Cardyn Brooks's Blog, page 13
January 22, 2023
Family Legacies Across Continents and Generations
The Color Line by Igiaba Scego literary fiction Other Press, October 2022
Rebels, infidels, invaders, patriots, anarchists, immigrants, migrants are all considered suspicious "others" by their various adversaries. Two women, Lafanu in the late 1800s and Leila in 1992 through 2019, wrestle with labels of otherness imposed upon them by societies and cultures that evolve, atrophy, and regress on issues of freedom and autonomy and inherent safety for people who are Black, Brown, female and/or otherwise considered less worthy of having their humanity and its complexity recognized and respected. The Color Line examines and celebrates people who refuse to internalize racism, sexism, misogyny and other biases to step forward into dangerous, unknown, forbidden places and spaces.
Lush emotive prose in this English translation from its original Italian transports the reader. At the end, the author's note followed by pictures of actual significant landmarks mentioned in both timelines add to the richness of the historical context and sources of inspiration.
[note: although not gratuitous, racial slurs and other hate speech consistent with the attitudes of colonial imperial conquest and white supremacy appear occasionally throughout the 1800s sections and more rarely in the contemporary passages]
For You When I Am Gone, Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story by Steve Leder nonfiction Avery, June 2022
From the introduction: This book invites you... to generate the material from which you can create an ethical will so that the people you love will never have to guess... when you are gone.
Each of the twelve chapters asks one question, offers a relevant quote, provides a contributor's real-life circumstance and their deeply personal response to it within the context of the question. Their honesty and vulnerability make this text emotionally intimate, riveting reading. It challenges and inspires everyone to compose their own ethical will. In the epilogue the author shares his in an act of brave generosity that echoes and reinforces the power of the previous chapters.
Weekly Reading Binge Stephen R. Donaldson's work is a sentimental go-to read ever since my 12-year-old self stumbled across the "Thomas Convenant" series at the public library many, many years ago. Farrah Rochon always delivers fully developed characters, engaging conflicts, humor, emotional intimacy, sexual heat and all the feels.
January 15, 2023
Still Dreaming of Justice for All + More
[In above image b & w picture of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Civil Rights advocates is from the endpapers for Let Freedom Ring, Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the March on Washington by Kitty Kelley.] Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne contemporary literature, romantic Berkley, November 2022
Liza and Dorsey's story is a love letter to the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia region (the original DMV) that acknowledges the range of its complexities and contradictions. Effective grassroots community engagement struggles against political and corporate interests that prioritize profit over people. Exploring family nuances and legacies in behavior patterns and expectations in addition to genetics and finances add richness to an already dynamic reimagining of a literary classic. It's often humorous, especially the summary bullet points of oppressive annoyances (my label for them).
Lady Hawthorne (San Francisco Mystery Series #7) by Alexi Venice, author & publishercontemporary mystery suspense with romance December 2022
Picking up where #SandyBottom ended, Amanda and Jen's relationship drama gets paused when the threat of potential for a global mass casualty event demands their immediate and full attention. Amanda's previous romantic involvement with Roxy ups the odds for more personal messiness. International intrigue, ominous family secrets, tricky romantic entanglements, along with a dash of entertaining speculative woo-woo and more make this seventh entry in the series a narrative pivot that offers an easy, charming read with some elements of campy fun.
[note: Bad actors not from the U.S. are often referred to as "the Russians" and "the Chinese" which might clank for some readers.]
Weekly Reading Binge Titles*
*Some people binge visual media; I binge books. #noapologies
January 8, 2023
Magical People, Places, Sleuths & Wise Women
Anthologies - fantastical worlds, multifaceted characters, engaging themes, adventurous journeys
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Sheree Renee Thomas, Oghenechovwe Ekpeki, Zelda Knight Tordotcom, November 2022
We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2021 edited by L.D. Lewis, Charles Payseur Neon Hemlock Press, October 2022
All Kinds of Love
Witchful Thinking (Elemental Love #1) by Celestine Martin contemporary speculative romance Forever, September 2022
To avoid spoilers, my general feeling is that the author of this delightfully layered and whimsical love story about finding one's purpose, place, and people is probably a fan of some early Tom Hanks movies. Lucinda and Alex's connection exudes #relationshipgoals.
Blackmail and Bibingka (Tita Rosie #3) by Mia P. Manansala contemporary mystery Berkley, October 2022
Ah, family... Can't work with them without drama, can't let them get wrongly accused of committing murder--even if maybe sometimes they make you so crazed that you're tempted. Really tempted. Lila and Tita Rosie feed their family's and community's bodies and souls while figuring out who's really guilty. Cue the mayhem. Plus, scrumptious recipes!
Small Town, Big Magic (Witchlore #1) by Hazel Beck contemporary speculative romance Graydon House, August 2022
A bit of a more light-hearted The Witches of Eastwick collides with The Stand and ends with the suggestion of a cliffhanger, generating anticipation for the next installment of Emerson and Jacob's story in August 2023.
January 2, 2023
New Year, Big Book Energy
Happy New Year!
This year is scheduled to be my most hectic professionally with multiple writing projects, the expansion of The Write Women Book Fest from one day to two along with additional partnerships, and other commitments and goals outside of my bookish endeavors. So fewer and much shorter reviews this year even though I'll probably (try to) read as much as usual.
Seduced by Passion (Billionaire Island Brides #1) by Ana E. Ross contemporary romance, December 26, 2022
Xiomara and Raph's love story is a sweeping family saga filled with secrets, conflict, temptation, themes of cultural historical context, in addition to an emotionally layered development of their relationship. Plus, blazing chemistry.
No More Sidelines (Solomon Pro Athletes #1) by Leslie North contemporary romance, December 22, 2022
What starts as a series of adversarial encounters leads to a cease-fire that evolves into friendship then love for Claire and Marcus in this thoughtful, compressed story about grief and moving forward from different types of loss. Their story offers an immersive sense of the volatile dynamics of competitive environments in professional sports and performance innovation.
[note: original copyright date of 2018 is probably why the Washington Commanders NFL team is referred to by their previous name in the eARC NetGalley provided]
Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin contemporary women's fiction-romance hybrid Berkley, November 2022
As much about generational connections and mentorship, chosen family and crossroads as it is about romance, Drew and Jasper's love story is complicated, tenderhearted, and fun in addition to being thought-provoking.
December 10, 2022
Winter Holidays Hiatus Untill January 2023
Only 3 more weeks of 2022 and there's so much to do!
Buy gifts. Wrap gifts. Deliver gifts. Send cards. Read purely for pleasure. Attend awesome bookish events like the engaging Fatty Fatty Boom Boom discussion with the author hosted by the Prince George's County Memorial Library System at the Greenbelt Branch a few days ago. Bake goodies. Share goodies. Enjoy goodies. Appreciate friends and family. Socialize. Write. Rest.
Merry, Happy, Joyous, Festive Holy, Pagan and/or Secular Winter Holiday Celebratory Wishes to all!
November 5, 2022
Looking for Love in Dangerous Places
Matchmakers Run Amok Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai contemporary romance, Avon, October 2022
Mira's and Naveen's pasts come back to bite them while offering opportunities to heal in this romp with substance.
Sweetwater and the Witch (Harmony #16) by Jayne Castle paranormal romance, Berkley, September 2022
Can two people with sketchy dating histories perfectly match each other? Ravenna and Ethan find out while working together to answer questions about shady dealings.
The Matchmaker's Lonely Heart by Nancy Campbell Allen historical mystery romance, Shadow Mountain, September 2021
An intrepid amateur sleuth crosses paths with a cynical police detective and alters the course of their lives and those they love.
New Spins on Old Tales Robin HoodA Turn of the Tide (A Stitch in Time #3) by Kelley Armstrong historical time travel romance, KLA Fricke, Inc., October 2022
Greek mythology The Maiden and the Unseen by Jeanette Rose & Alexis Rune contemporary supernatural romance, Rose and Star Publishing, September 2022
Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra contemporary New Adult romance, Graydon House, August 2022
October 23, 2022
Love Letters Past & Future
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Family ties, love, maintaining connections, resources, political power dynamics and more link these two superficially different books, nonfiction versus fiction, historical fact versus futuristic speculation. These letters record, examine, testify, process, implore, admonish, celebrate the breadth of human experiences.
I Can’t Wait to Call You My Wife, African American Letters of Love and Family in the Civil War Era by Rita Roberts
non-fiction history
Chronicle Books, October 18, 2022
https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/i-cant-wait-to-call-you-my-wife?_pos=1&_sid=521df2c94&_ss=r
In the acknowledgments the author expresses her intention to use “letters to provide a more real and personal understanding of the past” in order to share the history of the African American experiences with non-academic audiences. She achieves that goal. Images, maps, newspapers, pamphlets, portraits, handbills, and marriage licenses support detailed historical facts animated by the intimate written correspondence of Black people. This passage from page 31 summarizes the range, depth, and nuances:
…In the following correspondence, status, class, and regional distinctions are evident, as are urban and rural differences… reveal the incredible complexity of African American lives in this period…these letters illustrate this diversity of black life.
Letters between parents and children, spouses, extended family, courting couples, lovers, close friends, allies, supplicants, and even slaveholders and the formerly enslaved resonate with universal themes of human connection, weariness, resolve, and celebration of victories minute to massive in addition to mundane activities. The paths of famous abolitionists Frederick Douglass, Bishop Loguen, and others are entwined with those of everyday families, enslaved Emily and Adam Plummer in Maryland, the free Rapiers in Alabama, and the free mulatto Ellisons, slave owners in South Carolina. Their true stories weave throughout the three main sections of the text: Antebellum, Civil War, and In the Aftermath of War.
I Can’t Wait to Call You My Wife is a compelling read for everyone interested in understanding the source of the current political turmoil in the United States. Factually dense and emotionally faceted, this text alternates historical details, images, actual letters, context, and discussion calibrated to make the information easy to digest and engaging for the average reader and dedicated historian.
The Moonday Letters
A journey through time and space where Earth’s future hangs in the balance
Emmi Itaranta
science fiction
Titan Books, July 2022
By the late 2100s space travel is the norm and there are human settlements on the moon and Mars in addition to Earth, which is struggling with a food crisis and other challenges. Against this backdrop healer Lumi Salo documents her search for her ethnobotanist spouse, Sol Uriarte. Sensuous writing links journal entries as letters, transcripts, encrypted messages, footnotes, encyclopedia entries, odd encounters, poems, and song lyrics into a dreamy, mystical surrealism. A blend of Indigenous lore with African and Greco-Roman mythologies guides readers through a timeline that shifts between present and past. Is Lumi a reliable narrator? How many secrets is Sol hiding? An intriguing prologue, three parts, and the epilogue answer those questions and many others in this eloquent homage to nature as science that endures despite the hubris of the human species and the inflated egos of individuals. Its lyrical sensibilities also make it an ode to grief and the endurance of love.
[Cover art photo collage: The Time of Your Life (Millionaires Club #2) by Sandra Kitt release date of April 11, 2023 and eARC courtesy of NetGalley, stress relief reads Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane and Well That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto from https://maryland.overdrive.com/]
October 16, 2022
Now & Later Reads Fall 2022 - Winter 2023
To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins
historical fiction, romance
Avon, August 2022
A little bit of Undercovers, The Equalizer, and a grifter’s interpretation of Alias swirled together and set in the late 1870s make To Catch a Raven a heist tale that’s a perfect concluding entry for this “Women Who Dare” series. Intrepid Raven Moreau unapologetically follows her own code of conduct. So does Braxton Steele, but his differs from Raven’s. A chain of events with national implications forces them to work together where their differences generate friction and sexual volatility that smokes on the page until it combusts. Betrayals past and present, unexpected allies, hidden agendas, challenges, and dangers make working together as trusting partners their only chance for survival and success. Ms. Bev’s signature benchmarks of excellence in distinctive nuanced characters who resonate with compelling authenticity in organically detailed historical context that inspires further personal research make To Catch a Raven an irresistible read that centers the multifaceted experiences of Blackness, Black ingenuity, Black love, complexity, joy, and endurance.
Lead Me Astray by Sondi Warner
contemporary supernatural mystery romance
W by Wattpad Books, March 2022
With immersive world-building talents similar to those of Shai August and Lesley Penelope, complicated interpersonal relationships (with less convoluted angst) of Laurell K. Hamilton, the atmospheric hovering menace of Kat Richardson’s “Greywalker” series, and the overall narrative eloquence of Lilith Saintcrow and Marjorie M. Liu, Lead Me Astray starts with a seemingly harmless mischievous act by teen sisters Aurie and Haley. The consequences of that spiral into a crime, one mystery that evolves into multiple mysteries about a variety of motives, loyalties, boundaries, and power. It’s a love story too, and the kind of YA fiction written to satisfy adult readers of all ages. This author blends assorted genres and identities and circumstances with seamless eloquence.
Upcoming Titles
Ravaged (Burned, Inc. #2) by Naima Simone
contemporary romance
Montlake, November 15, 2022
Miriam and Jordan’s love story delivers all the feels and satisfies with a buffet of tropes: friends-to-lovers, professional athletes, quirky tenderhearted confident women, millionaires, story-within-a-story, big misunderstanding and more. Plus, a clever variation on matchmaking seemingly inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac adds another layer of emotional intrigue to this substantive tale about healing from past trauma. Ravaged unfolds at a nimble pace that balances contextual details with compelling intensity and incendiary sexual chemistry. It’s also funny, celebrates the importance of healthy connections with family and friends, and works as a stand-alone, although reading it immediately generates the compulsion to add the first title in the “Burned, Inc.” series to one’s TBR list. Fans of Nalini Singh’s rugby stories should also enjoy this.
[Profanity is common throughout characters’ casual conversations and thoughts—no judgement, simply a note.]
Never Cross a Highlander by Lisa Rayne
historical romance
Entangled: Amara, December 27, 2022
Life is hard for almost everyone in Scotland in the 1600s.
Ailsa Connery’s everyday challenges are intensified by not having a nuclear family, being illegitimate, Black, and wrongfully enslaved. She’s also smart, determined, and beautiful. Those traits and more swiftly catch the attention of Duff Kallum MacNeill when he arrives at Stirling Castle, despite his misgivings, to compete as his clan’s fiercest warrior to win funds they desperately need. The dangers he encounters include the expected politicking and physical combat, but he’s blindsided by lust and emotional connection with Ailsa who’s hiding more than one secret. So is Kallum. Will their hidden agendas mesh or clash? Following their treacherous journey together yields a love story worth reading and savoring.
Similar in narrative texture, depth, and nuance to the high caliber of historical fiction that’s romantic offered by (Ms.) Beverly Jenkins, Courtney Milan, Isabel Cooper, and J.J. McAvoy, Never Cross a Highlander organically integrates rich, immersive historical details with multifaceted characterizations and authentic pitch in each voice along with a balanced mix of angst, humor, all kinds of drama, tenderness, and super sexy encounters between Ailsa and Kallum. The supporting characters are also fully developed, and multiple story threads deftly evolve in this celebration of Black joy and love and perseverance despite often demoralizing odds against emerging whole and victorious.
The acknowledgements and author’s note are must-reads too. Readers sensitive to themes involving human trafficking, enslavement, and repeated threats of assault may want to investigate the content warnings for this story.
Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria
contemporary romance
St. Martin’s Griffin, February 14, 2023
Part reality show critique, part family saga, and all heart, Gina and Stone’s love story examines how far people will go to achieve their dreams and to fulfill their obligations. The slippery slope of ethical boundaries and unexpected costs of competing to win make it more challenging for Gina and Stone to recognize their true feelings and to believe they can establish a solid foundation for a long-term commitment. Emotional range, humor, backstage drama, complicated family dynamics, and steady pacing combine to create a charming tale sprinkled with sensuality and explicitly sexy encounters between the main characters. Fans of Alaskan survival shows and a certain popular dance competition show might recognize some elements as homages to their successful formulae.
The image of my tablet shows some of the anticipated reads currently in my library requests queue.
Books shown above, but not reviewed were delightful and worthy brain treat and stress reliever reads during the weeks of my #CardynBrooksReviews #books hiatus leading up the 4th annual The Write Women Book Fest* on the grounds of Marietta House Museum in Glenn Dale, Maryland on Saturday, October 8. https://www.thewritewomenbookfest.org/
*Many thanks to TWWBF event founder and author H.L. Brooks for creating the Blerdy Binge Reader Blog logo shown on the shirt and tote bag!
October 9, 2022
Bookish Fun & More, More, More at #TWWBF2022!
So many books! So many authors and creators of bookish merch! StorytellersMusiciansFood See great pics and reels from yesterday's event on our socials: https://www.instagram.com/thewritewomenbookfest/
https://twitter.com/writewomenpub
https://www.facebook.com/thewritewomenbookfest/
Tag us and use #TWWBF2022 and #TWWBF2022swag to share your posts about your experiences, freebies, and purchases!
Special thanks to the Glenn Dale Farmers Market, Fable Grounds Coffee, Rosa Bakes, Soulatarian food truck & all the food vendors who fed us!
https://www.facebook.com/GlennDaleFarmersMarket/
https://fablegroundscoffee.com/
https://rosabakes.square.site/
http://soultarian.com/
October 1, 2022
TWWBF2022 Display at Barnes & Noble Bowie Town Ctr
Come see the awesome TWWBF2022 display at the Barnes & Noble Bookselllers at the Bowie Town Center in Bowie, MD! 15455 Emerald Way Bowie, Maryland 20716 https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2093
Fiction, non-fiction, kids, signed editions... So much variety. Great gifts to yourself and others!
The manager and the whole team at B & N Bowie Town Center exceeded all of our highest expectations for this second year of partnering with them. Our gratitude is tremendous. Thank you!
