Complicated Legacies of Culture & Identity...

Along with unfinished business from the past that haunts the present

[5 books; 3 face up and 2 spine up, from left to right: Best Woman, The Gist of Bid Whist, Blind Date with a Werewolf, Crazy Spooky Love, The Year of the Wind]

Read

Best Woman by Rose Dommu

new adult contemporary romance

Penguin Random House, September 2025

Madcap. Tenderhearted. Poignant. Satisfying.

Crazy Spooky Love (Melody Bittersweet #1) by Josie Silver

new adult contemporary romance

Penguin Random House, September 2025

Ornery relatives. Dangerous spirits. Romance gone wrong with potential for it to go right. Intrigue. Mysteries. Laughs.

Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs

adult contemporary supernatural romance

Penguin Random House, October 2025

This novel rendered in 5 short stories (3 previously published and 2 new) is all about Asil with cameos of Moira, Tom, and other series favorites. Looking for love in all the most dangerous places delivers all kinds of drama and a satisfying story arc.

Reading

The Gist of Bid Whist: The Culturally Rich Card Game from Black America by Lamont Jones

Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams

Both non-fiction books are less than 300 pages of accessible language and narrative clarity, but the historical contexts and details make me want to take my time reading, absorbing, and processing the information.

TBR

The Year of the Wind by Karina Pacheco Medrano

More BAC Issues (Book Acquisition Compulsion)

[8 stacked books, from top to bottom: The King Must Die, The Baby Dragon Bakery, After Happily Ever, Ladies in Waiting, All the Men I've Loved Again, An Introvert's Guide to Life and Love, Kooky Spooky Love, Circle in the Water]

Books and reading add joy to my life, and public libraries provide access to those simple pleasures and so much more. Just signing up for a library card supports them by showing that the community is using their many resources.

Always wishing you good health, peace of mind, safety & joy.

Happy reading & creating!

Comments

The Best Man: Unfinished Business by Malcolm D. Lee with Jayne Allen Delivers All the Feels

Black love. Black joy. Black drama. Humanity in its vast melanin array. [front cover of a paperback ARC for The Best Man: Unfinished Business; silhouette of three adults] The Best Man: Unfinished Business by Malcolm D. Lee with Jayne Allen adult contemporary fiction with romantic elements Storehouse Voices, July 2025 First, dedicated fans of The Best Man franchise and its beloved characters need not fear how they’re treated in this first of three novels. In fact. One thread of Harper’s storyline seems to reflect the real-life author/screenwriter/director’s battle to protect and maintain the integrity of The Best Man universe. Mission accomplished. Second, once readers - fans or not - start this novel they won’t want to stop. The compulsion to re/watch The Best Man movies and limited series and maybe even to reread this book while anticipating the release of book two in 2026 will prove difficult to resist. Who are you? Who are your people?...

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...

Our Poet Laureate's Memoir + More TWWBF2025 Prep

Educator, poet, short story author, mindfulness guide and now the moniker of memoirist has been added to the long list of creative accomplishments earned by Poet Laureate of The Write Women Book Fest Aressa V. Williams. She was born and raised in the vibrant community of Washington, D.C.'s Northeast neighborhood of Deanwood. Her Memoir evokes the nostalgia, challenges, victories, heartaches and joys of her life that connect with readers across generations and locations. [photo credit: H.L. Brooks; image: two paperback ARCs of In Deanwood, A Memoir by Aressa Verdell Williams arranged on a tabletop; cover art of a sepia toned two-story colonial house with four columns - two on each side of the front door] The ebook is currently available with print copies coming soon! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-deanwood-aressa-verdell-williams/1147594007 Just under 3 weeks before day one of The Write Women Book Fest and we've finished decorating t-shirts for our aw...

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