Reading and writing about family dynamics, particularly Black families, has always appealed to me. Particularly when it comes to the generation gap between parents and their children that causes them to see the same world through different lenses. Who we choose to see as our true family, the ones who define the place we call home, may or may not be defined by blood. I am fortunate not to have personally experienced most of the drama and trauma found in novels that I am drawn to, and in stories I have felt compelled to write. Otherwise, I would have turned to memoir writing rather than fiction.
Brit Bennett writes with a steady hand as she immerses us into the minds and lives of three people. Nadia and Aubrey are haunted to womanhood by maternal abandonment. They are friends as well as rivals for the affection of the same man. Luke would have made a mother out of Nadia had they chosen to parent, and he eventually makes a wife and mother of Aubrey. His mother is the first lady of the church that plays a prominent role in their lives. The mothers in Bennett's exceptional novel are hurt and betrayed by callous men and by each other. I rooted for each of them to persevere, but like many of my favorite novels, this is not a happily ever after for everyone type of story.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half.
The Mothers is a dazzling debut about young love, a big secret in a small community and the moments that haunt us most.
All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.
It's the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes…
When I was participating on a crime fiction panel in 2022, we were all asked to recommend books, and I was struck that none of us mentioned a book by a writer of color. Since I knew there were many excellent books by writers of color, I felt this was something I needed to fix. This past summer I decided to make a concerted effort to read more books by writers of color/#OwnVoices, and looked to members of Crime Writers of Color as a starting point. Encouraged by that very exciting read, I went to Bouchercon in Minneapolis where the association Crime Writers of Color was actively promoting the works of their members.
This book is so much more than a police procedural set in the South with a Black female detective as its protagonist. Snowden writes Southern Gothic stories with all the wonderful emotional obsessions and foreboding suspense that anchor that genre. As the child of a serial killer, Detective Raven Burns witnessed many of her father’s deadly attacks, including the murder of Raven’s mother. Haunted by her past, Raven struggles with both real life and personal demons to secure justice for victims in the present.
"Full-bodied and dynamic characters carry this one along a mystery, tying a brutal past with a bloody present that will keep you guessing right up to the finale." - Unnerving Magazine
As a child forced to witness her father's crimes, homicide Detective Raven Burns dedicates every waking moment to proving that she is not her father's child. But when she shoots a suspect who has what turns out to be an unloaded weapon, Raven finds that she must confront both the demons of her past and the stains on her soul in order to stop a killer.
Although I write in many genres, fantasy was my first love in reading. I fell in love with the possibilities of a boundless world. And as the years went on, I realized that fantasy could be more than just dragons and sorcery. Fantasy was this big umbrella that housed all the impossible dreams. So, I gravitated toward the genre. I also have an affinity for fun things. I don’t like to be sad, so I prefer movies, music, games, and books that revolve around fun and humor.
If there is something I love outside of writing it is Disney. I won’t try and convince anyone these are great works of literature, but they do an amazing job of making the Disney magic come to life.
Ever since I went to Disney World for the first time I imagined what it would be like to work there. To see the park at night with no one in it. To be alone in all that magic. So, when I read Disney After Dark I felt like a little kid having his ideas put to paper.
Five young teens tapped as models for theme park “guides” (using a new hologram technology developed by the Disney Imagineers) find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten both the future of Walt Disney World and the stability of the world outside its walls. Featuring a new cover design and additional content!
In Breathe and Count Back From Ten, Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, wants to be mermaid in a mermaid show at a theme park in her town.
I related to this book so much as an immigrant to this country. There is a quote in the book that really resonated with me. Veronica is talking about her parents “who constantly remind you, either in words or by actions, that the endless hard work they endure in this country is so you can have a better life than they did.”
I really felt this growing up. I knew I had to work hard in everything I did to honor their sacrifices. There were so many important themes in this book, and is an essential book for teens.
In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Veronica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.
Veronica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body.
Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction where professional mermaids perform in giant tanks . .…
There’s never been a time I haven’t had a pen in my hand, crafting a good story. And as the YA literature movement grew, so did my love of it. There’s not a more “blooming” time of life when life and love and friendship can grow with such authenticity and excitement. And true to my Deep South roots, I write and gravitate to romance novels that capture the beauty of first love and Southern culture in tandem, from the slow, relaxed pace to the sometimes gritty culture to the never-meet-a-stranger, colorful personas. Where humidity is thick but the accents are thicker, that’s where you’ll find my Southern-fried heart!
This Field Party series starter is my go-to when I need a good dose of Friday Night Lights, a splash of steam, and a heavy dose of drama. I mean, football meets love in bloom—can you get any more Southern that that? Main characters West and Maggie are both suffering through a recent/impending significant loss in their families, and this pain unites them on a deeper level than either has known before against the backdrop of a small Alabama town.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of Halloween, from the time I visited my town’s haunted house as a young kid in the 1980s to watching horror movies as an adult. As a writer of romance and romantic women’s fiction, love stories are also my jam. Many people think horror and romance aren’t compatible, but I combined both in my novella series Crazy, Sexy, Ghoulish, and the books in this list prove that Halloween and romance are meant to be.
If I want to get into the mood for fall, there’s nothing better than reading this Rainbow Rowell graphic novel.
Set at a Nebraska pumpkin patch where high school seniors Josiah and Deja work each year, it’s absolutely crammed with the sights, sounds, and scents of the season leading up to Halloween–not to mention a sweet, slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance between two characters I absolutely rooted for.
A 2020 Tayshas Reading List Selection A 2020 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List Selection
In Pumpkinheads, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award–winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place―and a person―with no regrets.
Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.
Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is…
As part of a multiethnic, multicultural family who has lived in multicultural and multiethnic cities on three continents, I am at ease in plural communities. It’s no surprise then that I’m fascinated by how different cultures intersect inside American communities. I’m especially drawn to novels that portray something broader: the shared civic spaces where immigrants from many backgrounds and longtime residents live side by side. As a novelist, I’m interested in how that chorus and multitude of voices intersect—sometimes clashing, sometimes connecting—and how ordinary encounters gradually shape a community. The books on this list stayed with me because they capture that living mosaic of cultures that continues to shape the American story.
Each resident of an apartment complex shares a glimpse of their life, and together those brief stories create a powerful portrait of immigrant experience. The novel reveals both the individuality of each character and the shared emotions that connect them—hope, uncertainty, longing, and resilience.
Reading it felt like listening to a neighborhood speak collectively about the challenge and courage involved in building a new life in America.
A stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American and "illuminates the lives behind the current debates about Latino immigration" (The New York Times Book Review).
When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees…
I’m a Sci-Fi and Fantasy author who loves all things young adult! I always listen to Taylor Swift when I write, because I love how her songs are full of nostalgia, romance, humanity, and a lust for adventure—just like my books. If you couldn’t make it to the Era’s tour, no fear, check out some of these books below!
If your favorite song is “I Knew You Were Trouble” try She’s With Me, by Jessica Consolo. It’s got romance, bad boys, and a heroine with a past she’s running from.
I loved the slow-burn romance, the comedy, and the fast pace—it’s the sort of book you could read in one sitting. It also has several wonderful spin-offs with said bad boys friends and brothers, because is there even a Taylor Swift without more handsome men out there to date?
Moving to a new town to escape her dark past, Amelia Collins is determined to keep her head down and finish her senior year.
But her plan is proving difficult when she runs into Aiden Parker - the school's hottest bad boy. Initially she can't imagine anyone worse than Aiden - his good looks can't possibly excuse his bad attitude. But soon she'll realise there's more to him than meets the eye.
Now, Amelia needs to find a way to survive senior year and not get distracted by Aiden - or his gorgeous best friend, and complete player, Mason.
Bad boys in young adult romance have always been one of my favorite tropes to read. For seven years, I facilitated a poetry workshop with teens in a juvenile detention center and got to hear their stories—the heartbreak, the challenges, and the triumphs under all that bad boy façade. My memoir, Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention, is about the workshops and helped me understand both myself as a writer and the “bad boys” who wrote poetry each week. There are a lot of complexities to bad boy characters and the most satisfying stories are the ones where the bad boys redeem themselves and find love.
Pushing the Limits is a can’t put down, read until the middle of the night book. Noah Hutchins is the ultimate bad boy with a tough attitude and soft interior. He knows just how to understand Echo Emerson and what she needs to fall in love again. I loved how a scar was used to show both Echo’s external appearance as well as the internal scar both characters carry. This concept of using a scar as a metaphor was an inspiration for a scene in my memoir, Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention.
They say be a good girl, get good grades, be popular. They know nothing about me.
I can't remember the night that changed my life. The night I went from popular to loner freak. And my family are determined to keep it that way. They said therapy was supposed to help. They didn't expect Noah. Noah is the dangerous boy my parents warned me about. But the only one who'll listen. The only one who'll help me find the truth.
I know every kiss, every promise, every touch is forbidden. But what if finding your destiny means breaking all the…
While The Hills of Estrella Roja is my YA debut, I’ve been a big fan of YA graphic novels for years. I think YA is such fertile ground for great storytelling, because of how intense things can feel at that age, you’re on the cusp of adulthood, figuring out what type of person you are/want to be and where you fit in the world. Then throw in queerness, which adds a whole other layer to the experience. As a queer cartoonist creating work for young people (and everyone, really!) during this distressing era of book bans, creating and supporting authentic and diverse queer stories feels more important than ever.
Friendship and navigating school social hierarchy is hard enough, but throw in a secret queer relationship and a bootleg anime dvd business? Yikes!
What I love about Forest Hills Bootleg Society is how messy it is; these girls have PROBLEMS. Of course they do, they’re teens. This graphic novel is so funny and relatable at times, while at other points, it’s heartbreaking.This especially speaks to me as a former anime-teen!
Set in 2005, this gorgeously illustrated, funny, and honest graphic novel follows four teens who stumble into an illicit anime DVD-burning business that shakes up their conservative small town…and their friendship.
When Brooke, Kelly, Maggie, and Melissa buy a bootleg anime DVD at a gas station, they get much more than they bargained for with Super Love XL, a risqué move featuring—among other things—a giant mecha who shoots lasers out of her chest. The four girls are horrified (and maybe a little fascinated). It’s so unlike anything they’ve seen, would probably shock everyone else in their town, and definitely would…
