The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. Issa Rae. 2015. Atria. 225 pages. [Source: Public library]. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I’ve been a stan of Issa Rae since her co-worker caught her rapping along aggressively at a stop sign on Youtube.  That fandom exploded when her show, Insecure, hit HBO in 2016.  I’ve always related quite a bit to her experiences on her web-series, and (not surprisingly) the trials and tribulations of adulthood chronicled on the small screen spoke to my own experiences in dating, working, and trying to look like I had my sh*t together while I fumbled through the process. I’m honestly a bit disappointed it took me so long to get my hands on her autobiography, but it was worth the wait.  It’s an easy read and felt like I was kicking back on the couch with my girl from way back, reminiscing about the good, bad, and ugly.  (Sidenote – Issa Rae is my friend in my head. She completes my sentences and we do that thing where you can give someone a look and they know exactly what you’re thinking).  I appreciated from the start her ability to inject wit (albeit often…

Unforgettable. Delaney Diamond. 2014. Garden Avenue Press. 174 pages. [Source: Public library]. “This isn’t a forever thing. It’s just a for now thing. I have plans.” These are the words that Lucas Baylor shared with socialite Ivy Johnson in the midst of a short-lived, but hot-as-fire affair nearly a decade earlier.  In that time, he has skyrocketed to fame as a self-professed permanent bachelor who makes a living giving relationship advice to misguided women through his books.  While he enjoys the company of women, he knows better than to settle down with one. Ivy Johnson is the one woman who gets under Lucas’ skin. They had a summer fling nine years earlier that stuck with him for all the wrong reasons.  When a chance re-meeting brings them into each other’s worlds for a short period, he’s ready to pick up where they physically left off, but his early words to her come back to haunt him. Ivy is guarded and unwilling to allow Lucas to get too close to her or her nine-year-old daughter.

The Hate U Give. Angie Thomas. 2017. Balzer + Bray. 469 pages. [Source: public library.] Ever so often, a book’s hype will precede itself in a way that makes it impossible to ignore, no matter how oblivious I am. The first I’d heard about The Hate U Give was when news of its film adaptation came out.  That Amandla Stendberg would play the protagonist piqued my interest. But it wasn’t until everyone around me – book lover or not — started buzzing about it that I picked it up. My bad. I’ve since learned my lesson. The Hate U Give is centered on Starr, a 16-year-old black teen who straddles the line between two worlds: Garden Heights Starr is the daughter of a former gang member who struggles to find her place in her urban neighborhood and Williamson Starr is a popular scholar-athlete at a prestigious private school across town where nobody knows her family backstory or home zip code.  She has to constantly balance being black enough to navigate her neighborhood in the shadow of her dad’s past while being palatable enough for her suburban peers to accept her as one of the “good ones.” It’s a precarious balance, but…

One Night. Eric Jerome Dickey. 2015. 370 pages. Dutton. [Source: public library.] I consider myself an Eric Jerome Dickey fan that’s fallen off the wagon.  I began reading his novels in my early 20s, and after I read Chasing Destiny, Genevieve, and Pleasure, he could do no wrong in my eyes. I’ve since expanded what I read, so it’s been a few years since I checked for him.  I was surfing my public library’s audiobooks when I came across One Night and was completely intrigued by the description. Two strangers, one night, murder, lies, etc? I was sucked in immediately.  Unfortunately, the book failed to live up to my lofty expectations of EJD. One Night is a few hours short of a day in the life of former actress Jackie and The Man from Orange County.  Seriously, that’s how he is referred to throughout the book.  The book chronicles their introduction and parting in painstaking detail, giving minute-by-minute accounts.  It starts with Jackie trying to scam the wealthy, attractive man at the gas station into purchasing a iPad. It ends with a body in the trunk of a luxury car with sirens approaching.