Guest Post: Reading Outside Your Identity and Why it Really Matters by @Natasha_Lane1 #guestpost #diversebooks #discussion #tuesdayblogs #diversity

Excellent guest post on reading diversity and identity – you should stop by! 😉👍

Reads & Reels

Reading outside our own identity… A topic that’s sure to ruffle a few feathers but is so important nonetheless! Here’s what Natasha has to say about it.

Some of you saw this title and immediately clicked. Others saw this blog title, rolled their eyes and prepared for the usual.

Well, before you knock this post off as another rant about needing more characters of color (actually we need more authors, too) and the necessity of diversity, give me a minute and let me explain some things to you. Maybe it’ll change your mind about the own voices movement or get you to read an author who looks/believes differently than you.

Okay, to kick things off, I need to let you know I have an issue with the word identity.

Too often in America, when we talk about identity or diversity we limit our thinking to only race, specifically black and…

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“A Different Kind of Love” by Iris Deorre

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A Different Kind of Love

by Iris Deorre

Genre: Inspirational/Contemporary Romance/Multicultural

FREE at time of posting!

‘She’s different,’ the doctors had said.
‘What do you mean different?’ Marley’s parents had asked.
The two year old had hid under the table away from it all.
Marley was no ordinary woman. At the age of two her parents had been told that she was special. Without many people to understand or help her much, Marley would bury herself in figures. Maths and patterns were the only things that calmed her down. Her genius pushed her through school – although it was lonely – to where she became a maths professor. Not the easiest thing for her.

One day, her normal routine is broken and all hell breaks loose until a gentleman steps in and saves the day. There’s something about Sylvester. Perhaps it’s the fact he just accepts her for who she is that breaks down the mental barrier. He can’t seem to let her go, and so their journey begins!

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“Black and White (Lincoln County Law Trilogy Volume 1)” by Jerri Blair

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Black and White (Lincoln County Law Trilogy Volume 1)

by Jerri Blair

Genre: Literature & Fiction/Thriller & Suspense/Historical/Legal/African-American

FREE at time of posting!

This dramatic legal thriller examines the impact of racism on the judicial system. Brilliant young trial attorney J.T. Lockman is appointed to represent an African American man accused of murdering a wealthy white man in a county where the Klan has ruled supreme for many years. His client, Lindsey Wilkens, is a proud family man believed by many to be innocent of the crime with which he’s been charged. J.T. is faced with the ultimate challenge for any trial attorney, defending an innocent man from the possibility of death by electrocution. Even worse, the racially charged atmosphere where the trial is to occur could mean death for his client even if the evidence is found to be faulty and insufficient to prove death beyond a reasonable doubt. Lindsey fears he won’t even make it to the trial when he’s placed in the bowels of a jailhouse run by the sheriff whose reputation is what gives the county its shameful notoriety.

J.T. embraces the chance to right what he considered a terrible wrong, but he faces the wrath of public opinion, as well as the anger of his friends, family, and the woman he loves as he takes on the establishment of the county, bringing to the surface the many ghosts of its racist and violent past. In doing so, he must also come to terms with his own past if he will have any chance to save his relationship with the first woman he’s ever really loved. This is a book that makes us face the reality of our past, but carries within its pages a hope for a future where we, as a society, may be able to move beyond the disease of racism, although the journey may destroy the lives of many along the way.

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“Native Son” by Richard Wright

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Native Son

by Richard Wright

Genre: Literary Fiction/Classics/Historical/African-American

2.99 at time of posting!

 Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

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#TeaserTuesday “Whispers in the Dark” by LeTeisha Newton

Whispers in the Dark teaser

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2oyrT4q

Synopsis
I was captured…
That’s just the beginning of my tale. I’ve survived Purgatory, abuse, and near death. In that abandoned farmhouse I nearly lost everything, but Jacob saved me. We were trapped in this hell together, giving each other the strength to hold on. I fell into darkness with my captor’s son.
Until I left him behind.
She was perfect, my Alana. Brilliant and full of pain. She understood my darkness and fueled the fire. When she left, I waited patiently to find her, and in her honor, I killed men who took away from innocents.
Then I found her…
She’s deadly now, a killer too, and perfectly mine. It was beautiful to behold, but she belongs in a cage. My cage. She’ll love me again, or I’ll expose her dirty secrets for the world to see while going down in flames with her.
In darkness, it’s most definitely till death do us part.
Warning: This book is full of triggers. It’s wicked dark, with created evil falling in love. People die. They are hurt horribly. The bad guys get away, and there is no apology for it. Hardcore trigger within these pages.

#ReleaseBlitz “Crux Untamed (Hades Hangman Book 6)” by Tillie Cole


ONLY BOUNDLESS LOVE CAN SILENCE THE WHISPERS OF THE PAST . . .

A broken woman.
A damaged man.
A free spirit intent on saving them both.

Elysia ‘Sia’ Willis lives a solitary life. The only person in it is her big brother, Ky, vice-president of the infamous Hades Hangmen. She loves him, but she has absolutely no love for the outlaw MC he belongs to.
Raised in secret by her mother, Sia grew up separated from her brother and distant father. No one knew she even existed.

After the tragic murder of her mother, Sia spiraled into a rebellion against the rules of the Hangmen. A rebellion with dire consequences that now, years later, she still can’t escape.

As she lives once again in secret, happy on her own at her secluded ranch, a devil from her past comes calling. A devil who wants to possess her once again and take her from the simple life she never wants to lose.
And he will stop at nothing to collect what he believes is his: her.

Valan ‘Hush’ Durand and Aubin ‘Cowboy’ Breaux have finally found a home in the mother chapter of the Hangmen. The notoriously private Cajun twosome have, for now, put aside what chased them from their beloved Louisiana. But as threats toward the club build, Hush and Cowboy are given a task—protect Elysia Willis at all costs. Cowboy welcomes the job of watching over the blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty.
Hush fights against it.

Scarred by events from his past and a secret that plagues his everyday life, Hush refuses to let anyone else get close. Only Cowboy knows the real him. Until a certain sister of the club’s VP begins to slowly knock down his defenses, shattering the heavily built walls that guard his damaged soul . . . with his best friend leading the charge.

As lost and open hearts begin to meld, taking each other from indescribable pain to the never-before felt relief of peace, the newly-mended threesome must first endure one more rocky path.
Only then will they finally shake free of the shackles of their pasts.
Only then will they shed the bonds that have for too long held their happiness captive.
And there is only one way to survive that path . . . together.

Dark Contemporary MFM Romance. Contains scenes of violence and explicit sexual situations. Over 18’s only.


Tillie Cole hails from a small town in the North-East of England. She grew up on a farm with her English mother, Scottish father and older sister and a multitude of rescue animals. As soon as she could, Tillie left her rural roots for the bright lights of the big city.

After graduating from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in Religious Studies, Tillie followed her Professional Rugby player husband around the world for a decade, becoming a teacher in between and thoroughly enjoyed teaching High School students Social Studies before putting pen to paper, and finishing her first novel.

Tillie has now settled in Austin, Texas, where she is finally able to sit down and write, throwing herself into fantasy worlds and the fabulous minds of her characters.

Tillie is both an independent and traditionally published author, and writes many genres including: Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Young Adult and New Adult novels.

When she is not writing, Tillie enjoys nothing more than curling up on her couch watching movies, drinking far too much coffee, while convincing herself that she really doesn’t need that extra square of chocolate.

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“Sisters and Rivals” by Margaret Lynette Sharp

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Sisters and Rivals

by Margaret Lynette Sharp

Genre: Inspirational/Romance/Siblings

FREE through 2/27/18

It’s the mid nineteen fifties, and the nascent romance of two young Sydneysiders is about to be challenged. The heroine, Linda, is being courted by an ambitious young carpenter named Harry. Seemingly without effort, he passes the scrutiny of her parents and they encourage her alliance with him. Trouble brews, though, when her sister Tessa lays eyes on him and, despite her engagement to a young accountant, makes her feelings abundantly clear. Will Tessa’s overtures ruin the fledgling love between Harry and Linda?

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