Intercepted by Alexa Martin

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! This multicultural romance read has been on my TBR for 2 years and has been sitting on my Kindle for over a year. It ended up being exactly what I needed after a week where I DNFd 2 books. I partially listened on audiobook and though January LaVoy was spot on and very easy to listen to and I finished the book over the course of two days.

Overuse of hashtags aside, I really enjoyed Marlee's voice.  She's witty and sarcastic and I love how she's not one for confrontation but will let it rip when necessary. Her sharp tongue was one of the things I enjoyed about this story. 

If those housewives shows are your guilty pleasure then you'll really enjoy this look into the world of football wives and girlfriends. I was reminded watching early seasons of The Game except Marlee is more seasoned than girl Melanie. The Lady Mustangs are exactly what comes to mind when you think of bitchy wags who've centered their lives around their husband's careers. They hold meetings as an excuse to drink ample amounts of wine, they all visit the same surgeon, they avoid carbs like the plague, and turn their noses up on the ringless girlfriends like Marlee.

Marlee is a biracial woman in her late 20s who has a bit of a wakeup call after finally being fed up enough with her cheating football player boyfriend to leave him for good. And once she decides to leave she and takes the Prius he gifted her away she realizes she can no longer live on her freelance gigs alone. So she gets a job working at a restaurant, rents a small apartment, and starts taking public transportation.

And just while she's ending one relationship an old fling comes back into her life in the form of quarterback Gavin Pope. Gavin Pope is a genuine nice guy often coming to Marlee's rescue and soon neither can deny the attraction between them. And the chemistry was really there between them.

And there was plenty of fast paced drama to keep me entertained throughout.

Now 50 Cent and Lala Anthony are supposed to be turning this into a series with Lala playing the lead and they need to pass the role of Marlee to someone else cuz Lala is too old to pass for 20 and her immaturity and youth is what helps make the story. She's an adult woman finally coming into her own after years of being reliant on a man.

My Most Anticipated 2021 Reads

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Fall is in full swing and the holidays are just around the corner which means 2021 will be upon us soon. And I was just thinking about how they are so many books I'm interested in reading next year. Some of them I've been able to secure arcs of which means you'll definitely be seeing me talk about them here. And of course as always Black authors especially Black women are always at the forefront of my reading lists. The way books dates have been changing crazy due to the pandemic I won't post the release dates but all books at the time of posting are scheduled for a 2021 release. 

A Glimmer of Death

In the first of a thrilling new series, one woman's extraordinary psychic gift plunges her already-troubled present into chaos--and puts her future in someone's deadly sights...

Until now, Odessa Jones' inherited ability to read emotions and foretell danger has protected her. But second sight didn't warn her she would soon be a widow--and about to lose her home and the catering business she's worked so hard to build. The only things keeping Dessa going are her love for baking and her sometimes-mellow cat, Juniper. Unfortunately, putting her life back together means taking a gig at an all-kinds-of-shady real estate firm run by volatile owner Charlie Risko...

Until Charlie is brutally killed--and Dessa's bullied co-worker is arrested for murder. Dessa can't be sure who's guilty. But it doesn't take a psychic to discover that everyone from Charlie's much-abused staff to his long-suffering younger wife had multiple reasons to want him dead. And as Dessa follows a trail of lies through blackmail, dead-end clues, and corruption, she needs to see the truth fast--or a killer will bury her deep down with it.

Wild Women and the Blues: A Novel

1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper's daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.

2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he's right--if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he's expecting...

Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It's a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it's a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it's too late. No matter the cost...

The Conductors (A Murder & Magic Novel)

As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband, Benjy, have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.

A Master of Djinn: a novel

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world fifty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

Bacchanal 

Abandoned by her family, alone on the wrong side of the color line with little to call her own, Eliza Meeks is coming to terms with what she does have. It’s a gift for communicating with animals. To some, she’s a magical tender. To others, a she-devil. To a talent prospector, she’s a crowd-drawing oddity. And the Bacchanal Carnival is Eliza’s ticket out of the swamp trap of Baton Rouge.

Among fortune-tellers, carnies, barkers, and folks even stranger than herself, Eliza finds a new home. But the Bacchanal is no ordinary carnival. An ancient demon has a home there too. She hides behind an iridescent disguise. She feeds on innocent souls. And she’s met her match in Eliza, who’s only beginning to understand the purpose of her own burgeoning powers.

Only then can Eliza save her friends, find her family, and fight the sway of a primordial demon preying upon the human world. Rolling across a consuming dust bowl landscape, Eliza may have found her destiny.

Sweethand

After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry, and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry chef business.

When Cherisse’s younger sister reveals she’s getting married in a few months, Cherisse hopes that will distract her mother enough to quit harassing her about finding a guy, settling down and having kids. But her mother’s matchmaking keeps intensifying.

Cherisse tries to humour her mother, hoping if she feigns interest in the eligible bachelors she keeps tossing her way, she’ll be off the hook, but things don’t quite go as planned. Turns out for the first time in ages, she and Keiran King, the most annoying man ever, are on the island at the same time. Avoiding him is impossible, especially when Keiran’s close friend is the one marrying her sister, and he’s the best man to her maid of honour.

Keiran doesn’t know what to make of Cherisse now. They’ve always butted heads. To him she’s always been a stuck-up brat who seeks attention, even while he secretly harbored a crush on her. Now with Cherisse’s sister marrying one of his good friends he can’t escape her as the wedding activities keep throwing them together.

When things turn heated after a rainy night of bedroom fun, they both have to figure out if they can survive the countdown to wedding day, without this turning into a recipe for disaster.

Where the Rhythm Takes You

Seventeen-year-old Reyna has spent most of her life at her family’s gorgeous seaside resort in Tobago, the Plumeria. But what once seemed like paradise is starting to feel more like purgatory. It’s been two years since Reyna’s mother passed away, two years since Aiden – her childhood best friend, first kiss, first love, first everything – left the island to pursue his music dreams. Reyna’s friends are all planning their futures and heading abroad. Even Daddy seems to want to move on, leaving her to try to keep the Plumeria running.

And that's when Aiden comes roaring back into her life – as a VIP guest at the resort.

Aiden is now one-third of DJ Bacchanal – the latest, hottest music group on the scene. While Reyna has stayed exactly where he left her, Aiden has returned to Tobago with his Grammy-nominated band and two gorgeous LA socialites. And he may (or may not be) dating one of them…

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, Where the Rhythm Takes You is a romantic, mesmerizing novel of first love and second chances.

Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good.

So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.

Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their intense doubt and scrutiny—especially once her supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed “illegal.” With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t stick it out and pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.

Witches Steeped in Gold

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance.

Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.

Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.

Josephine Against the Sea

Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That's why she makes a habit of scaring his new girlfriends away. She's desperate to make it onto her school's cricket team because she'll get to play her favorite sport AND use the cricket matches to distract Daddy from dating.

But when Coach Broomes announces that girls can't try out for the team, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life . . .

The next day, Daddy brings home a new catch, a beautiful woman named Mariss. And unlike the other girlfriends, this one doesn't scare easily. Josephine knows there's something fishy about Mariss but she never expected her to be a vengeful sea creature eager to take her place as her father's first love! Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from Mariss's clutches before it's too late?

Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark

 

Welcome Back Booklovers! So I'm back with a dark fantasy review. I heard so many good things about this book and I've seen a lot of skepticism due to the content so I was happy that RB Media and Netgalley granted me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook. Plus P. Djèlí Clark is a gifted Caribbean-American writer.

I've spoken out before in a previous review for a fantasy set during the Jim Crow era but I want to reiterate it here that we shouldn't let uncomfortable topics stop us from reading a story. And if people can praise Lovecraft Country which was written by a white man they can certainly support a Black man writing a fantasy in the same vein. 

Ring Shout is set in 1922 Macon, Georgia where it reimagines the Ku Kluxes as literal white-boned demons. The story opens up with Maryse, Sadie and Chef taking matters into their own hands by setting a trap for these monsters with commentary of how bold and out in the open they are now. 

The audiobook is an experience which involves different accents and singing which really help give you a visual of each scene. The characters speak in dialect which is not for everyone but was key to this story. It was so easy to get lost in this tale. 

The main heroine Maryse is a whiskey bootlegging, magic sword wielding, monster hunter! Her sword has the power of the enslaved ancestors. There's a lot of action and gory violence in here so be prepared.

Clark blends horror, satire, and fantasy with American history, African folklore, Caribbean heritage,  and Gullah heritage seamlessly. Horror and fantasy lovers will enjoy this fast paced novella with sadly very relevant commentary about the world we live in today. 

When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm back with a read for the younger crowd. This Middle Grade book is great for all kids but the ones from Caribbean backgrounds will especially appreciate it. I interviewed the author Kereen Getten earlier this year. I was lucky enough to receive an arc from Random House Children in exchange for review.

Clara lives on an island  in a tight knit village with people who feel so familiar. It's small and seaside so no one ever visits and no one really leaves. There's the grouchy old woman whom seems to dislike everyone but everyone does what she needs without question. There's the pastor that's overly judgmental. Clara's cousin Gaynah who she gets along with one minute and is at odd's with the next. And there's her ostracized uncle who everyone calls a witch doctor. 

So much of this book feels like a love story to growing up in small Caribbean villages surrounded by neighbors who all know each other.  

It's a slow starter but an easy to read book about friendship with a bit of mystery mixed in. Clara is suffering from memory loss and has trouble recalling the events of last summer which have left her shaken. She once loved the water but now has a fear of it. Clara's whole neighborhood seems to be judging her until one day a new girl comes to visit from NY.  The new girl Rudy doesn't judge her for her behavior or make her feel inferior. 

This was a beautiful story with an unexpected twists that starts out quiet but leaves a lasting impression. 

Interview with Author Kara Lee Corthron

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm back with an interview by another great author and I'm so happy that I was able to link up with Hear Our Voices Book Tours to make this possible. Kara Lee Corthron not only writes YA books, she's also a playwright and television writer. You can check out my review of her latest release Daughters of Jubilation which I truly enjoyed after you get to know a little bit about the woman behind the book.

People may not know but you’re on the writer’s staff of the popular series You. How has your TV writing affected your novel writing?

It goes both ways. Though I write in different categories, how I approach writing is pretty much the same: what’s the story? Who are the characters and what makes them compelling? I think the more I write in general, the better I get at storytelling.

You are also a playwright having written plays across different genres. What is that experience like and how does it differ?

Playwriting can be incredibly satisfying if your plays are being well produced and you’re not depending on playwriting for income. There is something unique about people gathered in a room to experience a story with live human beings on stage. I respect all the new virtual theatre experiments that have been happening, but without that special, electric connection between actors and a live audience, I’m not sure what the draw will be once the novelty wears off. But maybe the virtual performances will be satisfying in a different way.

Because there’s generally not much money in theatre, plays that have the best chance at being produced tend to have a small cast and one simple set—not something I ever have to think about when writing fiction and though we have to produce responsibly, it’s not an issue to the same degree in TV. I’m sure it comes as no surprise, but the vast majority of plays professionally produced in this country are written by white men. At some point, it became clear to me that I was not going to be a wildly produced playwright and once I figured that out, I felt freer and my work became richer. I wrote a play with talking dolls. I wrote a hip-hop play with a giant, talking rat. Playing with the fantastical in theatre felt natural to me and that experience definitely influenced my choice to try my hand at YA fantasy. And when I began to work in TV, I felt even freer as a playwright because I had an actual source of income. It probably sounds like I’m talking about money a lot, but the sad truth is I spent many years worrying far more about money than the quality of my work, which was unfortunate. Finding a way to unite all my interests into a career as a multi-genre writer took a long time, but it’s the best fit for me.

What was your experience studying at Julliard like?

Mostly great. I had some tough times there, too. Halfway through my first year, my mother passed away suddenly and I nearly dropped out. Because of a few fellow playwrights in the program and my mentors, I kept going. I learned the fundamentals of building a story there.

Plus, it’s Juilliard! I loved hanging out in Lincoln Center and there’s nothing quite like going into one of the lesser known bathrooms and hearing an exceptionally talented musician practicing the cello or viola—for some reason, it was always strings—in the lounge area near the sinks.

Do you have a favorite place you’ve gotten to travel to while working on a new play?

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve gotten to travel to many beautiful places to write. The Italian Riviera is stunning as is the coastal town of Cassis in the south of France. I’ve loved working in all those places, but my all-time favorite is MacDowell. For those who don’t know, MacDowell is the oldest artists’ residency in the U.S. It’s located in New Hampshire just outside of a tiny, charming town called Peterborough. (The town in Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town is based on Peterborough. Why? Because Wilder wrote the play while in residence at MacDowell, of course.) At MacDowell, the artists decide how their days will be spent. The only rule is that residents follow the meal schedule. They deliver lunch to each studio in a cute basket, which I love. It’s nice to be treated so well, but I also love it because you’re fed without disrupting the rhythm of your day. I hope every writer gets the opportunity to work at MacDowell at least once in her life.

Side bar: the last time I was at MacDowell, I was writing the very first draft of Daughters of Jubilation in a lovely studio where James Baldwin once stayed. Now I think it may have been haunted, but that’s some cool history!

What is your writing process like when you’re ready to jump into a new novel?

Usually, I’ll get an idea that won’t let me go. Then I just vomit out some pages, maybe 30 or so and this tells me if my idea is worth pursuing. When I have trouble sleeping because I can’t stop thinking about the idea is a sign that I’m onto something good. Once I get hooked into writing, then I have to carve out as much time as possible, because I need to write in chunky time blocks, typically about three hours a session with a break in the middle. This is especially important for me when working on the raw first draft of something.

You choose to set this story in the Jim Crow South. What drew you to historical fantasy and this setting specifically?

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly where this idea came from, but there were a few powerful inspirations. I once saw a Gordon Parks’ photograph that left a deep impression on me. It’s from his “Untitled, Mobile, Alabama (1956)” series. In the photo, there’s a little Black girl in the foreground, a house with some people on the porch in the background and what appears to be a strange disturbance …coming from her head. Maybe it’s smoke, a distant twister, or a cloud of dust. But when I saw the photo—knowing the context, that Parks was chronicling the lives of everyday Black people living under Jim Crow—my imagination wondered what life might’ve been like for this girl if she did in fact have magical powers and with just one thought, she could wreak havoc on the world. This was a pivotal moment of inspiration for me.

 

Recently, I realized that part of the reason I wrote this book was to understand what my mother’s life as a teen might’ve been like. She’s gone now and when she was living, she didn’t talk much about her past. This was my way of imagining a world that she could’ve easily belonged to. So these things figured into my choice, but as soon as I began writing, my heroine Evvie would not shut up and she told me where and when her story took place. Hers was a not a voice that could be ignored (not that I wanted to). Even though this story is set in 1962, as we tragically all know the themes are all too resonant today. And the magic element? The power I dreamed of for that little Black girl in the Parks’ photo is what I’ve wanted for countless Black people today. We don’t live in a world where Breonna Taylor had the supernatural ability to protect herself and punish her murderers. So why not create one?

Untitled, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

How was this experience writing Daughters of Jubilation different from writing your debut novel, The Truth of Right Now?

When I wrote The Truth of Right Now, I was a playwright, who’d always wanted to write YA, but was timid about committing to the idea. My timidity was the result of receiving a rejection letter years before that was a two-page, single-spaced treatise on everything wrong with my manuscript (the real first book I wrote). The editor ended the letter by suggesting I find something else to do with my life. I let this one person’s opinion of my skills keep me from writing YA again for nearly ten years. This is a long way to say that when I tried it again, I had nothing to lose; I was teaching in the middle of nowhere for a semester so I had time and I thought “it’s now or never.” So I just wrote a book that I wanted to read. With Daughters, I felt like I more clearly understood the undertaking of writing a novel, but the fear is the same. In both cases, I got to a point in the writing when I wanted to quit. In both cases, I worried that I’d never finish. And now, as I’m starting a new book, I keep asking myself, “How did I do this twice?” I’m comforted by how familiar my doubts feel. It’s just a part of my process.

What drew you to writing for young adults?

Ooh hard question. It’s almost like asking what drew me to ice cream. I just really, really enjoy writing for this audience and teen protagonists come to me easily. I also remember the intensity of the time between age 12 and 17. It’s the last time in our lives that we’ll develop in a significant way, the stakes feel unimaginably high, and many adults forget the urgency of being in that age range. And that just isn’t fair. My hope is that by writing YA, I’m showing young people the respect they may not often receive and genuine empathy.

Are there any books that have been published in 2020 or are going to be published soon that are on your must read list?

Yes, and I can’t wait until I have time to read them! I know there are more, but here are the ones I’m thinking about right now:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Saving Savannah by Tonya Bolden

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

Reconstruction: Stories by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Is there anything you’re currently working on that you can mention here?

I’m currently writing for the M. Night Shyamalan thriller SERVANT on Apple TV+. Season one is available now and horror fans should definitely check it out. As I briefly mentioned above, I am working on a new book, but that’s about all I can say right now. There’s also a movie that I probably can’t talk about yet, either…Let’s just say, I’m keeping busy.

What is one thing you’d like readers to take away from Daughters of Jubilation?

Everybody has some special magic within. You just have to find it. And when you do, use it with love.

Daughters of Jubiliation by Kara Lee Corthron

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I switched gears from romance back to fantasy to read this book which has intrigued me since I saw the cover months ago.  So I reached out to Simon Schuster for an advanced review copy.

Now some people might read the synopsis and see Jim Crow and be intimidated. White supremacy may be ever present but that doesn't mean there's an absence of Black joy. I love the refreshing approach to 60s South Carolina summer filled with summer love and family. Our main character Evalene speaks in a Southern dialect that flows naturally. 

Evvie is navigating first love and growing into her own as a woman all while trying to understand her ever growing magical abilities. Her mother sees their gift of jubilation as a curse on their bloodline but Evvie just wants to understand their powers. Evvie is at times impulsive and when it comes to protecting her family and friends she's ready to leap into action. But why does she have trouble using her powers of jube around her new boyfriend Clay? 

Her mother takes her to see her grandmother tell help her control her abilities. Now Grammie Atti is seen as the town crazy woman who is rumored to have killed her husband. Her sharp tongue holds nothing back and she's determined to whip her granddaughter into shape. She's strict but loving and supportive all the same.

I loved the uniqueness of the magic too. Who wouldn't try and use their magic to prevent pregnancy or speed up their period? Not that magic is 100% effective in either situation which is a lesson for Evvie to learn. As as her momma tells her jube can't keep the clap away.

I feel like when we talk about Black people in the 1960s images come to mind about us fighting for our rights during the Civil Rights Movement. But this wasn't just a time of marching. Black people were tearing up the music charts with Motown Records cranking out your favorite classics. And I love that those vibes could be included in this story as well. One of my favorite scenes was the Juneteenth cook out scene. 

Evvie has twin kid sisters who are bright lights and balance out the family dynamic. Typical little sisters they're annoying one minute and too cute the next. 

And she has dreams too. She loves reading and she loves watching the stars. Secretly she dreams of being an astronomer even though the thought she so far fetched. 

There is some darkness in this book which includes violence from white supremists, racist slurs, physical abuse, and sexual assault. Evvie is battling an old foe who has made a return and threatens to spoil her happiness. Though a survival story it never felt draining or completely hopeless. 

This was truly a beautiful book that felt like a book teens could read that wasn't actively trying just for the adult audience like many YA fantasies. And the dark realities in this story are written in a way that is easy to comprehend without being overly traumatizing. Evvie is relatable, unfortunately the struggles she and her family go through are familiar, and there's a persistent theme of hope. 

**CLOSED** 1000 Followers Giveaway!

 

Welcome Back Booklovers! I appreciate everyone who has been following me this year. I've watched my blog grow and grow in viewership. Thank you to everyone who has made purchases using my links. Thank you everyone who leaves comments. I truly enjoy reading your thoughts and hearing how you feel about my reviews or discussion topics. 

I've done giveaways a few times this year and I enjoy giving people the gift of books by Black authors. Black authors don't get the attention they deserve and if you can come to my blog and discover a new author I'm happy.  And though this year has been a great fantasy reading year for me I also love romance. And there's just not enough Black romance being praised in traditional publishing right now. And there's no reason we should be getting recommendations for interracial or multicultural romances when we ask for Black romance.

So I decided I want to do another giveaway to celebrate hitting the 1,000 followers milestone on my Twitter. And because the holidays are right around the corner I said, "Let's make it festive!" I'm always asking where are all the Black Christmas romance books? So here's one from the backlist up for grabs. You must be following me on Twitter and leave a comment on here with your handle. And in your comment answer the question, "What is your favorite Christmas tradition?"

Winner receives a copy of Her Mistletoe Bachelor by Carolyn Hector. Winner will be announced on Twitter on 10/24

This tycoon knows if she’s been naughty or nice!

After a public breakup, CFO Donovan Ravens plans to spend the holidays alone in a small-town hotel. But beautiful science teacher British Carres has other ideas for the space that the sexy bachelor booked—a contest starring her students. In British, Donovan sees a future he never expected. As they give in to their chemistry, a threat from the past could keep them from finding true love…

Something About You by Bridget Anderson

 

Welcome Back Booklovers! I've been in need of a Black romance to destress and give me all the feels. And Something About You was just that book I needed. 

This book is set in small town Kentucky on an organic farm that also runs a bed-and-breakfast. So it was already giving me those Up Tv/Hallmark movie vibes. And it opens talking about strawberry picking on the farm. We used to go strawberry picking every year and last year was actually the last time I went so it brought back great memories of picky juicy berries straight off the vine.

Kyla is working on her PhD and has a passion for organic farming. She teaches workshops at the farm in addition to helping run healthy eating workshops at a local school and assisting with their lunch program. While speaking at the University of Kentucky's World Hunger Day conference she meets former baseball player Miles Parker. Since retiring he has gotten involved in the agriculture industry. The chemistry is instantly there as he and Kyla are both passionate about ending hunger though with different methods in mind.

Miles decides to take Kyla up on her offer of spending a week at the farm learning about organic farming. Though Mile's company specializes on genetically modified food he's up for getting his hands dirty in the fields for a week if it means getting to know Kyla better.

Though Miles is a former baseball player and a subject of tabloid fodder I liked that he really didn't have that cocky athlete persona I often read in romance. He admits he was that man in the spotlight with the supermodels at one point but you can clearly see he has changed for the better. 

I liked Kyla because she was just a country girl passionate about her job. She didn't have any trauma she was recovering from and she didn't have to change herself for her love interest.

Keep in mind this is a Kimani Romance which is a backlist line from Harlequin. So if you're looking for a copy of this book you'll be either buying it used or buying the ebook. But if you're looking for a light read with Black people in love in a setting you don't always see I would check this one out.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers. Now I don't normally read memoirs but as a Mariah fan I just had to pick this up. She's been talking about releasing her memoirs for so long and I wanted that deeper glimpse into her life. Now it should've been titled Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel but I digress. I've never listened to an over 11 hr audiobook so fast.

Hearing her narrate the audiobook herself really made this one rise above. She doesn't do bleak narrations. Instead she talks to you as if you're a friend she's telling stories to. Anyone who is a fan is familiar with her mannerisms that are ever present here. Even if you are the biggest stan and thought you knew Mariah well this was full of information you've never heard. 

Now if you're jumping into this for plenty of tabloid fodder you're not going to receive much here. Outside of the details of her affair with Derek Jeter where she describes him making her feel alive again as they snuck around NY and Puerto Rico you won't find that salacious gossip. While ultimately not the love of her life she thought he would be he did give her the courage to feel free to act and dress the way she wanted to. So she holds that relationship dear for what it represents. That being said I didn't expect her to put so much of their business out there on front street. He hasn't even shared much of his relationship with his wife and they have two kids together!

We've heard her say she had a rough childhood but she always refrained from truly going into depth about it beyond stating she grew up poor and moving from house to house. Rough childhood was an understatement. With a family like her family who needs enemies? Her family seemed to never be able to pull it together and get along. Her mother was neglectful and jealous of her, her sister tried to sell her into prostitution, her brother had rage issues and was unpredictable, and her father became estranged from her.  She spends the first section of this book on her early life with her family. Her early life is dark and full of suffering with few bright spots outside of some family friends here and there and some weekends spent with her father's family.  And she walks us through the start of her music career doing paid gigs when she was young and commuting back and forth while working on her demo tape. One thing Mariah always had was determination and hope. She knew she was destined to be more and was willing to fight in the face of adversity. 

In the second section we see her start her career and a tumultuous relationship with Sony Music's Tommy Mottola. This was a precautionary tale about getting involved with someone so much older with more power than you. Not only was he pulling the strings in her professional life but behind closed doors he was isolating her to keep her under his thumb. She really goes into detail about her life looking like a fairytale to the public while she was suffering behind closed doors. She lights up when talking about building her first house but little did she know Storybrooke Manor would become a prison surrounded by security cameras, intercoms, and armed guards. 

For years people have acted like Mariah kept quiet about her Black side even though she's mentioned it from the beginning. In this book she lights up when talking about spending time with her father's family. She praises her aunts and grandmother for what they accomplished despite the odds against her. It's very easy to write her off as a "tragic mulatto" as many people have over the years but when you listen to her talk about what she experienced growing up feeling out of place surrounded by white people and their micro and macroaggressions as well as what her father experienced it sheds new light. Yes, we've all had it hard. But not all of us have been jailed, had our faces literally spit in, our homes shot at, been locked in a room and verbally assaulted. And Mariah herself states it took her meeting Derek's family to realize her family's many other issues had nothing to do with racial identity and everything to do with them being dysfunctional.

The post Tommy (but not really because he was still behind the scenes in the industry) era starts off very difficult for her. There's sabotage behind the scenes with a certain singer being used as a tool against her which she talked about back then but people chose to ignore. The media wants to see her fail and revels in the hurdles she must overcome. Since she's only recently coming to terms with being bipolar she does mention the hospital visits and treatments and lows and highs back in 2001 when she was originally diagnosed but you can sense the denial. And much of that seems to stem from not wanting to be seen like her mother.

And after the lost of her father who she was able to mend the fences with at the end of his life and understand why he was the way he was she takes us through her triumphant return. I have fond memories of sitting around with my friends belting out the lyrics to "We Belong Together". I remember doing laps during practice listening to "Don't Forget About Us". She's been the soundtrack to so many people's lives and it was nice to relive some moments in time. 

This book has so many quotable moments like the diva herself. It is filled with her humor and wit even during more difficult scarring times. We get to hear her sing acapella as she describes the making of some of her best songs. I will say if you had a rough childhood this could be very triggering for you but maybe at the same time healing. Her story proves you don't have to succumb to your surroundings and when you believe in yourself you can accomplish great things. And I left the book feelings like I understood more about why she acts the way she does including her eternally 12 mantra. It's very fitting that the audiobook closes out with Mariah's theme.