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OCT📖-The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman | Centering stories by Black women & women of color • Expanding awareness through diverse literature ✨

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Introducing our October Spine of the Month, THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN by @deeshaphilyaw!

We are beyond thrilled to welcome Deesha to the Diverse Spines book community with her highly anticipated debut novel, where we meet the glamorous and outspoken Scharisse Freeman, wife of a powerful megachurch pastor whose picture-perfect life isn’t quite what it seems.

This one is fun, messy and juicy, with secrets, church folks in everybody’s business, complicated relationships and plenty of moments that will have you wondering what could possibly happen next.

If you read Deesha’s phenomenal short story collection, THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES, then you already know what she can do on the page. Her debut novel brings that same wit, unforgettable characters and wonderfully complicated women. We cannot wait to talk about this one!

THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN is available now. You can pick up a copy from our @bookshop.org shop. 🔗 Link in bio.

Who’s reading with us this month? 🙋🏾‍♀️

📖🍎👑

#DiverseSpines
#BookClubPick
#TheTrueConfessionsOfFirstLadyFreeman
#OctoberReads
#BookCommunity

Bookstagram | Black Authors | Black Women Authors | Book Club | Book Recommendations | Debut Novel | New Books | Contemporary Fiction | Black Boosktagram | Books to Read by @diversespines

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a day ago

BOOK CHAT DAY! ✨ Tomorrow we are chatting with @naimacoster for our September Spine of the Month, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN. Don’t miss this exciting discussion as we welcome Naima to the Diverse Spines community.

Join us Saturday, 10/3 at 1pm ET!

📖🍸🍹💙

#DiverseSpines
#AuthorEvent
#TakeWhatYouCab
#BookCommunity
#BookRecommendation

Bookstagram | Book Chat | September Reads | Latine Heritage Month | Diverse Reads | Book Rec | Book Club | Naima Coster | Reader Life | Love to Read by @diversespines

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3 hours ago

Happy Pub Day to two of our most anticipated reads of the year!! 🎉🎉

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by @deeshaphilyaw

American Hagwon by @lee_minjin

Tell us which one you’re picking up first?

📖💛

#DiverseSpines
#NewBooks
#Bookstagram
#AmericanHagwon
#TheTrueConfessionsofFirstLadyFreeman

Book Club | Book Community | Book Recs | New Book Tuesday | Diverse Reads | Fiction | Deesha Philyaw | Min Jin Lee | Readers | Fall Reads by @diversespines

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3 days ago

From Bookstagrammer to author, @spinesvines turned years of celebrating Black books and the people who champion them into a book of her own and an entire line of products at BN. She might be one of the first to turn book influencing into a book deal. Prove us wrong. 😂

She’s pulling up to Kinfolk Lit Fest as BOTH a First Cuzzin and a Drawn + Written author.

Because sometimes the person telling everybody what to read gets to put their own book on the shelf. 🥹

📍 Indianapolis
📅 July 16–18, 2027 by @diversespines

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9 days ago

Happy Latine Heritage Month! 📚💛 We celebrate diverse stories all year long, and for Latine Heritage Month, we’re highlighting the rich cultures and stories of the Latine community with a few books that have caught our attention this year. 📚✨

Of course, we had to include our September Spine of the Month, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN by @naimacoster!

Have you read any of these yet? Which one are you excited about? ✨

#DiverseSpines
#LatineAuthors
#LatineHeritageMonth
#BookCommunity
#BookRecommendations

Diverse Books | Latine Authors | Book Club | 2026 Books | New Releases | Fiction Books | Nonfiction Books | YA Books | Books To Read | Bookstagram | Readers of Instagram by @diversespines

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11 days ago

It’s a Labor Day weekend, which means we get an extra day to read! 📚

bell hooks is always a great recommendation. Her trilogy on love explores how we understand, practice, and experience love in our lives and communities.

📖 all about love: new visions
📖 salvation: Black people and love
📖 communion: the female search for love

Have you read any of these?

#DiverseSpines
#bellhooks
#BookStack
#BookRecs
#Bookstagram by @diversespines

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a month ago

August Book Chat • STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS by Catherine Adel West @cawest329. ✨

We had a wonderful discussion with Catherine about her latest novel, STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, the final pick in our Summer Reading Series.

Set against the glamour of Chicago’s Ivory Hotel, this gripping thriller centers two Black women, head concierge Giovanni Mason and Detective Redding Stark, as the disappearance of a beauty influencer pulls them into a dangerous web of secrets and privilege. At the heart of the novel is something much deeper, the troubling reality of how little attention missing Black women often receive and what it means when their stories are overlooked.

I loved so many aspects of our conversation especially discussing centering complex Black women in the thriller genre, race and class, the real-life inspiration behind the story, and Catherine’s research and move into writing thrillers.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and for reading with us this summer! 🏖️

📖💛

#DiverseSpines
#StrangersBehindClosedDoors
#BookChat
#BookCommunity
#SummerReading by @diversespines

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a month ago

BOOK CHAT DAY IS TOMORROW! 📖✨Join us tomorrow for a conversation with @cawest329, author of STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, our August Spine of the Month.

When a beauty influencer disappears from Chicago’s glamorous Ivory Hotel, a determined detective and the hotel’s first Black head concierge uncover a dangerous web of secrets, privilege, and missing Black women.

We’ll be talking about the novel, the inspiration behind the story, its unforgettable characters, and more. I can’t believe this is the final author chat in our Summer Reading Series!

📖 Saturday, August 29
⏰ 1 PM ET
📍 Instagram Live

Have you read STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS? Drop your questions for Catherine below and join us tomorrow!

📖☀️

#DiverseSpines
#BookClub
#AuthorTalk
#SummerReads
#StrangersBehindClosedDoors by @diversespines

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a month ago

It’s Friday!! 👏🏽 What are you reading this weekend?

I’m finally diving into GOOD PEOPLE by @patmeenasabit. I’ve been looking forward to this one. Have you read it?

📖 OVERVIEW:
Zorah Sharaf could do no wrong. Zorah Sharaf brought shame upon her family. What’s the truth? Depends on who you ask.

The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye.

When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?

💫

#DiverseSpines
#GoodPeople
#FridayReads
#SummerReading
#BookRecommendations by @diversespines

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a month ago

🍂 FALL BOOKS WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT 📚⁣
Yes, it’s technically still summer, but our fall reading list is already growing out of control!😂

There are so many incredible new releases coming, and these are just a few we’re excited to get our hands on. Swipe through to see what’s on our radar. ➡️⁣
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Let us know which ones are on your fall reading list?⁣
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🔗 These titles are available for pre-order through our Bookshop.org bookshop: https://bookshop.org/lists/new-in-2026-diverse-spines ⁣
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🍁📖🍃⁣
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#DiverseSpines⁣
#TeamPreorder⁣
#FallReading ⁣
#NewBooks ⁣
#BookRecommendations by @diversespines

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a month ago

Introducing our September Read - TAKE WHAT YOU CAN by @naimacoster 📚🍸🍷

We are so excited to welcome Naima to the Diverse Spines book community. Her latest novel takes readers on wonderful journey.

“Weaving between Brooklyn brownstones and the glittering beaches of southern France, Take What You Can is a dazzling novel exploring what it means to be a mother when you have none, a sister without blood ties, and a woman in pursuit of the life she wants. With her signature sharply observed prose, Naima Coster illustrates how to be—and to stay—someone’s person through all phases of life.“ [Full description in comment section below]

TAKE WHAT YOU CAN is available now. You can pick up a copy from our @bookshop.org shop: https://www.bookshop.org/shop/diversespines. 🔗 Link also in bio.

📖💛

#DiverseSpines
#BookClubPick
#TakeWhatYouCan
#SeptemberReads
#BookCommunity by @diversespines

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a month ago

We still have a few weeks left in summer, but one of our most anticipated reads for fall is AMERICAN HAGWON by @lee_minjin. 📚✨

PACHINKO has been such a beloved read in our book community, so I’m excited to see what she has in store for us with her upcoming novel that releases on September 29, 2026.

AMERICAN HAGWON follows John and Helen Koh and their three children, whose comfortable life in Korea is upended by betrayal and the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Their journey takes them from Seoul to Sydney and eventually Southern California, where the family must start over and navigate immigration, shifting fortunes, and the belief that education can secure a better future for the next generation.

Drop a 🍎 in the comments if you’re excited to read AMERICAN HAGWON.

📌 You can preorder your copy from our Bookshop.org New in 2026 list:
https://bookshop.org/lists/new-in-2026-diverse-spines

📖✨

#DiverseSpines
#AmericanHagwon
#MinJinLee
#Bookstagram
#FallReading by @diversespines

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2 months ago