Church Girl. Naima Simone. 2024. Afterglow Books. 264 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] Admittedly, the cover of Church Girl drew me in, and the story held my interest. Aaliyah is a runaway bride who left her small Alabama hometown to get out from under the thumb of her bishop father. She convinces her cousin to take her back to Chicago, where she’s planning to reinvent herself without the overbearing pressure she’s always subject to. Von, however, is basically Aaliyah’s polar opposite. He’s a well-known tattoo artist with a booming business, but is in the midst of a contentious divorce battle with the mother of his young daughter. Their paths cross when Aaliyah interviews to be nanny to Von’s daughter, and they’re at odds almost from the start. Unsurprisingly, Aaliyah grew up very sheltered and has toed the line of expectation her entire life. She’s never been independent and Von immediately picks on her naivete and inexperience. She doesn’t exactly inspire confidence as a nanny, but when Von is forced to give her a chance, they’re both struggling with the antagonistic interactions. They very much fit into the grumpy/sunshine trope, and give…

Stuck Wit’ Chu. Olivia Shaw-Reel. 2020. 149 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Stuck Wit’ Chu is essentially a story about a broken marriage and a couple at a crossroads. Keith and Marlow have been married over a decade, are parents to three young children, and have somehow lost their way. They’re navigating the Covid-19 pandemic while facing their own crisis at home, and the book follows their attempt to figure otu whether to salvage their life together or if a divorce is the only path forward. The premise of the story is realistic enough. After so many years of marriage, it’s easy to understand how a couple gets into a routine; the excitement of newlywed life morphs after parenthood and other new responsibilities. Marlow has to reckon with her role as wife and mother taking precedent over her career in dancing, which presents a central conflict. Their existing problems are compounded by poor communication, distrust, and a lack of transparency — throughout the book, these three issues in particular are the root of multiple blowups. In all honesty, I didn’t connect with either main character much. This could be due in part to how short the book is overall — it…

Twenty-four Seconds from Now … Jason Reynolds. 2024. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. 253 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher courtesy of Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.] How many times do Black boys get to be the center of a love story? I don’t mean a coming of age novel with hints of dating among the minutiae of teen life. I mean a story that is completely focused on the evolution of a romantic relationship and its growth over time into new depths and discoveries. With Twenty-four Seconds from Now, Jason Reynolds has created an ode to the complexities of love with all its myriad questions, feelings, and fears, and centers a character that is too often ignored when considering how teens understand and engage around romantic relationships. What immediately stood out to me about this book is that it’s a love story told in reverse. It actually starts with the main character, seventeen year old Neon, psyching himself up for his first time with his girlfriend Aria. From wondering why nobody warned him about the sensory overload he’d experience to questioning if he lotioned his legs, Neon allows the reader an glimpse into the inner world of a…

The Replacements. Shae Sanders. 2022. 223 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] When Savannah finds out, quite unceremoniously, that her husband of more than a decade is cheating on her, she knows exactly how to respond. She immediately goes into planning mode so she can get a divorce and move on to a replacement.  Using the connections she’s honed as a CEO’s wife, she lands herself as assistant to another CEO, the ever-brusque and grumpy Taurus. While the life she imagined crumbles around her, she tries to stay in Taurus’ good graces, or at least enough to stay employed. There’s plenty of tension between the two, though it’s not immediately sexual or romantic. Taurus is a hard man to please and expects nothing short of perfection from everyone in his life. He has a rigid approach to life, whether that’s in his relationship with his siblings, ex-wife, and daughter or how he approaches business opportunities.  When people fall short, he’s not one to give grace or see the other perspective so readily. While Savannah can rise to the occasion, she also pushes back against him in ways he’s not accustomed to. She’s a great foil to his uptight ways, and I loved…

Candidly Yours. Reese Ryan. 2020. Sinfully Sweet Publishing.174 pages. [Source: Personal Copy.] Layla St. John is the quintessential example of a woman who lives for others. She gave up her college experience to return home and care for her younger siblings when their father fell into grief after their mother’s untimely death.  The following 20 years have followed the same sacrificial pattern, with Layla frequently rescuing her younger three siblings. Unfortunately, it’s left both her career and love life on hold. Layla’s life is thrown into a tailspin when Quincy Johnston finally comes back to Pleasure Cove. While he’s the younger, prodigal son of his family, he also has the distinction of being the childhood best friend of Layla’s younger brother Nolan. She’s literally seen him grow up and struggles seeing as a grown-ass man to whom she’s attracted. And not only is he no longer the stuttering, insecure boy; he’s a world-renown photographer who is lusted after by countless women, a point she knows he indulges in. Despite their history, what brings them together is her talent as a seamstress with a focus on carnival costumes. This provides the perfect intersection of their artistry, and leads to a documentary…