Author: Erica Ezeifedi

Since it’s warming up a bit in some places in North America, the Southerner in me thinks it’s iced tea time.This recipe is so simple, it’s more of a reminder or an introduction instead of a recipe. I’ve been enjoying hibiscus iced tea for a while, but never knew it was called Jamaica in Mexico or sorrel in Jamaica. You can add sugar, ginger, and other things, depending on which country’s tea combinations you prefer.

So this is about some mess of the highest caliber. Egan totally destroys the image of a glamorous, fun American 1920s and exposes it for the hate-filled time that it was. There was a grifter, D.C. Stephenson, who helped to usher in a kind of new age for the KKK. He became the grand dragon in Indiana, and helped to increase enrollment for his branch. Everyone from judges to ministers signed up to terrorize Black people, Jewish people, and whomever else they deemed as different enough form themselves. But when he sexually assaulted a woman, Madge Oberholtzer, she ended up exposing his crimes before her untimely death. Because of her, he was sentenced to life. When I say she deserves her flowers! This is one of those nonfiction books that has a bit of a quicker pace for those of us who are more accustomed to reading fiction. It’s also a good one to read to show how so many discriminatory practices have been able to thrive, even today.

Here, Chung reflects back on her life with her adoptive parents — when paychecks had to stretch and she constantly felt like an outsider as the only Korean person around. It’s when she starts to have her own family that she can really see how different things were from how she thought they were. Her parents start having health complications — her father dies of diabetes and kidney disease, and her mother has cancer — and she sees how frustratingly incompetent the health care industry is in this country.

Odell gets into the thing that runs our lives once we become adults: time. And, surprise, surprise, she finds that the clock was built for profit, not necessarily to help people (capitalism strikes again, in other words). Our very concept of time is worth exploring because, even when we are meant to be caring for ourselves, we are pressed by time. I always like to look at things that are taken as a given, and I suspect that the concept of time factors into cultural differences a lot, so this is an interesting read.

Seletzky had to have had one of the most interesting fathers. He was a member of the Black Power movement and an undercover agent for the Memphis Police Department. He would go on to work for the CIA, and he was in the room when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated (he’s in the picture of the assassination). Seletzky tells the story of her father’s life, and looks at his alliances with nuance. I really like learning more about people who are not quite “big” historical figures, but can speak to major times in history. I feel like it just gives things greater context.

So these peach and almond cookies may be a little adventurous for my barely-bakes self, but they are really cute and very “spring-y.” They’re the perfect little things to pull up to the book club meet up with.

This was thee hot mess girl book for a minute, and has even been called a Black Bridget Jones. in it, Queen Jenkins is 25, Jamaican and British, and having a horrible time fitting into either culture. She wants to make a change through her job at the national paper she works at, but keeps getting relegated to frivolous pieces. But the main thing that makes her messy is her love life. Since breaking up with her boyfriend, which comes at the beginning of the book, she has been on a tear of messy men, to the point that even her friendships are in jeopardy. She makes choices that make you want to scream, but you’ll be rooting for her to pull it all together.

Jane is 18, pregnant, and mentally lost in L.A. To get out of the house — and away from her mother’s and boyfriend’s smothering affection — she works as a pizza delivery girl, where she comes across some interesting customers. None are more interesting, though, than the woman who newly moved into the neighborhood and starts ordering pickles + pepperoni covered pizzas for her son. Jane becomes fascinated, obsessed really, with the middle-aged mom as she herself hurtles towards motherhood.

The first sentence of the official book blurb sounds like something I’d write: “Edie is just trying to survive.” Sis, aren’t we all? Though Edie’s case is a bit different. After struggling for a minute with a dead-end job, losing said job, running through f-bois, and failing within the art field, she meets a middle-aged married white man for a romantic entanglement. His wife has agreed to an open marriage, which eventually leads to Edie being invited into their home. But the reason isn’t because of her relationship with the husband. Not entirely. The couple has a Black child they’ve adopted and assume that because Edie is also Black, she can help guide her. How the adults relate to each other involves a changing amount of sex and power, and their actions aren’t always predictable.

I will never hesitate to recommend a Talia Hibbert book. She completely won me over with her Brown Sisters series, and this one — the third and last — may be my favorite. It’s about the youngest of the Brown sisters, Eve, who, although she is close to her family and feels loved, also feels their constant disappointment. She runs from failed project to failed project before her ruining an expensive wedding makes her parents be more forceful with making her commit to something. This leads to her wandering into a bed and breakfast owned by Jacob Wayne, someone who prefers control and order, and definitely not the purple-haired chaos that is Eve Brown. But when she comes in to apply for the chef position, he’s desperate, especially after she accidentally hits him with her car. With Jacob incapacitated, and Eve Eve-ing all over his B&B, Jacob isn’t sure how long the arrangement will last. But there’s something about her that he finds endearing, and the two may be more complementary that previously thought. When I tell y’all this is a spicy one! Phew. Also, the jokes and dialogue are top tier.