Francis Ray’s writing just feels like it was made for me. I’m low-key a history nerd, so I like knowing all the little fine details about books, authors, and the lore, if you will.

Trouble Don’t Last Always was originally released under a different title: The Turning Point. And what’s so powerful about that is Francis Ray was so moved by the challenges people face in situations of domestic violence and abuse that she started a foundation with the same name. If I could love her more—my goodness. You can tell she was writing from a place of deep care.

This story was beautiful. Poignant.  I love the way Francis Ray builds community around her protagonists. Yes, you have the central couple, but the side characters have weight too. Their lives, their choices, their nuance, it all weaves into the main story in such a meaningful way.

In this book, Adam loses his sight. He’s a doctor, and that loss shakes his identity. He’s trying to learn how to live with his disability. The Lilly is running from a marriage to a bad man, and after someone she deeply cares about passes away, that loss becomes her turning point. So she leaves. But it doesn’t go how she imagined and she ends up somewhere completely unexpected. It’s a  right place, wrong time moment that turns out to be the best thing that could’ve happened.

I don’t want to give too much [more] away, but I love these characters. Their growth, their connection, the way they hold space for each other.

If you’ve never read a Francis Ray novel, please do. I am so grateful that she left her stories here with us. Her words live on, and through them, so does she. May she rest in power. 🕊️ 

The element I love most about this is the truth you find in fiction. May went on her work assignment searching for answers but found something she didn’t know she needed. I really love the way Black history is weaved into this short story.

This was a cute fun read. I loved everything about Choice, his mannerisms, his attentiveness, how affectionate he was😍.  I enjoyed this, they were sweet and filthy— my favorite combo.

<strong>This is such a special book of short stories</strong>

This book of short stories about Black Love and magic is amazing. The author had me captured from page one, sentence one. The first story, Blood Ties made me cry because it was beautiful for so many different reasons. After the first story, I knew I was going to finish this book in one sitting. Every story stands on it own and could easily be it’s own full length book ( and I definitely slid in the authors dms and told her that). This book has passionate Black Love, Cautionary Tales, Speculative Romance, Black Sapphic Love, some fantasy,—EVERYTHING is between these pages and I highly recommend reading this book.

<strong>Beautifully Written Love Story In The Midst of & After Pain</strong>

This was a much anticipated read for me, because of the seeds planted about Tasha and Cole in Go Deep (Book 1 of Unexpected Lovers Series). Tasha is an amazing woman in a horrific situation with a person that claims to love her. In book one, you can discerned that something is wrong and it is severely impacting Tasha—and Cole is aware of some of the details.

Please check the CWs/TWs because this is a heavy read because of the domestic violence/abuse Tasha experiences in her previous relationship.

One of many of my favorite moments/ quotes is when Cole is talking to his mom about Tasha:

“The Road is still a long one.” 
“I know, ma. I’ve got my walking shoes on.” 

I honestly can not put into words how amazing Cole is, a man, a friend, a lover—he is all of that and the author captured his character in a way that allowed him to make mistakes and still be the man you want the Happily Ever After with.

I highly recommend this book, I have no doubt that I will come back and edit this review after I re-read it because this is now one of my book babies.

This is real, grown& filthy. It ain’t gonna be a whole bunch of Pages but it’s to the point! Sometimes you get a lil lazy & gotta remind him & yourself,  what it really is 😉. I enjoyed this & will be bingeing this authors backlist😌

I was angry af when I wrote this🤣, let’s go with 3.5 stars. 
It’s a solid addition to the series, it just pissed me off because I wanted better for Vanna & Hassan. 

I did enjoy that Hassan had screws lose & displayed some lunatic behavior (he was just dumb towards the end) 

Hassan, Hassan, Hassan, you big dummy! At your big age. This is what happens when a city boy & a city girl get together. Hassan made an enemy out of me, this my villain origin story fr🤣. I got Vanna back because no sir. Anyways we in the Black mafia, so on to book 3!

Other Notes:
 Rakim don’t ever need to give another piece of advice because what the hell was that? 

The scene at his house 😒—security 🗣🗣

The handling of the Lamont situation made me proud 

Love that Vanna throws hands

<strong>A Perfectly Imperfect Man Loving A Wonderful Woman</strong>

This gets a ‘highly recommend’ from me. I love Pierre so much, I love that the author wrote him imperfect but he was not completely dependent  on those around him, he was an active participant in his recovery/healing—love to see it. I enjoyed how much of a boss babe Logan was, she was so professional no matter what and I loved to see her stand up for herself  without dropping her crown.  The chemistry was COMING off the pages honey! I was over here cheesing like he was talking to me lmao!  Also love how supportive Pierre’s family was and how much they supported Logan and Pierre. She held her secret a bit long but its cool, it’s dramatic and we need that. Pierre was sexy as hell, that is all. 

Other notes:

Pierre and those grills 🥵
Sienna can STILL catch these hands—til’ this day
I would watch the TV series.
Logan’s parents were a bit raggedy.

This was a doozy, for real. I almost didn’t make it because it starts off heavy af. I was ready to go and get Scarett myself because my boo was suffering. Assad is so sweet, patient, and protective of Scarlett. I love that he paid attention to everything about her, everything she went through, and made a conscious effort to respect her boundaries and not trigger her. I love how encouraging he was to her, giving her the space to stand on her own feet but still being in her corner to support her. My main complaints are that Scarlett suffered so much and I don’t feel she was avenged enough for me. & The solution was not good enough, why would we send her back to hell even for the briefest have time?  I also feel like Scar need more aftercare for the trauma she endured- it just felt like she was facing trigger after trigger and this was suppose to be her happy part. What CWs does this have? Alll of em. 

Make no mistake this read starts off heavy but it get better if you keep reading. Looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

This gets a highly recommend from me. It was a fun read for me even with some of the heavier parts. Quinci is now one of my favorite Sunshine character because she is so sweet but she takes no sh*t from ANYONE. Dymon was a goner from the day he met her🤣. He was grumpy but couldn’t help but cater to Quinci. I don’t even know why they pretended like ending their relationship was a real possibility lol. I enjoyed their banter & the humor in this story. Dymon truly met his match. This was filthy & I loved it, loved their chemistry. 

My only complaints: Kia’s weird a$$ & Dymon’s parents were for the trash & no one can change my mind.  

I wondering if any of the other siblings will get a story 👀