From Beignets to Breakdowns: The Real Tea Behind My New Novel

Let me set the scene: four girlfriends in New Orleans.
Café du Monde in the morning, daiquiris by noon, and dirty little secrets flying by 6 p.m. Sound like a vacation?
Wrong.
It’s the beginning of my new novel Booked & Bothered—and yes, it’s loosely based on real energy.

Now before anybody starts clutching their pearls or texting the group chat, let me say this: if you think it’s about you… it probably is. But don’t worry, names were changed to protect the guilty. Maybe.

It All Started With Beignets… and a Side of Betrayal

I was eating powdered sugar-covered lies with my morning coffee when I said, “You know what? Somebody needs to write about this kind of trip.” Not the Instagram version where everyone’s smiling in sundresses—but the real, raw, “Why did we even invite her?” kind of vacation.

Because let’s be honest—every friend group has that one person who’s got drama packed right next to their hot comb and travel-size lotion.

The Group Chat Was Cute Until It Wasn’t

Y’all ever been in a group chat where:

Somebody says “I’m down” but never books a flight?
One person keeps asking about the hotel like they didn’t get the link three weeks ago?
Somebody invites a plus-one who don’t even like y’all?

That’s the kind of chaos that inspired my characters. The trip to Essence Fest was supposed to be a celebration. But baby, what it turned into? A therapy session with gumbo and grudges.

Let’s Talk About the Girls

Tasha thinks she’s the mom of the group but she’s really just bossy with a hidden situationship.
Jazmine is a walking red flag dipped in designer perfume—men, mess, and more men.
Renee is married but acting single the moment she hears a New Orleans accent.
Keisha? Whew, she’s blogging the whole thing and collecting material for her book (ahem... I mean a book).

Let’s just say… the friendship almost didn’t make it past Friday.

Breakdowns on Bourbon Street

It got so real, somebody left the club crying, another one was blocked by her boyfriend (again), and one of the girls was too busy flirting with a bartender to notice the Airbnb door code didn’t work.

I had to put it in the novel. Why?
Because these are the stories y’all pretend don’t happen—but we ALL have them.

This isn’t a love story.
It’s a leave your man at home, your edges at risk, and your truth on the table kind of story.

Why I Really Wrote It?

Because I’m tired of pretending we always get along.
I wanted to show Black women being:

Petty but powerful
Messy but magical
Broken but still booking the trip

We love hard, laugh loud, and sometimes we fight over who ate the last shrimp. It’s real. It’s us. And it deserved a page-turning novel with shade, sugar, and soul.

Moral of the Story?

If you can survive an Essence Fest trip with your girls and still speak to them after—you don’t need therapy. You need a publishing deal.

Booked & Bothered is coming soon.
It’s juicy. It’s shady. It’s everything you didn’t post on IG.
Leave a comment if your girls’ trip had a little tea too—because mine had enough to write a book.

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