Sincere Simplicity

Sincere and Simplicity had the kind of love that poets write about, until life, pride, and pain tore them apart.

He was a college basketball star with dreams of giving her the world. She was fighting cancer, drowning in fear and wine, convinced she was holding him back from the family he deserved. Their breakup was brutal. Their silence, even worse.

Years later, they've both moved on, or so they tell themselves. Sincere is married to Leslie, a senator's daughter, raising kids in a life that looks perfect on paper. Simplicity works as a nurse, dating an ex-con who treats her like a placeholder, still haunted by the man she pushed away.

But when an elderly patient named Lilly brings them back into each other's orbit, old wounds rip open and buried truths surface. Sincere's marriage is built on lies. Simplicity's cancer has returned. And the love they tried to bury? It never died.

Set against the backdrop of Philadelphia winters, nursing home halls, and one fateful reunion under a knight's portrait by the water, Sincere Simplicity is a raw, unapologetically Black love story about second chances, deadly betrayal, and the painful truth that sometimes you have to lose everything to understand what you were fighting for.

Content Warning: This book contains depictions of suicide, terminal illness, gun violence, infidelity, and strong language.

Perfect for fans of: Urban romance • Second-chance love stories • Emotionally charged drama • Black love stories • Stories about sacrifice and redemption