Dear Cozy Bookworms,
Some books entertain you. Some books inspire you. And then some books feel like they’re speaking directly to you.
If I Ruled the World felt personal.
From the very first chapter, I wasn’t just reading about Nikki Rose — I was remembering every time I’ve walked into a professional space fully prepared, fully qualified… and still underestimated.
Nikki is the only Black editor at a prestigious fashion magazine, and when she’s told that “Black girls don’t sell magazines,” it doesn’t feel like fiction. It feels like history. It feels like boardrooms. It feels like performance reviews. It feels like coded language disguised as business strategy.
This story captures that very specific exhaustion Black women know, being hyper-visible and invisible at the same time. Expected to outperform but never fully trusted. Expected to be grateful but never fully empowered. Reading those moments didn’t feel dramatic. They felt real.
When Nikki walks away and takes over a struggling hip-hop magazine, it isn’t just a career move. It’s a reclamation. She stops auditioning for validation in spaces that refuse to see her fully and instead builds something rooted in culture, vision, and possibility.
That shift stirred something in me.
Because sometimes the boldest thing a Black woman can do in corporate America is not endure longer — it’s pivot. It’s bet on herself. It’s say, “If I’m going to work this hard, it will be for something that reflects me.”
Her ambition is unapologetic. She wants influence. She wants impact. She wants to lead. And the story never punishes her for that desire.
The late-90s New York setting adds texture, the fashion world, the music industry, the editorial grind before social media changed everything, but the real heartbeat of this novel is Nikki’s voice. Her growth isn’t just professional. It’s personal. It’s about redefining success on her own terms.
This book honors the late nights no one sees, the strategy behind the smile, the sisterhood that keeps us grounded, and the quiet resilience Black women carry into rooms that were never designed with us in mind.
As a Black woman who has navigated institutional systems and spaces where I had to prove my worth more than once, this book felt affirming. It reminded me that wanting more is not arrogance. Leadership is not aggression. Leaving is not failure. And our brilliance has never been the issue.
Five stars because it entertained me.
Five stars because it resonated with me.
Five stars because it felt like a love letter to women like us.
And sometimes, that’s exactly the kind of story we need.