Top 5 books to read for the cuffing season

The winter season is fast approaching, and the desire to get out and about is less and less felt. It’s all well and good to want to stay warm, but you’ve got to know how to keep busy! If you’re an avid reader, or want to take advantage of this winter to (re)launch yourself into reading, here’s a selection of 5 books that will keep your heart warm.

1. "Seven Days in June" by Tia Williams

Eva Mercy is a Brooklyn single mother and best-selling erotica author. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone’s surprise, arrives in New York.

Analyse profonde du nouveau titre de Megan thee Stallion, Cobra

When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, stirring up traumas buried in the past. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, Eva and Shane, as teenagers, spent a crazy, torrid week madly in love with each other. They may pretend everything’s fine today, but they can’t deny their chemistry – or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing each other in their books ever since.

Nominated in 2021 for Best Romance of the Year, this book won’t leave you breathless. Through themes such as childhood trauma, true love, growing professionally as a black woman, the question of modern motherhood (and its consequences), Seven Days in June is humorous, warm and deeply sensual.

2. "This Poison Heart" by Kalynn Bayron

“This Poison Heart” by Kalynn Bayron is a fantasy that seamlessly blends mystery, magic and personal issues. With her spellbinding pen, Bayron takes us on a thrilling adventure, where plants and secrets intertwine in unexpected ways.

This Poison Heart follows the life of a young girl named Briseis, who possesses an extraordinary power: she can control plants. However, she keeps her gift in check and doesn’t let it show for fear of being seen. But this gift does not come without consequences. When Briseis inherits her dead aunts’ house, she finds herself plunged into a world filled with mystery, where plants seem to hide ancient secrets and dark forces threaten to destroy everything she holds dear. To break an ancient curse, she must let her power blossom.

Exploring themes of self-acceptance, family and friendship, “This Poison Heart” offers a subtle reflection on human relationships and the choices we make to protect those we love. The story also tackles deeper questions about the nature of magic and the responsibilities that come with it.

3. "Les Enfants des Sables Mouvants" by Efua Traoré

Les Enfants des Sables et Mouvants follows the adventures of a little black girl who has asked for nothing, but who finds herself faced with problems that are beyond her. Despite this, she finds the strength to solve more than she should. This is the story of Simi, a young teenager who is forced to spend the summer with her grandmother, Iyanla, in the small Nigerian village of Ajao. She’s never seen her, or even spoken to her, but she’ll have to spend 2 whole months with her because of a professional imperative on her mother’s part.

This fantasy tackles some interesting themes. The main one is the spiritual and folkloric aspect of the story. It revolves around a mysterious lake where all the children who have ever ventured have never returned. It soon becomes clear that this lake contains a whole other world. Yoruba mythology is omnipresent. Oshun, the goddess of rivers and waters, and Oya, the goddess of the winds and guardian of the gateway to Egun, the realm of the dead, are both key to the mystery of this famous lake.

4. "Blackout" by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk et Nicola Yoon

Written by six critically acclaimed authors, bring together in one book the warmth and alchemy of black teen love in this interconnected novel of charming, hilarious and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light in the darkness.

A summer heat wave plunges New York City into darkness. But as the city is plunged into confusion, another kind of electricity springs up… A first meeting. Old friends. Bitter exes. And perhaps the beginning of something new.When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendships change and new possibilities open up.

5. "My sister, a Serial-Killeur" by Oyinkan Braithwaite

This thriller is sad yet funny and warm. It will make you stress but also love it!

Korede has made it his mission to protect his youngest daughter against all odds, and that’s no easy task. Not content with being their mother’s most beautiful and favorite, Ayoola also has a nasty habit of killing her lovers. So, over the years, Korede has become an expert at making bloodstains and corpses disappear. “Only, with Femi, that makes three. And with three, you’re catalogued as a serial killer…”
Korede has a life to lead, too: she’s secretly in love with Tade, the handsome doctor she meets every day in the corridors of the hospital where she works as a nurse. So when her younger sister sets her sights on Tade, Korede is faced with a dilemma: how can she continue to protect Ayoola, without risking the life of the man she loves?