Books by Black Women – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Wash Day Diaries, by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

The purple cover of Wash Day Diaries, depicting a diverse foursome of Black women smiling, posing and embracing, lays on a table surrounded by hair gel, a boar bristle brush, a big tooth comb, and other Black hair tools

(Buy this book here) Hey, fellow readers. How’ve you been? I took a little break, and for a while wasn’t sure I’d be back in a hurry. This is partly because my Day Jobbe is eating my brain, and although steps are being taken to vanquish the zombie source of income, for a while IContinue reading “[REVIEW] Wash Day Diaries, by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith”

[REVIEW] La Bastarda, By Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel

The simple, solid blue cover of La Bastarda is displayed on a tablet, held up against the twilight sky with the moon high and tiny above it.

(Buy this book here.) This is the first book by a woman from Equatorial Guinea ever translated into English. It follows Okomo, a orphaned teen living in her grandparents house in a traditional village. With her mother dead and her father absent, she only has her favorite uncle to turn to when she begins toContinue reading “[REVIEW] La Bastarda, By Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel”

[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] How High The Moon, by Karyn Parsons

A young Ukrainian man in a Black sweater smiles down at the blue and gold cover of How High The Moon. Behind him are a world map, an orange map, and an open window looking out onto a public square.

(Buy this book.) I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but my current day job is in an ESL school. Perhaps this is a bit too on-brand, but I’m always telling my students that if they want a good English vocabulary, they need to read. Our school even has a little library that IContinue reading “[REVIEW] How High The Moon, by Karyn Parsons”

[REVIEW] The Weight of Blood, by Tiffany D Jackson

(Buy this book.) The blurbs call this a Black version of Stephen King’s Carrie, and they’re mostly right. The author set out to write this as an homage, only shifting the tone of the main character’s terror, not the source. Instead of sheltered, abused, religiously traumatized Carrie White, this book focuses on Madison Washington. MaddyContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Weight of Blood, by Tiffany D Jackson”

[REVIEW] Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn

he black and white ebook cover of Bloodmarked, depicting a young Black woman and white man back to back in a battle stance surrounded by magical energies. The cover is displayed on a Kindle that is being held by a Black woman's hand(my hand) in front of an old-fashioned historical American building on a cold rainy day.

(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”

[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] All Black Everything

This week I feel like doing an all-Black, all-excellent diverse book news update. Y’all down? There we have it, fellow readers; an all-Black-everything book news update. If you are interested in finding diverse books by Black authors to read, click on the links above or check out the following booklists from the Equal Opportunity Bookshop;Continue reading “[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] All Black Everything”

[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] Taika Waititi? I Guess So…

I haven’t done a Last Week In Books post in almost a year. I stopped because my time has been at a bit of a premium–since landing back in America I’ve been working full time as well as trying to improve my own writing to the point where it’s publishable and in actual books thatContinue reading “[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] Taika Waititi? I Guess So…”

[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!

(Click here to jump[scare] straight to the booklist.) Welcome to October, fellow readers. With Halloween coming up, I think it’s a good time for spooky diverse reads. For much of modern horror history, difference often was the horror. Now, diverse writers are turning those tropes on their heads and giving us nuanced takes on fearContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!”

[REVIEW] Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse

The black and white cover of Fevered Star is seen from above resting in the lap of a woman in a pink and white striped summer dress, a Thai iced tea with boba balanced on one knee.

(Buy this book!) Let me just rip the band-aid off; meh. I wanted to love this book because of what it is. I love fantasy that steps away from the hoary old medieval Europe tropes. This series, set in a world based on pre-Columbian South American cultures, follows a clash between age-old forces of lightContinue reading “[REVIEW] Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse”