reading – Page 3 – The Bootleg Book Club

Podcast 9 Show Notes

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022Leave a comment

Our 9th pick is a second chance at love story that also includes themes of family, motherhood, ancestry, masculinity, and vulnerability.

About the Author

Tia Williams is an accomplished beauty editor and novelist. She is from Virginia and attended University of Virginia. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY and is an Executive Copy Director at Estee Lauder Companies. Her novel The Perfect Find won the African American Literary Award for Best Fiction and Seven Days in June is her 6th novel.

Book Look

The sisters, Sam and Felicia admired the cover of the novel noting the beautiful embrace of the couple and the interesting use of bright and dark colors. The collage-esque color is a nod to how important art is in this book. The book is 328 pages and includes discussion questions for a book club. Seven Days in June is a beautiful story with some dark moments that highlights what a second chance at love can look like while being true to yourself. A main theme is reconnection, not only in romance, but in familial and ancestral bonds.

Bookmark

Some quotes the sisters found to be profound.

“Alone doesn’t care that I don’t shave my legs in the winter. Alone never gets disappointed by me.” pg. 23
“Listen, caring about things don’t make you soft. It makes you alive.” Pg. 42
“Just be an active listener. If you listen hard enough, you can tell what a person needs from you. And If you give them what they need, you’ve got a friend for life.” pg. 570

POV

The sisters both loved the main characters and couple Eva and Shane. They couldn’t help but feel connected and fall in love with the characters as their story unfolded. Their favorite characters were Audre (Eva’s daughter) and Cece (Eva’s editor). Their least favorite characters were Khalil (another writer/hotep) and Lizette (Eva’s mother).

Deep Dive

The sisters both agreed that Seven Days in June should come with a trigger warning due to its dark themes in the flashbacks to Eva and Shane’s time in highschool. While these moments were difficult to read they were important and highlighted the deepness of Eva and Shane’s love even at 17 years old. Ultimately, they don’t reconnect until 15 years later but the book does a good job of making you believe in second chances and the idea that there are some people that after connecting with them you realize you need to have them in your life. The sisters enjoyed the novel immensely and found it inspired them to keep mantras to push them forward towards dreams that represent their true selves.

Podcast 8 Show Notes

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022Leave a comment

A Retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

About the Author

Ibi Zoboi was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family. She has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is well known for writing American Street, a National Book Award Finalist.

Book Look

This was the shortest novel Sam and Felicia have read but it packed a punch. A retelling of Pride and Prejudice with a great modern edge added. Even the cover shows historical style with a new and vibrant graffiti effect on the top.

Bookmark

“We were not supposed to be proud. We were not supposed to love these things so hard: the chipping paint, the missing floorboards, the gas stove we have to light with matches, the cracks in the windows, the moldy bathroom tiles, the mice and the roaches. But I’ve never known anything else. These broken things all spell home to me.” p. 444

“I wanted to write a love story filled with sweetness, joy, and beauty. But our current political situation was a constant noise and distraction. So much was happening in the world, and at times, it was hard to focus on the magic of first love […] I needed an anchor-a structure to hold on to, something that would guide this love story toward healing and reconciliation, if not for the characters themselves, then for me.” p. 472

POV

Overall Sam and Felicia’s favorite part is the poetry the main character writes all throughout the novel. Felicia loved the Janael Sisters as a whole; they were great characters to read. Felicia’s least favorite character was Zuri. She had a good heart but she came off a bit too judgmental and unwilling to be open to change. From Sam’s point of view she didn’t have much attachment to these characters. She appreciated the effort written to develop them but they can’t compare to the original.

Deep Dive

Set in Brooklyn, New York Ibi Zoboi creatively uses the rich history of the city as the backdrop for a current and diverse new version of Pride and Prejudice. For the most part Pride follows the original storyline of Pride and Prejudice but this time around it follows an Afro-Latina family dealing with a few more issues such as gentrification in their neighborhood.

Podcast 7 Show Notes

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022Leave a comment

The 7th book is Charming as a Verb by Ben Phillipe

About the Author

Elise Bryant was born and raised in Southern California. She graduated from California State with a B.A. in Africana studies. She also has a Masters in Special Education from Loyola Marymount University. Prior to her writing career, she was a special education teacher. Happily Ever Afters is her debut novel and her follow up One True Loves has also been published (our next read!).

Book Look

Sam and Felicia discuss how this book cover is bright and creative just as the main character Lenore. It showcases her vibrant art and readiness to go on vacation. We also love another natural hair style being showcased with Lenore’s beautiful locs.

Bookmark

“But maybe caring for ourselves is the ultimate celebration of how they’ve raised us. Having options you know? Not just surviving in this world..but living.” p. 134

POV

This time around Felicia and Sam had the same favorite character Etta. Etta was the youngest child but her personality shined bright. As a child genius, Etta had some funny lines and was a great advocate for her older sister Lenore. On the other hand, Lenore’s parents in the novel were two characters who ended up putting too much pressure on their kids. Even though the parents embodied Black excellence we got to see the consequences of taking the demands of Black excellence too far.

Deep Dive

There were many topics discussed in this week’s deep dive from Black excellence, heartbreak, to college decisions. Sam and Felica both agreed that they could relate to Lenore’s struggle to meet the Black Excellence expectations from parental influence and society. They further discuss how heartbreak impacts a young girl and the difficulty with moving forward. Lenore’s journey is quick but Sam and Felicia still understand how hard it is to decide what to do with your future. Overall, Sam and Felicia are looking forward to the next novel by Elise Bryant.

Podcast 6 Show Notes

July 12, 2022July 17, 2022Leave a comment

The 6th book is One True Loves by Elise Bryant

About the Author

Book Look

Bookmark

“But maybe caring for ourselves is the ultimate celebration of how they’ve raised us. Having options you know? Not just surviving in this world..but living.” p. 134

POV

Deep Dive

Podcast 5 Show Notes

April 18, 2022March 8, 2025Leave a comment

The 5th book is Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

About the Author

Book Look

Felicia and Sam talk about how the cover of Happily Ever Afters captivated them right away. They wanted to know what the girl with the cute mini afro was thinking and loved all the stickers on her laptop. The sisters love beautiful black hair on display and the foreshadowing that all the designs provided for.

Bookmark

Most of their favorite quotes came at the end of the book, but Sam did share a sweet moment between the main character Tessa and her new friend as he tried to help make sure the cream from her wash and go was properly worked in.

“Don’t worry, I won’t touch your hair, I know that’s not kosher” pg. 50
“You need to get out of this mindset that you don’t deserve to be here. You’re here for a reason. As a writer, an artist, you belong here. And nothing, not some mean girl, or even your own inner critic, can take that away from you.” pg. 303
“I thought I needed a real-life love story of my own to start writing again… but what I really needed, to find my own words and my voice again was to love myself. And I do” pg. 373

POV

Sam’s favorite character was – Sam (the character). How fitting! She loved how he made an effort to be an ally without overstepping. He was a great listener and a great friend – Felicia completely agreed. They both also really liked Lenore who was a helpful friend to Tessa starting on day 1 at the art school.

Their least favorite characters were Nico and Poppy. Poppy was clearly set up to be the mean girl and easy to dislike. Poppy’s distaste for Tessa was understandable, but Poppy just took it too far in Sam’s opinion. Nico just wasn’t the one and was never the one (Felicia’s words!). He was your typical bad boy and was clearly self absorbed.

Deep Dive

Sam and Felicia absolutely adored Elise Bryant’s debut novel. The story was charming, funny, and took them back to their own high school days in some ways. The novel touches on young romance, friendship, and family. The book reminds the main character and you that your creativity has always been inside you and you are right where you belong – you just have to believe and be open to it! Happily Ever Afters is about self-love as much as it is about falling in love for the first time. This book is for every romance lover and should be on your TBR if you haven’t read it already. Watch the full video to get more details on their thoughts or read Felicia’s book review. The sisters can’t wait to read One True Loves!

Happily Ever Afters | Book Review by Felicia

April 18, 2022April 18, 20221 Comment

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant is a fresh, funny, and fantastic read. I’m giving this novel a 3.5 because I wasn’t locked in and loving it all the way through. But, I still highly suggest you get a copy and read it for yourself.

About:

Happily Ever Afters is a novel about Tessa, a young high school girl with a passion and gift to write. She attends a new school where she can learn in an environment dedicated to the arts. But, at this new school she struggles with writing new material and starts to doubt her place at school. In order to regain her writing spirit Tessa and her best friend create a plan for Tessa to experience her own love story in hopes that real life experiences will help Tessa to write again.

Review:

Elise Bryant is a very talented writer. I enjoyed her style of writing and the voice she gave Tessa. I wasn’t super into the actual storyline but I did find delight in the character development and the care/ detail descriptions in certain scenes.

I think that the energy Tessa gave certain people in the book who did not deserve her attention was frustrating. Tessa is such an amazing, chill, and artistic young girl who becomes enamored by the popular crowd despite having a solid friend group of her own. At the end of the day she acted like a typical young girl who needs to build up her confidence. Elise definitely succeeded in capturing the tone and struggles of the young Black girl experience.

There is no doubt in my mind that Sam, Tessa’s new friend, was my favorite character. I am team Sam everyday, allday and I wish I could read more scenes with him and Tessa. His ability to be such a wholesome person was so refreshing. He was just a young boy working on his cooking craft. There were other great characters but I really like the way Elise placed Sam as such a good friend and ally for Tessa to have in her life.

Again, I wasn’t too into the storyline because it didn’t excite me or make me want to keep on turning the page. I did appreciate that Elise touches on themes related to disability, friendship, mental health, and anxiety. This book did remind me of what it was like to be in high school. I was just like Tessa, an antsy girl who had talent but doubted her own skills and was up to crazy antics. Elise also touches on themes related to disability, friendship, mental health, and anxiety.

I would suggest reading this book and I am planning to read the next book in the series.

Hey, Brown Girl | Book Review by Sam

April 18, 2022Leave a comment

About:

Hey, Brown Girl by Janay Harden is a coming of age young adult novel that focuses on 17 year old Raven as she navigates her family and school drama, anxiety, and transitions within friendship groups. While the main focus is on Raven, each member of the family has at least one chapter in which their personal thoughts and feelings are captured. It was a quick read but does touch on adult themes although it is marketed as a young adult novel. In fact, there are moments where I wondered if this book should come along with a trigger warning for certain themes the author chose to touch on.

Review:

Janay Harden is a licensed social worker and therapist. It is clear from the book that Ms. Harden has a background in mental health in the way that all of the problems in the book seem to be solved by therapy and self-love. The book presents several different relatable issues such as anxiety, resentment towards parents, child neglect, and drug abuse. If you have not experienced one of these issues, you’re often not too far removed from someone who has.

The friendship that Raven has built with three other black girls in her neighborhood is beautiful to read about and it makes you think fondly of your own friendships or desire that type of friendship. However, the friendship is tested when Raven is challenged to reflect on her behavior and consider whether she is always being the best friend she can be to her girls or if she is centering herself.

This challenge is amidst several other challenges – Raven’s cousin has come to live with her, she is challenged for her spot as dance team captain, and she is battling anxiety. As Raven contends with each of these issues with the help of her school assigned counselor it’s like reading therapy in book form. She learns to cope with each issue and learns to have confidence within herself to know she can be triumphant in the face of all these issues.

Ms. Harden follows along with the other family members and this is where keeping up with the plot gets tricky. I understand that the author was looking to give everyone a happily ever after and perhaps even demonstrate how each family issue can be worked out in a healthy manner, but I think it would have been best to fully develop Raven’s story and maybe make a book series out of each family member’s story.

We learn about the racial identity challenges of Raven’s mother, Blair. The abuse Phoenix (Raven’s grandmother) suffered. The neglect Carter (her cousin) experiences and more. These are all tough issues to work through and I don’t know that the happily ever after that is achieved in just a few chapters is realistic.

Overall, the book was a solid read and could be useful for anyone looking for positive ways to deal with the challenges the book touches on. It is filled with both therapeutic lessons as well as generational wisdom.

Podcast Episode 4 Show Notes

April 1, 2022April 1, 2022Leave a comment

The 4th book is Hey, Brown Girl, a young adult novel, by Janay Harden.

About the Author

Janay attended Rutgers University where she received a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, School Social Worker and Mental Health Therapist. To date, she has held many titles but her favorites are mentor, mental health advocate, and melanin story teller. Janay is native to South Jersey where she resides with her daughter. Her interests include Astrology, spa days, and crabs. She is the Author of Hey, Brown Girl, Forty-two Minutes, and Someone More Like Myself.

Book Look

The book cover makes a bold statement with vibrant colors and a distinct style that highlights the young adult essence of the novel. The co-hosts discuss how this book reminded them of the cool girl group aesthetic and old school reading days with their friends.

Bookmark

This time around the book didn’t have a strong narrative or storyline. Instead for the co-host the book felt like one large therapy session due to characters constantly dealing with trauma. But, Sam and Felicia still found a few good quotes to share.

Exhale the stress, the anger. The things that keep our body in survival mode. Let’s exhale those things. We are loved, we are honored, we are celebrated…just breathe pg 127
– they taught their daughter to be good enough for White people. They taught her to demand an opportunity at their table, and when she finally got that opportunity, she had to be better than them. Blair just wanted to build her own table. […] Blair didn’t want to beat them. She wanted to create her own path and something that would last. For her, that started first with a strong foundation and family. Pg 136
When you build a circle of women who protect you and make you better, well, what’s greater than support, baby? Keep them around, they your people. Pg 182

POV

This time around neither co-host felt a strong connection to the characters. Written from different points of view, the novel included too many points of view. In general Sam selected the entire family unit and how they functioned as her favorite part. Especially being able to see how they all receive happiness ever after. Felicua chose Blaire the mother as her favorite character due to the fact that they had similar upbringings.

Deep Dive

This novel clearly conveys the way trauma affects the entire family. From the very beginning symptoms of trauma are introduced. In addition, this novel incorporates a message about the power of friendship, Black pride, and family dynamics into the story of a young Black girl growing up. The co-host wished for more character development and the ability to properly unpack all of the generational trauma. This wasn’t Sam and Felicia’s favorite novel but it does a good job of normalizing therapy for Black people and families.

Legendborn | Book Review by Felicia

March 25, 2022Leave a comment

This is a wonderful 4.5 star rating kind of book. I don’t know why it took me so long to read Legendborn but I completely understand the hype it has been given. I was truly locked in and loving this novel all the way through.

About:

Legendborn is a fantasy novel about Bree Mathews, a young Black girl who needs to work through her mothers death. While attending an early college program Bree learns that there might be more to her mothers death than meets the eye. This launches Bree on a quest to discover the truth about her mom’s death and along the way she uncovers a world of magic.

Review:

This novel is loosely based on Arthurian legend. But, don’t expect it to follow the typical storyline. Tracey Deonn writes a new and fresh perspective to the traditional King Arthur tale. Lgenedborn eloquently incorporates a diverse tone to the writing that acknowledges aspects of race, class, and gender. I really appreciated the way Deonn recognized diversity in her writing in such a seamless way. The importance of race, class, and gender truly elevated the story.

Set in four parts this novel perfectly introduces readers to a new and fantastical world. In part one, Order, you realize that nothing in Bree’s, the main characters, life is in order. After her mothers death, Bree is understandably struggling to move on. In an attempt to regain order in her life Bree joins an early college program that allows her to attend classes at her moms alma mater. As Bree starts the early college program she is thrust into a magical secret society,The Order of the Round Table.

Part two, Discord, Bree learns not to take things at face value. The secret society claims that they are about protecting humans from demons but Bree witnesses how there might be more to the Order of the Round Table that isn’t too great. The Order of the Round Table has a long history of excluding people who don’t fit their mold or idea of what it takes to protect humanty.

Part three ,Root, Bree really gets the chance to connect with her ancestors. Bree discovers new information about her own family history when she starts therapy. Her therapist shares information about Bree’s mom and shares how Black people have practiced root magic for centuries. Tracey Deonn uses the history of American slavery to introduce root magic, a form of magic that was passed down to the descendents of enslaved people. They learned a completely different type of magic that is deeply connected to honoring ancestors.

Part four, Splinter, so much has been introduced to the reader between different types of magic, history, and monsters to keep up with. In addition, Bree continues to surprise everyone around her by channeling great power instead of being a damsel in distress. In the end, we are left with a cliffhanger but it’s a cliffhanger that I am content with.

This was such a great read! I can’t stop thinking about this novel and the world Tracey has created. It has elements of Arthurian legend but it included so much more. This goes beyond a young adult novel; it encompasses so many creative pieces mixed with rich history. In addition Deonn writes about the power within family, community, and oneself . I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series and hope you read it too.

You Don’t Know Us Negroes | Book Review by Sam

March 13, 2022Leave a comment

About:

You Don’t Know Us Negroes by Zora Neale Hurston is a collection of essays that expand on topics such as African-American history and folklore, art, politics, race, and gender. The collection is spread out over five sections “On the Folk”, “On Art and Such”, “On Race and Gender”, “On Politics”, and “On the Trial of Ruby McCollum”. Each section is filled with Ms. Hurston’s beautiful prose and descriptive language.

Review:

Zora Neale Hurston’s imagery cannot be matched. I don’t know that I’ve ever read such passages that captured my senses. Ms. Hurston is so unapologetically Black in every essay and is clearly writing to an audience of her people. She is not at all concerned with the white gaze. These essays that were written so many generations ago are truly a breath of fresh air. Ms. Hurston’s words are for me and you that identify with the Black experience. We get a taste of Ms. Hurston’s vast talent as we are able to read various genres within this collection including fiction and nonfiction writing. There are times that I truly felt as though Ms. Hurston’s words could have been written today, she was a woman ahead of her time in terms of her vision as to what was happening to Black culture, specifically the way in which it was being watered down.

Ms. Hurston challenges us to embrace the real and imaginative creative work of Black people. Our rich history is nothing to be ashamed of – in spite of all of the tragedies befallen on Black people we have proven to be triumphant and excellent in every avenue that we are given the opportunity to pursue to the fullest extent.

Although, the collection is split into subjects, there is a chronological list of the essays so that you are able to read the essays in order – which could potentially give context to Ms. Hurston’s frame of mind as she wrote each essay.

This collection is truly powerful and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read more from Zora Neale Hurston or who is looking for authentic takes on Black culture and politics. Take a moment to open your mind to think and imagine