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Why Not Us?
Jasmine and T have a lot to learn about love, loss, and the importance of family.
When Jasmine's best friend, Leslie, is diagnosed with cancer, there's no other place to run but straight into the chaos. She doesn't hesitate—fiercely holding Leslie's hand through doctor's appointments, rounds of treatment, and each quiet moment when nothing feels certain. But T, Jasmine's longtime girlfriend, doesn't see the fight in quite the same way. Where Jasmine forges headfirst into the storm, T steps back, unsure of how to stay connected when everything feels like it's falling apart.
The love they've fought for is at risk, caught between the heavy demands of illness and the emotional distance that's beginning to drive a wedge between them. Jasmine must navigate a fragile course to maintain balance at home and deal with a healthcare environment that often feels cold and impersonal. Facing this additional hurdle in Leslie's battle for survival, Jasmine can't help but wonder if supporting Leslie means losing T.
And then there's Portia-Leslie's nine-year-old daughter who's growing up in the shadow of her mother's illness. Jasmine has promised to protect her like her own, but it's harder than she imagined. Along the way, Jasmine and T's couple time gets overshadowed by a whirlwind of medical appointments, after-school activities, and family drama that threatens to engulf their relationship.
The strain of this new dynamic pushes them to confront their own insecurities. They're both trying to hold onto something precious, and it feels like they're each losing their grip. As Jasmine and T face the harsh realities of caregiving and sacrifice, can they keep it together long enough to discover if their relationship can survive the weight of it all?
When Jasmine's best friend, Leslie, is diagnosed with cancer, there's no other place to run but straight into the chaos. She doesn't hesitate—fiercely holding Leslie's hand through doctor's appointments, rounds of treatment, and each quiet moment when nothing feels certain. But T, Jasmine's longtime girlfriend, doesn't see the fight in quite the same way. Where Jasmine forges headfirst into the storm, T steps back, unsure of how to stay connected when everything feels like it's falling apart.
The love they've fought for is at risk, caught between the heavy demands of illness and the emotional distance that's beginning to drive a wedge between them. Jasmine must navigate a fragile course to maintain balance at home and deal with a healthcare environment that often feels cold and impersonal. Facing this additional hurdle in Leslie's battle for survival, Jasmine can't help but wonder if supporting Leslie means losing T.
And then there's Portia-Leslie's nine-year-old daughter who's growing up in the shadow of her mother's illness. Jasmine has promised to protect her like her own, but it's harder than she imagined. Along the way, Jasmine and T's couple time gets overshadowed by a whirlwind of medical appointments, after-school activities, and family drama that threatens to engulf their relationship.
The strain of this new dynamic pushes them to confront their own insecurities. They're both trying to hold onto something precious, and it feels like they're each losing their grip. As Jasmine and T face the harsh realities of caregiving and sacrifice, can they keep it together long enough to discover if their relationship can survive the weight of it all?
364 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 11, 2025
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Rivers
2 books8 followersNaomi Rivers writes lesbian romance and women’s fiction. Naomi Rivers is a wife writing team who believes in romance, fairy tales, and happily ever after. Their first novel, "THIS: A Simple, Complex Love Story," was written over twenty years to maintain their connection during multiple deployments. They are retired U.S. military veterans and reside with their two rescue dogs on the east coast. Naomi’s work has appeared in I Heart SapphFic’s anthology Favorite Scenes from Favorite Authors and Rainbow Room Publishing’s collection From a Black Perspective: The Homeland. Their second book, "Why Not Us?" will be released 11/11/2025.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 31, 2025
*** ARC REVIEW ***
Another amazing novel from Naomi Rivers! I enjoyed her first novel, This, where we met T and Jasmine and saw the beginning of their relationship. Why Not Us takes place 4 years later and focuses on their relationship as they take on the challenge of a friend’s illness and caring for her young daughter. This was a really neat take on a couple thrust into the stress of parenthood while trying to maintain the closeness and intimacy of their relationship. There were some heavy issues in this book; aggressive cancer, unsupportive family, and unexpected death but it was balanced with the joy of chosen family, and both T and Jasmine growing into roles neither wanted or expected. This story will tug on your heartstrings and you can’t help but feel the frustration, fatigue, grief, and ultimately love and joy along with T and Jasmine. I particularly liked that despite the challenges, T and Jasmine grew stronger together and I appreciated the spicy scenes that reflected their love for each other. This is a beautiful chapter in their story and I hope it’s not the last we get from this author!
Another amazing novel from Naomi Rivers! I enjoyed her first novel, This, where we met T and Jasmine and saw the beginning of their relationship. Why Not Us takes place 4 years later and focuses on their relationship as they take on the challenge of a friend’s illness and caring for her young daughter. This was a really neat take on a couple thrust into the stress of parenthood while trying to maintain the closeness and intimacy of their relationship. There were some heavy issues in this book; aggressive cancer, unsupportive family, and unexpected death but it was balanced with the joy of chosen family, and both T and Jasmine growing into roles neither wanted or expected. This story will tug on your heartstrings and you can’t help but feel the frustration, fatigue, grief, and ultimately love and joy along with T and Jasmine. I particularly liked that despite the challenges, T and Jasmine grew stronger together and I appreciated the spicy scenes that reflected their love for each other. This is a beautiful chapter in their story and I hope it’s not the last we get from this author!
November 21, 2025
A touching and powerful story about life and love that proves true partnership can withstand external and internal challenges.
Jasmine and T, a Baltimore lesbian couple, find the bounds of their relationship tested when Jasmine throws herself into caring for a friend dealing with breast cancer. Along with caring for the mother, Jasmine also commits to assuming the mantle of caregiver for her friend’s elementary age daughter. She makes this decision without consulting her partner and the novel depicts how the couples adjust to challenge and opportunities this new reality provides.
Rivers captures the love, fear and frustration that comes from stepping into roles thrust upon you by fate, family and friendships. The strain the couple deals with is real and the reader can’t help but to take sides. The author captures the scenery of Charm City in a way you can almost taste the Old Bay as you cheer the couple to work out their challenges.
Jasmine and T, a Baltimore lesbian couple, find the bounds of their relationship tested when Jasmine throws herself into caring for a friend dealing with breast cancer. Along with caring for the mother, Jasmine also commits to assuming the mantle of caregiver for her friend’s elementary age daughter. She makes this decision without consulting her partner and the novel depicts how the couples adjust to challenge and opportunities this new reality provides.
Rivers captures the love, fear and frustration that comes from stepping into roles thrust upon you by fate, family and friendships. The strain the couple deals with is real and the reader can’t help but to take sides. The author captures the scenery of Charm City in a way you can almost taste the Old Bay as you cheer the couple to work out their challenges.
February 28, 2026
I really do wish I had loved this book, but it was unfortunately not it for me. Concept is fabulous: contemporary drama and romance, centering two perspective protagonists who are a lesbian black couple living in Baltimore, faced with the sudden aggressive cancer diagnosis of one's oldest friend and needing to be support to her as well as help to raise her daughter. The relationships and especially the love between the close friends and with the couple and the goddaughter was charming and heart-warming. The representation of caregiving is so important, and raising up voices of Baltimore's black queer community is so necessary and good.
Unfortunately for me, this book suffered from many of the things I dislike about contemporary (and why I don't often read contemporary) and from being a self-publish. There were errors in printing that really should have been caught in the final edit process- double printed pages, missing quotation marks, grammatical errors. More importantly it followed too-predictable plot beat for the conflicts, and I found the resolutions to be a little bit stilted. Rather than have the action all flow smoothly in a crescendo and then a rapid decrescendo, it often felt like slice of life vignettes that didn't necessarily provide connective tissue between Important Plot Events. The individual scenes were mostly quite good, but the book itself felt like it really needed more thorough editing to blend out the lumps in the batter, so to speak.
One specific pet peeve which I simply can't let go of: I did find it frustrating that even though Jasmine was confronted both by her friend Stephanie and by Leslie and T that her behavior in the first act, of making decisions without asking T and causing huge upheavals and life changes to her without any warning, was not an acceptable way to treat someone, Jasmine never really seemed to accept that or learn to do differently. The reconciliation scene involved T bringing this up, but Jasmine never apologies for it and never promises to do different, or anything. T apologizes for leaving, which was fine, but clearly it was necessary to give Jasmine a come to Jesus moment about treating T as an equal partner. They made up and seemed happy afterward, but the lack of closure on that left me feeling a little bitter. There were some good bones to this, but overall the predictable (and frustrating) sources of conflict as well as the not-fully-cooked feeling to the book got in it's way.
Unfortunately for me, this book suffered from many of the things I dislike about contemporary (and why I don't often read contemporary) and from being a self-publish. There were errors in printing that really should have been caught in the final edit process- double printed pages, missing quotation marks, grammatical errors. More importantly it followed too-predictable plot beat for the conflicts, and I found the resolutions to be a little bit stilted. Rather than have the action all flow smoothly in a crescendo and then a rapid decrescendo, it often felt like slice of life vignettes that didn't necessarily provide connective tissue between Important Plot Events. The individual scenes were mostly quite good, but the book itself felt like it really needed more thorough editing to blend out the lumps in the batter, so to speak.
One specific pet peeve which I simply can't let go of: I did find it frustrating that even though Jasmine was confronted both by her friend Stephanie and by Leslie and T that her behavior in the first act, of making decisions without asking T and causing huge upheavals and life changes to her without any warning, was not an acceptable way to treat someone, Jasmine never really seemed to accept that or learn to do differently. The reconciliation scene involved T bringing this up, but Jasmine never apologies for it and never promises to do different, or anything. T apologizes for leaving, which was fine, but clearly it was necessary to give Jasmine a come to Jesus moment about treating T as an equal partner. They made up and seemed happy afterward, but the lack of closure on that left me feeling a little bitter. There were some good bones to this, but overall the predictable (and frustrating) sources of conflict as well as the not-fully-cooked feeling to the book got in it's way.
December 3, 2025
Naomi Rivers’ Why Not Us is a heartfelt continuation of Jasmine and T’s story, This, where we first meet the couple as they begin their relationship. After a few years, we see how their relationship is tested when Jasmine steps into the role of caregiver for her best friend Leslie, who is battling cancer, and for Leslie’s young daughter, Portia.
The novel beautifully captures the emotional weight of illness, the strain of unexpected responsibility, and the challenges of balancing partnership with caregiving. Rivers writes with honesty and compassion, showing how love can bend under pressure yet still endure. The Baltimore backdrop adds richness and authenticity, grounding the story in a vivid sense of place.
What makes this book shine is its exploration of chosen family and the strength found in community. Readers will feel the frustration, grief, and exhaustion right alongside Jasmine and T, but also the hope and growth that come from facing hardship together.
Why Not Us is a powerful reminder that love is not only about joy—it’s about standing together when life demands more than you ever imagined.
The novel beautifully captures the emotional weight of illness, the strain of unexpected responsibility, and the challenges of balancing partnership with caregiving. Rivers writes with honesty and compassion, showing how love can bend under pressure yet still endure. The Baltimore backdrop adds richness and authenticity, grounding the story in a vivid sense of place.
What makes this book shine is its exploration of chosen family and the strength found in community. Readers will feel the frustration, grief, and exhaustion right alongside Jasmine and T, but also the hope and growth that come from facing hardship together.
Why Not Us is a powerful reminder that love is not only about joy—it’s about standing together when life demands more than you ever imagined.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews