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Jo The Black Bookworm 📚

@jotheblackbookworm

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Jo | Books, Travel & Culture📚
Your guide to diverse reads & lifestyle🔎
Full-time bookaholic | Part-time baddie
Collabs: [email protected]

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As the saying goes... 'Closed mouths don't get fed.' 👀

Some way, some how, I have got to find my way back to Jamaica. It has been 25 years since I last touched the soil of Jamaica. Better must come!!!

I know that we* often romanticise Jamaica, the phrase "Nothing better than yaad" comes to mind. However, for me, it's a little bit more personal. Jamaica for me embodies a history, a family, a sweet lingering memory.

Since my grandparents passed away in 2015 & 2021, I find myself heavily missing that portion of my connection to Jamaica, but books have helped to fill the gap. There are things that my grandparents would say & do, that in my youth I couldn't quite grasp, or to be honest, never really cared enough about to ask at the time - but through Jamaican fiction I can learn & understandvmore about their quaint ways.

While my grandparents lived in London for longer than they lived in Jamaica, I always imagine myself sitting on a beach in Jamaica, watching the sun on the horizon, with the waves crashing, while I shed the tears of my loss of them, while feeling the weight of their love in the land of their first home.

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After Read Caribbean Month 2026, can you just imagine the content I would create while in Jamaica 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

The Calabash Literary Festival has been on my bucketlist for a number of years now ❤️ And I am loving what Shanz has been doing with the Book Fairy Festival - the line-ups have been stellar!

Anyway, what was your favourite Read Caribbean skit of mine from this June? And which festival would you love to see me cover?

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Calabash Festival | Literary Event | Bookish | Bookstagram | Jamaica | Book Blogger | Travel

* The Jamaican Diaspora taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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24 days ago

Epic combos galore in this post 👀😏🤏🏾

Word on the street is that there are now 6000 of you who are waiting to get to know me, so this post is just for you ♥︎

Drop our commonalities in the comments section ♥︎

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Get to know me | Bookstagram | Bookworm | Matcha | Blank Street | Arsenal FC | Romance | Plantin

Listen!!! You see me & the Hollywood Renaissance series, we go together like bun & cheese.

The vibes in these stories are IMMACULATE & I cannot wait for the final instalmment from this series (apparently this will be on route next year) ♥︎

What is your favourite KR series?

I have heard many slurs against matcha & I will not tolerate it!

Yesterday I had my best matcha yet from Blank Street - the Cinnamon Bun flavour 😮‍💨

Do you have a go-to matcha combo?

Put me on a flight with Easyjet & I'm good.

I actually need some help deciding where to fly to next for my annual solo trip, where should I go?

I can't believe just how long I went on as a book lover without the Libby App! I love freeness & I love books. This summer this app has been the most utilised one!

Do I need to say anymore?

A film that I will never get bored of. If your bestie was getting married & you knew it was to the wrong person, are you intervening or letting things be? 👀

Heaven in a glass! I automatically deduct stars for google reviews if I don't see Lychee martini's on the menu...

I hate reading fantasy, but I loved this series! In fact, I have rewatched it countless times!

GET IN MY BELLY!

Arsenal to di worllllllll' taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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a month ago

Happy Read A Book Day 📚

Whether you are a seasoned reader or a new reader, there is a book out there for you.

I have read 100s of books, but these titles are the ones that will teach you a multitude of lessons about life, history, health & society.

Be sure to save this post to refer back to this curated bookish curriculum.

Which titles will you be adding to your TBR?

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Personal curriculum | Bookstagram | TBR | Cosy reading | Back To School | Fiction | Non Fiction | Book recommendations | Black books taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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a month ago

Reading is such a varied experience!

What pace do you prefer when reading?

Side note - I just know So Good by Jhené Aiko & Kendrick is going to end up on my Spotify wrapped 😭🤣 This is my end of year anthem!

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

Jhené Aiko | So Good | Westside Whimsy | Bookstagram | Book Reels | Bookish | Leave Your Mess At Home taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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17 hours ago

This isn't an ad, but I promise you if I don't start my office days with @blankstreet , my view is that the day is a bad day, "What start bad ah morning, can't end good ah evening."

For something* that doesn't bring me as much joy as my love of books does, I have to find moments of joy in my day in whatever ways that I can.

My order of happiness in a cup (or 2):

🍂 A cinnamon bun iced oat matcha (I'll be sad once this seasonal flavour is over)

💭 A daydream oat latte (extra hot)

Without that A.M caffeine fix on Tuesday, I'm not sure that I would have been as receptive to the after lunch keynote speech. That keynote speech lit a fire in me & reminded me of my bookstagram journey. It reminded me that I've come so far, but there is still so much ground & distance that I want to travel.

What mountain have you been traversing this year? Are you where you hoped you would be?

Love (always)

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Content Creator | London | Mountaineer | Blank Street | Matcha | Bookstagram | Day In The Life | Book Blogger

*my corporate slog taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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a day ago

AD - An exploratory journey through Black Britain, stretching as far back as the Roman Empire right up until modern day Britain. The perfect reading companion for your children for Black History Month and beyond. OUT NOW!

🔎 Black History Month | David Olusoga | Black and British | Middle Grade | Bookstagram | Non Fiction for children taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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3 days ago

"You are her rainbow."

Sister of Mine by Marie-Claire Amuah 📚

I remember reading Marie-Claire's debut title, 'One for Sorrow, Two For Joy' & wishing that the topic matter wasn't so heavy & depressing, but yet, when I saw the cover for 'Sister of Mine', I still felt compelled to give Marie-Claire's storytelling another whirl, especially after seeing some promising reviews online.

Sika is trying to climb the rungs of her demanding PR job in London, but when an opportunity arises to travel to Accra with her mother for a family party, Sika finally puts herself first & requests two weeks of annual leave. Sika does however have an ulterior motive. Sika is on the hunt for her paternal family. While the holiday provides Sika with some much deserved relaxation & cultural discovery, she uncovers a dark secret which will threaten to obliterate life as she knows it.

From the first few chapters of this story, I had high hopes. The chapters were short, funny & punchy, however, as the story continued, I struggled to understand where the story was going. Why? Lots of words, lots of chapters, but a lot of nothing at the same time. By the time i reached 200 pages, I was ready to call it a day, yet something urged me to carry on, and I am so glad that I did.

Sister of Mine was a perfect reminder of the breadth of a mothers love. A poignant reminder that mother's hold many secrets close to their hearts, but yet still leave ample space in their hearts somehow to love & to love unconditionally.

As much as I wished for more in terms of the romance with Danso, the unanswered questions about aunty Edem & that silly "Prophet". The last 30 odd pages of the story left a lasting impact on me, that it made it all worth it somehow.

Not every story is going to work for you, but sometimes it's not about it working for you, sometimes it's about the message that it carries from an authors heart to yours.

For lovers of character led stories & mother/daughter relationships.

★★★.25

Ghana | Bookstagram | 2026 Books | Book Review | Book Blogger | Fiction | Literary Fiction taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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5 days ago

Just a reminder that your friends don't actually need to support you, especially when strangers will do it without a second thought 😘

What are your thoughts on this topic? Have you had your own similar experience?

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Bookstagram | Friendship | Success | Friends | Books | Blogging | Blogger | Advice taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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7 days ago

Grab your favourite sofa in Deptford's quirkiest bar & join us for the bookish link up you've been dreaming of 📚💕

An Author, A book Blogger and a stack of juicy questions 📝

We'll be talking all things bookish: from hot takes & DNFs to must reads & community building. Aaaand thennn we'll settle down for some yummy reading time - feat book swaps, goodies & moooore.....

An afternoon of bookish connection in the height of cosy season 🍂

Pizza and cocktails available all afternoon. Bliss.

Link in biooooo

@littlenansbar
@jotheblackbookworm by @jotheblackbookworm

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8 days ago

"Where exactly does the hatred of your language come from?"

When I finished the Disappearers this weekend, I didn't feel compelled to write my usual book review. Yes, the book is great. Yes, Marlon is very much a deserving winner of every prize that he's nominated for. Yes, the book was very long-winded, yet necessary. Yes, the audiobook SLAPPED! And yes, it is beyond violent. It's an excellent, must-read piece of literature that I emplore you to read.

The Disappearers has made me reflect on everything that I was taught about homosexuality, everything that I was taught to fear about homosexuality & everything that I no longer think about homosexuality.

Growing up in a British-Caribbean & largely Christian family, it was steadily reinforced that homosexuality was a sin, punishable by God & equally punishable by man - should they deem fit to. It was something that was shut off of TV with quickness. Cue the early 90s where Eastenders introduced a gay character to our screens. While it wasn't always a loud shout of condemnation, the quiet whispers of sin always seemed the loudest & reverberated in my mind for years to come.

It took me years to come to terms with non-heterosexual sexuality. That was until one of my best friends came out as gay. My reaction, honestly, wasn't great, but with time I got over it, because what I soon realised was that I would much prefer my friend to experience love that was true to her wants & identity. Everything begins & ends with love, so how could I ever condemn love?

Decades later & here I am, a lover of queer & sapphic r&b & reading some of the most obscene descriptions of brutalisation & gay xes that I have ever laid my eyes upon, and yet, I am not walking away feeling shocked or disgusted by the depictions in this story. I'm walking away feeling ashamed. Ashamed of becoming so consumed by the tired excuse of homosexuality not having a place within "our culture".

Culture can sometimes be the fastest way to excuse ourselves of taught acts of hatred. So I circle back once more to the earlier quote:

"Where exactly does the hatred of your language come from?"

★★★★.25

🔎 Marlon James | Bookstagram | Jamaica | 🏳️‍🌈 | taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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10 days ago

I cannot believe that my first international PR trip to Stockholm, Sweden, was a whole year ago! Where on earth has the time gone?

In 2025 I never saw myself in:
~ In Sweden (despite it being on my bucket list).
~ Travelling with strangers (ok, I knew a few before)
~ Being invited abroad because I love yapping about books

That trip to Sweden really lit a fire within me & reminded me that even when you don't know where your path is leading you, that you should trust & believe that you will find yourself in the exact place that you should be.

Next stop, Jamaica? 👀🤞🏾

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 PR Trip | Book Influencer | Content Creator | Bookstagram | Books | Stockholm | Sweden | Travel | Inspirational taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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12 days ago

Happy World Smile Day 😊📚❤️

But of course you know I'd be making it bookish & a bit personal.

The book that still makes me smile 'til this day is The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest. I was smiling throughout my time in Milan while reading it. I love when books keep me smiling!

I remember years ago at school this girl said I had an ugly smile - which on reflection years later, I realised she was definitely a hater & definitely projecting her own insecurities onto me. How do I know this, well her own teeth were a similar shape to mine 🤣🤷🏾‍♀️

Over the years I began to hate the shape of my lateral incisors. I'd still smile in pictures of course, but in the back of my mind that thought, that my smile wasn't perfect, was still there.

Fast forward to 20 years later & I decided to get composite bonding to change the shape of my lateral incisors & I will say that I definitely feel more confident about my smile.

Anyway, I just wanted to remind you all not to give anyone the power to take away your smile ♥︎

Also, you should be on your 3rd or 4th toothbrush of the year 👀😆

Love,

Jo The Black Bookworm

🔎 Books That Made Me Smile | Dental | Composite Bonding | Bookstagram | Romance | Women's Fiction | Humour | Book Recs taken in London, United Kingdom by @jotheblackbookworm

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13 days ago