Black Books With Fewer Than 1,000 Reviews That Deserve More Love
When I say that I intentionally use my teeny-tiny platform to uplift, show love for, and promote Black authors, it is not by accident.
It feels purposeful. It feels necessary. And it feels like my duty.
And to explain that a little better, I want to talk to you about some books I love. Books and series that I think are fantastic, incredible, and in some cases, brain chemistry-altering.
And then I want to show you how many reviews they've gotten.
But before we get into it, I want you to do something for me.
Think of a mainstream, traditionally published author that you think is mediocre.
You got one?
Now think about how many reviews they probably got on their worst book.
Okay. Keep that number in your head.
Because every book we're about to talk about has fewer than 1,000 reviews.
And I need answers.
A quick note: These are the review counts at the time I'm writing this. Obviously, they can and will change. And hopefully, after this post, a few of them do.
Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours: 214 reviews
Needy Little Things is a YA speculative mystery about a young Black girl who can sense what other people need and feels physical pain until she fulfills that need.
It could be handing a stranger a towel seconds before a bird poops on them. Or handing someone a can of mace before they're attacked.
But what happens when that power doesn't tell you what your best friend needs when she goes missing?
When the police don't take her disappearance seriously, she and her friends decide they're going to find her themselves.
That's what makes this book so powerful to me. Yes, it's YA. Yes, there's mystery and fantasy. But it's also about how our lives aren't always taken seriously, how missing Black girls can be overlooked, and the heaviness sometimes put on our young people to protect each other when the adults and systems around them don't.
214 reviews.
Pardon My Frenchie + Pugs and Kisses
by Farrah Rochon: 400 and 119 reviews
This one is for everybody who says Black books are all trauma.
Because these two books are pure joy.
Pardon My Frenchie and Pugs and Kisses are connected standalone romances that blend romance, dogs, Black love, and just a freaking good time.
Sometimes I want Black characters to save the world. Sometimes I want them to uncover some deep family secret. Sometimes I want a book that's going to emotionally destroy me.
And sometimes I just want Black people to fall in love and play with some dogs.
Farrah Rochon gave us that.
So when y'all say you want Black books that aren't about trauma, I'm going to need you to actually read them when we tell you they exist.
Especially when Pardon My Frenchie has 400 review and Pugs and Kisses is sitting here with 117 reviews.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark: 759 reviews
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is about an undead assassin who is given a contract to unalive someone, only it's a contract she absolutely cannot accept.
This book is freaking smart. It's hilarious. It's weird and quirky. And at only 208 pages, you're going to finish it in no time.
If this assassin were real, I'd have to call her myself and have her run down on everybody who's been skimping on this book.
Because 759 reviews?
What are we doing?
Blood Like Magic + Blood Like Fate
by Liselle Sambury: 573 and 234 reviews
The Blood Like Magic duology is about literal Black girl magic.
There's found family. There's a quest to receive your powers. There are secrets, a love story, plenty of drama, and vivid storytelling.
Blood Like Magic has 573 reviews.
Blood Like Fate has 234.
That's 807 reviews combined.
An entire two-book series about Black girl magic, and y'all couldn't give these Black girls 1,000 reviews between the two books?
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins: 398 reviews
This one is an absolute atrocity.
Because a book like Zeal doesn't come around often.
It's historical fiction about two soulmates, but it's also a tragic love story that is beautifully written and will take you through every emotion, including some you didn't even know you were capable of feeling while reading a book.
It is incredible.
It deserves all the things. It deserves all the awards.
And it definitely deserves better than 398 reviews.
Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey: 198 reviews
For anybody who has ever wanted to see themselves as a samurai, no matter your hair texture or your skin color, Sistah Samurai is for you.
It's an Afro-anime-inspired story with a 40-year-old main character who is oh so relatable but also completely badass.
And Sistah Samurai is literally a kick-ass book.
It's only 156 pages, but it's a complete story. It'll make you feel empowered while also making you look at the things you hide from other people to preserve your strength, or maybe just the illusion of it.
198 reviews.
I need answers.
Losing Sight by Tati Richardson: 537 reviews
Listen.
The FMC in this book is me.
She's 40 years old. She's struggling a little with aging while also being at the height of her career and worrying that she could be replaced by a younger, newer model.
And then there's her eyesight.
Eventually, she stops fighting it, goes and gets herself some glasses...
and maybe a man.
I don't know how much more you need from me.
Wings of Ebony + Ashes of Gold
by J. Elle: fewer than 700 combined
Not one book.
Two.
The entire Wings of Ebony series has fewer than 700 reviews combined.
The series follows a young Black girl living in the inner city who loses her mother, and then her deadbeat father reappears with some news.
She comes from powerful magic.
She's thrust into another world and eventually into a fight to restore magic to people who have been oppressed and had it stolen from them.
Yes, there's magic, but so much of what's happening outside of the magic is stuff we see and deal with in the real world.
Oppression. Racism. People in power taking from other people and then convincing everybody that they deserve to have it.
So why not escape this reality for a little while and enter a world where maybe some of our problems can actually be solved with magic?
Worse Than a Lie by Ben Crump: 636 reviews
First of all, who was going to tell me Attorney Ben Crump started writing legal thrillers?
That's problem number one.
Problem number two is that this fantastic legal thriller only has 636 reviews.
Worse Than a Lie follows Hollis Montrose, a former Black police officer who is racially targeted during a traffic stop and ends up shot and fighting for his life.
While he's in the hospital, law enforcement and the media are already constructing their own version of what happened, leaving him fighting for his freedom and his reputation too.
Enter his attorney, Beau Lee Cooper.
And Beau Lee is not here for any of that.
He's taking the fight from the street where Hollis was shot straight into the courtroom.
And he plays no games.
Why Dee Hearts Books Exists
And this gap is exactly what gave life to Dee Hearts Books.
Once a girl who just loved books.
Now a 40-something-year-old woman on a mission to spread a little love and shine a little light on the amazing Black authors you might not even know exist.
My platform may be teeny tiny, but I'm going to use the little corner of the internet I have.
So if one of these books sounds good to you, read it. Tell somebody else about it.
And when you're finished?
Leave the damn review.
