Introducing Black Love Matters — Book and Media Reviews
A few years ago, I started writing on Medium to fill the gaps where I had nowhere else to write. I might be writing something that didn’t fit the scope of Book Riot’s work and was something I wanted to share beyond social media. So far, I’ve only posted a few things on this page, because (as you’ll see from those things I have posted) it hasn’t been the best couple of years for me. Beyond the rough times we’ve all had during an ongoing pandemic that looks like it will become endemic, I also had the bonus of enduring a life-altering cancer discovery and treatment that left much of 2021 a blur.
In the times of lucidity, I wrote about my experiences. About being far away from family; about putting on a strong front when all I wanted to do was be somewhere or someone else. About the loss of things that brought me joy. (I wrote a few other things, but haven’t yet built up the courage to post them.) I rarely talked about the things that were bringing me brief moments of joy, like television and books. In part, because I just didn’t have the time, space, or energy. And also, honestly, I wasn’t getting joy out of many things. Some things. Important things. But not a lot.
In the meantime, I was also putting together a book. A groundbreaking, amazing book filled with voices of people much smarter than I am, all talking about the importance of seeing and experiencing Black love. This book was less about personal relationships than about a universal truth, and about how much representation matters in media. Most of these people come from the romance genre world, but others were able to bring outside voices into the conversation. But what we all could agree on was that there’s nothing quite like it, and we want more people to experience it.
That book, Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen and Happily Ever Afters, came out on February 1, 2022. We still have lots to talk about as far as representation in the romance genre, in film, on television, and in life, but what better way to move that project forward than to laud and center the voices of those producing stories of Black love for us to read and enjoy? So while I’m not going to bring the branding and goals of the book to this space, I will ensure that this space embodies the core values that were argued. And I get to talk about the things I read any way I want!
I realized, a while ago, that I missed writing longform book reviews. We don’t do straight reviews for Book Riot, and I don’t sit down to focus on them when I’m posting to instagram or Goodreads (when I even keep up on Goodreads. Go ahead: ask me how many books I’ve logged on my spreadsheet that I haven’t on GR). But I really like the idea of digging into a text, looking at it and thinking about it critically and thoughtfully, and explaining why it made me feel the way I do about it. So, I’m going to try to post at least a few a month here.
Let the reviewing begin! Follow me if you want to hear about some new (and older) romances centered on Black folks, and any other stories of Black Love that I might find my way to.
