The Lost Dreamer: A Review

“Stories don’t end, they just change shape.”

Indir is a Dreamer. Growing up in Alcanzeh surrounded by her sisters in the Temple of Night, Indir has always been protected. Her gift to Dream truth earns her respect both within the temple and the city beyond.

But change is coming and this cycle will end in chaos before another can begin.

With the king’s death Indir’s gift is a threat to Alcan–the king’s heir intent on dismantling the kingdom’s traditions and rituals–especially those surrounding the Dreamers.

Saya is a seer. She walks the Dreaming but she is not one of the revered Dreamers. Instead she travels from village to village with her calculating mother only staying long enough for Saya’s mother to explore her gift and get everything they can before moving on. Saya knows her mother is hiding things from her, but this unmoored life is also the only one she has ever known.

As Indir and Saya search for answers, both young women creep ever closer to the chaos and danger that threatens from all sides. When everything they know is threatened, both Indir and Saya will have to choose between staying to fight and running to survive in The Lost Dreamer (2022) by Lizz Huerta.

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The Lost Dreamer is Huerta’s debut novel and the start of a duology inspired by ancient Mesoamerican mythology. The story alternates between Indir and Saya’s first person narrations offering different perspectives on both the kingdom and Dreaming.

With readers dropped into the middle of the action, The Lost Dreamer is a fast-paced fantasy filled with surprising twists and high stakes. The less you know about how the pieces fit together, the more satisfying all of Huerta’s reveals will be. Themes of female solidarity and friendship play well against the matrilineal history underpinning this richly developed world. Recommended.

Possible Pairings: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee, The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco, Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu, The Bone Charmer by Breeana Shields

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything: A Review

It’s been three years since Sia Martinez’s mom disappeared.

Sia wants to move on the way a lot of her tiny town in Arizona has. But she isn’t as willing to gloss over the horrible rift in her family as an “unfortunate incident” to let things go. She knows her mom is probably dead. What else could have happened after her ill-fated attempt to cross the Sonoran and avoid an ICE raid?

Still every new moon finds Sia driving to the desert to light San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to help her mom find her way home.

It feels like a meaningless ritual. Until one night when Sia’s candles aren’t the only lights in the sky. When the blue lights crash right in front of Sia she finds a spacecraft. Carrying her mom in Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything (2020) by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland.

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Vasquez Gilliland blends speculative fiction into this story about family, growing up, and the specific dangers and challenges of the immigrant experience. Very short chapters and numerous twists make this book a quick read despite the high page count and ideal to draw in reluctant readers. The genre blending can make Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything feel like two stories mashed together but usually in interesting ways rather than discordant ones.

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything is a fast-paced genre-blender where the enduring power of love–both for family and first love–might be able to change everything.

Possible Pairings: Lobizona by Romina Garber, Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai, Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza, When Light Left Us by Leah Thomas, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Magic Lessons: A Review

England, 1664. Hannah Owens finds a baby in the woods, wrapped in a blue blanket her name, Maria, embroidered along the side. She brings the girl home and raises her as her own, teaching her the Nameless Arts–the herbs to help ease pain, the best way to use blue thread for protection.

When Hannah is accused of witchcraft and burned to death inside her small cottage, Maria knows there is nothing left for her in England. Traveling to Curaçao as an indentured servant, Maria discovers the world is much bigger and beautiful than she first thought. At fifteen she thinks she’s fallen in love with an American businessman. But she forgets Hannah’s first lesson: love someone who will love you back.

Following Hathorne to Salem, Massachusetts irrecvocably changes Maria’s path forever when heartbreak and fear lead her to invoke a curse that will haunt the Owens family for centuries to come.

Every witch knows that you can make the best of fate or let it make the best of you. But Maria also knows it isn’t always so easy to do as you like without doing harm. When everything you give is returned to you threefold, Maria will have to relearn how to love freely if she wants to protect her family and her heart in Magic Lessons (2020) by Alice Hoffman.

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Magic Lessons is a prequel to Hoffman’s now classic novel Practical Magic. This novel focuses on the first Owens witch, Maria, and the advent of the family’s infamous curse. It can be read on its own without familiarity with Hoffman’s other books in this series. The story is told by an omniscient third person narrator with a close focus on Maria and an audio version that is wonderfully narrated by Sutton Foster.

The Owens family are white. Ending in Salem, Massachusetts, Maria spends a brief part of the novel in Curaçao and also in New York City (a significant location for the latter part of this novel as well as parts of The Rules of Magic.) Along the way Maria also encounters sailor Samuel Dias who is a Sephardic Jew.

Hoffman blends atmospheric settings, historical detail, and her own distinct characters to create a story filled with magic. Readers familiar with this world (or the 1998 film adaptation) might think they know how this story goes, but Magic Lessons still manages to pack in satisfying surprises.

Steeped in the practical knowledge of the Nameless Art and the enduring strength of love–both for good and for ill–Magic Lessons is a thoughtful and evocative story; a wonderful installment and a perfect introduction for new readers.

Possible Pairings: Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin, The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker, Just Kids by Patti Smith, Among Others by Jo Walton

Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop: A Review

Vanessa Yu never wanted to be a fortune teller. Which explains a lot about why she can barely control her magical ability as an adult. After years of avoiding learning more about her gift and refusing to embrace it, Vanessa is plagued by headaches in the wake of every vision and unable to avoid blurting out the fortunes she sees in any beverage that catches her eye at the most inconvenient times.

When her latest prediction of infidelity comes at her cousin’s luxe wedding, even Vanessa has to admit something needs to change.

Faster than you can say adieu, Vanessa is leaving California to to help her aunt Evelyn open a new tea shop in Paris and, hopefully, to also get a handle on her gift once and for all. Paris is filled with delicious foods, beautiful art, and possibly even romance with Mark, a handsome pastry chef.

Everyone knows that Seers are incapable of forming lasting romantic attachments. So before Vanessa can see if she and Mark have a future, she has a lot more to learn about her magical abilities in Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop (2020) by Roselle Lim.

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Lim’s sophomore novel is set in the same world as her debut Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune (read my review) which also features Evelyn Yu as an important secondary character.

Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop expands the world Lim created in her debut, introducing readers to more magical elements and moving the story into a new setting. Strong world building is once again grounded in intricate descriptions of the fashions, decor, and delectable foods that Vanessa encounters during her stay in Paris alongside magical elements including Vanessa and Evelyn’s predictions as Seers–some of which are better integrated into the otherwise contemporary setting than others.

Vanessa’s efforts to understand and control her magic works well with the side plot of helping Evelyn open her shop and work against xenophobic bigotry that threatens to shutter the tea shop before it ever has a chance. As Vanessa learns more about herself, her magic, and the red strings of fate that tie people together, she also starts to realize that there is more than one kind of magic in the world–and she just might be able to take a different path.

With attempts to matchmake for her aunt and a new Parisian friend, there’s plenty of love to be found in this novel even if Vanessa’s own love interest often feels lackluster in comparison.

Romantic and filled with love, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop is ultimately a story about choosing yourself–and your own fate–no matter the cost.

Possible Pairings: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Heartbreak Bakery by A. R. Capetta, Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien, Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, A Thread of Sky by Diana Fei, Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron, Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li, A Taste of Sage by Yaffa S. Santos, Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis, The Recipe Box by Vivian Shipman, Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Crying in the Bathroom: A Non-Fiction Review

Erika Sanchez grew up in Chicago in the 1990s. The daughter of Mexican immigrants she grew up knowing how to laugh and how to cause trouble for her family and anyone else caught in her vortex.

A lot has changed in the intervening years. Now she’s a renowned poet and novelist. She’s in love. She’s started a family. She’s happy more often than not.

But before that she had to get through the year her vagina broke, a soul-sucking corporate job, an affair with a man that lasted longer than it should have after she learned he was married, and several episodes of debilitating depression. All of which she talks about in Crying in the Bathroom (2022) by Erika L. Sanchez.

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Sanchez’s memoir is raw and authentic as she explores personal autonomy, humor, colorism and beyond in this essay collection which she also reads for the audiobook. At times abrasive and sharp, Sanchez’s struggles are grounded in authenticity as she struggles through depression, tries to reconcile her understanding of her adult identity with motherhood, and explores the cultural nuances of humor.

Crying in the Bathroom is an exploration of navigating adulthood and growing up that is often funny, sometimes cringey, and always relatable.

Possible Pairings: Fruit Punch by Kendra Allen, Black Dove by Ana Castillo, This is Really Happening by Erin Chack, Finding Me by Viola Davis, This Will Be Funny Later by Jenny Pentland, Making a Scene by Constance Wu

*An advance listening copy of this title was provided by the publisher through Libro.fm*

Huda F Are You?: A Graphic Novel Review

Egyptian American Huda thought she knew exactly who she was: the hijabi girl.

But now that her family has moved to Dearborn, Michigan, Huda is facing a big identity crisis because in a town filled with Muslims it turns out everyone is the hijabi girl.

Not sure where this leaves her, Huda embarks on a journey of self-discovery. She isn’t athletic enough to be a hijabi athlete. She doesn’t want to get up early to perfect her makeup like the hijabi fashionistas. She isn’t competitive enough to be a hijabi gamer. And she definitely doesn’t know everything about being Muslim (or hijabi) so that’s out too.

Even being the smart one–previously a given for Huda in her large family–gets a lot harder with a teacher who is unfairly hostile to Muslim students.

As she navigates a new town and a new school Huda will make new friends, stand up to bullying and microaggressions, and maybe even have a new crush (or maybe not) all while figuring out who she wants to be in Huda F Are You? (2021) by Huda Fahmy.

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Fahmy’s fictionalized memoir tackles universal growing pains through a Muslim lens in this full-color graphic novel. Large panels and stylized cartoon illustrations lend a webcomic feel to this quick read. Muslim characters are shown with a variety of skintones (and hijab styles) and all characters have a variety of body types.

Huda’s experiences with her matriarchal family and her efforts to find her niche in school offer a nuanced and well-rounded portrayal of Huda’s search for herself.

Sharp humor and astute observations from the protagonist make Huda F Are You? a funny, immersive read. Fans can watch for the sequel Huda F Cares? in 2023.

Possible Pairings: Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi, Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova, Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt, All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney, Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina

We Are the Scribes: A Review

Ruth Fitz has always been quiet but after her beloved older sister dies during a protest, Ruth can’t bear to write or even speak more than a handful of carefully rationed words. How can she keep talking, keep doing the thing she used to love, when Virginia can’t do anything?

Grief hits the Fitz family in different ways. Ruth’s mother dives even deeper into her work doubling down as an Alabama senator and voice for social change both in DC and in increasingly frequent television appearances as her celebrity grows. If all of this work takes her away from home and the gaping hole Virginia left behind, well, sometimes that’s the price of being an activist, isn’t it?

With Senator Fitz away, Ruth’s father has settled into the unfamiliar role of caregiver and primary parent. A professor of African American history with his own cache in academia, it’s difficult knowing his wife’s renown is quickly eclipsing his own.

Ruth knows it’s impossible for her mother to turn down an offer to join a presidential ticket as the candidate for Vice President. But she also doesn’t understand why she hears about the news with her father and baby sister while watching the news. Having to travel as a family on a road trip over the summer to garner votes is equally baffling. Not to mention daunting.

When it feels like everything is falling apart, Ruth receives a letter. Really, it’s a scroll–parchment with a seal that reads WE ARE THE SCRIBES from Harriet Jacobs, sent author or Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl who was born in 1813 and died in 1897.

The scroll tells Ruth she’s been chosen as a scribe for the times. Which makes no sense when she can barely speak. Never mind coming from a woman beyond long dead. Ruth wants to question the scrolls. Maybe even ignore them. But somehow Harriet–impossible, wise, compassionate Harriet–seems to understand exactly how much Ruth is struggling … and maybe exactly how Ruth can get herself and what remains of her family through it in We Are the Scribes (2022) by Randi Pink.

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We Are the Scribes is a standalone contemporary novel with elements of fabulism in the form of Harriet’s letters to Ruth and a powerful audiobook narration by Imani Jade Powers. Ruth and her family are Black. During the ill-fated bus tour for their parents, Ruth forms a friendship with Judy, the daughter of the presidential candidate. Judy is white and dealing with her own fallout from becoming part of her father’s political campaign.

Feminist themes are at the forefront of this story as Ruth tries to figure out how to feel like she’s enough for herself and her family. The trajectory of her mother’s political career also adds to these themes as both Ruth and her father struggle with their family’s new celebrity and what it means to be the relative of a senator whose star is on the rise–a struggle mirrored by Judy who has been burned by media coverage of the campaign and also knows there is more to her father than the smiling face he puts forward for the press.

We Are the Scribes thoughtfully explores grief and what it means to endure both through Ruth’s journey over the course of the summer and in parallels to Harriet’s struggles as a woman escaping slavery. Literary prose and meditative pacing make this deceptively short book one worth savoring.

Possible Pairings: I Rise by Marie Arnold, Vinyl Moon by Mahogany L. Browne, Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles, We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds, One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite  and Maritza Moulite, Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn, Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams, Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi

Spice Road: A Review

Imani always dreamed of becoming a Shield like her older brother Atheer. Shields are elite warriors who, after drinking misra tea, can wield magic to protect the kingdom of Qalia from all outside threats including manipulative djinni, horrific ghouls, and other monsters. Known for her metal affinity and skill with a dagger, Imani is one of the youngest Shields from the long-revered Beya clan. A clan that is shadowed by disgrace and grief in the wake of Atheer’s disappearance.

Caught stealing the coveted and carefully guarded misra spice, most people are ready to believe Atheer developed a magical obsession and, addicted to the misra, died shamefully in the Forbidden Wastes that surround Qalia. Imani has no reason to believe otherwise. Until a djinni named Qayn reveals that Atheer may be alive. And sharing the carefully guarded secret of the misra with outsiders–an offense that is punishable by death.

Desperate to find her brother before worse can befall him, Imani binds herself to Qayn in exchange for his promise to lead her across the Forbidden Wastes to Atheer. Traveling with Qayn and an expedition of other Shields including Taha–a beastseer and her longtime rival–will lead Imani to a world filled with secrets and betrayals that were previously beyond her comprehension in Spice Road (2023) by Maiya Ibrahim.

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Spice Road is the first book in a trilogy and Ibrahim’s debut novel. With a world inspired by Arab cultures, all characters are cued as Arab with a variety of names, skin tones, and body types. At nearly five hundred pages, Spice Road is a sprawling series starter that takes its time to introduce readers to narrator Imani and her world.

Vivid descriptions and intense action sequences add drama to the story although the novel’s slow pace belies the urgency Imani feels to reach her brother. Slowly, as she sees beyond Qalia’s borders, Imani’s insular understanding of Qalia and its place in the world begins to expand leaving her to the often unpleasant work of unpacking her privilege both in Qalia and beyond. While this plot thread doesn’t always show Imani in the best light with her starting the novel ignorant of her privilege and unwilling to help outsiders, her development is well-drawn and her growth (mostly) earned as she learns more about the larger world and the way she wants to move through it.

With so much focus on Imani’s introspection, other characters are underutilized throughout the novel–especially Qayn who is a dynamic foil to Imani and Amira who pushes Imani to question her assumptions about Qalia even as she supports her older sister. As a rival with a vastly different ideaology, Taha plays opposite Imani in a will-they-or-won’t-they push and pull that is ultimately unsatisfying and further underscores Imani’s numerous bad choices. Imani is unwilling to trust Qayn because he is a djinni despite his staying true to his word at every turn. Instead, Imani assumes best intentions for Taha during almost the entirety of the novel despite his never reciprocating that trust or doing anything to meaningfully support Imani. It’s unclear if these three characters are meant to be positioned in a love triangle, but if they are Imani chose poorly in this volume.

Spice Road is the exciting start to a trilogy that tackles privilege and colonialism alongside sweeping adventure.

Possible Pairings: The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad, Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena, Mirage by Somaiya Daud, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier, The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

We Weren’t Looking to Be Found: A Review

“Meaning isn’t something you’re handed. It’s what you make out of tragedy.”

Dani is used to having everything she wants. Including easy access to alcohol and drugs whenever she wants. Sure, the pressure to be good enough for her parents and earn her place in the richest and most famous Black family in Text is a lot. But Dani has it under control. At least she thinks she does until her latest party ends with her close to blackout drunk in front of her aunt’s house.

Camila has been auditioning and failing to impress the same prestigious conservatory for years. Her Colombian American family has been saving for tuition. But even they don’t know that she’s still trying. Somehow, getting exactly what she wants still doesn’t work out. And it still isn’t enough to keep Camila from hurting herself when things don’t work out.

Dani and Camila have nothing in common until they become roommates at Peach Tree Hills, a treatment facility in Georgia.

Unwilling to trust each other with their secrets, the girls slowly learn to trust when they are united in trying to solve a years-old mystery. Someone at Peach Tree Hills left behind a music box filled with old letters. As Dani and Camila work together to find clues to the former residents past, they might also find the pieces they need to heal–and maybe even hope for their futures in We Weren’t Looking to Be Found (2022) by Stephanie Kuehn.

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Kuehn’s latest novel alternates between Dani and Camila’s first person narrations. We Weren’t Looking to Be Found deals with addiction, substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

Camila is a dancer which adds drama to the story–particularly with her downward spiral stemming from her parents assuming she has given up on her conservatory dreams and spending the money they had saved on her tuition on a home remodel instead (one of the strangest choices in the entire narrative)–but is not further interrogated in terms of health issues or cultural pressures.

We Weren’t Looking to Be Found is a thoughtful exploration of mental health and treatment centering two teens of color. While the framing story of solving the mystery of the letters works as a device to bring Dani and Camila together, it also often feels contrived–an extra element that wraps up a bit too neatly compared to other elements in this story. Both girls realize that improving their mental health–and staying healthy–will take work and require big changes. This is particularly true for Dani as she has to take a hard look at her own role in her self-destructive choices. Camila’s path is not as smooth and not as resolved by the end of this story although Kuehn does end on a hopeful note emphasizing the frienship that has developed between the teens.

While there are no easy answers in We Weren’t Looking to Be Found, this story does a lot to destigmatize the need for mental health with its honest portrayal of two teens trying to get help and the frienship that helps them through.

Possible Pairings: Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert, Whisper to Me by Nick Lake, We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride, The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

The Paris Library: A Review

Odile Souchet is hired at the American Library in Paris in 1939. With her dream job, a dashing police officer boyfriend, and her family nearby it feels like she has it all. Until the Nazis take hold of Paris threatening everything Odile holds dear. With occupying forces keen to silence dissent, it isn’t long before the library is under threat pushing the staff to join the Resistance if they want to protect their patrons and the library itself.

The war feels far away in Montana in 1983 where Lily, a lonely girl desperate for adventure strikes up a tentative friendship with her reclusive neighbor. Digging into her neighbor’s mysterious and dazzling past in Paris, Lily starts to understand that sometimes even the best intentions can lead to heartbeak and betrayal in The Paris Library (2021) by Janet Skeslien Charles.

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The Paris Library is inspired by the true story of the librarians at the American Library in Paris and their heroics during World War II. All characters are cued as white. Multiple voice actors make the audiobook an immersive listening experiences.

Real heroics blend with some precious sensibilities as Odile acclimates to life working at the American Library in Paris–opening chapters include Odile’s loving recitation of Dewey Decimal numbers. The action really starts when the story shifts and readers begin to tease out the secrets of Odile’s past alongside Lily.

Through this dual narrative readers can see that war does not make for easy choices as Odile, her colleagues, and her friends are pushed to their limits during Paris’ Nazi occupation. Suspense and drama build as the novel moves inexorably to the war’s conclusion and, with it, even more difficult questions for Odile in the face of bitter losses.

The Paris Library is a carefully researched story imbued with a deep love of Paris and libraries; perfect for readers interested in World War II settings with a bit of mystery attached.

Possible Pairings: The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis, Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara, All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio, The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin, All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams