Bingo Love

author: Tee Franklin

Bingo Love is a sweet romance graphic novel about true love between two Black women. Two teenagers, Mari and Hazel, meet at a church bingo game in 1963. They share their first kiss in front of church after another bingo game, but are separated by their parents. Hazel, the narrator, goes on with her life, missing Mari but marrying a veteran named James and having a stable but passionless marriage. Decades later, Hazel meets Mari at yet another bingo game, and has to decide whether to stay in her marriage or stay with Mari.

This comic is colorful and warm, with art by Jenn St-Onge. I had mixed feelings about the marriage between Hazel (who Mari nicknames ‘Elle’) and James, and I found the revelations concerning his character to be too convenient (hence the B grade). Still, the way events unfold for Hazel and Mari are lovely and the ending bittersweet in the best way. This is a warm celebration of love between two women, of sexuality at all ages, and of friendship and family.

– Carrie S

Contemporary Romance, Graphic Novel, LGBTQIA, Romance

From the Corner of the Oval

author: Becky Dorey-Stein

This book was at turns thrilling and heart-wrenching in an exciting way (Oh, wow!) and exhausting and heart-wrenching in a cringe-filled way (Oh, honey…). Beck Dorey-Stein’s memoir focuses on the time she spent as a stenographer in the Obama administration. Her job required her to record and then transcribe every word that the president said, which means long hours in a job that can take over one’s entire waking life, monster loads of travel all over the world often at a moment’s notice, and a very close position from which to witness a unique presidential administration.

The best parts were the behind-the-scenes accounts of what it’s like to be part of the inner workings of the White House (she calls it being inside “the bubble”) and witnessing high points and terribly painful moments of the Obama presidency. I said in the July Hide Your Wallet that I was concerned this would give me acute Obamastalgia, and it did, but that feeling was tempered by the respect and the perspective Dorey-Stein shares in each chapter.

Running parallel to the story of her time as White House stenographer is her personal life, which is a trainwreck of lather-rinse-repeat bad decisions and susceptibility. So many chapters would end with lyrical, resolute determination to stop hooking up with the incredibly toxic person whom she acknowledges in terrible detail is a utterly manipulative tool. Next chapter: new event or travel, they hook up again with professions of no emotional entanglement, she’s deeply hurt by the fact that he does what he always does, then it’s time for florid descriptions of inner resolve, repeat. It was exhausting. It’s very much the experience of a 20-something in a very intense professional fishbowl, and while the events as chronicled make sense, reading about them in redundant cringe-cycle was difficult.

I was so charmed and engaged by Dorey-Stein’s recounting of her professional world, especially the ways in which she built her confidence as a writer, navigated a predatory social and political environment, and crafted personally and professionally supportive friendships with women in a very cutthroat setting. The memoir aspects of her story are very difficult to put down once you start reading them. However, her recounting of her personal life became a repetitive coming-of-age story that was emotionally and mentally exhausting to read and difficult to enjoy.

– SB Sarah

Memoir, Nonfiction

Match Made in Manhattan

author: Amanda Stauffer

Match Made in Manhattan is a novel that chronicles a twenty-something-year-old woman’s year of dating using Match.com. It’s not a romance, although obviously there’s a lot of romantic content. People looking for a fun book about modern dating might enjoy this book, but the characters are flat and the story doesn’t go anywhere.

Alison restores old buildings under the eye of a disapproving boss. After a multi-year monogamous relationship that isn’t going anywhere, she and her boyfriend break up and she signs up for Match.com. This leads to a lot of awkward dates, funny dates, and dates that either lack ‘spark’ or that have ‘spark’ but nothing else. All of the conversations felt pretty much the same no matter who was having them, but I did love the fact that while Alison was not great at finding true love on Match.com, she was fantastic at making friends.

This book had two major problems. One was that Alison comes across as a very self-centered person. She dates a lot of men who are thoughtful. They pay for dinner; they set up some very memorable and special dates. They bring her soup while she’s sick. Alison feels guilty for not falling madly in love with these guys, but sometimes the nicest two people just aren’t romantically compatible. What bothered me is that the guys do all the giving and Alison does the taking. Not once does she plan an exciting date. Not once does she drop off the soup.

The other problem is that Alison doesn’t grow. She learns some things about herself but we don’t see her put them into action. She discovers, among other things, that “everyone had their issues” to which I respond, “Well, DUH.” This was a cute enough book, but, like Alison’s first relationship, it doesn’t go anywhere. I never believed in any of these people which is ironic since the story is based on real experiences, and I was frustrated by the lack of character growth.

– Carrie S

Chick Lit, Literary Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction