January Book Haul

I had to take advantage of the awesome Book Outlet sale a few weeks ago and ordered some backlist books that I have been wanting to add to my shelves. If you've never ordered from them I recommend checking them out and signing up for their announcements. They have 'sales' several times a year that are really good. I am not an affiliate or sponsored by them, I just like cheap books that are in good condition! I also gave into temptation and ordered a few books from the Amazon marketplace that I have had on my wish list, and my pre-order of one of my most anticipated releases came in yesterday! I have goodies to share! It seems that participating in the 2018 Reading Blackout has provided me a pretty good reason to book shop! 

I've been looking forward to getting my hands on The Night Masquerade (Binti #3)by Nnedi Okorafor since the moment I finished Home (Binti, #2). This novella series is amazing and I am blown away by how much Okorafor is able to pack into such short installments. The covers are all stunning and it just makes me happy seeing them on my bookshelf! I'll be reading this one A.S.A.P!

Oh, my beautiful box of books from Book Outlet! There were lots of book goodness in that box! 

The Living Blood (African Immortals Series Book 2) by Tananarive Due: Jessica Jacobs-Wolde has somehow survived the worst that any mother or wife could ever endure: the deaths of her husband and first daughter. But now, four years later, not only is the nightmare continuing -- it may have only just begun. Jessica has discovered the terrifying truth behind the legacy that her husband left to their second daughter, Fana...a legacy preordained a thousand years before her time and drenched in the powerful lifeblood that now courses through her veins. As young Fana begins to display unearthly abilities that are quickly spiraling out of control, she becomes the target of those who will stop at nothing to exploit her power -- and the unwitting touchstone in an ancient supernatural battle whose outcome may decide the fate of all humanity.

Blood Colony: A Novel (African Immortals Series Book 3) by Tananarive Due: There's a new drug on the street: Glow. Said to heal almost any illness, it is distributed by an Underground Railroad of drug peddlers. But what gives Glow its power? Its main ingredient is blood -- the blood of immortals. A small but powerful colony of immortals is distributing the blood, slowly wiping out the AIDS epidemic and other diseases around the world. 

Meet Fana Wolde, seventeen years old, the only immortal born with the Living Blood. She can read minds, and her injuries heal immediately. When her best friend, a mortal, is imprisoned by Fana's family, Fana helps her escape -- and together they run away from Fana's protected home in Washington State to join the Underground Railroad. 

But Fana has more than her parents to worry about: Glow peddlers are being murdered by a violent, hundred-year-old sect with ties to the Vatican. Now, when Fana is most vulnerable, she is being hunted to fulfill an ancient blood prophecy that could lead to countless deaths. 

While her people search for Fana and race to unravel the unknown sect's mysterious origins, Fana must learn to confront the deadly forces -- or she and everyone she loves will die.

Shadow Fall (Shadowchasers Book 3) by Seressia Glass: Truth is the most dangerous weapon of all . . . 

Kira Solomon's life has never been simple. Battling against the Fallen, serving the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, becoming romantically involved with a 4,000-year-old Nubian warrior--these are now everyday realities. But something is changing. Kira's magic is becoming dangerously unpredictable, tainted by the Shadow she has been trained to destroy. 

Matters grow worse when an Atlanta museum exhibit based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead turns out to have truly sinister properties. As the body count rises, even long-trusted allies start to turn against Kira. She can hardly blame them--not when the God of Chaos is stalking her dreams and the shocking truth about her origins is finally coming to light. As one of the good guys, Kira was a force to be reckoned with. But if the only way to stop a terrifying adversary is to fight Shadow with Shadow, then she's ready to find out just how very bad she can be. . . .

When the Night Whispers by Savanna Welles: A riveting, modern-day gothic tale about a woman who succumbs and then must save herself from a dark lover

That night was the first time I tasted champagne—French he told me, and as I loved all things French I was enchanted. I barely remember what we said—only that I did most of the talking: about leaving the South, my dreams of becoming a writer, my thoughts of Harlem . . . and of you. He said very little, only this: "The moment I saw you I knew you would be mine forever. And even death, even that, could not part us." 

Jocelyn's life feels empty, devoid of passion and purpose. After she finds a journal written by her "doomed" great-grandmother, Caprice, she is spellbound by her story: the escape from a loveless marriage, her seduction by a nameless lover who is both "demon and savior." Then, as if stepping out of a dream, Jocelyn meets Asa, her mysterious next door neighbor.

Asa is charming, handsome, and daring and, as if by magic, she is drawn into his hedonistic lifestyle. Yet there is something unsettling about Asa. Luna is suspicious of this man, and although Jocelyn is dismissive of Luna and amused by her friend's warnings, she can't completely ignore them. She begins to wonder if things with Asa aren't quite what they seem.

The Moon Tells Secrets by Savanna Welles:  Don't trust nobody. Not family. Not friend. Don't let it get him like it got my son until he is ready to meet it. And remember that blood must pay for blood. A debt must be paid. Your boy can never forget. That is his destiny.

Raine is at her wits' end. Her eleven-year-old son Davey, whom she has raised by herself, has the power to shift into any animal-a "gift" from his dead father. Raine doesn't know how to control this legacy nor protect him from the skinwalker bent on killing them both. And if the skinwalker fails, she fears the sinister fate that awaits her son.

Cade, still grieving the brutal murder of his wife, finds solace in Raine's companionship. But as the savage details of his wife's death mirror the powers that Davey is soon to have, Raine must fight to protect her child...in The Moon Tells Secrets by Savanna Welles

Glorious Sunset by Ava Bleu: African King Taka Olufemi has traveled more than four hundred years to find the woman who holds the soul of his murdered queen, and he's a little cranky. With a ruby brooch as his vessel, the former king is forced to grant wishes to ungrateful mortals, hoping to one day find, and win, the heart of his lost love. 

It will take more than good looks, superior intelligence, and an impressive pedigree to earn the love of Violet Jackson. The ambitious interior designer doesn't remember Taka or their history. Love—with its inevitable heartbreak chaser—has no place in Violet's immediate life plan. All the handsome "genie" can do for her is pony up on the three wishes he's promised, and try not to be a pain while he's at it.

While the arrogant king is praying for his submissive queen, and the faithless object of his affection isn't praying at all, guardian angel Aniweto is praying for them both. With Ani's help, will Taka and Violet's epic love be rekindled and this royal couple-behaving-badly finally earn their happily-ever-after through the grace of the Almighty?

And on the Eighth Day She Rested by J. D. Mason: Four different women come together under the sometimes tenuous but always unbreakable bond of friendship.

Ruth Johnson has finally left her abusive husband of fourteen years and jumped feet first into "What the hell do I do now?" oblivion. Then into her life come three unforgettable women who turn her world upside down. Feisty, outspoken Bernice, a.k.a. "Bernie," has been there and done that when it comes to love and marriage. Her ex-husband is settled down with his much younger wife and her kids are grown, and Bernie is looking to enjoy her fellow man--in more ways than one--no strings attached...or so she thinks. Sweet Southern belle May has it all: a beautiful home, two wonderful children, and a fine husband who worships the ground she walks on, yet a shadow hangs over what should be her equally perfect life, threatening to shake up her happy home. The older, wiser Clara is their guiding force, and when disaster strikes, all three women rally around her, determined to see her through it. Life is just getting interesting, and if they hold on to each other, they just might make it.

J.D. Mason's And on the Eighth Day She Rested is an empowering story of the tough times we all face and the friends who help us through.

White Butterfly: An Easy Rawlins by Walter Mosley: The police don't show up on Easy Rawlins's doorstep until the third girl dies. It's Los Angeles, 1956, and it takes more than one murdered black girl before the cops get interested. Now they need Easy. As he says: "I was worth a precinct full of detectives when the cops needed the word in the ghetto." But Easy turns them down. He's married now, a father -- and his detective days are over. Then a white college coed dies the same brutal death, and the cops put the heat on Easy: If he doesn't help, his best friend is headed for jail. So Easy's back, walking the midnight streets of Watts and the darker, twisted avenues of a cunning killer's mind...

Pleasantville by Attica Locke: From Attica Locke, a writer and producer of FOX’s Empire, this sophisticated thriller sees lawyer Jay Porter—hero of her bestseller Black Water Rising—return to fight one last case, only to become embroiled in a dangerous game of shadowy politics and a witness to how far those in power are willing to go to win.

Fifteen years after his career-defining case against Cole Oil, Jay Porter is broke and tired. That victory might have won the environmental lawyer fame, but thanks to a string of appeals, he hasn't seen a dime. His latest case—representing Pleasantville in the wake of a chemical fire—is dragging on, shaking his confidence and raising doubts about him within this upwardly mobile black community on Houston's north side. Though Jay still believes in doing what's right, he is done fighting other people's battles. Once he has his piece of the settlement, the single father is going to devote himself to what matters most—his children.

His plans are abruptly derailed when a female campaign volunteer vanishes on the night of Houston's mayoral election, throwing an already contentious campaign into chaos. The accused is none other than the nephew and campaign manager of one of the leading candidates—a scion of a prominent Houston family headed by the formidable Sam Hathorne. Despite all the signs suggesting that his client is guilty—and his own misgivings—Jay can't refuse when a man as wealthy and connected as Sam asks him to head up the defense. Not if he wants that new life with his kids. But he has to win.

Plunging into a shadowy world of ambitious enemies and treacherous allies armed with money, lies, and secrets, Jay reluctantly takes on his first murder trial—a case that will put him and his client, and an entire political process, on trial.

High Cotton by Darryl Pinckney: High Cotton is an extraordinarily rich account of the dreams and inner turmoils of a new generation of the black upper middle class, capturing the essence of a part of American society that has mostly been ignored in literature. The novel's protagonist journeys from his childhood home in the midwest to college, a stint in New York publishing, and Europe, yet the issue of his "blackness" remains at the heart of his being.

Unburnable by Marie-Elena John: Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian Baptiste fled Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival—songs about a village on a mountaintop littered with secrets, masquerades that supposedly fly and wreak havoc, and a man who suddenly and mysteriously dropped dead.

After twenty years away, Lillian returns to her native island to face the demons of her past—and with the help of Teddy, a man who has loved her for many years, she may yet find a way to heal.

Set in both contemporary Washington, D.C., and post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.

Ghosts of Saint-Michel (American Mysteries in Paris) by Jake Lamar: Marva Dobbs has a life most people would envy. An American who has lived in Paris for most of her adult life, she runs a popular African-American soul food restaurant, and her thirty-year marriage has produced a beautiful grown-up daughter. So why is she jeopardizing everything for a fling with her sous-chef, a mysterious twenty-eight-year-old Algerian man named Hassan?

Marva begins to ask herself the same question when she returns from summer vacation to find that Hassan is missing, and that he is the main suspect in the investigation into the bombing of a building in Paris that left one man dead. And then she disappears, leaving her bewildered daughter and secretive husband to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid: Lucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to America to work as an au pair for a wealthy couple. She begins to notice cracks in their beautiful façade at the same time that the mysteries of own sexuality begin to unravel. Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new heroine who is destined to win a place of honor in contemporary fiction.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga: A modern classic in the African literary canon and voted in the Top Ten Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, this novel brings to the politics of decolonization theory the energy of women's rights. An extraordinarily well-crafted work, this book is a work of vision. Through its deft negotiation of race, class, gender and cultural change, it dramatizes the 'nervousness' of the 'postcolonial' conditions that bedevil us still. In Tambu and the women of her family, we African women see ourselves, whether at home or displaced, doing daily battle with our changing world with a mixture of tenacity, bewilderment and grace.