Trust Issues. Danielle James. 2019. 266 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I’m in a lot of reading communities online, and Danielle James’ Trust Issues came up so much that I had to check it out. I’m happy to say that it lived up to the hype, and threw me for a few loops in the process. Trust Issues follows the love-hate friendship of Kyla Bradshaw and Maxwell Parker. He’s a financial whiz, and she’s a powerhouse attorney. They’re neighbors who love to fight just as much as they love to enjoy a night of movies and 90s TV show marathons. I have to be honest that as it became apparent that this book is inspired by a ’90s black sitcom, I started to get turned off. I’m not generally into fanfics, and I was worried that’s what Trust Issues would turn into. I kept on, and I’m glad I did. Although the book is inspired by a show, it stands on its own merit. The characters, while inspired by the show’s characters, have enough nuance to show that the inspiration is simply that. James took the basics and put her own spin on them to develop them all as unique and…

Monday’s Not Coming. Tiffany D. Jackson. 2018. Katherine Tegen Books. 432 pages. [Source: public library.] Friendships during your teen years can often feel like a lifeline when you’re navigating home, school, hormones, and the rest that comes with transitioning from a kid to a young adult. That is absolutely the reality for Claudia and Monday, best friends who are on the brink of 8th grade. Although their home lives are markedly different, the two are kindred spirits facing life together. That changes when Claudia returns to Washington, D.C. from her annual summer vacation to Georgia. Despite promises, Monday hasn’t written a single letter and doesn’t show up for school for months. No one notices, no one looks, and no one cares about Monday’s disappearance except Claudia. Early in the book, Claudia asks: “How can a whole person, a kid, disappear and no one say a word?” This is central to the plot of the book, which follows Claudia in her pursuit of the truth about where Monday’s been. With Monday’s Not Coming, Jackson has given a voice to stories that often go unheard. Missing black girls and women do not get the same media coverage as other demographics, though their…

I Think I Might Need You. Christina C. Jones. 2019. 135 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The Love sisters are back, and this time Joia is front and center, literally and figuratively. She’s a social media influencer whose focus on a fit and nutritious lifestyle has garnered her a significant following of folks invested in her knowledge and life. That increases when she gets a bombshell on a livestream that throws her life into a tailspin. Joia is living her best life, unencumbered by things that don’t serve her well; that includes dating. She’s done with men who aren’t capable of giving her the respect she deserves, and is working on building her own empire. The last thing she needs is her ex, Teddy — as fine as he may be — popping up trying to get that old thing back after 8 years. So while he tries to assert himself back into her life, she’s trying to figure out how to adjust to her new normal and all the uncertainty that comes with it. The story itself is messy, which makes it all the more entertaining. Joia has to grapple with a major life change that she’ll live out publicly….

A Natural Transition.Nicole Falls. 2019. 109 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] One of my favorite romance tropes is enemies-to-lovers, and A Natural Transition definitely Nyema and Langston are opposites, so it makes sense that they easily fall into a contentious relationship. To her, he’s the lame “suit & tie” accountant who’s been taken under her father’s wing and doesn’t respect her profession. To him, he’s the woman who’d already been his if his remarks about her occupation hadn’t landed him permanently on her bad side. For the past few years, they’ve been enemies, more on her end than his. That, however, doesn’t keep them from harboring secret crushes, especially since they often find themselves together for Sunday dinners at her parents’ house. The turning point comes for them in part because they can’t avoid each other, when they try. He’s at dinner almost every week, then ends up at the club where she DJs. When he steps in to check someone for disrespecting her … things change. Eventually, they are forced to reconcile the obvious sexual tension that’s been building. Their chemistry is potent, but is balanced out with a rapport that still sports a bit of the skepticism that is…

I Think I Might Love You. Christina C. Jones. 2019. 130 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I haven’t enjoyed a book quite the way I enjoyed I think I Might Love You in a while. I mean put the Kindle down, guffaw, and wipe tears from my eyes laughing. This book is so fun and so real. I Think I Might Love You doesn’t start off like you’d think a romance would. Jaclyn, a bit tipsy, strolls into her sister’s apartment only wanting some good ice cream to ease the pain of finding out her boyfriend has a whole wife and family he’s been hiding. She finds the ice cream, but also finds a naked dude in the kitchen. She punches him and locks herself in the bedroom, only to wonder where the hell her sister is. She later finds out Kadan is actually a legitimate subletter … awkward. That’s just the first of many awkward and uncomfortable — if not completely hilarious — interactions between the two. Their “courtship” is anything but. I mean, she intended to use him as DoD* and saved him in her phone as “Dicky McStrangerballs.” (Shoutout to Mrs. Jones for that piece of literary excellence…