The beloved #1 Essence bestselling authors of Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made now deliver a novel in which you’ll meet their most unforgettable characters.

Carmen, Jewel, and Regina could not be more different. When they meet as freshmen at Columbia University, they are at a crossroad, and each is pretty confident that a friendship among them isn’t in the cards. Jewel is Hollywood royalty. As the teenage star of the television show Daddy’s Girl, her face is instantly recognizable all across America. Now, though, she wants only to get a serious education and to leave her controlling stage-mother behind. Regina is the definitive upper-middle-class African American girl. Her picture-perfect parents are what she calls “black Ward and June Cleavers” and their goals for her are like a stranglehold. And no one can see how far Regina’s rebellious side will take her–or how treacherous it will become. Carmen is just trying to get by. A child of the projects whose father is dead and whose mother has vanished, she has been raised by her abusive brother. Columbia is the way for her to get a better life–if she can hold down two jobs and keep her GPA up. As the years progress, they are challenged by drug addiction, fame, secrets from the past, sickness, betrayal, and the darkest things women can face. But each has what the others need, and their circle of sisterhood, though strained, is never broken–not even by death. Better Than I Know Myself is a novel of heartache, triumph, tears, and the unshakeable bonds among women.

Popular authors Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant team up for a provocative novel about the high-stakes world of New York real estate. Avery Lyons returns to the Big Apple after two decades away and learns she has inherited a chunk of property on Central Park North. Her cousin would like to buy the land, and Avery is willing to sell-until a reporter uncovers the truth behind the dealings. “The team of DeBerry and Grant sure knows how to give readers a vibrant family story, a real gem that encompasses betrayals, secret lives, and forgiveness.”-Booklist