Can’t Get Enough. Kennedy Ryan. 2025. Forever. 448 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an unbiased review, and I was dancing a whole jig at the “invite” to read it after missing the “read now”. I’d only been stalking the author and site for months. Since the beginning of the Skyland series, I’ve been saying “Ken...

The Soulmate Project. Reese Ryan. 2024. Forever. 304 pages. [Source: Public library.] I’m a sucker for a friends to lovers story, so The Soulmate Project was right up my alley. The book starts with a New Year’s Eve love confession by “girl next door” Emerie to her best friend Nicholas. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as planned and he doesn’t return her affections. Instead of ringing in the new year in a new relationship...

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 herse...

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 s...

Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known. George M. Johnson. 2024. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 127 pages. [Source: Public library.] The Harlem Renaissance was a remarkable period in American history, but was pivotal within Black America. The “New Negro Movement” launched the careers of countless scholars, photographers, musicians, and dancers and ushered in a rebirth of racial pride and solidarity, in addition to le...

The Last Black Unicorn

The Last Black Unicorn. Tiffany Haddish. 2017. 289 pages. [Source: Public library.] It’s rare that a book has me actually laughing out loud nearly the entire time I read it. Most comedic books are funny, but not that funny. Tiffany Haddish easily kept me in stitches throughout The Last Black Unicorn, perhaps more so because it was an audiobook narrated by Haddish herself. In her autobiography, Haddish covers it all — her uns...

How to Be Alone
Audiobook , Essays , Humor , Memoir , Public Library Love / January 8, 2022

How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t. Lane Moore. 2018. Atria Books. 224 pages. [Source: Public library.] Random scrolling in the Libby app led me to How to Be Alone, written by comedian, writer, and musician Lane Moore. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the title caught my attention considering I enjoy my fair share of alone time. How to Be Alone, however, is less about the beauty found in solitude, ...

Clap When You Land
Fiction , Multicultural , Young Adult / January 7, 2022

Clap When You Land. Elizabeth Acevedo. 2020. Quill Tree Books. 432 pages. [Source: Public library.] As the daughter of an immigrant and a man whose image in my mind is nothing like what society holds … this book touched me on so many levels. Acevedo amazingly highlights a family and its complexities. She pays homage to a tragedy I’ve never heard of (flight 587 ), expresses understanding, respect and honor to a religion that showcase...

New Year, New Ci

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 n...

Can I Mix You a Drink?

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-...