Recommendations based on "It's All Relative"

Random Family tells the American outlaw saga lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. With an immediacy made possible only after ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses the reader in the mind-boggling intricacies of the little-known ghetto world. She charts the tumultuous cycle of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.Two romances thread through Random Family: the sexually charismatic nineteen-year-old Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and fourteen-year-old Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar, an aspiring thug. Fleeing from family problems, the young couples try to outrun their destinies. Chauffeurs whisk them to getaways in the Poconos and to nightclubs. They cruise the streets in Lamborghinis and customized James Bond cars. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between life and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George's business activities; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty. Together, then apart, the teenagers make family where they find it. Girls look for excitement and find trouble; boys, searching for adventure, join crews and prison gangs. Coco moves upstate to dodge the hazards of the Bronx; Jessica seeks solace in romance. Both find that love is the only place to go.A gifted prose stylist and a profoundly compassionate observer, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc has slipped behind the cold statistics and sensationalism surrounding inner-city life and come back with a riveting, haunting, and true urban soap opera that reveals the clenched grip of the streets. Random Family is a compulsive read and an important journalistic achievement, sure to take its place beside the classics of the genre.

Leroy Madden is in trouble. Big, handsome, Fox Carmody trouble.Leroy has buried his attraction to the enigmatic fisherman in irritation and pointless bickering, keeping Fox at a safe distance. But with the troublesome man now living in Leroy's house, it's becoming impossible for Leroy to keep his true feelings hidden, or the fact that Leroy maybe isn't so straight, after all.Leroy hungers for something different between them. He wants more. But Leroy's business is struggling, his newly mended relationship with his brother is at risk, Fox doesn't plan to stay, and their mothers are lovers.Regardless of what Leroy's heart so desperately wants, his entire world is at stake, and nothing about a relationship with Fox Carmody was ever going to be easy.

“Wise and heartbreaking” (Ann Napolitano), this captivating epic weaves the intimate lives of two Midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.In the small Ohio town of Bonhomie, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: she is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those whom they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship; she will soon learn that he may have perished in a predawn attack in the Philippine Sea.As the country reconstructs during the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to re-examine who they thought they were, and what the future might hold.Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love, and for goodness.

Dining in a Los Angeles eatery after Dominick's appearance on a popular quiz show, HIV-positive Timothy and Dominick discuss their lives and AIDS and the friends they have lost to it

This series for teenagers combines an enormously likable and engaging central character with the harsh realities of street life and the youth gang culture that is so prevalent in today's news.

Clay Tory has been tearing up the rodeo circuit under the guidance of veteran rancher Jack Lomas. But years of hard work and stress takes its toll on Jack and he suffers a stroke. Clay is left in charge of Jack's affairs, but while trying to make ends meet and prepare for the upcoming National Rodeo Finals, Clay must decide which is worth saving -- his rodeo career or his friendship with Jack.

A man who once thrived on wickedness and counted on forgiveness, Curtis Black has changed his ways. Back in the heart of his congregation and his family, he will no longer stray from the beaten path. Or so he's promised his long-suffering wife, Charlotte. But the sins of the past have strange ways of coming to light. First, Curtis's former mistress shows up with their newborn baby daughter—named Curtina—and insists that Curtis be a part of their lives. Charlotte has forbidden her husband to have anything to do with them, but the trouble is, Curtis's newfound conscience is leading him to have uncomfortable thoughts of responsibility. Also, the interim pastor who took over while Curtis was on a book tour is threatening blackmail. He's gotten too used to life at the pulpit and will do everything in his power to stay there.Meanwhile, Charlotte has her own previous transgressions to deal with. The man who claims to be her son's biological father has turned up and wants to make amends for the past thirteen years. If Charlotte gives in to his increasing requests, she may lose the only child she has left. However, Curtis and Charlotte have been through too much together to give up now. They must work harder than ever—as a mother and a father, as husband and wife—to save their family, their marriage, and their souls.

Robbery, escape, rendezvous, pursuit and romance all season "The Frenchman " as Jean LaChance, running from his criminal past, finds solace in the isolation of the bleak California desert. There, in search of the money he and his unscrupulous partner have stolen, LaChance instead finds Lilly Parsons and her children. Over four days they forge a sense of belonging for the first time in their lives, loneliness and despair begin to melt away. This bond of trust is seemingly broken when Lilly flees with the children, unaware that the money is in the trunk of her car. Now LaChance is in determined pursuit of the woman and children he has grown to love, but he is unconvinced of their motive for leaving, taking the money and sending the cops. What will he do when he finds them?

Denver taxi driver Brendan Murphy, a.k.a. "Murph," ignores the little voice in the back of his head that says to stay out of the lives of his passengers. Instead, he goes undercover as a hippie - muslin, sandals, VW van and all - to rescue two girls he believes have been brainwashed by a cult leader. Murph passes himself off as an old love child in his confrontation with Brother Chakra. As the good Brother might say, "it's a mind-blowing trip." Book #5 in The Asphalt Warrior series.

Marshall only wanted to help his friends, to undo the pain of the past, but a few moments of thoughtless action changed everything. Altered Realities is the tale of a changed world. All bets are off. Nothing is as it was and what is to be is transformed too. Mark, Taylor, Ethan, Nathan, Brendan, Casper and nearly the entire cast of the Gay Youth Chronicles come together in a tapestry of tales as they all try to deal with the consequences of Marshall's actions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.