Black Romance Book Fest 25 TBR
My Black Romance Book Fest ’25 TBR is quite extensive. Will I get to all of these before the event starts in May? Probably not. But I’d love to try my best because these books all sound so good to me. This a mix of authors I have and haven’t read, and some of these books don’t come out till closer to the festival.
The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport
Blending fantasy and science fiction, N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology of loyalty and rebellion, in which a young Black woman must survive deadly trials in a racist and misogynistic society to become an elite warrior.
It’s all about blood.
The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.
The blood of the former Legatus, Verne Amari, murdered.
For his granddaughter, Ikenna, the only thing steady in her life was the man who had saved Mareen. The man who had trained her in secret, not just in martial skills, but in harnessing the blood gift that coursed through her.
Who trained her to keep that a secret.
But now there are too many secrets, and with her grandfather assassinated, Ikenna knows two things: that only someone on the Tribunal could have ordered his death, and that only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out that order.
Bent on revenge as much as discovering the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials—a brutal initiation that only a quarter of the aspirants survive. She subjects herself to the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, all while hiding a power that—if found out—would subject her to execution…or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all because she needs to find out who murdered her grandfather…and then she needs to kill them.
Mareen has been at peace for a long time…
Ikenna joining the Praetorians is about to change all that.
Magic and technology converge in the first part of this stunning debut duology, where loyalty to oneself—and one’s blood—is more important than anything.
Outdrawn by Deanna Grey
It isn’t always lonely at the top.
Noah Blue’s finally got her foot in the door. After clawing her way to the top of the charts with her webcomic, she’s garnered enough attention to earn a full-time position at a comic company re-launching their cult classic comic: Queen Leisah.
Queen Leisah is predicted to be an instant bestseller with movie deals already in the making. Things are falling into place. There’s nowhere to go but up…as soon as she gets one person out of her way.
Sage Montgomery has always been the best artist in every building she’s stepped foot in. Raw talent’s gotten her webcomic to the top of the charts every month for the past eight years. She’s been the best for as long as she can remember. Sure, her career has plateaued but that can be fixed with a big, mainstream comic.
She was promised full creative control over Leisah. Instead, she got a shared credit with the one artist who’s been breathing down her neck since college. The one artist who has a fighting chance of being better than her. Sage and Noah have to work as a team — or, at least appear to work as a team. They thought the hardest part of the relaunch would be drawing together. But that’s easy in comparison to resisting their feelings for each other.
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.
It couldn’t save their marriage.
Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.
Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?
Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
Prince Jones is the guy with all the answers—or so it seems. After all, at seventeen, he has his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice to the brokenhearted.
Prince has always dreamed of becoming a DJ and falling in love. But being the main caretaker for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and his little brother means his dreams will stay just that and the only romances in his life are the ones he hears about from his listeners. Until he meets Dani Ford.
Dani isn’t checking for anybody. She’s focused on her plan: ace senior year, score a scholarship, and move to New York City to become a famous author. But her college essay keeps tripping her up and acknowledging what’s blocking her means dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago. And that’s one thing Dani can’t do.
When the romantic DJ meets the ambitious writer, sparks fly. Prince is smitten, but Dani’s not looking to get derailed. She gives Prince just three dates to convince her that he’s worth falling for. Three dates for the love expert to take his own advice, and just maybe change two lives forever.
A Legend in the Baking by Jamie Wesley
In A Legend in the Baking, the new romance from Jamie Wesley, a cupcake-baking football player gets assistance from a social media maven—and his best friend’s little sister—to help promote his new bakeryafter accidentally going viral online.
August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn’t a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend’s younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame.
Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother’s best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother’s request to revamp the bakery’s social media presence to take advantage of August’s newfound popularity, knowing it’s the big break her fledgling career needs. She’ll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas.
They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams.
As they’re both about to find out, all’s fair in love and cupcakes.
Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory
A captivating and sizzling new queer romance by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.
Avery Jensen is almost thirty, fresh off a breakup, and she’s tired of always being so uptight and well-behaved. She wants to get a hobby, date around (especially women), flirt with everyone she sees, wear something not from the business casual section of her closet—all the fun stuff normal people do in their twenties. One problem: Avery doesn’t know where to start. She doesn’t have a lot of dating experience, with men or women, and despite being self-assured at work, she doesn’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to romance.
Enter Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley’s biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker. Taylor just broke up with her most recent girlfriend, and her best friend bet her that she can’t make it until Labor Day without sleeping with someone. (Two whole months? Without sex? Taylor?!?!) So, she offers to give Avery flirting lessons. It should keep her busy and stop her from texting people she shouldn’t. And it might take her mind off how inadequate she feels compared to her friends, who all seem much more settled and adult than Taylor.
At first, Avery is stiff and nervous, but Taylor is patient and encouraging, and soon, Avery looks forward to their weekly lessons. With Taylor’s help, Avery finally has the life she always wanted. The only issue is: now she wants Taylor. Their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, despite them both insisting to themselves and everyone else that it isn’t serious. When Taylor is forced to confront her feelings for Avery, she doesn’t know what to do—and most importantly, if she’s already ruined the best thing she’s ever had.
Meet Me in the Sky by Jeffery K. Davenport
Billy Montgomery , a Houston-born New York transplant, aspiring novelist, and soon-to-be young divorcée is headed to Punta Mita for his sister’s destination wedding with a severe case of bad luck, a broken heart, and a sunny disposition about it all. As Man of Honor, he’s on a mission to make sure this weekend goes off without a hitch while shoving down his own feelings about being stabbed in the back by love.
Michael Evans , a mid-level public relations expert from Queens, can make anyone and anything look squeaky clean from the outside, but can he do it for himself? When he’s asked to fly into Ohio to give a tear-jerking speech at his estranged father’s funeral, he wonders if he’s met his ultimate PR match that may just send him into a spiral of his painful past.
Through a meet-cute gone wrong, a truly unfortunate baggage mix-up, and a run in with TSA, they find themselves stuck on standby in a New York airport for days on end, waiting on a miracle to get them to their respective destinations. While being stranded between overpriced souvenir shops and underwhelming airport cuisine, they find themselves learning more and more about one other, as well as exposing their own personal baggage that they’ve been carrying for far too long.
Love, loss, grief, forgiveness, and well, the absence of all of the above drive Michael and Billy to emotional depths together. Can these two tackle the ins and outs of these feelings while also dealing with the possibility of their own blossoming romance?
I Think They Love You by Julian Winters
With his funny, big-hearted adult rom com debut, bestselling, award-winning YA author Julian Winters shows sometimes fake dating your ex can turn into a second chance.
When Denzel “Denz” Carter’s workaholic father and CEO of 24 Carter Gold unexpectedly announces his retirement, the competition is on for who will become his successor. To convince his family members that he’s capable of commitment, Denz impulsively lies about being in a serious relationship.
Now Denz needs to find a fake boyfriend to seal the deal on the CEO position. Denz is forced to turn to the last person he wants to be in a pretend (or any) relationship with: Braylon, the man who broke his heart.
Braylon’s sudden reappearance in Denz’s life turns everything upside down. But, apparently, he needs Denz’s connections to the mayor to win his own promotion. So, they strike a deal. It’s all business until the funny texts and the confusing kisses leave Denz struggling to separate this temporary arrangement from the affairs of his heart.
I Think They Love You is a celebration of love, queer communities, big families—in all their beautiful complications— healing, and, most importantly, falling in love with the person you’re becoming.
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.
Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children’s books editor, but she’s been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain—until he ghosts her without a word.
Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she’s determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can’t explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author—her favorite fantasy author.
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but—not when he can’t get her off his mind…
Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement by Jill Tew
A vibrant and heart-warming novel about the unforgettable joys of the Renaissance Faire, overcoming grief through cherished memories, and remaining true to yourself—even in cosplay.
For as long as she could remember, Kaya Morgan has spent her summers with her dad at the greatest place on Earth: The Renaissance Faire. Full of performers cosplaying as thieving pirates, enchanting fairies, and courageous heroes, the Ren Faire has always been a place where anyone could be anything they wanted to be. And for as long as she could remember, Kaya and her dad have dreamed of her someday being named the first Black Queen of the Faire.
Unfortunately for the last two summers, Kaya has been known as something else: the girl with the dead dad. But she’s not going to let anyone stop her from taking her place as the Queen’s apprentice (the first step on her journey towards Queen). But when the role is given to the pretty and blonde Jessie, the only spot left for Kaya is the Court Jester (who doesn’t even come with a crown).
It’s bad enough that it’s another summer at the Ren Faire without her dad, and that her family thinks her love of medieval times is weird. But with everyone around Kaya determined to put her in a role she doesn’t want to be in, Kaya must decide whether to hold onto her old dreams no matter what, or realize that it’s okay for new dreams to become reality.
Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann
Love brings down the haunted house in this captivating romance from the acclaimed author of The Romantic Agenda.
Lucky Hart has a special affinity for the supernatural but almost no one takes parapsychology seriously. She’s estranged from her family, lost her friends, and has been rejected from graduate school. Twice. But her big break finally arrives when she gets insider info about a troubled production company. Every actor on their new show mysteriously quits after spending three nights inside Hennessee House, an old Victorian with a notorious reputation.
After scheming her way onto the show to investigate, Lucky meets Maverick Phillips and chemistry instantly crackles between them. He tempts her in ways no one ever has, challenging and supporting her, and making her finally feel seen. Their connection is so palpable everyone notices it–including Hennesee House.
Now Lucky and Maverick’s relationship has a challenger: the lonely, sentient house desperate for her undivided attention. As love begins to clash with career, Lucky refuses to choose one over the other because everyone deserves a happily ever after, even houses with haunted hearts. But when all her plans begin backfiring one-by-one, she realizes that if she wants to have it all? She’ll have to risk everything.
