Black Chick Lit

This is our most scandalous episode yet. We discuss the month's biggest controversies and OMG! moments, including #RITAsSoWhite, #BagelGate and Shangela. Who exactly is RITA and what's her problem? Why aren't authors of color getting the shine they deserve? Why can't the RWA just set fire to the whole award season? We try our best to answer these questions, but tbh, we don't come away satisfied. Here are some of the resources we mentioned during the episode:

• Bronwen Fleetwood's PowerPoint presentation

Also, earlier this month, we asked y'all to share your unpopular book opinions. And, boy, did you deliver, bringing shade for a whole bunch of tropes, books and authors. Thanks to all who answered this month's chat! Be sure to read up for our next episode, My Sister, The Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

Bring the lemon and sugar, 'cause we got the tea.

This month, we read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and we couldn't help but notice how similar this book is to Avatar: The Last Airbender. A pair of plucky but poor siblings — one magic and one not? Check. A handsome young prince who's tormented by his father and who just wants to do right? Check. An evil regime? A magical summer solstice? A giant fluffy flying thing? Check. Check. Check.

Needless to say, we didn't love it. (But, again, at least we didn't build a website.) If you want an even more in-depth look at the book's plot, you can check out Dani's rage-y notes online via Google Drive. And if you want to learn more about writing fantasy, check out the YouTube videos by Brian Sanderson that Mollie mentioned.

We shared our shade and now it's your turn. And in celebration of our birthday month, we're trying something new! Call and leave us a voicemail at 213-259-3739 with your unpopular book opinions. Whatever book, genre, author you want! They don't have to be about books we've discussed or books by black women. You can also tweet them at us or DM us at @blackchicklit. (You can stay anonymous. Just let us know!) Get your thoughts by Friday, March 29!

Thanks for listening in and be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. Thanks to Suite45 for our theme song, Jones’n.

It's finally here! We got to speak with the Queen of Black Historicals herself, Beverly Jenkins, and it was a blast. It's easy to see where Loreli's feistiness comes from.

We ask her about her place in the romance genre, her writing process and her personal opinions of men with mustaches. (Spoiler alert: She's #TeamStache.) We also learn what she's currently working on and what she hopes to achieve in the future.

(We had a slight technical glitch at 44:10. We apologize for the loss of Ms. Jenkins response! 😭)

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for Ms. Jenkins: @MochaGirlsRead, @EveryWoman98, @unicorninkk, @srmilesauthor, @IamTammiJ and @chandrathompson.

Next month, we're jumping back into the world of YA, so don't be surprised if we get shady. We're reading Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

Happy Valentine’s Day, listeners!

Love is in the air! It’s our annual romance episode, and this year, we’re reading the Slayer of Words herself: Ms. Beverly Jenkins. We read Dani’s favorite Jenkins’ novel, A Chance at Love. (Or as Mollie titled it, The Education of Jake Reed.) There are precocious children, farm animal hijinks and a marriage of convenience that ends up causing more problems than it solves. It’s basically a black historical rom-com, and we loved it.

We dig into it all, as well as sketchy Missouri hospitals, Kansas’ poor taste in mascots and our romance philosophies.

Listen in and get ready for our next episode when we speak to the Slayer herself! We get to chat with Ms. Jenkins about romance, writing and her impressive career. Any questions you want us to ask? Be sure to tweet them to us at @blackchicklit by Feb. 16.

Thanks for coming back and be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. Thanks to Suite45 for our theme song, Jones’n.

Happy New Year! Our first episode of 2019 is a chatty one as we share our 2019 reading and writing resolutions, as well as our goals for the podcast.

We also get into the increasing bougieness of the Oscars, our love-hate relationship with the Goodreads Challenge and a number of Instascams (including Fyre Festival). Listen in and share your reading resolutions with us at @blackchicklit.

February is Romance month, and this year, we’re finally reading Beverly Jenkins, a.k.a. the Slayer of Words herself. Listen in next month when we discuss her 2002 book A Chance at Love. (While Indigo is the title mentioned in the episode, we had to do a last-minute switcheroo after the recording. You should still definitely read Indigo. And then tweet Dani about it. She’s up for any and all romance novel talk.)

Shout out to everyone who took part in our poll or responded to our resolution tweets. Do you have a suggestion for a future #BCLChat? Email us at [email protected]. And don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to Black Chick Lit on iTunes.

We're back for round two of Zane's Addicted, and the second half is as incomprehensible as the first.

We wrap up Urban Fic January with the second half of our discussion of this "erotic" book, and things are problematic, to say the least. The storyline touches on rape, molestation and murder, and none of those topics are handled well. Want a fun drinking game? Count how many times we say the words "gross" and "unsexy." Your liver will hate us.

If you're interested in seeing the rest of Dani's notes, you can find them on Goodreads.

Missed the first half of our conversation? Listen in to last week's episode.

And as always, thanks for listening and be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. Special thanks to Suite45 for our theme song, Jones’n.

This is it, y'all. This is the episode that broke us.

It's January. You know what that means. Time for new year's resolutions, crash diets and Urban Fic month at Black Chick Lit.

This year, we read Zane's Addicted and raised questions we'd never thought to ask. Has anyone ever been turned on by a mural? Is a human penis sensitive enough to feel a maxi pad through a pair of stirrup pants? Why would anyone add nacho cheese sauce to a blow job?

Brace yourselves because we try and fail to answer them all in our first-ever two-parter episode. Be sure to check back next Friday to hear the end of our conversation, where we tackle the more problematic aspects of this crazy book.

As always, thanks for listening and be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. Special thanks to Suite45 for our theme song, Jones’n.

2018 was both the longest and the shortest year imaginable. We saw Black Panther . We mocked the Tide-Pod Challenge. And we read books. So many books.

In this episode, we look back at our year of reading and talk about the good, the bad and the very disappointing. We talk about why we may be done with the Saga series, share some behind-the-scenes secrets about the Whiskey & Ribbons episode and try and figure out just what the hell a “womanly fold” is. (Spoiler alert: It’s exactly what you think it is.)

Heads up: Major spoilers for Saga, volume 9 from 32:56 to 35:20. 

Shout out to @charelliam for writing in and reminding us about all the drama on BookTube this year.

Do you have a suggestion for a future #BCLChat? Email us at [email protected]. And don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to Black Chick Lit on iTunes.

And don’t forget: January is Urban Fic month! Join us when we read Addicted by Zane. It’s gonna be wild.

Thanks again for joining us for another year of insightful nonsense! This wouldn’t be half as fun to do without you all listening in.

We're back! And just in time to miss Halloween.

Life happened, one of us lost a computer and we got a bit behind on posting our latest episode. Hopefully, you all are still feeling a creepy this fall and a ready to dig into Tananarive Due's The Good House.

This is a big book with a lot going on, but we're able to dig into Due's great writing style, our favorite and least favorite characters, and just where in the world we think this book takes place. 

For our next episode, we're looking back at all our reading in 2018 to discuss the books we loved, hated and everything in between. Be sure to join the discussion by tweeting us at @blackchicklit on Twitter.

Thanks for coming back and be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. Thanks to Suite45 for our theme song, Jones’n.

This month, we decided to ask ourselves a few of our own questions: What are our goals for the podcast? How did we meet? What’s our favorite Powerline song? (Spoiler alert: It’s “Stand Out.”)

Get to know Dani and Mollie a bit better and listen in to this extra chatty BCL Chat episode. Join us next time when we read The Good House by Tananarive Due.

Do you have a suggestion for a future #BCLChat? Email us at [email protected]. And don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to Black Chick Lit on iTunes.