We're an Open Book
This Friday, Jess and I are co-hosting the Black Friday Readathon with Alysia from Mocha Girls Read and readathon founder, Amber from DuLivre! We’re getting our TBRs together to spend all day reading, playing games, and giving away prizes. There is still time to sign up for the Black Friday Readathon here.
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Unrated | 352 pages | Park Row | Contemporary | 6/16/2020
Trigger Warning: sexual assault, incest and domestic violence
Saving Ruby King examines the past and present of Southside Chicago’s Calagary Baptist congregation after the murder of Alice King. I feel like this could be a read-a-like to The Mothers by Brit Bennett because it’s the story of a specific Black community told through multiple POVs that moves through time.
Alice’s daughter Ruby is left to contend with her abusive father Lebanon–an ex-con who is holding a dark secret over Calgary’s hard-working preacher.
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320 pages | Titan Books | Historical Fantasy | 11 Hours 56 mins
What if instead of The South rising…the dead did? More than a decade after the zombies or “shamblers” began to roam, Black slaves and Native Americans have been forced from the fields and into battle schools to become protectors or Attendants for whites.
Justina Ireland’s re-imagined history is a unique concept that combines historical fiction with action, adventure and light horror as her battle-tested heroine Jane stops fighting to save white people and starts fighting to save herself. At first, I had a hard time with this book because I went in expecting this to be a book about an alternate-universe antebellum zombie apocalypse, but really this is just the setting as the shamblers are the “new normal”. Once I was able to adjust my expectations and our main character is taken from the world she knows and dropped into the untamed wild west, I found this to be a solid read. …
12 hours 12 minutes | Macmillian Audio | Fantasy | Release Date: 3/17/2020
I heard about this book on an episode of RomBkPod last year and ever since then I have seen it EVERYWHERE. Klune is prolific in the m/m indie romance space; his traditional publishing debut tells the story of Linus Baker, a middle-aged social worker for magical children who is given a special assignment at an unusual orphanage where he eventually falls for the orphanage’s master. This book has one of the highest Goodreads ratings I’ve ever seen and charmed both fantasy and romance readers alike. It’s ultimately a warm tale about acceptance, found family and finding home but…it didn’t work for me.
512 pages | Tor | Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Release Date: 08/04/2020
Harrow The Ninth dives back into the dark futuristic world of Gideon The Ninth as Harrow begins her journey to Lyctorhood. Not all is what it seems and Harrow learns some secrets refuse to die. Muir brings her signature blend of cerebral horror, fantasy, and gore with a side of (purposefully) obnoxious humor that will keep dedicated readers wondering …what’s going on? How? Who is that? Wait…what?
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This year, more than ever, instead of standing in long lines or fighting traffic the day after Thanksgiving kickback and join the Black Friday Read-a-Thon created by Amber at DuLivre , co-hosted by Alysia at Mocha Girls Reads and us.
Sign up below and prepare a TBR for a relaxing day of reading, giveaways and encouragement! See you there Friday, November 27th 2020