The Artist: 'Late Bloomer' Part II

Janelle 'Nelly' Banks is 29, soft-spoken, and magnetic without even trying. Nestled in her first-floor loft in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, she juggles two worlds—editing for a rising women’s magazine by day, and losing herself in paint and canvas by night. Her dream? To open her own art gallery and finally step into the light she’s kept to herself for too long.

When a new neighbor, Kenneth, surfaces, Nelly thinks she’s ready for love. But after a harsh truth is revealed, she’s forced to walk away—and straight into the most unexpected proposal of her life.

The Rebound Contract—a celebrity PR tactic used to rebrand an image and reset a public narrative. This time, it’s for Roddy Richardson, a beloved Hollywood actor with a messy dating history and a PR nightmare. His team needs Nelly to play the part of his grounded, “wholesome Black girlfriend” to win back his African American female fanbase.

It’s fake. It’s calculated. And it’s nothing like the quiet life she imagined for herself.

But the deeper she goes, the more tangled things become. Between the media circus, hidden agendas, and a growing connection that feels anything but pretend—Nelly must decide if she’s just another brushstroke in someone else’s story... or the artist of her own.

Author: Lisa K. Stephenson
Publisher: Staten House (Available May 24, 2025)
Language: English
Paperback: TBD
ISBN-13: 
Reading age: 18+
Item Weight: 1.06 pounds
Dimensions: 5 x 1.12 x 8 inches