The Soulmate Project

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...

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Church Girl

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...

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Stuck Wit’ Chu

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...

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Flamboyants

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...

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Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . . 

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 i...

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This Is Where It Ends
Advance Reader Copy , Young Adult / November 19, 2015

This Is Where It Ends. Marieke Nijkamp. 2016. 288 pages. Sourcebooks Fire. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Reading this book will leave you shell-shocked. It is haunting. It is emotionally draining. It is real. This Is Where It Ends is told over the course of 54 minutes. But in those 54 minutes, you experience an entire lifetime. The day starts as quietly as any other in sleepy Opportunity, Alabama, with the local high sch...

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The Pilot’s Baby
Contemporary Romance , Kindle Unlimited Finds / November 18, 2015

The Pilot’s Baby. This book features Zoe, a flight attendant whose love life is in a drought. Her best friend pushes her to be more spontaneous, hoping she’ll find a new love … or at least a new lover. While Zoe is enjoying a beautiful Hawaiian resort, she encounters gorgeous Mason, who happens to be a pilot. They have strong chemistry, which leads to a one-night stand. That night/morning of passion leads to her pregna...

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The Christmas Cats Fear for the Deer
Advance Reader Copy , Children's / November 16, 2015

The Christmas Cats Fear for the Deer. Constance Corcoran Wilson, Gary McClusky, ill. 2015. 36 pages. Quad Cities Press. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of author.] The Christmas Cats Fear for the Deer is the fourth installment in The Christmas Cats series, a fun and festive collection of books centered around cats that are great problem-solvers. In this book, the Christmas Cats are called on to help usher the deer – who keep eating the...

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Awake
Advance Reader Copy , Young Adult / November 16, 2015

Awake. Natasha Preston. 2015. 336 pages. Sourcebooks Fire.  [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] This was a tough book to read, but it was just as tough to put it down. Awake follows Scarlet, a teenager who has led a mostly normal life, except for the fact that she can’t remember anything before she was 4 years old. With the introduction of an attractive, attentive new boy in school, Scarlet’s world changes quickly and she...

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Bittersweet
Advance Reader Copy , Women's Fiction / June 30, 2015

Bittersweet. Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. 2014. Broadway Books. 381 pages. [Source: Blogging for Books.] How far will you go to fit in? What secrets will you seek, and what secrets will you keep?  Those are the perennial questions that Mabel Dagmar faces as she finds herself immersed in the lavish lifestyle of her wealthy roommate for a summer. Mabel is a simple girl from Oregon who has the (mis)fortune of rooming with wealthy, party...