Can I Mix You a Drink. T-PAIN, Maxwell Britten. 2021. Kingston Imperial. 144 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.] Every time I pick up this book, I hear a familiar refrain in my head after reading the title, “… and theeen, I’ma take you home with meee.” (“Buy You a Drank“) I expected nothing less than clever quips and ridiculous stories from T-Pain. It goes without saying that he’s a talented musician, but I’ve always enjoyed his presence which comes across as him just being a really funny, relatable guy who’s here for a good time and wants to pull you in on the fun. The kind person you can’t be around for long before he says something to make you actually laugh out loud. Thus was my experience with Can I Mix You a Drink. From the introduction, in which he shares his own introduction to alcohol with a humorous, yet concerning anecdote, it’s clear this book will take you on a ride that’ll have you laughing all the way to your home bar set-up. Can I Mix You a Drink highlights 50 cocktails inspired by songs from T-Pain’s catalog….

Memorial Drive. Natasha Tretheway. 2020. Bloomsbury Publishing. 229 pages. [Source: public library.] Mother-daughter relationships are so often fraught. Mothers are often entrusted with raising healthy, whole adults and it seems daughters will find themselves raging against the strain of expectation and vicarious dreams. If they’re lucky, time will give them opportunity to reconcile the tension and benefit from an understanding of each other that comes with age. Unfortunately, that’s not the story of Memorial Drive, Natasha Trethewey’s memoir. Instead, Memorial Drive starts off with the hard truth that Natasha and her mother Gwendolyn did not have the benefit of time bringing them closer with a renewed relationship. It starts where it ends, with Gwendolyn’s murder at the hands of her ex-husband when Natasha was a 19-year-old freshman in college. The rest of the book follows as Trethewey, more than 30 years on, reflects on her childhood and adolescence, framed largely around the relationship between her and her mother. She recounts her earliest years with her black American mother and white Canadian father in the relative cocoon of familiarity in Mississippi. Later, when her parents separate, she ends up in Georgia, where the majority of her trauma unfolds during a period…

Continuum. Danielle Allen. 2021. The Art of Being. 176 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] There’s nothing quite like a youthful, unrequited infatuation. Aisha spent a year tutoring Kwame in college stats, only to graduate without having the opportunity to express her true feelings for him. A chance encounter nearly two decades later, however, gives her a chance to finally act on desires she’d long put behind her. Continuum takes place over only a few days, but it packs a lot in. While Aisha and Kwame reacquaint themselves, they explore how life has impacted them along the way. Everything from career growth, death of loved ones, and failed relationships plays a part in who they’ve grown to be, and it’s compelling to see the two of them navigate trading in the old Aisha and Kwame for who they’ve matured into. No romance would be complete without drama, and Continuum has plenty. Aisha’s an attractive woman on the dating scene, and Kwame’s a catch in his own right. Others don’t necessarily see the two as a match and don’t shy away from making their opinions and intentions known. Things are further complicated by the reality that Aisha and Kwame live halfway across the…

Her Pleasure. Niobia Bryant. 2021. Dafina. 288 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] In the past I’ve been of the opinion that there’s never too much of well crafted characters, the more of their journey, the better. Book 6 of the mistress series tested this theory. I loved reading about the next phase of Jamie and Graham’s story when I approached the characters as though they were new. However, the continuous references to the past frustrated me because most I simply couldn’t remember this many books later. I was excited that Jessa Bell didn’t have a role in this storyline, and I’m intrigued if Bryant will continue with exploring the minor characters independently. She definitely set this up to be possible with this ending. Overall, her books usually read like a movie in my head, but this one didn’t meet that expectation in some areas. It’d be too wordy or descriptive and I simply failed to conjure the image I believe she wanted. 4 stars but definitely my least favorite in the series to date.

The Unbroken Rose. Christina C. Jones. 2020. Warm Hues Creative. 166 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I’ve been waiting for Dacia’s story. She was introduced in Deuce’s Wild, and the sliver of her experience detailed in that book was shocking and sickening. The Unbroken Rose catches up with her while in the process of adjusting to life outside The Garden. She’s building her relationship with her sister Alicia, and figuring out what will come next for her. What she doesn’t expect is to run into the person she was closest to while she was inside The Garden, who also happens to be someone she might not want to get away from. Dacia is a somewhat complicated character. She’s sometimes perceived as sheltered by her familial connections but also broken by her experiences. While she is certainly healing from trauma, she’s also tougher and more in control than she gets credit for. To that end, some of the relationships she wants to foster are complicated by her need to gain independence and really define life on terms she can be at peace with. The introduction of Isaiah as a former Thorn and acquaintance of Dacia’s provides both sexual tension and conflict with…