Books To Read Like One of Them Days
In One of Them Days, friendship, relationships, class, and gender are all tied together in a hilarious film featuring Keke Palmer as Dreux and R&B songwriter and singer SZA as Alyssa. The film also stars superstars such as Katt Williams, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Janelle James, and more in a laugh-out-loud comedy drama about best friends who are roommates. When Dreux, who works as a waitress, is accosted by the landlord over the rent, she expresses her confusion with Alyssa. Eventually, Alyssa confesses that she gave their rent money to her unreliable and unfaithful boyfriend, Keshawn. Together, they try to track him down to avoid eviction. For the next 24 hours, the friends find themselves doing anything to get the money they need to give to their less-than-pleasant landlord. If you enjoyed the movie, discover fiction featuring similar themes of found family, community, and humor.
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Add to BookshelfColored Television
by Danzy Senna
Similar to Alyssa, Jane is also a charming woman who makes questionable decisions in her life. Jane’s main goal is to finish her second novel, so she takes a sabbatical to dedicate more time to it. Suddenly, as luck may have it, Jane, along with her family, is presented with the opportunity to house-sit a beautiful home up in the hills in Los Angeles. Jane seizes this chance to climb the social ladder, hoping it will boost her writing career. But when things begin to spin out of control, Jane tries to transfer her skills to Hollywood. Now, she’s caught up between a producer, a network, and her art. This satirical novel takes a humorous look at navigating the arts and Hollywood while staying authentic to oneself.
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‘Til Heist Do Us Part
by Sara Desai
If Alyssa and Druex would do almost anything to get their money back and make enough to cover the balance, you can only imagine what some would do to eliminate their student loans. In this part romance, part thriller novel, you will get the pleasure of following Simi, a cunning and unsuspecting thief who runs with a moody heist crew. Simi, still living off of her last diamond heist, finds herself in a tough situation because the Mafia wants the jewels she took, and they want it with interest as well. Simi has no other choice but to be a partner with Jack Danger – a sexy but deadly man who makes her heart swoon.
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Rootless
by Krystle Zara Appiah
Sometimes, you want a book that dives headfirst into the relationship problems of couples, especially when the couple seemingly looks perfect on the outside to the world. That’s exactly what happens when Sam returns home and notices his wife Efe is missing as well as the money in their bank accounts. After calling her relentlessly, he is made aware that his wife is now almost 5,000 miles away. As Sam tries to accept that his wife has just abandoned him and their child, he can’t help but sulk and wonder what went wrong in his relationship. After meeting in college, Sam thought he had found his forever girlfriend, but motherhood has taken a toll on Efe. Is it too late for the couple to find common ground?
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The Gardins of Edin
by Rosey Lee
Nothing stirs drama and comedy up like southern Black women who are related to each other and living near each other. This novel loosely adapts certain women from Biblical texts to create these characters. The Gardin family lives next to each other in this fictitious town located in Georgia. With a booming and generational peanut business, Ruth will stop at nothing to keep her family’s business prospering even while she grieves the loss of her husband Beau, who inherited the company from his enslaved ancestors. However, Beau’s sisters Martha and Mary do not completely trust Ruth. Martha weaponizes her stake in the business to undermine Ruth, while Mary just wants to run her comfort food business in peace.
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How to Leave the House
by Nathan Newman
If following the shenanigans of mischievous and colorful neighbors for 24 hours tickles your fancy, then add this hilarious book to your TBR now. Like most young adults, Natwest is preparing to leave his beloved small town for college. But before he departs, he must retrieve a secret package. But he’s not the only local in town who finds themselves at a crossroads; his smug ex-boyfriend and his mother are at odds with each other, the town’s dentist has a passionate artistic flair they want to show the world, and a woman – well into her seasoned years – mourns the death of her secret lover.
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It’s Elementary
by Elise Bryant
Like many working moms, Mavis Miller does not have the time needed to be an active participant at her seven-year-old daughter’s PTA. Mavis has a lot to juggle, but she knows how important it is to have a voice in her daughter’s education, especially since she’s one of the few Black students that attends the school. After watching the school’s principal and the micromanaging PTA president, Trisha Holbrook, clash, Mavis takes note of the tension the two have. It’s Elementary is a quick-witted, escapist romp, all wrapped in a mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end.
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Oye
by Melissa Mogollon
While Deux and Alysssa are chosen family, you can still have the same ridiculous interactions with your blood relatives. This novel depicts the zany antics of a multigenerational Columbian American family as they navigate a deadly hurricane making its way to South Florida. Luciana is the youngest in her family, which means she is used to being ignored, but as the storm draws closer, Luciana takes charge and becomes a voice of reason within her family. As Luciana tries to get her elderly, stubborn grandmother to comply, she finds that her peculiar grandmother, despite her bravado, is a gentle spirit experiencing her own life’s transitions.
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Filthy Animals
by Brandon Taylor
This series of short stories is part of a collective broader story about the lives of young creatives in the Midwest. During 36 hours, these creatives navigate untested relationships and boundaries as they acknowledge all facets of their personality and visions through their interpersonal interactions. One story centers on a young man trying to balance a polyamorous relationship. Another story follows a young woman who is living with cancer and the impact that is having on her and her family. All of these stories are thought-provoking and provocative as they explore the humanity in creatives and the people around them.
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Skye Falling
by Mia McKenzie
When you are young and don’t have a care in the world, you may find yourself doing things you would not do if you were older. At least, that was what Skye was led to believe. When she was in her 20s, she sold some of her eggs because she was strapped for cash. Now, a 12-year-old girl shows up at her doorstep and insists that Skye is her mother. Shocked, Skye admits she wasn’t ready to be a mother then and doesn’t want to be one now. But things get more loopy when Skye finds out that her “daughter” calls the same woman she has been trying to date her aunt.
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Assassins Anonymous
by Rob Hart
Part John Wick, part Bojack Horseman, this engrossing thriller follows an international hitman named Mark. However, Mark is interested in turning over a new leaf. He wants to leave his past behind him as he moves forward. Mark joins a 12-step program for reformed assassins who want to begin a new path of nonviolence. But he learns that taking a pacifist road forward is not as easy as he thinks. When Mark is suddenly attacked by another assassin, he learns that there may be a hit on him. Now, Mark has to travel globally to piece together who wants him dead.
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The Rich People Have Gone Away
by Regina Porter
If you want to take a darker turn, this thriller will make your heart race faster. A pregnant woman named Darla and her husband Theo decide to leave their posh Brooklyn building at the beginning of the pandemic. Her neighbors, unfortunately, don’t have the option to leave, so they stay behind. The couple both decide to retreat to their family’s cabin upstate to escape the chaos in the city caused by the panic of COVID-19. The couple aren’t strangers to exploring nature, so they decide to take a nature walk. However, Darla never returns, and now Theo is the prime suspect.
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I Wish We Weren’t Related
by Radhika Sanghani
One of the highlights of One of Them Days is watching how relationships can overcome tough situations that can sometimes break a relationship. That’s exactly how Reeva felt when her mother told her that her father, who she thought was dead, wasn’t – but is now! Stunned, Reeva learns that she has sisters she’s never met before and her father’s dying wish was for them to be together for his funeral. For that to happen, Reeva must spend the evening in his home with his family, whom she doesn’t know. Already under stress from being a lawyer and now suffering hair loss due to her hectic life, Reeva learns to lean on her new sisters.
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Mademoiselle Revolution
by Zoe Sivak
When it comes to scorned lovers, this historical fiction is scandalous. Sylvie is an heiress to a planter who owns land in Haiti and an enslaved mother. Because of her racial makeup and her father’s name, she can enjoy some of the fruits of her father’s labor and socialize amongst high society. As the Haitian Revolution reaches their front door, Sylvie and her brother are rushed to escape and leave for Paris. In Paris, Sylvie finds herself becoming obsessed with the political movements that are taking place around France. When she meets Maximilien Robespierre and his lady Cornélie Duplay, they make a huge impression on the heiress, who is moved by their speeches about abolishing slavery.
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Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
by Laura Warrell
With jazz as a background but important character, this novel follows a musician and womanizer named Circus Palmer. In 2013, Circus was made aware that his drummer, Maggie, who was also his lover, was expecting and he was the father. Instead of taking care of his obligations, Circus drops everything and skips towns, which starts a domino effect impacting his now teenage daughter, Koko. Like most children, Koko admires her father and places him on a pedestal even when he doesn’t deserve it. As Koko comes into her womanhood, she navigates her mother’s mental health, her abandonment issues, and her sexuality.
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The Scent of Burnt Flowers
by Blitz Bazawule
Melvin and his fiancé, Bernadette, crash their Chevy Impala into a diner in Alabama. Despite sustaining injuries, they are not hurt, and the couple decides to flee because they don’t trust the local authorities to treat them fairly. They both decide to go into hiding while destroying everything they built in America so that they can return to Ghana for their safety. However, a federal agent has pieced together their real identities and remains only a few steps behind them. In Ghana, Melvin reaches out to his college friend, Kwame Nkrumah, who is now the president of Ghana. Despite being friends with one of the most powerful people in Ghana, his friend is facing uphill battles with the Ghanaian government. But their luck takes an unexpected turn when they meet Kwesi Kwayson, a charming musician who is en route to meet the president to perform.
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