Tag #bookrecommendations

Ep. 3 What’s the Tea? Book Review The Sun Knows Her Name by Courtney Thornton #podcast

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Here is my review of The Sun Knows Her name by Courtney Thornton. Please take a listen to episode 3 down below. Also What’s the Tea Book Reviews and Writing podcast is available on platforms. Thank you 😊

Synopsis

Ryen Miller has spent her life mastering control of her ambition, her image, and the careful distance between who she is and what the world expects her to be. At the height of her corporate ascent, that control beings to fracture when a trusted mentor’s attention turns unsettling, forcing her to choose between the life she’s built and the peace she no longer recognizes.

Returning home offers no refuge.
What waits instead is the weight of what has been left unsaid,

Family histories surfacing, loyalties blurring, and a past that presses closer than she’s prepared for. As buried truths emerge, Ryen is drawn into a reckoning that destabilizes her sense of self and exposes a lineage shaped as much by silence as by survival.
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Rating

4⭐⭐⭐⭐

Link to buy

The Sun Knows Her Name – Amazon

#Bookreview Entangled Fate by Deshawn #scifi

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Synopsis

Desire writes the rules. Fate flips the script.

Entangled Fate is a bold anthology of five sultry, soul-stirring stories where chemistry burns hotter than commitment and passion changes everything.

From Grace’s lavender-laced awakening to Dedria’s cosmic escape among the stars, these tales explore the messy, magnetic pull between who we are and who we’re meant to become. You’ll meet:

Grace, who learns some flowers bloom with more than beauty.

Greg, a soldier haunted by memories that may not be his.

Zander and Rozia, rewriting the rules of love on their own terms.

Kyle, awakening to instincts older than time.

And Captain Dedria, guiding humanity’s last hope through the cosmos.

Told with raw intimacy, poetic rhythm, and a fearless voice, Entangled Fate offers readers a taste of something real—where each story stands on its own, yet threads into a deeper truth:
Connection can’t be controlled. It chooses you.

If you love grown, magnetic fiction with heat, heart, and depth—
step into the fire. But don’t expect to leave untouched.

Review/ my thoughts:

I have to say this sci-fi novel was very well written, I really didn’t want each story to end thats how good it is. I enjoyed all the stories told and different elements of sci fi thoughout the novel. Grace story and the lavender plant I want to be a standalone story. I wanted to follow her and understand more on her parents and her sisters. I think Grace’s story was my favorite, but overall, the novel was really great. I think this is definitely one of those books where you go in blindly and try to know as little as possible so you can enjoy the stories more.

I enjoyed how different the author made each story and how connected the reader can easily get with each character. The stories were easy to follow and understand even with the different elements mixed in.

I think if you’re a fan of black speculative sci-fi, you’ll definitely enjoy this novel by Deshawn.

I definitely would have the author on my radar for more books because now I want to read more from them.

Rating 5 🌟

Amazon Link Buy Entangled Fate

#bookreview By Hook Or By Book By Misty Simon @parternsincrimetours

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Synopsis

Roxy Gleason, an innkeeper by trade and a bibliomancer by birth, has lived in the same small town on the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania for her entire life. Tradition is strong here. Roxy understands the rules and is willing to play by them most of the time. She runs the Charmed Inn, which has been in her family for decades.

The inn is all set to host a writers’ professional business weekend that’s been planned down to the very last hand-folded napkin, and Roxy is ready for the influx of creatives. She knows she’ll have a lot of different and sometimes unusual personalities to deal with, but this is a yearly function, so she’s not expecting anything to go awry.

Her expectations are completely tanked when she finds a dead body on her daily walk by the river’s shore. Owen Schultz had checked in for the conference a few hours ago, and she’d last seen him having tea with her aunt in the dining room.

How did he get down here on the ferry, and who killed him?

Review/ My thoughts

By Hook or by Book is a cozy paranormal story about Roxy who runs her family bed and breakfast. Roxys inn is having a Writers event, and she ia running around trying to get things together. In the midst of getting ready for the event one of her guest is found dead near the river.
Roxy takes what she leanred from books to try to solve the mystery of who killed this guest and why? Why now during this writers event?

Roxy is a big reader , and i liked that about her. She does this  thing where she can flip a page and find the answer to what she needs to be on the page. 

I like the paranormal aspect of the story. If you like cozy mystery with touch of paranormal i think youll like this story.

Rating 4 🌟 🌟🌟🌟

#bookreview Thou Shall Not Judge By Dr CI

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Synopsis

Thou Shall Not Judge follows Judge Aseeka Sinclair, a trailblazing, single Black woman in her forties serving Chief Judge. Behind her commanding presence and crisp judicial robes is a woman quietly carrying generational wounds and personal scars, including a fractured relationship with her incarcerated father. This therapist calls her out on her own BS and a situationship with a fellow judge that constantly tests her emotional boundaries. When Aseeka presides over the trial of a prominent gynecologist accused of sexual assault, her world unravels after discovering a devastating her father murdered the defendant’s older brother decades ago. This is the same gynecologist who sexually assaulted her during a procedure, and she never spoke about it because part of her enjoyed it, even though she never consented!
As past and present collide, Aseeka is forced to reckon with her family’s history, her own vulnerability, and the question of whether she can truly allow herself to love and be loved without judgment. This is a story about power, sexual liberation, trauma, friendship, and ultimately, the liberation that comes with owning your truth.
Fans of Kennedy Ryan’s The Kingmaker series and Tia Williams’ Seven Days in June will appreciate the emotionally intelligent characters, slow-burn tension, and the unapologetic centering of Black womanhood, allyship, exploration and triumph

Review/My thoughts

Thou Should not Judge is about a woman named Aseeka who is a judge . Although she holds a lot of power within the courtroom, she is juggling a lot with her past relationship, keeping up with friends, and still maintaining a pokerface when handing down sentences.

Akeeka uncovers a deep secect that unfolds while she is over a trial of a gynecologist about her father. Throughout the story, Akeeka deals with family, facing trauma, friendship, and accepting herself.

I enjoyed the writing as well as the sexual exploration throughout the story. It was a fast-paced read. I’ll recommend this novel to anyone who likes books about women fiction and watching growth in the story.

Rating 4 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to the author for allowing me to read and share my honest review.

#bookreview The Line Between Us By Syreeta Harvey Pasley 

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Synopsis

A young Black man with a bright future. A tragic misunderstanding. A city on the edge.

Darius Porter has everything going for him—a promising future in medicine, a supportive family, and the determination to rise above the challenges of his working-class Camden neighborhood. But when he returns home from college for a weekend visit, an ordinary evening takes a devastating turn.

As tensions rise, Detective Jada Edgars finds herself caught between the police department she serves and the community that raised her. Tasked with investigating the disappearance of two young Black women, she soon realizes that their cases are more than isolated incidents—they’re pieces of a larger, more dangerous puzzle. With the city erupting in protests and pressure mounting from all sides, Jada must navigate the thin line between duty and justice, confronting the very system that has long failed those it claims to protect.

The Line Between Us is a powerful, thought-provoking novel that explores racial injustice, identity, and the fight for truth. With a gripping narrative told through multiple perspectives, it’s a must-read for fans of The Hate U Give and When No One Is Watching.

Will justice prevail, or will the voices demanding change be drowned out once again?

Author Instagram @ syreeta_harvey

Website https://www.syreetahp.com/

Review/my thoughts

The story starts off with a young Black man, home from college, is mistakenly gunned down by police who believed he was an intruder in his own home. In the aftermath, Detective Jada Edgars finds herself overwhelmed by the turmoil engulfing the city. On top of everything, she’s handling two missing persons cases involving young Black women who disappeared around the same time, adding to the mounting pressure.

Jada struggles to balance her loyalty to her job and her commitment to her community, knowing the weight of what’s at stake. The city is torn, grieving Darius’s death and demanding justice, yet Jada hopes to prevent violence from erupting—whether against the police or the people of Camden.

The story unfolds with a smooth and compelling flow, though watching Jada shoulder so much responsibility is intense. The writing keeps everything aligned, creating an engaging and thought-provoking narrative. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers and wants a gripping story that offers insight into law enforcement from am a different point of view.

**Rating:** 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the  author for allowing me to share my honest review***