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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Stacking The Shelves (2019) #19: Savers & Amazon Pre-Order

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page! Stacking The Shelves now has a new host and check out that new image!!

Pre-Order from Amazon:

Sylvia Day  Butterfly in Frost:
As soon as I saw this was excited and had to pre-order even though there hadn't been a publishing date. So I was so excited when it was shipped this month. It's Sylvia and I had to know nothing else when I ordered it.

I marathoned this series two years ago and I haven't forgotten how amazing it was. So when I saw that she had a new one coming out I had to pre-order:

Don't Doubt (Reed Brothers 20) by Tammy Faulkner. Reading Order 

Savers Haul:
I had to go to the Dr again this week and the office is right next to Savers so I was excited to take a peek inside and see what they had on the shelves this week. Also, they have a great sale of buy 4 get the 5th free so I snagged these:

Everyone always talks about her for historical romance and she's well-liked on twitter so I figured I should grab one of hers to read so I snagged:

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare $1.99 (Free after the sale) And I didn't know it was book three until I was setting up this post...so fun times there. LOL

I have a few of her cowboy romances on my shelves and they are pretty good so I snagged another for the shelves:
 Hell Yeah by Carolyn Brown $1.99

For the YA Paranormal shelf, I snagged these three in the series, hopefully, I like them. They were $2.99 apiece (which is a little steep but I was feeling good and needed a bit more of a boost from the sale.

Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series:

My Soul to Take Book 1

My Soul to Save Book 2

My Soult to Keep Book 3

For Ebooks: 
Free:
Netherfield Must Go (Part1 of 4) by Nikki Payne

Purchased: (twitter made me do it) 

Cold Magic (Spiritwalker 1)by Kate Elliott

Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh

And that's all I've gotten this week.  What'd you get in your haul this week?? Share in the comments down below and I'll see you next week.

Happy Reading & Haulin' my loves


Sunday, August 25, 2019

VEDA 2019: Day 24: Weekend Reads & Stacking The Shelves (2019) #18 .@AuthorBJackson .@Sonali_Dev

Hi my loves

We're here again for another stacking the shelves and a bit of a catch up on what I've read and what I'm going to be reading this weekend. My #fridayreads video is linked as well.

I finished reading Ian's Ultimate Gamble by Brenda Jackson, this is another of the Westmoreland family members.  Ian is the "Perfect End' while his cousin was the Perfect Storm.  Meeting and falling in love with a police officer and separating when something happens between them. A few years later Brooke is assigned to his casino and she has to do it without letting Ian know. As they reconnect they find themselves trying to work their way through it.  I really enjoyed it and can't wait to do a full review for you.  I gave it 4 stars.

Currently Reading:

I have Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby on the list of books to read this weekend and I'm actually diving into it as we speak. What are you reading currently??  I'm also listening to Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. She's the narrator so you know it's A  M  A  ZING

Now for the Haul:
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page! Stacking The Shelves now has a new host and check out that new image!!

From the Goodwill:

Echoes of Evil (Krewe of Hunters 26) by Heather Graham $1.29

From Walmart:

Pride Prejudice & Other Flavors by Sonali Dev $10.98


I will be going back for The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem because that synopsis sounded awesome as well.

Did you get anything fun this weekend?? Finish any books yet?? What'd you get in your haul this week?? Share in the comments down below and I'll see you next week.

Happy Reading & Haulin' my loves

Saturday, August 10, 2019

VEDA Day 10: Black Romance and it's New Queen


I had some thoughts about that new Jasmine Guillory article from  ZORA.  I wasn't the only one; so many on twitter also had opinions that they shared and it spawned a bit of a recommendation thread all over the place. With yesterday also being National Book Lover's day it didn't go down well that this young woman and her team seem intent on erasing black women writers from the romance sphere.

It's not the first article that has tried to frame black romance as something that hasn't existed until Jasmine came along and really it's on the authors of the article to do better research. It is also on Jasmine and her team who have final say that an article shouldn't erase the works of the women who came before her to center her as "shero of black romance". We don't have to live like this, we don't have to pit black romance authors against each other, there is plenty of room at the table that many of the African American authors had to build for themselves since big publishing houses didn't seem to believe they would have selling power. Many of the names we know as staples did sign with big houses but they also self-published and created their own publishing imprints as a way to get the stories they wanted out there, not just the ones the gatekeepers would sign up for.

Imprints like Arabesque, Kimani and Dafina having been publishing African American centered stories for decades and for this little author of 4 books to come along and act as if Sandra Kitt hasn't existed and been making movies from her works for years is absolutely bullshyt.  We could sit here and go through the history of African American authors who have created different lanes for all of us to read in, from the women who when they realized big publishing houses weren't going to create the books they wanted to create their own like the 'street lit' sub-genre  of romance that focuses in on the inner city and impoverished men and women seeking love/ revenge and sex; because everyone's stories deserved to be heard.  Several publishing houses including Triple Crown Publishing by Vickie Stringer came out of that so did many well-known authors Omar Tyree, Sistah Souljah and more.

Romance in all its nuances has existed since dime novels were considered salacious in the 18th and 19th century.  Black romance has been shaped by greats like Sandra Kitt, Beverly Jenkins, Donna Hill, Brenda Jackson, Francis Ray, Rochelle Alers, Terry McMillian, Toni Morrison and so many more.  These women have been putting pen to paper and writing about black love, black romance, and it's many varied outcomes. They have staying power as many have extensive catalogs and have been writing in this genre for decades.

It's disheartening to see this article and this moniker being thrown around without the consideration for the women and men who changed the genre to include people who look like them. From E Lynn Harris writing about on the down-low brothers to Kimberla Lawson Roby's books about Reverend Curtis Black, and the shenanigans that take place in the black church, to the historical novels that center black women post Civil War written by Beverly Jenkins. And not to mention all the Christian Romance novels out there, the paranormal like those written by LA Banks (May She Rest in Power); and the smorgasbord of contemporary and interracial romance authors out there.  From Ace writers to the erotica like Robin Covington and Zane.

I personally have grown up in this genre, I started by reading a Nora Roberts novel my aunt gave me and then I found Sandra Kitt and I haven't ever looked back.  In high school I was reading Omar Tyree books and discussing them with my classmates, as a sheltered teen, I knew nothing about street life but these books made me feel seen as a kid growing up in the city. I remember sharing the Coldest Winter Ever with my girlfriends from my freshman year in college. My sophomore year I loaned out my Omar Tyree collection to a cousin and never got them back, but I remember reading and loving so many of the works that I had to replace them. I still to this day remember how I reacted to a twist in Milk in My Coffee, like still a shocker.  His book Leslie was so good and I was hooked.

The first time I read a Beverly Jenkins book and realized she was sharing real history?? That she had bibliographies in the back that I could use to go down the rabbit hole of black history??? I was hooked. Seeing Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillian then discovering it was a book?? How Stella got her groove back?? Seeing a black woman on Oprah talking about Jamaica and she wasn't Jamaican?? Loving the heck out of the adaptation with Angela Bassett?? ( I mean that romance imploded but still we got some good books and television out of it). Black women have always been the ones to center our stories, our pain, our history and our journeys. Lynn Emery writing of black women heiresses trying to make it in the corporate world.

Don't come in here and piss on all of us and tell us it's raining. To be a Queen includes more than being the flavor of the moment. It's staying power, it's having a range in the books you can write, with different characters and their journeys. We all know they will end up together but how they get there is what makes a great writer. Give me the emotions, don't just waltz in here and pretend that because you say it it's true.

I state it in my video and I want to touch on it even more here. Not only is it erasure of the black women and men who have opened up the genre for her to be able to come in and make these damn comments, it's also a way to center stories, not about black women at all. It feels like the way her press is being handled that black readers aren't the target audience, we are the 'given', they seem to believe we are already going to be reading her works because she's a black romance writer. UGH no, that's not how that works. The interviews and the way she's being marketed which include ignoring the presence of the black women who have been around before her is a total white gaze marketing. It appears (to me the reader) like she's not really marketing her books for us black readers but for white readers who want a little 'flavor/ color/ sassiness' in their romance without having to actually read 'black romance'.

Now again I understand that this is just my perception, but as someone who buys romance books, and I like to believe have a little sway in what others read as well, then you would want to make sure we aren't the ones you are slighting. I have no dog in this fight I'm not a writer, aspiring or otherwise, I like working in the healthcare field but romance is my escape, and seeing women who have helped me without even knowing it being treated like chopped liver, pissed me all the way off. So here I am participating in the callout. Fix the way your press is shaping your campaign as a writer, stop erasing black writers who have helped to shape the genre you get to come in and write in.

Jasmine you and your team need to do better.

Share in the comments down below your recommendations for romance readers my loves and let's continue the discussion.
As always
Happy Reading


Saturday, August 3, 2019

Stacking The Shelves (2019) #17: Amazon Prime Day Haul & SAVERS

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page! Stacking The Shelves now has a new host and check out that new image!!

So I did a thing, ok a little more than a thing, I got a few things, ok ok more than a few. UGH don't judge me.  
For the amazon prime day I snagged a new Kindle as mine has stopped taking a charge.

then I snagged these two books from Kellye Garrett

Hollywood Homicide ( Detective By Day #1)

Hollywood Ending (Detective By Day # 2)


From SAVERS, which incidentally was getting a fresh supply while I was there, most of them are Borders leftovers and they are brand new so I was stoked.

Melanie Rawn, I snagged these because I'm going to do video about the old school women scifi writers. that I used to love from my childhood.

Stronghold Dragon Star 1


The Dragon Token Dragon Star 2

Skybowl  Dragon Star 3

The Mageborn Traitor (Exiles 2)  I started this series eons ago, and seeing this made me want to get back into it.

I snagged these two because I have the first of the series on my shelves and with fall coming I know I'm going to want to read these.

Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn
Darkling by Yasmine Galenorn

This one was a Walmart copy and it was also brand new so of course, I snagged it. I've already read this title but didn't have a physical copy.  Daggers Edge by Lora Leigh (Brute Force Book 2)

This was a gently used copy of the sexy covers, I have all the others in these covers then I ordered a copy on amazon second hand and they sent me the original covers, and to say I wasn't amused doesn't even cover it (that's not what they stated they were selling so yeah not happy at all). I pitched an epic fit and got my money back, I like the original cover it just doesn't match all the black covers with the mens sexy looks on it. So I snagged this soon as I saw it. The Highlander's Touch by Karen Marie Moning.

Back to unread titles as I snagged these three when I made an error and got a book I already owned and they let me exchange it. Since I was getting this one I might as well get the others right?? Right! (And while I was setting up this post is when I learned it's a spin off of the Aisling Grey series which I loved  so yay)

 Dragon Soul (Dragon Falls 3) by Katie MacAlister

Dragon Fall (Dragon Falls 1)  by Katie MacAlister

Dragon Storm   (Dragon Falls 2) by Katie Macalister

If Only (Masters of Shadowlands # 8)  by Cherise Sinclair

Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts (also already read, just getting a copy for my shelves)

Then I was able to snag a few more books in this new adult series that I already own:

Tamed (Torn #5) by KA Robinson

Toxic  (Logan's Story) by KA Robinson

Twisted (Torn # 2) by KA Robinson

And then I found one of my favorite authors works on the shelves and knew I had to have it.

On His Terms (Mastered # 2) by Sierra Cartwright

So I went a little wild this week, but a few of these I've already read and am just getting for the shelves; and then I honestly have no excuses about the others. What'd you get in your haul this week??  Have you read any of these?? Have a few favorite "old school female authors" you would love to share?? Share in the comments down below and I'll see you next week.

Happy Reading & Haulin' my loves

Thursday, August 1, 2019

August 2019 To Be Read


Welcome my loves it's August 2019. And my July was a fantastic month of reading; not just in the number of books I read, but also in the quality of books I read. I had a lot of 4 and 5 stars reads and I'm hoping this month will also be the same.

For August besides my usual prompts, I'm going to be doing ARC August as well as Austen In August. Find our what I plan to read for those down below.

My goal this year is 150  books, if I break that down it comes out to 13 books per month, with 3 to 4  books a week. Totally doable in my books, so as the proverb says, you can eat an elephant one bite at a time, so here are my first few bites:

Read So Far This Year: 87
TBR Pile 150
TBR Balance: 63
Monthly Goal: 13
    I actually am doing VEDA (Vlog every day in August) this year and I made a TBR video as well, I'll link it here.

    Perpetual Author Challenge:
    • Brenda Jackson Star of Hi Heart, Stranded with a tempting stranger
    • Beverly Jenkins
    Finish Series Challenge:
    • Don't Tempt Me Sylvia Day 
    Top 19  List
    • Jan Read: Shifting (haven't finished yet)
    • April Read:
    • May Read: A Princess Theory by Alyssa Cole
    • June: Second Time Sweeter Beverly Jenkins
    • July: Souls Revealed by Dawn Marie Daniels & Candace Sandy
    Black Out Challenge:
    • Jambalaya by Luisah Teish
    • .A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
    Kimberla Lawson Roby:
    • A Taste of Reality
    • A Deep Dark Secret
    • The Perfect Marriage
    • Best Friends Forever
    • One in a Million
    • Copycat
    Erotica Book Selection: 
    • The Exhibitionist by Tara Sue Me 
    Book Club Book: (This month I'm skipping this one since it's not a title I own, however, I'm listing it so I know what the book was for this month at the end of the year).
    • Murder with Fried Chicken & Waffles by A. L Herber
    ARCs
    • Color Me In Natasha Diaz
    • Last Night Karen Ellis
    • A Map Of the Dark Karen Ellis
    • Highland Crown May McGoldrich
    • The Perfect Date Evelyn Lozada
    • Kingdom of Exiles Maxiym Matineau
    • No Other Duke But You
    • The Long call Ann Cielves
    • Never Day Duke Erica Ridley
    • Feels Like Summer Time Tammy Faulkner
    • Ferocity Summer 
    2018 ARCs Only:
    • Dare to Fall Estelle Maskame
    • The XY Virginia Bergin
    • Kiss the Girls Tara Sivec
    Leftover Books: Books from other months TBR that I didn't conquer.
    • Valiant by Holly Black
    • The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
    • That Summer by Sarah Dessen
    Non Fiction Reads:
    • The Principles of Druidry by Emma Restall Orr
    • Seasons of the Sacred Earth by Cliff Seryntine
    So this is a pretty ambitious TBR, but I think I can knock some of these off easily.  What are you going to be reading my loves?? Share in the comments down below if you have read any of these and as always

    Happy Reading