People of Color

Today's Feature Book of Color, Border Crossing comes from critically acclaimed author, Jessica Lee Anderson. Border Crossing is a tantalizing young adult book centered on troubled Texas teen Manz. Manz leads a tough life as a half white, half Mexican teenager trying to escape his problems. His mother, who had him at sixteen, is an alcoholic and still very much acts like a child. His father is out of the picture, and his mother's boyfriend Tom, a truck driver, is rarely home, which makes Manz the man of the house. Manz not only has to deal with all the everyday struggles of growing up, but he's also beginning to be haunted by voices and they grow louder every day.

Manz becomes more and more paranoid and doesn't know who he can trust. He meets Vanessa at his summer job, but is wary of her help. The voices in his head tell him that Border Patrol is coming after him, and when he sees signs of Operation Wetback, a horrible deportation plot from the 50's, he knows they are going to get him. Will Manz be able to tell what is real and what is imagined before the summer is over, or will it be too late?

The Book of the Day is The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo. The Ice Man chronicles the double life of Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski. Kuklinski was a professional assassin for most of his life, admitting to over 200 deaths by his hands. His family had no clue.

Kuklinski was a professional assassin for over thirty years, as well as Sammy the Bull Gravano's partner in the killing of Paul Castellano at Sparks Steakhouse. He also admitted to torturing and killing John Gotti's neighbors, who accidentally ran over his child. Through all of this blood and gore, Kuklinski raised a family of three children and put them through Catholic school. His life in New Jersey was one that included backyard barbeques and caring for his daughter, who frequented the children's hospitals because of a medical condition. This cold-blooded killer was seen as a loving, doting father and husband. This book leads the reader through a world of deception and blood.

Philip Carlo was raised in Brooklyn among a high concentration of Mafia members. This allowed him to become a successful crime writer, with his breakthrough, The Night Stalker. Carlo resides in New York.

The Book of the Day is B as in Beauty, written by Alberto Ferreras. Beauty Maria Zavala, or B as she is known, is a girl very uncomfortable with herself. She is not accepted for her intelligence or looks. She is lost.

Lost, that is, until she finds her own modern fairy godmother who gives her a makeover. She is transplanted to the world of New York, with all its glamor and flashiness. She learns along the way that she is really beautiful. But she must also answer the question—is she who she is supposed to be?

Alberto Ferreras lives in New York and is known for his work on the "Habla" series on HBO. This is his first novel.

Today's Featured Book of Color is Never Make the Same Mistake Twice: Lessons on Love and Life Learned the Hard Way, written by "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" reality star Nene Leakes. Nene Leakes delves into a tell-all about her life, from her broken childhood to her struggles of being a single mother.

Since she was young, Leakes knew that she would be a star, but she had no idea of how it would happen. She certainly didn't think it would involve taking a look at her life. Throughout the book, however, she insists that there is much more to her than what the show presented to the world.

And then she tells all, including a bit about the other stars on the show. She details everything for the reader, leaving no scandal and hardship unturned.

Today's Featured Book of Color is Thug Lovin' by Wahida Clark. This book introduces the husband and wife team of Tasha and Trae Macklin. Together they are the envied couple in the hood. They barely escaped a drug bust and ran off to Jamaica to hide while things calmed down.

After things blew over, Trae and Tasha decided to move to Los Angeles, where Trae promises to become more of a family man. Tasha is happy when Trae promises to leave behind all of the thug lifestyle, but when he gets tangled up in starting a nightclub, it tests their relationship.

Wahida Clark is a bestselling author of urban fiction and currently resides in New Jersey.

Ronnie Miller is the typical angry, rebellious, 17 year old girl and she is still reeling from her parents' divorce three years ago. Her life is as okay as it could possibly be until her mother sends her and her little brother out of New York to live in North Carolina for a summer with their father.

Ronnie ignores her father and his attempts at bonding for as long as she possibly can. While her brother and father spend time reconstructing a stained glass window for the local church, Ronnie avoids everyone...that is until she meets Will, the most popular and handsome boy in Wrightsville Beach. All of a sudden, she finds herself opening up and falling in love. All of us who have fallen in love and lost someone, can relate to the coming of age tale in The Last Song.

The Featured Book of the Day is The Trouble with HR: An Insider's Guide to Finding and Keeping the Best People written by Johnny C. Taylor and Gary M. Stern. This book outlines the problems within the business industry's HR departments. Unneeded are the scrambling managers, trying to fill a position within the company. What is needed? An HR department that can find stellar employees.

In order to do this, Taylor and Stern provide step-by-step instructions for all companies, small or large. The book teaches how to gain an effective talent acquisition strategy, select potential leaders and make a program to continue to educate them, and how to keep the people within the company happy. The authors show to to take your HR department and make them into educated leaders and business managers.

Johnny C. Taylor has served as chairman for the Society for Human Resource Management and has held senior-level positions within HR in many high profile companies. Gary M. Stern has written for Investor's Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal.

Today's Featured Book of Color is America Libre, written by Raul Ramos Y Sanchez. Sanchez's debut novel delves the reader into an L.A. barrio and follows Manolo Suarez. Manolo is a husband and father, as well as a decorated war vet.

When a Hispanic liberation movement erupts in his barrio, Manolo desperately hopes for peace. In an effort to keep the peace, Manolo joins forces with Ramon Garcia to create La Defensa del Pueblo, a group for Hispanic unity. When violence increases in the barrio, the US creates camps to segregate the Hispanics from the general population. In turn, Manolo is forced to look at his patriotism and a love for his people.

Sanchez was the winner of the 2008 International Latino Book Award for the original version of America Libre, which he self-published. The new version, published by Grand Central Publishing, is updated with more content.

Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson is today's Book of Color. This book, written by Ian Halperin, recounts the end of Michael Jackson's life. He predicted in December 2008, and announced to everyone in the world, that Michael Jackson would die in six months. Tragically, in the end, Ian Halperin was correct.

Halperin explains that what actually killed the King of Pop was the greed of others around him. Forced to launch the concert series in London drained Michael Jackson of his mental and physical health. Everyone, Michael Jackson's advisors included, knew that the tour was madness, but they still pushed for it to try and make the millions that the concerts would have generated. In his last years, Michael covered his ailing health by crazy costumes and cosmetics. Halperin details the crazy and thrilling last years of his life.

Ian Halperin is a former winner of the Rolling Stone "Award for Investigative Journalism," and has written books on Celine Dion, James Taylor, and Kurt Cobain.

The Book of Color for the day is The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce, & Keep the Man You Want. Written by Karrine Steffans, bestselling author of The Vixen Diaries, the ultimate "man's-lady" gives the details on how to land and keep a man. Based on years of experience and learning, Steffans explains relationship woes for every version of the single woman.

Steffans explains major markers in relationships, from the moment you meet to deciding if he is worth your love and attention. The book also contains sidebars explaining various sexual tips and suggestions dubbed "Vixen Tips."

Karrine Steffans, former celebrity dater and video vixen, definitely has a no holds barred mentality and tells it like it is.