THE FRUGAL FIND OF THE DAY: Where Did We Go Wrong?, Monica Mathis-Stowe {$3.99 or Borrow FREE w/Prime!}

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Description of Where Did We Go Wrong?:

Where Did We Go Wrong? is set to be one of the year’s best urban fiction e-books on Kindle. If you love black romance novels or urban fiction in
general, then this one should be on your must read list!

In this newly released romantic suspense novel, best friends Gabby, Maxine and Joy protect each other at all costs, even if it means keeping secrets that
turn their lives upside down. Gabby has no boundaries when it comes to getting what she wants. She pulls out every trick in the book to keep her daughter’s
married father out of their lives but keep his money in her bank account, while Maxine lives for her family but when her husband’s excessive spending lands
them in more debt than they can handle, the stress takes a toll on their perfect marriage. After Joy’s loyalty to her controlling mother causes her to
lose the only man she’s ever loved, she marries a man she barely knows. When the wedding is over, she quickly realizes she made the biggest mistake of her
life and it puts everybody she loves in danger. Unfortunately, someone will have to pay the ultimate price with their life.

 

Accolades:

Where Did We Go Wrong? currently has a review rating of 5 stars from 80 reviews. Read the reviews here.

 

Where Did We Go Wrong? is available for purchase at:

Amazon Kindle for $3.99 or Borrow FREE w/Prime!

 

An excerpt from Where Did We Go Wrong?:

An hour later, Gabby was resting comfortably in her private maternity suite. She pushed the button on the remote to raise her bed and adjusted her pillow behind her back. “I can’t believe I’m a mother!”

“I can’t believe you get a room like this after giving birth. I had to share a room when I delivered both my boys and it didn’t look anything like this,” Maxine said. She walked around the room touching the draperies, flat-screen television, and fully stocked refrigerator to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

Joy was sitting in a chair near the door. She stared at Gabby with a straight face and asked, “Did you call him? Because I’m not calling him for you anymore.”

Gabby avoided Joy’s gaze. She took a mirror, comb, and tube of lip gloss out of her purse and began combing through her shoulder-length, chestnut-brown hair. “We worked everything out through our lawyers. He doesn’t want to be her father because of his wife and children. I respect that as long as he takes care of my little girl financially,” Gabby replied.

“What is William’s role in all of this?” Maxine asked.

William had been Gabby’s boyfriend until she broke up with him to start dating Rayshawn Robinson, a quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. He was better known as R&R in the NFL and to his fans. Gabby knew she hit the jackpot after R&R signed a $75 million-dollar contract with the Ravens. She had one obstacle standing between her and Rayshawn’s millions: his family. She stopped using birth control the day R&R signed his new contract. Gabby knew that the best way to get part of his millions was to have his child. She seduced Rayshawn night and day. He didn’t complain when she told him to stop using condoms because they felt uncomfortable. He enjoyed spending time with her because she was beautiful and she often left him in tears after they had sex. He enjoyed every bit of what she gave him, so now he needed to pay up.

Gabby looked at Joy and Maxine with a serious expression. “William will be her father. He believes she’s his child and that’s how we’re going to keep it.” Gabby placed the mirror, comb, and lip gloss on the tray attached to her bed. She then shook her head in their direction, waiting for them to agree with her.

“This lie is going to come back and bite you in the ass,” Joy snapped and frowned.

“This is not a good idea, Gabby. This one lie can hurt so many people,” Maxine reasoned.

The nurse entered the room with Gabby’s newborn baby girl in a white bassinet. She was tightly wrapped in a pink blanket with a pink cap over her head. After the nurse placed the baby in Gabby’s arms and left, Maxine and Joy stood on each side of the bed to get a closer look at their new goddaughter.
“She’s beautiful, Gabby,” Maxine whispered with tears in her eyes.

“Of course she is, Maxine. I wouldn’t make an ugly child,” Gabby declared. “Thank God she takes after my side and not Rayshawn’s. I wonder why I even slept with him.” Gabby let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

“Let’s keep it real, Gabby. You slept with him for the money.” Joy looked across the bed at Maxine who was shaking her head and smiling in agreement.

Dr. Fields entered the room. Gabby quickly passed the baby to Maxine and sat straight up in the bed, giving the doctor her full attention. Maxine stood beside the bed gently rocking the baby in her arms. Joy stepped away from the bed and walked over to the large picture window so the doctor could have access to Gabby.

Joy stared out the window overlooking the parking lot. A couple holding hands was walking across the lot kissing each other every few steps. It made her heart ache for Allen. She wasn’t looking forward to calling him and cancelling their plans for the long Memorial Day weekend. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy.
“Dr. Fields, are you listening to me?” Gabby shrilled as her light complexion turned an angry shade of red.

Dr. Fields was staring at Joy’s butt in a pair of tight Guess jeans. Her jet-black curly hair, inherited from her Puerto Rican father, fell down her back, stopping at her narrow waist. He was mesmerized by her caramel complexion and womanly curves. Joy turned around and caught him staring at her. She gave him a polite smile before she stepped out of the room to call Allen.

Dr. Fields kept his eyes glued to Joy’s butt until she was gone. “Sorry, Gabrielle… umm, is your friend single?” he asked.

Gabby rolled her eyes at the doctor and reached for the baby. “No! She’s been with her boyfriend since they were teenagers.” She whined like a spoiled child who couldn’t have her way.

Maxine turned her head and giggled. When the doctor left the room, he saw Joy and smiled at her again. She was having an intense phone conversation so she turned her back to him.

“Allen, baby, I know you’re upset. But I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Joy pleaded.

“I was looking forward to a four-day weekend with you. Now we have to change our plans because Gabby had a fucking baby. Bullshit!” He hung up.
Joy swallowed hard and wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes. She hated disappointing Allen. She loved him too much to hurt him. She took a deep breath and exhaled before she walked back to Gabby’s maternity suite.

“Joy, Dr. Fields couldn’t keep his eyes off your behind,” Maxine said, laughing.

“Most men can’t,” Gabby barked and rolled her eyes. She thought Dr. Fields was going to ask her out after she delivered.

Joy ignored both of them. She sat back in the chair near the front door and massaged her temples with her fingertips. Maxine and Gabby looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Gabby, you haven’t told us our goddaughter’s name. Have you decided yet?” Maxine asked.

Gabby looked at her daughter and said, “Yes, I have. Her name is Nadia Rae Roché.”

Joy stopped massaging her temples and looked at Gabby with such hatred; it made Gabby’s eyes bulge. Joy jumped out of her chair with so much force, it fell back and slammed into the wall before it crashed to the floor with a loud thump.

The baby let out a soft cry as if she knew something was wrong.

Maxine gasped and shook her head. “No, Gabby! Ever since we’ve known each other, Joy has always said she wanted to name her daughter Nadia. What you’re doing is unacceptable! Her middle name is Rae after her real father! Unbelievable! What’s William going to say about that?”

Joy walked toward the bed with her index finger pointed at Gabby. “This is crossing the line even for you.”

Gabby ignored her and focused her attention on Maxine. “Everybody can’t have a perfect life like you, Maxine. I would love to have a husband who’s a lawyer and wants me to stay home to care for our two children, but it didn’t happen that way for me. I refuse to be poor and struggling all my life. I’m going to make a good life for us.” She looked at Nadia and smiled.

“Are you serious, Gabby? Do you really think my life is perfect? My husband leaves at seven o’clock every morning and doesn’t get home until after eight o’clock most nights. I’m stuck in the house all day with two young children watching the Disney channel while all my friends are enjoying their lives and careers.” Maxine, with her mocha complexion, short pixie hair-cut, and petite frame, looked more like a high school cheerleader than a married woman with two young sons. She waved her arms in the air and smacked her lips. “While I’m eagerly waiting for my husband to come home for some adult conversation, he’s too tired to talk to me. I lose a little bit of myself every day. The only difference between us, Gabby, is I don’t drag anybody else into my drama. I deal with it myself.” Maxine stopped herself from saying anything else. She didn’t want to burden her friends with what was really happening in her household .

“If it’s that bad, go get a job. You have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education. I’m sure Prince George’s County Schools will hire you back.”

William walked in the room with a grin as wide as the door frame. “Hey, hey! How are my girls?”

Joy finally took her cold stare off Gabby and looked at William. “Hi, William, I was just leaving.”

“Joy, don’t leave because of me.” William hugged Joy and then Maxine. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me on becoming a father? Gabby wouldn’t let me in the delivery room, but I’m here now and ready to meet my daughter.”

Joy felt her temperature rise as she looked at the contented smirk on Gabby’s face. “William, I think there is something you need to know about the baby.”

Gabby cleared her throat and said, “Thanks, Joy, but we’re not listening to any unsolicited advice on how to care for our daughter. We’ll figure it out.” Gabby reached her hand out for William. He ignored Joy and ran to Gabby’s side.

Maxine held her breath as her eyeballs went back and forth between Joy and Gabby as if she were watching an intense tennis match.

William held Gabby’s hand and said, “We’re new parents, Gabby, so we need to listen to people who’ve already been through this. Maxine has two children; maybe she knows something that can help us out.”

Joy and Gabby stared at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds. William didn’t notice because he was staring at Nadia.

Joy gave in with a sigh, “Let me go so the happy family can spend some time together.”

Gabby looked at Joy with a strained smile and said, “thank you for everything, Joy.”

Joy snatched her Gucci handbag off the windowsill and left the room without saying another word. How was she going to pass up her plans to spend a long weekend with her man in Atlanta to play nurse maid to Gabby’s selfish ass? She called Allen, but got his voice mail. “Hi, baby, change of plans, I’m on my way. I’ll text you my flight details.” Joy stepped onto the elevator, smiling ear to ear, knowing that in a few hours she was going to be in Allen’s bed having the best make-up sex they’d ever experienced.

 

Where Did We Go Wrong? is available for purchase at:

Amazon Kindle for $3.99 or Borrow FREE w/Prime!

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