the mismatched cushions and knit blankets.

Between their reruns of Drag Race and nights smoking on the balcony, something surprising begins to glimmer in Elsie’s heart. And as the days turn into weeks and then months, this feeling quickly becomes too fierce to ignore. Will Elsie be brave enough to open herself up to love?

Featuring the poetry of Kai-Isaiah Jamal, Rosewater is a deliciously steamy q***r romance from a bold new voice. An electric and captivating debut, Elsie’s story teaches us that sometimes home is not always where we are, but who we are with . . .

Release: 4/25/23

27/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/4bVAYdV (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3wY0vnF (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3R1cSXb (Hardcover)

In this searing and ultimately uplifting memoir, Lambda Literary Nonfiction Fellow Nikkya Hargrove describes how she—fresh out of college, Black, and q***r—adopted her baby brother after their often incarcerated mother died, and how she determined to create the kind of family she never had.

Growing up, Nikkya Hargrove’s mother was in and out of prison. Hargrove, one of the 5 million children dealing with the effects of an incarcerated parent, spent a good portion of her childhood in prison visiting rooms but almost never actually living with her mother. In Hargrove’s case, though, life got even more complicated when her mother—addicted to co***ne and just out of prison—had a son. When that child was just months old, Hargrove’s mother died and Hargrove, who had just graduated from college, decided to fight for custody of her half brother.

And fight she does. We see how she is subjected to preconceived notions that she, a Black, q***r, young woman, cannot be given such responsibility. She’s honest about the shame she feels accepting food stamps, about her family’s reaction to her coming out, and about the joy she experiences when she meets the woman who will become her wife. But whether she’s clashing with Jonathan’s biological father or battling for Jonathan’s education rights after he’s diagnosed with ADHD and autism, this is a woman who won’t give up.

Hargrove’s memoir picks up where Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy left off, exploring generational trauma and pulling back the curtain on family court and poverty in America. Moving and inspiring, Mama is an ode to motherhood and identity, to never giving up, and to finding strength in family and community.

Release: 10/15/24
***r

27/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3KgtDtu (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3VhGIsE (Hardcover)

Vicious hate crimes are rocking the LGBTQ+ community in Accra, and prejudice and politics threaten to stymie PI Emma Djan’s investigation.

Author Kwei Quartey tackles a real-life—and deeply personal—issue as an anti-gay bill threatens to tear Ghana apart.

Marcelo Tetteh, a twenty-seven-year-old LGBTQ+ activist, is butchered one night after being lured on a dating app to a deserted building site. With rampant homophobia in Ghana, Marcelo’s wealthy father doesn’t trust the Ghana Police Service to find the killer, so he goes to the Sowah Private Investigators Agency for help, partly because he still feels guilty for disowning his son when he came out.

PI Emma Djan is assigned the case but quickly learns of a complication that prevents her from teaming up as usual with Jojo, her trusted colleague. Emma is the only one at work who knows Jojo is gay, and now he reveals something else: for some time, Jojo was dating Marcelo, the victim.

Working with Manu, whom she’s never gotten along with, Emma goes undercover in the International Congress of Families, a powerful organization seeking to criminalize homosexuality in African countries. As Emma infiltrates the ICF, she uncovers a web of deceit and hypocrisy and discovers that the mastermind behind the murders is someone much closer than she ever imagined. Emma must race against time to unmask the killer, protect the vulnerable LGBTQ+ community, and bring justice to the victims, all while navigating the dangerous waters of politics, power, and personal secrets.

Release: 9/3/24

26/05/2024

26/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/43lSseO (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3PQc7Ab (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3OdTRQk (Hardcover)

It ain’t easy being grown—this life s**t is hard.

Hugely popular social media personality MJ Harris is the go-to person for over four million viewers across YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, for hilarious, straightforward, raw advice about everything you need to know about getting your sh*t together in life—whether it’s fixing your relationships, situationships, money or frenemies, MJ offers sage advice about how to get out of your own way.

This book is a guide to getting rid of the emotional trash and trauma you’ve been sitting on for years. No one ever taught you how to properly handle the hurt and anger you’ve experienced in your past, so bet your ass Get Your Sh*T Together will. To change your life, what’s gotta change is your mindset.

If any of this sounds like you, this book is for you!
-Your relationships (or lack thereof) aren’t fulfilling
-You’re alive but living an unfulfilled life
-Your work life is in a rut and you can’t find your way out of it
-Your money just isn’t where you want it to be
-The toxic people in your family think you’re somehow their
permanent emotional punching bag
-You’re a “people pleaser” that has not yet learned how to
effectively say no

MJ Harris’ tells it like it is in a book of no holds barred principles that will help you disrupt cycles of trauma and transform into a pillar of emotional wholeness. From boundary setting with family to fairness in romantic partnerships, MJ makes it abundantly clear that when your inner life flourishes, your outer well-being flows.

Get Your S.H.*.T Together is the confidence booster you need to make better decisions and to set you on the right path for a satisfying, happy life once and for all.

Release: 1/9/24
*ckOutYourOwnWay

26/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3Ow5SAy (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3DwZKSw (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3QgssyA (Hardcover)

A poignant and glorious photographic memoir that pays homage to the lifelong friendship between the legendary Cicely Tyson and acclaimed fashion designer B Michael, who worked with her to make her gorgeous through her last bow.

What greater act of friendship is there than making someone dear look and feel their most beautiful and powerful? That was the priceless gift acclaimed designer B Michael gave to one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses, Cicely Tyson over the course of their close, decades-long relationship. In this glorious four-color visual memoir packed with stunning photographs, many never before seen, B Michael recalls the bond they shared and what it was like to dress the Queen of Hollywood for all the extraordinary events of her life.

In 2005, B was summoned to create a suitable wardrobe for Ms. Tyson for a high-octane weekend hosted by Oprah Winfrey. That first successful interaction led to a nearly twenty-year-long personal and professional collaboration that defined the Hollywood star’s personal aesthetic and showcased her impeccable personality and style. B was with Ms. Tyson for the most glamorous times—the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, White House functions, glittering galas, high-profile funerals—as well as the tenderest days. Their circle included a who’s who of Black celebrities, including Sidney Poitier, Barack Obama, Common, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Lenny Kravitz, Viola Davis, Oprah, Tyler Perry, Valerie Simpson, Phylicia Rashad, and many more, most of whom are featured in personal and paparazzi photographs in these pages.

Throughout their time together, B and Cicely enjoyed shocking the fashionistas, shattering inane rules limiting what a woman of a certain age should wear, devoted themselves to changing the world for the better through philanthropic efforts, laughed, cried, and inspired and celebrated each other’s excellence. In this stunning book featuring studio photos, candids from the author’s personal collection, and paparazzi shots, B shares every aspect of their time together—from the drama of a good sleeve to how to be the best friend possible to those we love.

Whether you’re a fan of pop culture, couture, Hollywood, B, or Cicely Tyson, Muse is a reminder that we all have the power to be showstoppers in our own lives.

Includes written contributions from Lenny Kravitz, Bridget Foley, Susan Fales Hill, and Valerie Simpson.

Release: 1/23/24

16/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/4buFZdc (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3ydAIs4 (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3yds1xR (Hardcover)

“Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s writing has a certain delicacy to it, so wonderfully observant, and so beautiful.”
—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah

Moonlight meets Purple Hibiscus in this searing debut of self-acceptance, sexual awakening, and first love set in a Nigeria on the verge of criminalizing same-sex relationships

Obiefuna has always been the black sheep of his family—sensitive where his father, Anozie, is pragmatic, a dancer where his brother, Ekene, is a natural athlete. But when Obiefuna’s father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and another boy, his deepest fears are confirmed, and Obiefuna is banished to boarding school.

As he navigates his new school’s strict hierarchy and unpredictable violence, Obiefuna both finds and hides who he truly is. Back home, his mother, Uzoamaka, must contend with the absence of her beloved son, her husband’s cryptic reasons for sending him away, and the hard truths that they’ve all been hiding from. As Nigeria teeters on the brink of criminalizing same-sex relationships, Obiefuna’s identity becomes more dangerous than ever before, and the life he wants drifts further out of reach.

Set in post-military Nigeria and culminating in the Same S*x Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013, Blessings is an elegant and exquisitely moving story that asks how to live freely in a country that forbids one’s truest self, and what it takes for love to flourish despite it all.

Release: 6/4/24
***r

09/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3UrFLMM (Kindle) https://amzn.to/4btksRT (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3JQoS9X (Hardcover)

By turns harrowing and hopeful, MAKE IT COUNT is the inspiring story of the first openly transgender woman to win a NCAA title, following her traditional upbringing in Jamaica, her fight to become a US citizen, and her efforts to achieve her Olympic dreams.

CeCé Telfer is a warrior. The first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, she has contended with transphobia on and off the track since childhood. Now, she stands at the crossroads of a national and international conversation about equity in sports, forced to advocate for her personhood and rights at every turn. After spending years training for the 2024 Olympics, Telfer has been sidelined and silenced more times than she can count. But she's never been good at taking no for an answer.

MAKE IT COUNT is Telfer's raw and inspiring story. From coming of age in Jamaica, where she grew up hearing a constant barrage of slurs, to beginning her new life in Toronto and then New Hampshire, where she realized what running could offer her, to living in the backseat of her car while searching for a coach, to Mexico, where she trained for the US Trials, this book follows the arc of Telfer's Olympic dream.

This is the story of running on what feels like the edge of a knife, of what it means to compete when you're not just an athlete but treated like a walking controversy. But it's also the story of resilience and athleticism, of a runner who found a clarity in her sport that otherwise eluded her—a sense of being simply alive on this earth, a human moving through space. Finally, herself.

Release: 6/18/24

09/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/49Uuomn (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3Wj0yol (Hardcover)

An explosive and emotional story of four siblings―each fighting their own personal battle―who return home in the wake of their father's death in order to save their family's home from being sold out from under them, from the author of One Summer in Savannah.

"Don't let the white man take the house."

These are the last words King Solomon says to his son before he dies. Now all four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company, who has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort.

While fighting to save the Kingdom, the siblings must also save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto. Junior, the oldest son and married to his wife for 11 years, is secretly in love with another man. Second son, Mance, can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, the oldest daughter and a lawyer in New York City, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Youngest daughter, Tokey, wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways.

Told in alternating viewpoints, Long After We Are Gone is a searing portrait on the power of family and letting go of things that no longer serve you, exploring the burden of familial expectations, the detriment of miscommunication, and the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children.

Release: 5/14/24

09/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3J7c66x (Hardcover)

Colm Tóibín’s personal account of encountering James Baldwin’s work, published in Baldwin’s centenary year.

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. He had even considered entering a seminary and was searching for literature that would offer illumination and insight.

Inspired by James Baldwin’s novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar. As he says in On James Baldwin, “appropriating the heritage of English prose, Baldwin was adapting and using not only a style but also system of thinking . . . to suggest that the way towards truth was slippery, ambiguous, and easily undermined. In order to state something that was true, you had to approach it from an angle. . . . His thought was subtle, ironic, but also engaged and passionate. When he needed to, he could write a plain, sharp sentence, or he could produce a high-toned effect, or he could end a long sentence with a ringing sound.” On James Baldwin is a magnificent contemporary author’s tribute to one of his most consequential literary progenitors.

Release: 8/2/24
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09/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3PHt138 (Kindle) https://amzn.to/4axsvga (Hardcover)

An inventive and emotionally charged novel about fatherhood and family, loyalty and betrayal, inheritance and belonging.

Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. He has no relationships outside of sexual ones, and can seem at once callow and, at times, cold to the point of cruel with his lovers. Emotionally distant from his elderly, senile father, Daniel nonetheless returns to South Africa to care for him during his final months. Following his father’s death, Daniel learns of an unusual clause in the old man’s will: he will only inherit his half of his father’s considerable estate once he has spent time with Theon, a cousin whom he hasn’t seen since they were boys, who lives on the old family farm in the Free State. Once there, Daniel discovers that the young son of the woman Theon lives with is seriously ill. With the conditions bearing on Daniel’s inheritance shifting in real time, Theon and Daniel travel with the boy to Japan for an experimental cure and a voyage that will change their lives forever.

S.J. Naudé’s masterful novel is many things at once: a literary page-turner full of vivid, unexpected characters and surprising twists; a loving and at times shockingly raw portrayal of its protagonist’s complex psyche; and a devastatingly subtle look into South Africa’s fraught recent history.

Release: 9/10/24

09/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3JeoRfz (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3TWkfzP (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3xuD9pH (Hardcover)

This brilliant, adult nonfiction debut from the acclaimed MG author and poet weaves two personal narratives of recovery and reclamation, spliced with a dazzle of pop-culture.

The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is a braided story of Julian Randall’s return from the cliff edge of a harrowing depression and his determination to retrace the hustle of a white-passing grandfather to the Mississippi town from which he was driven amid threats of tar and feather.

Alternatively wry, lyrical, and heartfelt, Randall transforms pop culture moments into deeply personal explorations of grief, family, and the American way. He envisions his fight to stay alive through a striking medley of media ranging from Into the Spiderverse and Jordan Peele movies to BoJack Horseman and the music of Odd Future. Pulsing with life, sharp, and wickedly funny, The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is Randall’s journey to get his ghost story back.

Release: 5/7/24
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09/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3xxPM3z (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3Jc61Wu (Hardcover)

This delightful debut from author-illustrator Mariyka Foster celebrates family and creativity!

Leo LOVES doodling away with his pink marker, but coloring inside the lines isn’t any fun. So when Mom and Mama aren’t looking, he finds an opportunity to liven up the dusty, gray scrapyard. A splash of pink would look great on that crunched-up convertible, and that magnet crane...and the family cat. Uh-oh! Leo got carried away. Will his moms be upset?

This playful ode to Harold and the Purple Crayon casually explores a LGTBQ+ family and is filled with vibrant illustrations that pop from the page. Pick this one up for any child that loves the color pink!

Release: 5/21/24
Ages: 4 to 8; Grades: P to 3

09/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3U1CEuU (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3vYGahO (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/4aU0Juq (Paperback)

An infectiously positive and inclusive guide to running, from everyone's favourite Apple Fitness+ and Nike trainer, Coach Cory Wharton-Malcolm.

"Everything Wharton-Malcolm does has the aim of helping people achieve the best version of themselves."—Evening Standard

Think running isn't for you? Cory Wharton-Malcolm challenges this idea head-on with this joyful love letter to running and motivational guide for everyone. Advocating running as an inclusive and community-focused activity, Cory shows us how to celebrate the incredible mind-body connection by getting your sneakers on and starting your running journey from the couch to the end of the road and beyond.

Sharing stories of his own mental and physical health challenges and the way running—both alone and with track buddies—lifted him up, All You Need is Rhythm and Grit includes advice on gear, running routes, pacing, good beats, and the will to start . . . and keep going.

Cory believes you don't have to be a tall and slim superhuman to run and feel good doing it! For anyone who thinks running isn't for them, here is a vibrant and inclusive guide to one of the most egalitarian sports for people of all genders, all bodies, all identities and every class and color.

Release: 5/7/24

09/05/2024

Click to Read: https://amzn.to/3xXsGTS (Kindle) https://amzn.to/449B0fz (Hardcover)

Celebrate the strength of traditional tarot with this joyful, inclusive, and vibrant tarot deck and guidebook perfect for spiritual readers, inspiration-seekers, and modern mystics.

Created by and for people of the LGBTQ+ community who want to see their experiences, bodies, and lifestyles in tarot, Tarot for You and Me offers the q***r, genderq***r, and non-binary audience and their allies a tarot deck that is as inclusive and emboldened as it is fun and full of joy. The deck is designed to infuse your life with greater awareness and higher insight, allowing you to manifest visible, truth-based happiness.

Tarot for You and Me follows the tenets of the traditional tarot, but reimagines the core elements to replace gendered, heteronormative language with inclusivity and reimagine the symbols that represent modern ideals. In the deck, cards of the Major Arcana that are historically gendered or use language rooted in imperialism are reimagined for today’s audience. Here the Magician becomes the Brujx, the Hanged Man becomes the Hanged One, and more. And further, the Minor Arcana suits of wands, cups, swords, and pentacles become lanterns, chalices, flags, and plants, respectively.

Pairing an updated vision of an inclusive tarot with joyful, dynamic art, you will truly see yourself—your life, your body, your vocabulary, your experiences—reflected in the cards and the future you can create from it.

Release: 5/28/24
***rDeck

09/05/2024

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/49VcRdI (Kindle) https://amzn.to/3QjtNUu (Audiobook) https://amzn.to/3vULoLy (Hardcover)

A transformative memoir that reimagines the conventions of love and posits a radical vision for healing.

In Another Word for Love, Carvell Wallace excavates layers of his own history, situated in the struggles and beauty of growing up Black and q***r in America.

Wallace is an award-winning journalist who has built his career on writing unforgettable profiles, bringing a provocative and engaged sensitivity to his subjects. Now he turns the focus on himself, examining his own life and the circumstances that frame it—to make sense of seeking refuge from homelessness with a young single mother, living in a ghostly white Pennsylvania town, becoming a partner and parent, raising two teenagers in what feels like a collapsing world.

With courage, vulnerability, and a remarkable expansiveness of spirit—not to mention a thrilling, and unrivaled, storytelling verve—Another Word for Love makes an irresistible case for life, healing, the fullness of our humanity, and, of course, love. It could be called a theory of life itself—a theory of being that will leave you open to the wonder of the world.

Release: 5/14/24

02/06/2023

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/3N9bIqV (Paperback)

It is said that all work and no play makes life dull. Justin, Keith, Marcus, and Evan love to do both. These young guys are four hard-working professionals who also have an addiction to club life.

Keith is in the banking field, trying to rise to the top as easily as possible, but it is not happing as fast as he would like. Justin is a caregiver with a heart of gold. He loves taking care of the needs of his patients, but he is on the search for someone to take care of his needs. Marcus is a therapist with impeccable wisdom and honesty. He owns his own business, and it is doing well. His life seems perfect, but his work life is boring him to tears. Evan is the handsome hunk of the bunch. He is a personal trainer who will whip you into shape with ease, though his own life is in shambles.

Partying hard gets easier to do as the pressures of life get the best of them. Drinking, bad decisions, and bad boys are always a recipe for disaster. The club life seems like the perfect escape, but could it ruin their lives?

Release: 12/26/23