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...

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...

Share My Life: A Journey of Love, Faith, and Redemption. Kem, with David Ritz. 2023. Simon & Schuster. 272 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher courtesy of Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.] Before reading Share My Life, I wouldn’t have called myself a die-hard Kem fan. I was certainly familiar with some of his larger hits, but I had little familiarity with his overall career or his persona as an artist.  That unfami...

Wantin

Wantin. Truth Devour. 2013. Publicious Self-Publishing. 189 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of Goodreads First Reads program.] I find it refreshing to go on a journey with a narrator, watching their life unfold in front of them and follow their thoughts and actions as they process what it means in the grand scheme of their life. Wantin is a spectacular example of this, as it follows Talia as she embarks upon womanhood. What intri...

Author Profile: Rashawnda Ungerer
Author Profile / March 1, 2014

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Rashawnda Ungerer’s debut novel in advance of its release.   It is rare that a book is so compelling to me that I cannot put it down (especially with how hectic life can get), but such was the case with “The Hard Way.”  I am pleased to share that it is now available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  I believe it’s important to provide a platform to authors who work ind...

The Hardest of Ways

The Hardest of Ways. Rashawnda Ungerer. 2015. 629 pages [Source: Advance copy provided courtesy of author.] ​What happens when you finally realize all the ways you’ve been stabbed in the back (sometimes literally) over the course of a lifetime? Do you get mad? Probably. Do you get even? Without a question. Such is the story of Cecelia Clark and her apparent guardian angel, Gordon Hale. These two cross paths accidentally, but a serie...

The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go to Sleep
Advance Reader Copy , Children's / February 25, 2014

The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go to Sleep. Willy Claflin. James Stinson, ill. 2014. 36 pages. August House. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] A book “as told to” a human by a moose that has an accompanying CD and needs a glossary? That is just enough of a departure from the norm for me to check it out. From the minute we dove in, I knew this book was a treat. The foreword is cute. I like the idea of the story and way ...

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
Advance Reader Copy , Fantasy , Middle Grade / February 25, 2014

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. Karen Foxlee. 2014. Knopf Books [Source: ARC provide courtesy of NetGalley] Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy came my way as a pre-approved book on NetGalley. I’d never heard of it and I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I absolutely loved reading this. It’s a substantial read and its plot and style are engaging throughout. While I found the plot enjoyable, the themes in the book were mature enough tha...