Zahara

  For quite some time, I've been on the hunt for a book that covered Black/African art and art history and I stumbled upon this particular book. Overall, I thought the book was decent, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. This book mostly focuses on Black models from different eras in history. However, the author does sprinkle in and mention some often-forgotten Black artists towards the end of the book. I also liked that she provided a list of resources for further reading regarding Black art history. 

  Black Women in Sequence provides an academic and critical analysis of how black women have been depicted in sequential art. Overall, I thought the author did a fantastic job of analyzing the history of how black women have been portrayed in comics, etc.  However, I felt that the book was lacking in some regards and didn't cover as much as it could have. Despite that, I would recommend this book because it does provide great insight.

  After I finished reading this novel, I walked away for the most part enjoying it. However, it definitely could've been better and more fleshed out in some areas.  I enjoyed the lore and the world-building. The main couple Armstrong Knight and Kya made you want to root for them. I didn't care for the book being in third person I think it should've been in first person instead. I also wasn't too big on the constant huge time skips peppered throughout the novel. I felt the author did more telling instead of showing. 

  Personally, when it comes to shipping, for me it's secondary. I believe it's important for characters to have their own story arcs, and characters need to also be interesting outside of their relationships whether they're romantic or not. After pondering on the love triangle in Legendborn, I'm strongly in favor of a polyamorous ending.  The love triangle in Legendborn is one of the most enthralling and interesting love triangles that I've come across in a while, and it stems from the love triangle actually being balanced and all three of its participants being connected to one another in some fashion.  Nick x Sel Their relationship was already established before Bree entered the picture, so there's already history and a connection established between the two of them. Sel at one point harbored romantic feelings toward Nick when he was 13 years old. They're both bonded eternally together due to the Kingsmage Oath. Sel is bound to protect Nick for the rest of...

  Soul of the Deep is the sequel novel to Skin of the Sea in Natasha Bowen's Orisha Mermaid series. I really enjoyed the first novel, and I couldn't wait to read the sequel, and while I did overall enjoy this novel, it wasn't as good as the first one. I felt like most of the plot twists were fairly obvious and not really all too surprising. The cat-and-mouse and will they or won't they romance between Simi and Adekola was starting to wear thin. However, I'm glad that they did get together as it was possible for them to do so now that Kola was an orisha and not human.  I think that this novel served as a good juxtaposition to the first one and it was good to see familiar faces once again. In the end, I did like this novel it was a good read. I just preferred the action/adventure elements of the first novel more over the second's warring kingdoms scenario.  I do recommend this novel because it nicely ties up leftover plot threads from the first novel and presented...

  I've had this novel on my want-to-read list for a while, and now that I've had the chance to read it, it's time to share my thoughts. The story is set during the mid-1400s in West Africa during the Portuguese slave trade which predates the Atlantic Slave Trade. The author did a fantastic job of weaving West African mythology and culture i.e. the Orishas and Yoruba influences with African spirituality. The main heroine of this story is Simidele a Mami Wata (mermaid) who goes on a journey to right a wrong that she's caused, and along the way, she's joined by others, and she slowly recovers her past memories of when she was human.   This is the first book in a long time that I was engrossed in and did not want to put down. I was even able to correctly guess some of the things that would happen which was rewarding. The beginning of the novel started out slow and was a bit of an information dump, but after getting through the beginning rough patch of the first few chap...