The Perfect Find by Tia Williams
- The author that is Tia Williams and her ability to create incredible Black self-discovery and romance literature. The Perfect Find follows Jenna Jones and her journey to reclaim her life after a relationship gone awry. She’s older, she’s single, she’s behind on the times, she lives at home, and she’s unemployed. She returns to New York City, trying to rediscover who she once was and fit that into a world that seems to have moved on without her. This rediscovery entails forbidden romance, reawakening, passion, fashion, cute boys, empowered women, and an ending that is both bittersweet but beautifully human and triumphant.
- You will like this book if: You need to feel inspired that fun, romance, and transformation don’t stop in your twenties!
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- I read this book in 48 hours. Yes, it was that captivating. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is so well crafted by the extent of its interconnected storytelling and narratives. It begins with the stories of Effia Otcher and Esi Asare, two sisters who were differently victimized by the beginnings of the 18th-century Trans-atlantic enslaved trade in modern-day Ghana. The book then progresses to follow these two sisters’ lineages for several generations and each generation’s separate but shared experiences with the enslaved system and the subjugation of the Black body. There is intensity and harshness in some of the scenes and scenarios narrated, illuminating the level of suffering. Still, an overwhelming air of love and community binds these stories and strengthens these characters who were placed in a system born out of malice.
- You will like this book if: You seek a humanized, emotional narration of the generational effect the enslaved system had on the Black identity.
The Complete Poetry by Maya Angelou
- This is a collection I will never stop reading because it’s impossible not to go back to. Maya Angelou’s every tear-jerking, heart-lifting, mind-powering word put from pen to paper all in one book was one of the best gifts I have ever received. From her infamous “Still I Rise” piece that brings any woman to her feet in courage and confidence to her “Harlem Hopscotch” which divulges the Black American experience and its limits on true freedom, it’s all under one spine. There is something inside for anybody and everybody, showcasing the powerhouse of a voice and artist that is Ms. Maya Angelou.
- You will like this book if: You breathe in oxygen!
