Love Changes (PB) (2013)

Ten years in the making, the debut novel by Eartha Watts-Hicks infuses original poetry, song lyrics from 80's and 90s popular music, and prose in the narrative of Mia Love, a twenty-six year old single mother. Mia Love quits college to support her live-in boyfriend, Spider. When she becomes pregnant, her mother, his mother, and Romell, her handsome and flirtatious best friend, all think she has made a bad decision. Now, Mia cares for both her newborn son and Spider. Tethered to a low wage job to pay the bills, she's urging him make a commitment. Spider, himself underemployed, remains resistant. This causes tension between the two, with arguments getting more and more personal. Meanwhile, "good friend" Romell is offering a shoulder (and a lot more) to lean on. What ensues is a love triangle with a unique twist, two men vying for a lady with a baby. This heartwarming story of a young woman's struggle to remain true to herself was edited by Grace F. Edwards. Love Changes received the 2013 "Literary Game Changers" award in the fiction category from the NYCHA branch of the NAACP and was selected as The New York Amsterdam News's recommended summer read for 2013. Love Changes has also been submitted for the NAACP Image Award.