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Joy: Hey book lovhers welcome back to another episode of the Book Lovhers Club. Happy Juneteenth, y'all. By the time you hear this, it will be Juneteenth weekend. And it is a festive occasion in Chicago. Okay, we are becoming the premier Juneteenth destination because it is festivities and activities happening all weekend long. So I hope that you all are enjoying your holiday.
Joyce: Hey lovhers, welcome to the Book Lovhers Club, the podcast where we celebrate Black sapphic love stories one book at a time. I'm your host, Joy, a married lesbian, lifelong book lover and relational communication scholar. Here, we don't just read the romance, we learn from it. I believe that love stories can do more than just entertain us. They can teach us how to love better, how to see ourselves more clearly. and how to create the love life of our dreams. Each week, I'll dive into sapphic stories written for us and by us while weaving in personal insights and communication lessons you can take off the page. So grab your drink, get cozy and let's turn the page together. Welcome to the club.
Joy: And remembering to celebrate blackness, okay? Celebrate our freedom ⁓ and remembering why we for our rights ⁓ and the reason for season. ⁓ And y'all know around here we read black queer all year. So this is just another for us. Okay. I know it's a of people out here like, ooh, let me figure out what book I'm gonna read for Juneteenth. Baby, we read black and queer. all year round here. So with that, for those of you who are new to me, I am a book club podcast. So every month I read two black Sapphic books with my virtual and in person book club then discuss those books on air with you all. ⁓ And today is the day where ⁓ I go into my deep dive book discussion about our June book picks. So this month we read Summer Breakdown By J.S. Jasper, which discussed that book a little bit last week ⁓ talked about that book in connection with the five apology languages. So if you haven't had a chance to listen to that episode, go check it out because I went on a big rant about summer breakdown. And then the other book that I read this month was Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon. So if you have not read those books and you are not caught up Please know that this episode will contain lots of spoilers because I am about to go in. Okay. I plan to talk in depth about those books because they both made me feel a lot of emotions. And actually, it was a really good reading month for me. I enjoy both books. So we'll get into that in a second. If you are someone who is also looking for additional books to read this month, I recently read. Some sapphic books that I want to put on your radar, and I think y'all might like them. So D.O. Robinson, she is a black sapphic author that I interviewed my podcast, she recently dropped a book called Response Time. It's a sapphic erotica. Y'all, that book is so good and spicy. I wanted to make sure I came on air and told y'all about this book. There's actually been a lot of conversation recently about the differences between erotica and smut. And how people picking up eroticas and are very surprised by the amount of sex and spice in those books. So D.O. lets you know up front what to expect in her book, okay? Because sometimes, like she said, the sex is the plot. Okay. And I understand. And I think I'm learning now, like it's some eroticas and some, you know, spicy books that I've read that they just gave me the ick. But I I feel like maybe it's because I'm gay. Okay. Lesbian erotica is gonna do it for me every time. They never give me the ick. Okay. Let me not say that because that's not true. Sometimes I've talked about that on this podcast, okay? So let me not say never. That's not true. Because sometimes the way that the authors write the spice and write the sex scenes really do give me the ick. But this book won't. Okay, so let me let me scale it back. A lesbian erotica written by D.O. Robinson won't give you the ick. she's actually gonna be participating on a panel for the Book Lovhers Fest, which is the Black Sapphic festival that I'm hosting. ⁓ And it's one of the spicy panels. So it's called The Spice is Write because I feel like her spicy scenes Do it for me every time, and they're never cringy. Never. Okay. And y'all gonna like this book, baby. I keep talking about it because I really need more people to go read it. She just dropped it for pride. Okay, and it is a very quick read, but it gave me what I needed. Okay, and like she said, sometimes the spice is the plot. Another sapphic erotica that I read recently that I liked. And this one was a it was like a dark romance, a dark erotica. But it's called Little Lamb, a sapphic dark thriller. the book is by Cirrus Rae That book had me clutching my pearls a little bit. I need more books like it. I am ready for more dark, sapphic. Books. I want more dark romance in the sapphic genre, like for real. So if y'all know some authors that are writing some dark black sapphic romances, please send them my way. I'm even willing to do a thriller. I'm just ready for some darker material. Tuesday Harper is gonna be writing some dark romance under a different pen name. So she has a book that's coming ⁓ out in August Stay and Surrender. by Azari Reign It's also some other sapphic books that are coming out. So Joi Miner is dropping She Got Hops 3 soon. Okay, so if y'all go back and listen to my episode 39, Plot Twist, with author Joi Miner that was my book discussion of She Got Hops One and Two. So the third book in that series, the conclusion to that series, is coming out this month. So I will be reading that soon. And hopefully I can get Joi back on air with me to talk about book three after I've had a chance to read it. Because I really enjoy She Got Hops. If you like urban fiction, her books that at least that series that I've read is urban fiction, and then it has black sapphic characters and a black sapphic plot with and then Bree and all of
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that. But I'm really excited for that. But it's quite a few books that are coming out soon. I'm gonna compile a list and drop it in. one of my upcoming episodes so that y'all could save the date for some of these Black Sapphic books that will be coming out in July through August. But it's quite a few books that are coming out soon. L.M. Bennett has another book that's coming out in August. The next book, the third book in her Hot Mics series. So I'm really excited for that. So the first book in the series ⁓ is The Art of Going Rogue. And then the second book is the book that she released, which was Track Four Is Not About You. And now this one's going to be coming out in August, which is Kissing the Ops. And she was currently accepting ARC readers for that book. So if y'all are interested, she might still have space for that. But you know, go to her page. Check her out. She's another author that I really love, Yeah, but I hope that you all are indulging yourself in pride reads this month and are reading some good books. If you have some book recs, I am always open. Okay? Always open. But this week, I recently went to a book signing event at Call and Response Books. For Desiree Granger. So the second book in her Maggie Gray series just came out, the trad release of that book, which is The First Family. So I went to the trad release of The Secret World of Maggie Gray back in February. That's the book event that I went to in Atlanta. And that's when I first met her. This book signing event with Call and Response was more intimate and it was an actual book talk. It so good, y'all. Like, even though I had just met her in Atlanta, that was just a signing event. So, ⁓ you know, there wasn't a discussion or anything like that, a QA. So this event was different. Also, I don't care how often I see certain authors. There's no way I'm letting them come to my city and I don't at least try to roll through and go to their event because I'm a fan. I really enjoy hearing her speak and talk about the books and give us more insight into her creative process ⁓ and you know, things to be on the lookout for. for the books and the series and the future of the series. So I really enjoy myself. One thing I love about going to these book events though is being able to meet other book lovhers and connecting with people. I always leave these events making new friends and this event was no different. Okay. I was in line talking to people about Granger's books, Jahquel J's books, just other book events that we've gone to, Black Romance Book Fest, like just having a great time. making friends in adulthood. It's already difficult. Having something that unifies you, a commonality that you share makes it a lot easier to have something to talk about to build that connection with someone else. So I went to the book event by myself ⁓ and you know I definitely talked to the people that was standing in line with and had a great old time. In fact, it was immediate good vibes from the moment that I walked up to the bookstore because I got there a little early so I could stand in line. I do understand now why some of y'all be camping out to try to get in the front row for some of these book talks. It is a completely different experience being in the front row. Maybe because I'm so short. Usually when I'm sitting further in the back, I can't see anything. I really wish that some of these ⁓ book events, they would have like a small stage or some way to elevate the people so that the folks that have to sit in the back can still see what's going on. That's one thing I liked about the panels that were at Black Romance Book Fest. Because they were on a stage. So it didn't really matter where you were sitting in the room. You could hear and you could see. But this was a much more intimate book event, which I'm very grateful for. Honestly, I feel like it was less than 50 of us. So I was in and out that jam. Okay. I didn't have to stand in line for no crazy long period of time. And I was able to connect directly with Granger. And because I was sitting in the row, I really felt like she was talking directly to me. And I got to ask a question. So I did hear directly from her that there are no more books coming in the Moon Run series. Because I read that and it ended on a crazy cliffhanger. And I just wanted to know. Like, just let me know for real. I I asked her too, like, could you tell me at least what? They might have said like what Delilah and Jasmine talked about in that final conversation. And she was like, I don't even remember, girl. I wrote that when I was in my twenties. I'm like, you know what? Say less. I understand. It was a long time ago. But damn it, that sucks for me. Because I really want to know what happened, what was said. Like to end the series like that on that crazy ass cliffhanger is wild. But it's okay. We're not gonna hold it against her. We're gonna just dive deep into her new universe of characters. And really in this Drew Collins Maggie Gray that we're in. It's been a good month for me so far. Busy. This has been a very busy month. I'm also going to be seeing Jahquel J soon. So she's coming to Chicago and doing a book signing event with Honey and Hue bookstore. So I'm excited. I got tickets to that. I'm going with my sister in law ⁓ and we're gonna go and officially meet Miss Author Lady. I have been in her space multiple times, but I haven't had a chance to actually like meet to be able to take a picture with her. But honestly, there's no way that Jahquel could come to my city and not go. I don't care how many times I've met her, I'm going. hopefully I can get me a copy of Heart of a Goon while I am at her book signing. And then that will conclude my book. Signing events for June. The last book event I have this month is our in-person book club meeting, which is next week at the beach. So we're having a little sunset beach meetup to kick off Pride Weekend. So, y'all, June has been showing me a good time. All
right, but like I said today, the whole purpose of this episode is to yap about our June book picks. So this is your final chance to exit stage left. If you have not read Summer Breakdown by J.S. Jasper and Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon. If you haven't read these books, leave because spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution, okay? All right. Let's jump into it. Summer breakdown. Y'all, I talked all that shit last week. I talked all that shit. Y'all heard me. I went on a rant. Frankie had pissed me off. I talked all that shit. And she did redeem herself. She did. I really loved the book. I did. It sucked me in. ⁓ my god. It was so good. It's so good. It's so good. It's got me ready to read way more books by J.S. Jasper. I enjoyed it so much. And my heart goes out to Frankie. I'm still pissed. However, She finally did apologize, and we got an explanation out to Jasmine. But man, ⁓ that book was so good, y'all. I'm still thinking about it. I learned so much about bipolar disorder. And you know, I'm also listening to Kennedy Ryan's audiobook for score right now. I did buy a signed copy of Score while I was at Black Romance Book Fest. But when I saw that Wesleigh Siobhan and Winston James were the narrators, I went and got the audiobook. So I'm listening to the audiobook now. But it does have Black Sapphic representation in that book. So it is right on brand with my Pride Month reads. Okay. Because Verity is bisexual, and she is also another character that is living with bipolar disorder. reading Summer Breakdown and getting that experience from Frankie and her bipolar disorder, and now I'm listening to score, I'm like, this is the most that I've ever learned about this disorder. ⁓ And ⁓ I just have a lot of empathy for people who are, know, with this. And having to deal with these type of episodes and their loved ones and the people that are supporting them through that. So, like I said, this is the most that I've learned. When people say that we're just reading soft porn this elitism in the book space when it comes to the romance genre, like the romance books aren't good or that we're somehow less of a reader because We mainly read romance books, but the way that fiction books educate me about other lived experiences and really expose me to this full range of the human experience, I don't think that we should take that for granted. There's a lot of education happening in these fiction books because the way that I am transported into these characters' lives and their struggles with some of these mental health disorders and just the different things that they're living through and navigating. I don't know what other instances I would be able to get this type of exposure to what living with bipolar disorder can look like and be like So I think these books really do educate us. ⁓ And, you know, recently Maiya the Don did an interview with Angie Martinez. I feel like she came at her crazy talking about, yeah, you read a lot, but you mainly reading soft porn is low key what she said. ⁓ And I don't know, it triggered me because we're in the middle of a literacy crisis. So shaming anybody for picking up a book is wild, it's crazy. While most of the country can't read past the fifth grade level is beyond me. The fact that we're even reading and people are writing and using their brains without depending on AI. ⁓ To shame people for that is crazy because we're reading romance. But I think more people need to read books like these that are educating people about different identities, different experiences, people who are navigating, you know, mental health issues. I've never been exposed to what these disorders could look like until these two books. So, Frankie's Journey. in summer breakdown, and now that I'm listening to the audiobook for score and Verity's journey, I just feel like, man, I've learned so much. Just seeing the way that the disorder like disrupted Frankie's life, you know, the hallucinations, the delusions, not being able to leave her house and sabotaging because. She didn't think that she was deserving of someone like Jasmine because of this disorder, you know? Frankie ⁓ and the experiences that she's had in her life leading up to now because of her bipolar has really impacted how she engages with Jasmine. ⁓ I very of her last week, rightfully so. I was only 11 chapters in, and up until that point, Frankie hadn't apologized. She hadn't taken any real accountability, you know, so ⁓ and she had side-eyeing Jasmine. But Jasmine came back. Jasmine did hold her accountable. She finally addressed it and was like, Wait a minute. So you remember leaving me in my house in the middle of the night? You remember doing that to me and you ain't apologized yet? You haven't acknowledged it. So I'm glad Jasmine said something because you know she had been doing the work reading up on bipolar disorder, researching things so that she can be better prepared for someone like Frankie. So when she learned about memory loss being one of the symptoms or side effects, she was like, Well, maybe she don't remember what happened if she was in the middle of an episode when she did that to me. So when Frankie was like, No, I remember, she was like, Wait a minute then, get out of my house you haven't taken accountability and you back in here kissing on me and shit. Like, no, I'm not no dumb bitch like that. And I'm glad that Jasmine put her foot down and said, No, no, we're not gonna keep doing this. ⁓ I am deserving of better. You're treat me better than this. So I'm glad because y'all, I was over here questioning the Brits. The book had like, is this some UK shit? Because where they do that at? But no, Jasmine, she got herself together, y'all. She got herself together. ⁓ And she did come and clap back and finally say something because, you know, I was I was going through it. I'm like, look, Jasmine gonna forgive you before I did. And look at look at me now. Frankie done grew on me. That's a sign of
good writing to me. When you elicit these type of emotions out of me. If you make me want to throw the book across the room, if you make me want to cuss out a character, to me, you wrote it well. It really blows me sometimes when people are out here saying that they didn't like books or rating books low because they didn't like a character. And I feel like it's so many times authors write characters that you don't connect with that don't elicit any type of emotions, strong emotions at that. So the fact that an author can do that to me, that's a sign that the book was good. I want to be yelling at the characters. I love when these books give me a lot to yap about. So Frankie grew on me. I just came to tell y'all that she did redeem herself and she grew on me. Okay. ⁓ I really needed that apology. Okay. That apology wasn't just for Jasmine, baby. needed that apology as a reader because I'm like, where do we go from here, girl? Y'all got me rooting for y'all as a couple. And it's just like, you keep making these mistakes. Okay. But I loved. How Frankie loved on her kids. I did. I love it. In fact, I love their entire found family. I love a found family trope They really just tug on my heartstrings. Okay, that's like one of my favorite tropes The way that these rugby players stepped up and made sure that Lani Felt comfortable at this stadium, built a ramp. Teaching her how to play, just picking her up. And her damn daddy couldn't do that. Look, this book had me ready to fight her dad. Ooh, had me ready to fight that man. I'm glad she's taking him to court to get custody because they don't need to be around him if he's gonna be acting like that. But the way that these people have stood up and accepted Jasmine and her family. And looked after her kids, just really did something to me. Okay. ⁓ I just loved reading it. But this book really got me wanting to read more UK books. I was here for the slang, ⁓ all of it. I just like learning about other cultures through the books and through the characters. So, you know, I've been to London before. So back in 2019, I went to London for the Spice Girls concert. My inner child was so happy. When I saw that they were going on tour and doing a reunion tour, I flew my ass to London. Yes, I did. Yes, I did, and got my entire life. Being able to, learn more about their language and culture through the books and through the characters, I really enjoyed that. So Even when we read Bliss back in January by Fiona Zedde that book was set in Jamaica. So learning more about how queer people live and lesbians live in Jamaica was a very eye-opening experience. Like I said, whoever said that we're not really educating ourselves while reading fiction books, they're sadly mistaken. Because these books really do expose me to other ways of living ⁓ and just broaden my knowledge of the human experience. Okay.
Joyce: Thank you for tuning in to the Book Lovhers Club. If you love today's episode, make sure you subscribe so you never miss a chapter. And if you're feeling generous, leave a review, because you know those reviews help other lovhers find us. So if you want to keep this conversation going, please join me on Instagram or hop on over to Fable to join the virtual book club. And until next time, remember the stories we read can help us write the love lives of our dreams. See you next Sapphic Saturday.
Joy: something I will be taking away. Is a lesson from Jasmine. I told y'all I could be petty and I can hold a grudge. I'm not saying like that's a good thing. It's just the truth. It's just a fact. Whether it's a character flaw or not, it's just the truth. But seeing how Jasmine never held it against know, the things that she said and did while she was in the middle of her episode, even the breakup, her high and dry in the middle of the night, it harmed her. It hurt her and she was transparent about that, but she forgave Frankie. She didn't like hold on to it and hang it over her head. And I could learn a lesson or two from that. Because I was mad as hell last episode. ⁓ And you know, I'm singing a different tune today. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I was very surprised by how that book grew on me. So yeah. I gave that book a five-star on Goodreads. I enjoyed it. It made me cry. Parts made me laugh. Had me rooting for them. made me want to comfort and hug Frankie? Made me want to comfort and hug Jasmine. Got me rooting on a love story between Ezra and Cam. Like, it was just so good, y'all. So if you haven't read it yet, well, if you gotten this far, I done gave you all the spoilers. So you should have read it, okay? Should have read it. J.S. Jasper girl, I'm about to read some more of your books. I know you got a book out right now called Downtown. So I'm about to read that soon. Anyway. It was good. It was good. Man, I haven't stopped thinking about it. I really haven't. I might reread it. I think that's gonna be on my reread list. You know, I am a rereader. When I really love a book and really enjoy a book, I gotta read it more than once. And then every time I reread a book, I always discover something new about it or make another connection or think about something in a different way. So I know we all have an endless amount of books on our TBRs, but if you really enjoyed a book It don't hurt to spin the block, to circle back. Okay, rewind. Go back and reread it. It's some books that I've reread several times. I am embarrassed to admit how many times I've read the Jahquel J, the Delgato Inferno, Caselli books. Okay. How many times I've reread The Mortal Affairs by Granger. And then when one of the girls I met at the book event told me she was about to read it, I'm girl, I'm gonna reread it with you so you can have a buddy reader. But I done already read that book like five times. Probably more than that by now because I've re-listened to the audiobook a few times too. So yeah, I'm guilty of that. Anyway. But The Summer Official is the other book that we read this
month. And y'all, that book is so cute. It's so cute. I really enjoyed it seeing Saylor have this crush on heaven and how things kind of got derailed. So the thing I wanted to talk about with that book that really stuck out to me was her relationship with her mother ⁓ and the social media creation and the content. I know if any of y'all have ever watched that documentary. It's called Kid Fluencer, but that was my first like exposure into how These children who grow up in these content houses or content families, how much work and labor is going into it and how it's very unprotected because it's so new, there isn't a lot of regulation in this space. And I wonder how many of these children are gonna grow up and go no contact with their parents or be more vocal about how this lifestyle growing up in a household with a parent who is a full time family influencer how this has really impacted their lives but this book really did like expose me to how this could be having negative impacts on the children and some of these families and households where they're constantly making content and constantly having to share private parts of themselves with the public. Like could you imagine if every part of your life was available for public consumption. You know I'm very, very private. So the fact that I got this podcast and I'm trying to do these things in the book space and create a platform for myself, it is a constant struggle with I wanna share and I wanna build community, but I also wanna maintain my privacy So I really empathized with Saylor's character because I know I would have crashed out too if my mama had made a 10 minute video announcing to the world that I came out. And then when I told her she didn't shed na a tear. But she on this video crying and shit, ⁓ I would have out. The thing is I was a very vocal child. I've always been very ⁓ vocal about my wants and needs and advocating for myself. Maybe it's the Capricorn in me. But yeah, no. I'm glad she finally had that conversation with her mother. I just wish that she felt comfortable saying something to her much sooner because the fact that she was so triggered by the video that she ended up injuring herself at her basketball camp. I just really hate that it had to happen. You know, but things happen for a reason because that injury is what led her to being in a position to spend the summer with her crush with heaven. And it worked out, you know. So I think they both helped each other. But another thing that I think this book highlighted is just how emotional our relationships can get, how much emotional support Saylor was getting from heaven, that's a lot for a teenager to have to deal with. So we often talk about how same sex relationships, lesbian relationships move so fast, how we get attached very quickly. And I think that a big contributor to that is The emotional ties that we form with each other very quickly. Because, you know, Saylor was really leaning on heaven a lot to provide a safe
space for her as she was navigating such strong emotions with her mother and the content creation. Because she didn't feel comfortable setting that boundary and having that conversation with her mother. She was then directing a lot of that towards heaven to get support and like always being at her house. Also, With them dating and her always sleeping over there, that's interesting. Okay. You know, so, the parents, once they found out that they were officially dating, I know them boundaries about to change. Like she can't be spending a night in your room all the time over here and y'all are dating. So, you know, they were getting away with a lot because nobody knew that they were in a relationship ⁓ or, you know, that the relationship has now transitioned to them kissing and all of that, how dependent she was becoming with heaven to provide that emotional support. I'm glad Heaven was like, look, it's getting weird. And I don't have the capacity to be managing this. I'm glad she then had such a good relationship with her mother to be able to go and talk to her. and her mom could intervene and help set that boundary. You know, like not my baby, my baby does not need to be in your content, she does not need to be in your videos. This is stressing her out. Hard pause. But the fact that Heaven already knows what she wants out of her life and she wants to be a tattoo artist and build this career. I just love to see it and the amount of support that she's getting from her community to be on this path. More youth need to be able to access a network like this, especially our queer youth. Okay, but to see how her best friend's mom is like allowing her to apprentice with her and teaching her like this is what you're gonna need. You're gonna need to build up your social media, create an online presence. I just love to see that. I just wish in real life a lot of our queer youth had access to a network like this. Okay, because that is a life changing experience to be able to have community like that. But my big takeaway. From summer official is baby, I need me one of these bingo challenges. I thought it was so cute. her dad created this bingo challenge with her with so much intention. It was so thoughtful. He created real challenges to push his daughter out of her comfort zone and help her develop the skills that he knows she's gonna need to take her to the next level. Making her get out of that comfort zone and interview people and talk to people. Adding in some things that he knew would be fun for her, but also a real challenge. I love that. I love that. So I'm gonna make myself a summer bingo challenge. I know the summer is officially starting. we're technically still in spring, but summer solstice is coming up, ⁓ and we're gonna officially be in summer. So I'm gonna kick off ⁓ my own summer bingo challenge. And really try to push myself out of my comfort zone because if these fictional teenagers could do it, I know I can, okay? And I love a good challenge. I've done bingo challenges before, but they were reading based, like you know, a reading challenge. But I'm gonna really get out of my comfort zone. I've done like a birthday bucket list challenge where I would have things on my birthday bucket list that I wanted to do before my birthday that year. But I'm gonna do one specifically for summer. So I'll let y'all know the next episode what I come up with. Well, not this upcoming episode, because that's gonna my interview with Chencia C. Higgins is dropping next week. But the episode that's gonna be at the top of July, ⁓ I'll drop for y'all some of the items that are on my bingo challenge. Okay, but I am inspired. Heaven and her daddy definitely inspired me. I'm gonna make it real cute in Canva too, like they did. but both of these books gave me everything that I needed to kick off my summer.