Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme that was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners but is now currently being hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog. This meme is quite easy to follow – just randomly pick a book from your to-be-read list and give the reasons why you want to read it. It is that simple.

This week’s book:

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Blurb from Goodreads

In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch. 

Why I Want To Read It

Wow, time does fly fast. We have just started the fourth week of 2022. It still feels as if 2022 just started and that 2021 just ended. Nevertheless, I hope things will finally start looking up. The COVID19 still looms but I pray that it will end soon. Beyond COVID19, I hope we will all have a great year, a memorable year despite the threat that surrounds us. I hope that 2022 will be a year filled with hope, happiness, and healing for everyone. More importantly, I wish that we all have a clean bill of health. On another note, I hope you all had a great start to the week.

Like most, reading has been my escape since the pandemic started. Books kept me company. With the new year comes along an opportunity to create more memories with books, to venture further into the world of literature. I know, I am still swamped with several 2021 Wrap Up posts but it is no excuse to miss out on a Goodreads Monday update. For the past few weeks, I have been featuring books that are going to be published in 2022. These are books I have recently added to my reading list and I am looking forward to. For this week, the featured book is Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake.

If there is a common thread that links Black Cake with the first three books I featured for my 2022 Goodreads Monday update – aside from the fact that they are going to be published this year – is that they are all part of my 2022 Books I Look Forward To List. This has become an annual tradition and although I keep failing on completing all the books on the list (I did come close in 2020), I am still keeping it. This list allows me to expand my horizon for it introduces me to writers whose works I have never read or heard of previously. This in turn provides me new experiences.

It was while researching for books to include in my own 2022 most anticipated list that I came across Black Cake, which I have learned is the author’s debut novel. So far, this is the third debut novel of the four books I have featured in this weekly update. The novel’s premise, about family history and dynamics, held my attention, hence, its inclusion to my most anticipated list. To be released on the first day of February 2022, I hope I get to gain a copy of the book without much trouble. How about you fellow reader? What 2022 books are you looking forward to? I hope you could share it in the comment box. For now, happy Monday, and as always, happy reading!

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