I love Black History Month. Honestly, I love any time when I can see Blackness as celebratory and on full display in a way that we choose — thriving and vibing, rather than simply surviving. As the saying goes Black is beautiful! When we show out, we do it in the best way. And I […]
Reading You Should See Me in a Crown was like catching a breath of fresh air. I was invigorated by this delightful young adult novel, and incredibly moved by the story of its protagonist, Liz Lighty. I enjoyed her story line for a few reasons, but the one that stands out is how she ultimately […]
When someone hands me a book and says that it is one of the best books I will ever read I am often skeptical. There is no reason to be skeptical when it comes to Raybearer, the debut novel of Jordan Ifueko. From its first pages I was utterly enchanted by its protagonist, Tarsai, who […]
If you think you have seen it all when it comes to Cinderella stories and you have not read Cinderella is Dead, then you are wrong. Sophia is one of many girls in Lille who has grown up learning the story of Cinderella — the approved palace version, which according to the laws of the […]
The Space Between Worlds takes place on an Earth utterly unlike our own and yet so eerily similar that I can conceptualize it with crystal clarity. That said, the world(s) our protagonist — who I will call Cara — walk through are ones that I would shudder to find myself within, and I count myself […]
After finishing Legendborn I had to take a few days off reading because I was so in love, I needed time to process. I tend to proclaim most books I read as my new favorite book, but that marker cannot be an overstatement when it comes to how enchanted I am with Legendborn and its […]
As I closed this book, just having read the final words of the last paragraph, I was struck by the sheer range of this text. In many ways, The Vanishing Half feels like a book I have been yearning for and a book I did not know that I needed, and every book I read […]
Friendship & family bound by more than blood as the highest form of love? Check. Top-notch worldbuilding with fantasy fully integrated into the modern day? Check. Unapologetic acknowledgement of systemic racism and police brutality as more than just a metaphor? Check. LITERAL Black Girl Magic? Check. A Song Below Water is a balm on the […]
Seeing as how February is Black History Month, I thought that reviewing N.K. Jemisin’s fantastic collection of short stories How Long ‘til Black Future Month? would be an excellent way to start off this month’s reviews and posts. I loved all of these stories, each of them engaging and thrilling, so much so that I […]
I thought that Children of Blood and Bone was a fantastic book, but Children of Virtue and Vengeance takes things to a whole new level. Keep in mind, this is a review for a sequel, so there are some small spoilers for Children of Blood and Bone ahead. At the end of Children of Blood […]
I’ve been on a bit of a nonfiction kick lately but This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story brought me right back in to remembering why I love YA fiction just as much. There are many epic love stories that are threaded throughout this book, which is representative of so many kinds of love. […]
With all the stress of life, I felt myself yearning for something that I could read as a kind of palate cleanser, and I was directed toward the YA fantasy of my dreams in the form of L.L. McKinney’s excellent debut novel A Blade So Black. As a present-day interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, A […]
Pride and Prejudice has been adapted over and over again, but I think I have found my new favorite in Ibi Zoboi’s Pride.[1] The book is narrated in the first person by Zuri Benitez, a seventeen year old girl living in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The story starts at the beginning of summer vacation, when two important […]
I have been wanting to read The Hate U Give for over a year now, and I am so glad that I finally got around to doing so. My hesitancy in reading this book was not insignificant. I was assured of its quality, and of that I had no doubt, but I knew that this […]