The PopSugar reading challenge is a favorite of many readers and we’re big fans. Last year we started sharing books written by Black authors that fit the challenge prompts, and this year we’re back it again with 6 Books by Black Authors for the 2025 PopSugar Reading Challenge.
1. A book about a POC experiencing joy and not trauma
Act Your Age, Eve Brown – Talia Hibbert
I absolutely love the quirky Brown Sisters – and each one is featured in a book in the trilogy. In this installment, we get to know Eve Brown, the youngest of the sisters who still doesn’t have her life figured out yet. She hops from job to job and, has trouble with keeping close friendships. Her family finally gives her an ultimatum, which she didn’t take too kindly to, she leaves, ends up as a cook at an inn where Jacob is the proprietor. He is grumpy, snippy and they are completely different, but their mutual understanding for each other’s quirks made them such a compatible couple. Eve was just so unapologetically herself – she acts completely self assured, but still has lots of self doubts and fears which she internalizes and rarely expresses. Eve and Jacob’s witty banter and enemies to friends to steamy lovers courtship was beautiful (and funny) to read about. Act Your Age Eve Brown is a delightful read that will charm you with its quirky characters, humorous moments, and heartwarming romance.
6. A book that fills your favorite prompt from the 2015 PS Reading Challenge
—> A book of short stories
Everything Inside, Edgwidge Danicat
Danticat has written a strong collection of stories filled with complex characters many of which are Haitian-American, and all dealing with major issues involving loss, betrayal, feelings of longing or loneliness. It’s rare for me to come across a short story collection where every single story is fantastic – but Everything Inside is that! What makes Everything Inside truly remarkable, however, is its emotional impact. Each story is a moving and emotional experience, tackling tough subjects like loss, grief, and the complexities of human relationships.
10. A highly anticipated read of 2025
Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor
I’m interpreting this challenge prompt as a book coming out in 2025 and written by a Black author. One I’m most looking forward to reading, and would love to see everyone read it too, is Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor. I’m looking forward to it because Okorafor has written some amazing books – the Binti trilogy is a fave – plus, as a reader, I like the concept of reading a “book within a book.” And then of course, there’s the synopsis, which is compelling and completely drew me in …
Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she’s suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister’s wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she’s not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life – she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.
20. A book that fills a 2024 prompt you’d like to do over (or try out)
—-> 21. A book that came out in a year that ends with “24”
James, Percival Everett
This is a retelling of the classic novel, Huckleberry Finn, but told from the point of view of James, the slave companion of Huck. Of course, reading a book about slavery is never easy, and this novel is graphic in it’s reminders, but it’s a book that I couldn’t put down. There are so many subtleties shared by the author that made the story for me – the way the slaves played up the type of “dumb” speech expected, the secrets they kept, the inner dialogues, the complexities of relationships, the tightrope the slaves walked for almost every waking minute of the day. The story itself followed the “adventures” of James and Huck, and where they diverged, we followed James / Jim. I was a little befuddled that James, a runaway slave, didn’t have more near misses in being caught. But, overall, definitely recommend, and I can see why there’s so much hype around this book.
25. A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee
Behold the Dreamers, Imbolo Mbue
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. He lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty, and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future. However, when the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, all their lives are dramatically upended, and Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.
Behold the Dreamers is a beautifully written book about family, dreams, what home means, what the American dream really means and the immigrant experience. The author was able to capture and detail in an engrossing life what are some of the thoughts, rituals, and life experience is like for an immigrant. Not only that, but it really focused on what “home” is. Is it a place, is it the people in your life, your family, where you feel a sense of belonging, or where you are comfortable.
28. A book that features an unlikely friendship
Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby
Shoutout to the audiobook narrator Adam Lazarre-White who brought the main characters to life! Unbelievable that he is the voice of both of them – he captured the essence of Derek and Buddy Lee perfectly. And of course, the book itself is brilliant. Wow did Cosby get it right with such a complex story – fathers regrets, race, homophobia, complex family dynamics, and action – lots and lots of action.
The last thing Ike Randolph expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge.
Have you read any of these books? Or have any recommendations to add to the list?
