two friends ✩ two cities ✩ one book nest

Centering BIPOC & queer voices through recommendations & reviews, Laney Howard and I started our book instagram @desertwater.reads in attempts to collect, curate, and praise books. The idea for this instagram came from our love of reading and holding ourselves more accountable, as we had always sent book recs & mailed physical copies back and forth to each other. Whether we think they should have more exposure or if we’re reading them for the first time, creating an honest space for those who love literature or those who needed a new book to read was our main goal.

Em here! The girlies finally got me to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I was pleasantly surprised. To keep it without spoilers, the book details Evelyn Hugo’s life and all seven of her husbands. I don’t know the specifics of Ho
Laney’s review of The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (books 1-5) Like most people, I watched the Princess Diaries movies and absolutely loved them. I also really loved Meg Cabot’s other books, but never got around to reading these. My clo
Everything I Need I Get From You by Kaitlyn Tiffany (Laney’s review!) Hi y’all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but hopefully will have a few more posted this week🤩 Being a teenage girl is a truly bizarre experience.
Em here! It’s been a sec since posting a book review, I’ve been caught up reading three books simultaneously, one of which being ‘All About Love’ by bell hooks. Somehow I thought it would be a light and easy read 🙃 it’s
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll Laney’s review: This novel took me by complete surprise. I went in completely blind for a book club and ended up reading it in one night. I won’t be including a summary, but more of a commentary beca
Em’s Review: The Jasmine Throne Set in a fantastical version of India, the story unfolds within the empire of Parijatdvipa. While the perspective bounces around a large cast of characters, the main narrative is between Princess Malini and Pri
Laney’s review of Queen and Conqueror by Isabelle Olmo This book is the debut novel from Isabelle Olmo on Kindle Unlimited. It is a political fantasy with a wonderful set of diverse characters. It follows the main character Almira, the widow
Laney’s review of The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (spoiler free!) The first in the Mistborn series, this book follows Vin, a young girl from an oppressed race called the Skaa. She joins a resistance group to help take down the Lord Ruler
Em’s Review: ‘Nature Poem’ by Tommy Pico & ‘A Tinderbox in Three Acts’ by Cynthia Dewi Oka Oka’s book, ‘A Tinderbox in Three Acts,’ recently published by BOA Editions, is about the history of the I
Em’s review: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh Distinctly grounded in gross and putrid behaviors of feudal Europe, Lapvona is a literary examination of what family means in the eyes of christianity and human belief. With each character becoming mor
Where did September go?!? It’s Em, back for another review 🥳 Be Not Afraid of Love by Mimi Zhu - While I enjoyed this book, I think it needs a heavy content warning, as in the first few pages of the book we read about the real and physical
Laney’s review of The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin This sci-fi series uses unique storytelling and vivid world building to tell the story of earth thousands of years in the future. The series is centered around motherhood, complex relat
Hiiii! Laney here! It’s been a while but here’s my review for The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbreaker, and Rhythm of War) This series follows a unique group of characters as th
Em here! Finally my August update! I became so much more busy than I thought I was going to be, so I only ended up reading 10 books for the #sealeychallenge this year. I’m proud for even reading that many. Some notable standouts that I especi
Em here!! I’m going to attempt to do the #sealeychallenge for the month of August where I read a poetry book a day - we’ll see if I can do it 😖 I’ll do a halfway update and then a final update at the end of the month 🥰 I’m t