This Time Around (PB) (2024)

Dr. Tessa Howard is sick and tired of everything--her job, her nagging mother, and her boyfriend who wouldn't know commitment if it hit him in the face. The only thing that didn't work her last nerve was her soon-to-be twenty-year-old daughter, Cyrah. Watching her one and only child, her greatest accomplishment, live life out loud was her greatest joy. Tessa didn't know what she'd do if she didn't have Cyrah, whom she admittedly lived vicariously through. After an epiphany in the middle of the night, Tessa finds herself single and unemployed. With no job, no man, and no prospects for either, Tessa finally decides to let loose and learns that history does, in fact, repeats itself.

Dr. Cypress Boone recently ended a relationship after a two-year engagement. He'd given his all to Emery, but she played him for a fool. Although disappointed, he hasn't given up on love and is ready for a fresh start. Emery, however, isn't ready to let go and refuses to accept that they are over. In an effort to make a clean break, he accepts a job at the prestigious Black Elm University, over two thousand miles away from his current residence. With a new job in a new city, Cypress has high hopes that a new woman will soon be added to the equation. However, maybe this time around, someone new isn't what he needs.