Fort Worth Ladies of Color Reading Group

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Amerie Cross and Arnold Hightower.

A destination wedding in Tulum should be a breeze, but Dr. Janelle Cross—the sister of the bride and the ex-girlfriend of the groom—can’t catch a break. Between her maid-of-honor duties, her sister′s Bridezilla antics, and her family tiptoeing around her non-existent feelings for her ex, Janelle is desperate to let off some steam. So when the best man, Rome, proposes they give into their undeniable chemistry, Janelle agrees, under one condition: their affair can only last a week.

What happens in Tulum doesn’t always stay in Tulum

For Rome Martin, Janelle has always been off-limits. She's his best friends ex, and Rome is nothing if not loyal. But he's never been able to get her off his mind, and now he might finally have a chance to win her over.

As the wedding brings them together, every kiss, adventure, and stolen moment feels right. Janelle and Rome agreed to live in the moment, but are they willing to risk it all for forever?

Tropes: Friends with benefits / He falls first / Vacation romance / Family drama / Black joy / Forced proximity / Forbidden love /Fling to forever

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block - her neighbor, Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other - or themselves - long enough to find out before they too disappear?