As always before we dive into my week in review, I’ll be taking a small amount of time out to once again express my appreciation for all the authors that I’ve read this week.
Your time, efforts, and dedication to your expression of art are seen, AND
Some stats about my week
- I completed 12 books this week
- by 8 different authors (2 new to me)
- totaling 3.488 pages
- making it around 290.7 pages per book
- averaging 498.3 pages read per day
Overview of the Books read
Opening up my week was new to me author Mrs. Gloria Sanders-Williams, with her completed (?) Blood Bond Series – A Black Vampires’ Tale.
About Nike Adaison who lives her life as a “normal” human girl on the cusp of turning 17 years old, until the day she and her parents get attacked by a demon, and she gets rescued by a vampire.
Flash forward six years, and Nike turns out to be anything but human. She is a prophecy come alive.
There is a lot in this read, which turned out to be a why choose/reverse harem (SPPPICCE ALERT 💃🏾). And some triggering content rape, violence, abuse, murder and an uncertain ending.
Most triggering to me though?
Nike!!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Girl!! She didn’t listen to ANYONE!
SheReadsaLot: Like really, she didn’t even listen to herself
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: And she had six whole personas
SheReadsaLot: Just jumping to conclusions all the time, being mad at everybody but not your reckless decisions, all the self loathing, self pitying, the insecurity!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Well tell me how you really feel!!
SheReadsaLot to Nike: I mean, can you please get a grip!!!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: We have to be fair though. They didn’t give her much information or preparation to go on!
SheReadsaLot: She didn’t ask either!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You finished 3 books though, 1.104 pages!
SheReadsaLot: You know I love to feel when I read, even if while feeling the character tap-dances on every nerve that I have!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You felt a lot indeed. Remember those spice scenes?
SheReadsaLot: What can I say?! Mrs. Sanders-Williams has a calling!
Mrs. EJ Jordan released her second book, Plátanos & Kimchi, in her standalone SOKO series (travel fiction taking place in South Korea).
This book centered Xiomara’s, proud Afro-Latina, experiences while working in South Korea.
While there she meets Min-jun, Darnell’s colleague, we met him briefly in Towels in Daegu (Darnell’s experiences).
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Quick side-note, we do not like Darnell over here! He wasn’t deserving of Taegan!
Min-jun luckily didn’t have the same “tendencies” as Darnell.
Xiomara was stubborn however.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: How do you go to a country with a vastly different culture then you are accustomed to, and different customs… ask for advice!! And just ignore it?!
Biggest take away I had while reading about Xiomara’s experience was. Don’t let others opinions about your experiences dictate the way you feel, and interact with those around you!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Doesn’t take away that Shaina and Mr. Won (maybe less so?!) were some embittered people!
SheReadsaLot: Don’t it? You’re not happy with your life, so you go on and spoil somebody else’s?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: What Mrs. Tabitha Brown say again?
SheReadsaLot:
“Have a good day and if you can’t, don’t you dare go messing up nobody else’s.'”
Mrs. Tabitha Brown
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Yeah, those are some words to live by!
SheReadsaLot: But before we go on to our next read! What was not-Xiomara doing over there at Min-jun‘s house?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Well, you know 👀, some things the audience has to read and find out for themselves
When I figured out that I wasn’t as up to date on Mrs. Charity Shané‘s catalogue as I thought, I decided to rectify that. Starting with Jamila’s brothers (made mention of in Candid Moments).
I picked up Spousal Privilege, book 1 in the Privilege series, featuring Dom and Zoree.
Falling in love at respectively 17 and 15 years old, until they are unexpectedly separated by Zoree’s dad. They meet again at 23 and 21 for assumptions to separate them once again, until 5 years later. Where those same assumptions result in an arranged marriage.
Zoree was…
I mean you get sent away, and even though 2013 to some was the dark ages 👀, there was access to social media and phones. So I mean you couldn’t call?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now Ma’am, she was only 15!
SheReadsaLot: Well I guess she was young, and there were extrenuating circumstances!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Let’s continue, because Zoree’s choices even had me hot this time!! Anyhow… it was very good seeing them get back together!
SheReadsaLot: Dom having Zoree to depend on in his time of need did help with maintaining his sanity. The loss of a loving parent will never not be hard on the child(ren) left behind!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now Ma’am we can’t gloss over Dom showing his donkey behind!
SheReadsaLot: He did, didn’t he? But Zoree didn’t have to jump to conclusions either!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now you know he shouldn’t have been in that position at all. Talking about I asked you if I should fire her, and you said no head donkey behind.
SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: And that reconciliation with the ain’t *sh fathers?
SheReadsaLot: You know my thoughts on that!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: I do, I do. If they weren’t *sh as your parents, they won’t be having access to the grandkids. Don’t matter if they were the parent that stayed behind!
SheReadsaLot: Talking about family, family didn’t make them do right…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: On to a different subject 👀… Did you write the scrub recipe down?
SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You told them this was a series right?
SheReadsaLot: I believe so!
So after finishing Spousal Privilege, I dove right on in with Justified Privilege. About the oldest brother, Just, and Monae.
Just, Tattoo artist, has a strained relationship with his father.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: I think that was for the best, because Dominick’s morals were… questionable at best!! AT BEST!!
SheReadsaLot: Yes, just trifling and selfish!
Monae single mother, (assistant) manager at Dom’s (Just’s younger brother) club, with a baby daddy that’s only available when her legs are open.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You know what I don’t get? I don’t get how she got slippery enough… multiple times… for him to have access to her slip-n-slide while co-parenting, when he wouldn’t even do the bare minimum of co-parenting?
SheReadsaLot: Now you know better. I won’t be falling for it this time!
SheReadsaLot to Audience: I won’t be going on a tangent with that subject. Just know that she gets better
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Offering up some good punani to a trifling man is…
SheReadsaLot: Told you already, we’re not doing that! But…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Just going to see Monae after having had his employee‘s lips around his…
SheReadsaLot: Told you we’re not going there!
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Let’s just say that I didn’t always agree with their choices…. But those were their choices to make 🥹👀
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: So Just still dipping in Canisha’s honeypot while dating Monae?
SheReadsaLot: Monae put him in the friendzone!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now Ma’am, why are you acting like you’re the sane one?
SheReadsaLot: It made me feel some way, but I guess he made sense or whatever… Not any sense that I wanted to hear, but…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: The daddy then?
SheReadsaLot: I’m not even going to spend precious words on that trifling man
SheReadsaLot to Audience: Just know that ANY good Just turned out to be, and received in the end? All, ALL OF IT, despite of that trifling, no good..
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Since you won’t be going on a tangent! Did Mrs. Shané bring the spice you so love from her pen?!
SheReadsaLot:
I went back to the Book Baes and Heas, and picked up To Me by Mrs. Kennedy B.
About Revel and Mercury. A short read, but didn’t leave me wanting.
Revel is a talented musician and composer. Until the day her father decides to make good use of her talents, by putting her on the bidding block. Enter Mercury!
Things aren’t exactly as they seem however.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Thankful for small blessings, because putting your daughter up for an arranged marriage after losing…
SheReadsaLot: Not too much now, this book hasn’t been out even two weeks yet. Let the audience enjoy, and revel in the revelations same way we did!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You’re right, can I say though? The way Mercury gave Revel room to finally be her complete self, after being stifled so long by the oppressive ways of her family was beautiful
SheReadsaLot: Well you said it already, so I guess… Only thing that I can say is… Well done Mrs. Kennedy B.!
And then…
I did something really big!!
You know what I did?
Audience: SheReadsaLot is doing it again… Who’s gonna tell her this time?
I picked up a book from my TBR list.
Y’all I was so proud of me, even if I was kicking myself for not picking Mrs. Elle Kayson‘s Demon’s Dream up sooner.
This one had me up much later than would be recommended for someone who had to get up for work just a few hours later.
SheReadsaLot to Audience: It was not my fault though! I mean I tried, I really tried! There was just not ONE moment that I thought to myself, this is an adequate point for me to stop without me tossing and turning wanting to find out how it would end. I mean, if I’ll be tossing and turning anyways.. Wouldn’t it be best to just finish this read, and have at least some quality sleep, even if short?
SheReadsaLot to Audience: I mean it’s just readers math, right?
SheReadsaLot: Right!
Audience to themselves: She didn’t even let us answer the question
It all started out with me thinking that Dream was doing WAAAAAAAAY too much. I mean if your brother is old enough to get up, impregnate, and get married? He is old enough to deal with the consequences of his actions!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Well, you know those others do it all the time, bailing their helpless and defenseless 40 year old babies out of the predicament they got themselves in.
SheReadsaLot: Now you know that is not valid over here. 1) Dream is his SISTER, and 2) why does it fall on her to rectify the men’s mistakes in this scenario. Remember that she was bailing out her father as well!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Ma’am don’t make it more than it is.
SheReadsaLot: Am I though? Am I really? I mean…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Ma’am you are doing too much.
SheReadsaLot: OK, Tell me about Dayana’s situation then! Isn’t that resembling something that is currently happening over there in good ol’ Amerikkka?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: OK, so they’re making education wrong again, trying to revoke women’s voting rights, already revoked women’s reproductive rights in several states… But I can’t say I see any correlation to Dayana’s situation.
I mean yes, she doesn’t have her own money, she doesn’t have an education making her dependent on the men in her life, her virginity got sold as if she herself doesn’t have autonomy over her body…
SheReadsaLot: Let me present another case for you. The way Dream’s father addressed her, after she bailed him out?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: What do you mean by that? I mean they threw Dream’s body in the negotiations to help bail out the men, Dream’s father didn’t object to it, and after called her worthle … Ooooooo
SheReadsaLot: Let me finish your train of thought. He didn’t object not once, he was SILENT, and after degraded her for the sacrifices she made on his and her brother’s behest. Making it a no win situation for her, and still being expected to show up and show out each and every time he called… Been telling you that there is more to fiction than meets the eye
SheReadsaLot:
Thing is, it’s not only women, and in particular BLACK women either. It’s the selling of BLACK bodies in general! Men regardless of age aren’t exempt either. I mean look at the exploitation of the Black body in sports. The adultification of our young boys and girls. Most of us become a victim of their/these perverted practices at least once in our lives..
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot:
Ma’am, the audience isn’t here to hear you rambling on about the politics taking place on the body. If you really want to do that? Throw in a full review, or ask your audience if they want to hear you ramble on about the parallels and correlation you see between body politics and the experiences of Dream, Dayana, and Damien…
SheReadsaLots at audience:
Now besides all those things there were some things that had me side-eyeing Demon.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now why you gon’ call that man Demon, when it was Damien before all that?
SheReadsaLot: You know damn well he shouldn’t have called Julliete for one of her girls, and yeah he didn’t go all the way and sent her on her merry way! But she had her saliva all on his..
And you kissing Dream after all that? Inserted yourself in her treasure, without bathing, not even freshening up?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: So Demon it is 👀. Maybe we should be dedicating a post on this one? Because this is getting long, and we haven’t even discussed Smoke, and Dayana’s relationship nor Demon and Dream’s. And all that took place between the pages of this book, that had you up till late.
SheReadsaLot: You’re right, if the audience want me rambling I’ll hear it.
Audience to SheReadsaLot: So get to the point! Did you like it?
SheReadsaLot to Audience: I was invested, not gon’ lie. This read held a lot of themes, and characters that had me FEELING, negative and positive. In the end the positive won.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You are still kicking yourself for only now picking this up huh?
SheReadsaLot: I really am!
I saw that Mrs. Samyra Alexander was 8 reviews shy of 100 for Road to Malevolence. And me not having read it (combined with me enjoying her writing style and creative mind), I decided to pick it up.
Now I know, I know, I know, a lot of y’all were all for some old fashioned parenting of little Miss Janet…
Me?
I had questions!
Because was Janet really bad?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Here you go again with the philosophical questions!
SheReadsaLot: Just give me a bit of leeway here, and let me explain.
We get introduced to little Miss Janet at church. While there she decides to do her routine, lending heavily from Salt-N-Pepa’s Push it Dance.
‼️ I’ll be discussing my opinions with regards to practices pertaining to going to church. If this is triggering for you, please skip this part. ‼️
Now remember that she is 9 years old, she is a kid heavily restricted in her movements by her mother and father who are “church people”.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Now why are you putting church people in quotation marks?
SheReadsaLot: Thanks for asking!
SheReadsaLot to Audience: I believe there is a huge distinction between people who go to church (Church people) and people who truly believe, and live in accordance to the Word.
Church people, will be praising the pastor, paying their tithes, present themselves as good upstanding citizens. Get up out of the church and will not even demonstrate the patience necessary to give someone other than themselves the right of way. They will preach a version of the Word, expect everyone around them to follow that Word, while they themselves will do no such thing.
Example 1) Tremaine, Janet’s father. Up for the assistant Pastor role, while visiting “working women”. I mean it is all consensual, so I don’t have any problems here. My problem is that he is married, and has impregnated the working woman, and started a relationship with her.
Example 2) Tremaine expects Janet to “behave” and live in accordance to the Word, but expects her to lie to her mother to keep his secret. While he himself desecrates the covenant, he willingly took with his wife, at each and every turn.
SheReadsaLot: Not saying that those who follow the Word are infallible, they however know they shouldn’t judge others. So that’s that on my definition of church people! On to the rest of the story.
All the drama that surrounded Janet, add in the ensuing chaos, AND losing her mother to her mental illness? It would’ve had most adults acting out. And here is Janet, 9 years old, expected to deal with it all in a manner fitting an adult. That is where the psychological part of this read came into play.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: You had questions though?!
SheReadsaLot: Yes, I had!
Was Janet truly bad? Or was she internalizing what people said about her?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Janet did get to hear at each and every turn that she was bad, misbehaving, got labeled as a lot of things!
SheReadsaLot: Yes, and there comes a time where people stop fighting the misconceptions, they either rebel, or become what you say they are.
Leaving me questioning…
Was she bad or was she just being a kid?
Was she bad, or just acting out because of the drama and neglect in her life?
Having all those questions, had me wondering how her past affected her present! So I picked up Road to Malevolence 2. We make a time jump here and Miss Janet is now 18 years old.
Again, with all that was happening, it had me questioning. Is Janet truly bad? Do bad people feel guilt? Because Janet felt it!
I mean Janet doesn’t take accountability for any of the consequences of her actions, she has a victim complex/mentality, she is a liar, and doesn’t think things through, but bad?
SheReadsaLot: Janet did what now?!!! Where is that damn switch! And why would he do some foul *sh like that. I’m telling you CHURCH PEOPLE!
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: I told you something was off about that lil’ girl.
SheReadsaLot: Ma’am we are one and the same! And there was not one moment that you told me anything about that. You were suspecting that man of grooming behavior, because who keeps secrets with his daughters’ best friend.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: I did think that she inherited the same mental illness that her mother has though! And was I wrong? Because what grown grown man would do that?
SheReadsaLot: Too many actually…
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot to Mrs. Alexander: Ma’am where you at, because we need to talk!!
I decided to pick up A Bite Full of Death, by new to me author Mrs. S.J. Stewart. It was most definitely a Monster Romance.
The most romantic scene for me was when Dex, MMC, came for the FMC, Poe.
“You came.”
A Bite Full of Death by Mrs. S.J. Stewart
“For you. Always.”
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot:
SheReadsaLot: Why are you backing away?
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot: Because you conveniently left out that the hero in that instance offered her a human slushie, while she was still staked and bound to a chair with broken bones…
SheReadsaLot: Don’t forget that Poe was healed through the drinking of her human slushie. Come to think of it… Dex offering her the sustenance she needed to heal herself was romantic in and of itself...
SheReadsaLot: Remind me to pick up more of Mrs. Stewart’s books.
SheReadsaLot to SheReadsaLot:
Closing out my week this time was Mrs. Kimmie Ferrell.
I’m participating in a paranormal book bingo, and I was missing two slots to complete my bingo, one of them being a story with a ghost as a main character.
And Mrs. Ferrell’s book, A Phantom Affair, was the perfect fit! About true soulmates with a love that transcends time, and apparently the veil as well.
Syren and Emmanuel have loved and found eachother in different lifetimes. In the last however, something took place to disrupt their song and dance.
Mrs. Ferrell interweaved some historical components with the paranormal in a contemporary setting.
Don’t want to give too much away, as it is a story that you should experience for yourself.
Before I go on and sign off, a question for Mrs. Ferrell.
SheReadsaLot to Mrs. Ferrel: Ma’am, will we receive a story about Elani and Jacob? Their interactions had me real curious 👀
Signing off with the quote that truly spoke to me from A Phantom Affair.
“One thing you need to remember is grief can lead you to a dark, deserted place shrouded in despair and death. So, when you find yourself there, seeking comfort in the arms of the bitterness stewing inside of you, remember the trip is only temporary. You can’t stay there long. Pick yourself up and step back into the sunlight, into the Land of the Living.”
A Phantom Affair by Mrs. Kimmie Ferrel
That was a lot for this week, but hope you enjoyed, and to see you here again next week!
👩🏾SheReadsaLot 
ms she reads alit-your passion to read is off the chain. I am so thrilled and grateful for your review. I’m about to step up my game and do that book Four. 🙂 with thanks and appreciation author-Gloria Sanders-Williams
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Thank you so much, Mrs. Sanders-Williams.🫶🏾
Looking forward to book Four 🫶🏾
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