Sheena was the glue. Everyone said it, and most days she wore that title like a crown. But as December settled over Brooklyn with its flashing lights, long grocery lines, and endless WhatsApp messages from family, the crown began to feel more like a chain.

There comes a moment when your body refuses to carry what your heart won’t release. I learned that peace isn’t passive; it’s protection. Healing began when I stopped pretending to be unbreakable and started choosing myself. My rest became rebellion. My boundaries became redemption. My peace became non-negotiable. For the first time, I understood—true strength isn’t enduring pain; it’s having the courage to release it.

The sun burned through Nahlia’s back as she dreamed of the cool air inside the white house. Inside, Ailhan balanced a tray beneath the mistress’s stare, longing for the laughter drifting from the fields. Each envied the other’s world, blind to how both were prisons built from different bricks. But under the same moon, they would learn that freedom was never found alone.

Don't want to read? Listen to the story narrated by Natasha. By nine a.m., the air in Gloria’s House of Beauty was already sweet with pressing oil and grape soda. The door chime, that old brass bell that had dinged for forty years, sang its little two-note hello every time someone stepped in with a head scarf and a story. The gospel station played low, a choir holding a note like morning sunlight, and the curling irons clicked gently across the countertops like metronomes kee

In this compelling audiobook-style love story, follow Selah, a strong Black woman, on her journey to discovering true love that honors her .