The Outside Child. Tiffany L. Warren. 2018. Dafina Books. 306 pages. [ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] The Outside Child follows the courtship and marriage of make-up artist Chenille and NFL star Brayden Carpenter. Chenille is “once bitten, twice shy” when it comes to dating, but Brayden is convinced nearly from the start that he’s destined to spend his life with her. Their relationships has normal ups and downs, but is rocked by trauma that would rattle the foundation of any relationship. I can say that I enjoyed The Outside Child as a book; it was filled with drama, usually as a result of their inability to find a compromise that allowed Brayden to pursue his career in a way that allowed Chenille the stability to do the same. But the title was a misnomer, if only because of how the plot actually played out. The driving tension that’s presented does not come into play until a point where most books would be leading to a resolution, not introducing a key conflict. As a result, the ending felt rushed and unrealistic given how things took place throughout the rest of the book. What I do commend is Warren’s ability to write…

Motherhood So White. Nefertiti Austin. 2019. Sourcebooks. 300 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Motherhood So White is a memoir that I picked up because I wanted to see a Black woman’s experience in parenting centered. Often, conversations about parenthood are colorblind, and use whiteness as a default when parenting Black children is far more nuanced. What I read was a robust memoir that examines numerous aspects of Black parents raising Black children specifically. As expected, Motherhood So White is deeply personal. Austin provides a great deal of detail about her own upbringing, including her complicated relationship with her biological parents and how that led to her being reared by her extended family.  Her reflections on the desire to become a parent, and eventual path toward adoption, provide further opportunities to highlight parenthood from several lenses. She considers economic barriers and their impact on the nuclear family. She examines implicit biases and how they impact children’s experiences in the educational and social services systems.  She also spends a great deal of time sharing her eventual experiences as a single mother to a Black son and navigating everything from her own family’s acceptance, trips to the barber shop, parent-teacher conferences, reuniting her son with…

Yellow Wife. Sadeqa Johnson. 2021. Simon & Schuster. 287 pages. [Source: Public Library.] Yellow Wife is nothing short of captivating, with its look into the life of Pheby Delores Brown, a young enslaved girl on the cusp of womanhood who has been told her entire life that she’d see more than the plantation. Instead of the freedom she’d been promised, she finds herself heartbroken, sold to one of the most infamous slave jails in Virginia, and then unwilling subject of the owner’s desire. As with any book with an antebellum setting, slavery is a central part of this story. The plot, however, steps beyond that by highlighting how the institution of slavery manifests in nearly every facet of life. The rape that a slave endured at the hands of her enslaver. The duality of Pheby’s father’s special treatment of her while she remained his property and under the thumb of his abusive wife. The colorism that granted Pheby access to affluence and an element of relative physical and economic safety. Despite Pheby being the central character, Johnson does a solid job of using peripheral characters to highlight these issues. I expected Pheby to be more of a “tragic mulatto” character….

God-Level Knowledge Darts. Desus Nice & The Kid Mero. 2020. Random House. 210 pages. [Source: Personal copy & public library.] Anyone who is remotely familiar with the unique brand of comedy offered up by Desus and Mero won’t be shocked or disappointed by the knowledge darts they drop in their literary debut. The same irreverence they deliver on their podcast and late night show is presented in God-Level Knowledge Darts, complete with the back and forth that is their signature. The topics on which they offer advice range from parenthood, relationships, recreational drug use, personal finances, and even toxic masculinity. While some of the advice teeters on the edge of legality and good sense, they do drop some insightful and useful lessons that are rooted in experience (they did that so hopefully you won’t have to go through that). If you need to spice up a boring relationship, they’ve got you. Not sure if the the possibility of NFL stardom outweighs the risk of CTE? It’s in here. Trying to figure out how to how to finesse when the rent is late? That’s here, too. And if you find yourself unable to avoid the bookings, beloved? They have some best…

At Dusk. AshleyNicole. 2020. 209 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] In her latest release, AshleyNicole features Harlan, a seasoned FBI investigator whose career was sparked by a personal tragedy when he was a teen. Now, he finds himself reliving the tragedy when the case is reopened with him as a key investigator. In the process of hunting down a serial killer, he meets Torrah, a woman whose family has also been impacted. The two have a rocky introduction; that they’d turn into romantic interests was definitely not a foregone conclusion, which makes their connection more interesting to follow. If there are two genres I read voraciously, they’re definitely romance and mystery/suspense. I’m at a point where I can usually suss out the culprit before it’s revealed in the story. While that was the case here, it wasn’t obvious. I enjoyed the author’s approach, which made the investigation feel much like a puzzle being put together. There were several pivots that were unexpected and an eventual revelation that was satisfying. This is absolutely a story that you have to pay attention to — the devil is in the details, literally. AshleyNicole has been on a release spree recently. Many of the previous…