This one is a recommendation for those looking for a middle grade book to give to a young black girl. Summer is coming up and the kids are at home. Now more than ever it's important to keep the kids reading.
There's not enough books out there featuring carefree young black girls. So when I come across those stories I like to showcase them so people can discover them for their own daughters, nieces, siblings, cousins, etc.
Anabelle Louis is a military brat who has recently moved to a new town. This is the first time she's been in public school in years after having been home schooled abroad. It's hard enough having your life uprooted every time your mother has a new assignment. And she's struggling to fit in. Knowing how hard deployment can be on kids her parents send her to a therapist. Anabelle's therapist suggests she do something to get out of her comfort zone. She's a very tech savvy girl who likes to make videos. This results in her creating a vlog which she does anonymously wearing disguises so no one recognizes her.
I thought the vlogging aspect was very on trend to what kids are currently doing making their own videos on apps like Youtube and Tik Tok. Anabelle's vlogging identify is a girl named Daphne and she talks about things Daphne doesn't love. The vlog is appropriately titled Daphne Definitely Doesn't. As her vlog starts to get more views and students from her class are among those viewer Anabelle finds it hard to keep up her new life as a rising Youtube sensation.
This is a book that gets my stamp of approval and I suggest you purchase it for the young readers in your life.
I'm back with another review post. I did say I was going to try and bring more of my reviews here so when I recommend these books you can easily find my thoughts on them.
Last year this book caught my eye when I heard Natasha Diaz talk about how this book would explore white passing biracial's privilege. The writing in this story was simply poetic. And books don't usually make me cry and this one had tears flowing as I sat in bed one night reading it. I didn't want to put it down and ended up reading it in two days.
This was such a powerful story that doesn't usually get told. Yes, we know biracial people often struggle with their identity. People usually want them to choose one race over the other. We've all heard of the tragic mulatto narrative. But this story examines both side's of a biracial girl's identity without painting her as a victim.
Nevaeh grew up in a rich white neighborhood feeling like an outsider beyond her one other biracial friend. She's bullied by the mean popular girl at school who makes racial comments towards her that she lets slide to not stir up trouble. Anyone Black or half Black who went to a majority white school knows the type of comments and knows how much they sting. And how it feels to feel so alone because you don't look like everyone else. Neveah is white passing but doesn't feel white enough to identify with either side of her heritage.
Nevaeh's life as she knows it drastically changes. Because her parents are in the middle of a nasty divorce and her cheating father brings his mistress around. And her father's new girlfriend is one of those passive aggressive white women who sees herself as better than the little biracial girl before her. And now her father who has never been religious feels the need to insert his Jewishness because he feels his daughter has too much Black influence in her life after moving with her mother to Harlem. So he makes her attending Hebrew school and is forcing her to have a belated Bat Mitzvah.
Having grown up in her not white but white enough bubble she struggles to relate to her Black family and at first. She doesn't understand at first the microaggressions they feel on a daily basis. Her cousin has to check her over her light skinned privilege a few times.
Nevaeh's mother has struggles with her mental health and the separation is taking a toll on her. She stays in her room all day and has no motivation to leave the house. She barely wants to talk to her daughter who is trying to balance this new situation. Nevaeh wants to be mad at her but when she finds her mother's old diary and reads about some of her experiences she sees her mother and father in a new light.
This story is a journey about a teen girl discovering herself and how she fits in to both of her cultures. We go along for the journey as Nevaeh discovers Jamaican, Liberian, and Jewish traditions. And Natasha Diaz includes beautiful poetry and diary entries to help shape this story and give us much needed background information in a way that doesn't feel forced.
This is a book I've been anticipating for months so I was very excited to receive an arc from Harper Collins via Netgalley for an honest review. My head is still spinning after this read.
the story takes place in 1996 and follows Ines, a student with nowhere else to go who was accepted into the highly selective and pretentious Catherine House. The school is free and provides room and board as well as meals and wardrobe. One of the rules when entering Catherine House is that for 3 full years you must completely leave your old life behind. Classes are year round with no breaks to visit home. Talk of past lives and experiences is forbidden as is contact with family and old friends. Though they advertise that students will always be able to contact their families and friends via phone no one ever seems to earn enough points to have outside world contact. Bringing in outside belongings is forbidden though trucks deliver items several times a week and students can earn points towards purchasing these items via on campus jobs.
We follow Ines who has come to Catherine House because she has no where else to go. She barely graduated high school, she and her mother never had much of a relationship, and she's running from an incident in her past.
In some ways it's like an ordinary college. Ines and her group of friends love to drink, party, and have random hookups with both men and women. While I was never a huge participant in that world I know that experience is very common for most college aged young adults.
Ines struggles mentally and has a hard time adapting to Catherine's House's environment. At first they barely feed the freshman and have them participate in some strange cult like rituals. She has no motivation to attend or even do well in her classes. It gets to the point that the school's director Viktoria schedules a meeting with her and sends her to a facility they call The Tower. The Tower is a prison like facility where students are stripped of their clothes and sent to live in a small room for days on end with just a few books and some playing cards. It's supposed to be a place to reflect and get back on track. While in this confinement the students are given sessions with plasm pins. No one is quite sure what plasm is exactly or how it works but the university has had past scandals involving it.
I found this story overall compelling however I think it would've worked better as a short story. At times I felt their was a little too much description of random events that happened during Ines' day to day life that were not essential to the plot. There were times while reading I felt like I was really understanding Ines and her friends and then other times I felt like I barely knew them at all. Sometimes I forgot about the strange things that were happening at the school because the focus was on grand feasts and the sexually fluid teen hookups. If this was a novella it would've made for a tighter plot.
That being said there was something so endearing about Catherine House that made me continue reading and resonated with me long after it ended.
The way Elisabeth Thomas writes this story in small vignettes is also not a style for everyone. One minute you're enthralled in the creepy rituals the students are partaking in while the next your thrust into a campus party full of drunken debauchery or a campus fun fair complete with rides and cotton candy.
It does what it's entailed to do by reminding you of what college promises you, how it feels like such a magical time, and how looking back on that time as an adult in the real world you realize how oblivious you were. And in the end the story comes together and makes sense. Despite not having all my questions answered I felt satisfied.
Hi Booklovers. I've finally finished dragging my feet and took the plunge to read the latest story in the Legacy of the Orisha series.
At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to read Children of Virtue and Vengeance(CoVaV) since I wasn't as hype over Children of Blood and Bone(CoBaB) like so many people were. I saw so much talk of how that story transcended and I can very much admit I initially bought the first book because of all the marketing it was receiving prior to release. We were finally getting fantasy books written by black authors that were actually being promoted that year. Celebrities were telling you to go out and read this book. A movie deal was announced months before the book release. And Black Panther had just been released. It was an exciting time.
CoBaB promised a lot of things and I don't believe it followed through with all those promises. However it was fast paced and action filled which made it enjoyable. I did find it relied too heavily on influence from Avatar the Last Airbender to the point where I can name the ATLA equivalent to each CoBaB character. Despite some areas where world building and characterization lacked I still found myself rooting for Amari and at times Zelie to succeed. And with it being announced as trilogy there was plenty of room to improve.
Why was CoVaV painful to read/listen to? I hated damn near everyone in this story! And the narration with the faux Africanesque accents of the audiobook did not help. Why are there still 3 point of views? Especially when some chapters are the same events told from a different POV?
Why has the world building not improved? Nothing about this kingdom makes any sense. It's like Tomi Adeyemi assumes we've all watched ATLA in it's entirety so we basically know how the magic system works. Yet when she does lay down rules for the magic system they are immediately contradicted in other parts of the text.
And for the Legacy of the Orisha there's very little explanation about who the orisha are. Where are monuments and shrines dedicated to these deities? The misuse of Yoruba (and in the case of my audiobook mispronunciation) aside I just don't feel like a good job was done incorporating that culture. Naming cities and areas after places in Nigeria didn't impress me. More in depth research needed to be done. What about these cities set them apart from each other? What gods and goddesses do they worship in the different cities. Are there any foods unique to each place? I was confused at how far apart these places actually were from each other.
I'm not even going to go in depth in the really bad relationships. If I read one more line about Zelie's sea salt soul! That relationship between Zelie and Inan is toxic. Tzain just exists solely to be Amari's romantic partner. He had no real role or purpose!
Why are there so many comparisons to real world oppression of African Americans in this fantasy pre-colonial African story? The comparisons to Jim Crow, slavery, Black Lives matter,etc felt inauthentic.
CoVaV just felt like a cheaper retread of book 1 with the same characters having the same conflicts and despite what they endured there is no growth. The only thing that changed was everyone having magic now. Why are the girls still against each other despite all they've gone through? It was constant back and forth and lack of trust between Zelie and Amari. Why is Inan still alive?
But where are the critical reviews of this story? Are people just buying it simply because they want to see a black book succeed? It's great to want to see black books succeed I want to see the same. But let's not be afraid to criticize them as well. Criticism actually helps writers understand what they need to improve on and helps them grow. This series is an NY Times bestseller and had become the story to which all Black fantasies are compared. Tomi Adeyemi has basically become the token black fantasy writer in the mainstream publishing world. This is not the only black fantasy series on the market and I see people are far more critical of the other ones compared to this. Go show love to some of the other black fantasy stories that don't have a machine behind them to succeed.
I'm tired of people saying, "Yeah, this book is pretty basic but white folks write mediocre fantasies too!" True are all newly released white YA fantasies compared to one story? There are nowhere near enough black fantasies on the shelves to justify half baked ones being lauded. This isn't the most poorly plotted fantasy I've read but it should be better. I'm being critical because I want to see black authors succeed.
And if you haven't watched Lex Mamie's critical reviews of CoVaV I highly suggest you watch those as well. There is a spoiler filled and non spoiler review.
Non Spoiler review
Spoiler review
I really enjoyed Jesse's take in their reading vlog which not only included both books but also included one of my favorite 2020 reads which was Raybearer. That book was amazing! It deserves more recognition and hype. And you can find my review on this blog (Raybearer Review).
In conclusion after struggling to make it through this book I'm officially done with this series.
I received an arc courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review. So this book intrigued me because it's indie published and written by a Jamaican American writer.
It’s days before your eighteenth birthday, but your mother is missing and suddenly you have supernatural powers. What are you willing to face to discover the truth of who you really are? After years of traveling the world, black identical twins Aurora and Arden think they’ve settled into normalcy in Ohio. But days before their eighteenth birthday, the snarky twins develop powers in telekinesis and telepathy―at the same time that their famous mother, who’s on tour in London, disappears. Searching for answers and determined to rescue her, the sisters unearth truths that threaten to extinguish their bond and demolish their strength as individuals. Can they trust their beguiling, newly discovered British cousins when they barely trust one another? Should they heed the warnings of their immortal grandmother, a Patoi-chatting goddess, who says she’s friendly with The Fates and can see inside a person’s very soul? In order to succeed in their quest, these goddess twins must work together, master their powers, and unveil a horrifying, century-old family mystery. Otherwise, they may not live to see eighteen―or their mother again
I'll be honest it was clunky for me. When the villain Ezekiel spoke about black kings having no power and the goddesses just standing by using their powers for vanity I found myself praying this wasn't going to be another story where it's black hoteps vs black girls. Especially since Ezekiel hates the notion of powerful woman and wants a world where black men rule all.
I know I often discuss not being fully on board with insta-love in YA and this had one of the most shoehorned insta-love relationships I've come across yet. Talk of dreams and visions and fate within moments of meeting each other.
Arden is the quieter book loving twin who feels like a nod to all us bookworms while Aurora is the social butterfly. While Arden is fully ready to rush into action and embrace being a goddess, Aurora is skeptical.
Things got better once the plot really gets in motion and Aurora and Arden head to London to track down their mother. They meet their cousins Lilo and Liberty who inform them of their hidden heritage. They're somewhat comedic relief who talk the way a lot of American think British people talk like. As someone who does pay attention to Black British culture it just felt off. Black people may not be a monolith but the way they talked read white British parody.
I'm used to fantasy stories telling us alot of background info to explain the magic systems but I would've preferred to hear Gran Gran tell her own story rather than hear Aurora recap the story her cousins told her the night before.
And I'm usually not bothered by spelling or grammar errors in an arc but some of the patois was off. I appreciate having Gran Gran speak patois but she talked in a lot of old people phrases all the time. It was very unnatural and forced. That's not how people talk. I've also never seen wah gwaan spelled wagoan. And instead of reggae it said the music playing was reggaeton. There were a few other words that threw me off.
It wasn't really my style and I feel like it needed more rounds of editting. The way it was written really felt dated like a teen story written in the early 2000s. It's a fast paced and easy read and the characters actually sound like teens. Maybe it will work for those who don't read alot but experienced fantasy readers should skip.
There were some good ideas herebut the execution was not good.
This was one of my favorite reads of 2019 and I've recommended it on here a few times but never actually posted a review. The first street team I was ever on was also for this book and I have the cute stack of character cards as proof.
I was excited for this story after reading the synopsis and seeing the gorgeous covers but I truly didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised as I could never truly tell what direction this story was going in. I'm actually having a bit of a difficult time putting my feelings into words because I don't know where to start.
The pacing is not for everyone and I have heard a few people say they had a hard time getting into it because there is some repetition at times. Arrah is horrible at magic and can't call it the way the rest of her family can. This point is emphasized over and over.But once it starts getting into the action it moves past that repetition.
Even though at times it was a little difficult keeping track of the different characters, tribes, locations, and other terms I enjoyed the world that Rena Barron built. She really put a lot of thought into the world and the magic system. Luckily there is KingdomofSoulsBook.com which contains a recommended reading guide. Great for someone like me reading the book of the course of multiple days alongside another book who needs a refreshing on some of the terms.
I find some writers will include detailed violence just for the sake of violence to make the story darker. Every death felt impactful and personal instead of something done purely for shock value. Arrah was not the chosen one heroine who everything comes easy to which was also something pleasant and different. It does initially kick off to a slow start with pages of Arrah yearning for and failing at calling magic before the real story kicks in. Though it was a slow burn this story truly captured me. I never saw that ending coming and now I have many questions to be answered in the sequel.
I will say the romance did not intrigue me. I understand in previous drafts the story was to be duel pov but Rujek just hasn't captivated me as a character yet. I didn't feel the chemistry between him an Arrah yet. And the parts where Arrah was waxing poetic about Rujek really slowed down the momentum of the story. But I am intrigued at the direction his character will take moving forward and maybe in book 2 I'll warm up to the idea of them more.
This month I was in the mood for something fun and light after a string of blah books. And A Deadly Inside Scoop certainly peaked my interest. Old school ice cream shop complete with a soda fountain owned and operated by a black woman? I'm not even the biggest ice cream fan but I couldn't wait to salivate over her concoctions! Caramel popcorn, ghoulish blueberry, pumpkin roll, decadent chocolate... Yum!
The story follows Browyn Crewse a late 20 something who moved from NY back to her hometown in Ohio and has taken over the family ice cream shop. She's spent months doing renovations and has had a few set backs while trying to bring the business back to it's former glory. It may be outside of peak ice cream season but Win is determined to make the place a success. She's added vintage touches and churns all the ice cream by hand. None of that buy in bulk from Hershey's or Turkey Hill stuff. Family and friends are determined to help her but the first day of business is super slow as snow keeps the customers away. To make matters worse Win gets the shock of her life when she comes across a dead body while trudging through the snow.
At first Browyn doesn't believe it's murder but her best friend and new coworker Maisey couldn't disagree more. These girls were real amateurs and I found that endearing. Often in these stories these women are instantly smarter detectives than the local police and it's just not believable. Maisey watches some amateur sleuth shows on TV and thinks she has the crime solved. She just knows the killer is her boss Ari who she can't stand. And while he is very shady is he actually a killer? And maybe it isn't the smartest thing to let a suspected killer know your on to him. I like how they made their own murder board like in the crime shows by using sticky notes and different colored felt tip pens. Having read another book by the author under her other name Abby L Vandivier (https://amzn.to/2RB9686) I saw some similarities between Maisey in this story and Auntie Zanne in that one. But Maisie wasn't as overbearing as Auntie Zanne could be.
"We're not on television," I said. "There's no guarantee that we'd come back the next week's show."
Some thing I thought stood out is that the author does not shy away from mentioning that this family is one of the few black families in town. It also touched on how black folks often aren't given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to crime after the police come knocking down her door. There was also some good commentary about circumstantial evidence and providing a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt.
One of the only things that annoyed me was the obligatory cute animal in the cozy, in this case a cat, was always given free range to walk around the shop. All I could think about was cat hair in the air or getting into folks ice cream whenever it was mentioned.
This was a well written, diverse mystery with a likable cast of characters worth checking out. The mystery does take it's time to start but the story keeps you entertained throughout.
*I recieved an arc from Berkeley in exchange for an honest review.
I've decided to participate in the SeaMAYdenathon! I think it's the perfect way to connect with others readers and celebrate. I've never participated in a readathon before but they seem like a good way to connect with other booklovers and stick to some reading goals. And I love mermaids so a readathon themed around my favorite mythical beings is perfect.
And how fitting that one of my planned reads for the month of May features black mermaid magic!
It's been a stressful week working from home and I'm ready to enjoy a relaxing 3 day Easter Weekend. This week I read Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras which I won courtesy of a Bookish First giveaway. Bookish First is a great site that allows you to read a few chapters of a book prior to it's release, write a first impression, and enter a raffle to win an arc of said book. You also rack up points which can be used towards giveaway books without entering the raffle. You can sign up (https://www.bookishfirst.com/) and use my code (f2f0690dd0768f611) to gain an additional 100 pts during sign up.
The cover is gorgeous and the reviews were good so I took a chance with the raffle.
This story is about social media influencer Sarah Vance and firefighter Luis Navarro falling in love against the backdrop of sunny Key West. Sarah's mother recently recovered from cancer and to celebrate she, her siblings, and her parents have planned the family vacation they've been missing out on for year. Sarah was excited to prove to everyone she is not the failure they all think she is by showing up with her fiance Ric. However Ric decides to stand her up after her plane is already landed which leaves her scrambling. Cue hunky Cuban firefighter Luis ready to swoop in and save the day.
It started out really fast paced with the character's having their meet cute and immediately jumping into the fake fiance ruse. It was actually done a little too fast for me. Luis is a fire fighter who is eager to lend a helping hand but even so it was a bit of a stretch that he agreed to pretend to be this stranger's fake fiance. And Sarah must be super trusting to just ask a stranger she met at the airport to fill in for her beau after one encounter.
I really liked the descriptions of Key West. It almost felt like being on the island myself as I read about them visiting beaches, aquariums and restaurants serving savory Cuban food. I thought the author did a great job incorporating Latinx cultures. The devout Catholicism via Luis's family was very familiar to me having attended Catholic church for years with a large Spanish speaking congregation. Sarah was fluent in Spanish which was one of her defining traits but it just didn't feel natural. It felt like a way to add a little Mexican culture via this long gone mother figure who raised her however they should've just had her character be Mexican. Her blond hair and blue eyes might not be what many people think of when they think of a Mexican person but it could've opened a nice dialogue.
The blurb said this book is perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and though she rated this book very highly herself I'm not sure if I agree with that. Jasmine Guillory books are usually fast paced while this one was very much a slow burn. Such a slow burn that I barely made it through the middle of the story which was full of filler. It felt like there was a lot of telling me how perfect the couple was for each other but not so much showing. They both had great chemistry together but that could only carry this book but so far. They each have their own issues their struggling through but at times it felt tedious.
The scenes with the families were well done but I couldn't quite buy into this love story over the course of the week especially with each little conflict being resolved a little too easily.
I don't do a blog post for every book that I read but with this this book there's a lot that I need to unpack. You ever pick up a book expecting on thing and when you start reading it you realize it's something else entirely? That's the feeling I had with Recipe for Persuasion.
When I came across it I saw it labeled romance and the blurb said it was a heartwarming romantic comedy. Bitch where? Did the person who wrote the blurb actually read this story? Because there was nothing funny about it. Granted I requested this from HarperCollins before the outbreak but someone looking for something light during this time will feel hoodwinked. I never read Persuasion so I'm not sure how accurate it is as a retelling.
The book follows Ashna, Rico, and Ashna's mother Shobi. Ashna is still getting over her father's suicide and after having trusted some close associates of his who robbed the family blind she is left with crippling debt. Rico is a former football player for United Manchester who is still recovering from a career ending injury. Shobi having put her horrible marriage behind her dedicated her life in India to fighting patriarchy at the detriment of her daughter who she now desires to build a close relationship with.
My biggest critique of this story was that it tried to do too much as once. The story of a chef and an international footballer falling in love while doing a show on the Food Network could've been a story by itself. That part would have you think this is a fun romantic comedy. But then it gets into tough family drama which includes alcoholism, spousal abuse, suicide, PTSD, depression, and anxiety among other things. There were some powerful statements about upholding the negative in cultures and breaking generational cycles. But it was jarring to switch between light-hearted events to reflecting on the traumatic past.
As a second chance romance this story fails. There's little chemistry between Ashna and Rico in the present day and the many flashbacks don't show why they would still be yearning for each other. What made that relationship so special that neither were able to move on?
Ashna needs a therapist and I would've liked to see that addressed in this story. She has anxiety and is dealing with alot of childhood trauma over her parent's relationship along with the feelings of abandonment. She can't even cook anything other than her father's recipes without passing out. And when she is asked what she likes about cooking she can't even answer.
I never warmed up to Rico. While I understood being upset over Ashna keeping him as her secret years ago the parallels to his relationship with his father I found his feelings towards her unwarranted. Why was he holding on to this relationship so many years later? Why did he feel the need to reappear in her life and act an ass to her for the majority of the book?
Shobi's backstory was the most developed but I couldn't root for her. I understand her situation was horrible however she left her only child with an abuser instead of fighting harder for her. She justified not sacrificing what she wanted over having a relationship with her daughter. She flew in ready to force her daughter to reconnect with her because the award she was receiving had her reflecting on her life. She kept asking Ashna why she was so adamant about not letting her in. Why would she want to let in a woman who was off in another country most of the time during her prime developmental years?
The way the author wrote was good and for the most part kept me interested but there were just too many moving parts and I couldn't connect to the characters. Combine that with a very slow pace and it was a Recipe for Disappointment.
