I had the honor of having several conversations with Jackie Collins over the years, and for a while, she became a kind of mentor to me.

Honey Goddess is the new romantasy novel from Abiola Abrams. Learn more at womanifesting.com/honeygoddess

Jackie wrote big.

Big women. Big desire. Big money. Big mess. Big glamour. Big consequences.

She came from a different generation and a very different publishing world. And yes, we are having much more honest conversations now about privilege, access, race, power, and whose stories get funded, pushed, celebrated, and protected.

All of that is real.

And also real?

I learned from every woman writer who dared to take up space.

I learned from women who were told their books were too sexy, too commercial, too bold, too feminine, too much.

In my upcoming novel, Honey Goddess, Lola’s book club with her besties becomes a goddess circle when they pull oracle cards and become the goddesses on the cards.

In their book club, they read and reread Zora, Toni, Ntozake, Octavia.

The books that raised them.

And Jackie? Jackie wrote candy. Delicious candy.

Sometimes candy is part of the diet too.

I know it is for me, in the same way reality TV is part of the diet. Pleasure counts. Glamour counts. Mess counts. Desire counts. The stories we devour for fun can feed something real in us too.

I published my first novel, Dare, years ago. And although I have written every day since I was a teenager, it has taken me twenty years to have the opportunity to bring another novel into the world.

Twenty years.

I recently heard someone say there may be only a tiny number of Black women with romantasy contracts right now. Whether the exact number is 13, 14, or something else, the point remains: there are not enough of us being given the space to build these worlds at this level.

So I am not taking this moment lightly.

Honey Goddess is coming this December from @hayhouseinc.

It is a romantic fantasy about Lola Callendar, a beauty guru whose life cracks open when goddess power, ancestral magic, sisterhood, oracle cards, impossible love, and a destiny bigger than expected come calling.bar

It is love-soaked.

Magic-kissed.

Honey-drenched.

Full of women, power, beauty, longing, humor, sensuality, spirit, and that moment when you finally stop shrinking and become who you were born to be.

I cannot wait to share Lola’s world with you.

Preorder Honey Goddess now wherever you buy books, or at the link in my bio.

For the books that raised us.

For the candy too.

For the doors that opened.

For the doors that stayed closed too long.

For the stories still waiting.

And for the honey that is finally pouring.

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