Blog Tour and Review: Rana Joon and the One and Only Now

 Title:  Rana Joon and the One and Only Now

Author: Shideh Etaat

Genre:  Coming of Age YA, LGBQIA

Publication Date:  July 25, 2023

Publisher:  Simon Teen

BUY LINKS:

Bookshop: 

https://bookshop.org/a/25463/9781665917629

Rating  💥💥💥💥

About the Book:

This lyrical coming-of-age novel for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay and On the Come Up, set in southern California in 1996, follows a teen who wants to honor her deceased friend’s legacy by entering a rap contest.

Perfect Iranian girls are straight A students, always polite, and grow up to marry respectable Iranian boys. But it’s the San Fernando Valley in 1996, and Rana Joon is far from perfect—she smokes weed and loves Tupac, and she has a secret: she likes girls.

As if that weren’t enough, her best friend, Louie—the one who knew her secret and encouraged her to live in the moment—died almost a year ago, and she’s still having trouble processing her grief. To honor him, Rana enters the rap battle he dreamed of competing in, even though she’s terrified of public speaking.

But the clock is ticking. With the battle getting closer every day, she can’t decide whether to use one of Louie’s pieces or her own poetry, her family is coming apart, and she might even be falling in love. To get herself to the stage and fulfill her promise before her senior year ends, Rana will have to learn to speak her truth and live in the one and only now.

My Thoughts

This was such an emotional coming of age story set in the mid 90's.  Rana lost her best friend about a year ago and not only has to grapple with graduating without him, but has been hiding a secret from her family that can cause issues.  Rana must decide how to be her authentic self in a world that might not accept her for being her authentic self.  

Wow.  This story had me in my feels.  It reminded me of Let me Hear a Rhyme by Angie Thomas, since some of what the main character does happened in that book as well.  I truly felt sorry for Rana for most of the book.  And by the time I was finished with the story, I was a bit spent.  It had an emotional hold on me in a different way as many of the books I've read this year so far.  I am definitely going to be looking for more works from this author in the future.  

I received a copy of the book via the Publisher on NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions

About the Author

Shideh Etaat is an Iranian-American writer living in Los Angeles. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Her work has been published in Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian Americans, Day One, Foglifter, Nowruz Journal, and My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora. Rana Joon and the One and Only Now is her first book. When she isn’t busy writing you can find her helping her five-year-old son navigate life.

Author’s website:  shidehetaat.com

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

There is a giveaway for 2 copies of this title, courtesy of Simon & Schuster! Follow this link to enter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1e4a114d83/?

Blog Tour and Review: Sins Of The LInes by Sharhonda Exantus

 Title:  Sins of The LInes 

Author:  Sharonda Exantus

Genre:  Thriller

Publication Date: April 26, 2023

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book

Everyone has something to hide—and someone has nothing to lose …

Nia Bryant has waited her entire life for this moment—the day when she and her line sisters are revealed as the newest members of Kappa Theta Theta sorority. It’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life … except Nia Bryant is missing …

With no clues left behind except for her abandoned car, Detective Chris Evans and his partner have very little to go on when they receive the assignment. The case makes national headlines, and the detectives know that they only have one chance to get this right. Nia Bryant isn’t your typical victim, and girls like her don’t just disappear—at least not by choice.

But as they start to peel back the layers of her life, they discover that the missing student has secrets of her own—secrets that give several people motive to want her gone.

Lies, betrayals, and long buried secrets are unearthed—revealing a twisted crime rooted in revenge that no one saw coming.

My Thoughts

Wow.  This book had me hooked from the beginning right until the very end.  This was such an enjoyable ride from a new author.  It kept me guessing and I could not have enjoyed a book so much. Although I don't dip too far out of romance, I have been getting more into thrillers, and this book falls in line with every one I have enjoyed thus far.  It did not read like it was the author's debut book.   It was such an enjoyable, fast paced read that I did not want to put down.  If the author keeps producing book like this, she will surely have a fan for life.  

About the Author

Sharhonda Exantus is a pharmacist with a love for whodunits and cozy mysteries. A native of Miami, Florida, she received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. In her spare time, she enjoys writing and binge-reading mystery and crime novels, particularly psychological thrillers. Sins of the Lines is her debut novel. Sharhonda currently resides in Florida with her husband and three children. To learn more, visit her website at www.sharhondaexantus.com.

Blog Tour: The Thing about home by Rhonda McKnight

Title: The Thing About Home

Author:  Rhonda McKnight

Genre: Dual timeline Contemporary/Historical

Publication Date: May 9, 2023

Rating: 💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book

Home is not a place—it’s a feeling.

Casey Black needs an escape. When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model turned social media influencer has new fame—the kind she never wanted. An embarrassing viral video has cost her millions of followers, and her seven-year marriage is over. With her personal and business lives in shambles, Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry hoping to find long-lost family. Family who can give her more answers about her past than her controlling mom-slash-manager has ever been willing to share.

What Casey doesn’t expect is a postcard-worthy property on a three-hundred-acre farm, history, culture, and a love of sweet tea. She spends her days caring for the land and her nights cooking much needed Southern comfort foods. She also meets Nigel, the handsome farm manager whose friendship has become everything she’s never had. And then there are the secrets her mother can no longer hide.

Through the pages of her great-grandmother’s journals, Casey discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns that she has people. A home. A legacy to uphold. And a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind.

 “. . . a beautifully written story about family, self-discovery, secrets, and forgiveness.” —Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author

• Inspiring contemporary fiction
• Stand-alone novel
• Book length: approximately 100,000 words
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

My Thoughts

I have been a fan of Rhonda's books since the beginning. And although I've enjoyed all of her books, this one has been my favorite. I finished it earlier this month, a few days before release day, and I have been having the hardest time putting my feelings down about this book without it sounding like every one else. This woman knows how to write a story that will have your emotions all over the place. The writing style and flow was just brilliant, and I just could not put it down. IT was such a great mix of romance, contemporary fiction, drama and historical fiction. If i did a top 5 of favorite books, this would be one of them. And the way Casey's character evolved and grew was like no other I've read in a while. I Can't stop thinking about these characters nor this book.

About the Author

Rhonda McKnight is the author of twenty-five traditional and indie-published award-winning bestsellers, including An Inconvenient Friend, What Kind of Fool, and Unbreak My Heart. She is a two-time winner of the Emma award in the categories of Inspirational Romance of the Year (2015) and Debut Author (2010). She has been nominated thrice for the African American Literary Award. She writes inspirational book club fiction and Christian romance about complex characters in crisis. Her goal is to touch the heart of women through her stories using the themes of faith, forgiveness, and hope. Originally from a small coastal town in New Jersey, she writes from the comfort of her South Carolina home.

She can be reached at her website at www.RhondaMcKnight.com and on social media at www.facebook.com/booksbyrhonda, www.instagram.com/AuthorRhondaMcKnight, www.twitter.com/rhondamcknight and www.SistersofFaithBooks.com where she has joined with sixteen other authors to introduce her stories to the world.

Blog Tour: Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders

 Title:  Women of The Post

Author:  JoShunda Sanders

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publication Date:  July 18, 2023

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the book:

Inspired by true events, Women of the Post brings to life the heroines who proudly served in the all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps in WWII, finding purpose in their mission and lifelong friendship.

1944, New York City. Judy Washington is tired of having to work at the Bronx Slave Market, cleaning white women’s houses for next to nothing. She dreams of a bigger life, but with her husband fighting overseas, it’s up to her and her mother to earn enough for food and rent. When she’s recruited to join the Women’s Army Corps—offering a steady paycheck and the chance to see the world—Judy jumps at the opportunity.

During training, Judy becomes fast friends with the other women in her unit—Stacy, Bernadette and Mary Alyce—who all come from different cities and circumstances. Under Second Officer Charity Adams's leadership, they receive orders to sort over one million pieces of mail in England, becoming the only unit of Black women to serve overseas during WWII.

The women work diligently, knowing that they're reuniting soldiers with their loved ones through their letters. However, their work becomes personal when Mary Alyce discovers a backlogged letter addressed to Judy. Told through the alternating perspectives of Judy, Charity and Mary Alyce, Women of the Post is an unforgettable story of perseverance, female friendship and self-discovery.

My thoughts

This is the second fictionalized book about this remarkable group of women that I've read (and know of, because unfortunately there's not that many), and I can absolutely say, if I did a top 10 and if I could give it more than 5 stars, This book would be in that number.  This book was absolutely emotional, inspiring and amazing.  I could not and did not want to put it down.  This is why I love discovering new to me authors.   The story just flowed and I felt like I was watching a movie.  Such an astounding job done with this book and I can't wait to see what the author does next.  

About the Author

Joshunda Sanders is the author of How Racism and Sexism Killed Traditional Media: Why the Future of Journalism Depends on Women and People of Color and The Beautiful Darkness: A Handbook for Orphans. In 2017, she was the recipient of a Hedgebrook residency. She has presented at SXSW, TED City 2.0, and at Princeton University, among many other places as a speaker and expert. She lives and works in New York City.

Book Tour and Review: Sunshine and Silk Boxers

 Title:  Sunshine and Silk Boxers

Author:  Joi Jackson

Publication Date:  June 20, 2023

Genre:  Small Town Age Gap Romance

Rating :  💥💥💥💥

About the Book

A lingerie designer. An IT Project Manager. A young-ish stripper.

A small town love triangle that will give you all the small town summer feels.

 

Gia Mitchell, a lingerie designer, has just moved back to her hometown from Manhattan ready to open her first boutique using 3D printing technology. She convinces her best friend from high school, Winston Locke, to relocate so he can use his technology background to help her get the store up and running.

 

Winston, needing a new start after calling off his wedding, jumps at the chance, after all, he's been waiting for the perfect moment to tell Gia he wants to be more than friends.

 

The only obstacle: Gia's one night stand, a young, hard bodied dancer named Dre that she met in Nashville. Dre has just moved to Kissing Springs and it's clear he wants more than one night with Gia.

Will she choose love or pack up and head back to New York?

Summer heats up in Kissing Springs, KY with a new love triangle, age gap love story.

Welcome to Kissing Springs, the Romance Capital of the South.

My thoughts

It felt like a mix of elements of The Perfect Find meets Magic Mike (More like the chocolate version ) This was my first time reading this author, but after this book, it truly won't be my last.  I loved Gia and Dre, Winston, not so much until the end.  But the chemistry between Gia and Dre was a favorite of mine throughout the book.  And you get all the drama and messiness of a small town.  It was such an enjoyable and quick read

About the Author

Joi Jackson currently lives in Atlanta, GA and has loved romance novels since the Sweet Valley High days. She writes diverse swoony romances with strong heroines that love technology. Creating love stories that make readers laugh, fall in love with the characters and maybe even learn something is her goal

Blog Tour: Big Girl by Mecca Jamilia Sullivan

 Title: Big Girl

Author: Mecca Jamilia Sullivan

Publication Date: July 22, 2022

Genre:YA/Coming of Age

Rating 💥💥💥💥💥

About The Book

Malaya Clondon hates when her mother drags her to Weight Watchers meetings in the church’s stuffy basement community center. A quietly inquisitive eight-year-old struggling to suppress her insatiable longing, she would much rather paint alone in her bedroom, or sneak out with her father for a sampling of Harlem’s forbidden street foods.

For Malaya, the pressures of going to a predominantly white Upper East Side prep school are compounded by the high expectations passed down over generations from her sharp-tongued grandmother and her mother, Nyela, a painfully proper professor struggling to earn tenure at a prestigious university. But their relentless prescriptions—fad diets of cottage-cheese and sugar-free Jell-O, high-cardio African dance classes, endless doctors’ appointments—don’t work on Malaya.

As Malaya comes of age in a rapidly gentrifying 1990s Harlem, she strains to understand “ladyness” and fit neatly within the suffocating confines of a so-called “femininity” that holds no room for her body. She finds solace in the lyrical riffs of Biggie Smalls and Aaliyah, and in the support of her sensitive father, Percy; still, tensions at home mount as rapidly as Malaya’s weight. Nothing seems to help—until a family tragedy forces her to finally face the source of her hunger on her own terms.

Exquisitely compassionate and clever, Big Girl is “filled with everyday people who, in Mecca Jamilah Sullivan’s gifted hands, show us the love and struggle of what it means to be inside bodies that don’t always fit with the outside world” (Jacqueline Woodson). In tracing the perils and pleasures of the inheritance that comes with being born, Sullivan pushes boundaries and creates an unforgettable portrait of Black womanhood in America

My Review 

Wow.  This was another amazing read that took me a bit of time to adequately find the right words to say.  Part of Malaya's story was mine growing up as well, being extremely overweight as a child and teen.  And being only a few years older than her during the time period of the story, a well of emotions swallowed me through out the story.  Many times I had to fight back tears as  certain memories flooded my mind.  This was such an emotional and powerful read and beautifully written.  It also took me back to a time in music that changed my life.  I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in Harlem during this time period, and now I have an inkling.  This is a story I will soon not forget and I will surely be looking forward to reading future works by this author 

Book Tour and Review

 Title:  You've been Served

Author: Kristin Alicia

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Publication Date:  June 27th, 2023

Rating 💥💥💥💥

About the Book

It’s the Magic 8 Ball’s fault. All of it. One teeny little question, and suddenly Simone Alexander is chucking her whole life out the window. So long, being a chef in California–it’s time for law school. In Michigan. Where there’s actual winter. And law school’s nothing like the romantic comedies said it was.

Simone is tragically underprepared. Hell, she’s already behind before classes have even begun, and her hard-as-nails Contracts professor is giving her no mercy. Then there’s Silas Whitman, her tall and annoyingly cute neighbor. Off campus, Silas is incredible. Kissable, even. In class, he is one thousand percent the obnoxious kiss-ass.

But Simone’s given up everything to be a lawyer. The competition is fierce and she has a hateful professor gunning for her to fail, but she’s not about to let little things like sleep, or love, stop her from kicking law school ass…

My Review 

This was a cute, whimsical and lighthearted story. Simone is a 26 year old woman. And she's at a crossroad in her life when she quits her restaurant job when she loses her passion for it. When deciding what to do next, she does what has worked for her in the past and consults her Magic 8 ball, and ends up deciding to go to law school. She gets accepted and moves from California to Michigan and ends up meeting one of her future classmates, Silas. They start off as friends, but eventually start to become something more. Eventually, they have to decide what the next step for both of them is.

At one point in my life, when I was younger, I thought i wanted to be a lawyer. After reading what Simone went through in her classes, I think I made the right decision not to. One of my favorite things about this story was Simone's development and her growth. I especially love it when characters evolve and become a better version of their selves. And I felt bad for Silas at times, but so happy he learned and grew as well. It was a quick and enjoyable read and I really enjoyed it so much.  

I received a copy of the book via Entangled Publishing via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions 

About the Author

Kristen Alicia has been an attorney, a lifeguard, a real estate agent, and very briefly, a valet, but most importantly, she has always been a storyteller and lover of words. When she’s not helping her two rescue dogs fend off her rambunctious toddler or binge-watching Great British Bake Off with her husband, Kristen loves to read all the books, especially kissing ones . She also enjoys falling for the characters she’s created, traveling with her family, and trying as many new restaurants and recipes as she can. KristenAliciaWrites.com