Welcome Back, Booklovers! The Secret Library is the second Kekla Magoon book I had on my TBR for this year after loving Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem which was cowritten with Cynthia Leitich Smith. I recieved an arc to review from Candlewick Press. The Secret Library follows Dally, a biracial 11 year old girl who lives with her white single mother. Dally's grandfather has recently passed and her mother's main focus is grooming her to one day take over the family business. Dally decides to open a letter from her grandfather that she was instructed not to open until age 21 ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been following Geneva Bowers on Instagram for a couple of years because I love her illustrations. Her art style is just so cute! And I previously read a board book she did the illustrations for Mermaid Kenzie: Protector of the Deeps, a book I can't stop recommending. So I had not read the original Hovergirls web comic but I was excited to check out this version of it in graphic novel form with updated artwork. I received an arc from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. Hovergirls follows two cousins Kim and Jalissa Vasquez who move to Los Aquaceros ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! King of Dead Things came on my radar with it's promises of Afro-Caribbean fantasy and a fresh fantasy from a Black British author. My love of reading stories about Black people from all over the diaspora and specifically seeing Black boys at the forefront of the story made this a must read for me. If you're interested keeping reading.  King of Dead Things follows the Malcom and Eli, two Black teens navigating London's magical underbelly. Eli, has no memory of where he came from but he does have special magical skills which he uses to heal people and do odd jobs ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I don't think I even checked the premise of Out of Office before I decided to read it. Truth be told A.H. Cunningham had me at Afro-Panamanian love interest. There's not a lot of traditionally published romance that highlights the multiculturalism of Black people so it's a treat when I discover one. I received a finished copy from Harlequin in exchange for an honest review. You can buy the book here.  Genevieve is a woman who has a lot of pressure on her to succeed. She works for a major hospitality company and has been in Panama for the past few weeks helping o ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Earth Day is right around the corner and I am all for talking about respecting the Earth from a young age. For Easter I gave all the young children in my family their own grow kits so they can try growing something of their own. I wanted to recommend some children's books that features kids caring about the Earth. Zandi's Song Zandi was always thinking and dreaming about the ocean. Then, one special day, the ocean calls for her. Zandi tentatively approaches the water—and that’s when her adventure begins! She soon finds herself transformed into a mermaid and on an unf ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I read her debut Why We Play With Fire back in January and if you're looking for a YA about the children of gods and goddesses that has cool lore that pulls from cultures around the world I suggest checking it out. But keep reading to find out more about the author behind the book.  How did you celebrate getting a book deal? By telling everyone I knew! And popping open the bottle of champagne I bought four years before and was saving for when I got a literary agent—turns out I didn’t need one! What was the inspiration for Why We Play with Fire? I was inspired to ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Lore of the Wilds has been a much buzzed about fantasy from the time the cover dropped last year. There's so few books in traditional publishing with Black Fae so that alone made me want to pick this up. I received a finished copy from Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review. If you want to know my full thoughts on this book keep reading. When tragedy strikes her village Lore, a human living in a world of fae surrenders herself and is taken to Wyndlin Castle, where she is instructed to organize books by dark fae Lord Syrelle in his library. Soon aft ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been meaning to get to Squad Goals for some time now. And since I'm looking for more middle grade for my niece I've been reading different books to find books to suit her taste. Right now she's been leaning more into the horror, paranormal, spooky stuff but she also is a big sports kid. So I got 3 new library cards recently and one of my libraries alerted me that Squad Goals was ready to read so I jumped on it. If you're interested in it keep reading to hear my thoughts. Magic Olive Pointdexter comes from a long line of cheerleaders and a father who was an NBA l ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I read Salsa Magic in December of 2023 and I was impressed by the voice of the main character Maya so much so I had to do my research on the author of this strong debut. Then I decided I needed to feature Letisha Marrero on here so even if you haven't read Salsa Magic yet keep reading. And you can get the book here.  You’ve written about various topics  from entertainment to parenting across various publications such as Latina Magazine, Vibe, TV One, and NBC among others. What made you decide to get into writing? Honestly? I’ve been writing since I was fiv ..read more

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've always had a fascination with space. I visited the Kennedy Space Center 2 years ago right before the Artemis 1 launch and I followed Victor Glover's updates from the international space station. So I was ready to see an astronaut love interest in a romance. Etta Easton reached out to me and asked if I wanted an arc of The Kiss Countdown so keep reading to hear my honest review. Amerie "Mimi" Price has started a new event planning business after an incident with a client got her fired from her previous company and it's been a rough start. The rent for her apart ..read more