Month: February 2022

Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? | Book Review by Felicia

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Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is a  heartwarming and hilarious novel about learning to love yourself. I definitely give this book a 4 star rating and suggest you read it. 

About:

This is a romance book about Yinka, a 31 year old British Nigerian woman who pushes to find a date to her cousin’s wedding. At a glance it seems as if Yinka has a great life. But, according to her mom and aunties she needs a man.  After feeling a lot of pressure to find a man, Yinka strategically, sets out a plan to meet and be with the best guy. Date after date Yinka starts to change herself for all of the wrong reasons. With help from friends Yinka learns how to love her true self. 

Review:

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn writes with such an authentic and creative voice. Every page of this book was a worthwhile read. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who needs a bit of love, especially self love in their life. It’s a great laugh and lively book. 

The story begins at Yinka’s little sister’s baby shower and we are introduced to all the women in the  family. We quickly learn that there are many  issues brewing within Yinka’s family and life. In just six months Yinka’s cousin will be getting married and Yinka really wants a date for the occasion. Blackburn, intensely expresses the desperation Yinka feels to find a date for the wedding. From there everything in Yinka’s life starts to go downhill because Yinka begins to transform herself for the wrong reasons.

In addition to looking for a date it is clear that Yinka is in search of purpose in her life. As things start to unravel Yinka continues to slip down a dark path and quickly loses the best pieces of her character. She starts hiding behind lies and schemes that generate tension between the real relationships she has with friends and family. Eventually, Yinka must face the hard truths in her life in order to accept the love, comfort, and kindness she deserves to thrive rather than just survive. 

Lizzie’s writing captures the authentic emotion and mindset a person faces when challenged with learning how to be comfortable in their own skin. I felt deeply connected to the position Yinka was in life as she dealt with family dynamics, career choices, mental health, and so much  more. Yinka was seeking love in all the wrong places. It took time but in the end she is able to look inward and fight for herself. 

Essentially, Yinka is going through it but I found a lot of myself in her and admired many other characters. I truly enjoyed reading this novel and I can’t wait to read more from Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. 

This is Why Sam Loves The Bootleg Book Club

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What It’s All About? 

Sam with portrait of Toni Morrison, American Novelist. National Portrait Gallery Washington DC

The Bootleg Book Club Podcast has been an idea that Felicia and I have considered for a few years now. Although six years apart we have always been able to connect on being book nerds. I introduced her to Wattpad when I realized just how much her book budget had grown. Fast-forward a few years and as she was busy in college and I in law school we realized we just weren’t reading for fun as much as we used to. This project is a way for us to get back into reading regularly now that we have both graduated and to foster a book reading community that can have candid conversations. 

Initially, The Bootleg Book Club was born from the reading circle of my sisters and aunt. We all loved reading and were able to share that with each other by passing books back and forth between us. It was a perfect way to stay connected and it helped reconnect us when I returned from teaching English in Spain. As we read books one after the other, it was a joy as we could reminisce and laugh at certain scenes or characters together – even coming up with inside jokes and recommending books to each other based on our favorite characters. Namely, we joked how we were all too cheap to buy our own copy and were bootlegging off of each other as we passed the book from person to person. The  summer we intentionally all read Crazy Rich Asians, it was a special treat when the book was made into a movie and we all got to see it together at an early screening, solidifying what it meant to be part of our bootleg club – love of books and love of each other. With this podcast, we hope to share that love with other book lovers. 

My Reading Journey

I cannot tell you the exact moment I fell in love with reading, I just know that I always loved language and words. I loved making up stories and had many imaginary friends growing up whose stories I enjoyed writing about. 

I can tell you that my parents fostered that love for language (probably because they needed help with English since they are Haitian immigrants) and that at nine years old I was placed in the advanced reading group at my school. One weekend while at the local library, a woman was looking to get rid of her book collection of The Baby-Sitters Club and she asked my dad if I liked to read (DUH!). She gave us her entire collection for free – it was an entire bin’s worth. I would read The Baby-Sitters Club all day and night long. I just couldn’t put the books down. This obsession with reading continued – I was admittedly part of the Twilight fan craze, even finishing Breaking Dawn within a 24 hour period. 

In a professional capacity, my love of language became more obvious when I became  an English Language Assistant and a Reading Tutor after college. Then, I went to law school, and reading for pleasure started to feel like it would never happen again for me. A book that used to take me 2-3 days to finish now could take as long as 2-3 months. With The Bootleg Book Club Podcast, I can already see myself being pulled out of that rut – I’m so excited to discuss our first pick I’m flying through it.  

More About Me

I am at the tail end of my 20s and a single cat mom. An introvert through and through who will always pick watching a movie at home on the couch over going to any event with more than 3 people in attendance. You can lure me out with the promise of a good glass of wine (whiskey or rum).  I’ve recently picked up scrapbooking and can’t get enough of purple washi tape. I’m an inactive attorney trying to figure out the data privacy world. And, I’m a former world traveler who hasn’t been on a plane since 2020, praying Omicron doesn’t cancel any more of my travel plans. 

Until then, happy reading and follow us on all of our Social Media Platforms and Save the Date for the Launch of our first Podcast. We are reading Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s debut novel Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? This book is a  timely and perfect fit for Valentine’s day coming so grab your copy to read along with us or wait for our review.

What to Expect From The Bootleg Book Club

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Felicia pictured with Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist.
Felicia with one of her favorite authors, Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist

Welcome to the Bootleg Book Club! My sister, Sam, and I are building a space for any kind of reader to come and discover what to read. We welcome avid readers, book lovers, and reading beginners to our Bootleg Book Club. Twice a month we will discuss a book during our video podcast to help expand and broaden listeners’ reading experience. This is a friendly environment where we nurture and develop deep interest, passion, and appreciation for the reading world. The ultimate purpose of the Bootleg Book Club is to hold ourselves accountable for reading all kinds of books that allow us to have candid conversations that enrich our reading journey and lives. 

Who am I? 

I am a pink lover, musical fanatic, and planner enthusiast who found comfort in reading at a young age. The first book series I fell in love with was the Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. From there, I read many other books in all kinds of genres and as I got older my taste in reading grew with me. I truly felt at peace while I was reading and I still feel a sense of happiness when I have a book in my hand.

My Reading Journey 

As I developed a passion for reading, I discovered that not everyone enjoyed reading as much as I did. Children in my class never expressed an interest in books. Students hated to go to the library and did not like any summer reading assignment. While I lived for library days and summer reading logs. My family always supported my reading obsession. In particular, my aunt was my biggest supporter. Not only did she buy and find books for me to read, she would read along with me. This was the initial formation of The Bootleg Book Club. 

My aunt and I would mainly read young adult novels together. We would find books at the bookstore or library to read. When we both finished the book, I would spend the night at her house to share a few laughs, tears, and ideas about the book. Then one day after returning home from living abroad my oldest sister joined us as we read a new series. All the fun and great memories I made with my aunt increased once my sister joined us. Eventually, my other sister became a part of the crew the next summer. 

After heading off to college, I still loved to read and I even found a few friends who loved to read too. However, between all of the class lectures, assignments, and student organizations I no longer had all of the time to read the books I wanted to read. So, the first summer I came back home from school I created a summer reading list that I wanted to get through. On the top of that list was Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.  

The Official Bootleg Book Club

That same summer my older sisters were home and my aunt lived 5 minutes away from our house. Once they knew of my reading goals they all wanted to join in the fun. But, being very thrifty people we said why buy 4 copies of the same book when we could just get 1. So, I bought the book and we planned to each have the book for two weeks.  By the end of the summer the book was torn up. After taking the book to coffee shops, bookstores, vacations, and all sorts of places it had seen better days. There were countless ripped pages, dog eared corners, and mysterious stains that the book received. 

Our book was well read and well loved. At the end of the summer we talked about the book. The dialogue was intense, hilarious, and wonderful to have. We even had debates about book etiquette and how to read. As four dynamic women we definitely had our fair share of opinions. Overall, it was a great experience, even watching the film adaptation was icing on the cake. We knew it was a bootlegged way to start a book club like this but it worked for us. We were always aunties angels and now we are The Bootleg Book Club. 

What’s Next? 

After graduating from college, work life and adulting has become a bit mundane. Especially with living a post grad life during a pandemic. I really want to feel a spark of joy for something I do every day. Currently, a practical job is providing the stability I need but it is not fulfilling the creative spirit that is stirring inside me. As an avid reader I am excited to combine my reading ambition, writing aspirations, and sisterly love into a new project that will open the doors to more reading and community. 

I urge you to follow us on all of our Social Media Platforms and Save the Date for the Launch of our first Podcast. We are reading Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s debut novel Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? This book is a  timely and perfect fit for Valentine’s Day coming so grab your own copy to read along with us or wait for our review. 

Until Next Time, 

Felicia J.