One of our goals on ALBTALBS is to give you excerpts for upcoming books you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Today we’re thrilled to share with you an exclusive excerpt from an author who is new to ALBTALBS, Suzette D. Harrison. Suzette is a participating author in the Decades: A Journey of African American Romance series. Her novel, The Art of Love, will be released on April 1st, and will bring readers into the 1930s, a time when prohibition was gasping its last breath and the Great Depression ruled the economy. Suzette’s contribution to Decades spins a romantic tale that full of heat and heart.
Welcome, Suzette, to ALBTALBS!
The Art of Love is the fourth book in the Decades: A Journey of African American
Romance series. This series consists of 12 books, each set in one of 12 decades between 1900
and 2010. Each story focuses on the romance between African American protagonists, but also
embraces the African American experience within that decade. Join the journey on their
.
Ava Lydell is chasing her dream. A gifted artist, she’s fled the violence of the Deep South for the seduction of sunny California. As luck would have it, the economic crisis of The Great Depression interferes with her hopes and plans. Without patronage and reliable sales, her fledgling art studio fails. Now she faces poverty, eviction…and the distraction of a mysterious, young stranger engaged in a questionable trade that delivers danger to Ava’s front door.
In an age of Prohibition and poverty, Chase Jenkins has more than most Colored men. He’s savvy, successful, and hazardously employed. A bootlegger living on the wrong side of the law, he’s determined to discover who murdered his baby brother. He has no time for diversions. Especially one packaged in the form of a “midnight” beauty with sultry lips and curvaceous hips. Unable to deny her allure, he involves himself in her affairs despite better judgment. What begins as a crisis quickly becomes a risky romance. Join Chase and Ava on their journey to outlive danger and indulge in the art of love.