For Scharisse Freeman, success comes at a cost but is it a price she's willing to pay? From the multi-prize winning author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES (stories), the decadent delicious and daring debut of the year.

'Funny and juicy and sexy' Samantha Irby

'This novel is so alive!' Raven Leilani

'I laughed, I cried, I got turned on! Philyaw has created a heroine you can’t help but root for, and a book you can’t help but love.' Rufi Thorpe

'This book is so damn good. Sexy, messy, funny AF...it slaps with a perfectly manicured open hand.' Nikesha Elise Williams

A Most Anticipated Book of year by PEN America, Lit Hub, BookPage, and Ms. Magazine

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'I have no intention of sticking to the script...'

Meet Scharisse Freeman, the Beyoncé of the megachurch world: bold, unapologetic, ambitious, very much her own woman.

For the same reasons, she has always been a pariah among the other preacher’s wives (aka First Ladies). From the moment she ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor fifteen years her senior, she’s been labelled too brash by the First Ladies and too holy by her estranged childhood friend, Petra. Schar doesn’t have a lot of allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an empire spanning from books to branded products, and living a comfortable life her mother could only have dreamed of.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the validation she’s always dreamed of: a coveted invitation to participate in one of the biggest dates in the megachurch world - the First Lady USA pageant. But as the competition nears, a scandal breaks and her carefully curated life threatens to implode...
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'Sexy, shocking and funny as hell.… Deesha Philyaw has written a love letter to the women in this world.” Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

'This kind of book-making should not be humanly possible with first novels. This one is special. Like, forever special.' Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

'Trust me: your jaw will be on the floor many, many times.' Mateo Askaripour, author of Black Buck

'Unputdownable.' John Vercher, author of Devil is Fine