First published 2025
Desiree and Danielle are estranged sisters carrying family wounds in different cities. January discovers she's pregnant by a man she feels unsure about. Monique works as a librarian while building her blog, until she gains sudden internet attention for exposing her university's historical whitewashing. Nakia struggles to launch her restaurant without accepting money from her upper middle class family, who question her choices. These five friends span coasts between New York and Los Angeles as they move through twenty years together, from the late 2000s into the late 2020s. They face careers that don't unfold as planned, relationships that complicate rather than clarify, and a country growing more unstable around them. Political upheaval and economic uncertainty reshape their world as they age from young adults into grown women. Through it all, they must discover what their friendship means when life pulls them in different directions.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, friendship
Setting: Los Angeles, New York
Period: late 2000s, late 2020s
304 pages · Hardcover · Mariner Books