Skip to main content

Baked Goodies, Fake Dates, Cowpokes & More

 

Sweeter Than Honey (Honey Hill #2) by Joy Avery  
Contemporary romance  
Montlake, June 28, 2022  

Successful baker Rylee Harris moved to Honey Hill, North Carolina after the death of her soldier husband. Sheriff Canten Barnes was born and raised in the quaint small town, moved away, then returned in the aftermath of his own heartache. Friendship lays the foundation for this funny, poignant, and utterly charming romance about grief, regrets, and second chances, where a 21st-century Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show” meets “Girlfriends" and “Insecure" in an irresistible mashup of throw-way-back hijinks that evoke old school sweetness at the heart of this love story.  

Love and Latkes (Friendships and Festivals #3) by Stacey Agdern  
Contemporary romance  
Tule Publishing, October 2021  

Batya Averman and Abe Neumann learn that they can run from themselves and their hearts' desires, but they can't hide or escape them forever. Their love story is set during Hanukkah, but its themes of leaps of faith and the essential nature of community resonate year-round. Be sure to read the Author’s Note.  

The Wildest Ride (Closed Circuit #1) by Marcella Bell  
Contemporary adult fiction with romance  
HQN, August 2021  

Rancher Lillian Sorrow Island and city-slicker-turned-cowboy A.J. Garza both need to win the big prize in order to protect the people and the places they love. As they compete against each other and battle various adversarial forces they recognize the overlap in their missions to preserve valuable legacies to propel themselves into a promising future.   

This most excellent tale is a good read for historical romance fans (of Beverly Jenkins, Cat Sebastian* and similar authors) who also enjoy contemporary fiction that acknowledges Black diasporic experiences. The Author's Note with details about Creek Freedmen, Mvskoke/Muscogee Nation and more will likely lure readers into deeper cultural research.   

*A Gentleman Never Keeps Score  

Where the Honeybells Grow by Ruthie Lenor  
Contemporary romance  
Honeybells Publishing, 2020  

In the small town of Bellbush, Texas Gerti Gordon* owns The Shop, the local eatery and community gathering place she inherited from her grandmother. Quinn Garland is a recently laid-off mechanic who returns to his uncle's home for his best friend's wedding and to evaluate his options for moving forward in his life. In the meantime, well-intentioned family and friends conspire to match make while Gerti and Quinn circle each other, face the lingering emotional devastation of childhood traumas, and fool themselves into believing their deep connection and smoldering chemistry are temporary. Their love story is tender and celebrates the continuity of places where generations have poured their hearts and souls into surviving and thriving.  

*Gordan on the back cover blurb, but not in the story text.  

Snackable Anthologies:  
Amor Actually, a Holiday Romance Anthology by Adriana Herrera, et al.  
Romance  
Indie, December 2021  

Cursed by Christina Henry, et al.  
Fantasy & horror fiction  
Titan Books, 2020  

Rogue Affair (Rogue Hearts #2) by Tamsen Parker, et al.  
Romance  
Indie, 2017  

Foodies:  
The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu  
Contemporary new adult romance  
Avon, November 2021  

Adulting gets complicated, and scrumptious.   

See also, Love and Latkes above.  

International Cross-Cultural Angst + Food:  
Seoulmates by Jen Frederick  
Contemporary new adult romance  
Berkley, January 2022  

Sizzling chemistry, fraught emotions, and detailed cultural insights offer readers a delightful tale with substantive layers beneath the fluff.  

Partners in (Investigating) Crime, Cons & Travel:  
Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera  
Contemporary fiction with romance  
Indie, 2020  

Culture, identity, expectations, legacies and African diasporic experiences make Elias and Desta's love story a journey worth taking.     

An Impossible Imposter (Veronica Speedwell #7) by Deanna Raybourn  
Historical mystery with romantic intrigue  
Berkley, February 2022  

The Love Con by Seressia Glass  
Contemporary romance  
Jove, December 2021  

A sweet spin on faking it that incorporates spot-on authenticity about inclusion, discrimination and microaggressions while managing to offer laugh aloud humor, tenderness, and sizzling heat. Themes of family by blood and by choice also resonate. 
#28DaysofBlackCosplay 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hot Love in the Kitchen & Travelling Through Time

Redemption of the Heart by Moni Boyce contemporary romance Love Snacks Publishing  8 January 2019 Despite addressing heavy themes of domestic violence, incarceration, and grief, Redemption of the Heart is a charming and sweet spicy read in the tradition of a 21st-century interracial homage to Janet Dailey’s monthly romance era. Gemma’s open-hearted ingénue contrasts starkly with Alex’s jaded workaholic. They struggle with a variety of challenges, but ethnicity isn’t one of them—a spin that feels particularly modern. Once readers commit to their suspension of disbelief regarding the cascading impact of lacks in due diligence by several characters, it’s easy to settle in to enjoy this love story. The recent public debate about the pros and cons of Gillette’s “We believe the best man can be” campaign ties in with the contradictory messages in the story threads about toxic masculinity. There’s a scene in which Alex apologizes to someone who was openly bragging among cowork...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Million Lives Book Festival - An Unfortunate Exception, Not the Event Rule

[2 decorative stickers on lined writing paper from left to right: a round smiley face arranged upside down to look like a frown and a round smiley face arranged right sight up] By now most bookish folk and others have heard about the inaugural A Million Lives Book Festival held at the Baltimore Convention Center last Friday and Saturday. To recap: according to participating authors and attendees many promises were made and almost all of them were broken.  As outreach director and co-organizer for The Write Women Book Fest scheduled to host its 6th event Saturday, July 19 & Sunday, July 20 of this year at the Bowie Comfort Inn & Conference Center in Bowie, Maryland, U.S.A., my reaction to the feedback being shared about A Million Lives is nightmarish. Even though we aren't connected to it in any way or familiar with the event organizer or her company, our completely unrelated event has felt some minor residual effects because people are worried. And that's an understanda...
Post a Comment
Read more

Author Cherry Dawn Fagbemi Chats with TBQ + More Books

Hearing author Cherry Dawn Fagbemi read a cliffhanger of an excerpt from Bad Seed at a Prince George's Memorial Library System event last year led us to stay in touch. Here's our recent conversation about her life, her work, this book and a future project on this episode of The Bitchy Quill podcast with founder Heather Brooks, who's also the founder of The Write Women Book Fest scheduled for Saturday, July 19 & Sunday, July 20 at the Bowie Comfort Inn & Conference Center in Bowie, Maryland, where this author and 100+ more will engage with readers, give away swag, sell and sign their books on day one; an assortment of panel chats on day two:  https://youtu.be/a73_k4DQZKI    [ front cover of a trade paperback book, "BAD SEED, The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl, A Novel by Cherry Dawn Fagbemi"]   This week's BAC (Book Acquisition Compulsion) bookstack includes a hockey romance because the Washington Capitals' first-round playoffs win happened during...
Post a Comment
Read more