Read Caribbean During June

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

I challenge you to read more stories by Caribbean writers. And since June is Caribbean Heritage Month and so many people on Bookstagram will be hashtagging #ReadCaribbean I suggest you join in. I wanted to have this post feature a mix of stories by people born and at least partially raised in the Caribbean. I will also do a separate recommendation post for authors born in the US/UK/Canada raised by Caribbean parents.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

It's Carnival time, and the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. But to young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favourite costume to wear at the festival--until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgivable crime.

Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Here Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth--and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen's legendary powers can save her life...and set her free.

How to Love a Jamaican

Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret—Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life.

In “Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands,” an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In “Mash Up Love,” a twin’s chance sighting of his estranged brother—the prodigal son of the family—stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment. In “Bad Behavior,” a couple leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In “Mermaid River,” a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In “The Ghost of Jia Yi,” a recently murdered student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in “Shirley from a Small Place,” a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother’s big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital.

Home Home

Moving from Trinidad to Canada wasn't her idea. But after being hospitalized for depression, her mother sees it as the only option. Now, living with an estranged aunt she barely remembers and dealing with her "troubles" in a foreign country, she feels more lost than ever.

Everything in Canada is cold and confusing. No one says hello, no one walks anywhere, and bus trips are never-ending and loud. She just wants to be home home, in Trinidad, where her only friend is going to school and Sunday church service like she used to do.

But this new home also brings unexpected surprises: the chance at a family that loves unconditionally, the possibility of new friends, and the promise of a hopeful future. Though she doesn't see it yet, Canada is a place where she can feel at home--if she can only find the courage to be honest with herself.

A Tall History of Sugar

A Tall History of Sugar tells the story of Moshe Fisher, a man who was "born without skin," so that no one is able to tell what race he belongs to; and Arrienne Christie, his quixotic soul mate who makes it her duty in life to protect Moshe from the social and emotional consequences of his strange appearance.

The narrative begins with Moshe's birth in the late 1950s, four years before Jamaica's independence from colonial rule, and ends in the era of what Forbes calls "the fall of empire," the era of Brexit and Donald Trump. The historical trajectory layers but never overwhelms the scintillating love story as the pair fight to establish their own view of loving, against the moral force of the colonial "plantation" and its legacies that continue to affect their lives and the lives of those around them.

Written in lyrical, luminous prose that spans the range of Jamaican Englishes, this remarkable story follows the couple's mysterious love affair from childhood to adulthood, from the haunted environs of rural Jamaica to the city of Kingston, and then to England--another haunted locale in Forbes's rendition.

Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel 

In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.

Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. Uniquely imagined, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs, Land of Love and Drowning is a gorgeous, vibrant debut by an exciting, prizewinning young writer.

The Girl with the Hazel Eyes

Almost fifty years after Susan Taylor was exiled from Barbados for her famous whistle-blowing novel, ‘The Unspeakable Truth’, she contacts a young writer to pen her biography. Susan is crotchety and unpleasant but Lia Davis is broke so she has no choice but to stay after giving up her job to write Susan's biography. She has no idea why Susan would choose her, but there's more to Susan's story than meets the eye.

As Lia starts to unravel the reclusive author's life, she realizes that some things just don't add up. Susan has been hiding a massive secret for decades and Lia is determined to find out what it is. The Girl with the Hazel Eyes is an endearing novel that tugs at your heart with its examination of love, lies, and loyalty.

Angel's Grace

Grace has always had wild red hair like no one else in her family and a birthmark on her shoulder that her mother told her was the mark of an angel. When Grace is sent from New York to spend the summer with her grandmother in Trinidad, she looks through the family album and discovers a blurred photograph of a stranger with a birthmark -- her birthmark -- and Grace is full of questions. No one is able to identify the man in the photo, and Grace is left with no choice but to find out who he is and what he might mean to her. What Grace does not know is that her search will lead to a discovery about herself and her family that she never could have imagined.

Tracey Baptiste's first novel is a tender coming-of-age story set on the island of Trinidad. Angel's Grace explores the meaning of identity and truth, and the unbreakable ties of a family bound by love.

    

Mouths Don't Speak

No one was prepared for the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, taking over a quarter-million lives, and leaving millions of others homeless. Three thousand miles away, Jacqueline Florestant mourns the presumed death of her parents, while her husband, a former US Marine and combat veteran, cares for their three-year-old daughter as he fights his own battles with acute PTSD.

Horrified and guilt-ridden, Jacqueline returns to Haiti in search of the proverbial "closure." Unfortunately, the Haiti she left as a child twenty-five years earlier has disappeared. Her quest turns into a tornado of deception, desperation, and more death. So Jacqueline holds tightly to her daughter--the only one who must not die.

Black Beach

Sixteen-year-old Tamera lives in La Cresta, a rural fishing community on a Caribbean island. Despite having the support of relatives, including her dad, Earl, her elder sister, Mary and her best friend and first cousin, Jan, she struggles to deal with her mom's mental health issues and the absence of her boyfriend, Dalton who moves out of the village to work. Tamera's life is further complicated after one of her classmates disappears, and weeks turn to months without any word of the missing girl's whereabouts. Life gets even more challenging after Tamera suffers a personal loss. This difficulty draws her and Dalton closer, but his long absences remain a test the young couple must contend with. Tamera doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, but she feels as if her closest friends are moving ahead and leaving her behind. After an environmental disaster wreaks havoc in Tamera's hometown, she longs to help, but doesn't have any of the required skills to make an impact. With time on her hands to soul search, she makes a life changing decision that leads her in the path of potential danger. Tamera finds herself at the centre of the mystery of her classmate's disappearance, the resolution of which shocks the people of La Cresta.

Buxton Spice

Told in the voice of a girl as she moves from childhood into adolescence, Buxton Spice is the story the town of Tamarind Grove: its eccentric families, its sweeping joys, and its sudden tragedies. The novel brings to life 1970s Guyana-a world at a cultural and political crossroads-and perfectly captures a child's keen observations, sense of wonder, and the growing complexity of consciousness that marks the passage from innocence to experience.

A Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow

Welcome Back booklovers! It's been a slow reading week despite the long holiday weekend but I'm back at you with another review. This time for A Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow. I was able to get my hands on an early copy courtesy of Tor Teen. And that it had the prettiest book cover I've seen all year was the first thing to intrigue me. The second was all the advanced praise it received.

One thing I do want to clarify because both the blurb on the back of my ARC and the blurb on Amazon stated there were Black mermaids. This is not a story about mermaids this is a story about sirens and in this story there is no overlap between the two. So don't pick up this book expecting for an underwater adventure. It's not an epic fantasy it's more of a character driven novel. This is a modern day story of two Black girls struggling to find their voice in a world that wants them to be silenced. It's a dual pov story where you follow two friends/sisters named Effie and Tavia who are navigating high school.

I never visited the Renaissance Fair so it was interesting reading about Effie's experience working as a mermaid there. I didn't even know there were mermaids there and actually stopped to look it up to discover that my state's Ren Fair also has mermaid shows. Effie gets joy from working at the Ren Fair every year playing this role that it sometimes blurs the lines between reality for her. 

This book uses magical realism with Tavia's siren experience to also talk about the real life struggles Black girl's face. Tavia is a siren who is not able to use her voice in a world where sirens are Black women and are seen as a threat. Sirens are often given silencing collars to stop them from speaking out due to fear of them using their abilities to manipulate others. But sirens must use their gift so networks exist to help protect sirens. Tavia is apart of the school chorus which gives her a way to unleash her call without drawing attention to herself.

Anyone who grew up around white people experienced some of these things like the questioning if your hair is real or fake when you wear braids or twists. Or that feeling of just not fitting in and being different because of appearance. 

I would've liked to see them have friendships outside of friendships with each other as well. I've never been one to have a big group of friends but even seeing them have relationships with other people at the school would've made a difference. 

One thing I wished was that the book dove deeper into the mythos. I wanted to see more of the magic. Because this is a world where everyone seemed to except that these beings existed even though they weren't receptive of them all. I wanted to know more about the sirens and their origins and networks. Why were people so receptive of some magical beings vs others? There was a gargoyle bodyguard that took residence on the roof of their house. Their encounters with it was fascinating. There were just so many questions I felt went unanswered here though the space was there to answer them. This book would've had more of an impact on me if the characters were fully fleshed out. It has a of important messages but the message becomes the story instead of being one part of the pieces that bring the story together. At times I felt like I was reading a think piece on Blackness in America.

Interview with Author Liara Tamani

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

Thanks so much for the positive response to my last author interview. I'm back with another one! This one is with the lovely Liara Tamani. If you don't already follow her then you need to! She is @liaratamani on both Twitter and IG. 

If you're looking for a cute teen romance read for the summer or know any Black teens who need one I suggest you pre-order her book All the Things We Never Knew. It's already getting amazing reviews. And if you pre-order through West Houston's favorite bookship you get cool swag

https://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/liara-tamani-pre-order-campaign

And yes I will be reading her book and giving you my review in time for the release date. In the mean time she was kind enough to answer a few questions.

What has it been like releasing a book during a pandemic?

I can’t say it’s been great. All the book conferences and events leading up to my release have been cancelled as well as my in-person book tour events. But with that being said, so many people are suffering in these times. People are sick and dying. People are losing their jobs and homes and struggling to feed their families. Not being able to properly promote my book is nothing in comparison. Plus I’m just happy All the Things We Never Knew will be out in the world. I’m sure it will find its audience. 

In your own words what is All the Things We Never Knew about?

It’s the love story between two Houston-area high school basketball players who fall for each other hard and fast, but experience lots of ups and downs as they navigate their own family issues and secrets. 

Rex craves love. He might be a superstar basketball player (everyone calls him the next LeBron), but he’s incredibly lonely. An only child, his mother died giving birth to him and his father rarely talks to him. He’s carried the blame of his mother’s death with him his whole life. When he meets Carli, he feels all the love he’s ever wanted to feel; but years of being hurt don’t disappear overnight. 

Carli is a fierce, artistic girl, who’s very curious about the world. Most of her life has been idyllic: two parents who love her and a brother who’s one of her closest friends. But her parents are suddenly getting divorced and she and her brother must decide who to live with. To make matters worse, she secretly wants to quit basketball, and has no idea what dream to replace it with. She feels completely lost and looks for signs from the Universe for answers. But the only sign she’s gotten lately is the one that points to Rex. But of course a boy is never the only answer. 

All the Things We Never Knew is a story about first love⎯it’s messiness, tenderness, and bliss. But it’s also a book about family secrets and pain, and two teenagers getting to know and love themselves despite it.  

I’m seeing more Black romance stories in YA than I’ve ever seen before. How important was it for you to tell a story featuring Black teens? Have you read any of the other ones being released this year?

I’m happy that Carli and Rex and their families are in the world as examples of some of the billions (and ever-expanding) ways of being Black in this world. And I’m happy that their story is one of love. All Black stories are important. The media often likes to focus on our pain. But of course Black people, like all people, experience the full spectrum of what it means to be human, including love. Love is a huge part of the human experience. I’d argue the most important part. Not just romantic love, but familial love, love between friends, love of work, and of course love of self. All those loves are woven into All the Things We Never Knew. 

I haven’t read a teen romance by a Black author released this year, but Nicola Yoon’s The Sun is Also A Star is one of my favorites and I’m looking forward to Now That I’ve Found You, by Kristina Forest. I think it releases August 25th so only a couple more months to wait. 

How does your Houston background inspire your writing?

I’m definitely an H-town girl. I’ve lived all over the country as an adult (and I think California would actually be my favorite place to live because of its free-spirited culture). But I was raised here, and Houston will always be my home. It’s been the setting of my first two books, and I’ve taken pride in representing this city and its culture. A lot of writers are from the east or west coast. So Los Angeles and New York both get a lot of play in terms of setting. But Houston definitely has its own flavor, a flavor worth highlighting and exploring, and I’ve been happy to give people a little taste. Haha…I couldn’t resist that line. 

Does having a daughter influence the stories you want to write?

I wrote All the Things We Never Knew for my daughter, but she won’t know it until she’s much, much older. Or maybe not at all. I don’t think every book I write will be like that, though. I’ve written my first two books to heal parts of myself that were in need of healing. And in the case of All the Things We Never Knew, some of those parts in need of healing just so happen to line up with things I want her to know about life and love.  

But I think that alignment will be rare. I also write to explore new things and to be in places and with characters I want to spend time learning about. While I hope my daughter can pick of any of my books one day and be proud of my work, maybe even inspired or entertained, it would be hard for me to cater my artistic pursuits to her. I have to write what moves me, what will keep me coming to the page day after day. 

That being said, I’m happy my books are in the world for her. 

10 Books in 2020 by Black British Books

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

Even though I live in the US I'm all for continuing to support Black and biracial authors across the pond.  I'm seeing more British authors getting more visibility this year.  For my British readers I'm glad you're getting more books accessible to you. Everyone deserves proper representation. And for my American readers many of these books are available on Amazon and Book Depository if they have not also been published in the US.

This Lovely City by Louise Hare 

The drinks are flowing. The music’s playing. But the party can’t last.

London, 1950. With the Blitz over and London still rebuilding after the war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and has fallen in love with the girl next door.

All My Lies Are True by Dorothy Koomson

Verity is telling lies...

And that's why she's about to be arrested for attempted murder.

Serena has been lying for years. . .

And that may have driven her daughter, Verity, to do something unthinkable...

Poppy's lies have come back to haunt her . . .

So will her quest for the truth hurt everyone she loves?

Everyone lies.

But whose lies are going to end in tragedy?

Imperfect Arrangements by Frances Mensah Williams

There are two sides to every story…

In the sun-soaked capital of Ghana, best friends Theresa, Maku and Lyla struggle with the arrangements that define their relationships.

Ambitious, single-minded Theresa has gambled everything to move with her loving husband Tyler from London to cosmopolitan Accra. But when shocking developments threaten their plans, they also expose the hidden cracks in their fairytale marriage.

Feisty Maku is desperate for professional recognition – and her dream white wedding. But how long can she wait for her laid-back partner Nortey to stop dreaming up pointless projects from the comfort of his local bar and stand up to his family?

Churchgoing Lyla married Kwesi in haste, and six years later she is desperate for a child. 

But while she battles a vicious mother-in-law, and her growing attraction to the mysterious Reuben, her husband has bitten off more than he can chew with his latest mistress.

Facing lies, betrayal, and shattered illusions, each couple must confront the truth of who they have become and the arrangements they have enabled. Against the backdrop of a shifting culture, each woman must decide what – and who – she is willing to sacrifice for the perfect marriage.

Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World by Bolu Babalola

Love stories inspired by tales of the past...

Join debut author Bolu Babalola as she retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with new incredible detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines iconic Greek myths, ancient legends from South Asia, and stories from countries that no longer exist in our world. Babalola is inspired by tales that truly show the variety and colours of love around the globe.

A high-born Nigerian goddess feels beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover and longs to be truly seen.

A young businesswoman attempts to make a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life.

A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether to uphold her family's politics, or to be true to her heart.

Whether captured in the passion of love at first sight, or realising that self-love takes precedent over the latter, the characters in these vibrant stories try to navigate this most complex human emotion and understand why it holds them hostage.

Bolu takes a step in decolonising tropes of love by forming new stories from the wildly beautiful tales that already exist in so many communities and cultures. Moving exhilaratingly across perspectives, continents and genres, from the historic to the vividly current, Love in Colour is a celebration of romance in all of its forms.

Get lost in these mystical worlds and see that love, like humanity, comes in technicolor.

The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel by Abi Dare 

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a “louding voice”—the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir.

When Adunni runs away to the city, hoping to make a better life, she finds that the only other option before her is servitude to a wealthy family. As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless slave, Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing.

But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can—in a whisper, in song, in broken English—until she is heard.

The Book Of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka

1981: England looks forward to a new decade. But on the streets of Brixton, it’s hard to hold onto your dreams, especially if you are a young black man. Racial tensions rumble, and now Michael Watson might land in jail for a crime he did not commit.

Thousands of miles away, village girl Ngozi abandons her orange stall for the opportunity to work as a housemaid for a middle-class family.

From dusty tracks to gritty pavements, Ngozi and Michael’s journey towards a better life is strewn with heartache. When they finally collide, their lives will be transformed for ever.

With irresistible joy and grace, Rosanna Amaka writes of people moving between worlds, and asks how we can heal and help each other. Humming with beauty and horror, tragedy and triumph, THE BOOK OF ECHOES is a powerful debut from an authentic new voice in British fiction

Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence

Becks is into girls but didn't come out because she was never in. She lives with her mum, stepdad and eighteen-year-old Silva, her stepdad's daughter. Becks and Silva are opposites, but bond over their mutual obsession with K-pop.

When Becks' mum and stepdad go on honeymoon to Japan, Becks and Silva are left alone. Except, Silva disappears. Becks ventures into the forbidden territory of Silva's room and finds the first of eight clues that help her discover her sister's secret life.

Meanwhile, Silva is on a journey. A journey to make someone love her. He says he doesn't, but he's just joking. All she has to do is persuade him otherwise

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU MANGOS by Kereen Getten

Twelve-year-old Clara lives on an island that visitors call exotic. But there's nothing exotic about it to Clara. She loves eating ripe mangos off the ground, running outside in the rain with her Papa during rainy season, and going to her secret hideout with Gaynah—even though lately she's not acting like a best friend. 

The only thing out of the ordinary for Clara is that something happened to her memory that made her forget everything that happened last summer after a hurricane hit. Sometimes things come back to her in drips like a tap that hasn't been turned off properly. Other times her Mama fills in the blanks...only she knows those aren't her memories and it is hard feeling like she is not like everybody else. 

But this summer is going to be different for Clara. Everyone is buzzing with excitement over a new girl in the village who is not like other visitors. She is about to make big waves on the island—and give Clara a summer she won't forget.

The Infinite by Patience Agbabi

FIGHT CRIME, ACROSS TIME!

Leaplings, children born on the 29th of February, are very rare. Rarer still are Leaplings with The Gift – the ability to leap through time. Elle Bíbi-Imbelé Ifíè has The Gift, but she’s never used it. Until now.

On her twelfth birthday, Elle and her best friend Big Ben travel to the Time Squad Centre in 2048. Elle has received a mysterious warning from the future. Other Leaplings are disappearing in time – and not everyone at the centre can be trusted.

Soon Elle’s adventure becomes more than a race through time. It’s a race against time. She must fight to save the world as she knows it – before it ceases to exist 

And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando

When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al, has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart. Al was special. Al was talented. Al was full of passion and light ... so why did he do it? Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan decides to retrace Al's footsteps. As he does, he meets Megan, Al's former classmate, who is as determined as Nathan to keep Al's memory alive. Together they start seeking answers, but will either of them be able to handle the truth about Al's death when they eventually discover what happened? An extraordinary novel about loss, understanding and the importance of speaking up when all you want to do is shut down, from an incredible new talent, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Gayle Foreman, Jennifer Niven and Nikesh Shukla

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

In case you missed it I've been participating all month in the SeaMaydenathon. I actually dipped into my backlist TBR and read books from it despite my mountainous list of arcs and new releases. May has been a busy month for reading with all these new books being released in June. It's actually a bit of a blessing a because my June arcs were piling up! And with release dates on the same day. Luckily June is a romance book heavy month.

If you missed my interview with Author Roseanne A Brown then you need to click the link and get familiar. 

Finally finished ASOWAR. It usually takes me a little bit of time to get into fantasy while the world is initially being set up. This was no exception but after all the pieces were in place I was fully enthralled and ended up staying up into after 5 am to finish reading. I just couldn't break my reading streak and put it down! 

This is a duology written in dual pov. We follow Malik who is a refugee from Eshra and Karina, the Crown Princess of Ziran. Malik has traveled from from his homeland with his two sisters in search of a better life. But unfortunately upon arrival into the city they run into trouble and Malik's little sister Nadia ends up being kidnapped. And he strikes a deal for his sister's safe return. In order to ensure his sister's safety he must kill Karina! 

Karina is the Crown princess who everyone sees as a failure and an heir unfit to rule. She herself doesn't feel fit to rule and dreams of running far away from her kingdom. But when an ambush leads to her mother's assassination Karina must step up as sultana. But how can someone so unfit for the position lead her people? She can't even command her own court. No, Karina can't possible lead  so when she discovers a ritual to bring the dead back to life she sees an opportunity to revive her mother. The only problem is she only has until the end of the Solstasia festivals and she needs to heart of a king to complete the ritual. 

Fortunately for both Karina and Malik an annual competition provides opportunity for them both. Malik finds his opening to get close enough to the princess and Karina has the opportunity to find herself a husband.

The city of Ziran has a blend of many different sets of people and I loved the little traditions and customs described though out whether it came to the simple things like Karina's meal with Afua's family or the seductive dance between Malik and Katrina. Solstasia also has it's own unique festival traditions and there are live events and challenged throughout that are described vividly. I really felt the mixed of North and West African culture throughout the text.

Malik is no fierce warrior. He's a soft kind-hearted soul and the idea of competition rattles his nerves. But he holds some powerful magic inside of him that he can use to his advantage.

Karina has experienced a lot of loss and hides her sadness behind biting remarks and jokes. She is also very sheltered from the world after an accident claimed the lives of her father and sister.

I thought this novel found the right balance between character writing and giving us information to set up the duology while also giving enough action to stay intrigued. But it didn't rely on cheap tricks like excessive violence and instead had well thought out twists and turns. And while there is romance I thought it was well done. Sometimes in YA romance can overshadow the plot and even building of each character. That doesn't happen here. 

This debut will keep you on the edge of your seat and have you wishing for book 2 immediately. 

Opposite of Always by Justin A Reynolds

Welcome Back Booklovers!

It's May and I'm still participating in the SeaMaydenathon (@SeaMaydenathon on Twitter) and it's the first readathon I've ever done. And it's hard balance working from home with reading but I'm not doing too bad. This is the fifth book I've finished this month. Reading along with audiobooks have really been helping.

 I choose Opposite of Always because the premise made it sound like it would be a tearjerker.  And one of the prompts for the readathon is Sea Salt. I actually bought this book in ebook format last year when it was $1.99. And ironically my sister saw it on Amazon and bought me the hardcover version thinking I would like it. She was mad when she found out I already owned it. But I was kind enough to let her return it.

The only thing worse than losing someone you love is losing them again

So this story is about Jack King who meets Kate at a college party. They really hit it off and start talking. Jack even invites Kate to his high school prom. But then prom night comes around and Kate never shows. Jack is able to track her down only to mourn her death shortly after as she dies from an illness she had secretly been suffering from. Jack ends up in a Groundhog's Day type situation where he is given the chance to relive his last few months with Kate and is determined to save her.

It's been a long time since I'm read a YA book from a Black boy's perspective and written by a Black man. I listen to a lot of this book by audiobook and I liked that the narrator had a youthful voice so it actually felt like I was listening to a teen boy. And Jack is awkward, snarky, and relatable. He was very easy to root for.

At first I didn't understand why Jack King was in love with Kate. I feel like at beginning we didn't really get to know much about her to justify this Groundhog Day style time loop he was stuck in. But with the reset of time Jack wanted to spend more time with her so we got to know more about Kate and even meet her family. And we all hope for that one person who we believe is the ideal person for us and Jack believed Kate was that person. She liked his corny jokes and didn't mind his weirdness and quirks. Unfortunately his friends and even family start to feel a little alienated as he drops everything to be with Kate and struggles to fit the rest of them into his life.

The story is a little long in my opinion could've been shorter but I did appreciate it for what it is. It's a story of struggling to grasp a world without someone you love. This book is so fit to be a movie so I hope it doesn't take too long for the film adaptation to come out. Hopefully it's a 2022 film because I feel like this would be good one to watch on Netflix.

Interview with Author Roseanne A. Brown

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

And to any new readers hello to ya! It's been a hectic month and a half but still I rise. The life of an essential worker. Happy to still have a job but trying not to crumble under the stress of it all. And I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to work from home. During this time books have been my solace and I hope you all continue to take solace in them too. So without further ado I give you an introduction to a new author whose debut is garnering buzz in the YA fantasy realm. Get to know A Song of Wraiths and Ruin author, Roseanne A. Brown. 

And don't forget to pre-order or library request her book which will release on June 2, 2020

 She's running a pre-order campaign with nice incentives

For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.

But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition.

When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?

What was the journey to signing your book deal like?

I first had the idea for A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN in spring 2016, when I wondered what would happen if someone was possessed by a demon, and then the demon immediately regretted being trapped inside an anxious human mind. From there I wrote furiously, and finished the first draft in January 2017. I revised it to enter for Pitch Wars and was chosen as a mentee in August 2017. Then during the agent showcase, I signed with Quressa Robinson of Nelson Literary Agency and revised again. We went on submission in March 2018 and sold the book in April to Kristin Rens of Balzer+Bray/Harpercollins! So it was about 2 years and four drafts from idea to sale! 

Is there any advice you would give to an aspiring author?

Follow your bliss. Key in on the things that move you most about the world, whether positively or negatively. And those inspirations don’t always have to be books! Your work is at its absolute best when you feel it with sincerity that resonates through who you are. 

What cultures inspired you while writing this story?

I knew from the start that I wanted to set the story in an analogue to the trade routes between the Sahara Desert and West Africa because that region has had some of the most interesting kingdoms in all of African history. I drew a lot from the ancient kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay plus a bit from the history of the Almoravid and Almohad empires of Morocco. The magic system drew inspiration from the spiritual beliefs of the Akan people of Ghana, my mother’s people. 

What drew you to the Young Adult genre?

My favorite thing about writing YA is how hopeful it is. No matter how tragic the ending may be, the characters still have their whole lives ahead of them (unless they die, but that’s a different story…) There’s something so hopeful about know there’s always more to come. Plus, you get to write about people who are experiencing some of the most intense highs and sweeping lows of life for the first time. 

What do you think about all the African inspired fantasy being released in both Young Adult and Adult fantasy lately?

I love it! I grew up during a time when the only mainstream Western media featuring Africa I had access to was The Lion King, so getting to see so many brilliant African diaspora writers doing work inspired by the continent means everything to me. 

What are some of your favorite books written by black women?

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- This is the first book that ever made me feel seen as an African immigrant. She turns the story of two immigrants from Nigeria into a decade spanning, intergenerational epic of Shakespearean proportions. I wish everyone would read this book. 

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas- Her first book, The Hate U Give, is understandably her most popular, but this one is my favorite book by her so far. I love Bri so much, and the way Thomas makes her everyday struggles feel cinematic is just masterful. 

A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell- This one might be cheating because it’s an anthology with multiple authors, not all of whom are women, but it centers that Black girl experience in SFF like nothing I have ever seen before. This book is pitched as Octavia Butler meets Beyonce’s Lemonade and it has earned that distinction! 

Describe each of your protagonists in 3 words

Karina: Passionate. Driven. Big-Hearted

Malik: Gentle. Anxious. Caring. 

What has it been like debuting during a pandemic?

I will be honest with you, it has been difficult letting go of some of my expectations for my book. Every author I know dreams of throwing the perfect launch with their friends and family by their side to celebrate their achievement. But of course postponing these events and panels and festivals is the right call, and it’s not worth it to risk lives just for the sake of our egos. 

However, right now I’m mostly in a place of gratitude and focus to bring this book into the world with the fanfare I believe it deserves. The response has been so wonderful, and I’m so honored to be able to still reach readers and have the book out there in any capacity with everything going on! 

If ASOWAR was made into a movie which actors would you fancast?

In an ideal world, all of the actors and actresses would be unknowns. But if I have to pick, it would be Justice Smith for Malik. I adored him in Jurassic World and Detective Pikachu. He just has that kind, gentle yet courageous when he needs to be energy that is vital for Malik. 

For Karina, I would love anyone who was both dark-skinned and plus-sized. I adore the model on the cover of the book, Tania Toussaint. I’d also love Kayla Smith. 

Can you give us any details about your current work in progress?

So right now my main priority is ASOWAR 2! Right now it’s in that gooey stage where I have a draft that I’m having a lot of fun blasting apart and gluing back together. I also have another project I’m working on that will hopefully have an update soon. All I can say now is it involves Ghanaian folklore, a lot of Maryland weirdness, and a kickbutt heroine. Definitely keep an eye on my socials if you want to know more!

You can follow Roseanne on Twitter and Instagram @rosiesrambles