Hood Tales, Volume 1

Book excerpt: Rising Urban Books star C. N. Phillips delivers modern fairytales with an urban fiction twist. “Maid for You”: When Ava Dunning’s mother is killed in a senseless act of violence, it feels like the world has ended. Now on her own, with the bills piling up, Ava is forced to take a job with a company called Maid For You. Trying to clock as many hours as she can, Ava jumps at the opportunity to do some overtime on the side, only to discover that she’s bitten off more than she can chew. Just like that, she becomes a cleaner for King Dex, one of the most notorious kingpins on the West Coast. It’s nothing for him to pay a couple thousand dollars for her to clean up his dirty work, and she’s happy for the paycheck. Things become complicated when Ava discovers that King Dex played a part in her mother’s death. Now Ava is set on revenge, but when she meets Charmont, King Dex’s son, and falls head over heels, she must make the hardest decision of her life. Which half of her heart should she follow? “Robin the Hood”: There are many things that can happen when you make someone mad. They can hold a grudge, curse you out . . . or hire somebody to rob and kill you. Her name is Robin, and the hood claimed her long before she got into this business. She and her team of outlaws are hired by major hitters in the game to collect debts with either money or souls, plus tax for their own needs. When Robin is offered triple the usual rate to double cross the man she has fallen in love with, greed gets the best of her. When the hit goes wrong and her identity is exposed, Robin makes enemies that she thought she’d only see in her nightmares. Follow this grimey tale and see if this girl from the hood will find her way out of a sticky situation, or pay the ultimate price in blood.