The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze: A Review

Identical twins Edie and Violet use their real supernatural talents to lend credence and panache to their act as part of a traveling troupe of mediums and Spiritualists. Together the two perform seances for wealthy clients and Edie also uses the guise of presenting trance lectures to orate progressive ideas including speaking out against marriage laws that, in 1885, allowed women to be committed to mental institutions for anything from using contraception to so-called “medium mania.”

Their latest stop in Sacramento brings the girls one step closer to the stability they’ve sorely missed since their mother’s death. But it also brings them nearer than ever to the father who is still searching for them, still intent on having them committed to an asylum to cure them of their so-called delusions about the spirit world.

When their latest séance goes horribly wrong twins Edie and Violet will .

The sisters have their routine down to a science until the night that Violet’s effort to open the veil during a seance goes horribly wrong bringing Edie face-to-face with the spirit who killed their mother on the other side of the veil. When the spirit follows Edie back into the real world, the twins have to use their supernatural gifts to stop this dark presence stalking spiritualist mediums–including themselves in The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond (2022) by Amanda Glaze.

Find it on Bookshop.

The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond is Glaze’s debut novel. An author’s note at the back of the novel explains the author’s connection to the story and how it was inspired by her own family history. Although main characters are white, Glaze acknowledges the racism of the 19th century suffrage movement and the suffrage work of women of color that was not acknowledged.

Narrated by Edie, this supernatural mystery is filled with suspense. However the scariest part of the story might be how much of the it–particularly the ease with which women could be forcibly committed to asylums–is drawn from history. Edie’s investigation highlights the ways medium work and Spiritualism offered women of the time more independence and agency while also underscoring the sexism and misogyny they faced in their daily lives and even from the laws of the time. The narrative also explores the sense of community women were able to find in groups like Edie’s spirtiualist troupe which provided women a means to move freely without societal constraints placed upon them—especially married women and young women—at a time when men could and would forcibly commit them.

The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond is an immersive mystery filled with suspense, action, and feminism in equal measure; a great choice for readers new to both historical fiction and supernatural fantasy.

Possible Pairings: Chime by Franny Billingsley, The Diviners by Libba Bray, Strange Unearthly Things by Kelly Creagh, The Promise of Lost Things by Helene Dunbar, The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis, Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman, Bridgekeeper by LS Moore, Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury, Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa: A Graphic Novel Review

Belle Hawkins actually likes hiding in the background–or behind the mascot costume she wears for her school’s teams. But Hawkins knows it’s going to take more than a goofy mascot dance to ask out her crush head cheerleader Regina Moreno.

Unfortunately, it goes even worse than Hawkins could have imagined. Not only is her overture rejected by Regina, she’s also caught in the act by Regina’s jock girlfriend Chloe Kitagawa who is understandably not pleased. Instead of the beat down Hawkins fears, she finds herself recruited by Regina (which, let’s be real, doesn’t take a lot of persuasion) to tutor Chloe in English so that her academic record can get closer to matching her impressive athletic achievements.

At first it seems like a harmless scenario where everyone is getting something they want–especially Regina. But the longer Hawkins and Chloe spend together, the more both girls start to remember their shared history before Hawkins started hiding behind her mascot mask. Can the school’s star athlete and the girl who used to wear princess dresses to school every day still have anything in common? Can either of them let go of the idea of dream girl Regina for long enough to figure it out? in Belle of the Ball (2023) by Mari Costa.

Find it on Bookshop.

Belle of the Ball is a standalone graphic novel filled with campy humor, high school hijinks, and plenty of classic romantic comedy tropes. Costa avoids familiar ruts by providing backstories for all three points of the love triangle. Hawkins works to come out of her self-imposed shell while Chloe tries to figure out who she is when she isn’t half of the school’s power couple or dominating on the sports field. Regina, meanwhile, feels pressure to be the most popular and the smartest to live up to the expectations of her immigrant parents.

Smooth lines and a caricature-like style lends a unique feel to every page while the restricted color palette’s focus on shades of pink underscores the romantic tensions of the story. Perfect pacing and comedic beats elevate this rom-com focused on three very different girls trying to figure out who they want to be (and who they want to be with!).

Possible Pairings: Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar, Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler, Pardalita by Joana Estrela, If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie, Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, Oscar O. Jupiter and Val Wise, Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks, The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos, Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyn Pham

Book List: 2024 Rise: A Feminist Book Project

Belatedly sharing the 2024 Rise Feminist Book Project list. This committee experience was a big part of many aspects of my 2023 so I wanted to share it.

You can find the Top Ten here: https://risefeministbooks.wordpress.com/2024/01/15/2024-rise-a-feminist-book-project-top-ten/

You can find the full booklist here: https://risefeministbooks.wordpress.com/2024/01/15/current-booklist/

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou: A Review

Descendants of the Fates always come in threes. One to weave the threads. One to draw the threads. One to cut the threads. Cutting is the most dangerous because when you cut a thread it can be used as a weapon. It can also sever a person’s connection to the things they love–sometimes small things like a favorite pastry, sometimes much more significant connections like a grandmother or a best friend. Cut the right thread and you can end a person’s life.

Io Ora is a cutter. The youngest of her sisters, Io works as a private investigator in Alante. She uses her abilities to dig into the city’s ugly secrets for her clients.

Despite countless cases steeped in violence and depravity, even Io is unprepared when a new series of horrific crimes tears through Alante. Someone is cutting women’s life threads, severing their connections to this world and leaving them mindless wraiths intent on murder. Horrified to see her own ability so corrupted, Io is more than willing to investigate. Even if it means working alongside Edei Rhuna–the infamous second to Alante’s Mob Queen and Io’s soulmate although only Io can see the fate-thread that connects them.

Tracing the origins of the wraiths brings Io uncomfortably close to her past with her estranged oldest sister and unearths secrets she would rather stay buried. As Io chases the true culprit, she will have to confront her growing feelings for Edei and the unpleasant realization that justice may not be for everyone in Threads That Bind (2023) by Kika Hatzopoulou.

Find it on Bookshop.

Threads That Bind is Hatzopoulou’s first novel and the start of a series. Check out the audiobook narrated by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw to catch all of the name pronunciations.

Although the story focuses on Io and elements of Greco-Roman mythology like the Fates, Hatzopoulou’s world building takes a multicultural approach with a diverse cast and gods from pantheons outside of Greece and Rome existing alongside eachother in Alante. Io and her sisters read as white with diversity among the supporting cast.

Io’s first person narration blends dynamic magical elements with the grind of a world-weary detective in this fantasy noir where nothing is quite as it seems. Slowly building action, light romance, and dramatic twists make Threads That Bind a satisfying mystery and excellent series starter.

Possible Pairings: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, Lore by Alexandra Bracken, Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody, Havenfall by Sara Holland, Seven Faceless Saints by MK Lobb, Gilded by Marissa Meyer, Garden of the Cursed by Amy Rose Pool, The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar

April 2024 Recap or Healing is slow and why it feels like I’ve lost a quarter of a year

Blog Posts:

• “I tried to pick my battles ’til the battle picked me” … Miss Print will be back soon
• Poetically Speaking: hunger by rupi kaur
• Poetically Speaking: On a Pink Moon by Ada Limon
• Poetically Speaking: you are worth spoiling by amanda lovelace
• Poetically Speaking: Good Bones by Maggie Smith

Read:

1. Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake (audio)
2. Yona of the Dawn Volume 8 by Mizuho Kusanagi*
3. Masquerade of the Heart by Katy Rose Pool (TBR since Sept. 2023)
4. Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin*
5. Yona of the Dawn Volume 9 by Mizuho Kusanagi*
6. Yona of the Dawn Volume 10 by Mizuho Kusanagi*

Project Zero TBR:

TBR at the start of the month: 187
TBR at the end of the month: 205
Owned books at the start of the month: 373
Owned books at the end of month: 380
Books Bought: 0
Books Gifted: 0

TBR at the start of 2024: 195
Owned books at the start of 2024: 365

Find more details on @princesschapters‘ Instagram.

Diverse Baseline Challenge:

4 books by BIPOC authors read in the month (minimum 3)(indicated by *)
Find the full challenge details including monthly prompts on Instagram thanks to @bookish.millennial and @themargherita.s.

How My Month Went:

I have been saying this every month but it’s been a hard one and, sadly, I think 2024 is just going to be a hard year. Even as I update this at the end of April, there have been more setbacks. I have talked a little about some of my year in recaps here and in stories on Instagram but I realized it’s all been a bit disjointed and thought this would be a good place to get everything in order:

The first thing you should know is that my mom has been disabled for my whole life. I never knew the version of my mother who walked to and from her apartment in Greenwich Village to her job in the garment district every day. I never knew a version of my mother who didn’t walk with a cane. I think a lot about that because my mother being this version of herself is intrinsically tied to my being here–I was born almost a year after my mother was hit by a motorcycle that ran a red light while she was crossing the street. Both of her legs, one arm, and one jaw were broken in the accident. Now, so many years later, it’s becoming clear that the damage from that accident is farther reaching than the initial broken bones.

As some of you might recall, my mom fell and cracked two ribs in early March. She was also diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called pemphigous vulgaris where the body attacks the skin–this results in blister sores all over the body and skin sensitivity and fragility. There is no cure and treatment is … intensive. In late March my mom had to go to the hospital because the skin condition was not improving and we had moved beyond the scope of care that her primary care physician was able to provide through home visits. At the same time as all of this, Mom had a large scrape on her shin that would not heal.

The hospital stay was hard. Hospitals are always hard but they’re scary as hell when the patient is 76 years old and doesn’t usually leave the house for anything. The doctors put Mom on prednisone to help the skin condition and I had a productive conversation with a wound care nurse to better understand how to care for her leg. (If you ever find yourself in this position: wounds need to be covered and kept moist to heal–this is how new skin grows.)

In early April we went to a horrendously bad follow up with the medical team who will be managing her care for the skin condition. They were rude and obnoxious, did little to instill confidence, and acted as if they had never interacted with a person in a wheelchair or a person over the age of 70 before. I’m not sure how I come across in these recaps but I am really not quick to anger but let me tell you I was snapping at these doctors by the end of the appointment.

Which brings us to late April: Mom needs to get her vaccinations up to date before starting an immunosuppressant infusion which will treat the pemphigous and allow her to get off the prednisone (an incredibly noxious medication). Except healing is slow and, in retrospect, Mom was losing mobility along the way as we struggled to put out the different fires for her health conditions.

I had to take time off work for the second half of April when Mom developed severe pain in her knee and could no move safely around our apartment. It’s hard to see it in the moment, but this kept getting worse until five days ago when Mom couldn’t move and we both realized she needed more help than simply resting in bed. Mom’s been in the hospital since then. She has severe arthritis in her leg along with osteopenia and osteoporosis (bone loss and bone thinning). These are conditions that come with aging. But I also know in my heart that they are also directly related to all of her previous injuries–something that I hope haunts the man who hit her but I wonder if he even thinks about it anymore.

Healing is slow and it takes time but it’s hard to know what that means when the person who needs the healing is 76 and wondering if going into the hospital this time means she won’t come out. Healing is slow but I’m reminding myself that it is happening. Mom is still in the hospital but she stood up by herself after five days of almost no movement, she’s eating again. We’re in a holding pattern waiting for her to be placed in a nursing home for further rehabilitation.

Healing is slow and I’m still not sure if back to normal is a thing that we are allowed to hope for but I am hoping for it all the same. I have been spending a lot of time scared or tired or sad. I keep telling myself this will pass. I keep reminding my friends who are also going through it that it can’t stay like this forever. But it’s still hard to remember. I feel disconnected and isolated and I can tell some people are over it because this has become my entire personality–how can it not?

I started writing this recap in mid-April and it’s been one thing after another. Almost every day I would say to myself “things have to get better” and almost every day things would get worse in some unpredictable way.

I look back at 2024 so far and I feel like I have nothing to show for it. Am I still a librarian if I have to take so much time away from the library? Or do I need to push back more on the capitalistic societal standards that we have to be our work? Am I still a book reviewer and blogger when I am barely reading and haven’t made any progress on review writing since early April? Does it even matter? If I am a caregiver, what does it mean when I can’t even take adequate care of the person in my care? I know the last one is negative self-talk but also I keep asking myself what’s the point and sometimes it’s easier to find an answer than others. But I keep reminding myself healing is slow but it is still happening.

I think we’re going to get through this and I think my mom is going to get home. And that feels good to type when it didn’t feel true even a few days ago. But at the same time I sit her confronting her mortality and in some ways my own as I think about what my life will look like when she’s gone. It isn’t a pleasant thing to consider but it’s the reality of aging. I can already see the shape of the hole that my mom is going to leave behind. It’s horrifying and impossible to imagine it ever being filled. But what choice is there but to try?

Some bright spots in this ongoing dumpster fire so that we might end on a brighter note:

I am slowly getting through some reviews and hope to have more consistent content again starting in May. It’s good to have a backlog of books to review because I’ve been reading very little since there’s never any time. I think I will be able to stick with the Diverse Baseline Challenge (reading 3 books by BIPOC authors every month at minimum) but Project Zero TBR is probably carrying into next year–especially since I think the only reason my to read numbers have been going down is because I stopped adding eARCs and ALCs I get. One day …

I love the new Taylor Swift album. I expected great things from The Tortured Poets Department and it doesn’t disappoint. My favorite song is “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” but I genuinely think the whole album is a gem. The themes of aging and regret alongside threads of resilience and transformation speak to my soul feel like the energy I want to take away from this horrible year.

I dealt with all of my ~feelings~ this month by buying things including but not limited to: more Taylor Swift merch (album cardigan and TTPD signet ring because why not?), a new bag in cornflower blue with a bunch of interchangeable straps, new toys for Bella who still prefers cardboard or my slippers, and more books that I do not need.

I’m 70% through Song of the Six Realms (which is why I’m counting it for this month) and it’s lovely. It’s a music infused fantasy with Chinese mythology and a gothic sensibility.

Next month maybe I’ll be back with more positive news instead of another series of maladies. Until then rest up and go make sure your orange juice is fortified with Calcium to take care of those bones.

Update May 10: I’ll post more about this in my May recap but did want to say my mom moved to a nursing home for sub-acute rehab on May 1. Healing is still slow but we just have to keep trying.

You can also see my recap from last month.

Poetically Speaking: Good Bones by Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.

Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine

in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,

a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways

I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least

fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative

estimate, though I keep this from my children.

For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.

For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,

sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world

is at least half terrible, and for every kind

stranger, there is one who would break you,

though I keep this from my children. I am trying

to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,

walking you through a real shithole, chirps on

about good bones: This place could be beautiful,

right? You could make this place beautiful.

***

I was surprised when I realized I’d never talked about Maggie Smith for a Poetically Speaking post before but it did make my choice for this year’s final poem feature obvious. I always appreciate a poem where the individual components do as much work as the whole–something that I have always thought Good Bones showcases really well. We get all of these interesting images in a structure that is free verse but deceptive enough to make you think there is a specific poetic form at work. Then we get to those final lines. “I am trying to sell them the world …” “You could make this place beautiful.”

2024 has been a hard year. And it’s really easy to get lost in that and feel like this relentless litany of problems and maladies is all there is. But that isn’t true. Because no matter how bad things get the world is always changing. There is always a chance to do more in your little corner. You can make things beautiful. You can do your best. And that’s all anyone can ask as we keep marching toward what’s next.

Check back every Friday in April for a new Poetically Speaking post. Until then, you can also browse older posts (and guest posts) for more poetry.

Poetically Speaking: you are worth spoiling by amanda lovelace

you worry
so much
about
the comfort
of others
that you
cannot
remember
a time
when
you did
something
just
for
yourself.

– you are worth spoiling.

***

Lovelace became popular after posting her poetry to instagram and tumblr. She also self-published her first collection, the princess saves herself in this one, to much acclaim before it was reprinted by a traditional publisher and became more widely available. Since then, she has branched out to author multiple poetry collections, an oracle deck, a writing journal, and more.

This poem appears in The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One, the final poetry collection in lovelace’s Women Are Some Kind of Magic trilogy. This poem has been living on my phone as a screenshot since 2019 when I first read the book. It’s one I come back to often and one I try to keep close to my heart. It’s easy as a caregiver, as a highly sensitive person, to think that taking care of the people around is enough. That isn’t true, of course, because you can’t pour from an empty well. But it doesn’t make it easier to remember. So I keep this one on my phone to remind myself that you have to take care of yourself first. No one else will.

You can find her work on Bookshop here: https://bookshop.org/a/5409/9781449486419

Check back every Friday in April for a new Poetically Speaking post. Until then, you can also browse older posts (and guest posts) for more poetry.

Poetically Speaking: On a Pink Moon by Ada Limon

On a Pink Moon

I take out my anger
And lay its shadow

On the stone I rolled
Over what broke me.

I plant three seeds
As a spell. One

For what will grow
Like air around us,

One for what will
Nourish and feed,

One for what will
Cling and remind me–

We are the weeds.

***

Ada Limón is a widely known poet whose work straddles the line between being known both in writerly circles (thanks to her numerous accolades and awards) and more broadly (thanks to social media).

You can find and buy her books on Bookshop.org

Limón is one of those interesting poets whose work you might have already stumbled across online browsing for poetry but whose work has also received a fair bit of critical acclaim and numerous awards. Like a lot of the authors, it’s hard for me to pick just one poem to share but after much deliberation I think On a Pink Moon is a great introduction to her work. On a Pink Moon appears in Limón’s collection The Carrying.

I’ve featured a few of Limon’s poems and love them all for different reasons. In this one I really love all of the imagery and the way the poem tells a story drawing you in before the almost abrupt ending that widens the story from a micro view of the narrator back to a more macro view of the world.

Check back every Friday in April for a new Poetically Speaking post. Until then, you can also browse older posts (and guest posts) for more poetry.

Poetically Speaking: hunger by rupi kaur

the hummingbirds tell me
you’ve changed your hair
i tell them i don’t care
while listening to them
describe every detail

-hunger

***

Kaur is a big name when it comes to so-called social media poets. Like amanda lovelace, kaur’s roots are in social media where she first gained popularity on instagram. Kaur’s poems are modern, vivid, and offer a unique reading experience (often accompanied by illustrations) that is changing what poetry means. hunger can be found in kaur’s collection the sun and her flowers. I especially appreciate the economy of language and the way that allows this poem to hyper-focus on one scene and all of the emotional resonance behind it.

Check back every Friday in April for a new Poetically Speaking post. Until then, you can also browse older posts (and guest posts) for more poetry.

“I tried to pick my battles ’til the battle picked me” … Miss Print will be back soon

If you’ve been reading my monthly recaps, you know that 2024 has not been my year. I keep hoping for things to get easier only to have some new malady drop.

Suffice to say I am, again, out of new content to share. I have some pre-scheduled posts that will go live on Fridays for National Poetry Month but other than that things will be quiet here for a bit.

But I’m still reading and still reviewing and I’ll be back soon once I have some time to play catch up.

If you’re curious about what’s been going on and what I’ve been reading in the meantime, check out my March 2024 recap.