B- Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / Artist / bisexual heroine / Chef / Contemporary / fiction with strong romantic elements / grief / LGBTQIA+ / love triangles / New York City / POC / POC author / tropical island / Womens-Fiction10 Comments
Dear Awaeke Emezi, I’ve been meaning to try one of your books for years, ever since I read Ana Grilo’s review of Pet for Kirkus. The book sounded really good and really different, but somehow, I never got around to reading it. However, when
Book Reviews / DNF Reviews#ownvoices / Bangladeshi-American / Contemporary / depression / diversity / emotional abuse / high-school / Muslim / parents / South-Asian / Tashie Bhuiyan / YA2 Comments
Dear Tashie Bhuiyan, Last year I enjoyed your debut, Counting Down with You, a YA contemporary about a Bangladeshi-American high school student’s struggle with anxiety, demanding and controlling parents, and falling in love with a white boy. I liked it enough to request an ARC of your second book, A ... more >
Book Reviews / C+ Reviews#ownvoices / Anglo-Asian / Asian characters / Asian-American / Contemporary / England / family relationships / First-Person / macabre comedy / mafia / POC / POC author / sisters / weddingNo Comments
The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe—even the mafia—in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties. Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / C Reviews / C+ Reviews#ownvoices / Asian Americans / California / death / Fantasy / grief / Japan / joint review / Literary Fabulism / near-future / Novel-in-Stories / Pandemic / POC / POC author / Speculative-Fiction12 Comments
Content warnings: Jennie: When Janine suggested we review this book together, I hadn’t heard of it. But the blurb told me it was dystopian, and I have a weakness for dystopian novels even though they don’t always end up working for me. Though it’s billed as a novel, How High ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / aromantic / chick-lit / colorism / Contemporary / family relationships / First-Person / gentrification / immigrant fiction / London / Nigeria / POC / POC author / self discovery / therapy1 Comments
Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband?” Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends ... more >
Book Reviews / Top Ten Lists#ownvoices / angels / Best of 2021 / best of list / bonded-mates / class differences / enemies to lovers / f/f / Fantasy / Fantasy Romance / forbidden-love / friends-to-lovers / historical romance / horror elements / India-based world / Indian characters / LGBTQIA+ / m/f / m/m / magical school / military hero / missing persons / noir mystery / Opera Singer / paranormal romance / POC / POC author / redemption / reframing / teens / Urban-Fantasy / village / werewolves / widow / YA23 Comments
It’s a cliché to comment on how quickly a year has passed and in the Covid era the months sometimes pass slowly. 2021 wasn’t an easy year so I’m glad I found some great books to make it feel a little lighter. There weren’t an entire ten but I’ve had ... more >