Blog Tour and Review: Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

 Title:  Madness:  Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

Author:  Antonia Hylton

Genre:  Nonfiction

Publication Date:  January 23, 2024

Publisher:  Legacy Books

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book:

On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state’s Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers behind the brick walls of a Jim Crow asylum.

In Madness, Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations.

As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. During its peak years, the hospital’s wards were overflowing with almost 2,700 patients. By the end of the 20th-century, the asylum faded from view as prisons and jails became America’s new focus.

In Madness, Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.

My Thoughts:

Wow.  Although I've been in healthcare for half my life, and I've heard many stories about the horrors of how the health care system has been to black people in this country, this has been an absolute tearjerker.  This book was well researched, and absolutely heartbreaking.  It's emotional, moving and relays so much information that is sometimes hidden.  I cried for several of the stories i read within the pages of this book.  Hopefully there will be a time sometime soon where black people get treated better by the majority of health care workers.  And hopefully one day more victims and their families can finally be vindicated for the abusive horrors they've experienced in this place.  

About the Author

Antonia Hylton is a Peabody and Emmy-award winning journalist at NBC News reporting on politics and civil rights, and the co-host of the hit podcast Southlake. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she received prizes for her investigative research on race, mass incarceration and the history of psychiatry. She lives in Brooklyn.

https://www.instagram.com/ahylton26
https://twitter.com/ahylton26
https://www.facebook.com/ahylton26
https://www.antoniahylton.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-hylton-380bb887

Book tour and review: The Black Joy Project by Kleaver Cruz

 Title:  The Black Joy Project

Author:  Kleaver Cruz

Genre:  Nonfiction Social Science

Publishing Date : December 19, 2023

Publisher:  Mariner/Harper Collins 

Rating 💥💥💥💥💥

About the book:  

Featuring 117 full-color photos and eight breathtaking essays on a force that fuels Black life all around the globe, this is Humans of New York meets The Black Book

Black Joy is everywhere. From the bustling streets of Lagos to hip-hop blasting through apartment windows in the Bronx. From the wide-open coastal desert of Namibia to the lush slopes of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. From the thriving tradition of Candomblé in Bahia to the innovative and trendsetting styles of Soweto, and beyond, Black Joy is present in every place that Black people exist. Now—at last—is a one-of-a-kind celebration of this truth and a life-giving testament to one of the most essential forces that fuels Black life: The Black Joy Project.

International in the scale, fist-raising in the prose, and chockfull of gorgeous works by dozens of acclaimed artists, The Black Joy Project does what no other book has ever done. In words and art, it puts joy on the same track as protest and resistance … because that is how life is actually lived. Uprisings in the street, with music as accompaniment. Heartbreaking funerals followed by second line parades. Microaggressions in the office, then coming home to a warm hug and a garden of lilacs. The list goes on. Black Joy is always held in tension with broader systemic wounds. It is a powerful, historically important salve that allows us to keep going and reimagine new ways of being. The Black Joy Project captures these dual realities to incredible, unforgettable effect.

The brainchild of educator and activist Kleaver Cruz, The Black Joy Project is an extension of a real-world initiative of the same name. It has become a source of healing and regeneration for Black people of all backgrounds and identities. Long overdue and somehow still worth the wait, The Black Joy Project is a necessary addition for any book lover, art enthusiast, or freedom fighter. And begs the question, What does Black Joy mean to you?

My Thoughts:

One of the beginning questions the book asks is " What Does Black Joy Mean to You".  For many Black people across the diaspora, that might be hard to answer because our collective history is full of ancestors being terrorized, killed, maimed, enslav3d and brutalized.   I'm still having a hard time coming up with an answer, although I'm sure those around me will gleefully shout "Books and Coffee".  And while that may be true and part of it, the question I think goes a little deeper than that.  One of my favorite things about this book is how no matter what, Joy is defined differently to the individual.  This book is full of wisdom and joyful and beautifully eye-catching  pictures that will surley make you think and more than likely put a smile on your face.  It is one that is needed in every household across the diaspora. I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book

"Black Joy is the possibility that one day all the trauma that sits in the body will be released and the body will learn healing like a language it has always known"

About the Author

Kleaver Cruz (they/them) is a Black, queer, Dominican-American writer and educator from New York City. Cruz is the creator of The Black Joy Project, a digital and real-world affirmation that Black Joy is resistance. The Black Joy Project has been featured in British Vogue, Vibe.com, the Huffington Post and various other publications in print and online. Cruz is a member of We Are All Dominican, a U.S.-based, grassroots collective that works in solidarity with movements led by Dominicans of Haitian descent fighting for inclusion and citizenship rights in the Dominican Republic. Cruz is also an alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) Foundation’s Emerging Writers Non-Fiction Workshop and the Kenyon Review Writers Fiction Workshop.

IG: @theblackjoyproject
https://kleavercruz.com/

Blog Tour: Flames of Wrath by J. L. Campbell

 

Title:  Flames Of Wrath

Author:  J. L. Campbell 

Publication Date: November 28, 2023

Publisher:  Black Odyssey Media

Genre: Thriller/Suspence 

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

A mother’s quest for justice turns into a race against time to stop insidious murders that mysteriously begin populating throughout the city. Fans of Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware will be enthralled by this emotionally chilling thriller!

The need to right a wrong against an innocent victim triggers a hailstorm of revenge!
 
In less than twenty-four hours—before Alexia Leighton is scheduled to return to Miami from spring break in Jamaica—a group of friends betray her in a grisly assault that stops a heartbeat away from murder. The seventeen-year-old prays for the mercy of death. She survives. While on the road to recovery, Alexia's attackers become victims of mysterious acts of violence, leaving authorities confounded and racing against time to prevent another deadly attack. Concern looms, as the perpetrator has proven to be two steps ahead of them at every turn.
 
When the attention swings to Alexia's mother, a cyber-security expert, the family closes ranks. Geneva Leighton must quickly eliminate herself as a suspect, but not without handing down more punishment. The offenders fear for their own safety and the secrets that plague them. Can they trust the police to find the killer before someone else dies, or has their fate been sealed—leaving them with no place to run, and no place to hide . . .

Wow.  I have been a fan of the author's for years because of her romance stories.   And now in recent years that I have become a fan of Thrillers, this book makes me love the authors writing even more.  This was such an emotional read that for the life of me would not let go.  Not until I was completely finished with the story.  It was entertaining and captivating and took me on a journey like no other.  There is a saying Hell hath no furry like a womanscored, and add to that a Black mother that would do absolutely anything to vindicate her children, God help anyone in the path of her rage.  This is also the third book I've read from this publisher, and it is one that you should have in your radar.  

About the Author

National Bestselling Author, J.L. Campbell lives in Jamaica and writes across several genres. She is a certified editor, and book coach, who has produced over forty books. When she’s not writing, Campbell adds to her extensive collection of photos featuring Jamaica’s natural beauty. 

Author Links

Website: http://www.joylcampbell.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlcampbellwrites

X: https://twitter.com/JL_Campbell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jl.campbell

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-l-campbell

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.-L.-Campbell/author/B004S148VO

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1091161.J_L_Campbell

Giveaway

$10 Amazon

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

Blog tour: Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux

 Title:  Glory Be

Auhor: Danielle Arceneaux

Genre:  Cozy Mystery

Publisher:  Pegasus Crime

Publication Date :  October 3, 2023

Rating:  💥💥💥💥

About the Book

The first in a vivid and charming crime series set in the Louisiana bayou, introducing the hilariously uncensored amateur sleuth Glory Broussard. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club.

*A Washington Post Best Mystery Novel of the Year*

It’s a hot and sticky Sunday in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Glory has settled into her usual after-church routine, meeting gamblers at the local coffee shop, where she works as a small-time bookie. Sitting at her corner table, Glory hears that her best friend—a nun beloved by the community—has been found dead in her apartment.

When police declare the mysterious death a suicide, Glory is convinced that there must be more to the story and, with her reluctant daughter, with troubles of her own, in tow, launches a shadow investigation in a town of oil tycoons, church gossips, and a rumored voodoo priestess.

As a Black woman of a certain age who grew up in a segregated Louisiana, Glory is used to being minimized and overlooked. But she’s determined to make her presence known as the case leads her deep into a web of intrigue she never realized Lafayette could harbor. Danielle Arcenaux’s riveting debut brings for an unforgettable character that will charm and delight crime fans everywhere and leave them hungry for her next adventure

My Thoughts:

If you're looking for an older lady sleuth, then this is the series for you.   Glory was such a hoot and a mess throughout the book, but you can tell she really goes hard for those she loves and cares about.  This was such a delightful read.  And in older lady fashion, no one was going to stop Ms. Glory once she had her mind set on something.  And with the story taking place in Louisiana,  that made the story and characters all the more charming.  This was such an enjoyable and delightful read, and I can't wait for the next book in the series.  

About the Author

Danielle Arceneaux is a mystery writer who lives in Brooklyn, NY with her border terrier, Birdie, and an ungovernable

cat. When not writing, she enjoys traveling around the world to flyfish. For more information, visit www.daniellearceneaux.com

Book Tour: Worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith

 Title:  Worthy

Author:  Jada Pinkett Smith

Genre:  Memoir

Publisher:  Dey Street Books

Publication Date:  October 17, 2023

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book:

A gripping, painfully honest, and ultimately inspirational memoir from global superstar and creator of the Red Table Talk series Jada Pinkett Smith. In a media driven landscape that crafts narratives for our celebrities, Smith recounts her story in an intimate conversation with readers. Along the way, she explores her path to accepting her power as a woman, and her discovery that a strong sense of self is every woman’s right and saving grace.

An impactful and rare memoir that engages and educates, Worthy is a courageous love song to self, to family, to life, and to the world.

From an unconventional upbringing in Baltimore, to an unconventional marriage to one of the most famous men in the world, adhering to the status quo has never been a familiar road for Jada Pinkett Smith. In Worthy, Smith strips herself of all the labels and stories crafted by others, and reclaims her narrative with radical self-love. Worthy teaches us who Jada is, and how to embrace our most authentic lovable souls.

My thoughts:

Resilient, Powerful, courageous, strong.  These are just some of the words that came to mind while reading this remarkable book.  growing up in the streets of Baltimore, to living in california with a successful career, Jada Pinkett Smith gives us a raw, gritty look into her life from the earliest memories until now.  A book that would have normally only took me hours to read, took over a day, with some of it being so sad, I had to stop.  I loved the fact that she just told her truth, her life, not a bunch a media propaganda and scandals.  It makes it more relevant and authentic to me.  And in the midst of tears, there were comedic moments to help lighten the mood at times.  

About the Author

Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actress, singer-songwriter, talk show host, producer, and businesswoman. Jada Pinkett Smith has appeared in more than 20 films in a variety of genres, including Menace II Society, Set It Off, Scream 2, Ali, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, the Madagascar series, Hawthorne, Gotham, Magic Mike XXL, Bad Moms, and Girls Trip. Currently, she is the co-host of the talk show Red Table Talk, for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021. Jada is married to actor Will Smith and shares three children with him. Together, the couple founded the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, a charity organization which focuses on inner-city youth and family support. The couple also owns Westbrook Inc., a media company that aims to empower artists to tell their stories and connect with the world.

https://ourworthyjourney.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jadapinkettsmith/
https://www.facebook.com/jada/
https://twitter.com/jadapsmith
https://www.tiktok.com/@jadapinkettsmith

Blog Tour: The List by Yomi Adegoke

 Title:  The List

Author:  Yomi Adegoke

Genre:  Mystery

Publisher:  William Morrow

Publication Date: October 3, 2023

Rating :  💥💥💥💥

About the book:

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK!

Recommended by The New York Times • Vogue • People • NPR • Vulture • The Guardian • Cosmopolitan • Rolling Stone • Publishers Weekly • The Sunday Times • and many more!

In this sensational, page-turning debut novel, a high-profile female journalist’s world is upended when her fiancé’s name turns up in a viral social media post—a nuanced, daring, and timely exploration of the real-world impact of online life, from award-winning journalist and internationally bestselling authorYomi Adegoke.

“Brilliantly written, intricately plotted and incredibly clever. Once I started, I could not put it down, and I am sure I'll be thinking about this book for a very long time.” — Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice

Ola Olajide, a celebrated journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is set to marry the love of her life in one month’s time. Young, beautiful, and successful—she and her fiancé Michael are considered the “couple goals” of their social network and seem to have it all. That is, until one morning when they both wake up to the same message: “Oh my god, have you seen The List?” 

It began as a crowdsourced collection of names and somehow morphed into an anonymous account posting allegations on social media. Ola would usually be the first to support such a list—she’d retweet it, call for the men to be fired, write article after article. Except this time, Michael’s name is on it.

Compulsively readable, wildly entertaining, and filled with sharp social insight, The List is a piercing and dazzlingly clear-sighted debut about secrets, lies, and the internet. Perfect for fans of Such a Fun Age, Luster, and My Dark Vanessa, this is a searing portrait of these modern times and our morally complicated online culture.

“Topical, heartfelt, provocative and wise, Yomi Adegoke’s characters are tenderly realized . . . the entire cast of this ultimate millennial novel springs vividly to life.” — Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

 “The List asks ‘what if?’ and the answers will surely get people thinking. A vibrantly told exploration of the messy interface between virtual and offline relationships. A page-turning tale!” — Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake

My thoughts:

If you want a book that will make you mad, this might be the one for you.   Althought it was an enjoyable ride, all of the characters, piss3d me off at different times in the book.  The book also highlights some of the bad parts of social media.  It was messy and entertaining at the same time. And I wasn't expecting it to end like that.  

About the Author

Yomi Adegoke is a multi award-winning journalist and author. She is currently a columnist at The Guardian and British Vogue and is the former host of the Women's Fiction Prize podcast. In 2018, she co-wrote the bestselling book Slay In Your Lane and the same year was named one of the most influential people in London by the Evening Standard. She also was awarded the Groucho Maverick and Marie Clare Future Shaper awards. In 2021, she was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Book Tour: You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Toni Shiloh

 Title:  You make It Feel Like Christmas

Author:  Toni Shiloh 

Publication Date:  September 5, 2023

Publisher :Bethany House

Genre: Christmas Romance 

Rating:  💥💥💥💥

About thr books

It's the most wonderful time of the year--for everyone except Starr Lewis.

As if going home for the holidays jobless and single wasn't bad enough, she's dragged into a holiday season full of activities leading up to her sister's uber-romantic Christmas Eve wedding--to Starr's ex-boyfriend. But when her brother's best friend, Waylon Emmerson, attends their family Thanksgiving, she starts to wonder if maybe coming home for Christmas isn't so bad after all.

As Starr finds the perfect distraction in helping Waylon make over his late mother's Christmas shop, the most wonderful time of the year works its magic and the spark between them grows. But with the holidays fast approaching, Starr must decide what she wants out of life after the gifts are unwrapped and the ornaments are put away--to go back to New York City or to open her heart to a love that will last beyond Christmas Day?

My thoughts

For me, I start celebrating Christmas on November 1st, which includes Christmas movies and books ( Although truthfully, I will read Christmas books all year around), and I enjoyed my first holiday book of the season.  I loved the growth of Starr.  She started to stick up for herself, and I was so happy for her and proud of her.  This was the perfect novella to kick off thr season with.  This story was just right and so enjoyable.  This was not my fords book by this author, and every book I read from her seems to get better and better.  Great job

About the Author 

Toni Shiloh (www.tonishiloh.com) is a wife, a mom, and an award-winning Christian contemporary romance author. Her novel In Search of a 
Prince won the first ever Christy Amplify Award. It has also been praised by 
Oprah Daily, POPSUGAR, Library Journal, and Booklist, and is a 
Parable bestseller. Her books have been finalists for the HOLT Medallion and 
the Selah Award. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), 
Toni loves connecting with readers and authors alike via social media.