The newly published novel from Palmetto Publishing follows eighteen-year-old Mo’Nikko Kohle through a first love complicated by family secrets, divided loyalties and a past that refuses to stay buried.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Palmetto Publishing has released Be True to Yourself, a novel by Peaches McKnight. The book is a work of romance fiction centered on a young woman’s first love and the family and friendships that surround it. It is available now in print and online. McKnight, a Kansas City, Missouri native who now lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, writes both fiction and poetry.

The story opens on a Saturday morning. Mo’Nikko Fayon Heaven Kohle, eighteen and in her last month of high school, wants nothing more than her chaise and the paperback love story she is halfway through. Her best friend since kindergarten, Phalisha, has other plans, and they involve the six young men working on a canary yellow 1967 Camaro across the street. One of them catches Nikko by the waist mid fight, calls her Cupcakes, and holds her attention from that moment forward. His name is Ocean.

Nikko is church raised, a virgin by conviction and nobody’s easy yes. Ocean is patient, maddening and certain of what he wants. What neither of them can outrun is the life Ocean walked away from, a life that has not finished with him. Closer to home, Nikko’s mother Amethyst runs the house with a look that stops a lie in the throat, her sister Kyla sits one bad decision from disaster, and Phalisha keeps a plan tucked behind her smile.

Peaches McKnight stated, “This is a story of love, mystery, murder and loyalty, and I wanted readers to sit with characters who feel like people they already know. Ocean is a loving son and a dedicated partner. Nikko is a loving and all too trusting friend. I hope readers walk away asking who they have been trusting, and whether they have been true to themselves.”

Be True to Yourself is written for adult readers of Black urban romance, particularly those drawn to protective heroes, first love heroines and stories where Sunday morning church and criminal history share the same block. Told through multiple points of view, the novel moves between romance, family drama and suspense. Its themes of sisterly rivalry, friendship betrayal and holding to personal conviction under pressure place it alongside contemporary African American romance titles that treat community and consequence as seriously as attraction.

McKnight credits three teachers with putting books in her hands early: Mrs. E. White, Mrs. Tuley and Mrs. Shepherd. She has said the novel exists because those three women got there first.

Be True to Yourself is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. For more information about the author, please visit any of their social media platforms.

Instagram: @marilyn330335
TikTok: @marilynmcknight43

About the Author: Three teachers get the credit, and Peaches McKnight names them without hesitation. Mrs. E. White, her English teacher, and Mrs. Tuley, who taught her British literature, put books in her hands at an age when that still changes a person. Mrs. Shepherd believed in her and treated her with kindness from their very first meeting. Be True to Yourself exists because those three women got there first.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and a graduate of Southwest High School there, McKnight now lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. She writes fiction and poetry, and she reads widely; the romance novels her heroine Nikko hides behind are treated in these pages with affection rather than apology. Travel appeals to her, but so does a gym full of noise on a weeknight, since a good portion of her calendar belongs to her three children and their college basketball games.

Her debut is a story of love, mystery, murder and loyalty, told in the rhythms of real speech, full of banter, eye rolling, and characters who say exactly what they mean the second they think it. Ocean is a loving son and a dedicated partner. Nikko is a loving and all too trusting friend. Denim is loyal and kind hearted. Phalisha is the life of the party, and she knows it. McKnight moves among them in short, quick chapters, and she is unembarrassed by tenderness or by heat.

The book closes with a tribute to mothers, which is where its title finally lands. Be true to yourself is advice Ocean’s father gave him as a small child, and McKnight hands it to her readers the same way, plainly, as something worth keeping.

About the Book:

Title: Be True to Yourself
Author: Peaches McKnight

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Publication date: September 15, 2026
ISBN-13: 9798318837135, 9798318837128, 9798318837142

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/palmetto-publishing-releases-peaches-mcknights-debut-romance-novel-be-true-to-yourself-302902760.html

SOURCE Palmetto Publishing