booktribe's Reviews (603)

     After years of a “good things happen to those who hustle” mindset, Clover Bennett lands a job working as the press secretary for The White House. Clover doesn’t want any distractions. But there is one, the very handsome and very single President, Theodore (Teddy) Elmsworth.

     I was here for this friends to lovers Black romance. I really loved Clover as a main character! She was funny, intelligent, AND a boss! I also really enjoyed her bestfriend, Daysha, as a character. The writing and pacing were great. And I cracked up several times during this novel.

     My only complaint about this novel was the love interest. Throughout most of the book I didn’t like Teddy. I didn’t necessarily think he was a bad person, but he just wasn’t for me. And at one point I did think that he was a good match for Clover, even if I didn’t personally like him. But then I noticed that he raised his voice at Clover multiple times. So when he eventually called her out her name I was not surprised. Anything I could’ve liked about him went out the window when he did that. He is trash. Maybe I would’ve liked him better had this been a dual pov novel. Maybe I would’ve understood him better. But after referring to Clover as a “bitch” as soon as she made him mad, I don’t care to understand him. I did not root for them to be together after that. And to make it even worse, she didn’t even take offense to what he said. Girl stand up! 

I did enjoy this book though because Clover really stood out as a character and I enjoyed the writing. I’ll be checking out more books by Kasha Thompson in the future!

Thank you Webster Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: parental abandonment and addiction briefly mentioned

I spent close to 80% of this book loving it. The pacing was great, there was action, and intriguing scientific discussions. It was everything I love in sci-fi thrillers and I was enjoying it more than Dark Matter. It was going to be a 5 star read. But that last like 20% of this novel was so freaking repetitive and boring that I’m so disappointed. Why why why did I need that long ass final chapter of them doing the same thing over and over??? The same thing happened at least 7 times and I just became so frustrated with the repetitiveness of the ending that I didn’t even wanna finish the book. But I did, and no the ending did not get better. 

I won’t discourage people from reading this, but I also won’t encourage anyone to read it either because there was no pay off for me. I wish I had continued to love this book and I’m so hurt that it was ruined for me.

     We Are the Origin was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I really enjoyed it! I loved the gods, the action, the assassins, and the lovable monsters! This book had me trying to figure out which of the gods would’ve chosen me! (Either Freya or Lindl🥰 Maybe even Asari!)  I didn’t necessarily love all the characters though, and I did find myself confused at times, but I had so much fun with this book and didn’t want to read anything else until I finished! I’m now impatiently waiting on the sequel!

     This graphic novel takes you on a trip through infamous rock and roll legend Jimi Hendrix’s life from the beginning to the tragic end and even into the afterlife.

     First of all, I’ve been a fan of Jimi Hendrix’s music for years and I was so excited to get to know more about his life. I feel like this graphic novel gave me that in a beautiful way. I loved the artwork and vibrant colors of the illustration! And although it’s stated at the end of the book that some of the scenes were fictional, I still learned new things about Jimi, from his upbringing to the problems between him and Little Richard. 

     However I did have a few problems. First, I got confused at times with who characters were. I think maybe I was just expected  to know some of them as rock stars, but I didn’t and I think the book should’ve been a little more friendly to those that aren’t very familiar with some of the popular bands and managers of the time. But my big problem with this book was that some things made me, as a Black person, uncomfortable. There is a scene where Jimi is depicted as a monkey. After finishing the book, in the author’s notes, it said that scene was in reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t understand the context at all. But, non-Black authors and illustrators, understand that it is never okay to depict a Black person as a monkey. Also I felt the author tried to depict the Black people that were protesting after Martin Luther King Jr. died as unreasonable. And I didn’t appreciate that either.

     It’s hard to rate this book because of those problems, but I do think it did its job of teaching me a little more about Jimi Hendrix’s life.

Thank you Diamond Book Distributers/Ablaze and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: nudity and drug use

First of all, look at this cover😍 The gorgeous cover is what made me pick this book up. It had good writing and an interesting plot, but these characters were so terrible! Of course I expected Adeline, the husband’s mother, to be terrible because of the synopsis, but I wasn’t expecting to hate the husband as well. In my opinion, he only sees his wife, Rose, for what she can do for him. Take care of his kids, cook and clean for him, and give him great sex. He doesn’t care about her as a person. So, I would’ve enjoyed the book more if I could’ve rooted for their marriage to survive, but I wanted Rose to leave him and his mama in the past. I did enjoy the writing though and I can see reading another book from Erika B. soon!

When I first started this book I was in love with it! I went in not knowing anything about it except the first sentence of the synopsis. And the book started with interesting perspectives and twists and turns. I was loving it. But then around 60% into the book, I found the story becoming repetitive. At that point every chapter had begun to tell the same part of the story over and over from different perspectives. But most of the time the new perspective didn’t introduce any new information. So it became exhausting reading the same scenes over and over. I still enjoyed the book, but it could’ve been a 5 star read if it wasn’t for that.

I was simply bored

I really liked this romance! Ryan was so sweet. I can’t decide if his love language was acts of service or gifts, but either way I love it! I liked Joanna and all of her sisters too and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series! 

Good story, but these main characters were trash and I literally was rooting for them to die. Specifically the husband. I know we weren’t supposed to root for him right?? Get his ass Nana!

Also, this is the 3rd Brandon Massey books I’ve read. I’ve enjoyed them all, but 2/3 have this trope that I’ve noticed. This poor “innocent”, not innocent at all, man gets targeted by this crazy woman and he must save himself from her crazy and sex filled nature. It’s getting tiring. But I’m reading In the Dark next, so fingers crossed that there’s none of that foolery🤞🏽

     Angela Appiah had what some might call the perfect life. She’s in medical school, with an upwardly mobile boyfriend, and she’s surrounded by successful friends. Until it all comes tumbling down. She doesn’t do well on her latest medical exam, her boyfriend breaks up with her, and problems emerge in her friend group. How will she pull it together and how will this new man, Ricky, that she has her eye on factor into her life?

     The first sentence I read of this book cracked me up! I was into it from the beginning because the easy flowing, but engaging writing really caught me. Some of the scenes were very relatable and others were incredibly cute!  I enjoyed the secondary characters a lot. Especially Nia and Shae. We all need friends like them! My favorite part of this novel though was the conversations on medical racism. It is SO important that we bring attention to this because every Black person that has been around hospitals or doctors enough knows how we are treated. As someone who has experienced medical racism across years of my life, I’m so glad it was talked about prominently in this novel! I also loved other important things that were mentioned in the book like the way we as Black people are treated by Asian store owners, or how African children are often bullied in American schools. This novel brought up so many important things that must be talked about more.

     But there were some things about this book that I didn’t like. The first thing that I didn’t like was the footnotes. This isn’t personal though, I just ALWAYS hate footnotes, it doesn’t matter what book it is. Footnotes always take me out of the story. And I feel like every footnote could’ve either been omitted or added to the text in an actual sentence. They always distract me. But my main problem with this book was the love interest, Ricky. He was just trash! One of those “nice guys” that will do you wrong, but then act like the victim when you call him out and gaslight you into thinking you’re wrong. He’s fun, sure, but he is not someone you take seriously because he changes his mind every two seconds. And the fact that Angie was so dumb for him, made me not like her either. Girl stand up!!!!!

     I did enjoy this book, the main characters were just so exhausting that it was hard for me to read. I would’ve enjoyed it so much better is Ricky hadn’t been so terrible. The book was definitely more good than bad though, so I’m giving it 3.5 stars and rounding it up to 4.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyage and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: medical racism, addiction, talks of illness and hospital related injuries