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It’s Black History Month and we thought we’d celebrate by publishing some of the best books by Black authors we read last year. All of these received DIK grades from AAR and all are worth your time.
Enjoy!
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/hearts-on-hold-by-charish-reid/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/deathless-divide-by-justina-ireland/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/these-ghosts-are-family-by-maisy-card/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/how-to-stay-by-christina-mitchell/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/the-boyfriend-project-by-farrah-rochon/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/the-point-of-it-all-by-christina-c-jones/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/a-duke-the-lady-and-a-baby-by-vanessa-riley/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/queen-move-by-kennedy-ryan/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/take-a-hint-dani-brown-by-talia-hibbert/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/party-of-two-by-jasmine-guillory/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/the-hitman-by-katrina-jackson/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/like-lovers-do-by-tracey-livesay/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/charming-as-a-verb-by-ben-philippe/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/daughters-of-jubilation-by-kora-lee-corthron/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/early-departures-by-justin-a-reynolds/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/how-to-catch-a-queen-by-alyssa-cole/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/confessions-in-b-flat-by-donna-hill/
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/snapped-by-alexa-martin/
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Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk About Love is $2.99 at Amazon today! A lovely YA romance from a Black author and part of our Daily Deals.
Funny you should ask: Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson. It didn’t get an A/DIK review here at AAR, and I just posted my comments about the book to the review. But I’m hoping the author will write more, better stories based on its interesting characters and setting.
I really enjoyed Hearts On Hold By Charish Reid when I read it back when it first came out. I think it would be a great book for anyone looking for nice contemporary romance to read around Valentine’s Day. The hero is very sweet and there isn’t a lot of big drama or anything super upsetting that happens. Just the usual romance angst/conflict and career related problems.
I agree! I’m not usually a CR reader, but Hearts on Hold had a nice vibe to it. Even if meddling mothers aren’t your thing, I’m glad to say it felt natural and wasn’t overdone. Also, the niece the hero is temporarily raising isn’t a traditional grating plot moppet, which is another bonus. She feels like a real middle school girl dealing with realistic, age-appropriate concerns and problems. Workplace drama? It plays a significant role in the story, but again, it doesn’t take over the romance.
In short, if you are looking for a contemporary romance that puts the emphasis where it belongs (on the hero and heroine’s developing relationship), then I definitely recommend Hearts on Hold.
P.S. My one nitpick is the mismatch between the cover model of the hero and his description in the story. Yes, I know the author doesn’t pick the model, but I was a little jarred to see him described as a “Viking” when the art department chose a guy with a more laid back beta male vibe. That didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the story, or anything, but be aware it’s a tad misleading. For me, I was running with the idea of a soft, average Joe librarian only to be smacked with typical romanceland descriptions of his appearance. I know, Chrisreader, you said the “Viking” thing is what made it work for you. But it felt a little forced to me. It just goes to show you, no two readers ever read the same book!
I had a few nitpicks/questions regarding this book but as you say it wasn’t the “Viking” hero. They weren’t anything that detracted from my enjoyment just some “hmmmmm” moments I had reading it.
1.) The fact that the black students at the college had to fight to get groups and clubs that were a regular/accepted thing back as far as at least the 1980’s in my area. It sounded really surprising to me in a book set in 2020.
2.) The heroine being incredibly career focused and wary of her jerky department head yet willing to have hookups in her office and on campus (in one pretty public setting) didn’t ring true for me.
3.) This is more of a question but would parents have readily accepted a guy hosting a sleepover for his teenage niece with no female supervision and his equally young, single guy friend as co-chaperone? I know a widowed guy who wouldn’t host things like that when his daughter (an only child) was young. Would other parents be OK with their young daughters sleeping over when it wasn’t even a male parent in charge?
All excellent points. You have a better memory than I do. Now that you mention them, I’m raising an eyebrow as well.
As for points 1 and 2, maybe they would have worked better in a book set in the past? At least in the sense that they both seem a little dated for a contemporary set in the 21st century.
“Would other parents be OK with their young daughters sleeping over when it wasn’t even a male parent in charge?”
I am continually surprised with what parents allow these days. On the other hand, there are a lot of traditional people who do not allow their kids to go to sleepovers PERIOD. I was definitely raised in the latter camp and think there’s a lot of merit to the idea of heading back to your own roost at night. But I’m getting beyond the topic here…
You’re definitely correct on the YMMV in terms of parenting. I had those old school parents as well.
The widower friend didn’t even attempt to host those kinds of things because he was aware of people’s reticence and relied on his female relatives and female caregiver to do a lot of social things for his daughter. He did remarry some years later and his second wife was excellent with the daughter.
Maybe I’m just showing my age on this one.
“Maybe I’m just showing my age on this one.”
Maybe, maybe not. A lot of it has to do with culture too. America as a whole used to be a lot more conservative and mostly subscribed to the beliefs you mentioned. But when you talk to recent immigrants, a lot of them hold a lot of the same views of Americans in the past. I know a man from Mexico who was quite adamant about his kids not staying overnight at anyone’s house because he didn’t know who the people were- and that went for his son too! He is also insistent that his now-teenage son not spend too much time around young men his own age unsupervised and is against him hanging out at the mall, “because that’s how these young people get into trouble!” Plus, his oldest daughter got married recently and is expecting, so he had the soon-to-be-parents move in with him. Actually a good idea, I thought. That way, they’ll have help from the grandparents when the baby comes.
Like you said, YMMV in terms of parenting. But I do think there is some merit to a number of these “old-fashioned” views. No, I don’t want people to be restricted in cult-like atmospheres. But at the same time, I don’t believe these traditional views automatically deserve the scorn the mainstream media today often heaps upon them. I’ve often said, “If you’re okay with young couples cohabitating, why are you all unglued over adults living with their parents?” (I’m looking at you Suze Orman…) But again, I digress…
On the subject of romance, however, I was pleased that the Harlequin Desire title by Jayci Lee, Temporary Wife Temptation, respectfully handled the cultural norm of the Korean hero living with his parents until marriage. Too often, American media portrays unmarried adults living at home as either losers or super fundamentalists who think the world is only 6,000 years old. So not true, and it was refreshing to see a Harlequin novel that offered a too-scarce portrayal of many people’s reality.
Charish Reid is a great writer, I’ve really enjoyed her contemps!
She’s on my list to read some more of. It’s not easy (for me) to find good contemporary romances that deal realistically with “everyday” people (not SWAT teams etc) and that have a nice romance and some conflict, but not crazy situations.
Is anyone else having trouble seeing the right-hand side of the text (everything that’s in an enclosed box above cuts off about two-thirds of the way across the sentence). I’m reading on an iphone. Maybe it’s that.
It’s fine on my laptop, but yes, it’s cutting off the right side on my phone screen, too (Android) – I have to switch to a landscape view.
It’s OK on my iPad. I haven’t tried it on my phone.
I am trying, thus far with no success, to fix this. Sigh…..
Fixed!