books about friendship – Equal Opportunity Reader

[Review] Honey and Spice, by Bolu Babalola

The Kindle cover of Bolu Babalola's Honey and Spice, depicting two young Black lovers standing side by side, lays on a pink , red and white camouflage mat, surrounded by a fancy candle, a pink set of earbuds, and a tall pink cup with XOXO written on the side.

(Buy this cute book here.) This would make a really cute movie. Kiki Banjo hosts the hottest campus radio broadcast for Black students at a PWI. Malakai Korede is a transfer student and an up-and-coming filmmaker. Both of them are fit, fine, and have no time for relationships. But when professional opportunity comes knocking, theseContinue reading “[Review] Honey and Spice, by Bolu Babalola”

[REVIEW] Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko

A Black woman's hand holds the brightly lit black and white Kindle cover of Raybearer in front of a round mirror

(This book seems to be out of stock at Bookshop, beautiful people. To check if it’s been added since this was posted , please click HERE.) There’s a moment in this book where our heroine Tarisai is awoken in the dead of night to go rescue someone. The scene isn’t really unusual in a fantasyContinue reading “[REVIEW] Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko”

[REVIEW] Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams

(Buy it from Bookshop here.) I want to fight Queenie. Okay, maybe not fight. Not physically, anyway. I just want to take her out for coffee and a very stern junior auntie-in-training chat about her life and her choices, ending with one question–“Girl, why don’t you love yourself at all?” She’s twenty-five, works at aContinue reading “[REVIEW] Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams”

[REVIEW] The Gatekeeper’s Staff(TJ Young And The Orishas Book 1), by Antoine Bandele

A black and white ebook standing on a cement block, underneath a halo-shaped fluorescent light.

(Find it HERE.) I LOVED THIS. Before I get into the review, let me just say–if you know a pre-teen boy who loves magic and adventure, get him this book. If he’s Black, get him two copies. This is the first book I’ve read in 2021 that made me want to clap and cheer andContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Gatekeeper’s Staff(TJ Young And The Orishas Book 1), by Antoine Bandele”

[Review] A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

Black and white book with photo of man's tightened face on cover held up in front of apartments buildings on a snowy street

(Find it HERE.) Jude, Willem, JB and Malcolm meet during their freshman year of university, and luckily the friendship lasts a lifetime–through failures, successes, relationships, jobs, deaths and heartbreak. They’re a motley crew–all different races, classes and sexualities–but the main character is Jude, the shyest and most secretive of the crew, tortured by an unspeakableContinue reading “[Review] A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara”

[REVIEW] Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

(Buy it HERE.)⠀🎃⠀Deja and Josiah are college-bound high school seniors working their last shift ever at a seasonal pumpkin patch job somewhere in Nebraska. From September 1st to Halloween every year the two are best friends, but the good times are coming to a bittersweet end. They decide to turn their last shift into aContinue reading “[REVIEW] Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks”

[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

(Buy it HERE.) You know what the weirdest thing about being an adult is? It’s that nobody ever really tells the whole truth. We’re told not to lie for our entire childhoods, then we grow up and realize almost no-one is ever entirely honest about what’s really going on with them.👡⠀Take, for example, the protagonistsContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez”

[REVIEW] Sula, Toni Morrison

(Buy it HERE.) (In lieu of the usual review, I present to you the explanation of this book that I gave to a non-American friend who has never read Toni Morrison before.)⠀📖⠀“This book? Yeah, it’s good, but I’m not sure you’d like it. It’s by this writer who won a Pulitzer prize & was famousContinue reading “[REVIEW] Sula, Toni Morrison”