The One I Tried to Ignore (Between The Lines #1)

Yandy Monroe has room in her life for books, coffee, and the neighborhood bookstore she built from the ground up.

A persistent, fine, broad-shouldered contractor is nowhere on the schedule.

After a devastating betrayal nearly cost Yandy her business and her belief in love, she pours everything she has into Between the Lines Books & Brew. The store is her dream, her safe place, and the one relationship she trusts.

Then LaKeith Vance starts appearing every Thursday.

He brings flowers, caramel-praline cupcakes, romance novels he claims are for his mother, and enough confidence to irritate every boundary Yandy has carefully built. LaKeith is steady, observant, and determined to prove that helping her does not mean controlling her.

When a broken pipe brings part of Yandy’s ceiling crashing down, LaKeith steps in and becomes harder to ignore. Their teasing turns into friendship, their friendship catches fire, and Yandy begins wondering whether the man getting on her nerves might also be the one her heart has been waiting for.

But when a redevelopment plan threatens the bookstore and Yandy discovers LaKeith has been making moves behind the scenes, old wounds return with a vengeance.

To save the future they have started building, Yandy must decide whether LaKeith is another man keeping secrets—or a good man who made a painful mistake while trying to protect what she loves.

The One I Tried to Ignore

is a funny, heartfelt, steamy Black contemporary romance filled with sharp banter, strong chemistry, emotional healing, neighborhood drama, found family, and a love story worth fighting for.