A review by arisbookcorner
Belle by Beverly Jenkins

2.0

I remember roaming the aisles of a small library (not my main Chicago ones) and seeing lots of cheesy historical romance titles with white faces on the spine. And then I came across two by Beverly Jenkins. Yes they had cheesy names but they were about Black people. I was too embarrassed to check them out but I was thrilled when she re-did them for a YA audience. I'm curious if they are the exact same or if she toned them down (who knows maybe the romances are sickly sweet). But anyway this was a nice ideal of romance amongst former slaves since that was something so often denied slaves in real life. It's nice to imagine once they escaped they were able to find romantic love too. But I didn't find the writing that strong or the historical details that new.