Savvy Summers DOUBLE FEATURE The Sweet Potato Crimes and the Po'Boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Hello my lovely readers! I think I might be turning into a cozy mystery girlie! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
The Sweet Potato Crimes: When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food café, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie's reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area.

The Po'Boy Perils: Savvy has her work cut out when an old friend hires her to cater a company luncheon at a nearby office building on Chicago's South Side. Stepping out of her traditional soul food comfort zone, Savvy whips together a menu of Creole classics, with her own spin, of course—mini po’boys with assorted fillings, sunburst salad, and bread pudding using Great Aunt Essie’s famous buttermilk biscuits. But when someone is found dead in the company’s conference room, Savvy’s culinary creations are suddenly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. While the focus should be on their delicious flavors and inventive techniques, Savvy’s beloved café instead becomes the center of a murder investigation once again.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Hello my lovely readers! I finished this book just in time for the end of Read Africa Month. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Hello my lovely readers!

This was my first read for #ReadAfricaMonth and it's sat on my shelf for DECADES. I actually read through 70 percent of it and then forgot to pick it up again when I was 16. Longest soft DNF ever! Let's get into it. 

SYNOPSIS
Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

QUICK REVIEWS pt. X

 A Most Tolerant Little Town by Rachel Louise Martin
The desegregation of Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee in 1956 by 12 Black students starts off mildly at first. Then the arrival of out of town pro-segregationists leads to violence, riots and eventually the bombing of the school.

*Good story about a little known Civil Rights history. I felt so bad for the students affected by the shenanigans that ensued. I'm glad that the author didn't censor word nigger throughout her book, but the audiobook version bleeped it out...even when it was read by a Black woman. Strange. 4 out of 5 stars.

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
Two people living centuries apart in the same home, discover a door between their worlds. One of these people is a ghost and one of their stories about murder is a lie. 

*This was OK. I was kind of lost with the Japanese mythology, but it was still a fine novel. It also was a bit convoluted at times. 3 out of 5 stars.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Hello my lovely readers! Another day, another re-read. Let's get into it. 

SYNOPSIS
What if you could live forever? In this timeless story young Winnie Foster learns of a hidden spring in a nearby wood and meets the Tuck family, whose members reveal their astonishing discovery of the spring’s life-changing power. Now Winnie must decide what to do with her newfound knowledge—and the Tucks must decide what to do with her. But it’s not just the curious girl who is interested in their remarkable tale. A suspicious stranger is also searching for the Tucks, and he will stop at nothing until he finds them and uncovers their secret.

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Hello my lovely readers!

This book missed the mark for me. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served his time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search for answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.

Heading south toward what is now called the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down.

QUICK REVIEWS PT. IX

 Hello my lovely readers! It's time for some more quick reviews! Lets get into it.

The Finalist by Joan Long
Five authors each with their own secrets, are chosen to complete a deceased novelist’s unfinished manuscript on a remote island as part of a one million dollar contest. But then someone dies and accusations fly.

*Meh. It was entertaining enough. A simple vacation or beach read, but it felt pretty thin. 3 out of 5 stars

Strange People on the Hill by Michael Edison Hayden
A gripping story that reveals what happened to a small American town when an influential white nationalist group relocated its headquarters there, illustrating how radical changes in American politics impact our psyches and divide our communities.

*Too much of a memoir with random bits on Berkeley Springs sprinkled throughout it. Also, way too heavy on the social media aspect of everything. I feel as though there's a way to talk about how residents thought/felt without reducing it to social media fights. 2 out of 5 stars

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Elif Shafak

 

Hello my lovely readers! More and more books are coming off my personal shelves and I'm so happy. This is one of them. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating but her brain is still active--for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life--and the lives of others, outcasts like her.

Tequila Leila's memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces, a highly oppressive milieu with religion and traditions, shaped by a polygamous family with two mothers and an increasingly authoritarian father. Escaping to Istanbul, Leila makes her way into the sordid industry of sex trafficking, finding a home in the city's historic Street of Brothels. This is a dark, violent world, but Leila is tough and open to beauty, light, and the essential bonds of friendship.

In Tequila Leila's death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how Leila came to know and be loved by her friends. As her epic journey to the afterlife comes to an end, it is her chosen family who brings her story to a buoyant and breathtaking conclusion.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Hello my lovely readers! Re-reading this as an adult made me fall in love with this book. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior—to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into ten languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead by Randall Kenan

Hello my lovely readers! I'm happy that I stumbled upon this at a bookstore and decided to check it out from my local library. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
This remarkable collection of twelve short stories is about the diverse folk--black and white, young and old, rich and poor, rural and sophisticated--who live in the eastern North Carolina town of Tims Creek. Among the memorable characters are Clarence Pickett, who at age three began receiving messages from beyond the grave and whose gift seems tied to a hog's ability to talk; matronly Ida Perry, haunted by a boy her judge husband may have drowned years before; Dean Williams, hired to seduce the richest black man in Times Creek, yearning after innocence while he betrays love.

QUICK REVIEWS PT. VIII

Hello my lovely readers! It's time for another round of quick reviews! Let's get into it.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit
The Sharaf family achieved the "American dream." The Afghan refugee family moved to the U.S. raised their children and became wealthy and successful. But then their teenage daughter Zorah brought shame upon their family, resulting in a tragedy. But what really happened? It depends on who you ask.

*I loved this book! It was incredibly original in how Sabit chose to tell their story solely through interviews with friends, co-workers and other members of the community. I listened to this on audio and the full cast was AMAZING. Also, I love an ambiguous ending. 5 out of 5 stars.

Inharmonious by Tammye Huf
When three young Black men enlist in the US Army hoping to serve their country with honor during World War II, their lives are forever changed. Lee, Benny, Roscoe have been friends for ever but the war forces them to do things they wouldn't dream of doing. Benny begins to pass as white. Roscoe marries Benny's sister, Cora, but is unhappy. And Lee, who always loved Cora betrays her and must forgive out how to get back in her life. Based off their decisions, they must all navigate a new sense of self.

*Meh. It was entertaining enough, but it felt uneven. It felt like a majority of this book was about the love triangle between Roscoe, Lee and Cora. I would've appreciated more insight on Benny's passing as well as Roscoe's life with Megan. Oh well. 3 out of 5 stars.

Zeal by Morgan Jerkins

Hello my lovely readers! Sigh. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .

Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her.

Meanwhile in Louisiana, the newly free Tirzah is teaching at the Freedmen’s School, and discovers an advertisement in the local paper looking for her. Though she knows Harrison must have placed it, and longs to find him, the risks of fleeing are too great, and Tirzah chooses the life of seeming security right in front of her.

Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants. As Tirzah's family moves across the country during the Great Migration, they challenge authority with devastating consequences, while of the legacy of heartbreak and loss continues on in the lives of Harrison's progeny.

When Ardelia meets Oliver, she finds his family’s history is as full of secrets and omissions as her own. Could their connection be a cosmic reconciliation satisfying the unfulfilled desires of their ancestors, or will the weight of the past, present and future tear them apart?

Native Son by Richard Wright

Hello my lovely readers! I can't believe it's been 20 years since I last read this book! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

Hello my lovely readers! This is my fourth time re-reading this book and I still love it! Let's get into it.

BACKGROUND
I've already mentioned how I came to discover this book in my post about Koomson's other book My Other Husband.  For the TL;DR version, I saw it in 2010 at a ferry terminal in England, bought it in 2013 and finally read it in 2015 on a cruise to the Bahamas. 

Perfection

SYNOPSIS
As teenagers Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe were the only witnesses to a high-profile murder. Amid heated public debate, the two seemingly glamorous teens were dubbed "The Ice Cream Girls" by the press and were dealt with by the courts-Poppy headed to prison after being convicted for murder and Serena was set free.

Years later, after having led very different lives, Poppy is keen to set the record straight about what really happened. The only problem is she has no one to turn to and no clue where to begin her hunt for Serena.

Meanwhile, Serena is married with children and wants no one in her present to find out about her past. Constantly looking over her shoulder, Serena knows she should come clean to her husband, however, she can't seem to find the words.

With Poppy determined to salvage what's left of her reputation, Serena may not have a choice in reopening a can of worms that may threaten both their lives . . . again.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Hello my lovely readers! 

When I tell you, I STRUGGLED to get through this book...let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

With Love from Harlem by ReShonda Tate

Hello my lovely readers!

I was hesitant to read this at first, since I'm not typically a fan of biography novels. But I'm glad I gave this one a shot. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Harlem, 1943. At just twenty-three, Hazel Scott is a woman on fire. A jazz prodigy, a glamorous film star, and a fierce advocate for civil rights, she's breaking barriers and refusing to play by the rules. Then Adam Clayton Powell Jr. walks into her life. Harlem's most electrifying preacher-turned-politician, Adam is as bold and unyielding as Hazel--charismatic, powerful...and married.

This kicks off a decades-long relationship that propels them into the center of a political and cultural revolution. As Hazel's star rises, Adam takes the national stage in Congress and the couple becomes the toast of the country. But when their affair turns into a marriage, behind the glamorous façade is a battlefield of ego, ambition, and sacrifice. Forced to choose between her music and her family, Hazel must decide what she's willing to lose--and what she refuses to give up.

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa

Hello my lovely readers!

I needed a break from all the nonfiction I've been reading recently and this was a delightful read! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Twenty-seven-year-old Yeon-hwa has inherited a neighborhood bakery from her grandmother. Curiously, her grandmother’s will spells out two conditions: Yeon-hwa must keep the shop going for at least another month and only open it to customers from 10 PM until midnight. Yeon-hwa is hesitant at first; her grandmother was always distant, raising Yeon-hwa after her parents died in a car accident. But she agrees to the terms, hoping that running the bakery will help her to finally understand her grandmother after all these years.

Yeon-hwa soon learns that the Hwawoldang—the name means “flower moon temple” —is not an ordinary dessert shop. The customers who arrive late at night are spirits, there to attend to unfinished business before being reincarnated. The sweets they crave hold some deep significance in their earthly lives, and they expect Yeon-hwa to meet their requests, as her grandmother did.

With each customer who arrives, Yeon-hwa learns which special desserts live in their memories and will help them on their way. Aided by the shop’s resident black cat, Yeon-hwa learns how to find closure for her customers—and begins to unravel her own family’s secrets as well.

QUICK REVIEWS pt. V

Hello my lovely readers! It's time for another round of Quick Reviews! 

We Don't Talk about Carol by Kristen L. Berry
A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home.

*This was a great debut! A little long and the author definitely could've cut half of the fertility plot out, but enjoyable nonetheless. I'm glad there's finally a book out that addresses the plight of missing Black girls. 4 out of 5 stars

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
In June 1975, the Taylor family shatters when two out of their three teenagers are found dead. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the rumors that he was the one who killed them. Now, decades later, his daughter, Olivia, comes back to serve as his ghostwriter for his last book and uncover the truth of what happened that night.

*Decent read. Not terrible, not great. Pretty average. 3 out of 5 stars

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

Hello my lovely readers! I'm burning through books lately. My immediate TBR list sits at 15 that I'm hoping to get through by the end of the year! This book was one of them.  Let's get into it!

P.S. I have a MUCH larger TBR (aka my personal library and my local library) that I plan on tackling next year. 

SYNOPSIS
Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia are in their early twenties and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood—overwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequences—swoops in and stays.

Desiree and Danielle, sisters whose shared history has done little to prevent their estrangement, nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January’s got a relationship with a “good” man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper middle-class family who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.

As these friends move from the late 2000’s into the late 2020’s, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another—amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.

Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin

Hello my lovely readers! I'm really making headway on my 10 Books 10 Decades Challenge  just before the year end. I only have two more books to read and I'll have completed it. This was my first James Baldwin read and wow...what a book. Let's get into it. 

SYNOPSIS
Baldwin's classic novel opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Originally published in 1953, Baldwin said of his first novel, " Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else."