Hood Rat

Hood rat: a woman of questionable repute, one who has been known to "get around" in the 'hood. Yoshi is young, fine, and larcenous. She lives her life playing on men's hearts as well as their pockets. But she learns the hard way that all that glitters isn't gold. Billy, a former high school basketball star, is at the end of her rope with the opposite sex. To her, all men are dogs, so she secretly seeks comfort in the arms of women-until she meets a man who makes her reevaluate her feelings. Reese is an around-the-way chick trying to keep up with the Joneses. There's a revolving door on her bedroom as she searches for the love she always felt was missing. When her promiscuity leaves her pregnant after a one-night stand, Reese is faced with the task of breaking an age-old cycle, passed down from mother to daughter in her family, and standing on her own. Rhonda is twentysomething with three kids from three different men, and she's riding the system all the way to the bank. To her, work is a dirty word; between the multiple checks she gets from the government and the games she plays with men, she's living the life of a ghetto superstar. But the game soon turns ugly when one of her "sponsors" decides to get some payback. Harlem has never seen four friends as scandalous as these. The neighborhood will never be the same again.

Only the strong survive on the streets of Brooklyn. While Dena Jones definitely has what it takes to succeed, she wants out. She's determined to make it out of "Crooklyn" by any means necessary and doesn't have a problem manipulating men to get what she wants. True has finally made it. His debut album has the streets going crazy and is threatening to spill over into the mainstream. After the murder of his group, his jump-off, and almost his dreams, True's life is finally starting to look up-until karma catches up with him. Somebody wants him dead, and he doesn't know why. Or does he? Jah and Yoshi were supposed to have a romance straight out of a story, but there are no such things as fairy tales in the ghetto. Her position as a stylist keeps her in the mix and in the company of some industry heavyweights. Jah tries to be understanding, but he can't help but wonder just how much he can trust his girlfriend. He had promised to love her regardless of her past. But in addition to wondering whether his girlfriend is creeping with her clients, Jah has a bigger problem: someone is trying to kill True, and it's his job to make sure that doesn't happen.

Tionna's on-and-off addicted mother has always taught her to get hers by any means necessary. Tionna's heart is cold, but she holds a warm place in it for Duhan, the father of her two sons and her on-again-off-again boyfriend since they were teenagers. Duhan becomes her knight in shining armor until the government turns their dream into a nightmare. With Duhan behind bars and everything she loves seized, she finds herself starting over in the same neighborhood that she swore she'd never return to. With two kids, a man in prison, and no back-up plan, Tionna is once again living by her wits in order to maintain the lifestyle she's become so accustomed to. Back in the thick of things with her best friends Gucci, Boots, and Tracy, she finds herself rediscovering her old life and suddenly begins to wonder if she's really cut out to be a prisoner's wife.

In the Frederick Douglass Housing Projects, the name of Jada Butler is synonymous with drama. But there is about to be a new contender to the throne of ghetto antics. Malika is a young, single mother trying to make a life in public housing. When she meets Teddy, she has new hope for the future. The only problem is, he's already married. Gucci's fiancé is now a rising star in the music industry. She's thrilled when his tour brings him to New York. But she doesn't know it's more than music bringing him back. After her apartment mysteriously burns down, Tionna is relocated to a plush high rise in Upper Manhattan. She is pulling her life together when a ghost from her past appears. Don is making money hand over fist with the artists he's signed to Big Dawg Entertainment. Just when he thinks his life can't get any sweeter, someone tries to take it.

From #1 Essence bestselling author K'wan comes the next installment in his bestselling Hood Rat series. Porsha, the ghetto princess; Boots, the scandalous baby mama; Frankie, a.k.a. Francine, the con artist: these three girls live in one apartment and are into all kinds of hood foolishness while having fun-until the day they find an eviction notice taped to their door. Now they have seventy-two hours to come up with all the money they owe in months of back rent. Of course Don B. is still up to his old tricks with Big Dawg Ent. and is trying to find an artist to replace Animal. He comes across Lord Scientific, a rapper from Newark who proves to be much more than even Don B. can handle. Meanwhile, the police and Gucci are still searching for Animal, and they'll uncover something about him and his abduction that no one was prepared for. There goes the neighborhood again!

No shade means no offense (as defined by the Urban Dictionary).Example: Don't tell her I told you, but your little cousin is a ho. No shade. Every little girl dreams of a happy ending to her story; a home, children, and a man who loves her enough to share his life and last name. When Billy's longtime boyfriend Marcus finally pops the question, it's one of the happiest moments of her life. Billy calls on her childhood friends Reese and Yoshi to stand with her on her special day. Several years have passed since they'd last come together, and unresolved issues have driven a wedge between the women. Nevertheless, they agree to put their differences aside for the sake of Billy's wedding. But the truce is a short one when Billy has to decide on a maid of honor. Just when things seem to be coming together, they quickly begin to fall apart. At a time when Billy is supposed to be basking in the sunshine of her approaching wedding, she finds herself the target of shade being thrown from the most unlikely places. While Billy is going through her drama, Marcus is dealing with issues of his own. An old crime partner of his blows into town unexpectedly, and his presence threatens to destroy the legitimate life Marcus has worked so hard to build. Even with the universe seemingly working against them, Billy and Marcus are determined to have their dream wedding. But first they have to survive the nightmare of planning it. There goes the neighborhood … again.