ook Title: JANAE SANDERS’ SECOND TIME AROUND
Character Name: Janae Aaliyah Sanders
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Woooo chile. You just jumping right in with the nosy questions, huh? I’m an only child of a former Black beauty queen and a former bus driver. My daddy doted on me, and my mama tried to turn me into her own mini-her. But since I wasn’t interested in starving myself or hating my lovely curves, we clashed like titans.
Janae holds up hand to stop whatever the interviewer was about to say/ask
Now, don’t get any ideas about talkin’ slick about my mama. She’s doing the hard work to try to change and I’m gonna give her the grace to do so. Move on to the next question.
What was your greatest talent?
Bay-Bee! That’s easy. Your girl can burn in the kitchen. When I tell you my food’s so good it’ll have you humming while you eat, I am not exaggerating.
Adam yells from his perch on the couch as he watches a basketball game on the TV
She ain’t lying! Food so good she has us fighting over who’s getting the last bit of whatever she made.
Significant other?
Janae gives her shoulders a proud shake as she sits at her kitchen counter
Adam Henderson.” She points back over her shoulder “That was him co-signing my cooking skills.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Janae takes a deep breath before leveling her gaze at the interviewer
I’m not proud of it, but my need to do everything myself without help was a real problem. It strained our relationship to the point of near-destruction. It’s taken a lot of work on my part and a lot of patience from Adam to get me to understand I don’t have to do it all. He’s shown me that having a partner who consistently seeks to take care of you isn’t a weakness. It’s a privilege.
Janae leans in conspiratorially and lowers her voice to an almost whisper
Don’t tell’im, ‘cause I don’t want his head to get too big. But that man has firmly placed me in my soft-girl era, and I absolutely love it and him.
Where do you live?
Monroe Hills Pennsylvania. It’s a small town in the Pocono Mountains. It’s removed far enough from city life that you get to appreciate the beautiful foliage, and the serenity of the quietness nature brings with it. Yet, it’s close enough, that the conveniences of city life aren’t more than a fifteen to thirty-minute drive away. Best of both worlds if you ask me.
Do you have any enemies?
“Nah, having enemies implies there’s someone out there I pay enough attention to that I feel the need to retaliate against. I do however have haters, folks who can’t stand me because I’m always on my game. But you know what Katt Williams said, ‘If you ain’t got haters, you ain’t on your J.O.B.’ And Dr. Janae Aaliyah Sanders is always on her J.O.B. There’s only one person that’s ever made me pay that kind of attention, and he’s currently sitting on my couch.”
“I heard that,” Adam bellows from the living room.
“You were supposed to,” Janae responds.
How do you feel about the place where you are now?
Janae’s mouth curves into a warm smile
I love where I am now. I spent a lot of years fighting. My mother, my ex-husband, there was always someone I felt the need to protect myself from by striking hard and first. I’m strong enough to admit that was because I felt there was no one to protect me. No one I could lean on. I couldn’t risk being vulnerable where I didn’t feel safe.
When Adam came into my life, consistently showing up for me for both the big and little moments, that overwhelming need to be on the offensive, it slowly bled away. Don’t get it twisted, your girl will still scrap when she needs to. But since Adam showed me what a real safe space looks like, I don’t feel the need to lash out before anyone can possibly lash out at me. Toni Braxton wasn’t lying when she said, ‘I love me so him.’
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
I have a fifteen-year-old son with my ex-husband. He is my son-shine He’s truly the best part of me.
What do you do for a living?
I’m a nurse anesthetist at Monroe Hills Medical Center and a professor of nursing at Monroe Hills University.
Greatest disappointment?
Allowing my pain from past relationships to cause me to build walls so high I nearly missed out on the love of my life.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
I watch medical shows and heckle them for their medical mistakes. I swear, if I see one more TV doctor intubate a patient with the laryngoscope in their right hand, I’m gonna scream. It’s like these showrunners do no research at all.
Greatest source of joy?
There isn’t just one. My son-shine, my girls Vanessa and Cree from my Savvy, Sexy, and Single Club, my friends and community, and of course, my boo thang, Adam.
A tall fair-skinned man with broad shoulders, long, sandy brown locs, and a neatly trimmed goatee steps into the room, standing behind Janae. He wraps a possessive arm around her shoulders, placing a gentle kiss on her temple before he turns his gaze to the interviewer.
Ask me the same question.
Adam, what’s your greatest source of joy?
Janae. From the moment I first noticed her in high school, to this very day, Janae has always been my joy. Her sharing her life with me and allowing me the gift of being the man in her life, I don’t think there will ever be anything that compares. I’m hers, and she’s mine. That means I get to show up and show out for her every day. And since my woman loves quoting things, In the words of Cassidy and Moshanda, ’It don’t get no better.’
Janae turns in her chair, snuggling into Adams’s side and looping her arms around his waist. She lifts a playful sideways glance at the interviewer
Can you see why I didn’t stand a chance at staying single once Adam walked back into my life?
A Novel
A single mom gets a second chance at love with her high school sweetheart.
Janae Sanders is a dedicated single mother who lives for her son, James. But when she runs into her secret HS crush, Adam, at her 20-year reunion, they spend the night making up for lost time, and she remembers the part of herself she’s forgotten since her divorce. Too bad the new superintendent of her son’s school district decides now is the best time to slash all the arts programs which serve as feeder programs into a prestigious and very expensive arts college. Instead of getting to know Adam like she wants, she’s rallying her fellow PTA members to get him and the district to change their minds.
Adam Henderson, the new superintendent–unbeknowst to Janae– has always had a thing for Janae Sanders. So, when he returns home after twenty years and a friend mentions she’s single, Adam jumps at the chance to reacquaint himself with the one who got away. As far as he’s concerned, their night together after their reunion is proof that the second time around is better than the first. But if he can’t get the head of the PTA off his back after cutting programs that were costing the district money, he may not have as much time to devote to rekindling his attraction to Janae as he planned.
When a school board meeting is called, and Janae and Adam discover they’ve been dating the enemy, Janae gives Adam two choices: A: Restore the programs, or B: Lose her. Adam decides he likes a third option better, C: They can take the long upcoming weekend to get away at his family’s cabin, and figure out how to keep the arts program, plug the financial drain they’ve become on the school district, and still keep seeing each other at the same time.
Janae is ticked off enough to tell him where to get off, but when her Savvy, Sexy, and Single Club members remind her you catch more flies with honey, she wonders if Adam isn’t right. Maybe there is a way for them to both get what they want.
Romance | Women's Fiction | Multicultural African-American [ St. Martin's Griffin, On Sale: January 6, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250773418 / eISBN: 9781250773425 ]
LaQuette writes sexy, stylish, and sensational romance. That means she writes sentimental and steamy stories (like Hallmark movies, but with a lot of sex) featuring at least one MC who always keeps it cute.
This Brooklyn native writes unapologetically bold, character-driven stories. Her novels feature diverse ensemble casts who are confident in their right to appear on the page.
If she's not writing, she's probably trying on or looking for her next great makeup find. She is the 2016 Author of the Year Golden Apple Award winner & the 2016 Write Touch Readers Award winner. Writing—her escape from everyday madness— has always been a friend and source of comfort. At the age of sixteen, she read her first romance novel and realized the genre was missing something: people that looked and lived like her. As a result, her characters and settings are always designed to provide positive representations of people of color and various marginalized communities living their best lives and experiencing joy.
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