Island Queen – Book Review

Thank you to the publisher William Morrow for this gifted book. “And don’t you ever take abuse or dim your light because of a fool. You’re remarkable. The rest of us are trying to catch up.” “You have to love yourself for more than a moment, ’cause moments pass.”—Island Queen, Vanessa Riley What book(s) haveContinue

The Gilded Years – Review

“I need to keep up the act that I have been keeping up successfully for three years. You are allowed to have your own identity. I have to create mine.” -The Gilded Years, Karin Tanabe The moment you realize the book you’re reading has your mind spinning, your heart racing with the gravity of aContinue

The Nickel Boys – Review

“Elwood never ceased to marvel how you could walk around and get used to seeing only a fraction of the world.  Not knowing you only saw a sliver of the real thing.” I don’t often, matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever, pre-ordered a book. But I promptly and without hesitation pre-ordered Colson Whitehead’sContinue

The Wake of the Wind – Review

“And the wind never will blow all life away, you just got to find a way to live in the wake of that wind.  Cause it leaves a wake,  full of trash flying around everywhere.” There are few who can craft and create as J. California Cooper does.  Her work should be savored while youContinue

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie – Review

In the first of twelve chapters, it’s 1925 and we meet a young black girl of fifteen named Hattie. Hattie left the state of Georgia for what she dreams is a better life in Philadelphia married to a man named August. Each chapter is named for one or more of Hattie’s children. In the firstContinue