The end of June and hopefully, the stress at work is in sight.
Or so I hope. With my luck, I feel like it might go on — which weirdly enough, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t have the end of the month as the end of financial year when all sorts of shit goes down, that miraculously will not matter when the month rolls into July, because it’s a brand new year and what happened in 2019-20 stays in 2019-20.
It’s like I stepped into the Twilight Zone.
I have finally started reading properly again and will be reviewing the utterly delightful, Notting-Hill-esque Boyfriend Material and my biggest problem is how to write this review without going heart-eyed when I write it!! And now, I am on to The Satapur Moonstone, which takes me to 1922 India and Perveen Mistry as she tries to solve another mystery.
I am ready to feel good about getting back into enjoying a good book 🙂
Black Girl Unlimited
Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic . . . everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you. Echo soon realizes there is pain flowing through everyone around her, and a black veil of depression threatens to undo everything she’s worked for.
Heavily autobiographical and infused with magical realism, Black Girl Unlimited fearlessly explores the intersections of poverty, sexual violence, depression, racism, and sexism—all through the arc of a transcendent coming-of-age.
A powerful memoir for fans of Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson and American Street by Ibi Zoboi.
Magical realism makes me wary, it really does. At the same time though, the right blurb will always win me over and want me to try, try, try this genre again — especially as Echo’s coming-of-age story sounds so promising.
Who We Were
IT’S BEEN TWENTY YEARS
BUT ALL IS NOT FORGIVENKaty is not the shy schoolgirl she once was, and she’s looking forward to showing her classmates who she’s become. Annabel was the queen bee, but her fall from grace changed her life forever. Zach was cruel, but he thinks he’s changed. Robbie was a target. And he never stood a chance.
Their reunion will bring together friends and enemies, many for the first time in decades. But someone is still holding a grudge, and will stop at nothing to reveal their darkest secrets..
Reunions fascinate me because I do want to see what happened to my classmates — without the dark secrets! Who is holding the grudge? And what other secrets are going to be revealed?
The Black Flamingo
I masquerade in makeup and feathers and I am applauded.
A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.
I love the boldness of this, and also pink feathers!
Letters
Sometimes, it is the hero that needs saving the most.
Chace, a teenage orphan with the power to see the future, saves people anonymously by leaving them a letter to find in their moment of crisis. When his friends are in danger, he is there. He saves them but cannot predict the consequences. He can see their future, but he cannot see his own.
He is interrupted while writing to save his best friend, Sarah. With an incomplete letter, her rescue feels equally incomplete inside. She cannot rest until she speaks to him, the one person who helped her want to go on living. Unable to see him right beside her, she goes public to try to find her anonymous hero.
The story captivates a nation as the hundreds whose lives Chace has already touched begin to come forward with their letters. Unable to hide his identity any longer, those closest to him learn the truth one by one. But he has another secret, one that threatens not only his anonymous heroics, but could even end his life. Will Chace disappear quietly into the night, or will he be adopted by a city that knows him only as “Letters?”
This is a blurb that makes this book sound tragic and hopeful at the same time — and that’s why I want to read it.
Closer Than You Think
Having barely escaped the clutches of a serial killer, Claire Moore has struggled to rebuild her life. After her terrifying encounter with the man the media dubbed The Black-Out Killer, she became an overnight celebrity: a symbol of hope and survival in the face of pure evil. And then the killings stopped.
Now ten years have passed, and Claire remains traumatised by her brush with death. Though she has a loving and supportive family around her, what happened that night continues to haunt her still.
Just when things are starting to improve, there is a power cut; a house fire; another victim found killed in the same way as before.
The Black-Out Killer is back. And he’s coming for Claire…
Whew. Who is after Claire? Is this someone the killer is controlling? Or is the wrong man after Claire? And it is creepy AF that this killer goes around cutting power and then killing people, because yes, I will be thinking about this when I go to bed.
That’s it from me! I hope you guys had a good weekend!
Letters sounds intriguing – I want to know more about this story!
Right? It’s an interesting premise and power he has.
I started Boyfriend Material, and though I was laughing, a lot, I put it aside for now. I am glad to hear it was wonderful, and I do look forward to picking it back up again.
I hope you do — it was a bit of light hearted goodness that hit the spot for me.
I’ve got The Black Flamingo on my TBR list as well. I’m happy you are feeling ready to enjoy a good book again! I always appreciate your reviews and recommendations!
*blushes* You are too sweet, Ethan!
Here’s to good books! And to a new month. 😀 Can’t wait to read your review of Boyfriend Material. And that whole reunion thing in Who We Were totally makes me want to read it. 🙂
I’m posting my review tomorrow. I just love this book bc it made me so happy reading it.
Intrigued by Black Girl Unlimited (although magical realism has not been a favorite). Also, I’m interested in Letters. Actually, they all sound worth investigating.
I haven’t had the best luck with magical realism, but I seem to be determined to try and figure that genre out LOL!
How are you liking The Satapur Moonstone? 1922 India sounds amzing!
It is incredibly good, and I am enjoying her descriptions of the small, Indian state she is in and the politics too — it’s an interesting mix in that Perveen rebels at certain expectations of her as a woman in this era, yet others she is fine with, but I am grinding my teeth about.
Yay, I really hope July is a less stressful month for you. Black Girl Unlimited sounds really good. I usually have good luck with magical realism so I’m pretty sure I’ll read that one.
I think you need to teach me how to understand (accept? LOL) that genre, Suzanne! It genuinely escapes me.
You find the BEST books. I have The Black Flamingo already and I hope to read it soon. Who We Were sounds utterly fascinating – I love reunion stories too. Closer Than You Think is DEFINITELY one I need to read!
-Lauren