Warm, cozy romance that is, save for a few curse words, very family friendly! I especially loved that the protagonist was a brown woman.

Wow this book made me laugh and cry and wonder are we all living the same experience?? As a first generation immigrant, I can identify with Zauner's struggle to connect with her mother and heritage, her love tempered with feelings of isolation and wanting to fit in. Oh and boy will this book make you hungry! 

Not as good as the others in the series!

Got bored

It just didn't resonate with me like her other books.

 Thanks Knopf and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available May 28th 2024.

Searing and vulnerable, KB Brookins' Pretty is an exploration of what it means to be a Black trans male in the American South today. Told through prose essays and bursts of poetry, the memoir follows KB from childhood in Fort Worth to adulthood in Austin, TX. Alongside personal experiences, KB meditates on a range of subjects such as hospital care for trans people, working in the nonprofit industry, and pursuing an MFA. One of the most powerful parts of this book was when KB takes accountability for past abusive behavior - it showed true vulnerability with the audience. 

Thanks Random House and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

There are no words to describe what a gift Morgan Parker's You Get What You Pay For is as a collection. Weaving the personal and political, Parker discusses how enslavement and colonization continue to impact race and social structure in the US to this very day. She grapples with the trauma and inheritance of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and the shortfalls of reparations. Some musings can get a little dense, but overall this book is a detailed and precise interrogation of what it means to be a Black woman in America.

I enjoyed this book but would have enjoyed it more if it weren't mandatory reading for class.

Thank you Ecco and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy! 

Available April 30th 2024.

Bite by Bite is a gastronomic delight, exploring personal, political, and social history by excavating the author's food choices. I've long loved Aimee Nezhukumatathil's wonderful prose - World of Wonders is one of my favorites of all time! Bite by Bite is no different, only the focus this time is food. I loved every delicous turn in this book, the way we could zoom in and out of the discussion at hand while still being carefully led to our final destination. There is so much grace, love and tenderness here, so much earnest joy and gratitude that I, as the reader, walk away feeling lighter, happier, and ready to engage with the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available!

Truly there is no word for to describe the beautiful, painful, and haunting way Tracy K Smith excavates her family's history, starting in the Antebellum South to the current day. In lyrical and prosaic style, each chapter builds upon the last until we return with Smith to her native land in Alabama. In this book, the personal is political and Smith spares no detail in the precise way she maps the brutal history of slavery and racism on her own family tree. Yet, there are moments of levity, of joy - particularly in the chapters where Smith describes her own experience of motherhood. I could sense Smith's struggle in writing such a deeply personal work and felt vulnerable alongside her. An absolutely stellar, urgent read!