This February, Women’s Fiction Writers Association is giving the spotlight to women of color. These must-read women’s fiction titles are certainly worth celebrating.
Mary Not Broken by Deborah L. King
(Red Adept Publishing, October 2023)
In 1930s Mississippi, Mary Johnson hates the oppressive heat, working on her family farm, and having to attend her minister father’s church several times a week. But she loves Mason Carter, her musician boyfriend. Both fantasize about living the high life up north in the big city.
When William Bevers, a wealthy old preacher, comes to court her, he promises a life of luxury along with money and status for her family. Mary wants nothing to do with him, but her parents decide for her. Determined to avoid a forced marriage, Mary elopes with Mason to the bright lights of Chicago.
But life up north is not the dream they expected. Multiple tragedies push Mary to the brink, and she soon returns home to the very world she tried so desperately to escape.
Too numb to stave off the pressure from her father, Mary considers accepting William’s proposal. But she soon realizes that life as the preacher’s wife might not provide the safety and security she craves.
Secrets, Lies, and Sneaky Spies by Rayna Flye
(Red Adept Publishing, October 2023)
“And should you die, take pride that you were fortunate enough to die for the Division.”
With that cheery bit of encouragement, newly promoted Agent Katrina Foster is tossed onto a plane and sent halfway around the world on her first assignment. Her directive: uncover who killed the country’s top agent. When Katrina links the murder to a decade-old political assassination, a murderous mastermind, and a shadowy organization set on global disruption, she becomes a target.
In a career based on deception, she finds it difficult to know who to trust. Everyone around her seems to have suspicious motives. As the mission heats up, so does her attraction to a certain handsome Swedish agent. Then, he reveals a connection to her past that might end up jeopardizing her future.
No one doubts that Katrina is talented, but she soon suspects she was chosen to go to Sweden for reasons beyond her particular skill set. Katrina will have to rely on her wits, her training, and an array of fantastic disguises if she wants to live to spy another day.
One Tough Cookie by Delise Torres
(Alcove Press, July 2023)
A Latina Fleabag committed to her carefree single life meets the sexy new mechanic determined to break through her defenses in this humorous and heartfelt work of foodie women’s fiction set at a cookie company.
All cookies are made with love—even if twenty-seven-year-old Karina Cortés doesn’t believe in the concept. For her, a simple life with no attachments is a good life. And her life is indeed good—even with her biggest accomplishment being passing the GED exam. Karina is able to secure an incredible and well-paying job at Singular Cookies, Inc., a small family-owned cookie manufacturing plant in Fort Pierce, Florida. And although the founders of the company treat her like family, Karina insists she doesn’t need or want one. Not after her mother chose a man over her own daughter, pushing the young Karina to move out and make it on her own.
And she couldn’t be happier with her single life, unlike her friends, whose lives revolve around men.
Work and play collide when she meets the company’s hot new mechanic, Ian Feliciano, who stirs up feelings she tends to avoid. Karina knows she shouldn’t date him, but she’s strong; she’ll never become pathetic like her friends or, especially, her mom. And with a looming plant inspection and trying to break-up the CEO’s new romance, Karina has enough to distract herself.
As the inspection draws near and Karina battles her heart, she’ll have to decide whether to continue holding on to deeply ingrained beliefs that keep everyone at bay, or learn that love is not as dangerous as she fears, an in the end, it is our history—our singular recipe—that shapes how we live.
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
(William Morrow/HarperCollins, February 2021)
Every family has its secrets…
It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past.
Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a heart-stopping incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.
Powerful and unforgettable, The Kindest Lie is the story of an American family and reveals the secrets we keep and the promises we make to protect one another.
Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters by Anita Kushwaha
(Harper Collins, January 2020)
Veena, Mala and Nandini are three very different women with something in common. Out of love, each bears a secret that will haunt her life—and that of her daughter—when the risk of telling the truth is too great. But secrets have consequences.
Particularly to Asha, the young woman on the cusp of adulthood who links them together. On the day after her eighteenth birthday, Asha is devastated to learn that she was adopted as a baby. What’s more, her birth mother died of a mysterious illness, leaving Asha with only a letter. Nandini, Asha’s adoptive mother, has always feared the truth would come between them.
Veena, a recent widow, worries about her daughter Mala’s future. The shock of her husband’s sudden death leaves her shaken and convinces her that the only way to keep her daughter safe is to secure her future. Mala struggles to balance her dreams and ambition with her mother’s expectations. She must bear a secret, the burden of which threatens her very life.
Three mothers, bound by love, deceit and a young woman who connects them all. “Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters” is an intergenerational novel about family, duty and the choices we make in the name of love.
Once And For All - Book 2, Winds of Fire Series by Anju Gattani
(Self-published, January 2024)
What would you do if your life was a web of lies?
Thirty-two-year-old celebrity, Sheetal Dhanraj, is wife to millionaire Rakesh Dhanraj and mother to their eight-year-old son. The women of Raigun, India envy Sheetal’s good fortune and ability to balance career, marriage, motherhood and uphold Indian values to perfection.
However, behind the closed doors of the marble Dhanraj palace Sheetal yearns for love but is trapped in an abusive and unfaithful marriage. A pawn in the Dhanraj’s web of deceit, Sheetal denies the silent suffering like a good Indian wife because her reputation is tied to her husband’s. Then a chance meeting with her former college sweetheart shatters Sheetal’s world and her faith. Her marriage overturns. Her son’s life is in jeopardy. In a race against time, Sheetal and her son must escape the Dhanraj’s tyranny or forever be imprisoned in games of fate and death.
She Wouldn't Wait by Lorilyn White
(Self-Published as WorthyWhitePress, October 2023)
The messes and mistakes of one’s life usually don’t happen by accident but by choice…
Grace, a budding junior accountant, desires a family and a home with the ideal mate. After three years of a torrid romance with her college sweetheart, Maurice, she fully expected he would propose. But Maurice, focused on his art career, continually negates any marriage plans.
Rather than continue waiting, Grace chooses to move on.
Maurice has his own experience of personal trauma. His mother drops a bombshell on her death bed causing him to reevaluate his relationship with Grace and his position on marriage.
When Grace embarks on a promising new romance with a coworker named Trevor, she believes he will be the one to fulfill her dreams. Maurice attempts to intercede and convince her that he is the one, not Trevor.
Forced to choose between a spontaneous, passionate love and a calm safe one with security, Grace settles on the latter. But Trevor has secrets lurking in the shadows … and what Grace doesn`t know can hurt her … possibly even kill her.
Love Is Everything by Elsie Hillman-Gordon
(Self-published, May 2014)
Love Is Everything is an award-winning, debut book by Elsie Hillman-Gordon. It is the story of Vanessa Dennison – a woman struggling with her faith and with grief after losing her parents in a tragic accident. After reluctantly accepting a blind date with Elliott Reeves, a widower with a strong faith and a young daughter, Vanessa opens her eyes to the possibilities around her. For the first time in a long time, she embraces the power of love and God, but is she ready for the outcome? Emotional and sweet, this story of rediscovering love, faith, and hope is sure to touch your heart.
