Promises (K'wan)

Beware of the company you keep. K'wan's urban fiction coming-of-age novel, Promise Broken, is set in the gritty streets of Newark, New Jersey. The story follows seventeen-year-old Promise Mohammed as she attempts to uphold friendships and new relationships, even if they lead to her demise. After Promise's mother dies in a tragic car accident, it leaves a void in Promise's life that she is yearning to fill. This titular novel finds Promise spiraling into a life of crime and drug affiliation by the company she chooses to keep. Also coping with abandonment and a lifelong broken commitment from her biological father, Promise ultimately has two goals: to graduate from high school and to be loved. But can she find the love that she seeks from her aunt Dell, two best friends, Mouse and Keys, or drug-dealer Asher, the man who captivates her-despite the fact that each relationship will lead to life-altering events? Only time will tell.

In this stunning sequel to “Promise Broken,” K'wan spins a pulse-pounding story about surviving, thriving, and the consequences of love. Promise and her best friend Mouse have fled Newark and are hiding out in New York City, wanted by the police, and the streets, for the death of B-Stone, leader of the Bloods. In the city, Promise has found work as a waitress at a hole-in-the-wall strip club. But one fateful night, she is forced to face her past when an up-and-coming rapper draws several shady characters into her orbit. Meanwhile, Asher has maneuvered himself into a position of great importance after B-Stone's death, albeit with some help. But his ambition may cost him when he must make the ultimate choice: his best friend's life, or his own. Promise and Asher have each come into their own, but will they ever be able to come together? Bestselling author K'wan weaves a tangled web of complex relationships and power struggles in Promise Kept, a tale peopled with gangstas, drug dealers, dreamers, and schemers from both sides of the Hudson.