Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Part mystery, part coming-of-age narrative this is a captivating story of friendship, found family, and what it means to belong.

There have been quite a few new developments in 12-year-old Alberta Freeman-Price’s life. Her best friend is suddenly more into boys than surfing, her surrogate mother is moving in and, most exciting of all, a Black girl moved in across the street. Alberta is ecstatic to have another Black girl in the majority-white oceanside town of Ewing Beach. But Edie Whitman, with her Brooklyn pride and goth aesthetic, is not at all what the sunny, surf-loving Alberta expects.  

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Over The Top by Jonathan Van Ness

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

In this revealing memoir, the bubbly grooming expert from Netflix’s Queer Eye shares their past struggles with addiction, childhood sexual abuse, and disordered eating. Van Ness takes readers along on their often messy and deeply complicated journey to becoming the on-screen persona adored by millions of fans.

Needless to say, this is a heavy read. 

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Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood

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I didn’t make any official goals this year but one thing I’m trying to do is read more “literary fiction” and books by men of color. 

The Bad Muslim Discount is a carefully observed coming-of-age story of two young Muslims–Anvar, a sarcastic Pakistani immigrant in San Francisco, and Safwa, a young Iraqi woman burdened with endless tragedy in a country torn apart by war. 

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The Bounce Back by The Bounce Back Addie Woolridge

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After a disastrous show, performance artist Neale Delacroix decides to trades in the stage for corporate America–where she discovers she is capable of more than she ever thought possible.

This book is basically about a twenty-eight-year-old who decides to start “Adulting” with the help of her roommate, sisters, and cute new co-worker. I would classify this book as women’s fiction with a splash of romance. I know teen me would have loved to read a book centered around an eccentric but loving family of sucessful Black artists living in Washington state.

The book is light and humorous. Woolridge notably creates a wonderfully diverse and inclusive community in a way I wish more authors (and editors) would. Neale is an easy character to root for though at times she does come off as (for lack of a better word) a bit like Mary Sue. She is always able to make things work in her favor and anyone who slightly questions her is a villain.

I gather this book is a part of a series that follows the three Delcroix sisters. While I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by starting with book two, I can see the appeal of going back to the first book.

This is from Amazon’s Montlake Imprint. I know Amazon is an evil corporation but I find that I enjoy books put out by them.

Unrelated, the art style on this book cover just doesn’t work for me. It’s a little to abstract. Also I feel like putting the love interest on the cover makes it seems like this is a romance–which it is not. On the flipside, I think if they put a sole female character on the cover it looks YA.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

On a wild secluded Irish island, friends and family gather for an exclusive celebrity wedding. As the big day approaches, secrets are revealed and one person won’t make it off the island alive.

I picked up The Guest List because all the marketing described Foley as a modern-day Agatha Christie. I went in expecting a parlor room whodunit mystery but that wasn’t what I got. Instead, it plays out more like a modern-day grip-lit thriller.

I was kind of annoyed that all the women’s stories are rooted in motherhood or their relationship with men. Meanwhile, the men’s stories focused on their ambitions and careers. 

The setting is key to this story and Foley nails the ominous and desolate setting of the island. It’s very foreboding.

This book is character-driven and therefore lends itself well to audio. Each of the narrators embodies their characters. Narrator Olivia Dowd in particular nailed Jules–the cold, determined, and successful bride–who accounted for everything when planning her perfect wedding except murder.

Overall a gripping slow-burn mystery with a twist I didn’t see coming.

Redemptor by Jordan Ifeuko

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Redemptor continues Tarisai story as she takes her place as Aritsar’s Empress. Before she can build a better country she will need to build her own Council of Eleven and survive her upcoming journey through the underworld.

Again I was taken in by Ifukeo’s imagination and her ability to build big elaborate mythologies. I usually believe in Death of The Author when I read a book, but I’ve watched a few of Ifueko’s TikToks about this book, so I knew going in that aspects of this book were metaphors for living with depression and mental illness. I think Ifeuko pull tshis off really well.

Unfortunately, this book has a few weaknesses that brought it down to me. The most glaring one is that this book really should have been a trilogy. There was way too much to cram into this one book.

To me, Tarisa’s journey through the underworld should have been its own book, instead of the last ~20% of this book. . This journey is built up as this big harrowing experience and I was shocked at how short this section was. That said, these were some of my favorite chapters. Ifeuko’s version of the underworld was bleak and haunting. She built out this very detailed realm that could have absolutely been explored in one book

A majority of the book is spent with Tarisai gathering her own Council of Eleven which means we are introduced to 11 new characters in addition to spending time with Tarisai’s original Council of Eleven. The original council gets a ton more page time and I think we are supposed to feel attached to them… but it’s hard because there were so many other people to meet.

Out of all the fifty-eleven characters we are introduced to my favorite was King Zuri, the lofty young royal who isn’t all he seems. I thought he was the breakout of all the side characters. *Slight spoiler*   I think there was sequel bait hinted about this character. We shall see.

I listened to this on audio and there was a name mentioned in the acknowledgment that makes me think that there is a second narrator doing the singing?

If you enjoy the first book and want to live in the world of Raybearer again then I would recommend Redemptor, if you are more there for the characters and relationships this might not work for you.