Kim Louise, my sistah of the written word and my good friend, thank you for those three a.m. calls to check on me as I struggled to finish this book and the many times you answered when I called to run an idea by you. I put some serious teeth into a huge chunk of your life and you never shook me off. Not once. A true friend indeed.
Claudia, my agent. Eight years, huh? Please know I thank you for everything you have taught me about this business. I speak and deal with a confidence backed by a knowledge base you helped manufacture. I take comfort in knowing that above being an agent you are my friend and that friendship will last a lifetime.
Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. Lol.
To the team at Touchstone, thanks so much for the hard work and care you all have put into this book. I cannot say enough how much I enjoy working with you all. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to Melissa Vipperman Cohen, Martha Schwartz, Anne Cherry, Cherlynne Li, and Kyle Kabel. Phenomenal work. Great book inside and out. I appreciate you all.
To my online community, especially everyone who is so outgoing on my Facebook page, thanks so much for keeping me connected to the world. I appreciate all 8,600 of you talking books with me—mine and others!
Thank you to all the reviewers, literary publications, bloggers, book vendors, bookstores, and anyone out there who supports the beauty of books and reading.
That’s it for now. I have yet another deadline to meet.
Forever grateful,
Meesha Mink
MEESHA MINK is the bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty books written under three names, including the critically acclaimed Real Wifeys series and the explosive Hoodwives trilogy, which she cowrote. She was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, and lives in South Carolina.
www.meeshamink.com
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Also by Meesha Mink
The Real Wifeys Series
Real Wifeys: Hustle Hard
Real Wifeys: Get Money
Real Wifeys: On the Grind
The Bentley Manor Series
The Hood Life
Shameless Hoodwives
Desperate Hoodwives
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Touchstone
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Niobia Bryant
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone trade paperback edition August 2014
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Interior design by Akasha Archer
Cover photographs: Woman © Eric Hood/E+/Getty Images, Diamond letters © dgbomb/Shutterstock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kiss the ring : an urban tale / Meesha Mink.—First Touchstone trade paperback edition.
pages cm
“A Touchstone book.”
1. African American women—Fiction. 2. Revenge—Fiction. 3. Gangs—Fiction 4. Inner cities—Fiction. 5. Newark (N.J.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3552.R8945K57 2014
813’.54—dc23
2014005439
ISBN 978-1-4767-5530-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-5534-2 (ebook)