I love authors/books that dive into mental health in the black community. I think when we as black people read these stories we get to feel validated and seen. And for members of our community and even readers outside of our community who are resistant or ignorant to this, it helps them see that we are human too and depression and anxiety can impact our lives as well-and it is nothing to be ashamed of. I especially love it when we see it with black male characters like Oliver in the Mixtape and Josiah in Before I Let Go, because black men have it drilled in their heads that “boys/men don’t cry” and are always made to feel like they have to be strong…showing emotions is a sign of weakness. So to see Brittany Cherry and Kennedy Ryan creator these characters, show us their pain, their resistance to help, and then to show them getting the help they need-it was such a beautiful thing to witness. Excellent list as always Shawnaci 👏🏾
00:20:20 I don’t know if you read classics but if you like romantic tension and PINING and a guy who really leaves you swooning, I highly recommend North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It’s not just romance. It examines economic struggles, class dynamics and so much more, set during the mid-19th century. You really get to care about the characters. I read it a week ago and STILL can‘t stop thinking about it🥲
Thanks again Shawnaci. My next buy is Mixtape. As I have not read anything from Britiny Cherry. Looking forward to it. And of course will be getting the next Kennedy Ryan book coming out in May!!! ❤
It warms my heart to see literary fiction in your top 10. 🤪🫶🏽I absolutely love seeing your reading taste expand. Even hearing you talk about annotating is so cool and awesome 👏🏽🤗 Blue Sisters and The Wedding People were phenomenal reads. I’m so happy you found the beauty in them. This Could Be Us made my top 10 as well. 💕 Great video!
I truly miss your videos and have always appreciated your profound insights. Your book reviews are so insightful that they invariably inspire me to add titles to my reading list. This past year, my standout read was James by Percival Everett. It was a delightful reading year for me, filled with thought-provoking literature.
It has been a pure joy watching all of your videos and vlogs in 2024. Looking forward to more in 2025 and adding more books to my TBR. Thank you for all the content you’ve posted I have loved watching all of them. ❤️
I love so many of your book recommendations. I’ve gotten so many new books because of it and they have all been awesome. Love your content and can’t wait for your next video. 2025 is going to be just as exciting. So many great new books coming out. Can’t wait to see what your faves in 2025 will be. ❤❤
I am so happy I found your channel this year. I just wish I would’ve found you sooner. I love your recommendations so far and I love that you share so many Black authors (and creators!) I have a channel and I vlog mostly but reading and books have become more and more of a huge part of my life so I am starting to dabble in book content soon and you are a great inspiration for me in that regard. 🥰🎀
I really liked The Personal Librarian as well. Not sure if you know, but The Morgan Library & Museum currently has an exhibition that opened in October, "Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy", dedicated to Belle's life and career. The exhibition runs until May 4, 2025. I hope to visit the museum in the spring, God willing.
Definitely picked up The Wedding People and gifted the magnolia park series for Christmas based on your recommendations! I can’t wait to start them !!! Amazing video as always ❤
I got so many recs from this video! I’m excited to start strong for 2025✨. I just read comfort & joy for a holiday feeling that wasn’t super fluffy by Kristin Hannah and I believe I really love her writing, so deff picking up four winds. I also have to get on Kennedy Ryan’s second book in the Skyland series & Blue Sisters. So many books, so little time! Lol
Thanks for sharing. I think you’d love “Transcendent Kingdom” by Yaa Gyasi, also the author of “Homegoing”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me see grief, mental health from the eyes of a child watching their parent suffer as she did, she’s so talented. She’s also a black Ghanaian author.
I really enjoyed reading The Wedding people as well, it's one of my few five star reads of the year. I also think you should read Maame by Jessica George. It touches on grief and it is a contemporary fiction book by a black British author.
A tip: you should make a video going over all 175 books OR titling the video “I read 175 books this year, here are my favorites”! That’s am inedible feat and you should market that for more engagement! Keep it up!
Here's my 10 Tales of the body thief by Anne rice book 4 in the vampire chronicles Clytemnestra by constanza casanti Stars in your eyes by kacen callender i think you might like this book Queen of the damned by Anne rice book 3 in the vampire chronicles Miss memory lane by colton Haynes memoir Good luck with that by kristan Higgins Out of shape by gracie gold memoir Her too by bonnie kistler it's a thriller The maid by nita prose This could be us by Kennedy Ryan Honorable mentions Lizzie Blake's best mistake by mazey eddings Be my baby by ronnie spector memoir The violence by delilah s dawson it's a dystopian thriller Binding 13 by chloe Walsh
The MixTape Britany Cherry This Could Be Us Kennedy Ryan My absolute favorite reads of 2024 I already pre ordered Can’t Get Enough the next Kennedy Ryan in the series release May 2025. One of my book goals for 2025 read the Magnolia Parks series I got all the original covers for the series from Blackwell Bookstore in England.
I am really into contemporary fiction right now… Romance has given me a complete headache at this point… Thanks to BB Reid’s crucible but thanks for some contemporary and historical fiction recommendations… Ready to read my butt off in 2025
Convince me to continue with the Magnolia Parks series. I read the first one because of you and Larry but I didn't like it. I had no interest to go on. On a happier note, I really enjoyed Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde this year.
If you aren’t a fan of messy characters, you might not enjoy the series but the series reminds me so much of my younger self growing into who I am now. The characters mature so much as the books go on. Even though they’re flawed, they remind me of how messy it is to be human and how that’s okay 💛
I had my boyfriend order me a million junes by Emily h and the kiss countdown because you recommended them and pardon my Frenchie hopefully I enjoy them
I love authors/books that dive into mental health in the black community. I think when we as black people read these stories we get to feel validated and seen. And for members of our community and even readers outside of our community who are resistant or ignorant to this, it helps them see that we are human too and depression and anxiety can impact our lives as well-and it is nothing to be ashamed of. I especially love it when we see it with black male characters like Oliver in the Mixtape and Josiah in Before I Let Go, because black men have it drilled in their heads that “boys/men don’t cry” and are always made to feel like they have to be strong…showing emotions is a sign of weakness. So to see Brittany Cherry and Kennedy Ryan creator these characters, show us their pain, their resistance to help, and then to show them getting the help they need-it was such a beautiful thing to witness. Excellent list as always Shawnaci 👏🏾
Yes yes yes! You’re so right! Representation is so important!
00:20:20 I don’t know if you read classics but if you like romantic tension and PINING and a guy who really leaves you swooning, I highly recommend North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It’s not just romance. It examines economic struggles, class dynamics and so much more, set during the mid-19th century. You really get to care about the characters. I read it a week ago and STILL can‘t stop thinking about it🥲
Thanks again Shawnaci. My next buy is Mixtape. As I have not read anything from Britiny Cherry. Looking forward to it. And of course will be getting the next Kennedy Ryan book coming out in May!!! ❤
You are going to love them!! Her books are so fun!
It warms my heart to see literary fiction in your top 10. 🤪🫶🏽I absolutely love seeing your reading taste expand. Even hearing you talk about annotating is so cool and awesome 👏🏽🤗 Blue Sisters and The Wedding People were phenomenal reads. I’m so happy you found the beauty in them. This Could Be Us made my top 10 as well. 💕 Great video!
Definitely plan on reading more literary fiction in the new year!! Really fallen in love with the genre!!
@ ahhh! I absolutely love this 🎉🫶🏽
I truly miss your videos and have always appreciated your profound insights. Your book reviews are so insightful that they invariably inspire me to add titles to my reading list.
This past year, my standout read was James by Percival Everett. It was a delightful reading year for me, filled with thought-provoking literature.
I'm so happy you had such a great reading year! I’ve heard great things about that book!
It has been a pure joy watching all of your videos and vlogs in 2024. Looking forward to more in 2025 and adding more books to my TBR. Thank you for all the content you’ve posted I have loved watching all of them. ❤️
That's so sweet to hear! I'm really glad you've enjoyed them. ❤️
Happy that I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed some of your favorite books which also became my favorite. My 2025 TBR has just gotten longer ❤❤
Yay! Love that so much!
I love so many of your book recommendations. I’ve gotten so many new books because of it and they have all been awesome. Love your content and can’t wait for your next video. 2025 is going to be just as exciting. So many great new books coming out. Can’t wait to see what your faves in 2025 will be. ❤❤
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to share!
I am so happy I found your channel this year. I just wish I would’ve found you sooner. I love your recommendations so far and I love that you share so many Black authors (and creators!) I have a channel and I vlog mostly but reading and books have become more and more of a huge part of my life so I am starting to dabble in book content soon and you are a great inspiration for me in that regard. 🥰🎀
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm so excited to see what you create! 🥰✨
@ aww yay! I hope you do. I’m editing right now and you’re mentioned in this video because I read some of your recommendations this year😌
Eeeee! I did it! I posted my first book focused video. 😅 It’s nowhere near this level lol but it’s out there now. Thanks for inspiring me. ☺️
Looking forward to reading Blue Sisters next year!
It’s so good!!
I really liked The Personal Librarian as well. Not sure if you know, but The Morgan Library & Museum currently has an exhibition that opened in October, "Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy", dedicated to Belle's life and career. The exhibition runs until May 4, 2025. I hope to visit the museum in the spring, God willing.
That's so cool! I'll have to see if I can visit!!
Thank you for showing the books I really enjoyed it keep on I can't wait for next year books
You’re so welcome! Can’t wait for all the great books we’ll read in 2025!
Definitely picked up The Wedding People and gifted the magnolia park series for Christmas based on your recommendations! I can’t wait to start them !!! Amazing video as always ❤
You are going to love them!!!
I love romance books more recs please 🥰💕
More coming soon! 🥰✨
I LOVED the dear america diaries too! Childhood me loved historical fiction but over time i just didn’t read them.
I got so many recs from this video! I’m excited to start strong for 2025✨. I just read comfort & joy for a holiday feeling that wasn’t super fluffy by Kristin Hannah and I believe I really love her writing, so deff picking up four winds. I also have to get on Kennedy Ryan’s second book in the Skyland series & Blue Sisters. So many books, so little time! Lol
You are going to love those books!! Kennedy Ryan can truly do no wrong and Blue Sisters was incredible!
The Mixtape!
It’s so good!
Thanks for sharing. I think you’d love “Transcendent Kingdom” by Yaa Gyasi, also the author of “Homegoing”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me see grief, mental health from the eyes of a child watching their parent suffer as she did, she’s so talented. She’s also a black Ghanaian author.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Loved Four Winds
Me too!!
Although I haven't read these yet, I don't hear a lot of conversations about Night Road & Home Front (and a lot more) by Kristin Hannah.
She has so many great books!
I really enjoyed reading The Wedding people as well, it's one of my few five star reads of the year. I also think you should read Maame by Jessica George. It touches on grief and it is a contemporary fiction book by a black British author.
I’ve heard such great things about this book! I need to pick it up asap!
A tip: you should make a video going over all 175 books OR titling the video “I read 175 books this year, here are my favorites”! That’s am inedible feat and you should market that for more engagement! Keep it up!
Here's my 10
Tales of the body thief by Anne rice book 4 in the vampire chronicles
Clytemnestra by constanza casanti
Stars in your eyes by kacen callender i think you might like this book
Queen of the damned by Anne rice book 3 in the vampire chronicles
Miss memory lane by colton Haynes memoir
Good luck with that by kristan Higgins
Out of shape by gracie gold memoir
Her too by bonnie kistler it's a thriller
The maid by nita prose
This could be us by Kennedy Ryan
Honorable mentions
Lizzie Blake's best mistake by mazey eddings
Be my baby by ronnie spector memoir
The violence by delilah s dawson it's a dystopian thriller
Binding 13 by chloe Walsh
What a great list! 😍
❤❤❤
Thanks for watching!
@ yes💜
The MixTape Britany Cherry
This Could Be Us Kennedy Ryan
My absolute favorite reads of 2024
I already pre ordered Can’t Get Enough the next Kennedy Ryan in the series release May 2025.
One of my book goals for 2025 read the Magnolia Parks series I got all the original covers for the series from Blackwell Bookstore in England.
I hope you love the series! It’s truly incredible!!
how do you find good books?
I follow lots of authors and booktubers! I also search on tik tok for recs!
I am really into contemporary fiction right now… Romance has given me a complete headache at this point… Thanks to BB Reid’s crucible but thanks for some contemporary and historical fiction recommendations… Ready to read my butt off in 2025
2025 is going to be our year!! 🥰🙌🏽
Convince me to continue with the Magnolia Parks series. I read the first one because of you and Larry but I didn't like it. I had no interest to go on. On a happier note, I really enjoyed Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde this year.
If you aren’t a fan of messy characters, you might not enjoy the series but the series reminds me so much of my younger self growing into who I am now. The characters mature so much as the books go on. Even though they’re flawed, they remind me of how messy it is to be human and how that’s okay 💛
I had my boyfriend order me a million junes by Emily h and the kiss countdown because you recommended them and pardon my Frenchie hopefully I enjoy them
I hope you do too! I’m excited to read a million junes and pardon my frenchie!! The kiss countdown is so cute 💗
You read my whole entire library like 3x 4x over
It was a great year!
@ happy reading 📖!
❤
Thanks for watching!
Ok now, I just bought some books for the new year, and a few on here I’ve been trying to ignore but… back to Amazon I go! Thanks a lot!😩🩷😂
It’s a great problem to have! 😂😂
@ 😂😂