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Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon – Review

The start of a fierce fantasy duology about three maidens who are chosen for their land’s greatest honor…and one girl determined to save her sister from the grave. 

In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame. 

When Alu’s ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her. 

But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.

Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself.

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Thanks so much to NetGalley for this eARC! I was first caught by this gorgeous cover, and then pushed over the edge by the premise. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. The world that Kelly created was so rich and intricate, and the power system that was used was so effective. Our protagonist is Kammani, a girl ahead of her time. Her father is a healer who, because of a failure to save the life of a prominent person, was cast out of the privileged life he and his family had led into the life of a pauper. In spite of this, he continued to use his gifts for the greater good until his wife was taken from him.

This one act set things into motion for many of these characters. Kammani’s father fell into despair; soothing his grief with drink. Kammani, who had studied for years under her father, devoted her life to saving others. Kammani’s sister, Nanaea, was the closest one to their mother, and as such began to harbor a secret wish to find her again. Their brother, Kasha, was taken from his mother’s arms to replace the life that their father had failed to save, and so he was bound to be a servant in the palace for the rest of his days. Life went on, the way it inevitably will, until it was announced that the country’s leader (called a Lugal) was dying.

The Lugal must have three Sacred Maidens to follow him into the afterlife, and being chosen is supposed to be the ultimate honor. When Nanaea is chosen, Kammani is horrified. She knows what this really means. Her sister’s life will be ended far sooner than it should be, and she knows that she has to do something to stop it. What follows is an inspiring tale of the bonds of family and the absolute power of women. A mystery unfolds itself before Kammani, and even at the risk of a budding love with her childhood friend Dagan in addition to the threat that her sister might never forgive her, Kammani defies all the odds to get to the bottom of it.

Kammani is a character far beyond her time and her years. She is educated in a way that no other girl we meet in this world is; and even better than some of the men as well, as is demonstrated by a pair of the palace’s guards. She has incredible inner strength. She stares death in the face and demands it to bend to her will. She is a hero with the most tortured soul, and it prevents her from seeing how amazing she truly is. I loved her, and I loved experiencing her tale. I am so excited that this is going to be a series, because I can’t wait to see what she will do now that her potential has been realized.

All in all, this was a captivating novel that I could not put down. I’m head over heels for the lore; the Sacred Maidens, the Boatman, all of it. The cast of characters were so well rounded and fleshed out, and I fell in love with all of them, including the villains. I think Kelly Coon is going to do amazing things in the book community! She has made one hell of a debut!

5/5 stars

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The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart by R. Zamora Linmark – Review

Readers of Adam Silvera (They Both Die at the End) and Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X) will pull out the tissues for this tender, quirky story of one seventeen-year-old boy’s journey through first love and first heartbreak, guided by his personal hero, Oscar Wilde.

Words have always been more than enough for Ken Z, but when he meets Ran at the mall food court, everything changes. Beautiful, mysterious Ran opens the door to a number of firsts for Ken: first kiss, first love. But as quickly as he enters Ken’s life, Ran disappears, and Ken Z is left wondering: Why love at all, if this is where it leads?

Letting it end there would be tragic. So, with the help of his best friends, the comfort of his haikus and lists, and even strange, surreal appearances by his hero, Oscar Wilde, Ken will find that love is worth more than the price of heartbreak.

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This novel was a harrowing account of first love; something that changes your life and opens your eyes to the world around you. We go through life feeding off of love from our parents, our friends, and then when we find that first someone that sets our heart aflame it is an experience unlike no other. We follow Ken Z, who is slowly figuring out who he is with the help of his mentor: Oscar Wilde. 

Through Wilde’s influence, he decides to ‘bunbury’ one day; heading to the other side of the territory he lives in which is much nicer yet more strict. He pretends to be an archeologist on a tight budget and gets to see how the other half lives. While he’s there, he meets Ran, who sits down with him at a restaurant and talks to him about Oscar Wilde. They become fast friends despite the distance between them.

They visit each other and their bonds deepen, with Ken Z having fantastical chats with his hero for guidance. Oscar Wilde leads him to the realization that they are more alike than they think. Ken Z and Ran fall in love fast and hard, until one day when Ran went away. It happened with no warning, no bang but a whimper. Ken Z was left grieving and started pushing away everyone in his life, including Oscar.

By the end of the novel, Ken Z began to make amends with his friends, his favorite author, and himself. It was a touching tale with so many different types of storytelling devices, which really excited me because I love variations on traditional storytelling! We had essays, haikus, poems, lists, emails, and ‘Zaps’ (like Snapchat messages). I also loved all the little tidbits about Oscar Wilde’s life. I feel like I know him so much better now because of Ken Z.

4/5 stars

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The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor – Review

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.

In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he’s put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead.

That’s when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

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I picked this book up out of a love for mystery, the 80s, and England. It certainly seemed perfectly catered to my specific tastes, so I was super excited to read it. I mostly enjoyed it, but found that the way the narrative was set up led to me getting confused a lot, but that may not be the case for someone whose attention span is better than mine.

Going in, we’re presented with our protagonist, Eddie. We meet him in 2016, where he is 42 and still trying to figure out his life. He is very much stuck in the past and for good reason; his childhood left him scarred in multiple ways, and he has not had a healthy way of moving past that. Every other chapter we check in with his older self, as in the chapters in between we are regaled by stories of his childhood which are the actual basis for the main story.

There are lots of small mysteries in between the big one, but I think rather than that making the waters of this story murky, it is the shift between years and how abrupt and quick it is. We would be with 12 year old Eddie in 1986 and once you’re comfortable and ready to live in this time period, you are uprooted and settled back in the skin of the older version. I will confess that it made the tension greater as it took a much longer time for anything to be resolved, but the back and forth of it made me dizzy.

There is not just one murder, but several, and Eddie seems to be in the thick of all of it. He can’t escape death, even though he tries through the years. His friend group separated when they were young because of a mix of shared traumas and solitary heart breaks, and left the kids to deal with their grief and fear on their own. For Eddie it has taken a devastating toll; he has dreadful nightmares and is beginning to crack. Through his eyes, we see the darkness over his town of Anderbury and the sick, twisted secrets the inhabitants keep, including himself.

I did not expect the book’s conclusion, and I don’t just include the discovery of the killer in this statement. There is one final twist that gave the book a different light, and it was a chilling and thrilling discovery. I enjoyed this novel, and I do think it’s great for any Stephen King fans out there. It had a very IT or The Body vibes with the coming of age type story meets the older version trying to piece together those times gone by.

4/5 stars

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An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson – Review

A skilled painter must stand up to the ancient power of the faerie courts—even as she falls in love with a faerie prince—in this gorgeous debut novel.

Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

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I was recommended this book by one of my closest friends who knows that I have a serious attachment to the fae, and I was not disappointed. I loved how this narrative took attributes I know I and adore from other works I’ve read on this specific supernatural race but also turned it up to 11 to make this forbidden romance exist in the highest of stakes.

We follow Isobel, a girl who is only ever known by this moniker as a way to keep the faeries from ensorcelling her. She is very popular within the faerie community as she is able to do something they are not; Craft. In Isobel’s case, this is painting, but Craft can mean a variety of things: cooking, writing, sewing, etc. If a fair one (as the fae are commonly known to the folk of Whimsy) even attempts to do a Craft, it will surely kill them or drive them mad.

She keeps her name safe from her patrons, and only accepts payment in the form of enchantments that are specifically worded and used to help her and her family: her aunt Emma and her two sisters (who were once goats but enchanted by a fair one to become twin children) March and May. One of her most frequent visitors is a fae from the Spring Court, named Gladfly. He informs her that the prince of Autumn, Rook, will pay her a visit soon for his portrait. This fair one has not been seen for centuries, and so Isobel is on her guard.

Rook turns out to be a gracious guest, and as the two spend more and more time together, Isobel lets her walls fall down. She sees something within Rook that she can’t put her finger on, but it sets him apart from any other fae she has ever encountered. She starts to feel something for him, but once the portrait is finished he takes his leave, and she thinks she’ll never see him again. However, he returns in less than a month incensed, accusing her of putting something in the painting to make him look weak, and any weakness within the fae lands is punished, especially in the royal court.

Isobel quickly realizes that she gave him human emotion, and that was the missing link she sensed but couldn’t name. Rook spirits her away to clear his name, but during their time together, the two find themselves growing closer and closer, and after a grave mistake they are left wondering whether they have doomed themselves to death. There is a law in place set by the Alder King called The Good Law. It states that a human and a fae may not be permitted to fall in love.

There is a place in the Spring Court called the Green Well, which will turn the mortal drinker into a fair one themselves, but Isobel is against a transformation of any kind. With their feelings growing ever stronger and forces beyond their control tearing them apart, it’s a race against time and a battle against tradition as the two try to find a way to stay together or live without each other.

It’s a gorgeously written story with an ending I never expected. I don’t want to ruin it, but I’ll just say that I loved how much strength the author put in being just human. It was so inspiring that although the fae are beautiful and can live forever, they lead very boring lives, and use glamours that cover up not only the less than spectacular forms but also the ratty, moth eaten clothes they wear, the rotten and maggot infested food they eat, and the courts that they inhabit. It was a much different take than I’ve read before, and I really hope that this turns into a series because I am not ready to leave this world!

5/5 stars

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The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity – Review

Sixteen-year-old Anna sees things from another world, the spiritual world, a skill that isn’t exactly useful in high school. It’s bad enough that her mother, possessed by a demon, took her own life when Anna was a child, a loss she remains tortured by. Now her father makes his living “clearing” haunted objects, and Anna’s job as his assistant makes her a social misfit. Most kids in her suburban New Jersey town refer to her just as “Goblin Girl.”

Only Freddy and Dor remain loyal friends. But Anna’s so focused on her own problems, she’s missed that her connection with Freddy is moving beyond the friend zone. 

As junior year approaches, a rare solar storm lights up the night skies and the citizens of Bloomtown begin to act strangely: Anna’s teachers lash out, her best friends withdraw, and the school bullies go from mean to murderous. When Anna realizes she can harness this evil power, she sets out to save Bloomtown and the only family she has left. 

But to do so, she must keep her own increasingly dark urges at bay. 

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Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC! As an avid fan of Buffy, Supernatural, and The X-Files, I was immediately drawn to this story of ghosts, demons, and the heroes that hunt them. It was a thrill ride to say the least; Sunnydale’s Hellmouth on CRACK!

We dive into Anna’s life, which is as messy and rotten as the house she lives in. Her mom killed herself because of a demon that had possessed her, and her dad was never the same after. I loved the exploration into his grief, which manifested itself in his hoarding. It gets worse as worse as the story reaches its climax, and it’s heartbreaking to actually see the physical sign of his pain. He’s unable to let anything go, including the memory of his late wife.

Anna has her own problems outside of this, though. She is constantly bullied at school for being the daughter of a ghost hunter. Nicknamed Goblin Girl, kids are either scared of her, disgusted by her, or turned on by her. None of this is wanted attention, and so she seeks affection from a boy in a band who could care less about her. She finds her only other solace in her two friends, Dor and Freddy.

Things start to go sideways, and Anna is plagued with nightmares, headaches, and violent thoughts. She sees people she’s been surrounded by her whole life turn nasty or sullen, and she knows something supernatural has to be to blame. By tapping into her genetic connection to the Source (the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel), she uncovers the truth of her diseased and demon-infested town, and begins a journey to not only save her town, but to finally figure out who she is.

The thing I loved most about this narrative was the supernatural lore. It was interesting and compelling, and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. There was a myriad of beings: shadow people, Tricksters, demons– all who had their own time to shine and it never felt like there was too much being crammed into one story. They all had their own specific purpose and I was left feeling like I had just finished watching a season of one of my favorite supernatural shows. It was a rollercoaster ride of thrills, chills, and despair, and I loved every second!

5/5 stars

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Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry – Review

Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya—obsessed with ancient myths—lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has hidden her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are caught in an intimate moment, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival Raya vows to assume the mythic role of Orpheus to save them both and to return them to the world of the living, at any cost. 

In a haunting voice reminiscent of Sylvia Plath, with the contemporary lyricism of David Levithan, Orpheus Girl is a mythic story of dysfunctional families, first love, heartbreak—and the fierce adolescent resilience that has the power to triumph over darkness and ignorance.

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Thank you to Edelweiss for this ARC! I saw the synopsis and immediately knew it was a story I wanted to read. Inspired by Greek myths, Orpheus Girl is a tale of love, and the forces that will stop at nothing to extinguish it. The backdrop for the story was all too familiar; a small town in the middle of nowhere with people who had even smaller minds. Growing up in such places can make you feel like you’re in a place time hasn’t touched. Sure, they have cell phones and a bathroom inside their house, but will they stand for someone who is in love with a person of the same sex as them?

The answer, as our protagonist Raya soon finds out, is no. From birth, she was different. She was born with extra bones on her back that almost looked like the sprouting of wings. They were removed, of course, but throughout her life the absence of them caused her excruciating anxiety and self doubt. She felt ugly because of her scars, until Sarah. They grew up together, and recognized a deep longing in each other that they couldn’t let surface around anyone else. They spent their time emulating the popular girls; trying to hide. When they are suddenly found out, the church that they both attend recommends a conversion camp.

This is the most haunting narrative I’ve ever read about these horrific places. What makes it even worse is that I know these things have happened and continue to happen to human beings. Raya, Sarah, and their newfound friends at Friendly Saviors walk through hell and back. They are abandoned by those they love and trusted most; their family. They are told day in and day out that they are wrong, broken, and doomed. This plus the myriad of ‘treatments’ forced upon them do nothing besides make them a shell of their former selves. It’s a race against time as Raya and Sarah try to escape with not only each other, but their minds.

I loved the Greek myth aspect of this book, and how wonderfully matched the characters were to their respective god or goddess. Raya is of course Orpheus, and Sarah her wife; Eurydice, whom Orpheus goes to hell (conversion therapy) to rescue. There’s plenty more in the cast of characters, but I thought that the most poignant was the name of Raya’s hometown in Texas. Pieria was also Orpheus’s birthplace, and later became his burial site. One can only assume that if Raya stays in her town, she would never leave and would continue to pretend her entire life.

All in all, this is a heartbreaking story that is unfortunately a reality for many LGBTQ+ kids in less accepting places. We need narratives like these so we don’t forget their suffering, and that conversion camps are still a very real, very scary thing. One day I hope that this novel and others like it will become like the Greek gods and goddesses it holds in reverence; myths. We’ve made a lost of progress as a nation, but we still have so far to go, and I’m so grateful to this lyrical journey for going on a mission to remind others of that fact.

5/5 stars

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The Arrival of Someday by Jen Malone – Review

Hard-charging and irrepressible eighteen-year-old Amelia Linehan could see a roller derby opponent a mile away—and that’s while crouched down, bent over skates, and zooming around a track at the speed of light. They don’t call her Rolldemort for nothing! What she couldn’t see coming, however, was the unexpected flare-up of a rare liver disorder she was born with. But now it’s the only thing she—and everyone around her—can think about.

With no guarantee of a viable organ transplant, everything Amelia’s been sure of—like her college plans, the mural she’d been commissioned to paint, or the possibility of one day falling in love—has become a huge question mark, threatening to drag her down into a sea of what-ifs she’s desperate to avoid.

Then a friend from the past shows up. With Will, it’s easy to forget about what’s lurking underneath the lightness of their time together. It’s easy to feel alive when all signs point elsewhere. On the other hand, with the odds decidedly not in her favor, Amelia knows this feeling couldn’t last forever. But what can?

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Thank you so much to Edelweiss for this eARC that completely took my breath away. I originally requested it because of the badass that Lia (short for Amelia) is. The synopsis for the book tells us she is a roller derby queen, an artist, and a nerd (see her derby name: Rolldemort!) and as such I was completely taken by her character already, and knew she was someone I would connect with. It takes no time to warm up to her, and just as quickly the world as she knows it is quickly pulled out from under her feet when a liver disease she was born with rears its ugly head.

I learned so much from this novel, and not just about biliary atresia (or BA for short). We are taken through the process of organ donation, given so many ‘don’t you ever wonder’ questions to ponder, and regaled with tales about our past presidents. Our cast of characters each have something that they’re passionate about, and that passion struggles to stay in its lane as they are all dealt a hand in this grief. Lia refuses to be seen as The Dying Girl. She doesn’t want to be anything less than she’s ever been; strong, brave, and bold, and so the second that pity enters anyone’s eyes, she completely shuts down.

It’s a hard battle to watch, both from Lia and her loved one’s points of view. For her, she sees this only as something that is her fault. She’s causing her brother to come home from college, her parents to lose hope, and her best friend to turn her into a charity case. For everyone else, they are drowning in the fact that there’s nothing they can do. They want to rally around her, to put on a brave face, but just the thought of her life going on unfinished is unbearable. So we’re left in a very uncomfortable place as Lia attempts to defy her diagnosis and distract those surrounding her from seeing her any differently.

I don’t want to spoil the book, but there were so many things that I loved about it that I want to talk a little cryptically about. If any of you are scared of reading this because you’ve already ‘been there, done that’ with other books about teenagers grappling with disease, think again. It is so much different than any other book I’ve read dealing with similar subject matter. There is a bit of a ‘flirty’ aspect with a boy, but this boy does not come in on a white horse and carry her away from her mortality. He is a strong pillar that holds her up when she is coming unglued, and only when she has made it clear that she needs that. It was so refreshing to not have that be the focus of the narrative, as Lia has so many other things to focus on.

One such thing being her best friend, Sibby. She is Lia’s advocate, whether she wants it or not. She, along with Lia’s parents and brother Alex, are warriors. They are the net saving Lia from the cold abyss of fear, and their love rips her out of many a panic attack within these pages. The relationships built between friends and family are so important in this book, and reminds us that romantic love isn’t the only important love. When you’re sick, all you want is for your mom to hold you and bring you soup. You want your best friend to watch reruns of Friends and The West Wing with you. You want normalcy, and I can’t imagine that’s any different under threat of death.

The ending took me by surprise. I cried from the first sentence of the second to last chapter, and from then on it was just a kind of cathartic release. There’s so much tension you pick up on from all of these characters who are walking the line between hope and despair; looking down every once and awhile to see dread in the form of alligators just waiting to tear them to pieces. Sometimes they slip, and the alligators nip off a bit of their foot, or snap very closely to their ankles. There’s a constant game of cat and mouse as everyone (the reader included) waits to see Lia’s fate.

It’s a beautiful, raw, and unabashedly REAL book. It’s not sugar-coated, but it also is a bright light of hope, and a strong message to all to get out there and make a difference. You could save a life; maybe even the person’s closest to you.

5/5 stars

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The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari – Review

Two years after a deadly plane crash, best friends D and Spider head into the mountains to face their grief. A gripping psychological thriller for fans of The Cheerleaders and Sadie.

D and Spider have always been close friends, and they are further united in their shared heartbreak: they both lost siblings in a horrific plane crash two years earlier. A chance sighting of a beloved cuddly toy in a photograph of the only survivor spurs D to finally seek closure. She and Spider and their friend, Min, set off on a road trip to the mountainside site of that terrible crash.

Ariel has lived on the mountain all her life. She and her extended family are looked down upon by neighboring townsfolk and she has learned to live by her wits, trusting few people outside of her isolated, survivalist community. A terrifying attack sends her down the mountain for help; on her way, she comes upon the three girls — a chance encounter that will have far-reaching consequences for them all.

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Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC! I requested it on a whim, falling for the gorgeous cover and the promise of a mystery following a devastating tragedy. It delivered on this pact and gave me even more than I could have imagined!

The book starts out with a pretty literal bang as we see Kat and Jonathan’s last moments on the airplane that is the catalyst for this novel. We then flash forward two years as their siblings, D and Spider, respectively, are gearing up to visit the crash site with their friend Min in tow to get some closure. 

The trip is perilous; filled with car trouble and the constant feeling of being watched. Only we know that they are indeed being surveilled by a group of mountain dwellers that are led by a Jim Jones type known as Big Daddy. We are given insight into this compound through Ariel, who has grown up within its teachings. When she encounters an accident of her own, she begins to seek help and is driven into D and Spider’s lives desperately.

What unfolds in this book is a beautiful battle for that last spark of hope that keeps us all going, even in our darkest hour. These characters are tried, tested, and come out on the other side stronger for it. The determination and will of these women is a force to be reckoned with, and it has the most satisfying happy ending. I’m not saying it’s all puppies and rainbows; this narrative drips with trauma. However, in spite of this, life finds a way. I loved how this just completely surprised me and ended up being so perfectly up my alley!

5/5 stars

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Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson – Review

In the next striking and vibrant standalone novel by the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly and Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he is still alive.

Biggie Smalls was right. Things done changed. But that doesn’t mean that Quadir and Jarrell are okay letting their best friend Steph’s tracks lie forgotten in his bedroom after he’s killed—not when his beats could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a celebration, not after years of having each other’s backs.

Enlisting the help of Steph’s younger sister, Jasmine, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: The Architect. Soon, everyone in Brooklyn is dancing to Steph’s voice. But then his mixtape catches the attention of a hotheaded music rep and—with just hours on the clock—the trio must race to prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave.

Now, as the pressure—and danger—of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph’s fame, together they need to decide what they stand for before they lose everything they’ve worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.

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I want to send a huge thank you to Edelweiss for this ARC! I’m a huge fan of Tiffany’s, and this was one of my most anticipated reads for this year! I am happy to say that it did not disappoint! I was enthralled by this story driven by music; something that has always been so close to my heart. It’s so deeply threaded into this narrative, having original lyrics written by Malik Sharif were so powerful and rich coming from the mind of our deceased artist: Steph.

We are greeted by tragedy and its aftermath. The people closest to it are Quadir (Quady), Jarrell (Rell), and Jasmine (Jazzy Jazz). Quadir and Jarrell are Steph’s best friends, and Jasmine his younger sister. Their love of music tied them together and gave them outlets for the different pains in their lives, but no one was as intimate with it as Steph. They find a cache of music he had recorded before he was killed, and instead of only mourning what they have lost, they find a way to honor his memory.

What starts off as a ‘what if’ quickly becomes reality. The trio take Steph’s music and start on a journey to make him a posthumous hit. In the middle of their endeavors, Jasmine realizes that since they’re hitting the streets trying to spread the word about ‘The Architect’ (the moniker they chose for Steph) they can also keep an ear out for any leads about Steph’s murder, as the police have let the case grow cold.

It is a beautiful story of the things that bond us; be it shared interests, death, love, or history. These characters come together in such an inspiring way, and even as things get tough and scary, if one of them blinks an eye, the other is there with a fixed gaze. The feeling of respect and love that we see for Brooklyn and its residents is a driving force unlike any other. There is so much loyalty for this city, one that is most certainly heightened because Tiffany herself is from Brooklyn and writes about it with an open, expressive heart.

Something that I love most about all of Tiffany’s novels is that her characters have distinct voices that make them come alive. You don’t just hear them when they’re actually speaking out loud. You hear them all throughout their respective chapters, because Tiffany takes us inside of their minds. The slang, dialect, and personality in each line written makes this story feel so much more personal, and you can almost feel the breath of the protagonists in your ear as if they’re sitting right beside you; making sure that you know Steph’s story and can pass it on.

I loved that this narrative had so many important nuances. We follow the mystery of Steph’s death. We see a love story blossom. We float through a river of music and try to stay afloat through the many ups and downs of the industry. We get a peek into the history of not only music, but into the lives of POC in the late 90s. I learned so much about black history from this book, and I believe I am better for it.

Thank you, Tiffany, for sharing this story with me. I cannot wait until the world hears it too.

5/5 stars

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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – Review

A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him. 

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

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This book has to be the greatest romance ever written. Largely that is a matter of opinion, but it touched my heart in such a way that I will never forget it. It had some of my favorite story telling devices: emails laden with excerpts from letters between lovers in history, podcasts with their eyes trained on the White House, and text messages that help us feel closer to these rich, diverse characters. We had enemies-to-lovers, fake bro-mance to real romance, and a tale about finding your Prince Charming that knocked me off my feet more than any Disney movie ever could.

We find ourselves in an alternate future where 2016 ended the way I had hoped it would. The results were called on my birthday that year, and it’s the worst one I’ve ever had. Just the world that Casey built for us made my heart ache and let me escape this Hollywood nightmare that we find ourselves in. If I could pull a page from Blue’s Clues’ Steve and Blue Skadoo into a novel; this one would be it. They got their Madam President, and she was not only a divorcee but also mother to two Mexican-American children. Those are two things that could be so polarizing to certain groups in our country, and she is nothing if not stronger for it. The country loves the First Family, and the nation is one that can be trusted and loved again.

However, the next election is drawing near, and emotions are at an all time high. This is where we find Alex, who is campaigning for his mother’s reelection. Due to an accident at a royal event, Alex is forced to spend time with Henry; the Prince of England. Throughout this unwanted set up, the two fall in love and are now faced with the consequences of their shared feelings. I really don’t want to spoil the book, so I won’t get into much detail. However, their love and escalation towards it took my breath away. What may have stolen my heart even more though was the reactions of their loved ones.

We have come a long way since the beginning of humanity, and though we still have a long way to go, I’m so proud of where we are. Casey’s work reflects this in that there is an outpouring of support from friends, families, and outsiders alike. Of course, there is always opposition, and maybe there always will be. In spite of this, love is universal, love is undeniable, and love always finds a way. I include all love in this, not just romantic love. Once these characters know that this connection between Alex and Henry is real, they stop at nothing to find a way to bring them together; which is an Herculean feat. There are appearances to keep up on both sides of this coin: Henry being the spare to the throne and Alex being the FSOTUS. I was relieved to know they fought their way out of the woods and won against all odds.

Casey says in her acknowledgements that she hopes that when you’ve finished the book that she leaves you with the spark and joy that you need. I think she does that and more. It’s not just a story about loving who you love and being honest with yourself, even though that is a remarkably brave and wonderful thing. It’s also a battle cry to never give up. It’s a rallying cry to vote; to make your voice heard. We can change the world and make it like this one. We can have our female president, we can lift up our LGBTQ+ community, and we can stand with our POC and make sure their voices are heard and they are given the respect and power they deserve.

If any of you are looking for a kick in the pants to bring you out of the funk that has surround the US since 2016, please pick up this book. I feel refreshed and recharged, and I’m ready to fucking fight. My heart has had a weight lifted, and I owe it all to Alex, Henry, and Casey.

5/5 stars