The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Welcome Back, Booklovers! The Romantic Agenda is a romance I received awhile back from Berkley. It's an romance with an ace main character which itself is pretty rare for traditional publishing and it got a lot of attention when it first released. 

Joy is in love with her best friend Malcolm. They've been friends for ten years and work together. She's been there by his side through every heartbreak and is waiting for the day Malcolm declares his love for her. When he invites her on a vacation she thinks he will finally do that until he introduces her to his latest girlfriend, Summer. Joy has a history of getting between him and his girlfriends who feel like she undermines their relationships. Summer in turn has invited her friend and former boyfriend Fox. During the weekend getaway Summer and Fox learn more about asexuality and observe the relationship between Joy and Malcolm. While Joy and Malcolm finally have the hard conversations they've been avoiding about their feelings for each other. 

The Romantic Agenda tries to craft a triangle or more a quad of sorts. While Claire Kann does a great job explaining the nuance and misconceptions surrounding asexuality the romance here falls short. So much of the book is dedicated to Joy and Malcolm communicating their feelings towards each other. That relationship juxtaposed against her new forming one with Fox just made the romance fall flat. It's hard to believe she's built a connection with someone new over the course of a few days. Especially since she keeps mentioning it takes her a long time to build up trust. Summer is a very bubbly almost childlike woman who really feels like the third wheel in a relationship between two people with communication issues and a codependent relationship. One of their favorite things to do is retell the story of how they met which gets repetitive. The book tries to tell two different stories and there's only room for one to thrive. She tried to do something different here while incorporating beloved tropes and though messy and entertaining at points when it comes to the romance it didn't quite hit the mark. 

Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been talking about reading Blood Slaves for months now. I often see people online say we have enough slave stories or don't recommend me any stories with slavery in them or back in the day the only Black books were slavery stories. But if we pause for a moment how many book titles can be name that we read that have been about slavery? I've spoken about it before but I too used to be one of those people who would see a mention of slavery and run in the opposite direction. Until I finally sat down and read some historical fiction and dealt with why. Blood Slaves takes that slave narrative and interjects some fantasy and horror answering the question, "What would the slaves do if they had the power to free themselves?" I received a copy for review from Kensington Books Publishing.

In 1710 Carolina the enslaved people are suffering on the Barrow plantation. Every day is like hell on earth with no end in sight. Though they try to steal moments of joy here and there, there's always someone waiting to snuff it out. After a failed escape, and brutal assaults on both him and his love Gertie, he finally reaches his breaking point. This is when he meets Rafazi, a survivor of the Ramanga tribe, an African vampire tribe. He convinces Willie to take back his power and together they build an army to rise against the plantation owner and his overseers.

Blood Slaves does not shy away from the true horrors of slavery which does make this a heavier read. The novel opens to every day life in slave village. There's gruesome violence against men, women, and children. The cinematic writing style helps paint a vivid image of the life of these people. While Willie is the main character readers also get outside povs from a variety of characters and seeing the male perspective contrasted against more than one woman's perspective allows for some interesting discussions. 

This book explores who gets to decide what is good and bad and how we make those decisions. Gertie for much of the book is against the idea of vampirism and taking revenge into their own hands believing it will make them the same as the monsters they're rising up against. She clings to the few happy moments she and Willie have had together having hope that one day their suffering will be over. While Irene is a mixed-race house slave that doesn't quite fit in anywhere, having the blood that makes her closer to the white people may elevate her over those in the field but there's horrors working in the house she must deal with. And when she and a few of the other women take vengeance into their own hands it is satisfying. 

Even-paced with a cinematic like writing style Blood Slaves will keep readers wanting more. The same way Sinners was more than a movie about vampires this is more than a book about vampires.

Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams

Welcome Back, Booklovers! So Jan of 2024 I read Blood at the Root ahead of it's release. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 promising a Black magic school. You can check out my review here. I received an arc from Random House which is how I started out reading the book and I ended up switching to the audiobook around the halfway mark so I could read on commute.

It's fall semester and Malik is doing his best to experience normal college life while still looking over his shoulder waiting for his mother or the Bokers to strike. Malik and his friends are instructed to keep the true events of the summer a secret. Malik is fast becoming friends with a girl named Dominique and together they are invited to join The Divine Elam, a secret society that Malik's mother was apart of before she went full on evil. 

William's expands on the world here introducing more information about some of the societies present at Caiman and delving further into the backstory of Malik's mother. There's more details about the magic and even an introduction to a well-known figure from African-American lore.

The sentiment of letting Black boys be children was strongly echoed in this book, being brought up in the narrative multiple times. Malik is reckoning with grief while struggling to connect with new families and feelings of abandonment. During a time when there's a push for YA characters to be seemingly perfect it's refreshing to see a messy one who still has some learning to do.

There are some uncomfortable conversations being had about how the Black community treats queer people. Further diving into the conversation it addresses what images of queer identity are most acceptable. The Homecoming celebration allows readers to get to know the side characters more and makes them feel more fully realized.

Evenly paced and action packed this is a fitting follow up to Blood at the Root building upon the foundation that was laid. 

As far as the audiobook experience Jalen Hall brings it again and the audiobook features different sound effects at certain points with aid in bringing the text to life. 

The Love Dare by Abiola Bello

Welcome Back, Booklovers! At this point I've read a few Abiola Bello books and The Love Dare was the one that intrigued me most with a mention of Notting Hill Carnival in the synopsis. And I'll say Ms. Bello has surprised me by improving every book so keep reading for my review of what I think is her best romance yet. 

Eva has been playing the flirtation game with Jayden for awhile now but he still hasn't made any real moves. During Notting Hill Carnival her friends get her to dance with a random guy and she meets Saint, a cute quiet comic book junkie. Later after a party ends with her father's car getting wrecked, her friend dares her to get Saint to fall in love with her and she'll give her the money for the car. 

This one had the right balance of teen drama sprinkled in with the budding romance. It was evenly paced, the teens felt like real people rather than tropes to fit the story.  Eva is quite confident and an extrovert which was refreshing in a sea of quiet bookish girl main characters. Then you have Saint who is a gamer and an avid comic reader. He's very laid back and comfortable in his own skin. Saint and Eva have great chemistry and there's a callback that Love in Winter Wonderland readers will enjoy. There's a distinct cast of characters from Eva's friends from school to her older brother to her Gran. 

The romance slowly developed outside of the initial Carnival premise and there was a good representation of Black British culture on display without over explaining to the audience. With Love in Winter Wonderland it felt like the Bello was trying too hard to appeal to the US YA market and not enough of the uniqueness of Black British teen life was on display which was something she remedied in Only for the Holidays. In The Love Dare it finally felt like she found the right voice and style in this easy flowing romance. I listened to the audiobook which had a narrator who captured the vibes perfectly. 

My Thoughts About Book Events

Since this has been a hot button discussion on social media this year with book events not delivering what they promised, newer events popping up, our worsening economy I've had a lot of discussions with author friends and reader friends alike.

I saw a discussion on Threads recently that I felt was misconstrued asking if some of these book festivals are just a money grab or if people are actually trying to curate experiences outside of author signings and panels. When it comes to my favorite authors I watch/listen to/read many of their interviews. And often they get asked the same questions over and over again. There's only so many times you can make the same answer sound fresh. And to my authors of color the questions they are asked usually center around diversity. So what are the people planning these events doing to constantly bring fresh discussions and perspectives to these spaces? Are the activities apart of the festival in any way connected to the books or are they just the activities that everyone else is doing at their festival?

Let's talk about the COSTS. It's important to note there's a difference between the free to attend book festivals that are filled with many locals vs the larger ticketed events. These book events are not cheap. If you don't live in a major city near an airport those costs increase even more. And these tickets are usually sold a year in advance and often sell out quickly. So attendees have to decide is this book festival that they want to attend giving them the most for their money. Are their enough activities that create a unique experience to justify day passes costs, transportation costs, food and drink costs, and miscellaneous purchases? Because those costs can easily run someone upwards of thousands of dollars.

As someone who prefers more personal experience, if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a book event I would rather spend it on a more intimate reading retreat where I have the chance to connect with other readers or writers. And it doesn't necessarily have to be people with people who read exactly like me either. I went on a reading retreat with people who came from different countries and backgrounds and sometimes we still send messages to each other to this day. Some of us have even been able to meet with each other after the retreat. 

I've spoken with authors who have said much of the traveling they've done to promote their book has been paid for themselves. Even those with a big publisher behind them have to opt out of events when they're publisher isn't willing to cover the costs. Which is why sometimes you'll only see your faves come to the bigger cities and more popular events.

Some festivals stagger releasing the names of the authors attending and what types of panels are being offered which also makes it hard to decide whether to buy tickets or not when the tickets for some events are in high demand and sell out immediately. 

Is the main focus of the festivals just panels and book signings? What should repeat attendees look forward to? What is it about this festival that separates it from the main others that also feature similar lineups? Is there any type of local presence/involvement? How are the festival planners including local authors and vendors in the mix? 

As we continue to see mass layoffs and a struggling job market it will be interesting to see if some of the events last. Especially with creators saying these events haven't generated a profit for them yet to balance off the spending. As someone who used to work in events I'd love to see people rewarded for their labor. If a ticketed event is not generating profit it's not going to be a long running event because eventually the costs to put on the event will be too much.

Ultimately it's up to the individual person to decide person to decide which events are worth their wild. A pro-tip I've been given is to find events close by and attend those first. Or to find events held in places you're interested in visiting and exploring. That way if the event sucks at least you have backup plans.