Your TBR List Just Got Longer

Sistah Girls, cozy weather is here and while I will miss seeing the sun still up at 7 pm, there is a certain charm that Fall gives that can’t be matched by any other season.

From leather jackets to boots, Fall just makes everything feel cozy and new. I personally love finding a new (or a new to me) author during this time. I rack up on books and glance at my ever-growing TBR list that’s giving me the side eye and try not to add too much to it.

But I can’t help it, Fall just makes me want to buy new clothes, shoes, and BOOKS! And I know by the end of this listicle you will be giving me the side eye because I’m going to add to your ever-growing TBR list. I can’t be the only one out here fighting for my literary life while also buying books without a care in the world.

Before I Let Go (Skyland Book 1) by Kennedy Ryan

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“Real, raw, magnificentBefore I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read.” Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.

It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

Where There is Smoke, There is Fire by Monique Fisher

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When Aaron “Smoke” Tompkins and Kara Matthews first meet sparks fly, but Kara isn’t looking for love having just ended things with her boyfriend. Aaron isn’t willing to give up, and their occasional casual hook-up quickly evolves. After a grave mistake that almost ends their relationship, he decides to fight for Kara. There’s no way he’s walking away now.

Aaron may not be the type of man Kara saw herself falling in love with—a tattooed, strong silent type who’s rough around the edges–but he proves himself to be the type of man she needs. Their steadfast commitment to each other gets them through life’s rough patches and takes them on a journey they never expected…

Where There is Smoke, There is Fire is a Black, contemporary take on the epic love story. Aaron and Kara’s journey is what happens after the “Happily Ever After.”

Walking in My Joy: In These Streets by Jenifer Lewis

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Walking in My Joy is a collection of electric stories by the one and only, super hilarious Jenifer Lewis. Her commentary on what’s happening in the world today, told through her outrageous real-life adventures, will have you laughing out loud, while her insightful messages touch your soul.

A self-described “traveling fool and nature freak,” Jenifer takes readers with her all over the world, from Cape Town to Bali; Washington, DC, to the Serengeti; Mongolia to St. Petersburg; and Argentina to Antarctica to demonstrate how she walks in her joy by seeking pleasure in everyday encounters.

Every step of the way you’ll be doubled over with laughter as she faints at the Obamas’ holiday party; awakens to a swollen face and has to go to the hospital during the height of the Covid pandemic; an alien visitation; a successful takedown of a conman; as well as meeting a handsome Maasai warrior and being chased by a Cape buffalo.

An actress, activist, and mental health advocate, Jenifer Lewis imparts ways to love yourself that will allow you to deflect negative energy and keep people who may come to take your joy in check.

Token Black Girl: A Memoir by Danielle Prescod

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Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity made more invisible by the whitewashed movies, television, magazines, and books she and her classmates voraciously consumed.

Danielle took her cue from the world around her and aspired to shrink her identity into that box, setting increasingly poisonous goals. She started painful and damaging chemical hair treatments in elementary school, began depriving herself of food when puberty hit, and tried to control her image through the most unimpeachable, impeccable fashion choices.

Those obsessions led her to relentlessly pursue a career in beauty and fashion—the eye of the racist and sexist beauty standard storm. Assimilating was hard, but she was practiced. And she was an asset. Their “Token Black Girl.” Toxic, sure.

But Danielle was striving to achieve social cache and working her way up the ladder of coveted media jobs, and she looked great, right? So what if she had to endure executives’ questions like “What was it like to drive to school from the ghetto?” Or coworkers’ eager curiosity to know if her parents were on welfare. But after decades of burying her emotions, resentment, and true self, Danielle turned a critical eye inward and confronted the factors that motivated her self-destructive behaviors.

A Visible Man: A Memoir by Edward Enninful

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When Edward Enninful became the first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, few in the world of fashion wanted to confront how it failed to represent the world we live in. But Edward, a champion of inclusion throughout his life, rapidly changed that.

Now, whether it’s putting first responders, octogenarians or civil rights activists on the cover of Vogue, or championing designers and photographers of colour, Edward Enninful has cemented his status as one of his world’s most important changemakers.

A Visible Man traces an astonishing journey into one of the world’s most exclusive industries. Edward candidly shares how as a Black, gay, working-class refugee, he found in fashion not only a home, but the freedom to share with people the world as he saw it.

Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future by Brandi Collins-Dexter

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In Black Skinhead, Brandi Collins-Dexter, former Senior Campaign Director for Color Of Change, explores the fragile alliance between Black voters and the Democratic party. Through sharp, timely essays that span the political, cultural, and personal, Collins-Dexter reveals decades of simmering disaffection in Black America, told as much through voter statistics as it is through music, film, sports, and the baffling mind of Kanye West.

While Black Skinhead is an outward look at Black votership and electoral politics, it is also a funny, deeply personal, and introspective look at Black culture and identity, ultimately revealing a Black America that has become deeply disillusioned with the failed promises of its country.

Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams by Robin Roberts

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Over the last 16 years as the esteemed anchor of Good Morning America, Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country greet each new morning, gracing our screens with heart and humility.

She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. Now, she shares with readers the guidance she’s received, her own hard-won wisdom, and eye-opening experiences that have helped her find the good in the world and usher in light—even on the darkest days.

Drawing on advice and knowledge she gleaned from conversations with loved ones, spiritual practices, and life experiences, Robin offers a window into how she feeds her own mind, spirit, and soul and invites readers to do the same.

With a deeply personal touch, she explains that just like any skill, optimism requires practice and demonstrates how we can shift our mindsets and give ourselves permission to let our best intentions take root and be true.

Full of profound insight and the compassion to meet readers wherever they are on their journey, this contemplative and uplifting read is a breath of fresh air that will bring a dose of joy into your daily life.

Sistah Girls, that’s my list of books that you should move on over to your TBR list. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read or plan on reading any of these books.

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