Looking For Book Club Selections? Look No More; Here Are 6 NBCC Recommendations

Pinky Cole is an American restauranteur. She is the owner and operator of Slutty Vegan, a plant-based burger restaurant chain in Atlanta, GA.

In July 2018, Cole was inspired to create a vegan restaurant due to her own cravings for junk food. She came up with the name Slutty Vegan as a provocative hook. In 2018 she sold her first vegan burgers through delivery apps and opened a food truck in September of that year. In January 2019, she opened the first Slutty Vegan brick and mortar restaurant. She has opened many other locations since and gained the attention of restaurant investor Danny Meyer who has invested in taking her chain national.

Her journey was far from east, and Pinky tells it all in her inspiring book, I Hope You Fail. She spent her life dreaming of financial security. After a fire destroyed the New York City restaurant she put everything into building, she was back to square one, working hard for someone else's dream.

Her life has been a series of lessons that have given her the tools to build a business that drew the attention of some of the world's top investors.

In I Hope You Fail, Pinky tells her own story to empower you in yours. She'll share her ten counter-intuitive hopes for you, including:

• I hope you don't believe in yourself. . .because the journey to discovering who you truly are is the key to unlocking the life you want.
• I hope you don't get that raise. . .because money doesn't equal respect, but it can show you how much you are truly valued at work.
• I hope the customers don't show up. . .so you can have the feedback you need to reevaluate your approach and find one that works.

Filled with practical advice and motivational gut-punches, I Hope You Fail will teach you how to learn from your WTF moments and find fuel in your losses.

Andre Ward is a retired boxing world champion who was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He is a licensed minister and youth pastor at his church, The Well Christian Community in Livermore, California.

In his inspiring memoir, the undefeated five-time world champion—aka "Son of God"—shares the gripping narrative of his unforgettable career, his rock-solid faith, and why boxing was never the biggest fight of his life.

Andre Ward was the undefeated light heavyweight boxing champion of the world when he walked away from the ring and did not look back. Now that he has taken off his gloves for the final time, the Olympic gold medalist is ready to share the heartbreaking and uplifting stories of his formative years and unprecedented boxing career. Motivational, faith-building, and utterly compelling, this memoir offers:

• an inspiring story of overcoming a broken childhood
• behind-the-scenes drama from Andre's epic championship bouts, complicated relationships with managers and promoters, and shocking decision to retire at the top of his game
• insight into breaking destructive generational bonds, forgiving those who have hurt us, and moving toward hope
• a challenge to live out our faith without compromise

Rich with colorful characters, fascinating detail, and biblical truths, this is the story of a man known for his integrity outside the ring, his warrior's instinct inside it, and his unrelenting bond with the God who called him to the greatest victory of all.

Andre is married to his high school sweetheart, Tiffiney. Together with their five children, they live in the San Francisco Bay Area. enjoys spending his time with his family, serving his community, and speaking at churches, corporations, and colleges.

Mary Annaïse Heglar is known for her essays that dissect and interrogate the climate crisis, drawing heavily on her personal experience as a Black woman with deep roots in the South. Her work has appeared in New York Magazine, The Nation, The Boston Globe, Vox, Rolling Stone, and other outlets.

In 2020, she was selected as the inaugural writer in residence at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and has gone on to teach at Columbia University in New York and Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2020, she received a SEAL Environmental Journalism award. She is based in New Orleans, but her heart is in Mississippi and her soul is in Birmingham.

Mary's engrossing book, Troubled Waters, which will be released in May of 2024, is an intimate portrait of two generations, a granddaughter and a grandmother come to terms with what it means to be family, Black women, and alive in a world on fire.

The world is burning—but it always has been. Cora’s ghosts have followed her from her days as a child integrating schools in 1950s Nashville to her new life as a mother, grandmother, and teacher in Mississippi. As a child of the Civil Rights movement, she’s done her best to keep those specters away from her granddaughter. She faced those demons, she reasons to herself, so that Corinne would never know they existed.

When Corrine’s plan to stage a dramatic act of resistance peels back the scabs of her family wounds and puts her safety in jeopardy, both grandmother and granddaughter must bring their unspoken secrets into the light to find a path to healing. Their world hangs in the balance as past and future meet in the present moment.

In heartfelt, lyrical prose, Mary weaves an unforgettable story of the climate crisis, Black resistance, and the enduring power of family.

Vanessa Miller is a bestselling author, with several books appearing on ESSENCE Magazine's Bestseller List. She has also been a Black Expressions Book Club alternate pick and No. 1 on BCNN/BCBC Bestseller List.

With The American Queen, Vanessa hits it big. In 1869, a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen. Over the twenty-four years she’s been enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one thing: hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose. Hate so powerful there’s no room in her heart for love, not even for the honorable Reverend William, whom she likes and respects enough to marry.

But when William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to replace her hate with hope. Hope that they will find a place where they can live free from fear. Hope that despite her many unanswered prayers, she can learn to trust for new miracles.

Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen shares the unsung true history of a kingdom built as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.

Most of Vanessa's published novels depict characters who are lost and in need of redemption. The books have received countless favorable reviews: "Heartwarming, drama-packed and tender in just the right places" (Romantic Times book review) and "Recommended for readers of redemption stories" (Library Journal).

Social Media: Visit her online at vanessamiller.com; Twitter: @Vanessamiller01; Instagram: @authorvanessamiller; Facebook: @Vanessamiller01.

Ronald Olivier served twenty-seven summers in the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. He was released in 2018, and became a client of the Louisiana Parole Project.

In 27 Summers, Olivier shares his dramatic and powerful story and offers proof that God can bring healing and hope to even the darkest circumstances.

As a teenager Olivier ran wild in the streets of New Orleans, selling drugs, stealing cars, and finally killing someone on what was supposed to be the happiest day of the year--Christmas Day.

Ron was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Through the agony of solitary confinement and multiple transfers into increasingly dangerous prison environments, Ron kept seeking God for healing and hope.

Finally, after being locked up for twenty-seven summers at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary--known as Angola--Ron was miraculously released. Remarkably, he became the director of chaplains at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Today, Ron loves to combat hopelessness, wherever he finds it, by saying, "Don't tell me what God can't do!”

In 2020, less than two years after leaving Angola, Ronald was hired as the director of chaplaincy at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. In 2023 Ronald returned to the Louisiana Parole Project as a client advocate, using his experience to guide other formerly incarcerated people toward successful careers and lives. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with his wife and son.

Dr. Anita Phillips, LCSW-C is a trauma therapist, life coach, and minister. Widely recognized as a thought leader at the intersection of mental health, faith, and culture, Dr. Anita serves as an Associate Professor in Dr. John Townsend’s Institute for Leadership & Counseling at Concordia University.

In her game-changing book, The Garden Within, Dr. Phillips trauma therapist and mental health expert Dr. Anita Phillips reveals how embracing emotion is the key to living your most powerful life. Just as gardens thrive in good ground, the abundant life you’ve been seeking can only be grown in the soil of your heart.

Blending faith, the latest discoveries in neurobiology, and her own research and work as a licensed therapist, Dr. Anita shows you how to cultivate a state of emotional well-being that can:

• strengthen your body and reverse the effects of trauma,
• calm anxiety and renew your mind, and
• unleash a new level of spiritual power in your life.

This book will equip you with the tools you need to nurture a part of yourself that has been misunderstood for too long — your heart — setting you free to live just as the Creator intended.

Dr. Phillips holds degrees from the University of Maryland and the Regent University School of Psychology & Counseling and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Anita’s faith + mental health advocacy campaigns have reached hundreds of thousands and her podcast, In the Light with Dr. Anita, is transforming lives around the globe. From The Potter’s House to Lakewood Church, her dynamic voice has been heard on some of the largest Christian platforms in the country.

As a media personality she has been trusted by the likes of Tamron Hall, The Talk, Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Red Table Talk, and the Today Show. In her downtime, Dr. Anita adores time with her family and friends, a good pint of ice cream, and sitting by the ocean.