Holy moly. I wanted so badly to be so much more on it this year when it came to blogging.
That has not happened.
Anyhow.
Quickfire Reviews is a thing I do very sporadically when there are books to talk about that I should have reviewed but haven’t. This time I'm going to spotlight some books by Black authors that I've read recently.
What’s it About? Told in verse, it's about Michael who is gay and Black and trying to find his place. We follow him through his life from age 6 to his university years
What I liked This was beautiful. I'm getting a bit of a thing for books told in verse, like this one; it just feels fresh and unique and clever and I am so here for it. Michael is such a wonderful character - the cutest little boy, the most excellent young man and watching him grow, both into his sexuality and also finding his place as a Black teenager was just gorgeous. This book is just so so wonderful.
What I liked Less I gave it 5 stars y'all, but I guess I wish there had been more insight into the Drag club; it obviously meant so much to Michael and was such a big part of helping him find peace and I felt like we only got to see it a little bit from a distance.
What’s it About? Thandi is caught - black but not; American but not - and has lost her Mother to cancer. This is about her, about losing her Mother, about looking for love, about her own unexpected motherhood.
What I liked All of it. Everything. I read this in a day because it's one of those books that once you start you can't finish. It's incredible. It made me feel so many things, viscerally. It's beautifully and thoughtfully written. It's sharp and concise and packs a hell of a lot into its not very many pages. It's tender and heartbreaking and real. I absolutely loved it.
What I liked Less It's impossible to pick anything other than I wish there had been more. I wanted to bask in Zinzi Clemmons' words for so much longer.
What’s it About? Kerry is a single Mum on a tough London estate; Noah is a successful barrister with a wife and child. He's also Kerry's brother, adopted when they were children...
What I liked Ok, so I didn't. I didn't think this was that great. I get why some people might love it, I think, and the concept is really great but it just didn't work.
What I liked Less It dragged. I was so bored in the middle. Kerry felt to me like a female character written by a man, which she was, but I don't like the ways in which that was obvious, you know? The dialogue is weird, it felt kind like a middle grade level book aimed at an adult market? Also (spoiler) don't just use cancer to make me feel things about your characters please.
What’s it About? One night white blogger Alix calls and asks her Black babysitter to take her daughter to the local shops to get her out of the house. She's accused of kidnapping by a security guard...the book is basically an exploration of Alix and Emira and their relationship with and to one another.
What I liked This was really good. It's an easy read that covers some important topics - a really interesting look at the subject of white saviours - both Emira's boss (Alix) and boyfriend are white and it's a clever look at the dynamics of those relationships. I really enjoyed watching how Alix and Emira's lives intersected and overlapped.
What I liked Less I did feel a little bit at times like the plot was thin on the ground but ultimately this book hit home in all the ways I think it was supposed to.
What’s it About? It's about teen Mum Emoni Santiago who cooks to escape from her actual life.
What I liked This book is lovely. I suspected it would be after really liking Acevedo's The Poet X and it did not disappoint. It's lovely. The chapters are short so it's easy to read. It's lovely (did I say that?) and rich and human and there's this super cute slow burn romance and it made me hungry.
What I liked Less I don't even know. I can't think of anything I didn't much like - it just didn't blow me away like my 5 star books have to.
