Church Girl by Naima Simone

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Harlequin debuted their new line Afterglow this year promising fresh new stories to appeal to a Booktok audience and I'll admit I was sad about the Desire line being shuttered and also unsure about the vibe of the new line. I appreciated the diverse array of authors and stories but was having a mixed experience with some of the previous selections. Church Girl caught my attention with it's premise that sounded different than my recent reads and it being from an author I was already familiar with gave me more incentive to try it. 

Aaliyah Montgomery was supposed to marry the ideal man and become First Lady of  the church but decides instead to flee on her wedding day and convince her cousin Tamara to take her back to Chicago with her. Her plan is to go to school for an art degree but she needs a job so she can start holding her own in the meantime. Von Howard is pretty rude to her on their first encounter deciding with one look at her that's she's unfit for the job. However he's desperate for a nanny for his daughter, Gia so the woman he's dubbed a "real life Disney princess" will have to do.

There's plenty of drama to keep the story going between Von's battle against his ex-wife for ownership of his tattoo shop and primary custody of his daughter. Aaliyah is experiencing her first real taste of freedom and navigating coming into her own outside of her parent's gaze. Von is a very talk straight type of man who says what he means and doesn't sugar coat anything. And it was refreshing specifically to have a Black male love interest who isn't prim and proper. He feels like a real tattoo artist from Chicago in how he talks and moves. We get good insight to his relationships with his employees at the shop as well as his passion for his craft. He supported Aaliyah and encouraged her to speak up and be confident in herself but his approach is a little different.

Aaliyah starts out as more of a meek character used to playing the role and putting the Lord above all. It was funny watching her hold her own in situations when it came to Gia's well being. And she's not only finding her voice but embracing her likes. She comes into her own sexually and the steamy scenes did not disappoint. Despite growing up in different households and going off on different paths, she's able to connect with her cousin who is a big support for her during this new transitionary period in her life. 

If you're familiar with Naima Simone from her other Harlequin books, this one has a different vibe at least from the ones I read but the things you love about her writing are still there. And I'm looking forward to the next book in the series following cousin Tamara. 

Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison -- and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton, Antoine Patton , and Kiara Valdez

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been happy to see the surge in graphic novels the past few years because they're such a great way to tell stories that just wouldn't flow the same way in prose. They're also a great way to make stories more accessible. Nonfiction isn't always the easiest genre to take in so I'm all for anything that makes those stories more accessible. I wasn't really sure what to expect with Dear Dad but in the end it surprised me. 

Jay'aina "Jay Jay" Patton lives with her mom and brother in Buffalo, New York. Her father, Antoine has been incarcerated for a few years and they've gotten into a routine of phone calls and letters to keep in touch.  But phones calls can be expensive and not always possible and it's not always easy to receive letters. Antoine participates in a special program while in prison and learns how to code. Upon release he gets a software engineering job and the family has has to uproot their life in Buffalo to move to Florida. Antoine teaches his daughter how to code and they bond over that while developing an app called Photo Patch that makes it easier for families to share photos and letters to their incarcerated loved ones.

There aren't a lot of books out there that feature children with parents who are incarcerated and if there are it's focused on the negatives only. Books like this help destigmatize that which is especially important when we consider some of the crimes people are sitting in prison for and how they don't all hold the same weight. Kids should feel ashamed for being in that situation that's completely out of their control. And on the flip side this book can show children unfamiliar with that situation what another type of family looks like.

There's also not enough books out there that showcase good relationships between Black fathers and their daughters. Despite their situation Jay Jay and her father were able to have a relationship and though there was a lot of change to adjust to when he was released they took it in stride and found something to bond over. This book doesn't focus on the trauma surrounding the experience but instead how this family was able to flip a negative into a positive and will hopefully inspire. 

Nonfiction can often be harder to access for children once it moves in to prose for. So I appreciated this is in a format they can connect with easier and it's short and straight to the point. It can be read in one afternoon.