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robinlashanna.bsky.social
Blackreadingjoy
@robinlashanna.bsky.social
Writer. Reader. Activist. Public health. Retired chef. Hufflepuff

Current Reads:
Beyond the Mark
3.75✨ Well written? Did it pull me in? Major twists? YES!

But, there was one big storyline element that just didn’t work for me. Can’t say more without spoilers, but definitely Google the trigger warnings before diving in.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Twists: 🌪️🌪️🌪️.5/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
November 9, 2025 at 1:54 AM
4✨ Dark. Twisty. Intense. Jane is in a loveless marriage, in a house she hates, with a career that has never gotten off the ground. But all this is about to change when she finds out her college friend Thalia is going to be at a writers con.

Read it!

Version: 🎧
Twists: 🌪️🌪️🌪️/5
#booksky #bluesky
November 1, 2025 at 4:33 AM
3.50✨ Summer’s Echo is a story of friends to lovers, lost love, and a whole lot of slow burn. The story flips between Summer and Echo, both as teens and then as adults, right after Summer’s wedding goes up in smoke.

Moved way too slow. Not my fave.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
October 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
4.5✨ Natasha Bishop has officially become one of my go-to romance authors, and the final book in her “Lost and Found” series did not disappoint!

We’ve got a second-chance romance, a demanding father, and women’s sports all in one book!

Read the series
Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
October 26, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA. I’ve been busy becoming an official half marathoner! Back to your regularly scheduled reading programming #booksky #Blackbooksky
October 25, 2025 at 2:52 AM
3.5✨ Two POVs: a 1930s actress and a 1950s ballerina dealing with her father’s death. Their stories intertwine, but I never felt fully pulled in. Clocked the culprit early, which made the rest feel like a slow march.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
October 25, 2025 at 2:50 AM
3.25✨ Mafia romance wasn’t quite for me.

1️⃣Spice? Very morally grey. Felt like it was steering the plot more than supporting it

2️⃣Story itself needed more meat.

3️⃣SO many pop culture references.

Easy listen and great narrators

Thanks to NetGalley for ALC.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

#Blackbooksky #booksky
October 11, 2025 at 1:31 AM
5✨Did y’all know there was a Black king & queen on US soil, who were formerly enslaved? Me neither.

A real town built by formerly enslaved folks, determined to build a life on their own terms. They called it The Happy Land.

History we should have learned in school.

#Blackbooksky #booksky #Bluesky
October 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
October 6, 2025 at 2:37 AM
4✨ A rollercoaster ride. Deep-state vibes, a Supreme Court justice in a coma, and his legal clerk suddenly thrust into some high-stakes political chaos. She’s dodging operatives, unraveling secrets, & can’t trust anyone, especially not the government.

🎧
Twists: 🌪️🌪️🌪️/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
October 6, 2025 at 2:36 AM
4.75✨ We finally get Sophie’s story. In book one she came off as a privileged socialite. Enter Trevor Bishop. He sees Sophie, not just the beauty and chaos, but the soul underneath. A love story that’s hot, heartfelt, and deep.

Trigger warning: Rape

Version: 🎧
Spice:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

#booksky #Blackbooksky
September 28, 2025 at 3:14 AM
4.5✨ Cam + Jo’s story was just wow. Their love is epic. Ryan digs deep, and what unfolds is one of the most layered, beautiful stories I’ve ever read. I’m still processing.

Topics-child abuse & addiction -handled with care and purpose.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
September 28, 2025 at 2:24 AM
4.5✨ This second book pulled me in way more than the first. Walsh and Kerris’ story continues, complicated, emotional, and real. It’s not just about love, it’s heartbreak, healing, and hope. All the big stuff.
Definitely sticking with this series.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

#booksky #Blackbooksky
September 26, 2025 at 3:25 AM
4.25⭐ 🎧 She Didn’t See It Coming kept me up way too late. A wife vanishes, suddenly everyone in her life is a suspect.
Devoted husband? Best friend? Sister? Stranger? The twists had me second-guessing everyone to the last page.

🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️ twists / 🌶️ spice

#booksky #bluesky
September 24, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Kerris is dating Cam, but her heart belongs to his best friend, Walsh. That’s the story.

I wanted to love this, but the miscommunication wore me down. Didn’t connect with the characters, but I’ll keep reading the series, I’m in too deep.

#booksky #Blackbooksky
September 21, 2025 at 9:42 PM
TW: Harm to children

⭐️ 2.5/5 | 🌪️ Twists: 4/5
Solid twists & I didn’t guess the ending but it dragged. Each chapter introduced a new suspect, with flat characters. Gets graphic near the end, felt uncomfortable.

The ending? No closure.
Also, basically a JonBenét Ramsey copy.

#booksky #bluesky
September 19, 2025 at 12:59 AM
4✨ Where We Found Our Heart is a sequel. It is a romance novel, and while I did miss the suspenseful edge of the first, it delivered on sweetness, swoon, and spice.

Heartfelt romance, emotionally available men, and feels like a hug.

Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
#booksky #Blackbooksky
September 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
4✨ The new neighbors have moved in and Miranda is trying to make friends with the wife, Anna but has concerns about her husband Frazier though. She knows someone is in danger, but who?

Great narration & twists!! I need a neck brace!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookoture for the ALC.
🌶️🌶️
🌪️🌪️🌪️
#booksky
September 6, 2025 at 3:07 AM
3.5✨ Was super excited but ended up struggling a bit. I think reading the physical copy may have worked better for me.⁠

I loved the romance between Raphael & Neto, and the uprisings had me wanting to dig deep. But the dual timelines were a bit hard to follow.
Version: 🎧
Spice: 🌶️/5
#booksky
September 3, 2025 at 3:02 AM
August reads via @thestorygraph.com ! I actually DNF’d three books this month. Life is too short to not enjoy books. #booksky #Blackbooksky #bluesky
September 3, 2025 at 1:21 AM
5✨ READ THIS 📕. This powerful historical fiction novel brings you back to 1921, Greenwood, Oklahoma. A thriving Black community, wiped out overnight after a white mob attacks in response to a false accusation.

This story captures the fear, strength & heartbreak.

Version: 🎧
#booksky #Blackbooksky
August 26, 2025 at 12:41 AM
4✨ A widowed small-town author picks up a stranger with amnesia from the side of the road and I was SCREAMING at her from page one! Should’ve known better, with KM, nothing is ever what it seems. This novella had twists on twists on twists!

Version: 🎧
Twists: 🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️/5
#booksky #bluesky
August 24, 2025 at 2:21 AM
3.5✨ This mystery should’ve given Agatha Christie vibes, a famous author vanishes. Is it murder or is she hiding? Sounds great, right? But I really struggled to stay engaged. The ending did surprise me, and earned it the extra .5✨.

Thanks to @netgalley for the ALC.

Version: 🎧
#booksky #bluesky
August 24, 2025 at 2:06 AM
3.5✨ Not your typical whodunnit. More like everyone did it 😂 Quirky, kind of clever, and full of twists. I, weirdly, never felt connected to the story. Sometimes I found myself a little lost and had to go back to listen to a section over, at times

Version: 🎧 via Libby
Twists: 🌪️🌪️🌪️/5

#booksky
August 21, 2025 at 2:08 AM
3.5ish ✨ | 🎧 | 🌶️🌶️🌶️
If you’ve seen The Best Man, you already know, classic Black love, iconic cast, pure nostalgia. I could see & hear every character like a sequel.

But whew… the miscommunication & immaturity? Screaming. Still, I’m invested. Bring on the next one 👀📚
#booksky #Blackbooksky
August 11, 2025 at 12:10 AM