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Welcome to Mocha Girls Read book club. Mocha Girls Read is a book club for Black women who love to read, want to read more and meet like-minded women. We are here to inspire women to read, share literature, fellowship, and encourage others in the joy of reading. We meet monthly in 14 cities across the US. We are an eclectic group of women and so are our reading selections. We donโ€™t limit our reading to release dates, gender, race, or genre.ย  So glad youโ€™re here!

 

Latest from the Blog

September Monthly Book Selection – Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Our 2026 global theme, AROUND THE WORLD, continues this month with a literary journey to Mexico.

This month, we are exploring a story centered on a Latina main character, taking us into a haunting world filled with family secrets, history, mystery, and gothic suspense.

We are thrilled to announce that Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia has been selected as our official September 2026 Monthly Book Selection.

Our September 2026 Monthly Book Selection

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemรญ Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Sheโ€™s not sure what she will findโ€”her cousinโ€™s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemรญ knows little about the region.ย ย ย 
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Noemรญ is also an unlikely rescuer: Sheโ€™s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But sheโ€™s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousinโ€™s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemรญ; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemiโ€™s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
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Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the familyโ€™s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemรญ, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his familyโ€™s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The familyโ€™s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemรญ digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.ย 
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And Noemรญ, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

Meet the Author

Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Cachanilla and Canuck, originally from Baja California, she now resides in Vancouver. She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and Velvet Was the Night (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award). She writes in a variety of genres including fantasy, horror, noir and historical.

She has edited several anthologies, including She Walks in Shadows (World Fantasy Award winner, published in the USA as Cthulhuโ€™s Daughters). Her fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery and Suspense.


Join the Discussion

Find your nearest Mocha Girls Read chapter and join the discussion. Come ready to connect, reflect, and share space with a community of Black women who love to read.

Donโ€™t Forget Your Readerโ€™s Passport

As part of our 2026 journey, every Mocha Girl can collect stamps in her Mocha Girls Read Readerโ€™s Passport.

Each month, you will experience a new story through our Monthly Book Selections and discussions. By the end of the year, your passport will reflect a full journey of literary exploration from around the world.

Giveaway: OLD SCHOOL Giveaway Hop 08/16-08/31/2026

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Mocha Girls Read is pleased to offer the following prize:

One (1) print copy of From Bedridden to Boardroom by David Good.

To enter, use the giveaway link found below. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. Void where prohibited by law. (Please check your SPAM/Junk email folder periodically so that you can respond to “you’ve won” emails from the author/publisher/publicist/Mocha Girls Read.)

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Prize:

From Bedridden to Boardroom: Life Begins When You Lose Everything by David Good

#1 Bestseller Business Diversity / #1 New Release in Autism – Amazon, August 2026
Some mornings, the entire project for the day was making it fifteen feet to the bathroom.

David Good spent most days of the week in bed. Migraines and neck pain that had not let up in months. A depression that medication after medication failed to touch. A twenty-year software career that was finished. He was thirty-seven years old, and by any reasonable projection, that was the end of the story.

It wasn’t.

Eighteen sessions of electroconvulsive therapy did not touch the depression, and they took something with them. His memory became a library with missing books. He lost advanced math. He lost board games. He rebuilt anyway, from a boba tea shop in West Michigan and from his room at night, running virtual events for people in other countries who could not find a room of their own either.

What grew from it became International Friend Connection, a peer-led volunteer community that reached more than fifty chapters in over twenty countries.

Six years into it, after his mother’s death, he was diagnosed autistic. At forty-three, he finally had an explanation for the loneliness that had been the water he swam in since childhood, and for why he had spent his life reverse-engineering things other people seemed to receive for free. Two years after that, he was in the boardroom of one of the world’s largest community platforms, telling them what he had built with it. The same path carried him to the United Nations.

This book is the honest account of how that happened, including the parts most recovery stories leave out.

What finally helped was not one thing. TMS, experimental psychedelic treatment, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy all mattered. So did a room full of people who were glad he showed up. He is not able to rank them.

The research is only now catching up to how psychiatric medication behaves in autistic bodies, which nobody could have known at the time. Therapy, which he does not dismiss and which he credits with saving his life, was never built to give him the thing he needed most: somewhere to go after the fifty-minute hour ended.

Read this if any of the following sounds like you

  • You were diagnosed autistic as an adult, and you are still re-reading your entire life through it.
  • You are shy, socially anxious, or isolated, and you have run out of ideas for how to meet people.
  • You have been counted out by chronic pain, by illness, or by a brain that stopped cooperating, and you need a way forward that isn’t just “stay positive.”
  • You have lost everything, including hope.


Bob Burg, coauthor of The Go-Giver, calls David one of his “real-life action heroes.” David Siegel, former CEO of Meetup and Investopedia, chose him to represent hundreds of thousands of organizers worldwide. Perry Knoppert, founder of The Octopus Movement, puts it plainly: “He is not trying to fit into the old world. He is helping to create the next one.” And Dr. Liliya Bakiyeva Wheatcraft, autistic psychiatrist and author of AUTISTIC First Principles, calls it “a no-stigma, psychologically safe ecosystem” and “a much-needed resource.”

David Good is a Points of Light honoree and a recipient of multiple Presidential Service Awards for volunteer leadership.

Nothing anyone said to him in that bedroom would have convinced him, so he is not going to try to convince you. He will only tell you this. That bedroom was not the last room he was in, and some of the rooms that came after were good.

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ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE:

This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. NOTE: Any entry not providing all requested information will be disqualified! All entries from non-US residents will be disqualified.

Void where prohibited by law.

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Please visit these other Old School Giveaway Hop participants for more chances to win!

Click to view and add your links!

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Let’s Vote: September Monthly Book Selection – Latina Main Character

Itโ€™s time to vote for our September 2026 Monthly Book Selection! ๐Ÿ“š๐ŸŒŽ

The theme for September is Latina Main Character, featuring books with a Latina woman or girl at the heart of the story.

As we continue our 2026 Around the World reading journey, September gives us another opportunity to explore culture, identity, family, history, love, joy, and community through literature.

Take a look at the list below and vote for the book you would like to read with the Mocha Girls.

Remember, you can vote for up to three (3) books.

Voting starts Monday, August 10, 2026, and ends Sunday, August 16, 2026, at midnight.

The winner will be announced on Monday, August 17, 2026.

We cannot wait to see which book the Mocha Girls choose for September!

๐Ÿงญ Donโ€™t forget your MGR 2026 Readerโ€™s Passport!

As part of our 2026 Around the World theme, we created a fun Readerโ€™s Passport to help you track your reading journey. Each month, you will โ€œstampโ€ your passport with the country or culture we are exploring and jot down your thoughts about the book.

It is a beautiful way to celebrate our year of global reading and all the places our Monthly Book Selections take us.

You can print your passport or fill it out digitally, whatever fits your reading style best. ๐Ÿ’ซ

๐Ÿ“˜ Download your 2026 Around the World Readerโ€™s Passport and stamps here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ip7FGsgXSW02TuYVhbLVJZhhNHl8HAQ-?usp=drive_link

Now itโ€™s time to make your voice heard. Cast your votes below!

Flash Members Only Giveaway: National Book Lovers Day Giveaway

Welcome to the flash Mocha Girls Read Members Only โ€“ National Book Lovers Day Giveaway. This giveaway runs from 5:00 PM ET on August 8, 2026 through 11:59 PM ET on August 9, 2026. The winner will be selected on August 9, 2026.

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Mocha Girls Read is pleased to offer the following prize to one Mocha Girls Read member:

One (1) 15 oz. Ceramic bookish mug; one (1) wood โ€œBooktrovertโ€ key chain; one (1) Freesia scented โ€œJust One More Chapterโ€ candle; and one (1) โ€œJust One More Chapterโ€ metal bookmark.

To enter, use the giveaway link found below. This flash giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Mocha Girls Read members only. Void where prohibited by law. (Please check your SPAM/Junk email folder periodically so that you can respond to “you’ve won” emails from the author/publisher/Mocha Girls Read.)

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Prize:

This prize package includes the following:

one (1) 15 oz. Ceramic bookish mug; one (1) Freesia scented โ€œJust One More Chapterโ€ candle; one (1) wood โ€œBooktrovertโ€ key chain; and one (1) โ€œJust One More Chapterโ€ metal bookmark.

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ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE:

This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and limited to members of Mocha Girls Read (membership will be verified).

NOTE: Any entry not providing all requested information will be disqualified! All entries from non-US residents will be disqualified.

Void where prohibited by law.

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