In a world where fame attracts enemies, trust is the most dangerous thing of all. When a powerful protector enters her life, safety comes at a price-and so does getting too close. #2 Micheal B Jordan 12-15-25 #3 Latto 12-27-25

"I don't know how to do this." He was almost embarrassed to admit it. "I ain't been right with you in a long time, but I'm gon' ask anyway. Please don't take her from me." His plea cracked something open inside of his chest. "I know I ain't a good man. I done did some shit that I can't take back and I can't make it right. But she is, she's good. She's the light in so many places I didn't know were dark." "So if there's a price that needs to be paid for all the pain that I have caused in this word and done onto others put it on me. I'll pay it. I swear I will. I'll protect her with my last breath. I'll listen and heed her warnings. I'll slow down and come home more and stop thinking that I'm alone in this world." "Just please let my baby wake up. I love her, I'm in love with her and I can't do this without her. If waking her up means I got to sacrifice letting her go so she can be safe. I'll do that. Just don't take her from this earth." "In Jesus name I pray. Amen."

Solei came to college to get her degree, not lose herself in a man she couldn't have. Books, grades, and minding her business - that was the plan. Until she started slipping in her hardest class and ended up needing extra help from one person she should've stayed far away from. Basim Hart is everything she should avoid - intelligent, composed, and carrying an energy that makes people pay attention without him saying a word. One tutoring session turns into something neither of them can ignore, and suddenly Solei is caught between what's right and what feels too real to walk away from. But there's more to Professor Hart than the campus knows... and Solei starts to feel it long before she understands it. His past. His power. His secrets. All of it shadows the connection growing between them. As lines blur and temptation rises, Solei realizes she might be stepping into something deeper than a forbidden love and lesson - something that could change everything she thought she knew about him... and herself. A quiet girl. A complicated man. A love neither one of them saw coming. Secrets, tension, and danger - but you won't know how deep it goes until you turn the page. 🥇In literature 1/1/26 🥈 In Double Life 12/30/25 🥉Urban Novel 12/30/25

"Solè, why'd you stay?" "Because, Zaire... you the first thing that ever felt worth staying for." ❀ 🝳 ❀ Harlem held the noise. Solè gave Zaire the quiet. Zaire Knox, Harlem's quiet storm, known for his ties to the streets and a gaze that read people faster than they could lie to him. Respected. Feared. Loved. With scars buried deeper than his tattoos, he never planned to love soft. Until a Harlem vinyl shop left behind by his late grandfather forces him to slow down, to breathe, to find his real purpose in the world beyond the streets. Solè Sinclair, soft but unbreakable, raised by her father after loss. By day, she serves warmth behind the counter of a café. By night, she disappears into her art, trying to paint the parts of herself no one ever sees. When their worlds cross, the city shifts. What starts off tense and unexpected turns tender. Together, they learn love can hold you just as fierce as the streets ever did, and softer, too. But love in Harlem always asks one question: what are you willing to risk when the heart wants more than the streets ever offered? A Harlem story. A hood love. A soft place to land. ❀ 🝳 ❀