LOVE BEFORE THE STREETS

Before the streets claimed him… there was her.

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On the Eastside of Detroit, thirteen-year-old Jream Kiser is trying to survive the kind of childhood that forces kids to grow up too fast. Between her mother’s addiction, family secrets, and the pressure of becoming the “strong one,” Jream finds comfort in the people who make life feel normal, especially Antonio Macon.

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Antonio is funny, protective, ambitious, and determined to become more than the struggles surrounding him. What starts as innocent conversations, football games, bike rides, and late-night phone calls slowly turns into first love, the kind of love that feels pure, safe, and forever.

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But love can’t protect them from reality.

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While Jream is fighting to keep her family from falling apart, Antonio is secretly drowning under the pressure of poverty, pride, and watching his mother struggle to survive. Then Deuce, an older hustler feared across Detroit, steps into Antonio’s life and offers him something he’s never had before.

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As grief, violence, and betrayal slowly pull them deeper into darkness, Jream realizes the boy she fell in love with is changing right in front of her. Antonio is forced to choose between the only girl who ever truly loved him… and the dangerous life that now has its hands around his throat.

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But in Detroit, once the streets know your name… they don’t let go.

Love Before the Streets is a raw and emotional coming of age hood romance about first love, loyalty, poverty, grief, and the painful loss of innocence. This first installment captures the beginning. The bond, the heartbreak, and the choices that shape who Jream and Antonio will become before adulthood changed everything.