February! I love reading month! Black History Month! Black History is every month and Black History is everyone's history! Every month is the month to read Black authors!
Here's what I've been reading since the January 2022 linkup:
Engrossing Reads
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angelina Boulley - Ugh knife through a heart big feelings loved this. What a main character - what tremendous surrounding characters. Reckless teenager things without care for danger. Huge traumatic events. What a great reading experience. I loved the setting and all the tribal background aspects also. OCNJ library hard cover
The Fields (Riley Fisher #1) by Erin Young - This is the allegedly the first in a series, and some of the difficulties I had reading this I attribute to that. The first series book is rarely my favorite, but this one kept me in enough to definitely be in on the next one. OCNJ library hard cover
Chloe Cates is Missing by Mandy McHugh - I certainly did not expect to be as drawn into this one as I was. Let's be honest though I request a lot of books on Netgalley and when it comes time to read them forget anything that might have prompted me to request it unless it's a known author or I liked the title. Interesting little layers in this book. This was a RIDE. The last 25% like constantly WHAT IS HAPPENING. This was darker than I anticipated when I started, and better too. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby - The copy I borrowed from Jana sat on my bookshelf for an eternity and this is the one where I finally read it. Quick and violent AF. I liked this more than Blacktop Wasteland and liked both dads despite myself. Hard cover, Jana's copy, borrowed and mailed back
Passed the Time Just Fine
Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow - This was dark as hell. It is about teenagers but it is not YA. It was a quick read and had me guessing at various things of what was actually going on. I was not correct and what was actually going on was completely horrible. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. Book publishes today
Shadows of Pecan Hollow by Caroline Frost - This book felt familiar at the start, like a little bit of She Rides Shotgun, maybe? I think that's the title I'm thinking of. This sagged in a few spots, and could have benefitted from an edit of about 50 pages, but that didn't stop me from liking it. Some of the small town characters were delightfully weird and I wish Frost leaned harder into that. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. Book publishes today
The Coast-to-Coast Murders by James Patterson/J.D. Barker - This was fine. Totally fine. Actually I liked it a lot except to heft it around is annoying, and that's because of the short chapters. The end was wild. I'm pretty sure this is a book I bought early on in Covid and had to make like a whole Target order out of the few groceries I was trying to source for delivery. Remember those times? Kill me. Hard cover, own, passed on to Dad
The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart - I started this and then stopped because I was not in the mood for heartbreak. It is tough but there are light spots - do not think this is Four Winds type of dreary. I know people are comparing it to Four Winds as a compliment but I don't think that is a compliment LOL.I loved Rae Lynn, she is a great character. I came around to Del also. I also learned a lot about turpentine, absolutely none of which I knew before. Good writing. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review
A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak #1) by Dana Stabenow - I came across this series sometime last year? I bought the first one on Kindle to interview it. There are quite a lot of books, and I think I'm going to give it a go. Since it's an old series, if I continue to click with it I'll always have another standby comfort/kick me back to reading read if I get in a rut. Kate is a great character. Kindle, own
Find Me in the Dark (Detective Harlow Durant #1) by Dea Poirier - I got this on kindle because I have the second in the series from Netgalley and we do not read two before one in my universe. Solid enough to continue to two, which is all that is required. I give a lot of leeway to the first in a series. This only needed some of that. Kindle, own
Didn't We Almost Have It All: The Genius, Shame, and Audacity of Whitney Houston by Gerrick Kennedy - More of a collection of essays of factors in Whitney Houston's life and the author's thoughts on them than a true and full biography - if you know that going in, you will get it. Solid points on how we treat people in the public eye (and private, of course) who struggle with addiction or mental illness or any sort of visible rough patch, what we demand of people who are famous and of Black women and women in general, and the overall concept of shame and how that colors our world. We dishonored Whitney during her struggles, and that's on all of us Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review
Not Worth It
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner - I don't even know what to say. All assholes from the start, difficult to care about a damn thing. To add insult to injury, I kept thinking there would be a point so I kept reading and there was not, friends. There was not. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen - We did not click in what is likely a good for you, not for me scenario. I was not into a book about wanting to have kids.
Linkup Guidelines:
2. Link back to us in your blog post - if you want the button you can get it from that link
This link up is the second Tuesday of every month and will happen as long as we post about reading books. All are welcome to join us! The next linkup is Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
1. Visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me, and check in with as many in our reading circle as you can - give some love to the later linker uppers! 2. Link back to us in your blog post - if you want the button you can get it from that link
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