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Book recs from your favorite book bloggers with Anna-Maria Poku

We don’t know about you, but we’re always on the lookout for new books to add to our TBR list here at Read & Found Books. If you’re looking for recs, who better to ask than some of your favorite book bloggers? We got in touch with Anna-Maria Poku to talk about the best books she’s read this year so far.

 

Anna-Maria is a Ghanaian writer and book reviewer who started blogging about books in 2019. Since then, her community has grown into a 5,000+ following on Instagram alone. She says writing about books is like sharing something you're passionate about with a good friend.


Anna-Maria Poku
Anna-Maria Poku

“You know when you read something really good, or you watch a really good film, and you just want to talk about it? I feel like that was my initial driving force,” she says.


Now, Anna-Maria hopes her work can help keep the passion for literature alive and thriving.


Anna-Maria’s first pick for the best book she’s read this year (with a special emphasis on books by authors of color, of course)? Sweet Heat by British-Nigerian author Bolu Babalola. If that name sounds familiar, you might know her from her debut novel, Honey & Spice. This book is its sequel.


In Sweet Heat, set to release in the U.S. in September, Kiki is back three years after breaking up with Malakai, her first love. But, of course, they’re thrown back together as he acts as best man opposite her maid of honor for her best friend’s wedding, right when Kiki’s carefully curated life has fallen apart.


“Apart from the fact that the characters have evolved, I feel like [the author] has evolved as a writer as well,” Anna-Maria says. “It’s also just really funny. Like, laugh-out-loud funny, which I think is a missing quality in rom-coms these days.”








Next on the list: Ride With Me by Simone Soltani. This romance is a fresh take on the marriage-of-convenience trope, with a down-on-her-luck MC named Stella waking up married to a non-committal Formula 1 driver struggling with his reputation after a party in Vegas.


“I hadn’t read a story with this kind of female main character in a long time,” Anna-Maria says. “Stella is unapologetic about who she is, and I just really enjoyed that. She’s a bit loud and steps on people’s toes a bit, and she kind of doesn’t care. And the main character in the book, he loves her just as she is.”


















Anna-Maria will be the first to say she gravitates toward romances, but her third pick is actually a collection of essays titled Things I Have Withheld by Jamaican poet, fiction writer, essayist, blogger, and professor of creative writing Kei Miller. This lyrical collection delves into experiences with racism and prejudice through a lens of silence and explores what it means to break that silence.


“It’s a very insightful read. I cannot recommend it enough,” Anna-Maria says.











We may highlight books by authors of color here at Read & Found Books, but that doesn’t mean we don’t read and love books by all sorts of authors. Anna-Maria couldn’t help but mention one more book that left a significant impression on her this year: Talking at Night by Claire Daverley. It’s another romance, but on the deeper, heavier side of the romance book spectrum.


The story follows main characters Rosie and Will over a period of 15 years or so. Although life breaks them apart, they find themselves reconnecting through conversations they have at night.


“It was really excellent and memorable. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time,” Anna-Maria says.


Be sure to follow Anna-Maria on Instagram (@annareads) and subscribe to her Substack for more of her content. You can also read one of her original pieces here: https://lolwe.org/growing-pains/

 

 
 
 
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