[REVIEW] The Eyes Are The Best Part, by Monika Kim

[You can buy this book here.] This book is so gross. It’s also creepy, unsettling, and really really smart. Ji-Won is a college freshman living at home with her younger sister Ji-Hyun and their fragile, anxious Umma(mother), a first-generation Korean immigrant who works in a grocery store. Ji-won’s father has recently left the family forContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Eyes Are The Best Part, by Monika Kim”

[REVIEW] The Wildest Ride, by Marcella Bell

(Rope a copy of this book for yourself here.) This rodeo romance is pure wish-fulfillment fantasy. Lil Sorrow(that’s her real name) is a former teen rodeo champ sidelined for years by sexism and family obligation. AJ Garza is a bull riding circuit superstar trying to take home one last prize pot before retiring to focusContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Wildest Ride, by Marcella Bell”

[REVIEW] Spare, by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex

(Buy this book from my shop.) I’m not much of a royal watcher, despite having lived in Britain for some years in my late twenties and early thirties. The only members of the family I’ve ever paid any attention to are the late Princess Diana and her youngest son, and I really only started payingContinue reading “[REVIEW] Spare, by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex”

[REVIEW] Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn

(Buy this book) What I expected from the hotly anticipated sequel to Legendborn: Our heroine Bree, having discovered she’s the bearer of a magical legacy from her slave-owning white ancestors that supercharge the gifts inherited from her mother’s ancestral line, raises up a network of fierce Black women rootcrafters, takes on the Round Table, andContinue reading “[REVIEW] Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn”

[REVIEW] The Brown Sisters Trilogy, by Talia Hibbert

(Buy these books!) I love a British rom-com. I also love an #ownnormal story, and I have a special place in my heart for hot summer beach reads. The Brown Sisters’ romances(Get A Life, Chloe Brown; Take A Hint, Dani Brown; and Act Your Age, Eve Brown) deliver all of the above and more. AllContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Brown Sisters Trilogy, by Talia Hibbert”

[REVIEW] Girl’s Weekend, by C.M. Nascosta

(Buy this book.) Yo…what did I just read? What the hell did I just read? …and why did I enjoy it so much? Lurielle, Silva and Ris are elves. Not the type who wield magic and go on quests, though–no, these elvin lasses have good degrees, engineering jobs and nice condos in a comfortable, progressive,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Girl’s Weekend, by C.M. Nascosta”

[Review] In Every Mirror She’s Black, by Lola Akimade Akerstrom

(Buy this book at Bookshop) It feels like it’s been 935 years since the last time I wrote a book review but I couldn’t let any more time go by without telling y’all about this one. Work, weddings and war. I lived abroad in 2 different countries over 15 years and I heard this constantly.Continue reading “[Review] In Every Mirror She’s Black, by Lola Akimade Akerstrom”

[REVIEW] White Ivy, by Susie Yang

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) I moved to Boston recently, and as a result I’ve been slurping up books set there. Most of them are not diverse, to put it mildly. White Ivy, a book about a Chinese-American immigrant in the city, was a refreshing surprise. There are a lot of reviews of this byContinue reading “[REVIEW] White Ivy, by Susie Yang”

[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] Survivor, by Octavia Butler

(UPDATE, May 11 2021: I just found out that the Afro-Speculative bookshop Sistah SciFi has this title available as an ebook! Find it HERE and enjoy!) (This novel is out of print. Find other works by Octavia E Butler HERE.) This novel was originally published in 1978. It’s been out of print since 1979–unlike allContinue reading “[REVIEW] Survivor, by Octavia Butler”