The Next Book On My List

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson                 When Claudia returned home from spending the summer with her grandmamma the first person, she asked about was Monday. They usually exchanged letters over the summer, since neither has a cellphone, and Monday hadn’t responded to any of Claudia’s letter. But even now that she was back, Monday was nowhere to be found. Her number wasn’t working, and she wasn’t at school the first day, or the day after that. Weeks went by and no one had seen Monday. Monday’s mom claimed she was with her father while her sister claimed she was with an aunt. No one even bothered answering questions about August, Monday’s little brother. Claudia’s mother thought she may simple have moved like her family. Claudia’s father thought that maybe they two eighth graders were growing apart. But no one understood that Monday would have never left Claudia like that. And Claudia was left navigating the world without her best, and only friend. As the m

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon Rishi has always been the traditional Patel brother, steadfast in family tradition and trying his hardest to be a good son. He even encouraged his parents to arrange a marriage for him. Ashish was nothing like Rishi. Deadset on blazing his own path through life, he dated who he wanted, shunned tradition and had dedicated his life to one thing, basketball. But when his heart is broken and his mojo completely crushed, he gives the idea of letting his parents set him up with an Indian girl a shot. Sweetie is also an athlete. She is one of the fastest runners at her high school and has her sights set on running in college. When Ashish’s mom approaches Sweetie’s mother with the prospect of the two dating, she’s immediately stunned. Not because of the Patel family’s reputation, which is in good standing in the community, but because Sweetie’s mom is worried that her weight would cause her to be the source of ridicule. But Sweetie

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas                 When Bri walked into the Ring that night, she knew she had to deliver. She couldn’t walk through those doors, Law’s daughter and not deliver in this rap battle. Deliver she did and while she get some traction on YouTube, it’s nothing compared to the love she gets after she releases her first recording, “On The Come Up.” But people are taking her words and twisting them. She’s not advocating violence against the police. She’s not the girl with clips on her waist. She is the girl labeled aggressive for doing the simplest things like rolling her eyes. She is the girl with a father who was gunned down and a mother who years ago had to battle a drug addiction. She is Bri and the world is finding out who she is at the same time Bri is.                 I just finished this book, blazed through over 400 pages like it was nothing. I couldn’t put this down. Thomas brought Bri and the people in Garden Heights to life in such a stunnin

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin                 I’m trying to process what I just read, while I write this review. I am a sack of emotions and it would make no sense trying to lie to anyone about it. This is the story of Tish and Fonny. It begins with Tish visiting Fonny in jail, telling him that she carries his child. From there we learn of their story, how they have always belonged to and eventually loved one another. How her family became his family and how they planned on becoming a family. But within the pages of this book we learn of how families can function but be dysfunctional, how the legal system can and in some ways is meant to break you and how love, the love we have for each other can be the only thing that gives us hope.                 There were moments when the writing in this book took my breath away. It is beautiful. It is romantic. It is full of just this amplified love between two people, and reading about that love was amazing. Then the

The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton This is the second book in The Belles series. So be prepared, if you haven’t read The Belles spoilers are abound in this review. Proceed with caution                 Camille, Edel and Remy are on the run. The Queen is dead and Sophia is positioned to take the throne. Even though Camille revived Princess Charlotte before she fled, rumors are circulating that she too is dead. But that’s not the only thing troubling Camille. Most of what she has known her entire life is a lie: where she comes from, how she can use her powers, what lives in her blood. There is so much more to it than just the existence of other Belles outside the favorite generation and it rattles her to her core. And now she is also learning about the Iron Ladies. The resistance trying to tear the concept of beauty down in Orl é ans.                 I reread The Belles before starting this book and I am so glad I did. All the nuances and references to the exi