Diverse Cozy Mysteries

Cozy mysteries are great if you're looking for a light read with a mystery that's not too complicated and doesn't involve any gore or trauma. But sometimes cozies can be  white. Here are a five mystery recommendations for fans of cozy mysteries who are looking for some diverse reads.


The Noodle Shop Mysteries by Vivien Chen

These mysteries center around Lana Lee whose family owns Ho-Lee Noodle House in Cleveland. The first story in the series is Death by Dumpling. At this time the series has 6 books with the 6th book schedule for release in August 2020.

The Detective by Day Mysteries by Kellye Garrett

This series follows struggling actress turned amateur private investigator Dayna Anderson and her friends as they investigate murders around Hollywood. This is a 2 book series.

Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries by Gigi Pandian

This series follows historian Jaya Jones as she discover artifacts and solves mysteries. There are 7 books in the series.

The Romaine Wilder Mystery Series by Abby L. Vandiver

This series follows Romaine Wilder, a medical examiner who moves back to her small town and helps with her aunt's funeral home. There are 3 books in this series.

The Gethsemane Brown Mysteries by Alexia Gordon

This series centers around a skilled African American musician currently living in a small Irish village  and teaching at an all boys school while living with a snarky ghost. There are 5 books in this series.

#Blackout:Black History Month Reading Suggestions

While I encourage you to read books written by black authors at any time I know some of you are looking for books to read during black history month. And I don't believe your black history month reads only have to be stories involving social justice and race relations. And you don't only have to read classic black literature. So here's a short list from different genres by black authors starring black characters. Take a step back, review your TBR and see where you can add more black authors to it.

Contemporary Romance

Too Sweet to Be Good
If you are looking for a sweet, clean romance with black characters just being their normal selves doing normal rom com things in a small town then this is perfect for you. This is a story about Alexandra Gale, a struggling actress who put her career on hold to move back to a small town to help her aunt at her bakery; and Kellen Killborn, head of his family's real estate business who is trying to convince his grandmother to sell the old theater she owns. Sparks fly between Suits and Boots when they first meet and they'll have to learn to work with each other.

The Wedding Party
Jasmine Guillory is one of the most popular contemporary romance writers out right now. And I love a good black love story. It's still so rare to come across one on popular book lists and I love a good contemporary romance. I read The Wedding Date which features Alexa who is a friend to Theo and Maddie who are the stars of this story. Despite having the same best friend they can't stand each other until they fall into bed together and then can't keep their hands off each other. From there they start a no strings attached affair.

Mystery

Melody for Murder: A Bertie Bigelow Mystery
This is free on Kindle Unlimited at the moment so those of you who are members should definitely enjoy.  Music, mystery, and a South Side of Chicago setting. Bertie Bigelow is a newly widowed college choir director who is just starting to date again. When Judge Theophilous Green is found shot to death and one of her students is arrested for the crime it's up to her to solve the case.

Hollywood Homicide
If you're looking for a light mystery that's a lot of fun you should try Hollywood Homicide. Dayna Anderson is an actress who is struggling after having minor success as the face of a popular chicken commercial. She's living in her friend's shoe closet, struggling for gas money, and trying to help her parents keep their house when she decides to track down a killer for the reward money.

Contemporary Literature

Halsey Street
It's been almost 2 years since I've read this book and it's still one I would highly recommend for the way it examines race, culture, gentrification, class, and family. And luckily it's usually either $.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited. This book follows failed artist Penelope Grand after she moves back to gentrified Brooklyn to be closer to her father and Mirella, her mother who has since moved back to the Dominican Republic since the divorce. Penelope and her mother Mirella have a complicated relationship and old wounds are reopened.

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
This book follows Tabitha Walker and her friends as she navigates her career and relationship woes as a 33 yr old woman who finds her biological clock is fast ticking.

Suspense

They All Fall Down
I'm not really a suspense reader but I know a lot of people enjoyed this story

Delighted by a surprise invitation, Miriam Macy sails off to a luxurious private island off the coast of Mexico with six other strangers. Surrounded by miles of open water in the gloriously green Sea of Cortez, Miriam is soon shocked to discover that she and the rest of her companions have been brought to the remote island under false pretenses—and all seven strangers harbor a secret.

Danger lurks in the lush forest and in the halls and bedrooms of the lonely mansion. Sporadic cell-phone coverage and miles of ocean keeps the group trapped in paradise. And strange accidents stir suspicions, as one by one.

Essays

Womanish
13 essays exploring black womanhood in today's turbulent times.

Well Read Black Girl
Whether it’s learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative black future, the subjects of each essay remind us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. As she has done with her book club–turned–online community Well-Read Black Girl, in this anthology Glory Edim has created a space in which black women’s writing and knowledge and life experiences are lifted up, to be shared with all readers who value the power of a story to help us understand the world and ourselves.






Sci-Fi and Fantasy

The Black God's Drums
In an alternate New Orleans caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air--in particular, by earning a spot on-board the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie’s trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper also has a secret herself: Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, speaks inside her head, and may have her own ulterior motivations.


Soon, Creeper, Oya, and the crew of the Midnight Robber are pulled into a perilous mission aimed to stop the Black God’s Drums from being unleashed and wiping out the entirety of New Orleans.




Young Adult

I Wanna Be Where You Are
I adored this book and it was one of my favorite YA reads last year. It's about this ballerina named Chloe who really wants to audition for a spot at a famed dance academy. Unfortunately her mother has been overprotective of her since her father died so she decides to sneak out behind her back while her mother is away on a cruise. Her neighbor Eli catches her and makes her give him a ride to meet his father out of state or else he'll rat her out. This is a cute coming of age road trip adventure starring two black teens.

Opposite of Always
If you can get this book while it's still $1.99 I suggest you do. I've heard so many things about this book and it's on my TBR for this year.

When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack.

But then Kate dies. And their story should end there.

Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind.

Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves.





Middle Grade

The Jumbies
Tracey Baptiste weaves West Indian folklore together in this fantasy tale set on a fictional island in the Caribbean very similar to Trinidad and Tobago. This book can truly be enjoyed by all ages. It follows young Corinne La Mer and her friends who notice things on their island aren't quite the same after a beautiful mysterious stranger arrives in town.

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Zoe Washington is excited to spend her summer working a bakery internship in hopes of proving to her parents that she's mature enough to audition for a kid's cooking show on The Food Network. On her 12th birthday she received a letter from the father in prison she's never known and decides to secretly write back to him. Soon Zoe starts writing back and forth with him and is determined to prove his innocence. 

 *When you make a purchase using my links I do receive a small commission.

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

This is one of the most anticipated contemporary romance releases of 2020 and I was fortunate enough to be given an arc from Avon Romance/Harper Collins Publishers last fall.  Who could resist that cover?

This was one of those guilty pleasures I couldn't put down. Mia Sosa kept a good pace throughout and there was never a dull moment.

So this is a story about a wedding planner named Lina who isn't exactly what you'd expect from a wedding planner. She's not going to squeal with you over your dress and flower choices but she'll make sure you have a kick ass wedding. And I liked how that was addressed in this story because if a black woman isn't super smiley or perky all the time people write her off as being aloof and having a bad attitude.  Lina is an Afro-Latina who has to navigate the fine line between being passionate and being considered an angry black woman. Black women have to be in constant awareness of their emotions and don't get the luxury of crying things out.

Lina's business is struggling when she comes across an event planner opportunity for a major hotel. This opportunity can change her life. The only problem is she has to work on a marketing plan with Max, the brother of her ex fiance who left her at the altar.

I don't know much about Brazil but I adored Lina's Brazilian family. They're very reminiscent of my own family. And I enjoy the touches of Brazilian culture throughout the story including Portuguese phrases, food, and dance.

Max always had the support of his best friend which made for some hilarious interactions while he tried to sort out these new found feelings.

This plot could've been overly messy since Lina is hooking up with her ex's brother and the brothers have a long standing sibling rivalry but it actually worked. And what makes or breaks these stories is chemistry and luckily Lina and Max have a lot of sizzling chemistry.

One thing I wish they would've addressed was the interracial aspect of their relationship. With Max being white and from a completely different background I thought it would've been brought up. But other than that this was a fun read I devoured in a couple of days. And a must read for anyone looking for a good romance.

My January-March TBR

My TBR is ever growing. Every time I get halfway through it I'm either gifted a bunch of new books or there's some books on sale for $1.99.  Here are all  the books on my TBR for January, February and early March.

Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo

I actually pre-ordered this last year. I've just been so busy reading other books. But I'm finally starting this one because it's the book on January for the Brown Girls Book Club. Isn't that cover gorgeous?

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 

I've heard so many great things about this book. This was a Christmas gift and I just know I'll love it.

Egg Drop Dead by Vivien Chen
I want to read more cozy mystery but I get bored of the ones with only white leads. This one has a biracial lead and the lead runs a Noodle shop. I only read one book in the series so far and this is the fifth book of a 6 book series. I received an arc from St. Martin's Press.

A Phoenix First Must Burn Edited by Patrice Caldwell

I won an arc in a giveaway run by Bookish First(use my referral code f2f0690dd0768f611 when you sign up to earn an extra 100 points towards free books) and this is one of my most anticipated books of the year.  It's a Black girl magic anthology with 16 black YA fantasy stories by black female authors.

Silverworld by Diana Abu-Jaber

I received an arc of this one from Random House Children's Crown Books for Young Readers. I like reading Middle Grade Fantasy because unlike YA Fantasy  there's no romance so they focus more on the action and world building.  And there's more diverse MG fantasies being released this year

Lemon Filled Disaster by Tyra Moody

I heard good things about the other books in this series and I love to read mysteries by black authors. So when I saw this for $.99 you know I had to make a purchase.

Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud

Since Meghan and Harry continue to have the world buzzing, I'm revisiting this 2019 YA release which drew much inspiration from that couple and the royal watching craze.  So here's my in depth book review of Truly Madly Royally.

Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud is one of those books you pick up when you're looking for a cute romance you can read it one weekend. I'm sure we've all read books or seen movies where an ordinary girl has the chance of becoming a princess. I remember as a young teen reading the Royally Jacked series by Nikki Burnham and The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot and enjoying them.  But despite the premises being a complete fantasy I could never picture myself in one of those stories.  What is it about European royalty that continues to intrigue us?

The Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole was the first time I saw a black woman as the potential queen in a contemporary romance. So last year when I heard a book was being released just in time for summer reading with a black girl lead the inner teen in me squealed. Even better it was by a writer I was familiar with from my days as a young reader as Debbie Rigaud wrote one of the Simon Romantic comedies(loved them) Perfect Shot and the story Double Act for the Kimani Tru anthology Hallway Diaries.

First I want to discuss that cover. I'm not a big fan of covers with real people on them. I just much prefer illustrations to stock imagery. I feel like the girl on the cover looks more racially ambiguous so you can't tell the lead is a black girl right off the bat. She looks like she is biracial and has looks similar to Duchess Meghan. Now we know from watching Meghan's journey for the past few years that racists seethe at a woman with black ancestry finding love with white prince. But at the same time she's also more palatable to some white people because of her lighter complexion and whiter features. The girl on the cover does not look like the girl described in the story and I'd love to see a cover redesign with in unambiguously black girl on the cover because black girls do need to see that representation. I bought a copy of this book for my niece so she could see herself in the story but it would've also been nice if she could see herself in the cover.

This book was very much inspired by the relationship between Meghan and Harry including the inclusion of a the royally coupling of the prince's older brother and a biracial woman that felt very Duchess Meghan and Viscountess Emma inspired.  Zora's mom is a royal watcher who has been keeping up with all the news involving that royal family. It's acknowledged in the story that a lot of black women weren't paying attention to the royally family until someone with black ancestry was included.

Zora is an honors student who was accepted into an elite summer program at a prestigious university. In between taking summer classes she's also very active in her community. In her neighborhood she started an after school program for children which also runs a summer program and includes volunteers who walk the young children home from school. And she is learning about grant writing so she can secure grants to keep the program growing. A chance encounter where their cell phones end up being switched puts Zora into Prince Owen of Landerel's orbit.

The strength of this story is Zora as a character. It's easy to relate to her as she navigates feeling out of place between all the privileged kids at the university while she takes the train back and forth each day. I loved how much her community was behind her. We get to see Zora interact with her family and best friend and the positive interactions are very refreshing. It was nice to read a story featuring a black family that is not dysfunctional. And parents are so often MIA in YA while Zora's were very much present while her new friendship with Owen had the paparazzi stalking her street.  It was especially not to not have a narrative not centered around racism. The conflicts in the story are very real without being overly melodramatic or drawn out.

Owen on the other hand is a little generic. He starts off intriguing but everything about him is very surface level and feels almost too perfect. Owen is a sweetheart who plans cute dates and treats Zora well. What you see is what you get with him and I would've liked to see his family dynamic explored a little more. He really doesn't start getting interesting until a little too late towards the end.

The story felt a little rushed towards the end and I would've liked to see more time dedicated to the royal wedding Zora attended. The Queen was throwing her some animosity that needed to be explored more. I would've liked to see more of Zora in Owen's royal world vs just him in her normal one but instead it felt like the story came to an abrupt halt. The romance is sweet and I recommend this book for younger teens. I think Zora is a great character for girl's to be inspired by.

My Bookish Pet Peeves

Hey Guys,

I wrote down a few of my Book related Pet Peeves.  Feel free to comment with your book related pet peeves.

1. Real People on the cover who look nothing like how the character is described on the book. I'm not a huge fan of real people on book covers regardless. I just don't care about the models in stock footage or in front of a green screen trying to depict the characters. I much prefer a gorgeous illustration. But it annoys me when the person on the cover doesn't even match the looks of the characters. Especially when the publisher tries to make a character look whiter.

Two recent offenders that I read were Truly Madly Royally and Kingdom of Souls. Zora was a brown skinned girl with a boss twist out in the book. On the cover they had some racially ambiguous chick most likely to further appeal to white Meghan Markle fans. This was still a very cute story and I thought Zora was a great character for black girls to look up too. It would've been nice for the cover art to portray her a beautiful brown girl.

With Kingdom of Soul while the UK cover was not as elaborate I thought the UK the girl on the cover looked more like the Arrah described in the book than the mixed looking girl on the US cover. Arrah is a pretty brown skinned girl with brown eyes who resembles her father's people. The book is full of black people in all different shades.

2. When the plot doesn't start until the 50% mark of the book. I swear writers who do that want me to DNF their book. Get to the plot in the first few chapters! I especially hate it when it happens in a mystery book.  I've DNFd quite a few cozy mysteries because the mystery didn't start until halfway through the book. Usually in a cozy it happens because the author is too busy trying to write a romance novel as opposed to a mystery. Or they get caught up in all the cutesey nuances of the small town they've created.


3. Racially Ambiguous leads written by authors of color.  People of color are underrepresented enough.  I don't want to pick up a book and wonder what race the lead is because the author felt they would alienate potential white viewers by writing a non white character.  I've heard authors say they didn't want to make the character the same race as them because they didn't want their story to be put in a box. You become an auto-skip author for me if that's your thought process. White people have enough books to represent them without minorities writing for their gaze. White is automatically considered the default for characters in books unless stated otherwise. I actually read a book that had a police brutality incident in it and the author tried to play ambiguous with the lead's race while also mentioning the race of every other character in the story. Huh?


4. Books Being Damaged: When your book cover or pages is dog-eared. I got book mail recently with an arc from the publisher and one of the first things I noticed was the condition the book was in. It looked like it was previously owned and read by someone else.  There was some creasing from the cover being bent and some slight wear on the spine. I was a little hurt because I always keep my covers in good condition. Battered books make me cringe!

5. Goodreads Janky Search Engine! Why has the search engine been broken on Goodreads for years? If you don't type the exact title of the book or the exact author name it won't find the book!  The website is owned by Amazon but they don't want to update it to feel like a website in 2020. There's times where I stumbled upon a book but forgot to mark it want to read and only remember a few words in the title. I've learned to go try and search the book section on Amazon instead.  You would think a site that has a database of books would be easier to navigate when you're looking for a specific story.

6. When Booktubers Talk about Everything but books in their vlog. When you say you made a vlog to discuss certain books I want to hear you discuss that book. Not hear about your day at work. Not see you unbox random purchases from Amazon. I don't come to booktube for makeup tutorials when we have beautytube.  I want to hear you talk books and join in on the discussion. Why are you making a reading vlog with no reading in it?

7. When comp titles are used as blurbs. Especially when the book isn't even remotely comparable to the comp titles. I roll my eyes when I read a book blurb and the book is compared to two other books it's nothing like. Like how every black fantasy with African influence is being compared to Children of Blood and Bone when they only thing they really have in common is using the word orisha and having a black girl lead.

Barbecue, Bourbon and Bullets: A HoneyBun Shop Mystery by M.E. Harmon

It was a cozy mystery weekend for me and Barbecue, Bourbon and Bullets: A HoneyBun Shop Mystery was a nice little break between my longer, heavier reads. If you're not sure if the cozy mystery genre is for you I suggest checking out the short reads from the Honeybun Shop Mysteries which are all free with Kindle Unlimited. At only 52 pages this is a story you can enjoy on your break. And our heroine and her potential love interest are both black in a genre full of bland white leads.

In this story the mystery takes place at a new restaurant in NYC known for it's BBQ and bourbon.  And the descriptions of the food are finger lickin good! Our lead Ali is excited when the handsome Detective Avery Hamilton invites her out to eat when close friends cancel on him at the last minute.  But just as Ali is finishing up her meal a murder happens. But where is the gun? And just her luck the police are extra busy tonight thanks to protests going on. They may just be stuck in the restaurant all night. Though the very cute Detective Hamilton doesn't want her to get involved Ali can't help but want to solve the case. And with nowhere to escape in this case everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise. Luckily growing up on a commune and spying on the elders has made Ali good at eavesdropping and helped her pick up a few other skills.

This mystery was concise and to the point. Just enough information to hook you without any unnecessary filler. I really feel like despite the briefness of the story I got to know little things about Ali that shaped her personality.

Death in D Minor by Alexia Gordon

It's been a few months since I've read a cozy mystery and this one has been sitting on my Kindle for awhile. This is the 2nd book in the Gethsemane Brown Mystery series. I've read every other book in the Gethsemane Brown series except for the one being released this year and while you don't necessarily have to read them in order they're much easier to follow if you do. For example Book 3 ties up some loose ends from Book 1 and 2.

At one point Kindle gave me a free Audible audio upgrade with this book during an update. This was my first audiobook experience. And I HATED the narrator. She made it so hard to get into this story and she read Gethsemane's parts in the most annoying drawl. Note to self: Stay away from the audiobooks for this series since it seems this narrator does all of them. I'll have to go read it on mine own one day to see if my opinion of this story changes.

Gethsemane is back in this sequel to Murder in G Major. And this time she's no longer the only black person in town since her brother-in-law comes to visit. It was nice to see her interact with someone who knows her well. I appreciate all the mentions of African American history throughout the book. Her brother-in-law works for an art museum and gets accused of forgery of priceless embroidery. A murder ensues and this amateur detective needs to solve the case.

At the same time Eamon, the ghost we grew fond of in the first book has disappeared and Gethsemane must try and bring him back before his nephew Billy sells Carraigfaire Cottage. One of the best things about this series is the banter between Gethsemane and Eamon which this story severely lacked.

One of my critiques of this series is that for a small town each book always has a large cast. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of everyone involved. There were many characters in this story to keep track of and since it was winter break the cast from the school was noticeably absent. We also didn't get as much of Gethsemane's musical side like I would've preferred. I just wasn't as invested in the mystery here as I was the other books in the series.The cliffhanger at the end does a good job of setting you up for the 3rd book.

Though Death in D Minor was my least favorite story in the series I still advise you to check out this series as Gethsemane Brown is the fresh type of heroine cozy mysteries usually lack. It's nice to read a cozy mystery with a smart, talented woman and no romance overshadowing the mystery at hand.

A Love Hate Thing by Whitney Grandison

It's 2020, why is it so hard to find contemporary romances featuring black teens? And two black teens at that. I don't mind interracial love stories but black people date each other more than anything else. I asked people to name some contemporary love stories featuring black teen love released last year and could only come up with Opposite of Always and I Wanna Be Where You Are. Black teens deserve more than 2! So imagine how happy I was when I saw the cover of A Love Hate Thing. Two black teens on a cover! And it's published by a major publishing imprint.

A Love Hate Thing releases 1/7/20 but I received an advanced reader copy from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. To begin my review, I'm going to give you a brief summary of the plot of this book.  It follows Tyson Trice who ends up moving from Lindenwood(the hood) to Pacific Hills(the rich folk area) to stay with a family his grandfather used to be close with back when he was 7 years old after an incident where he gets shot. The other main character Nandy Smith is the town golden girl. Everyone loves her and all the girls want to be here. She's a spoiled rich girl with her biggest care in the world being cotillion. This story was described as inspired by the teen show The O.C. and the book Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles(who also did the blurb for the cover). The similarities are definitely there so if you loved those then this is probably the book for you.

 

I grew up in  the inner city and used to take a bus to the suburbs to attend private school with mostly white kids. So Nandy who was born rich and lives in a huge house drives fancy cars wasn't someone I could relate to. She's prissy and looks down on Trice for being from the hood and getting his hair braided on the front step (a particularly eye roll worthy scene). But I also couldn't relate to Trice.  Because while we kept reading about how he wasn't like those other boys in the hood and deserved better I failed to see why. Trice loving to read Roots and The Color Purple doesn't excuse the fact that he associated with people who maybe have killed someone and that he did illegal things. And no, I don't care that some of the people Nandy knows do and sell drugs. I'm tired of black people from the hood being portrayed as only acting a certain way. Why couldn't he just be an actual good kid who had a hard life without the unnecessary extra stuff that reminded me of the gang drama from Perfect Chemistry?

This book read like a story published on Harlequin's Kimani Tru line back in the early 2000s.  It had the pop culture references of those books too. Clearly the editor was white because I refuse to believe a black editor would've let all these dated reference slide. These characters are 17 yet there's references to watching The Proud Family and Static Shock at age 7 which was before their time. There's also so many references to the music of B2K and the movie You Got Served. B2K's fanbase are now in their 30s so these references felt like our author was trying to relive her teen days. A couple Lana del Ray and Kendrick Lamar references doesn't make this story feel current. I would've found the teens listening to Kpop more believable than the remix to Touch it by Busta Rhymes. 

There's a love triangle or more like love quadrilateral but it's pretty one sided as love triangles usually are in young adult books. Nandy has a boyfriend who is the stereotypical rich white jerk. He's really just there to make Trice look good and we never see the sides of him that attracted Nandy to him in the first place. She was just with him because they were the two most popular kids at a school it seemed. And her best friend has a crush on Trice but this is just to make Nandy jealous and possessive. 

The author kept trying to sell this idea of Nandy and Trice having been in love since 7 years old. At one point Nandy reflects on Trice being her first kiss and heartbreak back when they were 7. It's a little creepy. And this idea that they held a flame for each other despite not seeing each other in 10 years is ridiculous.

Every once in awhile there was potential for meaningful discussion like when Nandy and Trice were discussion the label African American and the connections they felt with Africa as well as their blackness. But those were pushed aside quickly so we could relieve the early 2000s. 

Over all this book was a no for me and I don't advise any one to waste their time with it. There was potential here but the execution was horrible. I certainly hope the other black YA contemporary romances offering this year are better. Here's a list of other Black YA Contemporary romances releasing this year.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/139749.2020_Black_YA_Contemporary_Romances#43513793

OMGS (Oh My Gods) by Alexandra Sheppard

I really enjoyed this story. Teenage me would've devoured this book in one day. Adult me took a little more time with this between the holiday season and reading other stories. But it had that carefree nostalgic feel to it that reminded me of stories I read as a preteen and teen. I really hope this gets released in America soon because it's a light hearted fantasy story that black girls can see themselves in and relate too.

Oh My Gods centers around Helen Thomas, a 14 year old girl who is half  British Jamaican and half Greek God who moves in with her father Zeus(Yes, King of the Gods) a couple of years after her mother's death when her grandmother is now too old to take care of her. As if starting a new school wasn't enough! Helen has to deal with her older sister Aphrodite using her as a guinea pig for her random beauty experiments, her nephew Eros hipster ways, and her bother Apollo chasing musical stardom. Not to mention her father's strict set of rules. He won't let her invite friends to the house which is declared a no mortal zone and is quick to take her phone away over the most minuscule things.

I'm not highly knowledgeable about Greek Mythology but I though this did a decent job combining some of the gods most people are familiar with alongside typical teen girl drama. Helen is a mixed race girl living in North London. Her brown skin and curly hair stand out compared to most people around her including her family who choose to appear white. She already feels like an outsider because of their extraordinary powers("My family has these incredible gifts and talents. Gifts that made the world a better, more interesting place") but not resembling them continues to remind her of how much of an outsider she is. She also recalls being in spaces when she was a little kid where she felt out of place as the black girl among white kids. I like that Helen is allowed to voice her feelings about feeling different.

The letters to her mother function similar to diary entries where Helen recaps what's going on in her life with the only person she can truly tell all her secrets to. I thought they were very sweet and a nice way to keep her mother's memory alive and also allow Helen to let out feelings she tried to bottle up.

The romance aspect of the story is handled very well. Helen like many girls who get their first boyfriend is all about her boyfriend. He's gorgeous, says all the right things ("A girl who's happiest in the library is one I think I'd get along with"), and allows her to be herself around him. She even blows off her girlfriends for him which causes them to give her the cold shoulder. But maybe her mystery man is a little too perfect?

I would love to see this expanded on in a series whether it's more books or a TV series. I feel like there's so much that can be done with Helen and her family.

Random Bookish Purchases

Hello Everyone,


My book loving has hit a new high. Lately I've been in to purchasing random bookish products in addition to books. Here are a few of my recent bookish purchases.


This cute graphic t-shirt from Modcloth that reads "I'm Booked Every Night" is one I purchased a couple of months ago.

A couple of mini Bookish candles from Frostbeard Studio. Who doesn't love the scent of a book cafe? 

This vinyl decal from Bookish Signs and More that reads "If He Aint Fae, He Ain't Bae" The shop owner even threw in a few bookmarks with my order.

This pineapple book sleeve from Amazon that I bought to protect my books when I'm carrying them back and forth from home to work.

I saw people unboxing their November Fairyloot boxes and the art in this Reading Journal looked so cute. There are plenty of people who like to trade or sell their subscription box items so I was able to buy this beauty from a seller on Mercari.