Books and Sensibility

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Book Review: Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

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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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Audiobook Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

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320 pages | Titan Books | Historical Fantasy | 11 Hours 56 mins

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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. …

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Audiobook Review: The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

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.

Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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512 pages | Tor | Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Release Date: 08/04/2020

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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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#BFRaT Read-a-thon Sign Up

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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

Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest

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Unrated| 336 pages | Roaring Brook Press| Contemporary | Release Date: 8/25/2020

Evie may come from  Hollywood royalty but she’s about to become a breakout star on her own…until an internet scandal costs her everything. Evie has one last shot to reclaim stardom–but to seal the deal she’ll need her legendry grandmother’s permission to star in a remake of her classic film. The only problem? Her grandmother has runaway from home. Now Eve has to traverse New York City with the help of Milo, an upstart viral internet musician, to bring her grandmother home.

This a YA novel I’ll have to file under books I know teen me would have enjoyed. Mostly because this is an easy book to recommend with one of my teen favorites This Lullaby. I mean who doesn’t want more books featuring a protagonist with a celebrity family who finds themselves tangled up with a group of lovable goofy aspiring musicians?

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