Welcome to 2021

Hi everyone! Welcome to the first newsletter of 2021- and for my new subscribers, thank you for joining us here. Writing this newsletter every other week is such a joy for me and I am so excited to share it with you. First up, let’s go over what I have read so far this month.

January Reading So Far:

The Duke And I: Of course I had to read this the minute I finished watching Bridgeton. For once in my life my overall opinion is: the show is SO much better! Reading it, I could see how true they stayed to Julia Quinn’s story but the show pops so much more for me. It might have something to do with Regé-Jean Page (3 stars)

Interior Chinatown: Winner of the 2020 NBA for Fiction, this has been at the top of my TBR for awhile! I thought the writing was witty and the story was well paced and made really great satirical points about Hollywood and race. It’s written in screenplay format, which I found pretty hard to get used to but once I did, I loved the story. (4 stars)

Ten Rules for Faking It: I grabbed this on a whim thinking I would probably DNF, but I loved the story. It’s about a producer at a radio station who has pretty severe social anxiety. She starts to fall for her boss but has to overcome both the workplace complications and her personal fears that are holding her back. This story was really well done but incredibly white, with no diversity in any way shape or form (besides the story line on anxiety). Despite that, I enjoyed reading about a character who had anxiety. It was also a great slow burn. (3.5 stars)

milk and honey: This is Rupi Kaur’s first poetry collection. I meant to read this slowly but devoured it in one night. So many of the poems stopped me in my tracks and I know I will come back to it again and again. (5 stars)

The Intimacy Experiment: The newest novel by the author of The Roommate, I read this ARC a few days ago. I enjoyed this one MUCH more than The Roommate. It follows Naomi (Josh’s ex and the co-CEO of the business they started in the Roommate) and Ethan, a local rabbi. Ethan reaches out to Naomi to teach a course on modern intimacy to youth at his synagogue to increase attendance. Of course they have feelings for each other- but not without obstacles. This book did a good job of exploring faith, relationships, and intimacy. (4.5 Stars)

Currently reading: I am reading Friday Black, my short story collection for the month. I plan to start either Black Buck or Hood Feminism once I finish it up.

What I’ve enjoying around the web:

This year I am trying out The StoryGraph, a new website (founded by a Black woman!) to help you track your reading and TBR. My name is on there is bookishandblack.

I am making my monthly donation goals for 2021. I donated to this fundraiser after terrorists stormed the Capitol last week. I’ve also been thinking a lot about boundaries after several conversations I’ve had and reading this post from Rachel Cargle.

Loyalty Books has some really great events, including two great ones this week that I am really looking forward to. On Wednesday, Mateo Askaripour will be discussing Black Buck with Danielle Prescod. On Thursday, I am excited for a talk between the sister duo Maika & Maritza Moulite (authors of One of the Good Ones) and Alyssa Cole.

If you made it this far, I have some personal news- I launched my own website!!! I worked really hard on it with the amazing Becca Schneider. I am really excited to have a place to house all of the fun things I am doing and plan on doing. I have so many ideas and plans and this will be where you can find all updates!

See you back here soon,

Sarah