Books like 'Back on Top'
Readers who enjoyed Back on Top by Angela Winters also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Kromme ploeg by Itamar Vieira Junior
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsKinderlijke nieuwsgierigheid naar een mysterieuze koffer onder het bed van hun grootmoeder komt de zusjes Bibiana en Belonísia duur te staan. Het ongeluk verandert hun leven voorgoed, maar brengt ze ook dichter bij elkaar – zo dicht zelfs dat de een letterlijk de stem wordt van de ander... -
The Essay by Robin Yocum
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Yocum writes like the reporter he used to be. He’s observant and still has his eye for detail and nuance.”—Richmond Times-DispatchJimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state... -
Butterfly 2 by Ashley Antoinette
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“One of the biggest names in Urban-fiction, Ashley Antoinette, is back … An intense start to this new series with characters that are real and genuine. It’s a story about love, trying to put the past behind and moving on with your life” - Red Carpet Crash on ButterflyMorgan Atkins is used to losing, but losing Messiah Williams was the most tragic of them all... -
In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next... -
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Healing For My Soul by Monica Walters
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJakari protector and provider…He takes on those roles when his father gets incarcerated for hideous crimes that are still bothering him ten years later. Jakari is so busy taking care of those he loves he forgot that he needed care too. Anger, guilt, and hurt have guided his life’s trajectory, and he doesn’t know any other way to be... -
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsFrom the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal... -
Little Black Girl Lost by Keith Lee Johnson
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJohnnie Wise was just fifteen years old when her mother sold her virginity to an unscrupulous white insurance man named Earl Shamus. Stunningly beautiful, with long naturally wavy black hair, she possessed the voluptuous body of a thirty-year-old woman. Her skin was the color of brown sugar. Johnnie had heard about Earl Shamus and his escapades among the poor black women in New Orleans... -
Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the author of Pappy Moses' Peanut Plantation and A Slave's Song - Two slaves, a mother and daughter, separated during the Civil War never to see each other again. From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself... -
Too Much of a Good Thing by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the sequel to the enormously successful Casting the First Stone , Kimberla Lawson Roby brings back a character readers love to hate. Curtis Black might be a man of the cloth, but with his irresistible looks, seductive charm, and charismatic personality, he's particularly beloved by his female parishioners––and almost every other woman he's ever met. The trouble is, Curtis is married... -
God Still Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe's heart-stopping tale about a woman who's suffered too much to give up on herself, even if everyone else has. . . Growing up, Annette Goode thought all men were as low-down as the father who abandoned her, including the boarder who abused her for years and the men she slept with to earn the money she needed to run away from her life... -
The Child On Platform One by Gill Thompson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsInspired by the real-life escape of thousands of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe on the Kindertransport trains to London, the new novel from the author of The Oceans Between Us Gill Thompson. For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz Heather Morris, The Choice Edith Eger and Lilac Girls Martha Hall Kelly. Prague 1939. Young mother Eva has a secret from her past... -
A Royal Visit to Victory Street by Pam Howes
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Amazon charts bestseller Pam Howes comes an emotional and uplifting saga about the power of family and a community trying to rebuild their lives after the terrible war that nearly destroyed everything…1956, Liverpool. With the shadow of the war looming over them and bomb craters littering the surrounding streets, hope feels far away for the residents of Victory Street... -
When Somebody Loves You Back by Mary B. Morrison
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Mary B. Morrison comes a powerful, sexy story about life's ups and downs—and the wondrous ways in which love can save the day. With some high—profile legal trouble behind him and a promising NBA career ahead of him—plus his engagement to his spirited soul mate, the irrepressible Fancy Taylor—former playboy Darius Jones is back on top... -
The First Lady by Carl Weber
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCharlene Wilson, First Lady of First Jamaica Ministries, has lived a good life with her beloved Bishop T.K. Wilson and their two beautiful children. But now that the Lord has seen fit to call her home, someone needs to take care of her man. . . That's why Charlene has planned to hang around in spirit--to make sure T.K. ends up with the right woman. First in line is Marlene, the mother of T.K... -
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This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she’d come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn’t stop until she arrives at her childhood home in Short Junction... -
Early Novels & Stories: Go Tell It on the Mountain / Giovanni’s Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“The civil rights struggle,” said The New York Times Book Review, “found eloquent expression in [Baldwin’s] novels. His historical importance is indisputable.” Here, in a Library of America volume edited by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, is the fiction that established James Baldwin’s reputation as a writer who fused unblinking realism and rare verbal eloquence... -
Little Black Girl Lost 4: The Diary of Josephine Baptiste by Keith Lee Johnson
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsRevealing the roots of Johnnie Wise's family tree, the author takes readers to Nigeria where a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, preparing to marry a much older man, escapes with her young lover on the night before the arranged marriage is to take place on a Dutch slave ship bound for America where she becomes Josephine Baptiste... -
Things Past Telling: A Novel by Sheila Williams
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait... -
God Ain't Through Yet by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEven though her life has its ups and downs, Annette Goode Davis feels lucky. Most of all, she's grateful that her husband, Pee Wee, took her back after he discovered she was having an affair. The trouble is, Annette isn't sure his heart is really in it. Her best friend Rhoda is quick to point out that Annette got herself into this mess, so she has to be patient with Pee Wee... -
Up to No Good by Carl Weber
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThere is always a man around the corner. Church trustee James Black should know--he's usually that man, carrying on adulterous affairs and sleeping with one conquest after another. But when he suddenly finds himself truly in love, the other women in his church have a thing or two to say about it--including his daughter, Jamie... -
The Best of Everything by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe world-renowned Reverend Curtis Black's daughter, Alicia, is all grown up and even more trouble than her father. The apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin No More and Love and Lies. Alicia Black Sullivan swore to never repeat her father's mistakes: she would never break any promises, she would never be unfaithful... -
Tumbling by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDiane McKinney-Whetstone's lyrical first novel, Tumbling, vividly captures a tightly knit African-American neighborhood in South Philadelphia during the forties and fifties. Its central characters, Herbie and Noon, are a loving but unconventional couple whose marriage remains unconsummated for many years as Noon struggles to repossess her sexuality after a brutal attack in her past... -
Married Men (A Man's World Series) by Carl Weber
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsStep into the world of four married men whose vows didn't guarantee them a "happily ever after". . . Kyle runs a booming business, but his main job is hiding his wife from the sistahs who would skin him alive for marrying a woman like her. . .. Easy-going Allen can please his bossy Mama and his gold-digging fiancée--just not at the same time. . . -
The Upper Room by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMama Ruby's known for taking things that aren't rightfully hers, like her best friend's stillborn infant, who she brought back to life and christened Maureen. She's also rumored to have done away with her husband. Some fear her, others try their best to avoid her. But Mama Ruby doesn't pay them any mind. Not when she's got the one gift God gave her--her precious baby girl... -
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Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow, in her first novel, repercussions are felt for decades in a dozen lives after a racist beating turns to cold-blooded murder in a small 1950s Mississippi town.Chicago-born Armstrong Tood is fifteen, black, and unused to the ways of the segregated Deep South, when his mother sends him to spend the summer with relatives in rural Mississippi... -
Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA historical holiday story of homecoming and second-chance romance by NAACP Image Award Nominee, Beverly Jenkins. In 1883, Lydia Cooper is happily traveling back home to celebrate the simple joys of the holidays when an unexpected complication appears in the all-too-distracting form of Gray Dane, the man she loved as a girl; the man she left behind... -
Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the best selling author of BUT HAVE NOT LOVE and BORN A COLORED GIRL comes a love story like no other. She was a young slave girl. He was an African warrior purchased at a slave auction with the intent he would father a new breed of stronger slave. Despite all odds, a language barrier and the disapproval of her family and friends, the two fight for a life together... -
Duet for Three Hands by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA story of forbidden love, lost dreams, and family turmoil. The first book in a new historical series from bestselling author Tess Thompson, Duet for Three Hands is equal parts epic love story, sweeping family saga, and portrait of days gone by. Set against the backdrop of the American South between 1928 and 1934, four voices blend to tell a tale of prejudice, fear, and love... -
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families...Categorized as:
drama poc-mc black-mc literary-fiction historical-fiction fiction civil-war historical -
Gullah Secrets by Susan Gabriel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA family legacy in danger. A stranger in their midst. Do they have the strength to survive the gathering storm of secrets? For the Temple women, the winds of change are blowing. And if they’re not careful, it could sweep them all away…After rising from Temple servant to tea shop owner, Violet finally feels in charge of her destiny... -
John by Annie Baker
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe week after Thanksgiving.A bed and breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.A cheerful innkeeper.A young couple struggling to stay together.Thousands of inanimate objects, watching... -
Song of the Skylark by Erica James, Nathalie van Gent
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLizzie has an unfortunate knack for attracting bad luck, but this time she's hit the jackpot. Losing her heart to her boss at the radio station where she works leads directly to losing her job, and with no money in the bank she's forced to swallow her pride and return home to her parents... -
Toward the Sea of Freedom by Sarah Lark
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn mid-nineteenth-century Ireland, charming Kathleen and dashing Michael harbor secrets and dreams. Imagining a life beyond the kitchen and fields of the wealthy family they both work for, they plot to leave their homeland, marry, and raise the child Kathleen is secretly carrying. The luck of the Irish, however, is not on their side... -
Flowers in the Snow by Danielle Stewart
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIf you step across the threshold of Betty Grafton’s house, you can be sure of two things: she’ll feed you until you’re ready to bust and she’ll love you before you even realize you’re worthy of it. She’s spent her life building a family that finally feels complete. But as sad news forces her to relive the darkest moments of her life, she decides to share the story with those she loves... -
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Rhythms by Donna Hill
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt all began in 1927, in the small town of Rudell, Mississippi, after the sudden and tragic death of Cora Harvey's parents. She has nothing left except her burning desire to become a singer. But her dream will never come true in Rudell, especially if she marries the man she adores, Dr. David Mackey... -
Outbound Train by Renea Winchester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn 1976, memories from a night near the railroad tracks sixteen years earlier haunt Barbara Parker. She wrestles with past demons every night, then wakes to the train’s five-thirty whistle. Exhausted and dreading the day, she keeps her hands busy working in Bryson City’s textile plant, known as the “blue jean plant,” all the while worrying about her teenage daughter, Carole Anne... -
Daughters of the Dust A Novel by Julie Dash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsInspired by her Sundance Festival award-winning film "Daughters of the Dust," Julie Dash has put her cinematic vision on the page, penning a rich, magical new novel which extends her story of a family of complex, independent African-American women... -
The Secret Years: An emotional drama of love and survival by Judith Lennox
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA moving story about life in the East Anglian Fens after the First World War, evoking the emotions of the men who came through their ordeals and the women who survived the trauma of separation.During the golden summer of 1914, four young people played in the gardens of Drakesden Abbey... -
The Other Side of Goodness by Vanessa Davis Griggs
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHow far will faith and love go when an ambitious man finds himself in the fight of his life--with a woman who knows the other side of goodness all too well. . .Fifty-year-old Alabama congressman Lawrence Rudolph Simmons will do whatever it takes to get re-elected--even switch parties from Democrat to Republican... -
Best Kept Secrets by Rochelle Alers
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWith the tumult of the Great War finally at an end, ambitious Samuel Cole returns from Europe determined to forge his own destiny as a wealthy entrepreneur. The lush lands of the Caribbean will provide the means to wealth, but they offer private bounty as well--"a bride. Marguerite-Josefina Diaz is the toast of Havana, the convent-educated daughter of a wealthy cigar manufacturer... -
Desperado by Reana Malori
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDesperado was written by USA Today Bestselling Author Reana Malori...Clint –My son and I are doing just fine, thank you very much. Even though he sometimes cries out for his mother in the middle of the night, he knows I love him more than life itself. I can never replace his mother, but I’m doing the best I can with what I have. Me, on the other hand, I’m as right as rain... -
In All Good Faith by Liza Nash Taylor
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“A well-researched and deftly written historical fiction novel…Highly recommended."-Booklist (starred review) A riveting new historical fiction novel, In All Good Faith continues the story of May Marshall, the captivating protagonist introduced in Taylor’s acclaimed 2020 debut, Etiquette for Runaways...Categorized as:
drama literary-fiction female-mc historical-fiction fiction historical audiobook spirituality -
The Fancy by Mercedes Keyes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe slave trader, "fancy" dealer was saving the best for last, for a special auction. However, at hearing how close he'd come to losing his mother - his priorities, his plan shifted. Dr. Quinton Thaddeus Caine had saved his mother's life - for this deed, the young surgeon deserved the best that he could give in compensation. A gift - the best - a Fancy... -
Drinking from a Bitter Cup by Angela Jackson-Brown
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“1978. The year I turned ten and the year my mama killed herself. She was thirty-five, and dying is the last thing that should have been on her mind.” After the death of her mother, Sylvia Butler’s father, a man she knows only from an old photo, takes her from Louisville, Kentucky to Ozark, Alabama to live with his family... -
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Signed, A Paddy by Lisa Boyle
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe gruesome truth hung in the air, and none of us wanted to go near it. Not yet.Ireland, 1848. Fourteen-year-old Rosaleen watches her mother die. Her country is reeling from the great potato famine, which will ultimately kill more than one million people. Driven by a promise and her will to survive, Rosaleen flees her small coastal town...Categorized as:
drama literary-fiction female-mc historical-fiction fiction historical coming-of-age friendship -
Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVerdi and Rowe have been living a comfortable existence for the past twenty years... -
An Instant in the Wind by André P. Brink
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe year is 1749, when the Boers ruled South Africa. And so it has come to his Baas's final command to his Hottentot slave Adam, to flog his mother, because she refuses to prune the master's vineyard in order to attend her own beloved mother's funeral. And when he refuses to do so, and his Baas smashes his face with a piece of wood, Adam turns on him, and beats him almost to death... -
What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSweeping across fifty years of family, friendship, betrayal, and reconciliation, this is Bebe Moore Campbell's most ambitious achievement yet... -
The Damned Utd by David Peace
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOverachieving and eccentric football manager Brian Clough was on his way to take over at the country's most successful, and most reviled football club: Leeds United, home to a generation of fiercely competitive but ageing players. The battle he'd face there would make or break the club - or him... -
A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTold in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness...
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