Kwanzaa Romance Collection

Talia Johnson escaped Detroit at eighteen with a scholarship and a broken heart, determined to prove that success meant leaving everything-and everyone-behind. Now a high-powered marketing executive in Chicago, she's built the perfect life: corner office, designer wardrobe, and a promotion to New York on the horizon. The last thing she needs is to return home for her grandmother's eightieth birthday and face the community she abandoned.David Calhoun gave up his basketball scholarship and NBA dreams to care for his dying mother and raise his teenage sister. Fourteen years later, he's the heart of the Eastside Community Center, fighting to save the programs that keep neighborhood kids off the streets. When the city threatens to shut down the center, he needs a miracle-or a marketing expert who knows how to make people pay attention.When Mama Ruth volunteers Talia to help with the community's Kwanzaa celebration, neither Talia nor David is prepared for what happens when ambition meets purpose, when corporate polish clashes with grassroots passion, and when the love they thought they'd buried resurfaces stronger than ever. As they work side by side through the seven principles of Kwanzaa, Talia must decide: Is success measured by how high you climb, or by how deeply you're rooted?A heartwarming second-chance romance about redefining success, reclaiming your roots, and discovering that the longest journey is often the one that brings you home.TROPES:Second Chance RomanceClean (No Spice) RomanceReturn to HometownOpposites Attract (Corporate vs. Community)Matchmaking GrandmotherSmall Town vs. Big CityChildhood Sweethearts ReunitedHoliday RomanceFound FamilyFamily ReunionWorkplace RomanceSacrifice vs. AmbitionCultural Celebration Author of mystery stories featuring a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. Barbara Howard is the author of two cozy mystery series; Finding Home and The Clover City Files. Her stories feature a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener. Ms. Howard returned to her Midwestern hometown after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon, KPMG Eastern Region Project Leader, and Corporate Sales Representative for Borders Books & Music. She now spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies, and plotting whodunits. Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) Read more at http://www.authorbarbarahoward.com

Alise Carter has a gift for creating unforgettable Kwanzaa celebrations-and somehow, her clients always end up falling in love. Five proposals in two years proves she's the best event planner in Atlanta. But while she's an expert at setting the stage for other people's happily-ever-afters, her own heart has been locked down tight since her ex-fiancé rejected her for being "too intense" about Black culture and tradition.Thomas Williams is a divorce attorney who's spent fifteen years cataloguing why relationships fail. When his parents reconcile after a decade apart, his mother insists on a proper Kwanzaa celebration to strengthen their second chance. Thomas is skeptical that seven principles and some candles can fix what broke before, but he hires Alise anyway-for his parents' sake.What he doesn't expect is how she challenges everything he thought he knew about faith, culture, and love. With professional boundaries between them and both their hearts guarded by past hurt, can they practice the very principles Alise teaches?A heartwarming contemporary romance celebrating Black love, culture, and the transformative power of practicing what you preach.Content warning: Explicit sex. Author of mystery stories featuring a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. Barbara Howard is the author of two cozy mystery series; Finding Home and The Clover City Files. Her stories feature a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener. Ms. Howard returned to her Midwestern hometown after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon, KPMG Eastern Region Project Leader, and Corporate Sales Representative for Borders Books & Music. She now spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies, and plotting whodunits. Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) Read more at http://www.authorbarbarahoward.com

Principal Addie Bowers has one mission: bring cultural education to Roosevelt Elementary's students who deserve to see themselves in the curriculum. But when budget cuts threaten everything she's built, salvation comes from an impossible source-Matthew Brooks, the wealthy entrepreneur she rejected three years ago for being shallow and money-obsessed.Matt claims he's changed. That he's learned wealth without purpose is meaningless. And he's offering the funding that could transform her struggling Kwanzaa program into something extraordinary.Addie doesn't trust easily, especially not men who've disappointed her before. But her students' education matters more than her pride. As they navigate a partnership bound by contractual restrictions and political scrutiny, she begins to see glimpses of the man he claims to have become.Matt knows he has one chance to prove his transformation is real. No slick business deals or empty promises this time-just quiet, consistent support for the woman and the community he let down before. But Addie isn't quick to trust, especially when professional boundaries blur with unresolved feelings.But when critics attack their collaboration and feelings grow complicated, Addie must decide: Is his transformation real, or is she risking everything she's built on a carefully performed lie?Perfect for fans of heartfelt second-chance, slow-burn romances and stories celebrating Black joy, community, and the power of transformation.Tropes:Clean Romance (No Spice)Slow Burn RomanceSecond Chance RomanceForbidden LoveForced ProximityWorkplace RomanceBlack Love StoryPart of the Kwanzaa Romance Collection Author of mystery stories featuring a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. Barbara Howard is the author of two cozy mystery series; Finding Home and The Clover City Files. Her stories feature a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener. Ms. Howard returned to her Midwestern hometown after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon, KPMG Eastern Region Project Leader, and Corporate Sales Representative for Borders Books & Music. She now spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies, and plotting whodunits. Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) Read more at http://www.authorbarbarahoward.com

Dr. Bria Adams, a burnt-out African-American literature professor, has spent years studying cultural traditions she no longer feels connected to. When a mandatory sabbatical forces her out of ivory tower isolation, she volunteers at the Umoja Cultural Center to facilitate Kwanzaa workshops-and collides with Makasi Lukeni Mutombo, the center's passionate director who challenges everything about her academic approach. Their fierce debates over scholarship versus lived experience, theory versus practice, ignite both intellectual sparks and undeniable romantic attraction as they clash over how to honor African-American cultural traditions.Through seven workshops exploring Kwanzaa's Nguzo Saba principles, Bria transforms from distant observer to engaged community member, discovering authentic connection and purpose she never found in academia. But when the university offers her a prestigious position at sabbatical's end, she must choose between the security she once craved and building something real with Makasi and a community that's become home-risking her career, her future, and her carefully guarded heart to belong somewhere that truly matters.Sometimes the most revolutionary act is choosing to belong.A heartwarming romance about finding purpose through community, bridging worlds that seem impossibly far apart, and discovering that the most rigorous scholarship happens when you're brave enough to practice what you teach.Perfect for readers who love community-centered romance, cultural celebration, intellectual connection, and stories where love and purpose are inseparable.Tropes:Opposites AttractClosed Door RomanceSlow Burn RomanceWorkplace RomanceFound Family Author of mystery stories featuring a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. Barbara Howard is the author of two cozy mystery series; Finding Home and The Clover City Files. Her stories feature a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener. Ms. Howard returned to her Midwestern hometown after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon, KPMG Eastern Region Project Leader, and Corporate Sales Representative for Borders Books & Music. She now spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies, and plotting whodunits. Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) Read more at http://www.authorbarbarahoward.com

When struggling street artist Malia Turner accepts an anonymous commission to paint a Kwanzaa mural in her Harlem neighborhood, she never expects her mysterious patron to be Damien Edwards-the man whose heart she broke seven years ago. As they work side by side transforming a weathered wall into a celebration of Black community and culture, old feelings reignite. But when Malia discovers Damien's hidden agenda threatens the very people she's honoring, she must decide if love is worth the risk of trusting him again-or if some betrayals are too deep to forgive.A second-chance romance about art, community, and the courage to build something beautiful from broken pieces.Themes: Second-chance romance, community and gentrification, art and social justice, class differences, trust and forgiveness, Black love and culture, chosen family, personal growth through partnershipTropes:Second chance romanceClean romance (No Spice)Workplace romance (artist/patron)Holiday romanceSecret identity revealHe falls first Author of mystery stories featuring a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. Barbara Howard is the author of two cozy mystery series; Finding Home and The Clover City Files. Her stories feature a female amateur sleuth, diverse characters, and a dash of romance. She is a first generation tech geek turned master gardener. Ms. Howard returned to her Midwestern hometown after an extensive career as a Department of Defense Project Manager at the Pentagon, KPMG Eastern Region Project Leader, and Corporate Sales Representative for Borders Books & Music. She now spends most of her time treasure hunting, spoiling her fur-babies, growing veggies, and plotting whodunits. Memberships/Affiliations: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) Read more at http://www.authorbarbarahoward.com