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 >
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 >
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 >
Dear Simon Jimenez, This beautiful standalone science fiction novel was one of the novels on my “Best of 2020” list. I read it in December of 2020 and have put off reviewing for over a year because I felt hard put to do it justice. I’m finally taking the plunge ... more >
Dear Tashie Bhuiyan, I picked up your romantic contemporary YA novel, Counting Down with You, after it was nominated for the Goodreads Awards in the Young Adult Fiction category. It didn’t win but I am glad it was nominated because I wouldn’t have found it otherwise. Karina Ahmed is a ... more >
A charming debut ownvoices romcom about a chronically-ill “nice Jewish girl” with a secret career as a bestselling Christmas romance novelist who’s forced to write the first Hanukkah romance, sending her for inspiration to the Matzah Ball, a high-end Jewish music celebration run by her summer camp arch enemy. Oy! ... more >