Books by American Women – Page 4 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[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] Hold Me, by Courtney Milan

A Kindle lies on an outdoor restaurant table on a very sunny day, in front of a tall iced latte. The screen displays the cover of Hold Me, which depicts a very attractive half-dressed couple making out.

(Click to buy this book.) Courtney Milan is a romantic genius and let me tell you why. Hold Me is a pretty standard romance novel in a lot of ways. The premise plays off of how normal it has become to have long acquaintanceships, friendships, and even romantic relationships online without ever meeting each otherContinue reading “[REVIEW] Hold Me, by Courtney Milan”

[REVIEW] Rootwork, by Tracy Cross

The ebook cover of Rootwork held above a tender new spring garden. The cover depicts a young black girl with soft lush hair, smiling enigmatically at the reader.

(Get more information about this book here.) (Full disclosure: Tracy and I were in the same master class at Under The Volcano this January, and she graciously sent me an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.) Something about Rootwork feels like it’s from another era. While I was reading, tendrils of theContinue reading “[REVIEW] Rootwork, by Tracy Cross”

[REVIEW]How To Catch A Queen, by Alyssa Cole

(Buy this book!) Black. Royals. In. Love. Let me say that again, y’all. Black. ROYAL. Romance! That’s it. That’s the whole review. Go read the book. Okay, fine. As much as I wish that was the whole review, it’s not. As much as I wanted to adore this tale of stern King Sanyu finding andContinue reading “[REVIEW]How To Catch A Queen, by Alyssa Cole”

[REVIEW] Cheaper By The Dozen, by Frank B Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds a Kindle displaying the cover of Cheaper By The Dozen in front of a sleepy residential street lined with autumn trees

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) I rarely review “classic” books on here because a)I don’t read them all that often and b) I find it kind of tiresome that whenever I say I focus on diversity in my reading, people expect me to spend all my time making angry posts about old books written byContinue reading “[REVIEW] Cheaper By The Dozen, by Frank B Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey”

[Review] Life After Death, Sister Souljah

A Kindle lays flat on a dark, plum-colored velvety blanket. It displays the black and white cover the Life After Death, which depict a pair of full women's lips above the book title.

(If you don’t love yourself today, you can buy this here at Bookshop) Did any of y’all ever read Christian end times spec-fic? By that I mean books like Left Behind, This Present Darkness, and other religious novels focused on spiritual warfare, heaven, hell, and salvation. There are a lot of odd things about evangelicultureContinue reading “[Review] Life After Death, Sister Souljah”

[REVIEW] Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, original text by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings

A Black woman's hand holds a tablet displaying the orange cover of Parable of the Sower in front of a speeding train window, passing by a grassy field. The book cover depicts a Black teenaged girl with long dreadlocks, half her face hidden, standing in front of stylized flames and mountains.

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) I just moved back to America, and man, it is weird. Watching the news from America in preparation for my return sometimes felt like watching a large angry monster run towards a cliff with someone you love strapped to their back, screaming. I haven’t lived in my country for 15Continue reading “[REVIEW] Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, original text by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings”

[REVIEW] The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah

A Black woman(me) is partly visible, holding a tablet displaying the cover of The Coldest Winter Ever. The book cover shows a Black girl's face from the nose down, her full lips painted bright pink. The woman holding the book is also only visible from nose down and wearing a similar lipstick

(Buy it on Bookshop) Back in 1999, I was an 18-year old nerd who spent way too much time reading.(Big surprise.) I was a soft, weak naive thing without an ounce of fight in me–but I hated this book and would have happily beat the brakes off of somebody like Winter Santiaga in real life.Continue reading “[REVIEW] The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah”

[REVIEW] Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest To Buy Black In America’s Racially Divided Economy, by Maggie Anderson

(Buy it on Bookshop here. Or not.) To cut right to the chase, this book really pissed me off. On its face, it’s a real life account of an affluent, educated Black family in Chicago who decided to spend all of 2009 buying from only Black businesses in order to demonstrate the ethnic disparities inContinue reading “[REVIEW] Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest To Buy Black In America’s Racially Divided Economy, by Maggie Anderson”

[REVIEW] Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani

A black tablet displays the cover of Pashmina, which depicts an Indian-American teenage girl wrapped in a red and gold pashmina shawl that floats above her and forms a background for the title of the book. The tablet rests on a blue and gold pashmina, with a tiny black statue of Ganesh peeking over the right side of it.

(Buy it on Bookshop.) Something that I’m always learning is that discussions of trauma don’t always have to be epic. There is a time to dive deep into injustice, of course. But sometimes, it’s right to acknowledge something happened, commit to examining its effect on your life and community, and fold that understanding into theContinue reading “[REVIEW] Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani”