REVIEW: Queenie Is Working On It by Candice Carty-Williams

 

Queenie "Hot-Mess" Jenkins is back. Older but not necessarily wiser. Queenie Is Working On It is the follow up to Candice Carty-Williams bestseller Queenie (my favorite of all her books) and one of this Summer's most anticipated reads. 

Queenie's life is still the same as it was before, she is still trying to figure out her life. She now has a better "more permanent" job that she actually likes. She is "seeing" someone, a friends with benefits situationship. She is still searching for her thing and her place in the world. I enjoyed this novel, I continue to enjoy watching Queenie trying to figure out her life. She is very relatable as we all are trying to figure out our own lives, taking it day by day while trying not to fall apart. The only issue I had was that Queenie's character still has some growing up to do. She as a grown adult is approaching life like a 20 something year old college student. I am going to predict that if there is another Queenie novel, the title will be Queenie: Grown and Sexy that lends to her finally figuring her ish out, has a stable relationship or realizes that she is fine on her own and will start loving who she is. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Candice Carty-Williams and Gallery Books | Gallery/Scout Press for a digital copy (ebook) of #QueenieIsWorkingOnIt in exchange for my honest opinion.#QueenieIsWorkingOnIt is out today, September 8, 2026. 

REVIEW: The Disappearers by Marlon James

The Disappearers by Marlon James is truly a masterpiece. 

Set primarily in Jamaica beginning in 1988, the novel follows a group of gay men who respond to an ad for actors to audition for a gay play. Just to note it was not a group of men coming together to rehearse for a "regular" play, it was a group or a group of men joining a co-ed cast. Many will find this book difficult to read because the themes are uncomfortable or disturbing especially the extremely graphic violence and sexual content is because Jamaica according to Time Magazine in 2006 was the most homophobic country in the world*.

The novel is centered around an event that was not proven to be factual. The alleged incident was allegedly based on hearsay, rumor and gossip and Jamaicans do not care about fact checking before they "investigate" and unleash justice. I should know, I am Jamaican. In a recent interview James said "..in Jamaica we trust rumours more than facts, so the fact that people kept whispering about it meant it was true."** The only event I can remember from 1988 is Hurricane Gilbert. I found myself taking mental breaks at times, it is a lot to process and digest so the faint of heart or very sensitive readers are duly warned. 

James came back to the literary world with a true tour de force. The Disappears was longlisted for the Booker Prize before it was even published, something that literally never happens. That's how good this book is and left a lasting mark on the selection committee and I agree. I cannot wait for my preordered copy to arrive. Everyone needs to read this book and approach it with an open mind and really think about how people are labeled by society and mistreated accordingly. 

The only issues I had were (1) more patois was needed, (2) a few grammatical issues (granted this is a review of the uncorrected proof) that caused me to reread a number of sentences multiple times to understand what was being conveyed and for the love of [insert your higher being person] enough of Kurt Cobain. One other thing is the focus of Jamaica's university English lit courses, very white American and British and void of regional works. I was in primary school in the 80's so I can't verify this part of our education system.  

The Disappearers is many things brutal, angry, unflinching, queer, complex, haunting, · provocative, funny (yes, I laughed many times), ambitious and unforgettable. And apart for being a Booker Prize worthy 5star masterpiece, The Disappearers is unapologetically Jamaican. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Marlon James and Riverhead | Riverhead Books for a digital copy (ebook) of #TheDisappearers in exchange for my honest opinion. #TheDisappearers will be published on September 1, 2026. 

P.S. Note to Mr. James, your fans have not forgotten that we are due the last book in The Dark Star Trilogy. 

* https://time.com/archive/6939331/the-most-homophobic-place-on-earth/ 

**This quote was taken from a Booker Prize longlisted author interview published on August 16, 2026 https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/marlon-james-interview.

I AM A GREEN READER

 I took the Read Your Color quiz and I am a green reader (scored 45%)

Based on the concept or theory developed by Steven Reese that explores how readers, think, feel, process thoughts, enjoy or dislike books. "Our quiz is designed to get beneath the surface of your reading preferences — not by asking about favorite genres, but by exploring how you think, feel, and approach stories. We’ve blended insights from reader psychology, narrative theory, and thousands of book reviews and patterns to create a system that helps you find books you’ll actually finish — and love." Courtesy of https://www.readyourcolor.com/how-it-works-
Reese started posting last April and has shared books recommendations based on these six color categories. I went through his posts (the ones not behind a pay wall) to pull out the recommended GREEN books - see the titles listed below. The results were interesting as majority of them are nonfiction. On an annual basis I would say about 25% of my reading is nonfiction titles. Out of this 45 titles recommended for green readers, only a handful are fiction. I will see how well I engage with this list throughout the year. 

I OWN three of these titles, have three on my TBR and have only READ one. Am I really a Green Reader?

The Green List

1. The Gulag Archipelago (abridged) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973)

2. Neptune’s Fortune by Julian Sancton

3. Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall

4. Attensity! by The Friends of Attention

5. Why We Drink Too Much by Dr. Charles Knowles

6. A Flower Traveled in My Blood, by Haley Cohen Gilliland

7. The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at
    the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo

8. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) OWN

9. True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)¹

10. Redeployment by Phil Klay

11. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann OWN

12. This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Polla

13. Judgment at Tokyo by Gary J. Bass

14. Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert

15. Bottle of Lies:The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban

16. The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet

17. King of Kings by Scott Anderson

18. The Great Contradiction by Joseph J. Ellis

19. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin

20. How Infrastructure Works (Deb Chachra)

21. The Patriarch — David Nasaw

22. Cloudsplitter (Russell Banks)

23. The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan

24. The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America by Sarah Igo

25. On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss

26. This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust

27. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

28. War Trash by Ha Jin

29. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

30. The Face of Battle by John Keegan

31. American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1997)

32. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter OWN

33. The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson

34. On Consolation by Michael Ignatieff

35. The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel – Douglas Brunt

36. Cue the Sun! – Emily Nussbaum READ

37. Work – James Suzman

38. Abundance – Ezra Klein

39. Some People Need Killing – Patricia Evangelista TBR

40. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson TBR

41. The Tiger by John Vaillant

42. The Sirens Call by Chris Hayes

43. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

44. The Prosecutor by Jack Fairweather

45. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green TBR

REVIEW: The Merge by Grace Walker

Grace Walker’s The Merge left me both unsettled and deeply moved. Set in a near-future Britain where two minds can be merged into one body, it explores what happens when love and desperation blur the line between salvation and surrender. Through Laurie, a mother fading into Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Amelia, who risks everything to preserve her, Walker asks haunting questions about memory, identity, and how far we’ll go to hold on to those we love. At its heart this is a story about a mother-daughter bond under extreme strain.

Quietly dystopian yet achingly human, The Merge balances speculative intrigue with emotional truth. It’s less about technology than about what it means to be known — and what we lose when we merge too much of ourselves for someone else’s sake.

A powerful, provocative debut that lingers long after the final page. Interestingly, I can't stop thinking about what fragrance Amelia and her mother would be wearing. The Merge embodies the fading memory and speak to Narciso Rodriguez for Her for its nostalgia and Juliette Has a Gun for its minimalism like consciousness pared down. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Grace Walker and Mariner Books for a digital copy of #TheMerge in exchange for my honest opinion. The Merge will be published on November 11, 2025. 

REVIEW: Sonora by Jenni L. Walsh

 

A fantastic historical fiction about one of the original women horse "daredevil" divers in a circus or amusement show.  She answers an ad in her late teens at the urgence of her mother. She goes to see the show and is enamored. Sonora loved horses. Now, she loved horses even more, and her death-defying act bolstered this love. She became a main attraction and loved every minute of it. However, after years of doing the act, she had an accident during a performance. Literally in the blink of an eye, she went blind in an instance. This would crush some but Sonora, but as soon as she was able to get up and "heal," she was back at it. She made a stellar comeback and continued her act while blind. This is not only an interesting story about Sonora Webster but one of endurance, self-sufficiency, independence, and perseverance. She found her calling in life, loved it, and did it on her terms. It's such a great novel. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, Harper Muse Audiobooks, and the author Jenni L. Walsh for a digital (audio) copy of #Sonora exchange for my honest opinion. Sonora will be published on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.

REVIEW: BOOM TOWN by Nic Stone

 

Debut adult thriller from young adult and middle grade author Nic Stone. Boom Town is her first adult novel. 

Boom Town is a fast pace intense urban thriller set in one of Atlant's infamous gentlemens club. We find two employees, Charm a newbie and Lucky, a seasoned [former] headliner have gone missing without a trace. The only person that notices this and how similar the two disappearances are is Lucky's former partner and co- headliner, Lyriq. 

Lyriq is on a mission to find out what happened and where these women are. This thriller is a mix of Player’s Club and P-Valley. It is gritty, raw, sharp, suspenseful and thought provoking. The latter is evident in the novel's social commentary on power, abuse, race, class, misogyny and the lack of attention and resources dedicated to finding missing women and girls.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #SimonSchuster, the author Nic Stone for a digital copy of #BoomTown exchange for my honest opinion. Boom Town will be published tomorrow October 14, 2025.

REVIEW: They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar

 

They Dream in Gold is a captivating novel that weaves together human stories on multiple levels. Set against the backdrop of the 1968 New York jazz scene the book spans continents and decades and follows the passionate and tumultuous relationship and bond between Bonnie and Mansour. A bond, formed out of shared experiences of displacement and longing, is both a source of solace and inevitable heartache. It also draws on characters and its exploration of the African diaspora's quest for identity and belonging. Mansour's musical journey, infused with Senegalese rhythms and the spirit of revolution, also serves as a powerful metaphor for the migrant experience. When Mansour disappears it adds another level of mystery and urgency to the narrative, propelling Bonnie on a quest that is as much about finding herself as it is about finding him. They Dream in Gold is an intimate tale that is beautifully written and deeply moving.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Mai Sennaar and Dreamscape Select | SJP Lit for a digital copy of the novel #TheyDreaminGold in exchange for my honest opinion. 

REVIEW: Real Life and Other Fictions by Susan Coll

Pleasantly surprised that  "Real Life and Other Fictions” was an enjoyable read. Susan Coll’s weaves an interesting We are introduced to Cassie, a woman in her 50s who finds herself at a crossroads. Orphaned as a toddler, she has spent her life tortured by the mysterious circumstances that caused her parents’ demise. She is also haunted by a “mythical creature” that she blames for her situation, her parents' demise, blurring the boundaries between reality and myth. It makes one question Cassie’s actions and thought processes. She almost seems to be unhinged. Her search for answers has consumed her five decades on earth and leads her from a failed career as a journalist to a community college lecturer. 

One day with her patience exhausted, not only from the past but also her present - her somewhat unstable, meme famous, cheating husband Cassie seizes the opportunity, takes her teething puppy, and embarks on a spontaneous road trip in search of the truth. She’s determined to start at the beginning and uncover the secrets of her past. This irrational spontaneity occurs a few times throughout the novel and leaves one to think that Cassie may actually be unstable. One of the very few issues I have with her. Cassie's journey unfolds as a surreal, comedic adventure infused with chaos, warmth and unraveled secrets. As she moves through this surreal landscape she encounters a colorful cast of characters, including an odd somewhat cold cryptozoologist who joins her quest. There may or may not be hints of a buddy romance here. This novel is definitely worth a read. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Susan Coll and HarperCollins for a digital copy of #RealLifeandOtherFictions in exchange for my honest opinion.