Take a heartfelt journey with Lorina Simmons, otherwise known as Chocolate, who was raised in one of the roughest housing projects in Queens, New York, and see her life through her words. She bares her struggles and her painful, poverty-stricken life, in which she suffered abandonment and many phases of abuse. After being raised by her grandmother and her drug-addicted mother, she landed in the foster care system. Tossed from ghetto to ghetto, her life became a series of battles, which included promiscuity, petty crimes, drugs, violence, survival, education, and love. Will self-destruction be the outcome for young Chocolate for years to come, especially when she met Maurice Sparks, a handsome red bone with ulterior motives, or will C.J. (Corey Jeppard), another stunning man and veteran be the key to life-altering decisions? Will a world full of deceit and betrayal make or break her? Through turmoil, however, music became her guide and sanctuary, as she continued to survive in the belly of the beast, known as the streets.

A YOUNG GEATANO AKA G$ MONEY FOUND HIMSELF IN A VULNERABLE STATE DURING HIS INCARCERATION AT ONE OF THE NOTORIOUS JAILS IN NEW YORK CALLED RICKERS ISLAND. HIS HEART, MIND, BODY AND SOUL WAS CAPTIVATED WHEN HE COMES ACROSS A WOMAN SO BEAUTIFUL, WITH SKIN SMOOTH AS THE FINEST CHOCOLATE MONEY CAN’T BUY, THE BODY OF AN EMPRESS QUEEN, AND THE FACE OF ROYALTY. INCARCERATION HAD HIS BODY BUT NOT HIS MIND. ONLY THE CHOCOLATE VIXEN HAD HIS THOUGHTS. AS HIS IMAGINATION WONDERS? WHAT WILL G$ MONEY’S OBSSESSION OVER AN OLDER WOMAN LEAD TO? HIS DESIRES FOR HER BECOME STRONGER MINUTE BY MINUTE AND DAY BY DAY. EVENSO, HE LET HIS GUARD DOWN AND NOW HE WILL BE TAKEN INTO A PLACE OF HEART- BURNING PASSION, ECSTACY, AND INTENSE EROTIC FANTASIES. A SENSATIONAL, RAW COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AND POETRY THAT WILL BRING OUT THE FREAK IN ANYONE AND WILL LEAVE YOU GASPING FOR AIR WHILE ON A JOURNEY OF LOVE AND LUST.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death NAMED ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE GUARDIAN • NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. He was a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of “Uptown” to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of “Paisley Park.” But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, one of the greatest pop stars of any era. The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince—a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The book is told in four parts. The first is the memoir Prince was writing before his tragic death, pages that bring us into his childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us through Prince’s early years as a musician, before his first album was released, via an evocative scrapbook of writing and photos. The third section shows us Prince’s evolution through candid images that go up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the book’s fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain—the final stage in Prince’s self-creation, where he retells the autobiography of the first three parts as a heroic journey. The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated—and annotations that provide context to the book’s images. This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image—his undying gift to the world.

Memoirs of a Spiritual Healer is a collection of inspiring mantras, photography, words, and own experiences shared to the readers of Reiki in the Prairie LLC. Cynthia created this collection to inspire people to look inwards for their spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. A collection to help with whole health.

National bestseller 2017 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Finalist ABA Indies Introduce Winter / Spring 2017 Selection Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Spring 2017 Selection ALA 2018 Notable Books Selection An intimate and poignant graphic novel portraying one family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam, from debut author Thi Bui. This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal struggle: While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she ultimately discovers what it means to be a parent—the endless sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite how impossible it seems to take on the simultaneous roles of both parent and child, Bui pushes through. With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art, she examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home. In what Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “a book to break your heart and heal it,” The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s journey of understanding, and provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past.