Promise Boys. Nick Brooks. 2023. Henry Holt & Co. 279 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] The beloved principal of Urban Promise Prep is dead from a single gunshot to the head. Three suspects — his own students — are in custody. While police work to find a motive for who would murder a man working to save so many at risk boys, the three students are seeing the futures they’ve worked for crumbling in front of them. Promise Boys follows J.B., Ramon, and Trey as they try to prove their innocence. To outsiders, they each appear to have a compelling motive to hurt Principal Moore, who seems to have a penchant for humiliating them under the guise of discipline. J.B. is described as quiet and smart, but with a size that intimidates and strength that hurts. Ramon is an aspiring entrepreneur whose affiliation with a local gang constantly asks him to choose between the life he wants and the reality he’s in. Trey has already been labelled a troublemaker, but the profile he brings to the school’s basketball team is hard to ignore. Almost immediately, the community erupts into a…

The Monsters We Defy. Leslye Penelope. 2022. Redhook. 384 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] The Monsters We Defy starts with a birth at crossroads; this is an apt foreshadowing of what’s to come for the baby born at the turn of the twentieth century. Clara Johnson was born in a caul and yet, her life comes with none of the fabled luck of being born in her “veil.” Instead, she’s had a life filled with heartbreak and strife. Where she’s unlucky, she is equally headstrong and can be a fierce advocate or enemy. Despite this strength, she’s often at odds with her gift of connecting with the spirit realm. This ends up being the key challenge in the story — Clara’s interactions with the spirits drop a burden in her lap that she can’t afford to ignore but can’t resolve on her own. In her attempt to free herself from a bad deal she made with a particularly powerful spirit, she finds other wayward souls who carry their own burdens and seek their own versions of freedom. There’s her roommate Zelda, an albino pickpocket; Aristotle, an actor whose skill overshadows…

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. Akwaeke Emezi. 2022. Atria Books. 288 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher courtesy of Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.] They say you can’t always judge a book by its cover, but in the case of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, I did exactly that and came out a winner. I was struck by the vivid, indulgent vibe I got from the cover’s illustration, and I wasn’t surprised to pick up on this throughout the book. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is centered on Feyi, a 29-year-old Nigerian-American artist who is at a turning point in her life. She’s been widowed five years and is finally coming out the stupor that her grieving kept her in. She’s committed to picking up the pieces and moving her life forward, though she’s not always sure what moving forward looks like. Part of reinventing herself includes opening herself up to love (or lust). As Feyi leans further into her plan to rebuild her life, she steps into the “dating” scene. She easily meets different men, but actually being vulnerable enough to make a sustained…

It Was All a Dream. Justin Tinsley. 2022. Abrams Press. 352 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] When the impending release of It Was All a Dream was announced last year, I ran to get my hands on it. I was enticed by the opportunity to read a fresh look at one of the most lauded emcees of my youth, but was also intrigued by what perspective an author from my generation would bring to such a well-publicized timeline. Released weeks shy of what should have been Biggie’s 50th birthday, It Was All a Dream presents an in-depth and reflective examination at Christopher Wallace’s too-brief life. It can be difficult to approach a subject like the Notorious B.I.G. with novelty. There is no shortage of film, books, or other media that have already examined his life, career, death, and legacy. However, with It Was All a Dream, Tinsley has the benefit of more than two decades to frame this retrospective. Ample time has passed, allowing him to consider the lasting impacts of Biggie’s short but notable career in ways that couldn’t have been anticipated in the 1990s. The result is a…

Black Love Matters. Jessica P. Pryde, ed. 2022. Berkley. 285 pages. [Source: Public Library.] As a proud lover of all things Black romance, I had to get my hands on this anthology which features essays from some of the most visible names in the field of Black romance publishing and scholarship. With this book, Pryde has brought together long-established names as well as those who are on their rise to consider the ways that Black Love Matters. The result is a book filled with contributors representing all facets of Black life and love, sharing their insights on the genre and what it means for them or critically examining the space that Black love occupies in literature. One of the greatest take aways here is that Black Love Matters gives space to ask the question — why do we need to center Black love? If romance is one of the best-selling segments of the publishing industry, why are Black stories still lacking in representation? In responding to this topic, the authors share their own experiences as creators, consumers, and scholars of Black romance. What I love about this book is that its chapters reflect the complexity of Black writing; there are…