5✨ Score by Kennedy Ryan wrecked me. Verity (screenwriter) & Monk (musician) work on a film about Deesi Blue from the Harlem Renaissance, blending past & present. Emotional, raw story of love, trust, pain, mental health & healing. I learned so much. 🎧 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 #booksky #blackbooksky

4.25✨ Loving this series by Questlove & S.A. Cosby! Time for a Change is action-packed, emotional, and full of twists as Rahim & Kasia travel through time to save the world. A little confusing at times with all the timelines, but that cliffhanger has me ready for book 3 ASAP! 🎧 #blackbooksky 📚💙

4.5✨ Kennedy Ryan delivers again with Maxim & Lennix: a sweeping romance layered with heartbreak, activism, and Indigenous issues, including missing Indigenous women and land rights. Emotional, eye-opening, and that cliffhanger? Absolutely brutal! 🎧| Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 #booksky #Blackbooksky

Fantasy isn’t really my genre, so I don’t feel it’s fair to rate it, but I appreciated what the author was trying to do. We follow fallen hero Flynn as he pieces together his past with the help of new friends. Fantasy fans will find this an easy read. I’m interested to see how the author grows. 📚💙

3.5✨ The book focuses more on Yolande’s relationship with jazz musician Jimmy Lunceford than her wedding to Countee Cullen. The love story was compelling, but the pacing dragged and it felt overly detailed. Thanks NetGalley for the ALC. #booksky #Blackbooksky

3.75✨ Aaron & Paige’s marriage is struggling & he turns to colleague Cara until she vanishes after the affair is exposed, making him the main suspect. Super twisty with constant reveals that kept me hooked, though a bit confusing at times. Still a wild ride! 📚💙 #Blackbooksky #booksky

4.5✨ Medusa at 17, a mortal among immortal sisters, is chosen by Athena to be a priestess; we follow her path into the “monster”. Slow burn (dragged at times) with a rushed end, still hooked. YA with familiar figures + heavy themes (check TW). 🎧 Spice: .5🌶️/5 #💙📚 #blackbooksky

4✨ Tiffany Cross shares her unjust MSNBC firing, experience as a Black woman in media, and a post-career relationship, weaving in stats on systemic disparities and uplifting & supportive notes to Black women. 🎧 ALC via NetGalley & Hachette Audio. Opinions my own. #booksky #Blackbooksky

5✨ A masterpiece. Vernice & Annie, two motherless friends, grow up together then take separate but connected paths. Annie searches for her mother, Vernice heads to Spelman. Heartbreak, love, and deep friendship set against the Civil Rights Movement. I wanted one more chapter. 🎧 #Blackbooksky #📚💙

3.75✨ On Rotation blends hospital life with romance. Angie starts rotations, meets Ricky, who’s taken. Is he her person? Too much miscommunication for me, but strong insight into med training + racism in healthcare. 🎧 Spice: 🌶️/5 #booksky #blackbooksky #Bluesky

5✨ I’m not sure that I can share words that will do justice to the work of Dr. Angelou. She is the most prolific poet of our time. Read this book. Actually, listen to the audiobook because she reads it. While you are at it, read her other books as well. You won’t regret it. #booksky #Blackbooksky

5✨ Where the Wildflowers Grow, a beautiful story of second chances, healing & love. Leigh, a fugitive, lands in a small town & meets Jackson, a flower farmer. Tense, emotional, unputdownable. Duet narration was phenomenal! Highly recommend 🎧 Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5 #booksky #Blackbooksky

4✨🎧: Larissa & Chris are star crossed lovers who can never be together as Larissa is dating Chris’ best friend. Life just keeps throwing them together & Larissa keeps have second thoughts about her current relationship. this book was predictable but it really has a deeper story about boundaries. #💙📚

4.5✨🎧 Science teacher, Ryland wakes up in a spaceship with amnesia and the weight of the world on his shoulders. It is his job to save earth! This book took you through astrophysics and a beautiful friendship all in one book. The friendship was a pleasant surprise. Great narration! #📚💙

March was a great month for reading! I read a lot of books about and by women for Women’s History Month! April should be just as good! #booksky #Blackbooksky

5✨ “But we can choose a different world.” A powerful nonfiction read weaving the history of TB with Henry’s story, a survivor. He makes this deeply human and unforgettable. Short, impactful & a reminder why public health and social determinants matter. 🎧 via Libby #booksky #healthsky

My choice for the March KinfolkLit 2026 reading challenge was “The Secret Loves of Church Ladies” ! I found this book through the challenge and I’m so happy that I gave it a chance! Don’t forget, we are reading Black books by Black books all year long! #booksky #Blackbooksky

🎧4.5✨ This book of nine short stories shows women in their raw, real selves, dealing with who they are & who they want to be with church showing up in curious ways. The book addresses themes such as homosexuality, colorism, racism & sexism. Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5 💙📚 #Blackbooksky

2.75✨ The best part of this short 🎧 was the full cast production. Audio quality was rough & scratchy and I felt like I missed parts. It covers court hearings around a true crime involving a child & if this hadn’t been an ALC, I likely would’ve DNF’d. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC. #booksky

4.25✨A love letter to plus-size babes! Jazmyn is helping her aunt through a health crisis & meets football-loving Lamar. Could he be Mr. Right? Allen writes confident women & emotionally intelligent men. Predictable but warm & cozy. 🎧 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🤗 NetGalley for ALC. #booksky #blackbooksky

5✨A 13yo in Alabama has an illegal abortion, putting the doctor on trial after Roe v. Wade is overturned. Gripping courtroom drama, major twists, and strong character development. Davis’s narration is stellar. 🎧🌪️🌪️🌪️/5 TW: abuse, racism. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC. #booksky #Blackbooksky

February reads included a lot of books by Black authors in honor of Black history month! Remember, celebrating Black history, books, and authors does not stop in March! You can read more stories about Black people and by Black authors any time! #booksky #Blackbooksky

4✨ This book draws on K. Dunham’s Caribbean expedition but focuses on the women traveling with her Zinzi, Vivian Jean & Othella. Loved the vivid multi-POV storytelling, though it can be much to track at times. I wanted more about the expedition! 🎧 ALC via NetGalley. #booksky #Blackbooksky

4.5✨🎧 An author with writer’s block. A friend group falling apart. A new friendship that changes everything. Remy’s journey through change, identity & what friendship really means felt fresh, honest & beautifully nuanced. A few slow moments. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC #Booksky #Blackbooksky

3.25✨ 🎧 I know I’m in the minority. I love Ilya & Shane (but honestly Hudson & Connor’s portrayal even more), and I’ll watch S2 of HR, but this one didn’t fully land. Slow until ~75%, wanted way more depth (especially re: mental health). Still a Loon though. Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 #booksky

4.5✨ 🎧 Casey Black, social media influencer, has her life implode when her husband leaves. In searching for her late father’s family, she starts finding herself too. Packed with rich history, warmth, healing & joy. A bit predictable at times, but I couldn’t put it down. #booksky #Blackbooksky

4.75✨ This debut follows Nikki Rose, a Black woman fighting to prove herself in the mostly white magazine industry while giving us a front-row seat to the 90’s hip-hop scene. Zero drag, and the perfect mix of drama, romance, self discovery and sisterhood. 🎧 Spice: 🌶️/5 #Blackbooksky #booksky

4.5✨ Powerful true-crime book about a man, falsely convicted of murder at 17 and imprisoned for 30 years. His exoneration exposed corruption in the police & judicial system. Excellent narration - a few sections dragged. 🎧 Thanks to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for the ALC. #booksky #Blackbooksky

4.75✨🎧 We follow pianist, Hazel Scott from NYC jazz clubs to a U.S. congressman husband, to Paris and back. Music, joy, pain, loss, renewal, and some familiar and surprising names. Spent the night listening to her music! Thanks to NetGalley & Harper Audio for the ALC. #booksky #blackbooksky

My January reads brought to you by @thestorygraph.com !! Which is the best place to organize your current reads as well as your TBR! It’s also NOT owned by Amazon! 💜💜 #booksky #Blackbooksky #bluesky

3.25✨ Didn’t love the audiobook, narrator felt unnatural and distracting, which dulled the emotional impact. Writing felt technical compared to the show (which I loved). The story is powerful: redefining masculinity and showing love as love. Might retry as a physical book. 🎧 | 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 #booksky

5✨ Most of us are quite familiar with Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech but how many of us know “Letter from Birmingham Jail”? I reread this book yearly and glean more and more each time I read. I hope you pick it up this year as well. #booksky #blackbooksky

4.25✨ This YA book is giving Back to the Future meets 90’s hip hop vibes! Raheem is using a phone from his friend but is it just a phone? Next thing, he has been teleported to the 1990’s where hip-hop is king and he has to get back home while not changing the future! #blackbooksky #booksky

5✨ 🎧A short but powerful book told through letters between two friends, one Jewish man in the U.S. & his German friend living in Germany during Hitler’s rise. Eerily relevant to today’s political climate. Don’t skip the foreword or afterword. Twists: 🌪️ #booksky

4✨ Prudence’s perfect life shatters when a ghost from her past arrives.The story moves between her present day and post-apartheid South Africa (1996), where she worked on apartheid-era cases. A slow-burn thriller & historical fiction with a shocking ending. Version: 🎧 Twists: 🌪️🌪️/5 #💙📚 #blackbooksky

4.5✨ The Princess Bride is an amazing movie and is one of the few movies that does the book justice. Listening to Rob Reiner narrate was heart wrenching but also lovely. You can tell he was not a professional narrator, just someone who loved the book and that was enough for me! Enjoy! #booksky

4.25✨ Nadia, Luke & Aubrey are living life impacted by a secret that won’t stay buried. After losing her mom Nadia searches for love in a fast, doomed romance with Luke and then a friendship with Aubrey. Deeply human characters, messy choices & so much miscommunication. 🎧 Audiobook Spice :🌶️/5

Check out my 2025 bookish year in review from @thestorygraph!!! Be sure to follow me there (Robin1b)! I read books to inspire, educate, and relax me and I hope you do too! Read to grow for yourself and not for others! #booksky #blackbooksky

4.75✨ 🎧 Erivo’s autobiography is heartfelt & inspiring. More than a performer, she’s a runner, daughter, & friend. From her childhood to Jesus Christ Superstar, she invites us to live boldly & be “simply more.” “If it is boring the life out of you, it is not your life.” #booksky #Blackbooksky

4.5✨🎧 Grace and Henry both lost their spouses a year ago. It’s time for the first holiday season without them. A beautiful friendship focused on shared grief blossoms. Full of holiday cheer, a heart wrenching & warming storyline & well developed characters that you will fall in love with! #booksky

4✨ Speculative fiction that made me 🤔. A “post-racial” America where white people disappear, centered on a bi-racial daughter & her Black father meeting for the first time after his wrongful incarceration. Raises big questions about power, trauma, healing & community. 🎧 #Blackbooksky #booksky

3.75✨ Super cute Christmas novella set in the town of Candy Cane Hollow, near London. When Holly Wood arrives a young woman is found dead and Mrs. Clause is the prime suspect! Full of Christmas cheer, a mystery, a few twists & a budding romance! Version: 🎧 Twists: 🌪️ #booksky

4.25✨ Two business executives used to be childhood friends. Their parents owned a business together but after that went south so did their friendship. Now, they are competing for the same job and end up in the same town in the same hotel room! Thanks to NetGalley (ALC) Version: 🎧 Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

3.75✨ An author who is struggling with inspiration, a firefighter who struggles with his past and a small town called Santa Clause! Good story but lost me a bit in the middle due to focus on the spicy scenes and less on the actual story. 🎧 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 Holiday: 🎄🎄🎄/5 #booksky #Blackbooksky

3.5✨ Bee and Clover swap apartments as both are looking to get away from home for the holidays and find a fresh start across the country. This book fell flat and didn’t bring me the Christmas vibes I was looking for. 💪🏾 LGBTQIA+ rep! Version: 🎧 Spice: 🔥 Holiday cheer: 🎄 #booksky #Blackbooksky

4✨ Christmasy Noel rents out her apartment for the holidays. In walks Kanton, a business man (Scrooge) with a plan. Much to his surprise Noel is home when he arrives and they must coexist for the week. Predictable but cute! Version: 🎧 Spice: 🔥🔥.5/5 Holiday Cheer: 🎄🎄🎄🎄/5 #blackbooksky #booksky

I knew it’d be tough to read, and it was. It’s well structured, essy to read, and doesn’t drop huge bombs, but it does share some surprising political moments. What stands out most is her genuine concern for the country and her willingness to own her mistakes. Version: 🎧 #booksky #Blackbooksky

The last month I’ve been moving a bit slower. Taking time to reflect and breath. I read my books a little slower and that’s ok. Here are my November reads brought to you by @thestorygraph.com . An independent company that is doing this book thing on their own. #booksky #Blackbooksky

3.0✨ The book focuses on a wedding in the family. The bride finds out that an assassination is set to happen and she can’t tell anyone except her funny aunties! Some of the laughs are there but it dragged. Not as good as the first in the series. Version: 🎧 Twists: 🌪️🌪️ #booksky #bluesky