Book picks similar to
Should Have Known Better by Grace Octavia


fiction
romance
aa-fiction
african-american-fiction

Breaking All My Rules


Trice Hickman - 2013
    But despite her good fortune, she's still missing someone special to share her life with—until a chance encounter changes everything... Handsome, rugged Jerome Kimbrough is hard to miss among the fellow citizens serving jury duty with Erica. And as the two get know each other over the course of a two week trial, their relationship soon extends beyond the courtroom and into a full-on passionate romance. Although they come from opposite worlds—Jerome is a working class, city sanitation employee—they’re both hard working dreamers with big ambitions. Yet while their differences aren't an issue for them, their friends, family—and Erica's ex-fiancé—disagree. As all involved are forced to confront their hidden stereotypes, can Erica and Jerome endure the challenges in store for them—including a startling secret from their pasts?...

A Life Without Water


Marci Bolden - 2019
    But on the day before their daughter’s thirtieth birthday, John barges back into Carol’s life with a request that threatens the fragile stability she has built.John Bowman is sick. Very sick. While he still can, he has some amends to make and some promises to fulfill. But to do that, he not only needs his ex-wife’s agreement…he needs her.With the past hovering between them like a ghost, Carol and John embark on a decades-overdue road trip. Together they plunge back into a life without water…but which may ultimately set them free.

Somebody Else's Man


Daaimah S. Poole - 2009
    Poole brings you the sizzling tale of two ex-best friends who can't forgive, won't forget... and will find out what matters most... Nicole and Tia just know nothing can break up their long-time friendship. But when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes along, Tia takes her new boyfriend's advice to sue Nicole's mother after a car accident. Now Tia has money, a flashy new home in Florida... and one furious ex-friend out to grab some of the good life for herself. And when wealthy businessman Derrick starts burning up her sheets, Nicole sees a future as sparkling as the engagement ring she's expecting... until...Tia turns up broke, with a new baby in tow... and news that Derrick isn't the man he seems. Now Derrick will marry Nicole only if she drops Tia for good. And between lies, lust, and betrayal, Nicole must gamble on whom to believe, what she really wants - and a choice that may cost her everything...

Confessions


Sasha Campbell - 2010
    . .For almost ten years, radio talk show host Nikki Truth has shared life's ups and downs with her husband Donovan while doling out in-your-face relationship advice to her listeners. But lately it seems the good times in her own relationship--including the sex--are few and far between. Then she meets widower Kenyon Monroe, whose sizzling touch is too tempting to resist. But not everyone is under Kenyon's spell. . .Nikki's best friend, Trinette Montgomery, can't deny Kenyon is hot, but she never trusts a man who seems too good to be true. And she should know. Married to a successful CFO who travelsa lot, Trinette likes to indulge in all of life's pleasures--including the fine men of St. Louis. But when her game goes too far, Trinette stands to lose everything. . . "These characters leap off the page and make you want to join in."--Lutishia Lovely, author of Heaven Forbid

Distant Shores


Kristin Hannah - 2002
    From a distance, their lives look picture perfect. But after the girls leave home, Jack and Elizabeth quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job, Elizabeth puts her own needs aside to follow him across the country. Then tragedy turns Elizabeth’s world upside down. In the aftermath, she questions everything about her life—her choices, her marriage, even her long-forgotten dreams. In a daring move that shocks her husband, friends, and daughters, she lets go of the woman she has become—and reaches out for the woman she wants to be.--back cover

Can't Stand the Heat


Shelly Ellis - 2013
    - Starred Review, Publishers WeeklyEllis starts her new Gibbons Gold Digger Series, about a family of women who seduce men for money, in fine form. - RT Book ReviewsOver three generations, the Gibbons women of Chesterton, Virginia, have built their reputation as a family of shameless--but refined--gold diggers. They even have a strict set of rules by which they operate. But the rebellious, youngest Gibbons is about to break them all...Lauren Gibbons is committing the ultimate family betrayal: abandoning the tradition of seducing men for money. Nothing is worth the abuse she's endured from her sugar daddy. Now a sous chef, Lauren is hoping to break from the past for good. And when she meets hot former NFL player Crisanto Weaver, she even lets herself imagine a future. But the small-town rumor mill--and her own sisters--aren't ready for a new Lauren. Between her conniving relatives, her vengeful ex, a mountain of debt, and a whole lot of haters, can she escape her old life, and create something new?

Tempting Fate


Jane Green - 2014
    They have two teenaged daughters. They have built a life together. Forty-three year old Gabby is the last person to have an affair. She can't relate to the way her friends desperately try to cling to the beauty and allure of their younger years…And yet, she too knows her youth is quickly slipping away. She could never imagine how good it would feel to have a handsome younger man show interest in her--until the night it happens. Matt makes Gabby feel sparkling, fascinating, alive--something she hasn't felt in years. What begins as a long-distance friendship soon develops into an emotional affair as Gabby discovers her limits and boundaries are not where she expects them to be. Intoxicated, Gabby has no choice but to step ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, never foreseeing the life-changing consequences that lie ahead. If she makes one wrong move she could lose everything--and find out what really matters most.A heartfelt and complex story, Tempting Fate will have readers gripped until they reach the very last page, and thinking about the characters long after they put the book down.

Diva Diaries


Janine A. Morris - 2006
    She's a successful marketing executive who still believes in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Every Breath


Nicholas Sparks - 2018
    At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.Illuminating life's heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties -- and asks the question, How long can a dream survive?

The Next Best Thing


Jennifer Weiner - 2012
    Four years later, she’s hit the jackpot when she gets The Call: the sitcom she wrote, The Next Best Thing, has gotten the green light, and Ruthie’s going to be the show-runner. But her dreams of Hollywood happiness are threatened by demanding actors, number-crunching executives, an unrequited crush on a boss, and her grandmother’s impending nuptials. Set against the fascinating backdrop of Los Angeles show business culture, with an insider’s ear and eye for writer’s rooms, bad behavior backstage and set politics, Jennifer Weiner’s new novel is a rollicking ride on the Hollywood rollercoaster and a heartfelt story about what it’s like for a young woman to love, and lose, in the land where dreams come true.

The Ex-Wife


Candice Dow - 2013
    . . THE EX-WIFE She's the hottest relationship expert around. Her get-real advice and tough-world experience have earned Ayana Blue money, fame, and a successful life she never imagined. And handsome Realtor Cameron Small is the sexy, steady Mr. Right she wasn't looking for yet always hoped she'd find. But Cam's unstable, in-denial ex-wife, Yasmin, isn't about to let him go-or allow anyone else take "her place." And if that means wrecking everything Ayana has worked so hard to build, then so be it. Now with her peace of mind shattered, her private business in the hole, and her reputation on the line, Ayana needs to figure out fast which dreams she can save, and what she'll have to let go. When it comes down to the ex-wife v. the next-wife, the only thing guaranteed is a scorched-earth battle-and it's winner takes all . . .

Falling Together


Marisa de los Santos - 2011
    Now, six years later, Pen is the single mother of a five-year-old girl, living with her older brother in Philadelphia and trying to make peace with the sudden death of her father. Even though she feels deserted by Will and Cat, she has never stopped wanting them back in her life, so when she receives an email from a desperate-sounding Cat asking her to meet her at their upcoming college reunion, Pen goes. What happens there sends past and present colliding and sends Pen and her friends on a journey across the world, a journey that will change everything.

Message from a Mistress


Niobia Bryant - 2010
    Bryant will have readers on the edge of their seats with this sexy and provocative novel about a group of women who have one thing in common--their husbands' betrayal.

Say It Ain't So


La Jill Hunt - 2009
    With his talented voice, pretty boy looks, and good guy charms, Warren Cobb quickly rose to the top of the Gospel music charts with hit after hit after hit.But what's the Sensual Seductress to do when she's riding in a car that's involved in a terrible crash? And what's the Prince of Praise to do when he's the one driving?All hell breaks loose and the rumors start to fly; lives are threatened, and the truths are untold in a drama-filled tale that could only come from the imagination of La Jill Hunt.Urban Books presents Say It Ain't So. Because every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future!

Sweet Little Lies


Michele Grant - 2011
    Witnessing Christina and her fiance arguing, Steven Williams comes to her defence. But it is not the last encounter they will have."