I’ve organised my reviews by star rating so you can easily find your next read! Click on the star rating to see all of the books in that category.
Five Stars = 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.
Abulhawa, Susan – Mornings in Jenin
Aldarra, Suad – I Don’t Want to Talk About Home
Alvarez, Julia – How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Alvarez, Julia – In the Time of the Butterflies
Angelou, Maya – Letter to my Daughter
Arthurs, Alexia – How to Love a Jamaican
Atta, Dean – The Black Flamingo
Atwood, Margaret – The Testaments
Babalola, Bolu – Love In Colour
Bennett, Brit – The Vanishing Half
Brady, Fern – Strong Female Character
Bromley, Freya – The Tidal Year
Butler, Octavia – Parable of the Sower
Butler, Octavia – Kindred
Castillo, Elaine – America is Not the Heart
Cruz, Angie – How Not to Drown In a Glass of Water
Davis, Viola – Finding Me
Edim, Glory – Well-Read Black Girl
Ephron, Nora – Heartburn
Evaristo, Bernadine – Girl, Woman, Other
Garthwaite, Annie – Cecily
Harper, Elodie – The Wolf Den
Haynes, Natalie – A Thousand Ships
Hosseini, Khaled – A Thousand Splendid Suns
Johnson, Sadeqa – Yellow Wife
Kent, Hannah – Burial Rites
Lee, Jing Jing – How We Disappeared
Lee, Min Jin – Pachinko
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga – Manchester Happened
McCurdy, Jeannette – I’m Glad My Mom Died
McDaniel, Tiffany – Betty
Mitchell, David – Unruly
Multiple Authors – My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird
Ng, Celeste – Our Missing Hearts
Noah, Trevor – Born A Crime
O’Farrell, Maggie – Hamnet
Peters, Torrey – Detransition, Baby
Reid, Kiley – Such a Fun Age
Roy, Arundhati – The God of Small Things
Russell, Kate Elizabeth – My Dark Vanessa
Sealey, Jasmine – The Island of Forgetting
Shamsie, Kamila – Home Fire
Smith, Ali – Girl Meets Boy
Tahir, Sabaa – All My Rage
Taylor, Brandon – Real Life
Ward, Jesmyn – Men We Reaped
West, Dorothy – The Wedding
Wilson, Jessica – It’s Always Been Ours
Yousafzai, Malala – We Are Displaced
———– [FOUR AND A HALF]———-
Bishop, Katie – The Girls of Summer
Bracken, Alexandra – Lore
Brashares, Ann – Sisterhood Everlasting
Clarke, Diana – Thin Girls
Dawson, Juno – Meat Market
Diop, David – At Night All Blood is Black
Emelumadu, Chikolidi – Dazzling
Fu, Melissa – Peach Blossom Spring
Garcia, Gabriela – Of Women and Salt
Groff, Lauren – Matrix
Gyasi, Yaa – Transcendent Kingdom
Hall, Araminta – One of the Good Guys
Harper, Elodie – The House with the Golden Door
Honeyman, Gail – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Hui, Angela – Takeaway
Jackson, Naomi – The Star Side of Bird Hill
Jackson, Tiffany D. – Grown
Jenkins-Reid, Taylor – Malibu Rising
Larsen, Nella – Passing
Lawton, Georgina – Raceless
Lupton, Rosamund – Three Hours
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga – Kintu
Miller, Kei – The Last Warner Woman
Millwood-Hargrave, Kiran – The Mercies
Morrison, Toni – The Bluest Eye
Murata, Sayaka – Convenience Store Woman
Mustapha, Sahar – The Beauty of Your Face
Nealon, Louise – Snowflake
Obama, Michelle – Becoming
O’Donoghue, Caroline – Scenes of a Graphic Nature
Owens, Delia – Where The Crawdads Sing
Philyaw, Deesha – The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
Shafak, Elif – 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
Shreeves-Lee, Jac – Broadwater
Sinclair, Safiya – How to Say Babylon
Straub, Emma – All Adults Here
Stringfellow, Tara M. – Memphis
Stuart, Douglas – Shuggie Bain
Stuart, Douglas – Young Mungo
Teo, Sharlene – Ponti
Thomas, Angie – The Hate You Give
Whitehead, Colson – The Nickel Boys
Wilkinson, Lauren – American Spy
Williams, Tia – Seven Days in June
Winn, Raynor – The Salt Path
Zayyan, Hafsa – We Are All Birds of Uganda
Zoboi, Ibi – American Street
Four Stars = 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.
Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah – Ace of Spades
Acevedo, Elizabeth – Clap When You Land
Alammar, Layla – The Pact We Made
Amaka, Rosanna – The Book of Echoes
Anyakwo, Diana – My Life As A Chameleon
Aoyama, Michiko – What You Are Looking For is in the Library
Azumah-Nelson, Caleb – Open Water
Beard, Mary – Women & Power
Benary, Margot – Castle on the Border
Blackburn, Lizzie Damilola – Yinka, Where is your Huzband?
Bola, J.J – The Selfless Act of Breathing
Bourne, Holly – Am I Normal Yet?
Braithwaite, Oyinkan – My Sister, The Serial Killer
Brathwaite, Candice – Sista Sister
Brookmyre, Chris – The Cliff House
Brooks, Geraldine – People of the Book
Buchanan, Cathy Marie – Daughter of Black Lake
Chadwick, Elizabeth – The Summer Queen
Clark, C.L. – The Unbroken
Coel, Michaela – Misfits
Cruz, Angie – Dominicana
Dalcher, Christina – Vox
Dangarembga, Tsitsi – Nervous Conditions
Daré, Abi – The Girl with the Louding Voice
Dawson, Juno – Clean
Dawson, Rachel – Neon Roses
Evaristo, Bernadine – Mr Loverman
Evaristo, Bernadine – Manifesto: On Never Giving Up
Garmus, Bonnie – Lessons in Chemistry
Garza, Alicia – The Purpose of Power
Gill, Amber Rose – Until I Met You
Gyasi, Yaa – Homegoing
Harris, Kai – What the Fireflies Knew
Haynes, Natalie – Pandora’s Jar
Healey, Jane – The Animals at Lockwood Manor
Herbert, Adrienne – Power Hour
Jenkins-Reid, Taylor – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Johnson, Daisy – Sisters
King, Stephen – On Writing
King, Tracy – Learning to Think
Kingsolver, Barbara – Demon Copperhead
Lynch, Evanna – The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting
Marais, Bianca – The Witches of Moonshyne Manor
Mason, Meg – Sorrow and Bliss
May, Nikki – Wahala
McGill, C.E. – Our Hideous Progeny
Millwood Hargrave, Kiran – The Dance Tree
Morgenstern, Erin – The Starless Sea
Morris, Brittney – The Cost of Knowing
Murata, Sayaka – Earthlings
Nichols, Grace – The Fat Black Woman’s Poems
Obaro, Tomi – Dele Weds Destiny
O’Donoghue, Carloline – Promising Young Women
Okechukwu, Nzelu – The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney
O’Leary, Beth – The No Show
Onuzo, Chibundu – Sankofa
Osman, Richard – The Thursday Murder Club
Papillon, Buki – An Ordinary Wonder
Park, Sang Young – Love in the Big City
Persaud, Ingrid – Love After Love
Prose, Nita – The Maid
Quế Mai, Nguyễn Phan – Dust Child
Rahman, Khurrum – East of Hounslow
Ratinon, Claire – Unearthed
Rice, Eva – The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp
Riley, Lucinda – The Seven Sisters
Roy, Arundhati – The God of Small Things
Saint, Jennifer – Ariadne
Saint, Jennifer – Elektra
Semenya, Caster – The Race to be Myself
Shamsie, Kamila – A God in Every Stone
Shinkai, Makoto – She and Her Cat
Shukla, Nikesh – Brown Baby
Slimani, Leïla – Lullaby
Taddeo, Lisa – Three Women
Tartt, Donna – The Goldfinch
Taylor, Sharma – What A Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You
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
Villada, Camilla Sosa – The Queens of Sarmiento Park
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
Wellington, Joelle – Their Vicious Games
West, A.J – The Spirit Engineer
Wilkerson, Charmaine – Black Cake
Williams, Alicia D. – Genesis Begins Again
Winman, Sarah – Still Life
Yorke, John – Into the Woods
Multiple authors – The Haunting Season
———– [THREE AND A HALF]———-
Adebayo, Ayobami – Stay With Me
Adegoke, Yomi – The List
Adegoke, Yomi & Uviebinené, Elizabeth – The Offline Diaries
Adeyemi, Tomi – Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Alderton, Dolly – Ghosts
Benson, Jendella – Hope & Glory
Bourne, Holly – The Places I’ve Cried in Public
Broder, Melissa – Milk Fed
Brown, Amber and Danielle – Someone Had to Do It
Brown, Rita Mae – Rubyfruit Jungle
Bsharat, Ahlam – Trees for the Absentees
Channing-Brown, Austin – I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Cooper, Daisy May – Don’t Laugh It’ll Only Encourage Her
Dillsworth, Lianne – Theatre of Marvels
Domingo, Sareeta – Who’s Loving You
El-Mohtar, Amal – This is How You Lose the Time War
Galgut, Damon – The Promise
Gregory, Philippa – Tidelands
Haynes, Natalie – Stone Blind
Heisey, Monica – Really Good, Actually
Lefteri, Christy – The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Little, Liv – Rosewater
Loupas, Elizabeth – The Red Lily Crown
Mantel, Hilary – The Mirror & the Light
Mas, Victoria – The Mad Women’s Ball
Mendez, Paul – Rainbow Milk
Mengiste, Maaza – The Shadow King
Morris, Stephen – Black Tea
O’Farrell, Maggie – The Marriage Portrait
O’Porter, Dawn – So Lucky
O’Porter, Dawn – Cat Lady
Parker-Chan, Shelley – She Who Became the Sun
Quế Mai, Nguyễn Phan – The Mountains Sing
Rhys, Jean – Wide Sargasso Sea
Rooney, Sally – Normal People
Ryan, Madeleine – A Room Called Earth
Smith, Zadie – Intimations
Söderberg, Hjalmar – Doctor Glas
Thomas, Angie – Concrete Rose
Tolkein, J.R.R. – The Fellowship of the Ring
Woodson, Jacqueline – Red At The Bone
Washington, Bryan – Lot
Williams, Tia – A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
Zafón, Carlos Ruiz – The Shadow of the Wind
Zauner, Michelle – Crying in H Mart
Three Stars = I will forget the details of the plot after a couple of weeks, but I will smile when I see it on my bookshelf.
Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah – Where Sleeping Girls Lie
Amaka, Rosanna – Rose and the Burma Sky
Ashour, Radwa – Granada
Barker, Pat – The Silence of the Girls
Beashel, Amy – We Are All Constellations
Burns, Anna – Milkman
Burton, Jessie – The Miniaturist
Carty-Williams, Candice – Empress & Aniya
Carty-Williams, Candice – People Person
Chadwick, Elizabeth – The Winter Crown
Chen, Katherine J. – Joan
Cole, Teju – Every Day is For the Thief
Ephron, Nora – I Feel Bad About My Neck
Evaristo, Bernadine – Hello Mum
Fulford, Lucy – The Exiled
Guin, Ursula Le – Lavinia
Guron, Ravena – This Book Kills
Hague, Molly Mae – Becoming Molly Mae
Lahens, Yanick – Moonbath
LB, Jade – Keisha the Sket
Lawrence, Patrice – Orangeboy
Machado, Carmen Maria – Her Body & Other Parties
Moylan, Julie Owen – 73 Dove Street
Parker, Morgan – Who Put This Song On?
Rahman, Yasmin – All The Things We Never Said
Rushdie, Salman – Midnight’s Children
Selmi, Habib – The Scents of Marie-Claire
Smart, Ciannon – Witches Steeped in Gold
———– [TWO AND A HALF]———-
Nawras, Nofel – Brighton Funk
Weir, Alison – Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown
Two Stars = I will cry with disappointment at the time wasted trying to finish this book.
Brown, Diane Marie – Black Candle Women
Harari, Yuval Noah – Sapiens
Nwelue, Onyeka – The Strangers of Braamfontein
One Star = I stopped reading before my soul was crushed.
Sebald, W.G. – The Rings of Saturn
Amina's Bookshelf 