It Was All a Dream. Justin Tinsley. 2022. Abrams Press. 352 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] When the impending release of It Was All a Dream was announced last year, I ran to get my hands on it. I was enticed by the opportunity to read a fresh look at one of the most lauded emcees of my youth, but was also intrigued by what perspective an author from my generation would bring to such a well-publicized timeline. Released weeks shy of what should have been Biggie’s 50th birthday, It Was All a Dream presents an in-depth and reflective examination at Christopher Wallace’s too-brief life. It can be difficult to approach a subject like the Notorious B.I.G. with novelty. There is no shortage of film, books, or other media that have already examined his life, career, death, and legacy. However, with It Was All a Dream, Tinsley has the benefit of more than two decades to frame this retrospective. Ample time has passed, allowing him to consider the lasting impacts of Biggie’s short but notable career in ways that couldn’t have been anticipated in the 1990s. The result is a…

Black Love Matters. Jessica P. Pryde, ed. 2022. Berkley. 285 pages. [Source: Public Library.] As a proud lover of all things Black romance, I had to get my hands on this anthology which features essays from some of the most visible names in the field of Black romance publishing and scholarship. With this book, Pryde has brought together long-established names as well as those who are on their rise to consider the ways that Black Love Matters. The result is a book filled with contributors representing all facets of Black life and love, sharing their insights on the genre and what it means for them or critically examining the space that Black love occupies in literature. One of the greatest take aways here is that Black Love Matters gives space to ask the question — why do we need to center Black love? If romance is one of the best-selling segments of the publishing industry, why are Black stories still lacking in representation? In responding to this topic, the authors share their own experiences as creators, consumers, and scholars of Black romance. What I love about this book is that its chapters reflect the complexity of Black writing; there are…

New Year, New Ci. Nicole Falls. 2021. 269 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Usually when people say “new year, new me,” there’s a lot of personal agency at play. You know, someone wants a new job and they’ve started planning. Or they want to move and start shopping neighborhoods. Cienna doesn’t have that same fortune. Instead, her career and relationship implode unexpectedly, leaving her heading into the new year with more uncertainty than ever before. New Year, New Ci does have a heavy focus on Cienna’s dating life, but it’s very much about how she rebuilds not just her life, but herself. More aptly, though, it shines a light on how she sometimes gets in the way of her own success — something I think most folks can relate to on some level. She’s a great example of “once bitten, twice shy,” and while it’s easy to understand why she’s like that, it’s still disappointing to watch. So the idea of crafting a “new Ci” is critical to her moving forward with her great new life. The book is, of course, filled with drama between friends, family, coworkers, etc. Nicole Falls doesn’t disappoint when it comes to creating a story that…

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….

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…