ablaise

Reclaiming reading for pleasure.

1051 points

0% overlap

My Taste

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)

Reading...

The Fall of Gondolin (Middle-Earth Universe)

ablaise started reading...

Black Cake

Charmaine Wilkerson

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become? In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves. Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever? Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

ablaise wrote a review...

ablaise

Jan 13, 2026

4.5

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 3.5

😥

🤰

💔

I am stunned that this is a debut novel! The main plot is tense and fraught with emotion, frustration and all the tumult one would expect of a novel about a loss of this manner. The Nigerian family dynamics are delightful, and I really feel like I know this family... They could be neighbours down the road. For me they were a highlight of the book.

ablaise finished a book

Someday, Maybe

Onyi Nwabineli

A stunning and witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of new friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband. Onyi Nwabineli is a fresh new voice for fans of Yaa Gyasi, Queenie and I May Destroy You. Here are three things you should know about my husband: 1. He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado. 2. He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because… 3. On New Year’s Eve, he committed suicide. And here is one thing you should know about me: 1. I found him. Bonus fact: No. I am not okay.

ablaise made progress on...

Someday, Maybe

Onyi Nwabineli

100%

ablaise commented on a post

The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

FadedStar99

Thoughts from 25% (page 73)

Honestly loving this. Anyone have any recs for after this series? (Something similar with government control)

ablaise started reading...

15h

Code Name Cassandra (Missing, #2)

Meg Cabot

"Help me find my little girl." Jess Mastriani -- dubbed "Lightning Girl" by the press when, after a huge storm, she develops a psychic ability to find missing children -- has lost her miraculous powers. Or has she? She would like the media and the government to think so. All Jess wants is to be left alone, by everyone except sexy Rob Wilkins -- who still hasn't called, by the way.... But it doesn't look like Jess is going to get her wish -- especially not while she's stuck working at a summer camp for musically gifted kids. Then the father of a missing girl shows up to beg Jess to find his daughter. Jess can't say no, but now the feds are on her trail again, as is one ornery stepdad, who'd like to see Lightning Girl...well, dead.

ablaise commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

15h

righteousgoddess444

AI books to avoid

In this world infested with AI slop, it becomes harder and harder to tell what is AI. I would love a list of books that are AI or AI assisted to avoid.

Has anyone ran into any books that are AI? And what are some ways to tell if a book might've been made using AI?

ablaise commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

16h

Kaysee

Books and Places

Is there any specific books that you always relate a very specific place or moment in time? For me I always think about being stuck in the house on vacation when my parents were away when I read The Stranger,or my art teachers house when I read Martin Eden bcs she was the one that lent it to me. Or the stool on my middle school volleyboll field when I read The Plague Now that i write this I can think of so many more

ablaise commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

16h

floppybooks07

Specific recommendations of short engaging books

I think lately I discovered how I like to read multiple books at once and that is by reading a long book at home and a short book that I carry around, I have plenty of big books on my shelves but I realized I don't have many short books. So im in the search of some of them.

My requierements are:

no more of 300/350 pages
Character studies maybe, I don't want a really complex plot
Fast paced or at least easy to follow as I will read this when im not home
I don't have a preferred genre but my confort zone are fantasy, historical fiction or contemporary/classic narrative. (with a bit of romance but not the main genre)

Pagebound do your magic, I hope some of you get interesting recommendations

ablaise made progress on...

16h

Lud-in-the-Mist

Hope Mirrlees

29%

ablaise commented on a List

23h

Korean crime fiction

by Peony

8 books

An emerging crime fiction section. I am excited to read and see what comes next. Translated from Korean to English. Most of these are thrillers and I can’t find many murder mysteries .

🇰🇷

🔪

🐯

ablaise commented on a post

23h

typesoflilies

Thoughts from 62% (page 156)

honestly loving this, just really loving good murder mysteries!!

ablaise commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

ablaise

Selecting your Avatar

I'm intrigued to know what drew everyone to their selected Avatar? When I initially signed up I picked the little witch reading, as I thought she was cute. However, when I noticed the croissant reading I immediately changed it. If I could be reincarnated as a little French pastry who could read and wear very cute hats then that is the life I would choose!! Did other people select them because the Avatar spoke to a particular genre then enjoy? ... Whatever the reason I'd love to hear!!

104

189

Post from the Someday, Maybe forum

ablaise

Thoughts from 77%

⚠️ Suicide - this is not a spoiler as the blurb of the book includes this as a key point. However, I do feel somewhere in the description or forum for this book that there maybe should be a slightly more heavy-handed TW for (specifically) Suicide Ideation. Depending on where you are with your mental health, and your relationship to the subject of SI, this book might hit quite hard. Take care, fellow reader.

ablaise made progress on...

Someday, Maybe

Onyi Nwabineli

92%

Post from the Pagebound Club forum

ablaise

Selecting your Avatar

104

189

ablaise is interested in reading...