This is the first I've read of this author and I adored this story!  Douglass and Noah were both really sweet and watching them get comfortable with each other and close was adorable.  The supporting characters were also wonderful.  I'm so excited for the rest of the series!

SCREAMING INTO THE VOID BECAUSE I NEEDED THIS BOOK BUT NOW I NEED THE NEXT ONE!!! Apollo and Cassandra have my whole heart. I didn’t expect to get so wrapped up in the mystery along with the romance. This series is so enjoyable I cannot wait until Cruel Seduction. I am heading to Katee Roberts Patreon in the mean time to read every dark Olympus short possible to help me make it to august. 

A very sweet quick read. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is heart warming. 

An amazing collection of poems. I look forward to reading more of this author. 

I'm a huge fan of this collection and this addition did not disappoint.  I think of these books as personal essays, and as a WOC and first gen college student in the US, a lot of what Shavone Charles wrote resonates with me.  But reading this also brought to light the toll it takes to work in tech as a Black woman, during a time when so much of online spaces is driven by Black culture and Black communities, while simultaneously not receiving adequate support.  A must read for anyone in tech, recruiting, mentoring, or communications.

There were some poems in this collection that I think were really great, but the majority felt forced.  I'm not sure if it was the repetitive language in the poems across the collection, but it almost felt like someone needing to finish x number of poems, and writing a few about various topics to hit that quota. Many of the poems didn't seem like a personal reflection so much as a summary or recap of various events or political conversations. Overall, I think this author has a lot of potential and I look forward to their next collection.

A quick enjoyable read. 

This was a short story and I know it focuses on heavy topics like aging, suicide, and depression, but all I could think about was the importance of a third place.  There are so many things I feel like I could talk about just in these few pages.

I’m not sure what I was expecting or when I added this to my tbr but it was an okay collection of poems. I enjoyed the elements of nature but I wasn’t expecting such a religious tone. A lot of them also read like nursery rhymes to me. I liked the contrast between songs of innocence and songs of experience. Throughout the entire collection I think there was one poem, The Little Black Boy, that I think didn’t age well, as the premise is rooted in a lot of colorism. 

I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I had to DNF this book at 26%. I was really really looking forward to a highland romance with a Black MMC and FMC, the background and story behind Black highlanders could have been so interesting to read about but the romantic leads were both very unlikable. While it's typical for the MMC to not want to get married or be a rogue they don't usually hate women. Kallum comes across really strong in the first impression as hating women and it was really hard to like him when his internal monologue continued to view women as annoying. Ailsa could have been really interesting but she gave off "not like other girls" vibes. And a little later you find out that she doesn't speak to or engage with any of the other enslaved folks which just reinforced the feeling that she thought she was better than them. I really tried to power through with the hope that I would grow to like them but then the first time Ailsa sees Kallum naked is when he's peeing in the woods, and I guess it's meant to be awkward and funny but it just came across as really unromantic. That was the final ick. I might come back to this and try again, but at the moment I don't think I can do it.