Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Maddie is a young Ghanaian woman in London, who is ready to start living her life after her mother returns from Ghana. Maddie has always cared for her ailing father, but now that her mother is home, she’s going to get an apartment, start dating, and possibly start pushing back at her horrible boss and racism at work. She’s not going to let familial guilt hold her back any longer. But when a tragedy occurs, she has to decide what is important in her life and what she needs — and which things in her life are both. They are not always easy choices, but Maddie is ready to make them. It’s a wonderful, moving debut. (P.S. The book’s title is pronounced ma-meh.) (CW include illness and loss of a loved one, racism, grief, and anxiety.)

Backlist bump: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

So this is one of two of the books Kelly also talked about on the podcast, but they’re so good, I wanted to tell you about them myself! This delightful YA novel is based on the true story of the Patterson family, a wealthy Black family whose patriarch was the first African American to build motorized cars. This book focuses on four young Black women — the two Davenport daughters, their maid, and their friend — and the different challenges they face in their lives as young Black women in America, even when, like the daughters, they come from a wealthy family. One daughter doesn’t want to marry the man her parents expect her to marry, the other is in love with her sister’s suitor. And the other two women both have their hearts set on John Davenport, the sisters’ brother. Will it all work out? This is a wonderful, often romantic novel, about taking control of your destiny in the face of familial expectations, adversity, and prejudice. (CW include mentions of enslavement, violence, racism, classism, and sexism.)

Backlist bump: Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires by Shomari Wills

And last, but not least, who doesn’t love horror and mystery surrounding the prom queen??? When Nova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is murdered, her best friend Duchess is sure she knows who killed her: Tinsley McArthur. After all, Tinsley had expected to win the title, and now with Nova out of the way, she can. Duchess’s father is the town sheriff, but she feels that he is doing a weak job of investigating what happened to Nova, hiding behind town politics, because Tinsley comes from a wealthy, influential white family. So Duchess decides she is going to prove Tinsley did it…even if it kills her. If you love thrilling YA where the kids are not all right, like Tiffany D. Jackson and Christopher Pike, this book is for you! (CW for many things, including racism, classism, bullying, violence, sexual assault, and child death.)

Backlist bump: White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson (and The Weight of Blood, too, but that’s still frontlist.)

This week, I am reading Skull Water by Heinz Insu Fenkl and On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel. Outside of books, I watched the first four available episodes of Poker Face and I loved it. Having just watched all of Columbo last year increased my enjoyment, I think. I also rewatched Good Omens, because it’s important to regularly get a dose of David Tennant. And the song stuck in my head is “Ring the Bells” by James (which is off an album called Seven, and last week the song stuck in my head was also called “7“. Coincidence??! Er, yes.) And here is your weekly cat picture: This is Zevon doing his best impression of an otter. I think he nailed it.