4 Under-Rated Books That Deserve More Buzz #AMonthofFaves

We read quite a bit – many of the books are well hyped – and then there are those which we can’t believe more people aren’t throwing these book at people and screaming read it in the steets! We want to sing their praises so, here are 4 books we read this year, that we wish would get more attention.

💖 TANYA 💖

Patsy, Nicole Dennis-Benn

Goodreads: 2660 ratings

When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life and the possible rekindling of their young love. But Patsy’s plans don’t include her overzealous, evangelical mother – or even her five-year-old daughter, Tru.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook of this amazing novel by Nicole Dennis-Benn and narrated by Sharon Gordon! This is the 2nd novel I’ve read by her (the first being Here Comes the Sun) and I loved them both but this one is my favorite – 5 stars all the way. There’s so much to unpack in Patsy – it is DEEP – as the author takes us on a life journey with Patsy and everything she goes through – her battle with depression (without knowing what it’s called), her story as a mother who doesn’t feel connected to her child, her life and struggle as an illegal immigrant and the complexities as her feelings for another woman in a time and society where it Ts very much taboo. It’s also told from the point of view of the daughter who she left behind in Jamaica. there is so much to this book, but it’s written with a thoughtful hand and it’s a wonderful novel that deserves to be read more than once!

Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams

Goodreads: 17, 816

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

Queenie is everything! Love, love, love! And let me tell you – the audiobook is BETTER than the book – you’ll get to hear all the Jamaican slang and get an authentic experience. This is the story of Queenie – she is a HOT MESS! She is going through a breakup – which has triggered a lot of pain because of past rejections. And she is not handling it well. Get ready for graphic sexual imagery. But oh my gosh – who can’t feel and relate to Queenie.

❅ KIM ❅

The Bone Houses, Emily Lloyd Jones

Goodreads: 3,064

Seventeen-year-old Aderyn (“Ryn”) only cares about two things: her family, and her family’s graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don’t always stay dead. The risen corpses are known as “bone houses,” and legend says that they’re the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. Ryn and Ellis embark on a journey together to stop the curse and find themselves.

I really loved this heartfelt book. I’ve been thinking about it constantly since I finished it a few weeks ago. It’s got elements of fantasy and horror but it reads almost like historical fiction. The Welsh background is stunning and I loved Ryn and Ellis so much. I was completely immersed.

Sawkill Girls, Claire Legrand

Goodreads: 7,648

This book! Wow, wow, wow. It was one of my first reads of 2019 and I’m still trying to get people to give it a try. While some reviewers said it wasn’t for them, I really loved it. The characters were fun and badass and I dug the fast paced, gritty nature of this book. Well, worth the read!

Here’s 5 (U)nderrated Books we raved about last year. What are some of the “underrated” books that you would recommend we read? If you’re participating in #AMonthofFaves [The 2019 Edition] link up to your blog post (or Instagram picture) below.