35 Books Written by Black Women to Add to Your TBR List

This is the second book in Jasmine Guillory’s Meant to Be Series (don’t worry, you don’t have to read them in order), and readers are loving it just as much as the first one. When 25-year-old Isabelle finally sees an opportunity to get the promotion she deserves at her publishing house, she sets out to convince a high-profile author to finally deliver his manuscript. When she learns that Beau Towers is just as lost as she is these days, they encourage each other and learn that they have a lot more in common than they anticipated. But will it all work out before their deadline?

Kiki Banjo may seem like she has it all together on her romance podcast, but behind the scenes, devastating career setbacks and a bad breakup have left her hanging on by a thread. With her best friend’s wedding on the horizon, she vows to get through it without falling apart completely. But when she’s faced with her ex-boyfriend, Malakai—the best man and the very person who broke her heart—she wonders just how much longer she can keep pretending everything is OK.

When Raine Williams posts a video of her dancing to the new single of popular R&B artist Dawn Anderson, she doesn’t expect it to go viral—and she certainly doesn’t think the singer herself will notice it. But when Dawn reaches out to her, she’s whisked away into a world of recording studios and professional choreography. As Raine grows more comfortable in her own skin, she starts to think that maybe Dawn wants to know her beyond just her dance moves. But can she handle opening up to someone new?

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life,” and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. Read on for what’s next.

Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe’s mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia has zero interest in dating a politician, but when a cake arrives at her office with the cutest message, she can’t resist—it is chocolate cake, after all.

Join Marlee on her journey after a 10-year relationship ends because of her cheating NFL boyfriend. When a fling turns into an unexpected trade to her ex’s team, she’s not so welcomed anymore among her fellow WAGs. Can she get to the other side of the field unscathed, and can the new guy prove he’s nothing like her ex? Read Martin’s four-book series and see how the rest of the WAGs’ lives entangle.

Yasmen and Josiah Wade thought they would be together, but life had other plans. Now, they co-parent their kids and live separate lives—or try to, despite this invisible force continuing to pull them toward one another. When a stolen kiss turns into something more heated and dangerous, Yasmen and Josiah begin to wonder if they’re really ready to let go, after all.

Another Bolu Babolola title for this list—because her novels are just that good. In Honey and Spice, level headed and responsible Kiki Banjo is swept into a fake relationship with Malakai Korede, her polar opposite, after they share a reckless kiss. Both Kiki and Malakai just want to quell the rumor mill, but when late night study sessions and dinner dates start to turn into something more, Kiki will have to decide if she was wrong about Malakai, after all.

Filled with never-ending to-do lists in her world of academia, Naya Turner needs a little bit of oomph—and spice—in her life. When her best friends get her to have a fun night out, she hooks up with someone she thought she would never see again. He’s a gentleman worth keeping around, but can she first escape her haunting past that won’t seem to leave her alone?

This bestselling romance features two writers who meet at a literary convention and immediately hit it off. They can’t deny their chemistry, but their pasts are far more intertwined than either would like to admit. Now, in order to move forward, together, they must face their history, head on.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. The popular book is being turned into a movie (coming in 2027) starring Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, and Idris Elba—we can’t wait to see it!

Don’t let this being a young adult series deter you—The Legendborn Cycle has quickly become one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. The story is an intricately woven web of fantasy, magic, and Black history, all centering on Bree Matthews, a new student at UNC-Chapel Hill who discovers something more than just books lurking on the school grounds. Soon, she’ll discover a mystery tied to her family, her school, and everything she holds dear.

The first in a trilogy, The Final Strife finds its roots in African and Arabian mythology, following three women—weighed down by trauma, loss, and responsibility—who band together to end the cruel empire that rules over their people. Saara El-Arifi is an underrated voice in epic fantasy you won’t want to miss.

This Hugo Award-winning novel blends power, oppression, and revolution as one woman sets out on a quest to find her kidnapped daughter, all while trying to hide her secret and deadly power. Jemisin’s books are famous for a reason—she’s an author that needs to be added to your TBR list this year.

Generations of Montrose women have lived a quiet life in their California bungalow, collecting trinkets and practicing spells. Then, Nickie Montrose—the youngest of the family—brings a boy home for the first time, and the older Montrose women must face the horrible secret they’ve kept from Nickie all these years: anyone a Montrose falls in love with will die. Now, Nickie must decide between her heart and her head, while the other Montrose women face their pasts, once and for all.

Adrienne Maree Brown leads the way to understanding that pleasure is yours for the taking, no green light necessary. In fact, having pleasure is in your best interest. Through a series of creative and thought-provoking essays that honor a diversity of voices and experiences, Pleasure Activism proves that pleasure is the ultimate recipe for personal joy and collective positive change. It will feed your soul, while carrying just the right fiery sparkle of feminism to charge your heart, too!

With intricate details of her life, Viola Davis shares the tribulations she encountered in order to find her purpose. She’s learned that self love can only come from complete honesty and reflection, and along the way inspires readers to do the same. This is one of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve ever read—if you love them too, I highly recommend.

No one is able to keep storytelling real and raw, yet sensitive and compassionate, quite like Roxane Gay can. If you’ve been waiting for your next riveting memoir, Hunger is a must-read. Tackling womanhood, body image, and how shame can take us by storm without warning—topics so many of us can relate to—it’s as much Gay’s own vulnerable journey as it is an invitation to see ourselves in parts of it. In a society that will always find ways to judge our bodies and appearances, she’ll convince you that finding authentic self-love is the only remedy.

In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir Becoming, Michelle Obama offers a series of fresh and relevant stories from her own life in order to open up an honest dialogue with the reader about some critical questions: How do we build honest and lasting relationships in our life? How do we find community? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, read along to see how 16-year-old Starr Carter navigates the events of when her two worlds collide: her life in a poor neighborhood and being a student at a preparatory school. When her best friend is killed by a police officer right before her eyes, she becomes a witness to a heartbreaking narrative of racism. Readers agree this powerful story is painful, yet “stunning” and “necessary.” The film adaptation is also equally moving.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. So, she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while on a grocery shopping trip with the Chamberlains’ toddler at a local high-end supermarket. The store’s security guard, seeing a young Black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping 2-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

This is the incredible story of Ifemelu, an ambitious Nigerian woman who moves to the United States to pursue her academic dreams. Besides Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s beautiful writing style and Ifemelu’s lovable character, what makes this read so engaging is that it’s equal parts a magical love story and one of mighty self-discovery. How do you hold out hope for true love, while having to reconcile with what it means to be a Black woman in America with African roots that run deep in your soul?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake is a book you won’t be able to put down. It follows the lives of Eleanor Bennett’s two children after she dies. She left behind a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. The heartbreaking story and mystery that unfolds changes what the siblings think they knew about their family and themselves.

Wilkerson’s newest book, Good Dirt, also hit bookshelves last year—add that to your TBR list, too!

Nightcrawling follows the complicated story of Kiara, her brother, Marcus, and the little boy next door who was abandoned by his mom. Struggling to keep their dreams alive and their apartment lights on, Kiara gets offered a job that could solve all of their woes. The only problem? She ends up as a key witness in a massive scandal because of it.

Memphis traces three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s realization that she could possibly change her family’s legacy. Told through various points of view across the span of 70 years, this unforgettable story explores the complexity of inheritance, sacrifice, justice, and love.

A 26-year-old woman named Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books, so she is excited when Harlem-born-and-bred Hazel joins her. Not long after, uncomfortable events elevate Hazel to ‘office darling’ and Nella is left in the dust. When Nella starts to spiral, she realizes there is more at stake than just her career at Wagner Books—but is she ready to face it?

Celestial and Roy are African-American newlyweds whose relationship takes a striking turn when Roy is wrongfully convicted and sent to prison. It’s the kind of devastation that would threaten any love. But, it’s all the more painful considering the racial injustice that poisons the U.S. prison system. With Celestial’s life transforming out of her control, she must navigate love, loss, and the possibility of finding happiness in ways she couldn’t possibly have anticipated. Praised by both Oprah and Barack Obama, it’s a bold take on a love story worth journeying through.

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern Black community and running away at age 16, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her Black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Two Brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about Black bodies and Black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten either.

As a frantic search begins for Caroline, a young Black girl who goes missing in the woods, main character Liz Rocher is the only one that notices a pattern in her predominantly white rust belt town. This isn’t the only time that a young girl has gone missing in the woods, on a summer night, during a party. As Liz starts to unravel the town’s history, she uncovers a horrifying secret.

Ellice Littlejohn has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job, great friends, and a relationship with a rich, charming executive, who just happens to be her white boss. When she walks into his office one morning to find him dead, she leaves as if nothing ever happened because she’ll be damned if she’s thrust into the spotlight—again.

When Sonny Rush relocates to a beautiful seaside town with her elderly mother, she’s ready to slow down. Surely this job will be easier than her time at the LAPD, right? But when a disappearing dog pulls Sonny into a mystery beyond anything she could have imagined—including an encounter with her long-forgotten ex—expectations shift. It turns out this small town has more lurking beneath its surface than Sonny could have imagined.

Featuring a protagonist with dissociative identity disorder, Alyssa Cole weaves a tale of crime and suspense, centered on the grounds of a historic home for whom the novel’s main character is the newly designated caretaker. Soon, unexpected truths about the home will begin to arise—setting off a mystery that will have you turning the page to the very end.

When Jasmine and King Williams move to the Black “utopia” of Liberty, California, they hope to find a community of like-minded individuals with whom they can build something permanent. Though King adjusts immediately, Jasmine struggles to fit in amongst a town of people who seem to be more worried about their next spa treatment than any real world problems. And when she discovers a terrible truth about Liberty’s founders, she begins to worry if she will ever find her place.