Book Review: Innoxent by Blacc Topp

This is a coming of age story about a young man named Innoxent. The readers were given a front row seat to family life, friendship and the impact that each one has on his life. His cultural experiences, introduced by his mom, inspired poetry. His relationship with uncle Mello taught him how to maneuver thru the streets of Dallas. Growing up with cousin Smurf and Aunt Sharnessa showed the importance of family structure. His best friend Problem taught him humility and brotherhood.

As we know, with the good comes the bad. Penny chooses a man over her son, which leads to the ultimate betrayal…in more ways than one. Mello finds himself in a situation that affects the entire family, and poor Problem is left abandoned and betrayed.

Now, the budding relationship between Innoxent and Halo is beautiful to witness, because her gentleness inspired him to be a better person. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

This is my second time reading this book by @novelistblacctopp and I fall more in love with it each time. My favorite character is a toss up between Innoxent and Problem. My heart bled that young man. My least favorite character, hands down, is Bean. Rotten to the cute and didn’t care who he destroyed, because of jealousy. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.

#avidreader #addictedtobooks #recommendedreading #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #reviewer #goodreads #bibliophile #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime #BTIWOB #breaktheinternetwithourbooks

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Hood Defined Love by Raevyn Renee

Raevyn Renee’s debut novel explores the idea that love can blossom even among the most difficult of circumstances in the hood.

Riley has been doing her best to raise her cousin Mikayla, even allowing some of her desires to fall by the wayside to make sure Mikayla is okay. Her love life is practically nonexistent, and there are times she doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going.

Mikayla’s past has caused her to look for love in all the wrong places, not recognizing that the love she needs comes from within. The mask she wears can only hide what she feels for so long.

Jermaine took over for his mother when his brother became too much for her to handle. Now his brother is determined to spiral out of control no matter how Jermaine tries to steer him otherwise. What Jermaine doesn’t expect is for his brother’s mishaps to bring someone into his life that he didn’t know he needed.

Jeremiah isn’t sure what he’s missing, but he knows he can’t find it from his big brother. He’s focused on doing his own thing no matter who he disappoints. It isn’t until he meets Mikayla that his views begin to change, but unfortunately for him, it may be too late.

Mikayla’s and Jeremiah’s troubles seem to get worse without a chance of getting better. However, with everything they’ve learned about one another, this may be the one chance they have to finally get things right.

🔗https://amzn.to/45wZxvf

#newrelease #hooddefinedlove #raevynrenee #avidreader #bookreviewer #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #literaryinfluencer #diamondsdesignz #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime

Book Review: Ghost of the Murder Mamas by Dream Collins

Ghost of the Murder Mamas by Dream Collins

Zuri has lost everything that has meaning, including her parents and sister. As a last resort, she turns to the strip club, where jealousy and envy reignes supreme. Allowing Waheed to finally come to her aid, Zuri soon realizes that she has stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire. In steps Brown, the guy she secretly crushed in as a teenager and also her deceased sister’s boyfriend. The journey that these two embark upon is one for the history books.

Brown is establishing a name in the streets as the man to see, but he’s gunning for the top spot, and will do anything to get it. The one thing that he’s missing is a woman to call his own…until Zuri. Little does she know, about the danger that comes along with being by his side.

This page turner is my introduction to Dream Collins and I can’t wait to read more. Nobody could be trusted in this book, which led to Zuri becoming a calculated beast. After all…she was told that she is SPECIAL. My favorite character is Zuri, because if her strength. Like a phoenix, she is able to rise about the ashes. Now, my least favorite character goes to Brown, and as much as it pains me to say that, I have to admit that he deserved everything that happened to him.

Go get this book!

#avidreader #addictedtobooks #recommendedreading #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #reviewer #goodreads #bibliophile #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime #BTIWOB #breaktheinternetwithourbooks

*Book Discussion*

You’re invited to join me, along with a few book buddies, as we discuss The House of Eve by NYT bestselling author @sadeqajohnson.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

🔗https://amzn.to/3ncjTc0

#bookdiscussion #thehouseofeve #sadeqajohnson #NYTbestseller #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsworld #netgalley #historicalfiction #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime

*Book Mail*

In 1995, tragedy struck when Maurice Wilson returned home from the grocery store and was killed by a stray bullet, leaving his wife, Juanita, a widowed single mother of two. Having no life insurance and barely any savings, Juanita is forced to sell what few valuable items she has to give her husband a decent burial. With her husband no longer around as the primary breadwinner and without his salary, Juanita struggled to financially keep her and her children’s heads above water, but she managed to survive.

Tragically, two years following the death of her husband, her youngest child is diagnosed with cancer, leaving Juanita deeply in debt due to copayments for treatments, surgeries, prescriptions, and transportation to and from her job and doctors’ visits. Overworked and underpaid, Juanita works a job she hates at the prestigious law firm of Wayne, Rothstein, and Lincoln to provide for her children. When her oldest child, Jalen, begins to feel neglected because his mother cannot afford to buy him the things he wants, constantly works overtime, and is always taking care of his younger brother, he is lured by the streets and a local drug dealer named Drastic. Will Jerami, Juanita’s youngest son, survive cancer? Can Juanita endure being drowned in debt and working a stressful job? Will her eldest son, Jalen, continue to be drawn to and consumed by the streets? Mothers, Vol. 1, is the riveting prologue to the award-winning novel, Defining Moments: Black and White, about a mother’s bravery and fortitude to do whatever is necessary for her children.

🔗https://amzn.to/45k0BCu

#avidreader #recommendedread #bookstagrammer #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime #BTIWOB #breaktheinternetwithourbooks

Happy Release Day!

Raevyn Renee’s debut novel explores the idea that love can blossom even among the most difficult of circumstances in the hood.

Riley has been doing her best to raise her cousin Mikayla, even allowing some of her desires to fall by the wayside to make sure Mikayla is okay. Her love life is practically nonexistent, and there are times she doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going.

Mikayla’s past has caused her to look for love in all the wrong places, not recognizing that the love she needs comes from within. The mask she wears can only hide what she feels for so long.

Jermaine took over for his mother when his brother became too much for her to handle. Now his brother is determined to spiral out of control no matter how Jermaine tries to steer him otherwise. What Jermaine doesn’t expect is for his brother’s mishaps to bring someone into his life that he didn’t know he needed.

Jeremiah isn’t sure what he’s missing, but he knows he can’t find it from his big brother. He’s focused on doing his own thing no matter who he disappoints. It isn’t until he meets Mikayla that his views begin to change, but unfortunately for him, it may be too late.

Mikayla’s and Jeremiah’s troubles seem to get worse without a chance of getting better. However, with everything they’ve learned about one another, this may be the one chance they have to finally get things right.

🔗https://amzn.to/3osygJH

#newrelease #hooddefinedlove #raevynrenee #avidreader #bookreviewer #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #literaryinfluencer #diamondsdesignz #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime

Happy Release Day!

Set amid Sag Harbor’s vibrant African American history, bestselling author Donna Hill weaves a stunningly rich story about finding the way home…no matter how long the journey takes. 

Alessandra Fleming has spent most of her life running from her past. Her budding photography career, her life in Manhattan, all serve to distract from the secrets and guilt she’s never been able to face. Then the call. Her estranged father is in the hospital…and Alessandra must return home to Sag Harbor, crumbling the first wall between her past and her present.

For some, coming home is a relief. For Alessandra, it’s a reminder of the family she’s lost, of the time she’ll never regain. But the answers―the secrets―of her family are hidden in the house, waiting for her. And the only one who may be able to help her uncover them is her father’s neighbor, Zach, who brings with him an attraction that’s intense and instantaneous, yet oddly familiar.

Now Alessandra is being pulled back not only into her own complex family history, but into the richly documented lives of four extraordinary women. Generations touched by tragedy and triumph, despair and hope. And it’s in these aching echoes of the past that Alessandra’s own story―her mistakes and her capacity to love―will take shape, guiding her to the life she’s meant to live…and the extraordinary person she will become.

🔗https://amzn.to/3Ah41I8

#newrelease #iamayah #donnahill #sidewaysbooks #bookreviewer #bookstagrammer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsdesignz #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime

Book Review: Murder Mamas by the Mind of Ashley & JaQuavis

We were first introduced to The Murder Mamas in the Cartel series. In this book, the main character Aries is hiding out in plain sight on the island of Barbados, as Rachel, a housewife and mother. When the past comes knocking on her door, she is forced to return to her old life. Once there, she finds herself caught between a live triangle.

Macy and Case were best friends growing up, but somehow ended up on the opposite hides of the law. Unbeknownst to one, the green-eyed monster has reared its ugly head, and karma is about to pay a visit.

There were plenty of secrets that were revealed in this book, and in true A &J fashion, there somebody has to die!

The character development is on point, the storyline is very engaging and that plot twist…pure genius. This is one book that I don’t mind revisiting over and over again. Another stellar job!

#avidreader #addictedtobooks #recommendedreading #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #reviewer #goodreads #bibliophile #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime #BTIWOB #breaktheinternetwithourbooks

Happy Release Day!

Four choice words that the heavy-weight champion of the world assumed he would here until he chose otherwise, certainly not the other way around.

Lies. Speculation. Deceit.

Trust Ashley James went from being on top of the world to under it in less than eighteen minutes.

With his back against the ropes, he had no choice but to isolate until further notice.

When he returns to the ring, he’s a new man. A better man.

A man that one woman had been praying for all along.

Content Note: This is an urban romance standalone that contains mature themes and subjects that may be disturbing to some readers. You do not have to read anything prior to enjoy this love story.

🔗https://a.co/d/cD6zoZo

#newrelease #inhimitrust #nako #avidreader #bookreviewer #blackbookstagrammer #booktuber #literaryinfluencer #diamondsdesignz #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime

*Book of the Day*

Today’s book is another page turner by one of my favorite male authors @authorbwsmith.

Award-winning, bestselling author, Brian W. Smith, is at the top of his writing game, and it shows in MISSING—the story about a missing child and the abusive father trying to find him.

Carmen Sanders has her boyfriend, Benny Taylor, arrested for domestic abuse. Benny’s rap sheet earns him a four year prison sentence. Carmen, who is three month’s pregnant when Benny is sentenced, sees his incarceration as her chance to escape. So, without warning, she packs up her things and her six month old son, Lil Benny, and leaves town—no forwarding address or phone number.

When Benny finishes his prison sentence and returns home to see the son he’s never met, Carmen is nowhere to be found. In fact, she’s started a new life and is about to get married—to a police officer.

Benny is determined to find Carmen and his child, and when he does, all hell breaks loose. Hell hath no fury, like a daddy scorned.

🔗https://a.co/d/7L7fOpb

#bookoftheday #missing #brianwsmith #amazoninfluencer #literaryinfluencer #diamondsworld #diamondsliteraryworld #conqueringlifeonebookatatime