WOULD I LIE TO YOU?

Venus Johnston is back—and she’s gotta make up her mind.

After she quit fussing with her processed hair and chopped it all off in Nappily Ever After (2000), Venus dumped pediatrician Clint and met Airic, a handsome, workaholic dot-com entrepreneur putting together his first IPO. He sure looks like Mr. Right, and they’ve been together for two years, but they just can’t seem to set a date for the wedding. Well, whatever, she’s 36 and that’s not old enough to worry about being an old maid, not these days. Venus ignores her mama’s unsubtle nagging—especially the suggestion about freezing some eggs just in case. When a new man enters her life, Venus is flummoxed. Ex-rapper turned clothing designer Jake Parsons ain’t so special—except for his deep, phone-sex voice, gentlemanly manners, good looks, style, and immense personal fortune. She feels a little guilty daydreaming about Jake when Airic works so hard and seems so devoted—but when it comes right down to it, he just won’t commit. Hired to freshen up the JPWear line, Venus spends a lot of time with Jake, fighting the powerful attraction he has. She just can’t cheat on Airic, not after the way Clint cheated on her, but still . . . . And her mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer teaches Venus the hard truth that life is sometimes a lot shorter than we want it to be. When she finds out she’s pregnant, however, Airic isn’t happy at all. Relegated to a greeting-card relationship with his two kids by a difficult ex-wife, he still doesn’t want to marry, and he doesn’t want to be just a checkbook daddy, either. Vowing to go it alone, Venus gives birth to a girl, Mya. Will Jake want her and another man’s baby? Happy ending awaits, with an can-I-get-a-witness choir backing up her one and only as he pledges eternal love.

Briskly written sequel, very likable heroine.