
deardiarylovechloe started reading...
1d

Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay
Lex Croucher
Return to Camelot in the much anticipated and funny follow-up to the instant New York Times bestselling and YA Book Prize winning Gwen and Art Are Not in Love. They fell in love. They won a great battle. It should have been happily ever after. But now, Camelotās famous couples have fallen apart. Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can't tell Arthur just how not okay he is ā so he's set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down. Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When sheās invited to join Gabriel's round table, she hopes itāll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible. With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumoured sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?

deardiarylovechloe TBR'd a book
1w

Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay
Lex Croucher
Return to Camelot in the much anticipated and funny follow-up to the instant New York Times bestselling and YA Book Prize winning Gwen and Art Are Not in Love. They fell in love. They won a great battle. It should have been happily ever after. But now, Camelotās famous couples have fallen apart. Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can't tell Arthur just how not okay he is ā so he's set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down. Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When sheās invited to join Gabriel's round table, she hopes itāll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible. With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumoured sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
1w

Afro Mythos: African Legends and Folklore
Adwoa Botchey
A groundbreaking and celebratory collection of 75 African myths and legends, beautifully retold and illustrated. Thereās an African proverb that says, āuntil the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.ā So here we are, telling our stories. Myths and legends are powerful. They shape our earliest understandings of the world, and tell us about ourselves, our ancestors, and the fabric of our culture. You know about The Odyssey. Youāve read tales about Venus and Mars. Youāve heard the names of Thor, Odin and Loki. These European pantheons are rightly beloved, their stories endlessly retold and enjoyed. But for too long, the myths and folklore of Africa ā the continent that everyone ultimately comes from ā have been buried, distorted or forgotten.In Afro Mythos, Adwoa Botchey and Solomon Adebiyi bring the spellbinding stories of Africa to light. Drawn from ancient empires and spanning the African continent and diaspora, from the Maasai to Yoruba, Zulu to Hodou, these beautiful retellings will give you a new way of seeing the world. Discover how wisdom spread across the earth, and how humans lost the ability to speak to animals. Learn about seven-headed serpents, gods who cry rivers, and tricksters who reshape fate.So, are you ready? The stories are waiting. They were always meant to be shared.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
2w

Re-Inventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture
Ifi Amadiume

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2w

The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge
V.Y. Mudimbe
In this unique and provocative book, Zairean philosopher and writer V. Y. Mudimbe addresses the multiple scholarly discourses that exist--African and non-African--concerning the meaning of Africa and being African.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
2w

The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses
OyĆØrónkįŗ¹Ģ OyÄwùmĆ
The āwoman question,ā this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western construction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures. Author Oyeronke Oyewumi reveals an ideology of biological determinism at the heart of Western social categories-the idea that biology provides the rationale for organizing the social world. And yet, she writes, the concept of āwoman,ā central to this ideology and to Western gender discourses, simply did not exist in Yorubaland, where the body was not the basis of social roles. Oyewumi traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed and that the subordination of women is universal. The Invention of Women demonstrates, to the contrary, that gender was not constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age. A meticulous historical and epistemological account of an African culture on its own terms, this book makes a persuasive argument for a cultural, context-dependent interpretation of social reality. It calls for a reconception of gender discourse and the categories on which such study relies. More than that, the book lays bare the hidden assumptions in the ways these different cultures think. A truly comparative sociology of an African culture and the Western tradition, it will change the way African studies and gender studies proceed.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
4w

Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion (Counterfire)
Tansy E. Hoskins
"Stitched Up" delves into the alluring world of fashion to reveal what is behind the clothes we wear. Moving between Karl Lagerfeld and Karl Marx, the book explores consumerism, class and advertising to reveal the interests which benefit from exploitation.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
4w

The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion
Tansy E. Hoskins
The award-winning classic on why we must revolutionise the fashion industry *Selected by Emma Watson for her Ultimate Book List* Fashion is political. From the red carpets of the Met Gala to online fast fashion, clothes tell a story of inequality, racism, and climate crisis. In The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion , Tansy E. Hoskins unpicks the threads of capitalist industry to reveal the truth about our clothes. Fashion brands entice us to consume more by manipulating us to feel ugly, poor and worthless, sentiments that line the pockets of billionaires exploiting colonial supply chains. Garment workers on poverty pay risk their lives in dangerous factories, animals are tortured, fossil fuels extracted and toxic chemicals spread just to keep this season's collections fresh. We can do better than this. Moving between Karl Lagerfeld and Karl Marx, The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion goes beyond ethical fashion and consumer responsibility showing that if we want to feel comfortable in our clothes, we need to reshape the system and ensure this is not our last season.

deardiarylovechloe TBR'd a book
5w

Almost Life
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Two young women meet in Paris in this decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chancesāperfect for fans of One Day and Normal People. Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the SacrĆ©-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make⦠Erica and Laureās love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changesāboth personal and politicalāthat might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together? Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
5w

Rules for Fake Girlfriends
Raegan Revord
Rom-com obsessed but perpetually single Avery Blackwell abandons her plans to attend Columbia in favor of spending her freshman year at her recently deceased motherās alma mater in a seaside town in England. On the train, Avery makes a deal straight out of one of her beloved romance books with a charming local girl named Charlie: if Avery will pretend to be her girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Charlie will help Avery solve the scavenger hunt her artistic, free-spirited mother left behind on campus decades ago. As their quest takes them all over Brighton, Avery finally starts to connect with the mother she always loved but never really understood. Before long, pretending to be Charlieās girlfriend starts to feel like more than just an illusion. But when long-hidden secrets come to light, Avery grapples with an uncertain future and whether or not love is worth the risk.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
9w

Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival
Justine van der Leun
A groundbreaking account of how the legal system punishes those it purports to protect, told through the deeply reported stories of three unforgettable women When award-winning journalist Justine van der Leun first reported on the issue of criminalized survival, she was astonished to see how women were being imprisoned for protecting themselves against abuse. She wondered how often survivors are targeted for prosecution. To find out, she began an intensive, years-long investigationātraveling coast to coast and collecting more than a thousand personal accounts from womenās prisons. In Unreasonable Women, van der Leun tells the propulsive, shocking, and intimate stories of three extraordinary women, caught in the direst circumstances, who had to kill to survive. Tanisha is a Michigan sex worker and fledgling entrepreneur determined to help detectives solve a cold case, whatever the consequences. Jema is a softhearted factory worker from Missouri, struggling to keep her family together as she navigates an increasingly dangerous relationship. TC is a bold Californian trying, along with her mother, to escape generations of traumaāand a toxic family environment. Each woman was abused in childhood, only to find that abuse replicated in adulthood, until they were ultimately forced to make an impossible choice. A work of literary reportage that feels like the most dynamic crime novel, Unreasonable Women is the result of seven years of intensive, unprecedented research and on-the-ground reporting in prisons across the United States. It is the story of women and violence in Americaāand a wake-up call about a system that would rather condemn a woman to life behind bars than face its failings. It is also the moving story of three women who find hope and humanity in the unlikeliest of places.

deardiarylovechloe started reading...
10w

The Handmaidās Tale
Margaret Atwood
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now⦠Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
10w

The Counterpart (Gold Hill #2)
Ruby Landers
From the GGLS Award-winning author of Ribbonwood and Falls From GraceEloise Silver is an actor in need of a big break. Now in her mid-thirties, her biggest credits to date are just one Australian soap opera and a series of ice-cream commercials. Oh, and that one time she played a real-life mob bossās wife on prime-time television. Suddenly, Estella Grant is no longer just the wife of a dangerous man. After leading a bloody coup sheās emerged as the leader of Melbourneās biggest crime syndicate and sheās got one hell of a plan to execute. Sheās got nothing to lose and an outsized reputation to help her in her reign of terror. But Estellaās actions have unintended consequences because the public just canāt seem to get enough of a beautiful, dangerous mob boss. Season Seven of Universe Below is announced and Eloise is promoted to the lead role. With her big break right on the horizon and her career hanging in the balance, Eloise decides that if sheās going to do the role justice, thereās only one thing left to do: try to get close to the most dangerous woman in the city. Book Two of the Gold Hill series is the spicy sapphic mafia romance sequel to Only Hope

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
10w

Ribbonwood
Ruby Landers
Lara Bennett is world-famous in Ribbonwood, population 907. Sheās the woman you don't trust your husband with: a real-life femme fatale. If thereās a scandal in town, sheās at the center of it, ruining businesses, marriages, and egos everywhere she goes, with her sharp tongue and that body that makes you look twice. Besides⦠didnāt she more or less kill a man? Ollie Gabrielli left Ribbonwood right after high school, back when Lara was her arch-nemesis. The queen bee and the closeted soccer star: natural enemies. When she comes home for three months it's to recover from burnout and spend time with her chaotic family, not to reconnect with old classmates. Only somehow, she canāt seem to take her eyes off Lara. How did she only get hotter? And is she really everything they say she is? Sometimes, thereās a reason you should never try to go home.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
10w

Falls From Grace
Ruby Landers
Savannah Grace is a huge star in Nashville. At least, she was. Her hit band Twice Struck topped the country music charts for almost a decade until her high profile marriage to her bandmate and co-writer publicly exploded. Now sheās fading from the spotlight and her own life, just trying to keep her head above water. Brynn Marshall is a little lost. Dropping out of med school made her the black sheep of the family and now sheās floating around LA trying to find a sense of purpose. When she falls down on her luck, her best friend - indie musician Noah Lyman - refuses to let her wallow. After all, heās just got his big break, co-writing with a megastar! When Savannah enlists Noah to help her break out of country music and make a name for herself for once and for all, what better way to do it than to spend the winter in her secluded vacation home in the woods of Vermont? And what better way for Noah to help out a friend than to pretend heās bringing along his wife? After all, what could possibly go wrong? If you would appreciate any content warnings please check my website

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
10w

A Little Sin
Rawnie Sabor
It can take time to feel proud of who you are. Violet Kane is perfect. At least, thatās what people are supposed to think. She has the perfect career, the perfect presentation, and, until recently, she was engaged to the perfect man. To everyone around her, she's perfectly happy. But pretending to be happy is difficult when you're breaking apart at the seams. Be it with eighty-hour work weeks, nicotine dependency, or dark thoughts of just ending it all⦠Violet has used nearly every tool available to maintain her performance. If only Violet could trust someone to take that desperate control away. To let her turn off. Something is hunting Reyna Alvarez, and though she knows what it is, it doesnāt make it any easier to deal with. When she contacts the Court of Chains for help, she is confined to a secluded forest cabin for her protection. But hiding and submitting isn't in the nature of a Pride fiend. So when a beautiful, stressed-out, high-strung woman appears at her cozy prison, Reyna proposes a practical arrangement. If Violet Kane were aroundāon her knees, no lessāisolation might even be fun. A Little Sin is a lesbian romance that depicts the highs and lows of coming out later in life and learning to live for yourself rather than someone elseās expectations.

deardiarylovechloe is interested in reading...
10w

Kiss of Seduction
Rawnie Sabor
A succubus's kiss is deadly... to everyone but her. Evie is trapped. Held captive by the vampiric Court of Night, she has experienced nothing but pain and terror for over a year. Treasured for her rare and delectable blood, Evie knows she will never see the outside of the dark estate that is her prison. She is fated to be forever ruined by cruel monsters. Her freedom is a concept lost. Natalya is the second-in-command of the Chicago-based Court of Chains. She is among the rarest monstersāa greaterĀ fiend, a succubus. A being of pure Sin, whose touch is agony and whose kiss is a death sentence. Following a less-than-diplomatic visit to the Court of Night, Natalya finds herself responsible for a human who was so hurt during her captivity that she is believed to be broken. But there's something different about this strange woman. She suffers no pain under Natalya's touch, and she can survive the infernal kiss of a succubus. But Sin does not invite peace. The vampire King of the Court of Night is a patient man who doesn't like when people take what he believes to be his property. Or which could be his property. And only few things are rarer or more precious than the bound powers of a greater fiend. Kiss of Seduction is an emotionally charged, sapphic loveĀ story of healing through trauma, reclaiming yourself after tragedy, and trusting another to catch you when you fall.