Black Love Stories To Read Right Now
Like much of the world, I am sickened by the death of George Floyd. Since he was killed, I’ve donated to BLM, The Southern Poverty Law Center, to the NAACP Legal fund, and to the National Bail Out fund. (You can support all or some of these organizations via ActBlue.) I’ve talked to my kids about what we–white, privileged, and safe–can do (listen, support, validate, vote). I’ve wept. I’m sure I’m making mistakes and getting it wrong. It’s not enough but it’s something.
I’ve been thinking about AAR and how we can help. One thing we can do is promote black authors, especially in romance, because we need stories of black love and black joy.
We have an Amazon storefront dedicated to diverse love stories. Currently it has 135 ebooks on it and we add more every week. You can access it here. (AAR makes 4% of any book we sell on Amazon. This month we will donate all monies made from this list to ActBlue.) We have tags, too. Some day I hope to incorporate them in our Power Search but in the meantime you can access many of them through these two blogs (here and here) that Caroline has put together. AoC books are by authors of color and PoC books feature protagonists of color. We do not currently have a tag specifically for black authors/protagonists, but we are open to adding it.
And if you haven’t read any recent books by black authors, here are some that AAR reviewers have loved. Please suggest more in the comments!
Dread Nation and A Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
Stay with Me Forever by Farrah Rochon
A Love Hate Thing by Whitney G. Grandison
Blitzed by Alexa Martin
The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan
Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher
Promise Me a Dream by Wayne Jordan
The Write Escape by Charish Reed
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
Work for It by Talia Hibbert
Grading Curves by Naima Simone
Inevitable Conclusions by Christina C. Jones
Sweet Heat by Zuri Day
One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie
A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole
As Good As The First Time by K. M. Jackson
How to Stay by Christina Mitchell
Bingo Love by Tee Franklin
Red Carpet Redemption by Yahrah St. John
Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon
Sugar Pie Guy by Tabitha True
Midlife Crisis by Audra North
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Men of Valor: His Treasure by Kiru Taye