Black Girls Lit!

Before we dive into this episode: Please join us for our first in person event. An audiobook walk followed by drinks and conversation. Meet us in Suwanee Town Center on October 24 at 10am.  Now for the episode: A horror thriller that doesn’t feel like a monster story can be the scariest kind. We picked Intercepts by TJ Payne for spooky season, poured up Atlanta Hard Cider Company flavors, and imme...

Fourteen days can feel like a lifetime when you’re waiting on a test result that could change everything. We’re talking about The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, the debut novel from Mara Brock Akil, and how she uses an early-1990s HIV exposure scare to pull every hidden fear to the surface, from sex and shame to memory, identity, and survival. We get into our real reactions (sip, cheer, and everythi...

The Dark Lord thinks he’s masterminding a conquest by kidnapping the “right” bride. Arabella thinks absolutely not, and that one decision turns The Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating and Other War Crimes by Tiffany Hunt into the kind of darkly comedic romantasy that makes you laugh, blush, and argue with your friends. We’re Black Girls Lit, so we do it our way: we start with Taiku Red Flower sake, turn i...

A Cinderella story where the ball is not a dream, it’s a threat. We put on our tiaras, pour Bougie Peach vodka, and crack open Cinderella Is Dead to talk about what happens when a society turns a fairy tale into law and forces teenage girls to line up to be chosen by men. The book’s setup is YA fantasy, but the feelings are painfully real: fear, pressure, and the stomach-drop that comes with reali...

A boyfriend who checks every box can still be the biggest risk in the room, and that’s exactly why we couldn’t stop talking about The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden. We’re sipping Equiano Rum and walking through what makes this thriller such a page-turner, how it keeps you guessing, and why the ending had us split between “that was wild” and “wait, that’s it?” If you love suspense novels, twisty rev...

Sugar Hill looks like paradise until you notice how quiet the threats are. We’re pouring Yah Yah Cognac and getting into The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie, a sharp, stylish reimagining of Gatsby set inside Black Los Angeles in 1945, where Charlie Trammell arrives fresh from a segregated war and finds himself pulled into a world of Black affluence, ambition, and secrets. Between boarding houses, a...

Twenty years of history should come with some growth, right? We crack open Fiddler Whiskey and then get brutally honest about Unfinished Business by Malcolm D. Lee and Jayne Allen. Harper is divorced, celebrated, and still emotionally blocked. Jordan is trying to protect her peace from Malibu. Robin has built a new life in Ghana. Somehow, the same old dynamics keep finding all three of them, and w...

“Yes” sounds simple until it asks you to be seen, be bold, and be honest about what you actually want. We start season two of Black Girls Lit with Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes (10th anniversary edition) and a table full of Crystal Head Vodka cocktails, then we get into the real work behind the slogan: turning “yes” into an ongoing practice that you come back to again and again. We talk about the mom...

A doomsday story hits different when you’re laughing with a drink in hand and still realizing the warning might be real. We’re back for Thirsty Thursday with a Beehive Bellini and a look back at Octavia E. Butler’s Parable Of The Sower, including our very mixed reviews and the parts that stayed with us long after we closed the book. We get into the fun argument first: who belongs on an apocalyptic...

Some books aren’t stories—they’re scripture. In Episode 15, we enter the prophetic world of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler—one of the most visionary and urgent voices in Black speculative fiction. This book doesn’t just imagine a dystopian future—it reminds us of the one we’re already living in. From environmental collapse and social breakdown to the birth of a new belief system through a...

There are love stories that sweep you off your feet—then there are the ones that make you sit in your silence , confront your patterns, and unearth the parts of yourself you've kept hidden. In Episode 14, just ahead of Valentine's Day, the full BGL crew— Natasha, Lex, Star, and Stephanie —step into the charged and emotionally layered world of In the Meantime by Love Belvin. This isn’t yo...

A new year means new energy—but first, we’re facing the mirror. In our first episode of 2026, we step into Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, a novel that captures the chaos, vulnerability, and raw beauty of a woman on the edge of everything. Queenie is navigating heartbreak, mental health, career microaggressions, family pressure, and a relationship to self that’s unraveling in public—and in sile...

We’re closing the year the only way we know how—curled up with a good story, a glass in hand, and our full selves in the room. In our final episode of the season, the BGL crew dives into Second Chance Christmas by Jahquel J., a cozy-but-spicy holiday romance that wraps the year in all the warmth and messiness we needed. It’s about love that gets a do-over, forgiveness that costs something, and the...

The eleventh hour is when everything you’ve been holding finally breaks through. In our 11th episode, we sit with Long After We Are Gone —a novel that doesn’t just tell a story, it demands that you feel it. And we did. Every one of us. Natasha, Lex, Stephanie, and Star came into this conversation carrying more than just thoughts—we brought our full hearts. This is a book about the ache that lives...

Ten episodes in—and this one’s a celebration. Black Girls Lit! has officially reached double digits, and we’re raising a glass to the journey. Through every laugh, debate, page-turn, and pause for refills, we’ve built something rooted, reflective, and here to stay. For this milestone moment, we chose An American Marriage by Tayari Jones—a story that stirs up real questions about loyalty, timing, s...

The Butcher is back—and not everyone wanted to follow him. In Episode 9, Lex, Star, and Natasha continue the twisted ride with The Butcher’s Game by Alaina Urquhart. Stephanie gracefully bows out (because one killer was enough!), leaving the rest of us to chase this psychopath across state lines to Massachusetts. What we found? A book that was faster, more brutal, and disturbingly intimate. The te...

In Episode 8, the crew goes way into the mind of madness with The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart. This psychological thriller had us digging deep into the chilling mind games of a serial killer who toys with more than just his victims. The hosts—Natasha, Lex, Star, and Stephanie—unpack what it means to walk through a killer’s thoughts and how unsettling it feels when you start to understa...

We’ve come to the end—but this one didn’t go quietly. In the final episode of our Legacy of Orïsha series, we dive into Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi—and it’s a whirlwind from beginning to end. From explosive pacing to emotional swings, Book 3 pushed us all in different directions. Some of us closed the book... let’s just say, with more feelings than fulfillment.  And yes, a litt...

The revolution isn’t over—but the vibes have definitely shifted. In this sixth episode of Black Girls Lit! , the hosts return with our special guest and now rotating co-host, Stephanie , to continue unraveling Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orïsha series. After falling hard for Children of Blood and Bone , our follow-up read— Children of Virtue and Vengeance —stirred up more questions than we expected....

Magic has a price. And in our fifth episode, we begin to understand just how high that cost can be. The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is the first book of the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy that we ever cracked open—and it did not hold back. This West African-inspired fantasy pulled us into a world that felt both mythical and mirror-like, reflecting real struggles through richly imagined la...

In this week’s Black Girls Lit! pour, your favorite lit crew — Lex, Natasha, and Star — crack open Wish You Had Told Me by Zina Patel, and whew… the silence speaks loud in this one. This episode is a toast and a warning — because sometimes it’s not the knife in your back that hurts, it’s the friend holding it. The ladies dive deep into the novel’s haunting friendship secrets, the weight of untold...

This pour hits different. We’re diving into The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah—a story of two sisters just trying to survive Nazi-occupied France in their own powerful (and very different) ways. In this episode, we’re talking about quiet strength, the weight of sacrifice, and how women have always been the backbone of resistance—even when nobody was watching. Expect some deep sips, a few unexpected...

Pour something silky and press play, because this 57-minute ride is draped in satin and soaked in real talk. Zane’s no-holds-barred tale of passion, power plays, and second chances has the Black Girls Lit! crew in their feelings—and their fantasies—as they dissect how love and lust can cradle the heart or crush it. Lex, Natasha, Nicole, and Star waste no time rating the spice level, swapping “been...

In our very first pour, we’re diving into Let Them by Mel Robbins — a short but powerful read that had us all rethinking how we respond to judgment, rejection, and other people’s opinions. With cocktails in hand and truth on our tongues, we’re talking boundaries, freedom, and what it really means to let go and live unbothered. Tune in for laughs, real talk, and a whole lot of “YES, girl!” energy....