In my opinion, the perfect book needs to make you laugh, cry and you’ll never forget it. Fortunately, I cry very easily so most books fulfil at least one of my requirements. On this page I’ll post my honest reviews of all the books I’m currently reading. From young adult to historical fiction, latest releases to classics, I’ll share my unfiltered opinion in 500 words or less.

Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah – Ace of Spades

Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah – Where Sleeping Girls Lie

Abulhawa, Susan – Mornings in Jenin

Acevedo, Elizabeth – Clap When You Land

Adebayo, Ayobami – Stay With Me

Adegoke, Yomi – The List

Adegoke, Yomi & Uviebinené, Elizabeth – The Offline Diaries

Adeyemi, Tomi – Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Akilah, Shani – For Such A Time As This

Ákínmádé Åkerström, Lolá – In Every Mirror She’s Black

Alammar, Layla – The Pact We Made

Aldarra, Suad – I Don’t Want to Talk About Home

Alderton, Dolly – Ghosts

Alderton, Dolly – Good Material

Alvarez, Julia – How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Alvarez, Julia – In the Time of the Butterflies

Amaka, Rosanna – The Book of Echoes

Amaka, Rosanna – Rose and the Burma Sky

Angelou, Maya – Letter to my Daughter

Anyakwo, Diana – My Life As A Chameleon

Aoyama, Michiko – What You Are Looking For is in the Library

Appiah, Krystle Zara – Rootless

Arthurs, Alexia – How to Love a Jamaican

Ashour, Radwa – Granada

Atta, Dean – The Black Flamingo

Atwood, Margaret – The Testaments

Azumah-Nelson, Caleb – Open Water

Babalola, Bolu – Love In Colour

Barker, Pat – The Silence of the Girls

Beard, Mary – Women & Power

Beashel, Amy – We Are All Constellations

Benary, Margot – Castle on the Border

Bennett, Brit – The Vanishing Half

Benson, Jendella – Hope & Glory

Bishop, Katie – The Girls of Summer

Blackburn, Lizzie Damilola – Yinka, Where is your Huzband?

Bola, J.J – The Selfless Act of Breathing

Bourne, Holly – Am I Normal Yet?

Bourne, Holly – The Places I’ve Cried in Public

Bracken, Alexandra – Lore

Brady, Fern – Strong Female Character

Bradley, Kaliane – The Ministry of Time

Braithwaite, Oyinkan – My Sister, The Serial Killer

Brathwaite, Candice – Sista Sister

Brashares, Ann – Sisterhood Everlasting

Bridges, Chris – Sick to Death

Broder, Melissa – Milk Fed

Bromley, Freya – The Tidal Year

Brookmyre, Chris – The Cliff House

Brooks, Geraldine – People of the Book

Brooks, Nick – The Promise Boys

Brown, Amber and Danielle – Someone Had to Do It

Brown, Diane Marie – Black Candle Women

Brown, Natasha – Assembly

Brown, Rita Mae – Rubyfruit Jungle

Bsharat, Ahlam – Trees for the Absentees

Buchanan, Cathy Marie – Daughter of Black Lake

Burns, Anna – Milkman

Burton, Jessie – The Miniaturist

Butler, Octavia – Dawn

Butler, Octavia – Adulthood Rites

Butler, Octavia – Imago

Butler, Octavia – Parable of the Sower

Butler, Octavia – Parable of the Talents

Butler, Octavia – Kindred

Carty-Williams, Candice – Empress & Aniya

Carty-Williams, Candice – People Person

Castillo, Elaine – America is Not the Heart

Chadwick, Elizabeth – The Summer Queen

Chadwick, Elizabeth – The Winter Crown

Chan, Jessamine – The School for Good Mothers

Chan, Vanessa – The Storm We Made

Channing-Brown, Austin – I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

Chen, Katherine J. – Joan

Clark, C.L. – The Unbroken

Clark, Eliza – Penance

Clarke, Diana – Thin Girls

Coel, Michaela – Misfits

Cole, Teju – Every Day is For the Thief

Cooper, Daisy May – Don’t Laugh It’ll Only Encourage Her

Cruz, Angie – Dominicana

Cruz, Angie – How Not to Drown In a Glass of Water

Dalcher, Christina – Vox

Dangarembga, Tsitsi – Nervous Conditions

Daré, Abi – The Girl with the Louding Voice

Davis, Viola – Finding Me

Dawson, Juno – Clean

Dawson, Juno – Meat Market

Dawson, Rachel – Neon Roses

Dennis-Benn, Nicole – Patsy

Dillsworth, Lianne – Theatre of Marvels

Diop, David – At Night All Blood is Black

Domingo, Sareeta – Who’s Loving You

Ebere, Chidi – Now I Am Here

Edim, Glory – Well-Read Black Girl

El-Mohtar, Amal – This is How You Lose the Time War

Emelumadu, Chikodili – Dazzling

Emezi, Akwaeke – The Death of Vivek Oji

Ephron, Nora – Heartburn

Ephron, Nora – I Feel Bad About My Neck

Evaristo, Bernadine – Girl, Woman, Other

Evaristo, Bernadine – Hello Mum

Evaristo, Bernadine – Mr Loverman

Evaristo, Bernadine – Manifesto: On Never Giving Up

Foley, Lucy – The Guest List

Foley, Lucy – The Hunting Party

Fu, Melissa – Peach Blossom Spring

Fulford, Lucy – The Exiled

Gagne, Patric – Sociopath

Galgut, Damon – The Promise

Garcia, Gabriela – Of Women and Salt

Garmus, Bonnie – Lessons in Chemistry

Garthwaite, Annie – Cecily

Garthwaite, Annie – The King’s Mother

Garza, Alicia – The Purpose of Power

Gill, Amber Rose – Until I Met You

Godfrey, Jennie – The List of Suspicious Things

Gregory, Philippa – Tidelands

Groff, Lauren – Matrix

Guin, Ursula Le – Lavinia

Guron, Ravena – This Book Kills

Gyasi, Yaa – Homegoing

Gyasi, Yaa – Transcendent Kingdom

Hague, Molly-Mae – Becoming Molly Mae

Hall, Araminta – One of the Good Guys

Hannah, Kristin – The Four Winds

Harari, Yuval Noah – Sapiens

Harper, Elodie – The Wolf Den

Harper, Elodie – The House with the Golden Door

Harper, Elodie – The Temple of Fortuna

Harris, Kai – What the Fireflies Knew

Haydock, Sophie – The Flames

Haynes, Natalie – A Thousand Ships

Haynes, Natalie – Pandora’s Jar

Haynes, Natalie – Stone Blind

Hazell, Lottie – Piglet

Healey, Jane – The Animals at Lockwood Manor

Heisey, Monica – Really Good, Actually

Herbert, Adrienne – Power Hour

Honeyman, Gail – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Hosseini, Khaled – A Thousand Splendid Suns

Hui, Angela – Takeaway

Jackson, Naomi – The Star Side of Bird Hill

Jackson, Tiffany D. – Grown

Jemisin, N.K – The Fifth Season

Jemisin, N.K – The Obelisk Gate

Jemisin, N.K – The Stone Sky

Jenkins-Reid, Taylor – Malibu Rising

Jenkins-Reid, Taylor – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Jenkins-Reid, Taylor – Carrie Soto Is Back

Jewell, Lisa – None of This is True

Johnson, Daisy – Sisters

Johnson, Sadeqa – Yellow Wife

Jollet, Mikel – Hollywood Park

Kent, Hannah – Burial Rites

Kent, Hannah – Devotion

Key, Roxie – The Deadly Spark

Kilroy, Claire – Soldier, Sailor

Kincaid, Jamaica – Annie John

King, Stephen – On Writing

King, Tracy – Learning to Think

Kingsolver, Barbara – Demon Copperhead

Knoll, Jessica – Bright Young Women

Kuang, R.F. – Yellowface

Lahens, Yanick – Moonbath

Lawrence, Patrice – Orangeboy

Lawton, Georgina – Raceless

Larsen, Nella – Passing

LB, Jade – Keisha the Sket

Lefteri, Christy – The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Lee, Jing Jing – How We Disappeared

Lee, Min Jin – Pachinko

Little, Liv – Rosewater

Liveing, Alice – Give Me Strength

Loupas, Elizabeth – The Red Lily Crown

Lupton, Rosamund – Three Hours

Lynch, Evanna – The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting

Machado, Carmen Maria – Her Body & Other Parties

Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga – Manchester Happened

Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga – Kintu

Mantel, Hilary – The Mirror & the Light

Marais, Bianca – The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

Mas, Victoria – The Mad Women’s Ball

Mason, Meg – Sorrow and Bliss

May, Nikki – Wahala

McCurdy, Jeanette – I’m Glad My Mom Died

McDaniel, Tiffany – Betty

McGill, C.E. – Our Hideous Progeny

Mengiste, Maaza – The Shadow King

Mendez, Paul – Rainbow Milk

Miller, Kei – The Last Warner Woman

Millwood-Hargrave, Kiran – The Mercies

Millwood-Hargrave, Kiran – The Dance Tree

Mitchell, David – Unruly

Moylan, Julie Owen – 73 Dove Street

Morgenstern, Erin – The Starless Sea

Morris, Brittney – The Cost of Knowing

Morris, Stephen – Black Tea

Morrison, Toni – The Bluest Eye

Multiple Authors – My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird

Murata, Sayaka – Convenience Store Woman

Murata, Sayaka – Earthlings

Mustapha, Sahar – The Beauty of Your Face

Nawras, Nofel – Brighton Funk

Nealon, Louise – Snowflake

Nichols, Grace – The Fat Black Woman’s Poems

Ng, Celeste – Our Missing Hearts

Noah, Trevor – Born A Crime

Nwelue, Onyeka – The Strangers of Braamfontein

Obama, Michelle – Becoming

Obaro, Tomi – Dele Weds Destiny

O’Donoghue, Caroline – Promising Young Women

O’Donoghue, Caroline –Scenes of A Graphic Nature

O’Donoghue, Caroline – The Rachel Incident

O’Farrell, Maggie – Hamnet

O’Farrell, Maggie – The Marriage Portrait

Okafor, Kelechi – Edge of Here

Okechukwu, Nzelu – The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney

Onuzo, Chibundu – Sankofa

Osman, Richard – The Thursday Murder Club

O’Leary, Beth – The No Show

O’Porter, Dawn – So Lucky

O’Porter, Dawn – Cat Lady

Owen Moylan, Julie – 73 Dove Street

Owens, Delia – Where The Crawdads Sing

Papillon, Buki – An Ordinary Wonder

Park, Sang Young – Love In the Big City

Parker, Morgan – Who Put This Song On?

Parker-Chan, Shelley – She Who Became the Sun

Patchett, Ann – Tom Lake

Patel, Sheena – I’m A Fan

Persaud, Ingrid – Love After Love

Peters, Torrey – Detransition, Baby

Philyaw, Deesha – The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Pin, Cecile – Wandering Souls

Prose, Nita – The Maid

Quế Mai, Nguyễn Phan – The Mountains Sing

Quế Mai, Nguyễn Phan – Dust Child

Rahman, Khurrum – East of Hounslow

Rahman, Yasmin – All The Things We Never Said

Ratinon, Claire – Unearthed

Reid, Kiley – Such a Fun Age

Rhys, Jean – Wide Sargasso Sea

Rice, Eva – The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp

Riley, Lucinda – The Seven Sisters

Rogerson, Phonecia – Herc

Rooney, Sally – Normal People

Roy, Arundhati – The God of Small Things

Rubenhold, Hallie – The Five

Rushdie, Salman – Midnight’s Children

Russell, Kate Elizabeth – My Dark Vanessa

Ryan, Donal – The Queen of Dirt Island

Ryan, Madeleine – A Room Called Earth

Saint, Jennifer – Ariadne

Saint, Jennifer – Elektra

Sampson, Lily – The Switch

Sealey, Jasmine – The Island of Forgetting

Sebald, W.G. – The Rings of Saturn

Selmi, Habib – The Scents of Marie Claire

Semenya, Caster – The Race to be Myself

Shafak, Elif – 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World

Shamsie, Kamila – A God in Every Stone

Shamsie, Kamila – Home Fire

Shannon, Samantha – Priory of the Orange Tree

Shibli, Adania – Minor Detail

Shinkai, Makoto – She and Her Cat

Shreeves – Lee, Jac – Broadwater

Shukla, Nikesh – Brown Baby

Sinclair, Safiya – How to Say Babylon

Slimani, Leïla – Lullaby

Smart, Ciannon – Witches Steeped in Gold

Smith, Ali – Girl Meets Boy

Smith, Zadie – Intimations

Smith, Zadie – The Fraud

Söderberg, Hjalmar – Doctor Glas

Straub, Emma – All Adults Here

Stringfellow, Tara M. – Memphis

Stuart, Douglas – Shuggie Bain

Stuart, Douglas – Young Mungo

Taddeo, Lisa – Three Women

Tahir, Sabaa – All My Rage

Tartt, Donna – The Goldfinch

Taylor, Brandon – Real Life

Taylor, Sharma – What A Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You

Teo, Sharlene – Ponti

Thomas, Angie – The Hate You Give

Thomas, Angie – Concrete Rose

Thomas, Sonja – Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence

Tolkein, J.R.R. – The Hobbit

Tolkein, J.R.R. – The Fellowship of the Ring

Tolkein, J.R.R – The Two Towers

Tolkein, J.R.R. – The Return of the King

Varaidzo – Manny and the Baby

Villada, Camilla Sosa – The Queens of Sarmiento Park

Walker, Alice – The Color Purple

Ward, Jesmyn – Men We Reaped

Washington, Bryan – Lot

Washington, Bryan – Memorial

Weir, Alison – Katherine of Aragon

Weir, Alison – Anne Boleyn

Weir, Alison – Jane Seymour

Weir, Alison – Anna of Kleve

Weir, Alison – Katheryn Howard

Weir, Alison – Katharine Parr

Weir, Alison – Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown

Wellington, Joelle – Their Vicious Games

West, A.J – The Spirit Engineer

West, Dorothy – The Wedding

Whitehead, Colson – The Nickel Boys

Wilkerson, Charmaine – Black Cake

Wilkinson, Lauren – American Spy

Williams, Alicia.D – Genesis Begins Again

Willliams, Fiona – The House of Broken Bricks

Williams, Tia – Seven Days in June

Williams, Tia – A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

Wilson, Elspeth – Too Hot to Sleep

Wilson, Jessica – It’s Always Been Ours

Wilson, Susan C. – Clytemnestra’s Bind

Winman, Sarah – Still Life

Winn, Raynor – The Salt Path

Woodson, Jacqueline – Red At The Bone

Yorke, John – Into the Woods

Yousafzai, Malala – We Are Displaced

Zafón, Carlos Ruiz – The Shadow of the Wind

Zauner, Michelle – Crying in H Mart

Zayyan, Hafsa – We Are All Birds of Uganda

Zoboi, Ibi – American Street

Multiple authors – The Haunting Season

Here’s my rating system:

***** = I hold this book in my heart everywhere I go. I will mention it in every conversation until I die. The characters will haunt me throughout my days.

**** = I will recommend this book to everyone I come into contact with for the next three months. Several of my friends and family will receive it for their birthday presents.

*** = I will forget the details of the plot after a couple of weeks but I will smile when I see it on my bookshelf.

** = I will cry with disappointment at the time wasted trying to finish this book.

* = I stopped reading before my soul was crushed.