I am a SUCKER for a good romance book. A good fiction piece that leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy. So that’s what I’m focusing on reading this month. Given also that it’s Black History Month, I want to focus on elevating my favorite Black Authors AND reading new ones.
I remember reading in the summer, when so many of us finally started to do the work, and realize we had to do MORE to elevate the Black voices. We all talked about Anti-Racism and a handful of best-sellers came out of it, telling stories of racial experiences that I, a white girl who grew up in a not very diverse area, couldn’t fathom until the words were in front of me. But I remember everyone saying, we have to read fiction too. These are ALSO the stories worth being read – the stories of POC being successful, and powerful, and falling in love.
This month for my TBR pile, I picked a handful of well-recommended rom-com novels by Black authors – Jasmine Guillory (a personal favorite – if you don’t subscribe to her newsletter, I highly recommend), Talia Hibbert, Alisha Rai, Farron Rochon, and more.
Women’s fiction writers have enough hurdles to go through to get the respect they deserve, add on to that being a POC and the hurdles are tenfold (not that I know from experience…) so let’s elevate these AMAZING writers, not JUST this month, but going forward.
Here are the books I added to my TBR pile/Kindle list for this month because if there’s ever a month to read some rom coms, it’s February AMIRITE?!
- Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
- The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon
- First Comes Like by Alisha Rai
- Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
- Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
- A Taste of Sage by Yaffa Santos
I did finish Party of Two this past weekend – and it might be my favorite of Jasmine Guillory’s. The entire series (The Proposal, The Wedding Date, and the Royal Holiday) is absolutely delightful. I’m onto Get a Life, Chloe Brown – because it’s been on my TBR list for a while and this too, is a trilogy (I love continuing stories!)
What’s on your TBR list this month?