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Reviews
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters by Jessica P. Pryde
samanthasprott's review
4.0
This was an honest and deep look into POC and Black love and how it’s been judged, diminished and overlooked. But it also really focused on how important representation and sharing love and relationships for POC and Black couples is. The essays shared were written by amazing authors who did an incredible job sharing their own stories and how books changed how they saw themselves and love.
balletbookworm's review
5.0
A fantastic essay collection about Black romance, written by authors and readers and edited by Jess Pryde (who you might know from the When in Romance podcast, and she also has her own piece in the book). While not an exhaustive exploration of Black romance in all it's forms, the collection has a good range. You start with an essay from the legendary Ms. Beverly Jenkins, then one from podcaster Allie Parker, there's one that's more scholarly from Julie Moody-Freeman, one that's a sweet memoir from Jasmine Guillory, hen the Black Latinx experience growing up in the Dominican Republic with Adriana Herrera, then Kosoko Jackson (really looking forward to his Berkley debut in February!), and on and on.
A book that should be on the TBR for all romance readers in 2022!
A book that should be on the TBR for all romance readers in 2022!
chelle_thebelle's review against another edition
4.0
An Important Read
This book gave me so much to think about in terms of reading, representation, the media industry, and even my own writing. My thanks to the contributors for sharing their extensive research and personal stories.
This book gave me so much to think about in terms of reading, representation, the media industry, and even my own writing. My thanks to the contributors for sharing their extensive research and personal stories.
apuckingbibliophile's review
Happy Friday! Is it me or did this week feel like it dragged on? Well, to hopefully get into the weekend spirit, I wanted to share a few quick thoughts on this book that I recently read!
I’m not writing a full on review because I don’t think anything I could say would quite do this book justice. But, I do think that this was such a great book and very insightful when it comes to Black Romance. I really liked how each of the essays from the wonderful contributors had their own unique message and tone to it.
All of the essays were so well written and researched and spanned numerous different topics when it came to Black Romance. From personal anecdotes to an academic history of the genre to deep divining and analyzing other pieces of work, this covered it all and provided so much perspective.
The stories in here are both thoughtful yet brutally honest and I absolutely recommend this all readers, especially those romance lovers out there!
I’m not writing a full on review because I don’t think anything I could say would quite do this book justice. But, I do think that this was such a great book and very insightful when it comes to Black Romance. I really liked how each of the essays from the wonderful contributors had their own unique message and tone to it.
All of the essays were so well written and researched and spanned numerous different topics when it came to Black Romance. From personal anecdotes to an academic history of the genre to deep divining and analyzing other pieces of work, this covered it all and provided so much perspective.
The stories in here are both thoughtful yet brutally honest and I absolutely recommend this all readers, especially those romance lovers out there!
happyeverabigail's review against another edition
5.0
black love matters
This collection is part memoir, part informative non-fiction. I’d recommend this to ANY romance reader to learn about the history of romance and especially in regards to intersectionality.
This collection is part memoir, part informative non-fiction. I’d recommend this to ANY romance reader to learn about the history of romance and especially in regards to intersectionality.
bandherbooks's review
5.0
Not only super entertaining and insightful and poignant, this is an excellent place to start learning more about Romance in general and Black Romance in particular. If you do reader's advisory, please read.
Disclosure: I am mutuals with the editor and friends with one of the contributors, and follow most of the others on Twitter
Thank you to Library Journal and the publisher for the early copy; professional review to come in Library Journal
Disclosure: I am mutuals with the editor and friends with one of the contributors, and follow most of the others on Twitter
Thank you to Library Journal and the publisher for the early copy; professional review to come in Library Journal
notinjersey's review
4.0
I’m not sure why I thought Black Love Matters was an anthology of romance stories by Black writers – it wasn’t! Instead, it is an essay collection about writing and reading romance for and by Black writers and readers. I found myself accidentally reading non fiction and even so, I was immersed and interested throughout. Many of the essays mentioned how hard it was for Black readers to find books in the romance genre featuring people who looked like them, and when Black characters were included, they rarely had happy endings. Some of the essays address how it is hard for Black writers to be published and supported even now. There were those who addressed intersectionality and how it’s even more difficult to find Black Latinx or Black Queer representation. I noticed that the same authors were cited again and again, because there are so few of them. Even in the romances by Black writers I have on my shelves, it is more likely to find interracial couples than to have them both be Black. This book is important for every reader and especially for romance readers, as it should make us think harder about the books we read and what it is like not to see yourself reflected on the page. Representation matters!