Forging a Nightmare by Patricia A. Jackson

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been wanting to read more urban fantasy so this instantly peaked my interest before I even saw the cover. Then I heard it combined different mythologies along with Christianity as a basis for the magic system and along with the NYC backdrop I knew I had to read it. I received an arc from Angry Robot in exchange for an honest review.

FBI agent Michael Childs has been assigned to a case where a serial killer is killing people who are born with 12 fingers and toes. At the crime scene there are letters written in a language Michael has never learned and he has to enlist his mother's help decoding it. She informs him that he was also born with 12 fingers and toes and that he is a Nephilim, the direct descendant of an angel. But Michael's father isn't just any angel. His father is Mikhael, one of the biblical archangels.

The case leads him to Anaba Raines who is a former marine thought to have been killed in action. Instead she's alive just no longer human. She has undergone a process called forging where she was tortured and blackmailed until she gave in to become a Nightmare. A nightmare is a mystical warhorse who can take on the powers of their owner. A skilled horseback rider and amateur jouster, Michael finds himself teaming up with Anaba to fight back against an army of angels. Before he knows it he's taking a spot as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and attending grand balls hosted by Lucifer himself. 

It reads very crime thriller at first which intrigued me but crime thriller can be hit and miss and the first few chapters felt lengthy. But I was happy with the way this book blended the crime thriller aspect with the fantasy. The book shifts from chasing the killer through the streets of New York to the streets of Hell.

Having attended years of Catholic school, I have a very basic understanding of the theology and mythologies that this book was inspired by for it's mythos. But because we never dove into the Book of Revelation there were new things I was learning about different gods and the archangels. Patricia A. Jackson also includes Greek Mythology into this tale. 

There's so many different moving pieces but it still manages to be entertaining. She knows at what points to speed up the action to keep the momentum flowing. And getting to know the characters in a story is just as important as the action and I liked that Michael and Anaba were fully rounded characters. I never questioned their motivations or was left wondering why they had certain reactions. Michael isn't just adjusting to all these secrets he also is working through his feelings of abandonment by his father. Anaba's fate was chosen for her and it's a lot to reconcile with knowing what she's endured. The relationship between them was also one that took me by surprise and I didn't expect to like them together as much as I did. Queue the riding innuendos!

Fans of shows like Supernatural and Lucifer will enjoy this. People looking for more Black fantasy stories but set in a contemporary setting will also enjoy. 

First Love, Take Two by Sajni Patel

Welcome Back, Booklovers! December has been such a hectic month. Haven't been able to read as much as I wanted but what I've read this month has been pretty good for the most part. This was one I was gifted the audiobook from Forever and the cover looked pretty so I decided to give it a shot.

Preeti Patel is working long hours at the hospital completing her residency and try to find a full time job. And if that wasn't stressful enough, she also needs to deal with some issues with her family and finding an apartment. Her family is hoping for an engagement with a man from her community but her touch aversion means Preeti can barely stand to be around him let alone get close to him. Then there's still some old feelings for her ex boyfriend, Daniel. 

Daniel is handsome, well educated, comes from a wealthy family, and can cook. So basically the perfect man, right? Well not according to Preeti's family who finds him beneath her because he's Black and not one of the men from their community. 

Preeti's friend let's her move into her apartment while she's working out of town but in an attempt to have them reconnect also offers it to Daniel. It's a small apartment and there's only one bed so it doesn't take long for those old feelings to resurface.

I liked that the couple being of two different races was acknowledged and that both families had their hang ups about it. I expected Preeti's family to have a problem with her dating a Black man and it was nice to see her call out her community for racism and colorism. Daniel's father had an issue with him dating Preeti feeling she was beneath him and wanting him to date an upper class Black woman. I love romance where the family is heavily involved so I liked seeing them interact with different family members. Preeti is friends with Daniel's sister and has a good relationship with his grandparents that she kept in tact despite their split. 

Now I did have a bit of an issue with this book reinforcing the stereotype of the strict Indian aunties that are old and backwards because they practice Hinduism. Often when I read traditionally published romance by Indian authors it feels like everyone but the main heroine is ultra conservative and pushing toxic old ideals. Preeti's parent's actually didn't come across as very conservative so I was confused as to why they were trying to push her into a loveless arranged marriage and refused to stand up to the aunties and uncles slut shaming her. 

One of the issues this book also discussed was breaking the stigmas against mental health. Preeti has anxiety and an aversion to touch that doesn't stem from a traumatic childhood event and she has to navigate with that on a daily basis. 

Even though Preeti's horrible communication skills got on my nerves a bit this was still an enjoyable slow burn romance read. The great narration really helped me feel the chemistry between Preeti and Daniel. I really enjoyed the banter between them as they got comfortable around each other again. Once Preeti gets past her issues and they open up to each other again it's a beautiful thing. I look forward to checking out future books from this author.

Holiday Playbook by Yahrah St. John

Welcome Back, Booklovers! It's officially Christmas week and time to squeeze in the last of my holiday reads. This was one where the cover made me pre-order and since it's a Harlequin Desire I was ready for it to bring the heat.

Giana Lockett is a marketing executive and a member of the esteemed Lockett family who own the  football team the Atlanta Cougars. All she wants for Christmas is to land an endorsement deal with the head of Starks Inc, Wynn Starks. After months of trying to land a meeting he blows her off and she's not having that. She shows up at his gym wearing and outfit that demands attention and from there he can't get his mind off her. Their instant electricity translates to some fun in the bedroom and a secured endorsement deal for the top player. Though they're both wary of mixing business with pleasure they just can't resist each other.

Wynn was celibate for a few years because he had a nasty divorce. His ex-wife leaving him made him relive what he felt when his mother left him decades ago. And Giana is really hoping to find a man she can settle down with who isn't intimidated by her career ambition. 

It felt extra long because some of the angst was redundant I would've actually preferred for the holiday stuff to be expanded. They have a family pajama party for Christmas Eve with treats and movies which was quickly recapped. And while they celebrated Christmas with Giana's family we got a quick run through of the feast. I would've loved to read about the family dinner in real time. Instead those events were sandwiched in between detailed sex scenes. I appreciate the sex scenes because they were hot but I was enjoying the moments with the family. They were so protective of her throughout and she has such a great relationship with them that I wanted to see more of their lighter side.

I am all for Black writers using words like chocolate and mocha to describe Black skin because we just come in so many different shades of brown we need a variety of words to describe us. And it's easier to describe using shades people are familiar with vs some of these open to interpretation words you have to Google that don't always fit the mark. However it was overkill here. I'm glad Giana is a beautiful dark skinned woman but I got tired of her reading about her mocha features over and over. It could've been done one of two times and been enough.

There was a 3rd act breakup that involved Wynn acting like a man-child because he caught Giana at a meeting with a rival that she didn't even initiate herself. There was more angst with his dealings with his ex-wife than his rival we don't meet until the 2nd to last chapter so really this whole plot point could've been scrapped for me. As explained earlier in the text they really can't stop the players from seeking out opportunities with other sports drink companies. While companies will often ask for exclusivity it was weird that their business dealing didn't seem to be an overall corporate sponsorship and instead seemed to be exclusive to the top player. The details with that could've been ironed out a little better.

So while there were things I liked about this story it left me wanting many moments to be expanded upon and some parts read a little clunky for me. 

Best Books of 2021

 Welcome Back, Booklovers! 2021 was a wild year and as much as some books frustrated me I also came across some really great reads. So I separated my top reads of the year into multiple categories.

Favorite Picture Book of 2021

Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham

This was such a great picture book about a Black family coming together for their Sunday dinner tradition. And I usually don't listen to picture book audiobooks but I first listened to this before physically reading it and it was so descriptive that I could sit and imagine how it all looked. 

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2021

Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens

I'm exploring graphic novels again and they're really a great format if you want a full length story but in less pages and a visual format. This was a fun fantasy read for that 12-14 age group that gets overlooked by publishing now that everything is split into such stringent age categories. It's a new take on vampire vs werewolf lore and a Black fantasy that acknowledges race without centering around it and making it a driver in the story. This coming-of-age story follows a girl who discovers she comes from a long line of werewolves and must deal with her new abilities and the threat of vampires.

Best Middle Grade

Josephine Against the Sea

This was a fun story about a little girl living in a fishing village in Barbados. She's not ready for her father to start dating again after her mother's death and does whatever she can to stop him from getting close to any new women. But then this mysterious new woman comes along and her usual pranks keep getting thwarted. Josephine realizes that there's no way this woman can be human and she needs to get her out of their lives before it's too late. This book was magical and funny. There were some laugh out loud moments. Jos Even though it did touch on moving on after loosing a parent it didn't feel heavy.

Best Young Adult

Bad Witch Burning

Katrell has this special gift that allows her to communicate with the dead and she uses this gift to make extra money in between working long hours at a fast food joint to support herself and her deadbeat mother along with her mother's boyfriend of the moment. After an altercation with her mother's boyfriend results in the death of her beloved dog, Katrell gains a new ability to make beings rise from the dead. And this new ability is about to be her ticket to a better life. But things start getting out of hand and Katrell finds herself in over her head. with This book was really nothing like I imagined. It was a very emotional read that dealt with abuse from a parent and parental figure. I cried! 

Best Romance

Careless Whispers

I started the Jackson Fall series this year and fell in love but my favorite in this series would be Elaina's story. Elaina has a reputation for being a cold-hearted bitch but deep down she's really a loving person who has is vying for her father's approval. Grant Robidoux is like a Black Victor Newman and always meddling in his grown children's lives. He fires Elaina and to be spiteful gives her position to her workplace nemesis Alex. Elaina decides she's going to start her own company and she sets her sight on acquiring land owned by Alex's family. And to secure the deal she's going to have to play nice. Who would've thought they'd have so much chemistry together? You get that soap opera drama with the family mixed with some really steamy scenes.

Best Fantasy

Son of the Storm

Danso is a historian who has grown up as an outsider among his own people because of his mixed ethnicity. His intended, Esheme faces similar issues of being looked down upon because of her caste and lack of present father. Both find their lives upheaved, when a woman from one of the lowest castes, the yellowskins of the Nameless Islands, appears in their city. She is looking for a magical family heirloom which Esheme's mother Nem has taken. They were always told yellowskins don't exist. Now one is running around Bassa displaying great power.

My mind just kept coming back to this one this year. And I actually read it twice in the same year! I first read it physically and then listened to the audiobook. And both formats are great! 

Best Thriller

All Her Little Secrets

Ellice Littlejohn is a corporate attorney working in Atlanta. She's got a good job, great friends and she's currently having a steamy affair with her married boss. One morning she heads to his office ready for a quick hook up and instead discovers him with a gunshot wound to the head. She decides to leave the scene without reporting it but her hopes to not be involved don't go as planned. His widow is well aware they were sleeping together and wants Ellice to find out what happened to her husband. Ellice gets promoted at work to make the company look more diverse but she's finding out just how much of an old white boys club it is there. Soon things are spirally out of control and she finds herself being framed for murder. 

Thrillers are hot right now and there are multiple thrillers being released by Black authors that deal with racism. But for me most of them haven't been done that well. This was one that took me by surprise because stuff was actually happening. 

Best Nonfiction

Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did but Nichole Perkin's had a pop culture moment for every occasion and she's lived some life! She talks about her childhood growing up in the South dissecting stigmas placed on young Black girls to her adult days in NYC where she gets very candid about her sex life. It was interesting to read about how she related to certain tv shows, her experience with hbcus, why she left the church, etc. I felt this collection of essays explored so many different topics.

Best Historical Fiction

Libertie

Libertie was a story written in a very lyrical style about a young girl growing up during the Reconstruction era with a mother who is a prominent doctor. She and her mother have a complicated relationship as her mother wants her to follow in her footsteps and Libertie challenges her mother when she starts to work more and more with the white people who disrespect them. Libertie comes of age and falls in love with a Haitian man named Emmanuel who is promising her the world back in Haiti  I've been really enjoying more historical fiction lately and it's been inspiring me to deep dive into the stories we don't normally hear when we talk about Black history. And it also let me know we can talk about racism and history without getting overly graphic but still remaining true to the time period.

 

Best Audiobook

What the Hex

Catalina Cartagena returns to Isla Bruja for her sister's wedding but notices that the wedding party seems to be under a demon's spell. Well everyone except her childhood rival Diego who she must team up with to destroy the demon. I listened to so many great audiobooks this year but this witchy romance novella was by far the best. The narration hit all the right notes managing both the more sensual moments and corny jokes. It really brought the story to life.

Bayou Christmas Disappearance by Denise N. Wheatly

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I continued my holiday reading with yet another Harlequin new release. This time I decided to pick up an Intrigue. 

Mona Avery is an investigative reporter who has returned to her college town to cover the disappearance of a close friend. Detective Dillion Reed is assigned to the case but he's not happy to be working with her. He doesn't want his case to turn into media fodder for true crime lovers. Mona's attempts to leverage her connection to Olivia's family don't go as planned since the family outside of the mother don't want to cooperate. 

Different than my other romantic suspense reads this year, Bayou Christmas Disappearance leans heavily into the suspense aspect. And this made for some heart-racing scenes. And then Mona's background as an investigative journalist was used well. She did this sit down interviews that were shocking and had me distressed. I don't listen to true crime podcasts but I could easily see this book appealing to those who do as they try to figure out who kidnapped Olivia. 

And for my friends who aren't romance readers but want to start this is a good one too because the romance elements aren't that heavy. There's longing looks and thoughts throughout but the romance slow burns through the end.

This was also set during Christmastime and it had more mentions of the holiday season than other Intrigue titles I've read. I really liked the scenes early on in the local restaurant and at the inn. Those elements felt very cozy and they were a great way to see Mona and Dillion bond. 

Over all I thought this was great suspense that hit the right beats and I recommend it if you're looking for something quick and thrilling. My people expecting a strong romance will be a disappointed because the romance is definitely on the lighter side.

Interview with Katrina Jackson

Welcome Back, Booklovers! We are inching closer and closer to my favorite holiday and the end of the year. I've been lucky enough to interview so many incredible authors this year and I'm happy to introduce those of you who don't already know to Katrina Jackson, an erotica/erotic romance author who has made a name for herself in the world of indie romance.

What inspired you to start writing? And what made you decide to self-publish?

I’ve been a writer since I was a child and I write as part of my job as an historian. Writing is about the only consistent part of my personality.  

I don’t remember my exact decision to self-publish, but I remember first and foremost thinking that it made sense for my life. I have a full-time job and over the past few years I’ve mostly built a schedule that allows me to write and publish when I have time. I also like that there’s always some new facet of self-publishing to learn and make work for my schedule.

What advice would you give some interested in publishing but not sure what direction they want to take?

I always hesitate to give advice because I’m very aware that everyone’s path is different. I would say though that exploring both self-publishing, traditional publishing, and also publishers is the best way to think about the kind of career you might have. And I don’t mean the books. Understandably, most people focus on the books to make sure they’re writing to market or on the right path. But deciding between self-publishing and traditional publishing is about more than the book. It’s probably less about the book than people want to accept.

Do you ever feel pressure to write certain types of stories for money? 

Not really and that, for me, is the benefit of being self-published. I write exactly the book I want to write. If I want a book to make money, thinking about marketing comes later, but I don’t let that change the kind of stories I write. I cannot write to the market and I’m okay with that. This is also why I have a full-time job. Nothing I write has to pay my mortgage. 

How do you balance working as a college professor and being a writer? 

Even though I said I’ve spent years figuring out how to make time for writing with my job, the reality is that this is a struggle every semester. Some semesters are light and I have lots of time to write, but sometimes my job eats up every minute of free time. This semester has been jampacked. 

But when it works, it’s about a schedule. I try and protect my time for both jobs. I like to write in the mornings so I wake up early and give myself a couple of hours before I have to get ready to go to campus or open my work email. I also try not to let my job bleed into my weekends, so if I want to write then, I do.

As someone who is very vocal about the overwhelming whiteness in historical romance, do you have any stories published in the genre or any in the works?

I do. I love stories where the past and present blend and The Tenant and Back in the Day do both. In The Tenant I tell the story of a young man who inherits a Louisiana house haunted by the ghost of a 1930s sex worker who has a long history with his family. And in Back in the Day, I view a family at two moments in time, in 2010, when aging music journalist Alonzo is moving out of his house with his son’s help, and in 1967 when Alonzo met his future wife, Ada, at the Monterey Pop Festival. I have other stories coming, but I’m invested in telling stories that think about Black history in ways we don’t see enough of in the romance genre. 

If you could go anywhere in the world for a writing retreat where would you go and who would be there?

At this point, almost two years into a pandemic, I would literally go anywhere! But I’m hoping to go to Spain next year for a vacation and writing retreat. I would want any of my author friends to come, but technically I did invite Tasha L. Harrison, Lucy Eden, Zaida Polanco, and Jack Harbon. We’ll see if they show up!

What are your favorite types of romance?

I like romances that make me feel some combination of seen and challenged. I also love romances that imagine the world could be better than it is. I don’t read romance to be slapped in the face with more sexism and racism and I’m not personally invested in the thin veneer of watching characters overcome that (assuming they do). I want hope and friendship and that moment when you feel like the people in the relationship have all decided to protect their happiness together.

What’s your favorite part of the holiday season?

Sleep.

What would your power be if you could have any type of magical ability?

Again, almost two years into a pandemic, I wish I could teleport. I want to travel without having to get on a plane!

Can you reveal anything about your next project?

Not really. This year has been beating me and my deadlines up. As soon as I think I’m on the right path and can talk about what I’m working on, I hit a brick wall. So I’m not working on anything. No thoughts, just tweets and writerly vibes. 

Follow Katrina Jackson at @katrinajax on Twitter.

Christmas in Rose Bend by Naima Simone

Welcome Back, Booklovers! It's officially my favorite time of year! And it's been hella busy lately! But I'm still reading. And right now I'm in the Christmas mood. So I love a small town romance and this series looked cute so I decided to give it a try. I don't remember reading the synopsis before I decided to read and didn't realize it goes so in depth explaining things I initially thought were secrets being revealed. 

Nessa is now guardian to her half-sister Ivy after the young girl's parents have died. She's also still struggling to come to terms with the fact that the man she thought was her father wasn't actually her father. A trip to the town of Rose Bend prompted by the man she once thought of as dad has her searching for answers to her questions and hoping she and Ivy can mend the rift between them.

Rose Bend is the perfect cozy small town to visit if you love the holidays. Every day is a different Christmas related event for tourists. Ivy and Nessa aren't exactly used to all this holiday cheer. While staying at a B&B in town, Nessa meets Wolf, the son of the innkeeper who is instantly drawn to her and feels like it's his responsibility to help her heal.

So I was under the impression that this book would be a cute small town romance. And it does have some romance but the romance started getting lost for me in the plot about this family coming together that just required a lot more depth and would've best been played out over the course of a few months vs a couple of weeks. Nessa is also searching for her biological father and has feelings of abandonment she's working through from the man she thought was her dad.

Nessa and Wolf had great chemistry but the budding relationship between them was also bogged down but unnecessary drama with his ex-girlfriend and the overly perfect way he and his family were written. There just wasn't enough development on his end and he never had to learn to compromise in a relationship which is one of my pet peeves about Christmas stories. I don't like when the woman has to uproot her whole life for the small town man. Also it compares Wolf's family to the one in This is Us and seems to be trying to be that type of drama. He has a huge family that includes siblings that vary in ages some of whom are transracial adoptees. 

Basically it's a slow burn romance with heavily sexual tension that also tries to be a hard hitting family drama and doesn't quite find the balance to make it flow easily. This book actually gave me a little whiplash because I was enjoying the steamy sex between them one minute the next minute she was connecting with her biological father in a rushed Christmas reunion.