Author: Vanessa Diaz

contemporary romance

PhD candidate Dani Brown is in a serious sexy times slump, so she asks the goddess Oshun for a no-strings-attached partner with whom to get it on and poppin’. Enter Zafir, a sexy security guard at her university, who rescues Dani in a fire drill gone wrong. A video of the rescue goes viral and a hashtag is born (#DrRugbae- did I mention Zaf is a former pro rugby player?) as the internet assumes the two are a couple. Rather than quell the rumors, Dani and Zaf enter into a fakelationship so Zaf can parlay this newfound publicity to benefit the charity he runs. But wouldn’t you know it? Real feelings make their way into this fake—and steamy–arrangement.

What I love about it: Dani is so driven, confident, and unapologetically bisexual. Zaf ain’t here for that toxic masculinity BS: he reads romance novels and goes to therapy. The communication between Zaf and Dani is #goals.

Read by Ione Butler (who will also read the next book in the Brown Sisters series, Act Your Age, Eve Brown, out on 3/9/21!)

YA fiction

Lila Reyes has just graduated from high school and is supposed to take over the family panadería with her sister, move in with her bestie, and live happily ever after with her boo. Instead, her best friend bails on her, her boyfriend dumps her, and her abuela passes away suddenly. Concerned for her mental health after an alarming episode, her parents send her to England to stay with family and hopefully clear her head. Lila goes kicking and screaming, immediately finding ways to be annoyed by the people, the weather, and the quaint countryside setting that’s very unlike Miami. Just when she’s decided England isn’t her cup of tea (heh), she meets Orion, a teashop clerk who shows her all that she’s been missing.

What I love about it: All the Spanish and all of the pastry talk (mmm pastelitos and Chelsea buns) plus a real depiction of the struggles of dealing with grief. Lila’s relationship with her sister leaps off the page and made me want to call my cousin/BFF immediately. I will say Frankie Corzo’s take on a make English accent was… not my favorite, but I’m willing to overlook it for the rest of the positives.

Read by Frankie Corzo, who I think I’m calling my 2020 Narrator of the Year (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova)

thriller

I stand by this statement: go into this knowing as little as possible and prepare to be wowed. All I will tell you is that it’s a thriller and there’s gentrification involved. That’s it. Go!

What I love about it: HA! Did you think I’d give up the secrets now? Wrong! Let’s just say Alyssa Cole made me redefine what I find terrifying.

Read by Susan Dalian (the voice of Haku in the first season of Naruto and Storm in Wolverine and the X-Men) and Jay Aeseng (writer/actor/producer who you may know from the Twin Peaks TV series).

romantic comedy

Leena Cotton is dealing with a ton of unprocessed grief. When her job sends her on a mandatory paid holiday for two months, she leaves London and escapes to Yorkshire to visit her grandmother Eileen. Eileen is newly divorced and in the mood for adventure, so Leena helps her set up a dating app profile. When they discover the dating pool in the countryside is a bit limited, they come up with a plan to switch places for two months. Leena will live in Eileen’s home in the country and assume her grandmother’s daily duties, and Eileen will stay at Leena’s flat in London and dive headfirst into London’s dating scene. Both are way out of their element and it’s a bumpy ride at first, but they slowly come around to each of their new surroundings, meeting a love interest or two along the way.

What I love about it: the rare portrayal of an older woman in the dating scene. Breaking news: women in their 50s and beyond have sex lives!

Read by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Several reviews for this delightful book are critical of Alison Steadman’s performance for excessive mouth/smacking sounds, and I am here to defend my adopted English grandma. Yes, some of those noises are present; they never bothered me once, the performance felt authentic).

historical mystery

You know Lady Sherlock is my favorite Sherlock! Charlotte Holmes is back to investigate a murder case that implicates Scotland Yard inspector Robert Treadles. I inhaled this book in two days and wish I’d savored it longer!

What I love about it: I’m a sucker in general for mysteries set in Victorian England, but this one is so special because of the gender-flipped Sherlock element. The protagonist is an empowered woman living on her terms, including an insistence on sexual agency, and is very vocal about her appreciation for cake.

Read by Kate Reading (A Study in Scarlet Women and the rest of the book in the Lady Sherlock series, The Witching Hour by Anne Rice)

romance

Luc O’Donnell is the son of rockstar parents who split up when he was a kid. His in-and-out-of-rehab dad is planning a comeback which means Luc is put in the public eye, and a compromising photo lands Luc in hot water at the charity where he works. Fearing that Luc’s “particular variety of queer” will hurt the charity’s image, his boss orders him to find a nice, normal, fake boyfriend to clean up his image. Luc decides straight-laced, squeaky-clean barrister Oliver is the perfect partner to fake date, and Oliver agrees to the arrangement for work-related image issues of his own. They appear to have tragically little in common, but the more time they spend together… *raises and lowers eyebrows knowingly*

What I love about it: Luc is just a charming mess, and it’s so satisfying to watch him work through his issues even when he gets it wrong (#relatable). Oliver seems uptight, but he’s actually a total cinnamon roll beneath that polished exterior.

Read by Joe Jameson (The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell, and may I just say that every time he said “Lucien” with that gorgeous accent, I was reminded of the human capacity to feel attraction for a person you’ve never met or seen).

poetry

My favorite description of this book used to be one from this interview at Them calling it a book “hellbent on envisioning a world where queer Black joy exists not as a release but as a constant reality, while still recognizing the current state of affairs.” I do believe my new favorite is this one in Smith’s own words: “Homie is a book that says it’s about friendship and intimacy just like that guy that sent you 13 d*ck pics just now. But at the end of the day, it is really about so much more…. it’s about depression, it’s about suicidal ideation, it’s about men who f*cking suck. It’s about everything that a life can be about, and just about how friendship is that net that can catch you.” (Watch that and a reading here; just FYI, it’s a link to Grindr’s YouTube page. Do not at me with any clutching of pearls).

What I love about it: It’s a powerful, hilarious, heart-wrenching love letter to Black queer friendship on its own, but Smith reading their poetry aloud like it was intended takes it to a whole new level of slap-you-across-the-face impactful.

Read by the author.

historical fiction

I only just read Practical Magic last year and wondered what the hell took me so long, but on second thought, I played that pretty cool: unlike the folks who had to wait literal decades for The Rules of Magic, I got the read all three of the books about the Owens sisters almost back to back. In Magic Lessons, we go way way back and learn the story of the OG Owens witch Maria, and find out what the deal really is with the Owens curse. I am so in love with these books, I grieve their ending.

What I love about it: Put witches in any book and I’m already one foot in. Make those witches powerful, kind, bold, self-assured, headstrong, and fiercely protective of one another? I melt.

Read by Sutton Foster, who’s the star of the Younger TV adaptation, and reads the audiobook it’s based on, Older: A Younger Novel by Pamela Redmond.

nonfiction

Have you ever noticed that the villains in popular fairly tales are disfigured in some way or that disability is their punishment for being evil? Or that the princesses and princes who find love aren’t ever disabled, or if they are, they only find love only after their hideous disfigurement has been shaken off? Yikes. I thought I kinda already knew that the fairy tales of the West have major ableist tones, but reading this book really just circles all that’s wrong with those depictions in bright red ink. Able-bodied privilege has kept many of us from thinking critically about the implications of ableist messaging in these beloved stories, from Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen to the Disney machine. This #ownvoices book is a must read.

What I love about it: It’s no one’s job to make able-bodied people feel more comfortable about learning all that we get wrong about disability, but this book manages to feel like a call-in. Again, Amanda Leduc doesn’t owe anybody that, but this audiobook felt like a respected friend was telling me to have a seat and learn,

Read by the author

romance

This is the first in a new series about three women who become instant BFFs after the live tweeting of a terrible date leads them to an unfortunate discovery: they’ve all been catfished by the same loser! In the wake of their newfound viral fame, Samiah, London, and Taylor bond over Moscow mules and make a no-dating pact: for the next six months, they’ll take a break from men and dating to focus on themselves. Of course, this is precisely when a new hottie starts at Samiah’s office, making her seriously reconsider the pact.

What I love about it: Where do I start!? There’s the exploration of the role of race and gender in workplace dynamics, specifically Black women’s experience in STEM; a friendship between self-assured and empowered women who know their worth (and when to say no to catfishing f*ck boys); a fun, sexy, and satisfying romance.

Read by Je Nie Fleming (And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall, How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin)

Your girl’s podcast obligations for the year are put to bed and that means it’s 100% pleasure reading for me right now! I knew I had to finally pick up this highly recommended book because hello, Latinas in England + tea is the most my jam.

When we first meet Lila Reyes, she’s super grumps. She was supposed to take over the family panadería with her sister, move into her first apartment with her bestie, and live happily ever after with her boo thang, pero… Instead, her best friend bailed on her, her boyfriend dumped her right before prom (rude!), and she’s still grieving the sudden loss of her abuela pretty hard. Concerned for her mental health, her parents ship her off to England to stay with family against her will in the hopes that the trip will clear her head. Lila agrees to go but she sure isn’t happy about it, landing at Heathrow with a scowl, a stank attitude, and not a single sweater packed in protest. Our girl is pure Cubana, Miami born and raised; she not used to or prepared for the people, the weather, and the quaint countryside setting she’s to call home for the next three months. But then!!! Just when she’s decided England isn’t her cup of tea (wink wink), she meets Orion, a teashop clerk who appoints himself her personal tour guide and shows her all that she’s been missing.

I was low-key annoyed with Lila at first for being so salty about the trip while I’m stuck inside praying for a vaccine. Pobrecita Lila, so burdened with this all-expenses-paid trip to one of my favorite places in the world! But I found my frigid heart melting right along with Lila’s as she began to let loose and find herself, especially when she got to flex in the kitchen and show off those finely tuned baking skills. There’s a lot to love in this cinnamon roll of a book; the romance is sweet and faith-restoring; the idyllic country setting made me long for strolls down cobblestone lanes, lunch at a local pub, and a proper afternoon tea; all the pastry talk made my mouth water for scones, buns, pan Cubano, and pastelitos with guava and cheese. But what really set this book apart for me was Lila’s relationship to her family, especially with her sister and abuela. Those dynamics made me long for my own hometown with all it’s sunshine, Latin flavors, and the people in it. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book; it’ll make you want to call a person you love, whip up a sweet, buttery treat, and perhaps even dare you to bet on yourself.

Read by Frankie Corzo (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton, Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova, Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro)

“What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?” This collection of essays, memes, recipes, tweets, conversations, poetry, and more paints a layered portrait of the Black experience, “to tell the story of the radical, imaginative, provocative, and gorgeous world that Black creators are bringing forth today.”

Ready for this narrator list? Read by Kimberly Drew, Kevin R. Free, Dominic Hoffman, Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Bahni Turpin, and Jenna Wortham. Whew!

When out-of-work math teacher Ethan McCloud is sent a mysterious box, a sequence of Da Vinci Code-esque events ensues. As he and his ex-girlfriend unravel a mystery (and a conspiracy) 10,000 years in the making, they’re chased down by both the Six-Fingered Man and the Council of David (sound like upstanding citizens to me!). Ethan must find a way to evade his pursuers if he’s going to find the truth.

Yeah… I really did pick this one because of the Da Vinci Code comp. I like what l like, don’t at me!

Read by Kevin R. Free (All Systems Red by Martha Wells, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle) making his second appearance in this newsletter today!

Alyssa Cole is back with a brand new book and a brand new series. If you loved her Reluctant Royals books, get ready for Runaway Royals! In this first installment, Shanti Mohapi weds King Sanyu of Njaza in an arranged marriage. She’s shrewd, savvy, and seems to have the answers to the country’s problems, but her new subjects see her as an outsider. By day, the two lead separate lives; by night, Shanti wears the crown and Sanyu defers to her both in politics and passion (insert body roll here). When turmoil erupts and Shan’t goes on the run, “Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.”

Read by Karen Chilton (The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, A Princess in Theory and the rest of the books in the Reluctant Royals series)

In ultra-orthodox Brooklyn, lonely teen Ari Eden’s entire life is consumed by intense study and religious rituals. Then his family announces that they’re packing up and moving to a glitzy Miami suburb, and Ari sees an opportunity for reinvention. He enrolls at an opulent Jewish academy, a place ruled by dizzying wealth, ruthless ambition, and hedonism. When the school’s golden boy takes Ari under his wing, Ari gets pulled into the school’s most exclusive and wayward clique as they begin testing their religion in… interesting ways. This is Liberty Hardy’s favorite book of the year!

Read by Micky Shiloah (Lot Six by David Adjmi)

Everyone I know who’s read the Poppy War series has recommended it enthusiastically with something the tune of, “Ah! Brutal! Gird your loins! SO GOOD!” The Burning God is the conclusion to this award-winning epic fantasy trilogy that combines the history of 20th-century China with a banana-pants world of gods and monsters.

Read by Emily Woo Zeller (a Book Riot favorite who also reads White Ivy by Susie Yang, which I’m SO excited to read!)

This is the sequel to War Girls, a book I admit I didn’t know much about until recently because I was caught up in all the buzz around Riot Baby (read that too, it’s phenomenal). In War Girls, it’s 2172 and the earth is largely uninhabitable due to climate change and nuclear disasters. In a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria, these conditions have forced many to move to space colonies while those left behind suffer through civil war and radiation poisoning. Sisters Onyii and Ify’s lives have been marked by violence and political unrest, but they dream of peace. They’re willing to fight for that peace, and that’s exactly what they do. In this sequel, “the battles are over, but the fight for justice has just begun.”

Read by Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo)

My body is ready for 30 hours of soothing narration from dad. I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying!

Read by dad

This Victorian gothic horror-comedy story-within-a-story revolves around the Brookhants School for Girls, a cursed New England boarding because of course it is. The lives of two sets of girls who lived over a century apart are entwined in mysterious ways; in 1902, Clara and Flo died under suspicious circumstances on school grounds, and Harper and Audrey are playing Flo and Clara in a modern horror film about their gruesome deaths. As past and present melt into one another with each distortion of reality and revelation of long-buried truths, a low (and literal) hum of dread sets in and makes itself at home. It’s full of Hollywood satire, sapphic romance, and some deliciously dark humor. If you like your horror spooky but not scary, creepy as shit but not bloody or violent, this wonderful book strikes that perfect balance of atmospheric and unsettling that’s just made for fall reading.

Now: how to describe Xe Sands’ narration style? She sort of sounds like I imagine a specter come from the beyond to send me on a dangerous quest would sound, or like I do when I’ve had too much wine and I’m trying to persuade someone to go get me some french fries: it’s a little slow, a little raspy, and you just get the sense that she’s withholding vital information. This sounds like shade, but I promise it’s not! She’s won all of the awards and her work is beloved by many, but I’ve spent enough time interacting with the most critical parts of the internet to know that she’s probs not everyone’s cup of tea. I personally think that languid, almost hoarse, bordering-on-vocal-fry thing is an entire mood, one perfectly suited to this haunted tale.

In conclusion: I loooooved this book!

Backlist bump: The Miseducation of Cameron Post