Mara Williams is twenty-four years old, drowning in debt, and running out of time. Working double shifts at Mel's 24-Hour Diner on Flatbush Avenue while her mother Clara fights cancer at Kings County Hospital, Mara exists in that brutal space between survival and collapse-too proud to beg, too desperate to keep pretending the math works. When she crosses paths with Dominic "Dom" Reyes at a Crown Heights loft party, the attraction is immediate but the danger is undeniable. Dom controls drug territory across the neighborhood with a quiet ruthlessness that commands respect from men who fear nothing, yet something about Mara pulls at him in ways he hasn't allowed himself to feel in years. What begins as a transaction-Mara making courier runs to cover her mother's bills-slowly becomes something neither of them planned for. Crown Heights is their backdrop: its brownstones and bodegas, its soca music and territorial corners, its beauty and its blood. As the rival Haitian crew led by Jean-Baptiste Laurent pushes into Dom's territory and a childhood friend's obsession turns lethal, Mara finds herself caught between the woman she was raised to be and the woman survival has made her. Keisha, her best friend, is fighting her own battle against an abusive partner. A determined detective is building a case that could imprison everyone Mara loves. Crown Heights is a slow-burning interracial love story about the price of surviving a world designed to crush you-and what it costs to find redemption once you've already paid. ©️ _RelleLebby_// R.H.

Serena and Nicholas had always shared an unbreakable bond. No matter the circumstances, she would drop everything to be by his side, just as he would for her. Through his heartaches and bouts of sickness, she never wavered, always there to lend a listening ear or a comforting shoulder. But when Nicholas returns home after serving an arduous 18 months in Korea, his world is turned upside down. To his shock, he learns that Serena is getting married. The realization hits him like a freight train-this woman, who has always been his rock and the one who knows him best, is slipping away. As he grapples with his feelings, Nicholas understands that the one person capable of bringing him true happiness is about to walk out of his life forever. Time is running out, and he must confront his emotions before it's too late. ©️ _RelleLebby_//R. L.

Wes Lee hails from a long line of mercenaries, a lineage steeped in the art of assassination that stretches back through countless generations. Each member of his family is trained from a young age in the deadly skills that their ancestors mastered, preparing Wes to inherit the dark mantle of leadership from his father. However, fate has a way of rewriting plans, and everything shifts unexpectedly with the brutal loss of his mother. Her untimely death sends shockwaves through the family, and all evidence points ominously to their most formidable rival-Sanchez. The Sanchez family is notorious in the underworld, equally as skilled in the lethal craft of assassination, and their paths have long been entangled in a deadly dance of power and revenge. Consumed by grief and rage, Wes is driven to take matters into his own hands. Fueled by the desire for vengeance, he defies his family's expectations and goes rogue, severing ties with the only life he's known. He envisions a solitary quest where he can hunt down those responsible for his mother's death and make them pay. But like every meticulously crafted plan, the pursuit of vengeance rarely unfolds as one desires, leading him into a perilous game where every miscalculation could cost him everything he still holds dear. ©️ _RelleLebby_//R. L.

Two bodyguards. One cartel queen in silk. A city that forgives nothing. They swore to keep their distance-and her alive. Only one of those vows will survive Barcelona. ©️ Relle H

What happens when the secret you've kept for seven years gets exposed in a single moment? Elianna Bennett thought she had it all figured out-a quiet life on Bainbridge Island, a beautiful daughter, and a love hidden across oceans. Seo Jae-hyun, global K-pop idol and main dancer of SE7NTH WAVE, has spent seven years living two lives: the perfect performer on stage, and a father in secret. One careless moment during a livestream changes everything. Now the world knows. The fans are watching. The media is digging. And the daughter they've protected for seven years is caught in the crossfire. This is a story about the price of hiding, the courage it takes to be seen, and what happens when love refuses to stay secret anymore. ©️ R. L.

Some things are taken from you. Your family. Your freedom. Your body. And still, you survive-changed, scarred, and angrier than you've ever been in your life. Myra Sanches has already lost more than most people twice her age could bear. At seventeen, she's navigating grief, rage, and a new reality that no one prepared her for-one where the people in power aren't just corrupt, they're catastrophically dangerous. When she finds herself confined inside a facility that has no intention of letting her leave, she discovers she's not the only one. Behind reinforced doors and surveillance cameras are others just like her: a French boy with wings that have never known open sky, a Japanese hacker forced into digital servitude, Korean brothers whose abilities are as volatile as their rage, and twin children who know far more than anyone realizes. What Vardi Corporation built in secret, Myra intends to tear apart publicly. But escaping isn't the hardest part. The hardest part is what comes after-rebuilding trust, surviving the fallout, protecting the people she's come to care about, and deciding what kind of person she wants to be when the world is watching. This is not a story where love saves the day or trauma disappears neatly. It's messy, violent, slow, and real. The Onyx Project is a slow-burn interracial ensemble drama with mature themes, explosive action, and a Black female lead who refuses to be anyone's weapon-or anyone's salvation-except her own. Some fires don't burn out. They spread. ©️ _RelleLebby_// R. L.