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

Lost in the Moment and Found: A Review

“It’s easy to go along with a system. It’s harder to create one.”

The first thing Antoinette “Antsy” Ricci ever lost was her father although she was so young it took a while to understand everything she lost along with him.

She lost her mother’s attention after her mother started dating a man named Tyler. She lost the safe, comfortable feeling of being at home when Tyler moved in. When her mom married Tyler she lost her last name. Then came her mother’s trust. And, worse, her own trust in her mother.

Antsy knows she doesn’t like Tyler and she knows–in a way she can’t explain–that something bad is going to happen if she stays in the same house as him.

So she runs.

She finds a door to a shop that looks cozy and safe and out of the rain with a sign that tells her to be sure. Well, Antsy is sure she doesn’t want to stay outside and that’s enough, isn’t it?

But, of course, it’s not an ordinary door and soon Antsy understands that her life isn’t ordinary anymore either.

The Shop of Lost Things is a wondrous place filled with rows upon rows of lost items. Socks and shoes, beloved toys, even pets. Everything that is lost makes its way to the shop. But not everything gets to go back home again. Not even girls like Antsy.

Working in the shop opens any number of magical doors to Antsy leading her to fantastical worlds and a sense that even if this isn’t the life she was meant to have, it could be a life she’ll make the most of.

But nothing comes free in any world–even if no one ever tells you the cost. As Antsy learns more about the price of the magical doors, she realizes that as hard as it is to leave, it might be impossible to stay in Lost in the Moment and Found (2023) by Seanan McGuire.

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Lost in the Moment and Found is the eighth installment in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. Like most of the novellas in this series, Lost in the Moment and Found does function as standalone. Antsy first appears in Where the Drowned Girls Go (read my review) but this story is more about her backstory. As the content warning at the front of this book notes, Lost in the Moment and Found deals with grooming and adult gaslighting in the first part of the story but Antsy runs before anything happens to her.

The Shop of Lost Things offers a different take on the portal fantasy worlds featured in other volumes while also expanding the magic system behind the Doors themselves. Fans of the series will recognize several Easter Eggs throughout Antsy’s exploration of the shop as she discovers items belonging to other worlds like bone flutes and candy swords.

McGuire continues to expand the Wayward Children universe in fascinating ways as this series builds to what promises to be its next exciting adventure.

Lost in the Moment and Found is another excellent installment in a long-running series that asks readers to explore the world with wonder–so long as they’re sure.

Possible Pairings: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, The Perilous Gard by Mary Elizabeth Pope, Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson, Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Scwhab, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

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

Remember Me: A Review

Something is not right on Blue Owens’ seventeenth birthday. Her art teacher seems mad at her. Her grandmother and best friends are oddly gentle, timid. Her backpack is filled with orange juice which everyone keeps reminding her to drink.

Then there’s the note to meet someone on a little shuttle bus outside of her small ski town Owl Nook, New Mexico.

When a stranger named Adam gets on the bus, Blue starts to put the pieces together. The boyfriend–Adam Mendoza–she doesn’t remember, the painful loss she’s desperate to forget.

Following the clues brings Blue to a doctor to who can help her get back the memories she asked to have removed. But Blue will have to move through the memories herself–process the joys and the sorrows that have been erased–if she wants to get back to herself in Remember Me (2022) by Estelle Laure.

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Blue and her family are white. Adam’s family is Latinx and one of Blue’s best friends, Jack, is nonbinary. The linear story includes a larger story within the story as Blue rediscovers her lost memories making for an interesting structure and unique reading experience.

Laure’s prose is imbued with a deep and abiding love for Blue’s New Mexico landscape and its natural wonders. The speculative fiction framework is used well to tell Blue’s story although the greater ramifications of memory erasures are not fully explored in the story outside of Blue’s immediate circle.

Blue moves inexorably toward the memories she’s tried to forget as she and readers put together the pieces of Blue’s past. Moments of sweetness with Adam and her friends contrast against the sharper loss–and grief–as Blue understands everything that has been lost.

Set in 2031 Remember Me is an eerie and powerful story about moving through grief and making it to the other side.

Possible Pairings: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando, No One Here is Lonely by Sarah Everett, Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin, Edited by Barry Lyga, The Program by Suzanne Young, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Until We Break: A Review

Two weeks ago Naomi Morgan lost her best friend. It was an accident, there wasn’t anything she could have done. But still Naomi is weighed down by guilt as she continues pursuing a career dancing ballet when she knows that Jessica can never dance with her again.

But even if she isn’t dancing next to her anymore, Naomi still has Jessica at her side. Jessica is quick to remind Naomi that she doesn’t have room for distractions like TV, or friends. She’s always there to tell Naomi that as a Black dancer–the only Black dancer now that Jessica is gone–Naomi has to work harder, be better.

As dancers at her academy gear up for a prestigious competition that will open doors to every conservatory program, Naomi pushes herself harder. And harder.

But when disaster strikes, Naomi is only left with herself and her grief as she recovers and contemplates if she’ll be able to dance again and, more importantly, if she wants to dance again.

Saint has never met anyone like Naomi. Even when she’s hurting, her dancing is beautiful. Watching her–and eventually drawing her–feels like Saint’s one refuge from being the sole carer for both his dying father and his younger brother.

Naomi and Saint don’t inhabit the same worlds but together they might be able to find their way to a better one in Until We Break (2022) by Matthew Dawkins.

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Until We Break is Dawkins’ debut novel. The story is narrated in close third person with alternating viewpoints following Naomi and Saint, both of whom are Black.

Until We Break explores themes of passion and grief while Naomi reluctantly acknowledges Jessica’s death and Saint faces his father’s mortality as his health deteriorates from COPD and continued smoking. While Naomi’s grief is a main theme of the story her hallucinatory conversations with Jessica are never unpacked as a potential manifestation of a larger mental health crisis.

Dawkins brings a fine eye for detail to descriptions of Saint’s art creation and, especially, to Naomi’s dance. Common problems in ballet dancers including overstrain and disordered eating are mentioned (the first with Naomi’s sprain that forces her off the dance floor for part of the novel and the latter hinted at with fellow dancer Aspen) but never addressed beyond superficial treatment as Naomi learns how to love both her dancing and herself.

Until We Break is an introspective story of healing and recovery; ideal for readers with an interest in dance or art.

Possible Pairings: Pointe by Brandy Colbert, Bunheads by Sophie Flack, I Wanna Be Where You Are by Christina Forest, You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen, The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things: A Review

Four sisters, four seasons, four romances as Nidhi, Avani, Rani, and Sirisha Singh find love at their family home, The Songbird Inn, which just happens to be the Most Romantic Inn in America.

As the oldest, Nidhi is always the sister with a plan. That is until autumn crashes onto Orcas Island with a sudden storm that brings a tree crashing through Nidhi’s bedroom wall. Once Nidhi starts thinking about what could have happened, she can’t stop wondering if her perfect plan to study baking in France before starting college is perfectly wrong. Getting to know Grayson–one of the construction crew fixing the storm damage–brings even more doubts as Nidhi starts to imagine a future where she lets herself live in the moment and maybe even discover India for herself instead of only hearing stories about it in family stories.

Avani knows that she can seem scattered and flighty–especially to perfect Nidhi–but the truth is if she stops moving the grief over Pop’s sudden death last year might overwhelm her. Pop was more than their dad’s husband, he was part of what made the inn and their family special. So when it’s time for the first winter without him, Avani knows she has to throw the perfect Winter Ball in his honor. Except planning a giant party requires a lot of attention to detail. And a lot of help. Which is how Avani ends up working with Fernando Gutiérrez, the boy she accidentally stood up last year and has been avoiding ever since.

Painfully shy, Sirisha is more comfortable hiding behind a camera while her older sisters fill in the silence. But when a cute actress named Brie shows up at the Songbird with a seasonal theater troupe in the spring, Sirisha thinks it might be a sign to make some changes and finally speak up for herself. If only everyone would give her time to find the right words.

Rani loves all things love. Which is why it has been so frustrating watching all of her sisters–even her twin Avani!–find love while she languishes. Alone. Helping her father plan his next wedding is the perfect preparation for Rani’s own shot at love. But what happens when summer comes to the Pacific Northwest bringing not one but three potential suitors? After acting as the official love guru to her sisters, Rani will have to follow her heart if she wants to find her own Bollywood-worthy ending in Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things (2022) by Maya Prasad.

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Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things is Prasad’s debut novel. Set over the course of the year, the story is broken up by season–complete with a wealth of seasonal touches and locales–with a close third person narration following each sister on her own personal and romantic journey.

The Singh family is North Indian and cued as Hindu with love interests who are from a variety of backgrounds including Mexican American Fernando, Black Brie, and more. I especially appreciate the care Prasad takes with the girls’ father–a man who immigrated with his wife (their mother) from India, met Pop–a white man–while opening the Songbird, and has his own journey both in love with Pakistani Amir and with his family including relatives who were slow to accept his second marriage to a man.

Through the different relationships this book explores first love, second chances, missed connections, and what it means when feelings change and grow. With lots of humor and a coterie of popular tropes Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things has a romance for everyone while highlighting the empowerment the genre offers despite the ways that it is often dismissed by mainstream media as “fluffy” or “silly.” Emotional arcs including grief over Pop’s sudden death and reconciliation with estranged relatives contrast well with humorous meet-cutes and other shenanigans the Singhs encounter throughout the year.

Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things is a joyful story about family, romance, and finding yourself–whoever that may be. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira, Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley, We Are Inevitable by Gayle Forman, What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter, Seoulmates by Susan Lee, Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon, Save the Date by Morgan Matson, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park, It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi, Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

You can also check out my exclusive interview with Maya Prasad here on the blog.

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

Sugar Town Queens: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

“Sugar town queens never back down from a fight.”

Amandla Zenzile Harden is familiar with her mother’s strange visions and her difficult days. But even she is taken aback when, on the morning of her fifteenth birthday, her mother Annalisa tells Amandla that she has to wear a blue sheet as a dress to bring her father home. It’s been only Amandla and her mother for as long as Amandla can remember. She has never met her father. Wearing an ugly sheet isn’t going to change that.

Life in Sugar Town isn’t what anyone would call easy. Everyone has their struggles and their problems in the township near Durban, South Africa. Although their shack is shabby by some standards, it’s home and it’s always tidy thanks to Annalisa’s meticulous cleaning. But even in the township, Amandla and her mother stand out not just for Annalisa’s strange behavior and uneven memory but because Annalisa is white and Amandla is brown.

After years of trying to piece together the scraps of her mother’s fractured memories into something resembling a family history, Amandla is ready for answers. When she finds more cash than she’s ever seen in her mother’s purse along with an address, Amandla decides it’s a sign to find answers.

With help from her best friend Lil Bit and newer friend Goodness, Amandla follows the clues to the truth about herself, her mother, and old family secrets that will change Amandla’s understanding of family forever in Sugar Town Queens (2021) by Malla Nunn.

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Sugar Town Queens is Nunn’s first novel for young adults. Amandla is biracial (her mother is white and her father is described as Zulu in the narrative–one of the few things Amandla knows about him), Amandla’s friends and other township residents are Black.

Amandla’s first person narration is direct and to the point in the way of young people who have to grow up quickly because of hard circumstances. Amandla is well aware of the poverty she and her mom live with but, over the course of the novel, she also finds moments of lightness with Lil Bit and Goodness and even starts a romance with Goodness’s earnest brother. Although the romance is entirely age appropriate and sweet, I admit that I would be very happy to never hear another character describe someone’s lips as “juicy” ever again.

While friendship (and first love) are key parts of the story, the main focus here is family as Amandla literally stumbles upon her maternal grandmother after following the clues she has found. Learning more about her grandparents, Amandla realizes that a family reunion will not mend everything that has broken in her mother nor will it erase her grandfather’s racist opinions of his poor, biracial granddaughter. With new family and new relationships, however, Amandla does begin to understand that forgiveness can have its place as much as justice when more of Annalisa’s past is revealed.

With her grandmother’s declining health and Annalisa’s limited mental stability, the urgency is real to find answers before it’s too late making Sugar Town Queens a page turner as the novel builds to a striking finish. The contrast between the affluent Harden family and Amandla’s own upbringing in Sugar Town further highlights the inequalities that still exist in South Africa long after the end of Apartheid thanks to Nunn’s carefully detailed descriptions of both Sugar Town and Durban.

Sugar Town Queens is a fast-paced story about family, grief, and the power to be found in asking for–and accepting–help where themes of family and female friendship emphasize the importance of community and support systems.

Possible Pairings: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A. Cole, All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney, Tiffany Sly Lives Here by Dana L. Davis, Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo, We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds, The Means That Make Us Strangers by Christine Kindberg, We Are the Scribes by Randi Pink, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Immortalists: A Review

New York City, 1969: The Gold siblings are looking at another monotonous summer together on New York City’s Lower East Side. But even as they anticipate the days blend together, they know that things are about to change. This is the last summer they’ll all be together like this before summer jobs and school and so many other things get in the way.

It seems like the perfect time to do something drastic like visit the mystical psychic Daniel has heard about in whispers all around the neighborhood, leading them to the cluttered apartment on Hester Street. They say the woman can tell you exactly when you’ll die. But none of them understand what that means when they still have so much life left. At least, they think they do.

As time passes, they’ll all be shaped by that hot summer day and the dates the fortuneteller told them. Simon–the youngest, the golden boy–will never stop running; throwing himself into anything and everything as he tries to find love and, if he’s lucky, his truest self as he runs away to San Francisco in the 1980s.

In the 1990s Klara lands in Las Vegas. After years of trying to make a go of her show as an illusionist, her act might finally be taking off. But after years performing as a mentalist, Klara is no longer sure where reality ends and the magic begins–a blurred line that could lead to her greatest performance ever. Or have disastrous consequences.

Daniel, the eldest, has spent his life as a doctor. It isn’t always glamorous but he’s happy, isn’t he? When one unexpected Thanksgiving shows Daniel everything he could have had–and everything he never will–he becomes obsessed with understanding the truth of the mystical woman all those years ago.

Varya never had much use for people–or for the prediction she received on Hester Street–but as she finds herself more and more entrenched in her work on longevity research, even practical Varya begins to wonder if things would have–could have–been different if they’d all made different choices on that long ago summer day in The Immortalists (2018) by Chloe Benjamin.

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The Gold family is white and Jewish with varying levels of faith with more diversity among the secondary cast. The story is broken into four parts–one following each sibling–over the course of twenty some odd years.

Benjamin’s sweeping generational family saga tackles big questions of fate vs agency without offering many answers one way or another. Crossing the country and spanning decades, The Immortalists captures the zeitgeist of the times starting with the frenzied energy of San Francisco in the 1980s and the ensuing panic and grief of the growing AIDS crisis. Simon’s section starts when Simon is only sixteen leading to a lot of instances of reading about Simon’s underage sexual encounters with much older men. While not unrealistic for the time it still felt uncomfortable to read about in relation to a character who is still essentially a child.

The omniscient third person narrator also clings closely to the female gaze–particularly with Simon but also even in the opening page with Varya–focusing needlessly on objectification particularly with instances when Simon wants the “challenge” of another “hard” body like his own. There could be arguments that this adds nuance to literary fiction but, for me, it only served to constantly draw me out of the story.

Ultimately The Immortalists raises some interesting questions by putting a family through an increasingly unpleasant series of events across a generation. Readers interested in philosophical questions about life choices will find a lot to appreciate here while readers hoping to lean more into the fantastical elements will be better served elsewhere.

Possible Pairings: In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, An Extraordinary Destiny by S. N. Paleja, One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

A Disaster in Three Acts: A Review

Eighteen-year-old Saine Sinclair prides herself on her ability to shape a narrative on film. Her eye for storytelling is why she knows her friendship with Holden Michaels has been over for some time now. As if him publicly rejecting her during a middle school game of spin-the-bottle wasn’t enough, Holden has also dated and broken up with Saine’s current best friend Corinne. In other words, both loyalty and pride dictate that Saine never speak to Holden again.

Which is what makes it so awkward when Saine needs Holden’s help to complete her documentary for a prestigious filmmaking program at Temple University after her original subject drops out. Her preliminary application has already been submitted and approved which means that Saine has to stick to her original topic–following a contestant through a series of live action gaming competitions to win a prototype virtual reality headset–which is where Holden comes in.

Following her ex-best-friend around to film everything he does while thinking she’s telling a familiar tale about a white boy getting what he wants is hard. Doing that while worrying if her current best friend is jealous is even harder.

Saine’s fixation on the success of her film makes it easy to put her growing feelings for Holden and crumbling relationships on hold while she tries to figure out how to shape real life to make sure her documentary wins a spot at Temple by inventing financial problems as motivation and even resorting to sabotage. As her lies and manipulations grow, Saine faces a reality check when she realizes that sometimes narrative growth hurts–especially when it comes to facing the consequences her actions in A Disaster in Three Acts (2022) by Kelsey Rodkey.

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Saine and Holden, like most main characters, are white with some secondary characters cued as BIPOC based on names/skin tones including Saine’s other best friend Kelsey and Holden’s best friend Taj. The cast also includes characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and a cute side plot romance between two girls in Saine’s friend group. Saine is self-described as fat and she and her mother are lower income both of which play into the plot.

While A Disaster in Three Acts has a well-rounded and nuanced cast of supporting characters, Saine remains deeply flawed throughout the story. Her fixation on the documentary seems to be excused by her grief over her grandmother’s sudden death and the confusing process of moving on alongside her divorced mother as they process the loss and try to move on. Unfortunately that’s a poor excuse for Saine’s choices to make up numerous plots for her documentary (notably manipulating footage and interviews to imply that Holden’s family is struggling financially and that he wants to win the competition to sell the prize), interview subjects without their consent while pretending her camera is turned off, and even outright sabotage when Holden needs her help during a competition.

As the story progresses Saine does have to contend with the consequences of her manipulative, self-centered behavior and her multiple lies to all of her friends. Unfortunately her contrition–even at the end of the book–seems to stem more from being caught behaving badly than from her actual bad behavior.

Saine spends a lot of the documentary lamenting that if Holden wins the competition his success in her documentary will not feel “earned” because he’s just another white boy succeeding. The irony of this is that, by the end of the novel, Saine’s own redemption arc feels similarly unearned and–compared to her egregious behavior–unjustified.

A Disaster in Three Acts is a fast paced story that is often humorous albeit with a main character whose singular focus often works against her character development.

Possible Pairings: A Show For Two by Tashie Bhuiyan, Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer, Lucky Caller by Emma Mills, The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe, Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen, My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma, Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith, It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura

*A more condensed version of this review appeared as a review in an issue of School Library Journal*

Sherwood: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

“Who are you to say that being a lady, in itself, is not its own kind of war?”

When Robin of Locksley dies fighting in the Crusades for his king, it leaves Marian’s entire future uncertain. For years, Marian knew she would marry Robin and stand beside him when he became Lord of Locksley. They would make a life together, the way they had always planned, and they would protect Locksley town and its residents from the Sheriff of Nottingham. Together.

Now Marian is painfully aware of her uncertain future. Guy of Gisborne serves as the sheriff’s right hand. He hopes to cement his place as a gentleman first by laying claim to Locksley land and then by claiming Marian herself.

With her options dwindling and time running short, Marian is driven to a desperate decision to don Robin’s green cloak and act as a protector when he no longer can. What began as one impulsive act quickly gains a life of its own as news of Robin’s return spreads and brings hope to people with in desperate need of it.

Marian never meant to hide behind a hood, she never meant to become Robin. With Guy getting closer to her secret, with the sheriff enraged, Marian knows she has to stop. But with so many people counting on her–on Robin Hood–she isn’t sure how she can in Sherwood (2019) by Meagan Spooner.

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Spooner continues her series of standalone retellings of classic tales with Sherwood. All characters are assumed white.

Sherwood reinterprets familiar source material with new twists and imbues the story with strong feminist themes. Marian has always been aware of her vulnerabilities and limitations as a woman in medieval society where the paths available to her include marriage or life in a convent and much in between. These restraints gain new urgency when Marian’s planned future is stripped away with Robin’s unexpected death–leaving her to grieve her lost future as much as her childhood best friend.

This impressive take on Robin Hood features familiar characters and plot points retold with clever changes that make Sherwood into something new. Marian’s precarious role as a noblewoman is portrayed well as societal pressures call for her to stop mourning Robin and choose a new suitor. At the same time, as she works with Sherwood’s most notable outlaws, Marian’s privilege is checked by her new (and sometimes reluctant) allies who keep her grounded in the realities of living in poverty or on the run from the law.

Without revealing too much about the plot, I will say Spooner’s treatment of Guy of Gisborne is one of my favorite character reinterpretations of all time. This story reimagines Guy as a more nuanced character than the usual dour enforcer and positions him to serve as a foil and counterpoint to Marian throughout.

Sherwood stays true to the source material and the spirit of the characters while also being entirely unique and adding new layers to a familiar tale. Sherwood is a richly layered and deeply feminist story filled with adventure and surprises; perfect for fans familiar with Robin Hood and new readers alike.

Possible Pairings: No Good Deed by Kara Connolly, The Forest Queen by Betsey Cornwell, Hood by Jenny Moke Elder, Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen, The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater, The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder, The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White