Books like 'A Virtuous Ruby'
Readers who enjoyed A Virtuous Ruby by Piper Huguley also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical african-american 20th century strong heroine multicultural black-mc
-
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA breath-taking debut novel that chronicles the journey of generations of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade to our own tumultuous eraThe great scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called ‘Double Consciousness,’ a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive... -
Reel by Kennedy Ryan
A Broadway actress has a chance at stardom when cast by a major Hollywood director, but the role of her dreams may cost her the love of a lifetime in this epic novel from "one of the finest romance writers of our age." (Entertainment Weekly)For months I stood by, an understudy waiting in the wings, preparing for my time to shine. I never imagined he would watch in the audience that night... -
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this “fully immersive” (Lisa Wingate, #1 bestselling author of Before We Were Yours) story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life... -
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsWith effortless grace, celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s... -
-
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s groundbreaking novel about love and the fear of love is set among the bohemian bars and nightclubs of 1950s Paris.In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality...Categorized as:
20th century black-mc african-american historical contemporary m-m angst forbidden love -
Butterfly 2 by Ashley Antoinette
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 24 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... -
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
As a child Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark skinned beauty is a dedicated member of Michigan's Underground railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love. When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn't hesitate even after she is told about the price on his head... -
Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Married For MoneyRaimond Le Veq needed to marry to gain his inheritance and restore the fortunes of the House of Le Veq, the proud Black New Orleans family whose wealth had been ravaged by the War Between the States. Still wounded by the double-cross of the only woman he ever came close to loving, he gave the choice of bride to his mother... -
Grand Opening by Carl Weber, Eric Pete
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsBefore there was the family, there was just the business. From the minds of New York Times bestselling authors Carl Weber and Eric Pete comes the game-changing prequel to their blockbuster Family Business saga. Travel back to a small Southern town where, before there was Duncan Motors, there were the Duncan brothers: Louis, aka Sweet Lou, a lover of ladies and life . . -
For Your Love by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 22 ratingsNAACP nominee and bestselling author Beverly Jenkins returns to Henry Adams, Kansas—an unforgettable place that anyone would want to call home—with a story of family, friends, and the powerful forces from our past that can irrevocably shape our future...Categorized as:
multicultural black-mc contemporary suspense small town historical african-american m-f -
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 40 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... -
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 52 ratingsIn this honest and stunning novel, James Baldwin has given America a moving story of love in the face of injustice. Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned... -
Little Black Girl Lost by Keith Lee Johnson
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 23 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...Categorized as:
black-mc 20th century contemporary suspense african-american historical christian length-medium -
Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsFrom award-winning author Sophfronia Scott comes the story of one young woman’s bold journey to reclaim her birthright and carve out her own place in a world that tells her she doesn’t belong. Born the daughter of an enslaved woman and a Louisiana plantation owner, Jeannette Bébinn is raised alongside her white half sister―until her father suddenly dies... -
-
Vivid by Beverly Jenkins
It's 1876 and Dr.Viveca Lancaster is frustrated by the limits placed upon female physicians of color. When she is offered the chance to set up a practice in the small all Black community of Grayson Grove, Michigan she leaves her California home and heads east... -
This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 27 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... -
God Still Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 29 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... -
Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe author of The Secret Woman tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines' legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon... -
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsMattie was never truly mine. That knowledge must have filled me as quickly and surely as the milk from her breasts. Although my family ‘owned’ her, although she occupied the center of my universe, her deepest affections lay elsewhere. So along with the comfort of her came the fear that I would lose her some day. This is our story.. -
Wild Sweet Love by Beverly Jenkins
Teresa July has led a hard life, but now she has a chance to put her train robbing past behind her. Armed with a new job as a cook to one of Philadelphia's elite families, Teresa is determined to start her life anew, and nothing––not even her boss's stuck–up (and far too handsome) son––is going to stand in her way... -
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
A new novel inspired by historical events: a story of three young women on a journey in search of family amidst the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who rediscovers their story and its connection to her own students' lives...Categorized as:
black-mc historical mystery war african-american contemporary behind-doors length-long -
Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen two Union soldiers stumble onto a plantation in northern Georgia on a warm May day in 1864, the last thing they expect is to see the Union flag flying high—or to be greeted by a group of freed slaves and their Jewish mistress. Little do they know that this place has an unusual history... -
Jewel by Beverly Jenkins
A proposal she had no choice but to accept . . . Though Eli Grayson is one of the most handsome, charming, and intelligent men in Grayson Grove, no one will take a chance on a confirmed bachelor. Unwilling to give up his dreams, Eli convinces his friend Jewel to pose as his wife. Their masquerade is to last just one night . . -
Hold You Down by Tracy Brown
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 21 ratings'Hold You Down' is an edgy novel from rising star Tracy Brown about the perils of love and the ties that...Categorized as:
multicultural black-mc urban contemporary african-american death historical length-medium -
-
Captured by Beverly Jenkins
She was the most irresistible treasure of all . . . Dominic LeVeq, the most notorious privateer ever to command the high seas, has just captured a coveted prize: a British frigate. On a dangerous mission against the Crown, Dominic should be thinking only of his ship's safety. But the rebel captain is utterly entranced by Clare Sullivan, the stunning slave on board... -
Second Sunday by Michele Andrea Bowen
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsSt. Louis, 1975. Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church's pastor has gone on to see the King... -
Hold You Down by Tracy Brown
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 22 ratingsHold You Down is an edgy novel from rising star Tracy Brown about the perils of love and the ties that bind…New York City. Late 1980s to early 1990s.Mercy and Lenox Howard have always only had each other. Growing up on the mean streets of Harlem with an absentee mother meant that they had to have each other's backs...Categorized as:
multicultural black-mc urban contemporary african-american death historical length-medium -
To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins
The newest novel in USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins’s compelling Women Who Dare series features a fearless grifter who goes undercover to reclaim the stolen Declaration of Independence.Lying and cheating may be sins to some people, but for Raven Moreaux, it is a way of life. She comes from a long line of grifters and couldn’t be prouder…Until she’s forced to help the government... -
Sleeping with Strangers by Eric Jerome Dickey
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsDrifting from relationship to relationship in his work as a killer for hire, Gideon interacts with a range of con artists, prostitutes, and broken-hearted clients while passing time with three very different women, each of whom wishes to capture his heart. By the author of Chasing Destiny. 150,000 first printing... -
Glory over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsA novel of family and long-buried secrets along the treacherous Underground Railroad. The author of the New York Times bestseller and beloved book club favorite The Kitchen House continues the story of Jamie Pyke, son of both a slave and master of Tall Oakes, whose deadly secret compels him to take a treacherous journey through the Underground Railroad... -
Mrs. Wiggins by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe returns to the Deep South Depression-era town of her scandalous Mama Ruby series, in this tale of a woman determined to have a respectable life--and she'll do anything to keep it...The daughter of a prostitute mother and an alcoholic father, Maggie Franklin knew her only way out was to marry someone upstanding and church-going... -
The Pursuit Of... by Courtney Milan
What do a Black American soldier, invalided out at Yorktown, and a white British officer who deserted his post have in common? Quite a bit, actually. • They attempted to kill each other the first time they met. • They're liable to try again at some point in the five-hundred mile journey that they're inexplicably sharing. • They are not falling in love with each other... -
Something Like Love by Beverly Jenkins
Blackboard bestselling author Beverly Jenkins delivers another lush historical novel featuring brothers that were first introduced in her award-winning novel Always and Forever . This is the story that readers have been waiting for. He was a wanted man. But no one wanted him more than she did. Desperate to escape an arranged marriage, Olivia Sterling flees Chicago and heads west... -
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsA National Best Seller! Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one... -
-
Bitter and Sweet by Rhonda McKnight
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsTwo sisters at a crossroad in life find the answers to their problems in the lessons from the past...Mariah never pretended her marriage was perfect but that didn't mean she ever suspected her husband of ten years would not only ask for a divorce but steal the business she built for them. Defeated and depressed, she's not sure how to bounce back from the manipulative betrayal... -
Hamilton's Battalion: A Trio of Romances by Courtney Milan, Alyssa Cole
Love in the time of Hamilton… On October 14, 1781, Alexander Hamilton led a daring assault on Yorktown's defenses and won a decisive victory in America's fight for independence. Decades later, when Eliza Hamilton collected his soldiers' stories, she discovered that while the war was won at Yorktown, the battle for love took place on many fronts.. -
Stranded in Arizona by Olivia Gaines
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsKevia Caplan spent her entire life as a caregiver, first to her parents and then to her spoiled baby sister. Working as a database administrator for the FBI, she came across files of the worst in human behavior. When her sister tells her she’s going to become a mail-order bride, Kevia tags along to ensure her sister’s safety...Categorized as:
multicultural black-mc bwwm contemporary historical humor african-american length-short -
An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole
Daniel Cumberland’s uneventful life as a freed man in Massachusetts ended the night he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. To then have his freedom restored by the very man who stole his beloved’s heart is almost too much to bear... -
Flawless Deception by D.M. Mortier
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA lifetime of friendship…When my best friend of almost twenty years was involved in a car accident that wasn’t an accident at all, I dropped everything in my life thousands of miles away and came to his aid. Someone wanted him dead. The wreckage of his mangled custom-built Porsche and his equally broken body were testament to that... -
Homecoming by 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. Gray, a soldier, is finally returning home too. Seeing Lydia after fifteen years reignites all the temptations from years ago…and also the pain and regret... -
Midnight by Beverly Jenkins
In a time of peril, she fears nothing—except the forbidden passions of her heart. In Boston, revolution is in the wind—yet none would ever suspect Faith Kingston of treason. But under cover of darkness, the beautiful daughter of a Tory tavern owner becomes the notorious spy “Lady Midnight,” passing valuable secrets to the rebels... -
Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins
In national bestselling author Beverly Jenkins' Destiny series, the Yates men play hard and live hard. And when they find that special woman, they fall hard . . . Noah Yates fully believes in the joys of a happy family and a good wife. But that's not the life for him. No, he would much rather sail the wild seas in search of adventure, not tied down. But then the unthinkable happens . . -
Child Bride by Jennifer Smith Turner
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the segregated South of the mid-1900s, fourteen-year-old Nell bears witness to a world that embraces the oppression of women. She is fascinated with the prospect of being an independent person—but when she turns sixteen, she is married off and brought to the city of Boston as a bride. Nell is a shy girl who must quickly learn how to be a wife and mother... -
The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan
Captain Grayson Hunter knows the battle to complete the first worldwide telegraphic network will be fierce, and he intends to win it by any means necessary. When he hears about a reclusive genius who has figured out how to slash the cost of telegraphic transmissions, he vows to do whatever it takes to get the man in his employ...Categorized as:
multicultural strong heroine black-mc victorian historical tortured hero death angst -
-
Til Death by Emery C.F. Bryant
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsHudson Karlessen, one-half of the elite and covert assassin team known as “The Norwegians,” knows about safety, poise, and caution. His whole life—his whole brand—depends heavily on it. He regrets nothing and keeps to himself, never craving anything more than providing the top-notch security and intel The Norwegians have been proven to provide...Categorized as:
black-mc multicultural bwwm suspense military historical contemporary african-american -
Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
The first novel in USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins' compelling new series follows a Northern woman south in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War... Valinda Lacey's mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger... -
The Undertaker's Assistant by Amanda Skenandore
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAn enthralling novel of historical fiction for fans of Lisa Wingate and Ellen Marie Wiseman, The Undertaker’s Assistant is a powerful story of human resilience set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans that features an extraordinary and unforgettable heroine at its heart. “The dead can’t hurt you. Only the living can... -
A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole
The Civil War has turned neighbor against neighbor--but for one scientist spy and her philosopher soldier, war could bind them together . .Categorized as:
multicultural strong heroine black-mc historical african-american bwwm war forced proximity -
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
As the Civil War rages between the states, a courageous pair of spies plunge fearlessly into a maelstrom of ignorance, deceit, and danger, combining their unique skills to alter the course of history and break the chains of the past . . . Elle Burns is a former slave with a passion for justice and an eidetic memory...Categorized as:
multicultural strong heroine black-mc african-american forbidden love suspense historical military -
Untethered by Angela Jackson-Brown
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSometimes family is found in the most unlikely of places . . .In the small college town of Troy, Alabama, amidst the backdrop of 1967, Katia Daniels lives a life steeped in responsibility. At the Pike County Group Home for Negro Boys, she pours her heart into nurturing the young lives under her care, harboring a longing for children of her own...
Find out more about romance.io.
Get recommendations by genres & tropes
Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.