Preorder These Books to Read Black Stories All Year Long
The time to read Black stories is all year round, and it’s important to remember especially as Black History Month comes to an end. With that in mind, here are some stories you can preorder now to nurture diversity in your 2023 TBR! Spanning warmhearted stories, tales of sweet revenge, steamy romance, hilarious memoirs, and page-turning drama, you’ll be sure to find just the right treat for your future self. Happy reading!
BookRiot Most Anticipated Beach Reads of 2023
Shondaland Best Books of May
Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she's ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold. As she sorts through a lifetime of memories, everything comes to a halt when she comes across something she just can’t part with: an old set of encyclopedias. To the world, the books are outdated and ready to be recycled. To Jess, they represent love and the future that her mother always wanted her to have.
In the process of finding the books a new home, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curious housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum's unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse’s mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.
Inspired by an abandoned box of mementos, The Museum of Ordinary People is a poignant novel about memory and loss, the things we leave behind, and the future we create for ourselves.
Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, Goodbye Earl follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, fifteen years apart.
In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey are in their final days of high school and on the precipice of all the things teenagers look forward to when anything in life seems possible . . . from falling in love, to finding their dream jobs, to becoming who they were meant to be.
In 2019, Kasey has returned to her small Southern hometown of Goldie for the first time since high school—and she still hasn’t told even her closest friends the truth of what really happened that summer after graduation, or what made her leave so abruptly without looking back. Now reunited with her friends in Goldie for a wedding, she’s determined to focus on the simple joy of being together again. But when she notices troubling signs that one of them might be in danger, she is catapulted back to that fateful summer. This time, Kasey refuses to let the worst moments of her past define her; this time, she knows how to protect those she loves at all costs.
Uplifting, sharp-edged, and unapologetic, Goodbye Earl is a funeral for all the “Earls” out there—the abusive men who think they can get away with anything, but are wrong—and a celebration of enduring sisterhood.
"The Art of Scandal hit every beat for me. This wildly steamy, utterly heartwarming novel is all about finding transcendent love and passion where you least expect it—and the ways in which art can transform our lives." —Tia Williams, New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June
"Love would be so much easier if it were perfect ..."
On the night of her husband Matt’s fortieth birthday, Rachel Abbott receives a sexy, explicit text from her husband that she quickly realizes was meant for another woman. Divorce is inevitable, and Rachel is determined not to leave her thirteen-year marriage empty handed. Meanwhile, Matt, a rising star mayor with his eye on the White House, can’t afford a messy split in the middle of his reelection campaign.
They strike a deal: Rachel gets one million dollars and their lavish house in the wealthy DC suburb of Oasis Springs, as long as she keeps playing the ideal Black trophy wife until the election.
Then Rachel meets Nathan Vasquez, a very handsome, very lost twenty-six-year-old artist, and their connection makes Rachel forget about being the perfect politician’s wife.
As Rachel reawakens Nathan’s long-dormant artistic aspirations, their attraction becomes impossible to resist. But secrets are hard to keep in a town like Oasis Springs, and Nathan has a few of his own.
With the risk of scandal looming and their hearts on the line, they’ll have to decide whether the possibility of losing everything is worth taking a chance on love. The Art of Scandal is a sizzling, conversation-starting debut about rekindling passion, the transformative power of art, and finding love in unexpected places.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
Publishers Weekly Best Romance Book of 2023 · Chicago Public Library Best Romance of 2023 · A "Sarah’s BookShelves" Best Debut of 2023
From stand-up comedian, actress, and host of The Netflix Afterparty, London Hughes, comes an uplifting and raucously funny memoir to show you how to ditch the self-loathing, start the self-loving, and engage with your inner winner.
London Hughes has come a long way from secretly writing Frasier fan fiction alone in her bedroom. Between her breakout Netflix comedy special, To Catch a D*ck, her dating podcast “London, Actually,” and her award-winning TV performances, London the South Londoner has taken the entertainment world by storm. And now, in this sassy, brash, fearless, and funny memoir, London is ready to inspire women of all ages and races with her story—because London is absolutely the best person in the whole wide world to take you on a wild journey of self-discovery. As she herself puts it: “I’ve always been funny. I’ve always been cute. I’ve always been confident. I was born to do this shit.”
All her life, London longed to be a badass—an awesome bullet-proof woman who nobody could mess with. At a young age, she made sure she was ready to become a star, developing her own living-room popstar training regimen to prepare for her future life. But London also had her fair share of disastrous experiences in terms of friendships, relationships, and career choices. Each of the fiascos in London’s life has, with hindsight, proved to be a formative life lesson, and helped her grow into the fearless person she is today. You'll definitely be grateful these setbacks happened to her and not you, but you'll also learn that however bad things get, you can always build your self-worth, think long-term, and emerge triumphant, no matter what the world throws at you.
From starring in a school sex education video called “Swings and Roundabouts” to being gushed over by a fan while standing next to the Renee Zellweger, London leaves no stone unturned in Living My Best Life, Hun. It took London some time to find her voice and her people, but now that she has, she's mentally high-fiving her 14-year-old self every day.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A BARNES AND NOBLE'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A TOWN & COUNTRY BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIR OF 2023
A VULTURE BEST COMEDY BOOK OF 2023
Hey you guys, it’s Leslie. I’m excited to share my story with you.
Now, I’m gonna be honest: Some of the details might be vague because a b*tch is fifty-five and she’s smoked a ton of weed. But while bits might be a touch hazy, I can promise you the underlying truth is REAL. Whether I’m talking about my childhood growing up in the South, my early stand-up days driving from gig to gig through the darkest parts of our country and praying I wouldn’t get murdered, what Chris Rock told Lorne Michaels, that time I wanted to shoot Whoopi Goldberg on SNL, and yeah, I’ll tell you all about Ghostbusters and the nudes and Supermarket Sweep and The Daily Show . . . I’m sharing it all in these pages. It’s not easy being a woman in comedy, especially when you’re a tall-*ss Black woman with a trumpet voice. I have to fight so that no one takes me for granted, and no one takes advantage. These are the stories that explain why. (Cue the Law & Order theme.)
Basking in Singapore’s nonstop sunshine, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian are living the glamorous expat dream—until a mysterious (not to mention handsome) new arrival infiltrates their tight-knit community and ruins everything: "Wanderlust-inducing" (Lola Akinmade Åkerström, international bestselling author).
The Lion City has gone by many names and is famous for many things—its decadent street food, its world-class shopping, its lush gardens that burst with tropical blooms. But paradise is always hiding a snake.
For Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK, Singapore is opportunity. Every day, brokering deals for her firm’s wealthy clientele, she gets closer to her ultimate goal: making partner. For Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria, Singapore is extravagance. Gucci, Prada, Hermès—she loves nothing more than to luxuriate in the major department stores that call her name on Orchard Road. And for Lillian, a former pianist turned “trailing spouse” from the U.S., Singapore is reinvention. In a stunning apartment with 360° views, the island seems to glitter as far as the eye can see.
But complications are looming in the form of an enigmatic stranger, whose presence exposes cracks in Singapore’s beguiling façade. Dara’s ambitions mean she has no life outside the firm, and her insecurities are threatening to derail the promotion she’s spent the last six years striving for. Amaka is desperate to escape the chaos she left behind at home and hiding a spiraling shopping addiction that’s endangering her very sense of self. And while Lillian’s life may be the envy of outsiders, a new obsession is imperiling everything—and everyone—around her.
In The Sun Sets in Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe captures the richness of this metropolis through the eyes of three tenacious women, who are about to learn that unfinished history can follow you anywhere, no matter how far you run from home.