Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl (Atria Books, 2021) is a surprising, unsettling, laugh out loud, edge of your seat sort of read that comfortably sets you down one path before abruptly shifting gears and leaving the reader gulping up each page to the end in what becomes one hell of an unexpected ride. Continue reading “THE OTHER BLACK GIRL – Zakiya Dalila Harris”
Author Archives: Tommi Powell
THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND – Jojo Moyes
The Girl You Left Behind (Penguin Books LTD (Great Britain), 2012, Viking Penguin (USA), 2013) is the first Jojo Moyes’s book I’ve read. I’d been reluctant to read Moyes due to plagiarism allegationsand likely will not read The Giver of the Stars for those reasons, but I did enjoy The Girl You Left Behind. WrittenContinue reading “THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND – Jojo Moyes”
THE RIB KING – Ladee Hubbard
Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben may be the two you recognize, but they’re certainly not the only racist imagery used to market goods in America’s tortured post-civil war through today era. Black iconography has long been something that has fascinated Americans, and black caricatures and stereotypes were used to sell, sell, sell – largely toContinue reading “THE RIB KING – Ladee Hubbard”
THE SECRET, BOOK & SCONE SOCIETY Ellery Adams
A few months ago, I entered a “name the cover” contest that Ellery Adams was hosting on Insta. (If you don’t follow her, you should. She has fantastic content and gorgeous bookish photos!) She surprised me by including one of her books in the prize package and what a fun little treat The Secret, BookContinue reading “THE SECRET, BOOK & SCONE SOCIETY Ellery Adams”
SLOW DANCING ON DINOSAUR BONES – Lana Witt
I picked up Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones by Lana Witt (Scribner 1996) from a local library sale a few years back. Intrigued by the title, I tossed it into my purchase pile without hesitation. ($5 boxes, y’all. $5 boxes.) It’s sat on my TBR since. I finally picked it up and read the blurb,Continue reading “SLOW DANCING ON DINOSAUR BONES – Lana Witt”
WHEN WE LEFT CUBA – Chanel Cleeton
Next Year in Havana was a delight of a read, and I was thrilled to see that Chanel Cleeton let another Perez sister tell her story. When We Left Cuba (Berkley 2019) follows Beatriz Perez, the sugar heiress turned exile turned spy. Beatriz’s role in the Cuban Revolution was touched on in Next Year inContinue reading “WHEN WE LEFT CUBA – Chanel Cleeton”
A COURT OF MIST AND FURY – Sarah J. Maas
When I started A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, I thought it was a trilogy and committed to the first three. I’ve since learned the series does not stop with A Court of Wings and Ruin, but I don’t know that I’ll continue with the subsequent installments. I say that partlyContinue reading “A COURT OF MIST AND FURY – Sarah J. Maas”
PAX – Sara Pennypacker
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” – The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Those were the words I couldn’t shake while reading Sara Pennypacker’s Pax (HarperCollins Publishers, 2016). The fox’s wise words from a beloved childhood classic echoed on each page of Pennypacker’s middle grade book about a boy and his fox.Continue reading “PAX – Sara Pennypacker”
THE MAIDENS – Alex Michaelides
Alex Michaelides’s The Maidens (Celadon Books, expected June 10, 2021) is a stocked pond of red herrings that kept me guessing until the end. My biggest complaint with psychological thrillers and unreliable narrators is that they tend to be very predictable; I don’t read a lot of them for this reason. But I had noContinue reading “THE MAIDENS – Alex Michaelides”
GARDENS IN THE DUNES – Leslie Marmon Silko
It is only fitting that I picked up Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes (1999) just days after learning of Larry McMurtry’s passing. The two authors were friends, and the book opens with a special thanks to him for “all the books and encouragement.” I heard echoes of Gus in Grandma Fleet, particularly inContinue reading “GARDENS IN THE DUNES – Leslie Marmon Silko”
A Girl Named Tommi 