Staff Picks: Tyiana Combs’ Favorites
Greetings! I’m Tyiana Combs, an Assistant Editor at Penguin Workshop and an absolute book lover. Professionally, I work on a wide range of children’s books, from picture books to YA. Personally, my bookshelves are overflowing with titles from YA fantasy and rom-coms to adult historical fiction and romance. When I’m not reading, I’m usually listening to music, scrolling TikTok, or attempting to take photos of books (to varying degrees of success) for my Instagram (@tyianac_).
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Add to BookshelfHer Good Side
by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Around May of 2023, I found myself in a reading slump, then stumbled upon this book and was pulled right out of it. Personally, I think Her Good Side is a perfect book. It has friendship, awkward fumbles with first love, Halloween costumes, a dance scene, diversity that isn’t performative, and two people falling for each other without even realizing it. I smiled from start to finish and wished my high school days could have felt a bit more like the ones described here.
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$12.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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Blood at the Root
by LaDarrion Williams
A few years back, I saw a tweet describing a book as Harry Potter at an HBCU. Now that book is on my shelf and I am absolutely obsessed with it. Having grown up with shows like Charmed and Buffy, I have always been a fan of magic and adventure, but I rarely saw people who looked like me on the screen. Blood at the Root is full of characters who look like me — immersed in the HBCU culture I have known and admired all my life — wielding magic just like I used to wish I could. It’s the fantasy novel many of us have been waiting for and it doesn’t disappoint.
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$13.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Neighbor Favor
by Kristina Forest
Typically I tend to stay away from stories with a publishing plot since I already live a publishing plot, but this book caught my eye immediately and became an exception to my rule once I read the description. With scenes set throughout New York (one of my favorite cities), references to Beyoncé (which inspired my Halloween costume last year), and a love story perfect for book nerds and general fans of romance alike, The Neighbor Favor is a must-read — as well as other books in its universe, The Partner Plot and The Love Lyric.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
