Works by
Tajuana "TJ" Butler
(aka TJ Butler)
(Writer)

The Desires of A Woman: Poems Celebrating Womanhood (1997)
This inspiring collection of poems illustrates the inner essence of the heart of many women including the author. The desire for romance, spiritual balance, inner peace, understanding, and true love are sophisticatedly intertwined in the emotionally filled words and mood setting stanzas. This compilation of emotion and experience reaches out to men to encourage understanding and compassion while expressing the thoughts of women of all ages. Each verse expresses the female development process in its most simplistic form. The Desires of A Woman delves into a range of experiences in many different settings and situations. This work reflects gradual maturity and personal development.

The poem "His Touch" reads, "Don't get me wrong, I am sophisticated and strong, but nothing makes me weak like the touch of a black man!" Another excerpt includes the poem "Me" which reads, "These eyes tell a story of pain and joy, love and hate." Every word throughout the book speaks to the female heart and soul.

Sorority Sisters (2001)
Cajen is a naive freshman who falls for Jason, the campus Romeo, with life- changing repercussions. With hardly a chance to cope with her new circumstances, she finds herself dealing with the stress of pledging while battling feelings of depression and guilt. Tiara grew up the oldest of five children raised by a single mother in the projects of Gary, Indiana. Motivated by Rhonda, her mentor through the Big Sister program, she has worked hard for everything she has achieved and simply being in college is a victory for her. Chancey is brilliant with a photographic memory that has allowed her to breeze through school. In fact, she skipped her freshman year entirely and entered college as a sophomore. She was always made to feel like an outsider because of her intelligence and the sorority represents an opportunity for her to finally fit in. Stephanie is the spoiled only child of a prominent, wealthy family from Savannah. She is used to getting the best and expects no less. But Stephanie is adopted and harbors a secret about her birth mother that she fears will cause others to think less of her. Malena is ambitious, talented and smart. She knows what she wants and is steadfast in meeting her goals. It is her strength and resolve which ultimately benefit the group as a whole.

These five very different young women are thrust together but soon learn to unite and draw upon each other’s talents. During the course of their pledge process, they struggle to discover and define sisterhood and by the novel’s end they find strength in their sisters and within themselves. In Sorority Sisters, Butler writes with both sensitivity and authenticity about issues revolving around class, friendship, self-discovery, sexuality and love. She has created characters who remain with you long after the last page has been turned

Hand-me-down Heartache (2003)
After graduating from college, Nina Lander moves back in with her parents as she temps and tries to find a "real" job. She isn't finding it very easy to break into television broadcasting and her parent's strained marriage has made living at home even more depressing. But when she meets Maurice, a promising basketball rookie, Nina feels like she's found the one. Nina is determined to make the relationship work despite evidence Maurice hasn’t always been faithful, which hurts Nina but doesn't surprise her. Her father cheated on her mother, and her brother cheated on his girlfriends, thus she has low expectations for the men in her life.

When a chance encounter with a high school classmate who's grown into a successful rapper sends Maurice into a jealous rage, it is not long before Nina's friends are urging her to let him go. Even though she finds her dream job as a sports reporter for a local television station, Nina still can't keep Maurice out of her mind. To complicate matters, her high school friend Leo seems to be everything Maurice is not. Nina must decide between a man she loves but treats her wrong and a man who is willing to do everything right.

But all of this takes a back seat when her mother falls ill, and Nina puts her life on hold to take care of her. As both mother and daughter examine their relationships with the men in their lives, and as Nina's mother finally finds the courage to take her husband to task for his treatment of her, Nina finds the strength to break the chain of heartache that has been handed down from mother to daughter. In Hand-me-down Heartache author TJ Butler has crafted a heartwarming novel about the strength of relationships among women, be they mothers, mentors, or friends.

The Night Before Thirty (2003)
A personal shopper in New York, Catara lets her insecurity about weight hamper her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. In Atlanta, Lashawnda has gone from a string of bad relationships with men into one with a woman that doesn't seem much better. Elise is opening up a gymnastics school in Louisville, Kentucky, but canÕt seem to find the time to nurture herself. Tanya is ready to leave the fast lane of Chicago and start a family, but her man isn't on the same page. Living in Los Angeles, Alecia gets by on her looks–until her (married) boyfriend reminds her that beauty fades and her future is going nowhere fast.

But these women do have something in common–they all share the same birthday and are about to turn thirty. When the number one syndicated black radio show in the country sponsors a Night Before Thirty Getaway Weekend, these women meet–and while their time together is brief, the impact they have upon one another is everlasting.

Women of Color Cookbook (2003)
You will enjoy this hot new cookbook with recipes from Americas best cooks. African American women. Secrets, shortcut and basic cooking skill are taught in this wonderful new cookbook that will be enjoyed by men and women alike. So whether you are a seasoned cook or just beginning you will want to get your hands on a fresh copy of the Women of Color Cookbook!

Just My Luck (2006)
Talk about an entrance. Lanita Lightfoot was born in a little corner store during the thick of the Watts Riots in southern California. Her untimely entry into the world saved the place from being sacked by looters–and the shop owner showed his gratitude by giving her mother, Aretha, a decade of free rent. But when the reward dries up and her single mother takes to the bottle and a no-good loser boyfriend, Lanita's life becomes drastically altered.

Forced to live in a cramped, dingy apartment, she longs for her biological father to rescue them. Lanita, now thirty-eight, shares this and many other dramatic twists and turns to her life's story, from 1965 to present day, to a hairdresser and a host of colorful characters in an upscale black salon. Lanita embarks upon the journey of becoming a woman while the world evolves and as historical events impact her corner of the world, the black race and the United States. She encounters historical popular culture icons such as Michael Jackson, Todd Bridges and others who transform her perception of her own life. She turns sweet sixteen during a time when the world was engrossed with "Who shot JR?" and attends Howard University when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday had just become a national holiday. Lanita later finds herself in a West Hollywood strip club. It is not until the new millennium that Lanita finally walks across the stage to receive her diploma. Follow along with her salon audience and witness her life's constant knockdowns and ironic turns-of-luck.