{"title":"Black Romance \u0026 Romantic Suspense","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore Black romance, romantasy and romantic suspense shaped by desire, trust, power and supernatural consequence. The \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/oakland-moon\"\u003eOakland Moon series\u003c\/a\u003e follows connected stories of love and danger after dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStart with \u003cem\u003eHope After Dark\u003c\/em\u003e, continue with \u003cem\u003eCrown After Midnight\u003c\/em\u003e, then read \u003cem\u003eVelvet Saints\u003c\/em\u003e. Visit the \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/oakland-moon-reading-order\"\u003eOakland Moon reading guide\u003c\/a\u003e or explore \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/the-predatory-spouse-series\"\u003eThe Predatory Spouse\u003c\/a\u003e for relationship suspense.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hope-after-dark-oakland-moon-book-one","title":"Hope After Dark: Oakland Moon, Book One","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStart reading before you buy:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/hope-after-dark-first-chapter\"\u003eRead the complete first chapter free\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp data-start=\"2109\" data-end=\"2413\"\u003eDr. Candice Monroe enters Club Hope for one night and finds herself pulled into an Oakland mystery of desire, power, money, hidden records, and supernatural consequence. \u003cstrong data-start=\"2279\" data-end=\"2300\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2281\" data-end=\"2298\"\u003eHope After Dark\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e is an adult Black romance, romantasy, and crime-driven suspense novel about the secrets a city keeps after dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2415\" data-end=\"2641\"\u003eThe ending author note describes Darius Blackman’s work here as \u003cstrong data-start=\"2479\" data-end=\"2539\"\u003eadult Black romance, romantasy, and crime-driven stories\u003c\/strong\u003e centered on love, power, survival, and city secrets after dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBegin the Oakland Moon series\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eStart here with Book One. \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/oakland-moon-reading-order\"\u003eSee the reading order\u003c\/a\u003e when you are ready for the next book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChoose your available format above. For ebook help, visit \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/digital-download-help\"\u003eDigital Download Help\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darius Blackman Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44167864451108,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/9986\/5124\/files\/hope_after_dark_front_d2d_darius_blackman_1600x2400_85751f22-3990-4c27-8c38-e30b458b444b.jpg?v=1778368841"},{"product_id":"crown-after-midnight-oakland-moon-book-two","title":"Crown After Midnight: Oakland Moon, Book Two","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"2157\" data-end=\"2218\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"2157\" data-end=\"2218\"\u003eA crown is not always an honor. Sometimes it is a demand.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2220\" data-end=\"2369\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"2220\" data-end=\"2270\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2222\" data-end=\"2268\"\u003eCrown After Midnight: Oakland Moon, Book Two\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e by \u003cstrong data-start=\"2274\" data-end=\"2293\"\u003eDarius Blackman\u003c\/strong\u003e continues the Oakland Moon saga in the hours after Hope changed everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2371\" data-end=\"2655\"\u003eRoman Greer and Dr. Candice Monroe are no longer standing in the same dark room they survived. Now the road leads north, toward Sacramento, Crown House, dangerous inheritance, family blood, old witnesses, public pressure, supernatural records, and a crown that refuses to stay buried.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2657\" data-end=\"3138\"\u003eRoman is trying to leave the throne behind. Candice is refusing to let love become ownership. But Crown House knows how to make control sound like protection, how to turn repair into a trap, and how to offer power to the wounded until obedience looks like healing. The opening chapter connects the book directly to the aftermath of Club Hope, with Candice and Roman facing the message that “Oakland found Hope” but “Sacramento kept the crown.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3140\" data-end=\"3363\"\u003eThis is grown Black romance with heat and consequence. This is romantasy with ledgers, pins, blood, family names, old rooms, and supernatural pressure. This is a crime saga where every invitation may be a trap with manners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3365\" data-end=\"3420\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3365\" data-end=\"3420\"\u003eHope changed the room.\u003cbr data-start=\"3389\" data-end=\"3392\"\u003eMidnight brings the crown.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darius Blackman Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44175836446756,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/9986\/5124\/files\/crown_after_midnight_final_cover_1600x2400_801515f9-bd56-4644-8663-e11526134af0.jpg?v=1778577509"},{"product_id":"velvet-saints-oakland-moon-book-three","title":"Velvet Saints: Oakland Moon Book Three","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"2303\" data-end=\"2366\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"2303\" data-end=\"2366\"\u003eThe room was supposed to be clean.\u003cbr data-start=\"2339\" data-end=\"2342\"\u003eThe velvet wrote back.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2368\" data-end=\"2569\"\u003eAfter the events of \u003cstrong data-start=\"2388\" data-end=\"2414\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2390\" data-end=\"2412\"\u003eCrown After Midnight\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, Club Hope should be recovering. Roman Greer and Dr. Candice Monroe are trying to rebuild what power, secrecy, blood, and old family debts tried to break.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2571\" data-end=\"2599\"\u003eBut Hope has its own memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2601\" data-end=\"2862\"\u003eBy morning, the upstairs office smells like rainwater, old smoke, expensive liquor, and something alive inside a curtain tassel. A covered mirror begins speaking through water, thread, and old receipts. Blue thread tightens. Names rise. And the message appears:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2864\" data-end=\"2882\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"2864\" data-end=\"2882\"\u003eVELVET SAINTS.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2884\" data-end=\"2947\"\u003eThe room is not asking for worship.\u003cbr data-start=\"2919\" data-end=\"2922\"\u003eIt is asking for witness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2949\" data-end=\"3366\"\u003eAs Roman, Candice, Josephine, Rochelle, Tasha, Ms. Denise, and the women connected to Hope begin tracing the old records, the story beneath the club starts to surface. Tip-out sheets. Wardrobe rooms. Prayer cloths. Blue thread. Velvet collars. Church programs. Missing boxes. Women’s names turned into silence. Men’s money dressed up as respectability. A room that remembers what powerful men tried to make disappear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3368\" data-end=\"3622\"\u003ePsalm has stolen a string. Pastor Lillian Cross still casts a shadow. Dap Collins knows too much. And somewhere beneath club velvet and church cloth is the truth of what Hope paid its women, what it buried, and who profited from calling survivors saints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3624\" data-end=\"3912\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3624\" data-end=\"3666\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"3626\" data-end=\"3664\"\u003eVelvet Saints: An Oakland Moon Novel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e is \u003cstrong data-start=\"3670\" data-end=\"3698\"\u003eOakland Moon, Book Three\u003c\/strong\u003e, a grown Black romance and supernatural crime saga about love, accountability, privacy, women’s memory, dangerous rooms, and the cost of telling the truth after everyone has learned how to dress silence in velvet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3914\" data-end=\"3962\"\u003eRoman and Candice are still choosing each other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3964\" data-end=\"4034\"\u003eBut this time, love is not enough unless the room tells the truth too.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darius Blackman Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44199268220964,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/9986\/5124\/files\/VelvetSaintsCover_3217ac02-5cd4-4ff3-8b08-b9308e5e7987.png?v=1779508126"}],"url":"https:\/\/dariusblackmanpublishing.com\/collections\/black-romance-romantic-suspense.oembed","provider":"Darius Blackman Publishing","version":"1.0","type":"link"}