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thenextbookdilemma's review
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent
lunarxcross's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence
crystalisreading's review
emotional
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon is a delightful Black erotic BDSM romance, featuring not one, not two, but three gorgeous and confident and successful Black professionals in a wild and kinky and tender and dirty and sweet and romantic polyamorous arrangement. This book is body positive and sex positive in every conceivable way, full of open, honest communication and negotiation and boundaries and safe words and aftercare and healthy and supportive extended family and friendship relationships. There's a lot of grief to unpack, as the three main characters meet because of mutual loss of a beloved partner to violent death. It is perhaps strange to call a book so incredibly, explicity smutty wholesome, but the emotional content and personal growth and level of honest communication really is refreshingly wholesome. There's just a lot of sex too. A LOT OF SEX.
Which is fine. This is a smoking hot book about smoking hot characters, including Brooklyn, a confident plus-sized Black woman who is very proud of, among other things, her remarkably large "titties". She is proud of her body, and wears clothes that show it off. It was refreshing to read about a character who wasn't angsting over her size, or worried that people wouldn't find her attractive. All this, despite the fact, as Vaughn says at one point, "she's a plus-size Black woman. How many times a day do you think she's getting some messaging that she's undesirable. Fifty? A hundred? She can be confident, but she's [effing] human." She's also unapologetic about her sexual appetites. So much positive representation going on.
There were also the two love interests, the prickly but irresistible Christopher Shaw, and the sweet, very emotional Vaughn. They were also both unapologetically gorgeous and successful Black men, and the conversations amongst the three of them felt real in a way that Black characters in romance novels aren't always allowed to be, whether they were simply calling out each other's questionable tastes in entertainment, or dealing with the very real and palpable tension of encounters with (usually hostile) white police officers. They were also Black men in a gay relationship, which isn't something I have seen represented a lot in romances.
As mentioned previously, there's a wide array of supporting characters, from the white liberals who had been about to become Brooklyn's family, before her fiancé was murdered, to her sister Liz's mixed race hot farmer husband (from a previous book in the series), to Brooklyn's tight group of Black female friends. Most of these characters are in straight relationships, aside from the two male love interests, and everyone seems to be able-bodied, but the level of representation is still remarkable and richly rewarding to read.
This is indeed the third book in the series, but I hadn't read the other two books in several years, and I still had no trouble tracking what was going on. There are still a number of single friends in Brooklyn, Liz, and Claudia's circle, and I was hoping the extended series would go on, but Weatherspoon says in the afterword that this is the end of the series and extended series (including Rafe and Xeni) for now. While I'm a little disappointed, I feel like this author never lets me down, and I look forward to whatever she publishes next, for diversity, Black and body positive pride, smoking hot erotic content, deep, emotional relationships, and an overall positive, enjoyable experience that leaves me with a smile. I do recommend this (for anyone who can stomach the level of explicit kinky content). Black joy and Black love are important too.
Which is fine. This is a smoking hot book about smoking hot characters, including Brooklyn, a confident plus-sized Black woman who is very proud of, among other things, her remarkably large "titties". She is proud of her body, and wears clothes that show it off. It was refreshing to read about a character who wasn't angsting over her size, or worried that people wouldn't find her attractive. All this, despite the fact, as Vaughn says at one point, "she's a plus-size Black woman. How many times a day do you think she's getting some messaging that she's undesirable. Fifty? A hundred? She can be confident, but she's [effing] human." She's also unapologetic about her sexual appetites. So much positive representation going on.
There were also the two love interests, the prickly but irresistible Christopher Shaw, and the sweet, very emotional Vaughn. They were also both unapologetically gorgeous and successful Black men, and the conversations amongst the three of them felt real in a way that Black characters in romance novels aren't always allowed to be, whether they were simply calling out each other's questionable tastes in entertainment, or dealing with the very real and palpable tension of encounters with (usually hostile) white police officers. They were also Black men in a gay relationship, which isn't something I have seen represented a lot in romances.
As mentioned previously, there's a wide array of supporting characters, from the white liberals who had been about to become Brooklyn's family, before her fiancé was murdered, to her sister Liz's mixed race hot farmer husband (from a previous book in the series), to Brooklyn's tight group of Black female friends. Most of these characters are in straight relationships, aside from the two male love interests, and everyone seems to be able-bodied, but the level of representation is still remarkable and richly rewarding to read.
This is indeed the third book in the series, but I hadn't read the other two books in several years, and I still had no trouble tracking what was going on. There are still a number of single friends in Brooklyn, Liz, and Claudia's circle, and I was hoping the extended series would go on, but Weatherspoon says in the afterword that this is the end of the series and extended series (including Rafe and Xeni) for now. While I'm a little disappointed, I feel like this author never lets me down, and I look forward to whatever she publishes next, for diversity, Black and body positive pride, smoking hot erotic content, deep, emotional relationships, and an overall positive, enjoyable experience that leaves me with a smile. I do recommend this (for anyone who can stomach the level of explicit kinky content). Black joy and Black love are important too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
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