The Reading Diva

Received some more books in the mail over the weekend, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! All of the books received were from Kensington Publishing .  They are (from left, top to bottom): Bad Boy Seduction What I Remember Most Until I Saw Your Smile The Perfect Affair Another Woman's Man Troublemaker Get Some Want Some Dead of Night Put Your Diamonds Up The Killing Kind Do you see any books that you would like to read?  Hit me up on the comments section! Thanks to Kensington for the books!

Relax in Paradise Nancy Garden ,  Mary Rodgers  and Allen Grossman . Congratulations to Kwame Alexander for being nominated for the best fictional Young Adult book by American Libraries Association!! In a major victory for libraries, Simon and Schuster will open e-book lending to all libraries .  You can read your Stephen King and Zane now. Hatchette bought Peresus Books this week . Terry McMillan is switching publishers , but both are under the Penguin Random House umbrella. Good news for John Green fans: Looking for Alaska will be adapted for a feature film . Good news for Judy Blume fans: she will be releasing a new novel for adults next year. Good news for Vince Flynn fans: Mitch Rapp will live on . In movie/mini-series news:  We have pictures and the trailer for The Book of Negroes.   Half of a Yellow Sun will be on Vimeo staring Sunday .  And Caroline's Wedding may also make it to the silver screen . Sophia Loren...

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Yolanda, who is a literary publicist for several African-American authors and Brown Girls Publishing .  She said she had an author who was interested in doing a book signing in Charleston and wanted to look for a location where it could happen.  She later told me it was Nina Foxx , who is coming to town in July for a visit.  I thought about places where it could happened and it dawned on me that I'm on the Board of Trustees for the county library.  We could have it at one of the libraries! Duh. So I asked Gerald, who is over one of the library branches, to see if he can have it at his branch.  He was highly interested in having the event, as long as it wasn't during his vacation.  So I connected him with Yolanda via Facebook.  And a few days later we had a location, date and time! Nina will be in (North) Charleston on July 2 (next Wednesday) at 6 p.m.  She will be speaking and signing her books, i...

Some new books arrived in my mailbox last week, which means another edition of Mailbox Monday! I received all three books from Harper Books.  They will all be released in August. Ride Around Shining The Story of Land and Sea The Story Hour Which one of these books are you looking forward to reading?  Thanks to Harper Books for the ARCs!!

Today would have been E. Lynn Harris' 59th birthday.  I can't believe it's been almost 20 years since I first read Invisible Life and Just As I Am in high school. He soon became one of my favorite authors. I winded up getting all of his book and knocking them out in a day or two because I was so enthralled with his writing. Getting to know Raymond, Basil, Yancy and his cast of characters was always fun.  We took this picture in 2008, when he was in Orlando for Delta's National Convention.  Almost a year later (to the date), he passed away.  And he was one of the sweetest guys you would ever meet.  While he is no longer with us, E. Lynn's work lives on.  May he continue to relax in paradise.  And if you haven't heard about E. Lynn, here is a short bio from Notable Alphas . Ellis Still, founder and owner of The Burning Bush Christian Bookstore , passed away suddenly this week.  Services are scheduled for Wednesday in New Jersey.  Thought...

Elementary school was a long time ago.  But one of my favorite memories from those days was when Ruby Dee visited our school.  I don't remember what she was in Charleston for, but I remember her coming and it was a big deal.  That memory came back in my mind yesterday when I heard of her passing .  May Soror Ruby relax in paradise and be reunited with Ossie on the other side. Relax in Paradise Eric Hill . Congratulations to all of the Go On Girl Author Awards winners ! (Couldn't find a story and pictures, so this will have to do.)  Also congratulations go out to Juan Gabriel Vasquez . Get well soon Elin Hilderbrand ! You will beat this! #mamastrong Charles Wright was named the nation's new Poet Laureate . Mindy Kaling is writing a book of personal essays . Warner Brothers is now the victim of Amazon's bullying tactics with their new DVD releases . It's almost the same thing they are doing to Hatchette.  Ironically, Hatchette used to be Warner...

Relax in Paradise Susan Spencer-Wendel . A memorial service for Maya Angelou will take place tomorrow morning at Wake Forest University and will be live-streamed. Nikki Giovanni wrote a new poem  in memory of Maya. Congratulations to Eimear McBride and all of the winners of the Lambda Awards ! Toni Morrison wants to know if we can find paradise on Earth . Two Texas women are suing over profits from the 50 Shades of Gray series .  I would totally support them if they were suing for reimbursement for buying those books. A.C. Slater, I mean Mario Lopez, and David Spade are coming out with memoirs. This 13 year old has written two books .  I was too busy reading and listening to Tevin Campbell and Boyz II Men at 13.  And I was too busy watching cartoons to be writing a book at 6 . SIX. Barnes and Noble has partnered with Samsung to bring out tablets with Nook software. James Patterson , JK Rowling  and Stephen Colbert has spoke out agains...

These books arrived in my mailbox weeks ago, but it's never too late to feature them in Mailbox Monday! Three of the books came from Harper Books: Monster's Chef Elizabeth is Missing Eyes on You One came from Random House (and is highly recommended among some the fellow bloggers who have read it): The Book of Unknown Americans And the last one is the new book by Eric La Salle (yes, the guy from ER) called Laws of Wrath .  It's the sequel to his first book Laws of Depravity . Which one of these books are you looking forward to reading? Let me know in the comments section!  Thanks to the publishers who provided the ARCs!