The Washington Post
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In Essie Chambers's novel, Diamond Newberry learns about her family's history seven years after her father disappeared.
Carole V. Bell
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🇯🇲Critic & researcher. UNC J-School PhD. Books, TV, Film & Democracy. Words: @NPRBooks @NYTimes @LATimes @WashingtonPost @BostonGlobe @Indiewire @TheAtlantic
Carole V. Bell’s Journalist Portfolio
View as a gridWhy Patricia Highsmith's most famous creature, Tom Ripley, continues to fascinate
NPR
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Sinister and visually stunning, the new Netflix series Ripley reminds us why Patricia Highsmith's book The Talented Mr. Ripley continues to influence popular culture.
Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts Is a Timeless Depiction of Motherhood and Adolescence
Oprah Daily
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The “Little Fires Everywhere” author’s latest is a galvanic and urgent novel of social and familial upheaval.
Crime Fiction Goes Global and Diverse, as These 20 Books by Women Writers Show
Oprah Daily
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Though popular, crime fiction has a somewhat checkered reputation: On-screen or on the page, pro-police propaganda, sexism, and repetition are a few of the sins that plague it. But there is more to crime fiction than loner detectives and volatile vigilantes with badges.
So You're Rivals? And You're Fake-Dating? Classic.
The New York Times
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In her debut romance novel, "Honey and Spice," Bolu Babalola plays with familiar literary romance tropes to explore questions about gender, sexuality and modern dating. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Percival Everett's Latest Grounds Racial Allegory In History, Horror And Blood
NPR
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At a certain point, dark social satire bleeds into horror. That can be powerful, but it can also very easily miss its target. Percival Everett's new novel The Trees hits just the right mark. It's a racial allegory grounded in history, shrouded in mystery, and dripping with blood. An incendiary device you don't want to put down.
A New Novel Gives Wings - and a Megaphone - to a Complex Woman
The New York Times
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ISLAND QUEEN By Vanessa Riley Vanessa Riley was intrigued when she encountered the figure of Miss Lambe in Jane Austen's unfinished final novel, "Sanditon."
Two Fathers Risk It All To Avenge Their Murdered Sons In This New Thriller
NPR
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Reading Razorblade Tears is a visceral full-body experience, a sharp jolt to the heart, and a treat for the senses. S. A. Cosby's moody southern thriller marries the skillful action and plotting of Lee Child with the atmosphere and insight of Attica Locke.
In Beverly Jenkins's Romance Novels, Black History Is Front and Center
The New York Times
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Review of WILD RAIN By Beverly Jenkins
In the time of plague, nothing soothes like a love story, as the blockbuster success of " Bridgerton " on Netflix reminded many of us.
Senate GOP Still Hasn't Renewed the Violence Against Women Act. It's Been 20 Months.
Courier Newsroom
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Despite the House of Representatives passing hundreds of bills-many of them with bipartisan support-the GOP-led Senate continues to be the place good legislation goes to die. Here's a deep dive at one that impacts countless survivors across the country.
Book Review - The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
BookPage
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Robert Jones Jr.'s remarkable first novel, The Prophets, accomplishes the exceptional literary feat of being at once an intimate, poetic love story and a sweeping, detailed and excruciating portrait of life on a Mississippi plantation. One of the most outstanding things about this novel is its artistry, both in its language and its use of multiple perspectives.
BEYOND 2020: THE DEEPER STORY OF AMERICAN POLITICS IN THE TRUMP ERA
BookRiot
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Based on a plethora of data on attitudes, demographics, and vote choice, political scientists John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck conclude that economic concerns played a lesser role in Trump's victory in 2016 than many have claimed. Rather, the authors contend, his support stems largely from the identity driven prejudices of white voters.
Book Review - If the Boot Fits by Rebekah Weatherspoon
BookPage
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One of romance's brightest stars, Rebekah Weatherspoon is known for her sweet and steamy stories. With If the Boot Fits, the second in the Cowboys of California series, she burnishes that reputation further, delivering a thoroughly modern Cinderella story about an aspiring screenwriter hesitantly falling for a sexy, celebrity, cinnamon-roll-sweet hero with swagger.
Book Review - Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
BookPage
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Indie publishing favorite Olivia Dade's Avon debut, Spoiler Alert, is a funny and poignant triumph that defies expectation. On the surface, April Whittier and Marcus Caster-Rupp are opposites. Industry insiders and fans alike appreciate the good looks of Marcus, an actor on hit TV series "Gods of the Gates" (think "Game of Thrones" meets the Aeneid), but deride his talent, intellect and exuberant, puppylike demeanor.
Casting spells upon your shelves
BookPage
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Wild and wicked women-long may we praise them. Long may we be them. Three magical tales mine the rebellion and persecution of willful women in America's past and present to chilling effect. If you have any feminist leanings, these books will inflame them. If you don't, these books may incite them.
Cowboy Charming: PW Talks with Rebekah Weatherspoon
Publishers Weekly
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With If the Boot Fits (Dafina, Nov.), Weatherspoon delivers a Black Cinderella romance between struggling screenwriter Amanda and cowboy turned movie star Sam. Why cowboys? I think I can thank my parents for sparking my initial interest in cowboys. My dad always wore a black cowboy hat and duster when it was raining.
Book Review - When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
BookPage
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A squeaky-clean honors student gets arrested for selling drugs. A gregarious old man vanishes in the middle of the night, leaving his beloved dog and his belongings behind. Longtime Black residents are disappearing from Gifford Place, and wealthy white people are moving in. Something is definitely wrong with this picture, and it's worse than run-of-the-mill gentrification.
Author Interview - Alyssa Cole, author of When No One Is Watching
BookPage
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Alyssa Cole's work has always had two common threads: a social conscience and a central love story. That combination remains in her debut thriller, When No One Is Watching, as Sydney, a Black Brooklynite, begins to suspect that the gentrification of her neighborhood may be the result of a sinister conspiracy.
Love in the public eye
BookPage
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The celebrity or public figure love interest has long been a popular staple of the romance genre. What's nice about this particular trope is that it evolves with the times, and with new social contexts comes renewed relevance.
Black Romance Novels Matter Too
Shondaland
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With the notable exception of Shondaland, even the most acclaimed, topical and popular romance novels by black writers tend to be overlooked and under-sung as cultural touchstones, even within media circles that celebrate black authors. Neither the excellent , for example, nor Essence's recent list of 24 Books by black authors to read this winter made much room for romance.