A Justified Love Affair. Kimberly Brown. 2024. 295 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The Santiago family returns in this sequel to The Expiration Date. In it, Emmanuel Santiago finds himself excited by a chance meeting with Racine Bradley at his brother’s coffee tavern. She’s unhappily and unfortunately still married after catching her husband cheating on her in their own bed. She turns to the coffee tavern as a retreat, but it leads to a great opportunity to connect. When she starts to give her estranged husband a taste of his own medicine, Emmanuel is the perfect person for the job. Emmanuel and Racine have an immediate – and intense – chemistry that comes through immediately.  He’s known as a playboy, but their entanglement brings out a side of him that is unfamiliar to those closest to him. It’s clear that Racine doesn’t fall into the same treatment as his situationships, one night stands, etc. This makes for tons of jokes at his and Racine’s expense, luckily from a place of love and affection, if not admiration for her potentially slowing him down a bit.  Nonetheless, at times it feels like so much of a whirlwind that it may be harder for…

Invisible Son. Kim Johnson. 2023. Random House. 416 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]  For so many, the months leading up to and at the height of Covid are this surreal period of time. It was inevitable that the days ran together and to some degree we lost the benefit of time reference. For me, Covid occurred alongside some major life moments that force exact time/date memorization…reading Invisible Son took me through the highs and lows of those emotions/days. Expertly written, I appreciate that Johnson dropped me down the rabbit hole of the little known history of the Albina area. Her ability to give enough that it captures your attention without taking away from her actual story is awe-inspiring. As always, her characters are real – far from perfect – but unapologetically relatable. On numerous occasions I thought I figured it out, but I never did and honestly the ending left my mouth hanging open. 5 stars. Recommended for every teen that now has a global pandemic as part of their memory. Published & currently available online and in your local stores – support the author and this book.

Where’s the Fun in Forever. Ashley. 2023. 98 page. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] A vacation fling always makes for a fun, and hopefully enticing, story. In Where’s the Fun in Forever, Moira and Chance find themselves vacationing on a beautiful Hawaiian island and connect through a series of extremely unfortunate events. While they’re away from home hoping to escape the drudgery of their daily lives, they also can’t seem to stay out of each other’s paths. Both decide to take a chance (no pun intended) to open themselves up to new adventures and experiences, and the result is a passionate fling neither expects to extend to the mainland. Of course things are rarely that simple, so the core of this story is about what brought the two to Hawaii in the first place and later questions what’s next for the pair. Much of the focus is on Moira — her backstory, her relationships, and her changing needs. This isn’t to say that Chance was completely ignored, but he wasn’t given the same depth of backstory or character development she was. At times, it felt that Chance was more of a driver for Moira’s growth and it wasn’t always reciprocated in his…

The House of Eve. Sadeqa Johnson. 2023. Simon & Schuster. 384 pages. [Source: Public library.] In her latest release, Sadeqa Johnson skillfully weaves together the lives of two women, seemingly worlds apart, whose paths eventually cross, leaving both forever changed. The resulting story is one that explores the lengths one will go to for acceptance and the pursuit of their happiness. It’s 1949. In Philadelphia, 15-year-old Ruby fights nonstop obstacles to obtain a prestigious scholarship that she knows are her only path out of poverty. In Washington, D.C., Eleanor is a focused undergraduate at Howard University who’s determined to make the most of her opportunity in a city far from home. Both find themselves in tempted by relationships that threaten to derail the carefully laid plans they’ve created for themselves. Ruby finds herself getting close to a neighborhood Jewish boy whose family isn’t as open-minded toward her as he is. Eleanor faces a similar situation, with a med student who comes from the “right” family with the “right” background, something she doesn’t share. For both, the book explores how they navigate their environments in their attempts to create stability and a sense of belong for themselves. Johnson has a way…

We Over Me: The Counterintuitive Approach to Getting Everything You Want from Your Relationship. Devale & Khadeen Ellis. 2023. Rodale Books. 288 pages.  [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] To many in the IG/podcast/Youtube streets, Devale and Khadeen Ellis aren’t new faces; their popularity as a millennial couple has grown over the years as they’ve let the general public in on their lives as influencers/entertainers and parents to “four whole boys.” I’ve certainly followed their growth over the years, and was pleasantly surprised by the announcement the couple had written a book. We Over Me is a further look behind the curtain of the couple’s relationship while also presenting the approach they’ve grown into that has allowed them to stay together more than two decades.   We Over Me chronicles the trajectory of Devale and Khadeen’s relationship while incorporating insights from the lessons they learned along the way.  Each chapter covers a particular time in their relationship and a challenge they overcame, with alternating perspectives from Devale and Khadeen explaining their thoughts at the time as well as their reflections having seen the other side of the issue. Interspersed are “hot takes” from…