I love a YA novel that tackles really important topics and I think Jas Hammond did a really amazing job of talking about alcoholism. I was really drawI love a YA novel that tackles really important topics and I think Jas Hammond did a really amazing job of talking about alcoholism. I was really drawn to the story and how she executed it. ...more
The author did not lie when they said that these letters end in tears because I was bawling!!!!
Set in Cameroon, a country where being gay will get yoThe author did not lie when they said that these letters end in tears because I was bawling!!!!
Set in Cameroon, a country where being gay will get you sent to jail or worse. We meet a Christian girl, Bessem who falls in love with a Muslim girl and they both start living a double life. Their love is instant, strong, and it feels as if time has stopped for both of them. Bessem wants more, she wants to be seen in public together. Fatimah knows the fate that awaits them if someone finds out their secret.
After months of begging, Fatima relents and they go to a bar together where they are found by Fatima’s brother who is a staunch Muslim. He leads an assault on his sister and Bessem, gets them locked up. Bessem family comes to bail her out, and after she goes back to school, she never hears from Fatima again. Did she flee the country? What did her brother tell the family? Was she married off? Did Fatima just abandon her?
After years of trying to get answer from anyone who will speak to her Bessem is still not closer to finding out where Fatima is. Everyone’s moved on but Bessem keeps writing these letters for when Fatima returns. Will they be reunited?
This book is deeply moving. I remember reading and pausing between chapters because the writing felt so real. The story of Fatima and Bessem is the story of so many especially in places where being gay is a crime. I am happy the author is writing about this.
I didn’t want this book to end! I love a family drama with numerous moving pieces and Charmaine Wilkerson crafts a very interesting and unforgettable I didn’t want this book to end! I love a family drama with numerous moving pieces and Charmaine Wilkerson crafts a very interesting and unforgettable tale!
In Good Dirt we meet the Freeman family, a Black affluent family living in New England. The Freemans can trace their history, and they have a family heirloom that is over a century old and is very much a part of the family. It is the part of the Freeman’s history they are proud of, a jar. They have the perfect life, while they are the old Black family for miles, they are fully integrated in the neighborhood and are loved by many. Idillyic is how you would describe their lives, that is until, one day while ten year old Ebby and her brother are playing hide and seek she hears a gunshot and she finds Baz murdered and the family jar shattered to pieces. This changes the course of the family life forever.
The murdere was never solved and the Freemans had to live with that and the grief of losing their son in the most gruesome way. Added to that, they lost their century old family heirloom. Fast forward to years over, Ebby is getting married to a high profile banker family from New England. No stranger to media attention, Ebby wants to move forward, start a family but that gets ripped a part when her fiancé does not show up and leaves her at the altar. In an effort to move pass this she decides to travel to France for a fresh start, nothing could prepare her for what she found there.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it was a mix of family saga, romance, history, mystery and how our family trauma shapes our lives. Told from various perfectives we get a layered look at the stories of the Freeman. We are taken to the Gold Coast where their ancestors were first captured and how they came to live in New England. The story goes from the past to the present and we hear from a lot of the Freemans and how the jar came to be and why it is considered a part of the family. I loved Ebby as a character and I felt for her. The author did an exceptional job talking about grief and how layered it can be.
After reading Black Cake I saw where there were areas that dragged, but I think the author did a phenomenal job with this one. I cant wait for more persons to read it. ...more
Onyi Nwabineli writes an amazing book that I cannot stop thinking about. In Allow Me To Introduce Mysel Fresh, timely, interesting and unforgettable
Onyi Nwabineli writes an amazing book that I cannot stop thinking about. In Allow Me To Introduce Myself we meet Anuri who wants independence. Her mother died during child birth and her father in an effort to curb his grief moved to London with Anuri, hired Ophelia, a nurse to take care of her. Ophelia falls in love with Anuri, accepts her as her own and in a few months she marries Anuri’s father. Ophelia starts posting Anuri on her social media and her platform takes off. In no time she’s got millions of followers, brand sponsorships and Anuri is a household name in London. Anuri at age six expresses to her father and stepmother that she doesn’t want to be filmed but everything is too far gone.
Anuri realizes that her school friends don’t have someone walking behind them trying to take photos. They don’t have multiple attempts at being kidnapped just because they have a social media profile. Now that she is an adult, Anuri she wants all the content down and for her stepmother and father to stop using her very young half sister as content. She takes her family to courst, but what happens when they fight back?
I really enjoyed this book, I think Onyi Nwabineli is an excellent writer, and she tackles a subject that we keep reading about in media. The story is layered with themes of agency, mother-daughter relationship, motherhood, father-daughter relationship, friendships, redemption, forgiveness and love. I particularly love how friendship was explored because sometimes we read books about friends and it feels forced, but Onyi really writes about how friends can be a safe space for difficult conversations, emotional security and a way for us to grow.
I will say this is an amazing premise but the execution was a little shaky. Some parts felt overwritten, the switch between POV felt choppy, so too between the present and the past. I also had a bit of difficulty trying to follow along and I had to re-read certain parts just to get a proper understanding. Overall, I did enjoy this and I will read what the author writes next. ...more
I think if you are interested in the history of the Caribbean this is a great place to start reading. The book is very dense at times but Dr. WilliamsI think if you are interested in the history of the Caribbean this is a great place to start reading. The book is very dense at times but Dr. Williams does a brillliant job of combing through the history of the Caribbean and I enjoyed learning things I did not know before....more
As a lover of short story collections, Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda is now one of my favourite Brilliant, fresh, haunting, unsettling, un-put-down-able!
As a lover of short story collections, Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda is now one of my favourites. This collection is cohesive, haunting and I felt that every story I read was my favoruite, but not only that, but its like each story also got better and better. A stunning collection!
Set mostly in Lagos, Ghostroots is collection of 12 stories that explores very haunting topics in fresh and unsettling ways. I loved the story that started the collection- Manifest is about a girl who starts spiraling and her mother keeps mistaking her for her grandmother who is evil incarnate. Brilliant and unsettling, I still get goosebumps thinking about it. In Breastmilk we are taken into a family that is falling apart but they just had a baby so they must put things aside. There’s the story of young boys who keep disappearing in a community and they can’t seem to figure why they are dying.
Honestly, every single story is exceptional, and I need more people to read this collection. I finished reading this collection two weeks now and I can’t stop thinking about it. ...more
Unhinged, irreverent, fresh, hilarious and unforgettable
I caught myself laughing out loud so many times while reading this book. I loved how fresh a Unhinged, irreverent, fresh, hilarious and unforgettable
I caught myself laughing out loud so many times while reading this book. I loved how fresh and new this book felt and how the characters were all so deeply flawed. In Big Swiss we meet Greta who spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who goes by Om (yea… like the sound- already its wild). She signs an NDA but that doesn’t stop her from discussing the patients with her friend and roommate Sabine. They both live in an ancient Dutch farmhouse that is falling apart and there is a beehive in the house.
Greta becomes deeply familiar with the patients during her transcribing process and develops an affinity for a married woman she calls Big Swiss. One day, as she is out in the very small town she lives in, she recognizes the voice of Big Swiss, they become “friends” and things spiral- fast and messy. Big Swiss wonders why Greta knows her so deeply and Greta is falling for Big Swiss but does not know how to tell her she knows her.
This is truly a refreshing read filled with off the pages characters. It is clear that the author had a great time writing this book because I had a time reading it. If you are looking for your next read- I highly recommend this one....more
Deeply moving, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time… Ibeh is a new voice in Nigerian literature that I can’t wait to hear more from!
O Deeply moving, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time… Ibeh is a new voice in Nigerian literature that I can’t wait to hear more from!
Once I picked up this brilliant book, I could not put it down. In Blessings we are taken to Nigeria where we meet a family with two boys. Obiefuna is the first son for Anozie and Uzoamaka. He is a wonderful dancer, deeply sensitive not the boy that his vey pragmatic father hoped for. Their second son Ekene is a natural athlete, a boy’s boy and who the father hoped Obiefuna would become. While Obiefuna’s mom tries to shield him from the world and how brutal it can be. His father catches Obiefuna and a boy from a nearby village in a compromising situation and he sends him away to boarding school.
Being banished from his family and only home he’s ever known, Obiefuna must now integrate into a school with a rigid structure and boys who are waiting to devour newcomers. He must hide who he is to fit in, all while trying to figure out is identity. Back at home the family is in turmoil as the mother and father conflicted about the best way to raise their son. Is sending him away what was best? Or will it bring him to his ruin? Can the father live with his decision? Will the mother ever forgive the father for what he did to her son?
Blessings is told from the perspective of Obiefuna and his mother, Uzoamaka which gives us a deep understanding of how they both see the world and what is happening to them. I truly loved this book, it was tender, fresh, well-written and makes you care deeply for the characters and the choices they are faced with.
I want to say that this book is what I expected of An Ordinary Wonder but didn’t get. Blessings is a brilliant debut and I cant wait to read what the author writes next. ...more
Conde’s ability to take you on a journey is unmatched!
In Maryse Conde’s latest release we meet blue eyed Black people, we are taken to Mali, Guadelou Conde’s ability to take you on a journey is unmatched!
In Maryse Conde’s latest release we meet blue eyed Black people, we are taken to Mali, Guadeloupe, Palestine, Canada, and Haiti. A truly immersive read that you will not be able to put down.
In Waiting For The Waters To Rise we meet Babakar originally from Mali, he ends up living and working in Guadeloupe as a doctor. One night he is woken up and taken to a shack where he finds a dead mother and her recently birthed child. Babakar made the impromptu decision to take the child home and adopt her, not taking into consideration that the mother’s dying wish is to have her child taken back home to Haiti.
While in live improves significantly with the addition of the child to Babakar’s household, he feels complete and loved. One day a mother of the child shows up and convinces him to move back to Haiti so the child can be with her family- they journey to Haiti together. Nothing could prepare them for what would happen in next.
This story is well crafted. I love how Conde allows us to meet people, hear their backstory and how they end up where they are. I think for me, I love how we hear from a Palestinian who ends up in Haiti, a Haitian fleeing to Guadeloupe and the xenophobia that they face, Babakar who journeys from Mail to Guadeloupe… all of these people from all over the world meeting in Haiti. I love a book that is set in Haiti and it is not often I read about characters journeying to Haiti to settle and I enjoyed that.
Yes, some parts were a bit slow but overall I really enjoyed this one. The ending though… wow!
Merged review:
Conde’s ability to take you on a journey is unmatched!
In Maryse Conde’s latest release we meet blue eyed Black people, we are taken to Mali, Guadeloupe, Palestine, Canada, and Haiti. A truly immersive read that you will not be able to put down.
In Waiting For The Waters To Rise we meet Babakar originally from Mali, he ends up living and working in Guadeloupe as a doctor. One night he is woken up and taken to a shack where he finds a dead mother and her recently birthed child. Babakar made the impromptu decision to take the child home and adopt her, not taking into consideration that the mother’s dying wish is to have her child taken back home to Haiti.
While in live improves significantly with the addition of the child to Babakar’s household, he feels complete and loved. One day a mother of the child shows up and convinces him to move back to Haiti so the child can be with her family- they journey to Haiti together. Nothing could prepare them for what would happen in next.
This story is well crafted. I love how Conde allows us to meet people, hear their backstory and how they end up where they are. I think for me, I love how we hear from a Palestinian who ends up in Haiti, a Haitian fleeing to Guadeloupe and the xenophobia that they face, Babakar who journeys from Mail to Guadeloupe… all of these people from all over the world meeting in Haiti. I love a book that is set in Haiti and it is not often I read about characters journeying to Haiti to settle and I enjoyed that.
Yes, some parts were a bit slow but overall I really enjoyed this one. The ending though… wow!...more
A main character fighting against the odds, filled with grit from start to finish…
We are taken to Zambia where we meet a Grace Zulu, she recently be A main character fighting against the odds, filled with grit from start to finish…
We are taken to Zambia where we meet a Grace Zulu, she recently became a lawyer after beating all the odds. She grew up in a village where they only expected her to get married, have children and raise them. Against all odds she became a lawyer and for her first pro-bono case it is about a young queer dancer Bessy who was arrested and charge. Grace tries everything to get him free from a system that holds very strong traditional beliefs and is deeply homophobic.
This was a very fast-paced read and I think I enjoyed how resilient the main character is. Grace is that character you can’t help but cheer for. If you are looking for a legal thriller set in Zambia, this is a good place to start. ...more
Hilarious, eye-raising, and irreverent at times, a solid debut!
Meet Sabre Cumberbatch, originally from Barbados, she’s been living and working in Ne Hilarious, eye-raising, and irreverent at times, a solid debut!
Meet Sabre Cumberbatch, originally from Barbados, she’s been living and working in New York as an artist. In the middle of the biggest interview of her career she realizes that she wants more for her work and her art. In a snap decision, she decides to go back to Barbados for inspiration, rest and grounding.
Waiting to welcome her in Barbados is her socialite aunt Aggie. She’s a high power attorney with friends in all the right places. She is all about protecting her image and making sure her curated life does not shatter. That is until she makes one mistake and her housekeeper now has something over her. This will not deter Aggie from making sure she shows off her New York City Artist nice to Bajan high society.
During an interview with the local radio station Sabre goes off on a rant talking about neocolonialism, specially how high society Bajan people treat their housekeeper and staff as less than. She riles the working class up, reminds them that they have a voice and they don’t have to fall to the whimps and fancy of the high powered people who employ them. She wants the power to back to the lower and middle class, this leads to a big uproar and calls for justice. Sabre forgets for a moment that her Aunt Aggie is a part of the ruling class…. Overnight she is thrown out of the family home, sends the island into chaos and is now the leader of a movement she doesn’t want to lead… Let Me Liberate You offers great social commentary on Bajan society and I can see it making a lot of people uncomfortable. I did love that the author really went there is address things that we still happening to this day and is very present in Bajan society. I just felt like the author went there and left us there.
I felt the book started really strong, singularly the pieces and characters are strong and interesting, but when it comes together it kinda falls apart. For example, I loved hearing about the housekeeper and internal thoughts as it relates to her employer- Aunty Aggie. However I just feel like when they come together in a scene it is not as strong. I loved each character and I felt they were strong but I just don’t think the book had a lot of glue and it felt all over the place. I wish the editor had done a better job of focusing the author. There were so many characters and situations introduced that did nothing to really move the plot along. I think the book could have benefitted from a stronger editor and less side quests .
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the first 150 pages. Justice for all the lower income workers!...more
Lisa Allen-Agostini knows how to write an interesting story and I was hooked from the very beginning. I feel like I hav Short, intense, and gripping!
Lisa Allen-Agostini knows how to write an interesting story and I was hooked from the very beginning. I feel like I haven’t read a lot of mystery novels set in the Caribbean, specifically Trinidad and Tobago so I loved this one.
In Death in the Dry River we meet Constable Johnson “Sonny” Stone who was chilling at home when some children smashed his window. He chased them and ended up in a dry river where he found the body of a famous Calypsonian. Sonny was sent home from the police force for insubordination so he really shouldn’t be anywhere near a case, especially one as big as this.
Sonny decides to spend his time solving the mystery. This takes him all over Port of Spain, meeting with different persons and finding out what could be the reason someone would want to kill this well-loved Calypsonian.
This is a very short read but enjoyable, I look forward to what she writes next. ...more
Engaging, un-putdownable a very vibrant and intoxicating read….
Nikki May is so great at writing stories that will get you riled up and interested in Engaging, un-putdownable a very vibrant and intoxicating read….
Nikki May is so great at writing stories that will get you riled up and interested in the characters and it is the same with this book. In The Motherless Land we are taken to Nigeria where we meet Funke and her family. She lives an idyllic life in Nigeria, with her mother, father and brother. Her father is head over heels in love with her mother and they are still happy after years of being together. Even though their relationship meant her mom was ostracized from her family in England. They’ve lived a happy life until tragedy struck and Funke is sent to live with family members she’s only heard bad things about, in a place that her mother describes as boring, grey and cold.
Funke arrives in London overcome by grief and is met with a chilly reception from her family, except for her cousin Liv. Live decides that her sole purpose will be to make Funke happy and enjoy England as much as possible. They become inseparable from childhood into adulthood, a safe space for each other, that is until a major misunderstanding happens and tragedy strikes again.
I love that the book was set in the 70s, 80s and 90s in London and Lagos and told from the perspective of the cousins. We got such an in-depth look into their characters and their motivations. Nikki did an amazing job of exploring generational wrongs, forgiveness, sisterhood and grief. I thoroughly enjoyed Funke and Livs characters as it felt so refreshing seeing them fall into an easy friendship. I did get a bit annoyed at Liv’s mom and I felt her character got too much air time because she was so annoying.