Meet Me at the Crossroads by Megan Giddings

Title: Meet Me at the Crossroads

Series: n/a
Author: Meagan Giddings
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Literary Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Amistad; June 3, 2025

Goodreads    Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the award-winning, critically-acclaimed author of Lakewood and The Women Could Fly, a dazzling novel about two brilliant sisters and what happens to their undeniable bond when a mysterious and possibly perilous new world beckons.

On an ordinary summer morning, the world is changed by the appearance of seven mysterious doors that seemingly lead to another world. People are, of course, mesmerized and intrigued: A new dimension filled with beauty and resources beckons them to step into an adventure. But, perhaps inevitably, people soon learn that what looks like paradise may very well be filled with danger. Ayanna and Olivia, two Black Midwestern teens—and twin sisters—have different ideas of what may lie in the world beyond. But will their personal bond endure such wanton exploration? And when one of them goes missing, will the other find solace of her own? And will she uncover the circumstances of what truly happened to her once constant companion and best friend?

Megan Giddings brings her customarily brilliant and eye-opening powers of storytelling to give us a story that dazzles the senses and bewitches the mind. Meet Me at the Crossroads is an unforgettable novel about faith, love, and family from one of today’s most exciting and surprising young writers.

The synopsis is what sold me on Megan Gidding’s new novel, Meet me at the Crossroads. I mean: portal fantasy with an air of family drama involving twin sisters (one of them missing).

While I liked this book in the end (enough to give it a high rating on goodreads), I think the synopsis gave me the wrong impression, which initially clouded how I viewed the story. Let me explain.

Meet me at the Crossroads was portal fantasy, but it also wasn’t at the same time. The portal aspect had a presence in the story but much smaller than I assumed it would be. And that’s on me for assuming. The portals (the mysterious doors) inhabited an almost metaphorical role. While, if I look at the story from a more literary fiction angle, then the way it handles its subject and theming makes more sense to me.

Meet Me at the Crossroad was, essentially, a study of characters, grief, and depression—or the study of grief and complicated relationships through the novel’s characters. It was also kind of a haunting as well as a story about the aftermath of tragedy (how it can destroy a life and tear apart a family; and it did go to some dark places).

And, I don’t mean that as a criticism, though. I think the book did well with those aspects, especially since I was, by the end, far more interested in the characters and the resolution of the interpersonal relationships than I was about the doors specifically.

In terms of the doors, by the end, they were fine. They were a subject often not just discussed between the characters but also researched/theorized throughout the story. But, it was also an experience that impacted them in a myriad of ways, whether good or bad—creating extraordinary circumstances or some of the worst tragedies (and sometimes the lines blurred so much it often felt like a combination of the two).

While I had a somewhat rocky start, the complexity of Ayanna’s story was something I loved!

About the author....

Megan Giddings is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel, Lakewood, was published by Amistad in 2020. It was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category. Her second novel, The Women Could Fly (Amistad 2022), was named one of The Washington Post’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy novels of 2022, one of Vulture’s Best Fantasy books of 2022, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. In Fall 2023, she was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University. Her third novel, Meet Me at the Crossroads, will be published on June 3rd 2025. Her first short story collection, Black Arts, will be published in 2026.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Amistad) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Adia Kelbara and the High Queen's Tomb by Isi Hendrix

Title: Adia Kelbara and the High Queen's Tomb

Series: Adia Kelbara #2
Author: Isi Hendrix
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Middle Grade
Publisher/Publication Date: Storytide; June 3, 2025

Goodreads     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The second book in a fast-paced, witty, and bighearted debut Afrofantasy trilogy about a twelve-year-old apprentice in the kitchens at the prestigious Academy of Shamans who must ally with a snarky goddess and a knife-wielding warrior to save her kingdom.

Perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers and The School for Good and Evil!

Adia Kelbara may have defeated the power-hungry god Olark and saved Zaria, but now she must face something even more Her first semester as a student at the Academy of Shamans. As her abilities are tested during orientation, a mysterious affliction causes everyone except for Adia and Thyme to pass out—and a reanimated corpse appears, with a horrifying message. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Emperor Darian sends news that the same phenomenon is happening across the kingdom and that someone is siphoning energy from the living to resurrect corpses, creating cracks between the realms of the living and the dead. Now it will be up to Adia to push her magical abilities to the limit and journey to the tomb of the ancient High Queen in search of answers and a cure for the sleeping sickness besieging Zaria. But rising corpses aren’t the only threats that stand in her way—a new enemy looms, and if Adia can’t defeat them, Zaria may soon become another realm of the dead.

One of my most anticipated sequels of 2025 was Isi Hendrix’s Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb, the second entry of the Afrofantasy series. I was more than ready to dive back into the world and see what the author had in-store for the characters.

The tone of this second outing felt far bleaker than the previous entry in the series, which made sense. The danger wasn’t at an end, and the High Queen’s Tomb presented another magical—albeit dark and challenging—journey for the burgeoning shaman. I mean, the dead were literally rising. However, it wasn’t a typical take on zombies. I appreciated how the author developed the situation too, because it was more complex than it first appeared. The consequences made the story into a race against time, and the stakes were considerably raised because of it. But, the prospective danger wasn’t only to the world but also in a personal sense too.

After all, Adia had a lot on her plate. She was dealing with the aftermath (and trauma) left by her experiences fighting against Orlark as well as her complicated feelings over the loss of a friendship. Adia had to learn some VERY hard lessons in the High Queen’s Tomb. With her powers: she needed to understand the responsibility that came with them. With the friendships she’d forged (with Thyme and the emperor, Darian): to better value (and rely) on the people who had her back. And, at the same time, she also had to navigate the changes to the Academy of Shamans.

As far as secondary characters, there were new and familiar faces; unexpected allies, and even shocking betrayals. (Bubbles, the cat, was still adorable.)

Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb was an excellent follow-up to the first.

 

About the author....

Isi Hendrix is a Nigerian American children’s book author who has been lucky enough to live and work all over the world, from the Himalayas to the Amazon rainforest, during her past life as an anthropologist. Now she’s based in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY, where she lives with a rotating roster of foster kittens and a stubborn refusal to accept that she is highly allergic to cats. You can find her at www.isihendrix.com.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Storytide) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Whistle by Linwood Barclay

Title: Whistle

Series: n/a
Author: Linwood Barclay
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Horror; Paranormal
Publisher/Publication Date: William Morrow; May 20, 2025

Goodreads   Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.

Evil has a one track mind...

Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal. But Annie’s year is about to get worse. Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night—she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles—and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book. Grief can do strange things to the mind, but Annie is beginning to think she’s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifying…

After reading King’s The Shining, I was in the mood for another horror novel. Luckily for me, I had Linwood Barclay’s May 2025 novel, Whistle, for review.

Where to even begin with this book?

To start, I liked this one as much as The Shining. But, also like that book, Whistle dealt with some heavy topics, and it was horror through-and-through, but with a twist involving toy trains (which I never thought could be so creepy, but hey, I was proved wrong).

The basics are: Annie Blunt was having a hard time and, in looking for a break, heads out of New York City for what should’ve been a relaxing time so maybe—just maybe—she could work on her next book. Like King’s novel, Barclay’s set up Whistle’s opening really well. It was detailed and engrossing, and it did a lot of heavy lifting when it came to developing Annie, Charlie, and even her late husband. It was easy to be sympathetic in the wake of her grief, and understanding toward her troubles and how she tried to cope as well as keep going because her son needed her. And Charlie’s chapters, though brief by comparison, offered an insight into his perspective. But, the work on the backstory didn’t over stay its welcome, and there were plenty of clues peppered throughout the early narrative which pointed toward what would ultimately be the uncanny and creepy nature of the core of the story.

One of the standouts was Barclay’s treatment of the toy trains. I went in with an open mind. And, as I mentioned above, they weren’t portrayed as a gimmick but instead had a presence in the story that cast a long shadow. They also presented quite a mystery.

Annie, however, wasn’t the only character stuck in that mess. There was the present storyline, which followed her and her son. But, part of the story took place in the past as well; those sections were real foreboding. At times, I knew more than the characters did, but it worked out, because part of what made the novel thrilling, eerie, and a page turner was waiting to see how the different ends of the story would intersect. It was great!

Whistle was exactly what I was hoping it would be. It wasn’t necessarily fast paced, but it was the kind of horror novel that slowly unfolds and was driven by its characters as much as it was by the supernatural aspects that fueled its more frightening moments.

 

About the author....

Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author with twenty novels to his credit, spent three decades in newspapers before turning full time to writing thrillers. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages, sold millions of copies, and he counts Stephen King among his fans. Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, a series has been made in France, and he wrote the screenplay for the film based on his novel Never Saw it Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives near Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (William Morrow) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

A Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames

Title: A Harvest of Hearts

Series: n/a
Author: Andrea Eames
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Erewhon Books; March 4, 2025

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

In the beloved tradition of Howl’s Moving Castle, a whimsical and unforgettable story of fantastic adventure, common sense, and the power of love to overcome the greatest of obstacles . . .

Before Foss Butcher was Snagged, she thought no more of the magic-users than did anyone else in her tiny village. Sometimes gorgeous women in impossible carriages rolled into town and took bits of people’s hearts. Everyone knew hearts fueled their magic. But Foss, plain, clumsy, and practical as a boot, never expected anyone would want hers. True enough, when the only sorcerer in the kingdom stepped from his glossy carriage, he didn’t intend to hook Foss. Sylvester’s riot of black curls and perfectly etched cheekbones caught her eye a moment too long, that was all. Suddenly, Foss is cursed and finds herself stomping toward the grand City to keep his enchanted House, where her only friend is a talking cat and the walls themselves have moods. But as Foss learns the ways of magic, she realizes she’s far from its only unwilling captive. Even Sylvester is hemmed in by spells and threats. It’s said this sorcery protects king, country, and order for thousands. If Foss wants to free herself—and, perhaps, Sylvester—she’ll have to confront it all . . . and uncover the blight nestled in the heart of the kingdom itself.

Andrea Eames’s, A Harvest of Hearts, is compared to Howl’s Moving Castle, which was enough of a hook to sell the story to me. After all, not only did I read Diana Wynn Jones’s novel but I also saw the movie version of Howl’s Moving Castle too. Even so, I wasn’t expecting a retelling or something that held on to its influences too much. And, while you could see where the inspiration was, A Harvest of Hearts is its own story with its own merits. I was thoroughly entertained.

It starts off with Foss, who, like Sophie, had a very low esteem/opinion of herself/worth. And, at first, she viewed the activity of the sorceresses with some distance, figuring she was beneath their notice, until she was snagged, and her personal stakes rose exponentially. It was a good place to start, as it set up a mystery—will she be able to free herself or won’t she—and which gave the story an early push.

Sometimes with romantasy, the plot can get lost behind the romance, which, you know, I get it. Romance first and foremost, which I have nothing against—I’ll pick up a romantasy when I need something lighter or purely distracting to read. However, after reading this book, I’d be cautious about having that expectation when approaching this book. A Harvest of Hearts was whimsical and fairy tale-esque with a talking cat, a strangely living house, and a mercurial sorcerer—which I’ll admit was very Howl’s Moving Castle of the story. However, the romance is very slow burn, and it remained relatively balanced with the plot. And the latter went in directions I wasn’t expecting, as the strange eeriness was further explored, peeling away the veneer and delving into the terrible, gruesome nature of hearts as a form of currency and magic.

I actually liked that about A Harvest of Hearts. The price for magic was an interesting one anyway, and I appreciated how much detail and time was devoted to exploring the context of the setting alongside the relationship between the characters—particularly Foss, the cat, and the sorcerer, Sylvester.

Overall, there was plenty to like about A Harvest of Hearts.

About the author....

Andrea Eames was born in 1985. She was brought up in Zimbabwe, where she attended a Jewish school for six years, a Hindu school for one, a Catholic convent school for two and a half, and then the American International School in Harare for two years. Andrea's family moved to New Zealand in 2002. Andrea has worked as a bookseller and editor and now lives in Austin, Texas with her husband.

Goodreads   Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Erewhon Books [Kensington]) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging by Tara Roberts

Title: Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging

Series: n/a
Author: Tara Roberts
Source/Format: BookishFirst; Paperback ARC
More Details: Nonfiction; History; Memoir
Publisher/Publication Date: National Geographic; January 28, 2025

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This searing memoir by a National Geographic scuba diver recounts one woman's epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean—and find her place in the world. For fans of adventurous women’s memoirs like Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped.

When Tara Roberts first caught sight of a photograph at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History depicting the underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Here were Black women and men strapping on masks, fins, and tanks to explore Atlantic Ocean waters along the coastlines of Africa, North America, and Central America, seeking the wrecks of slave ships long lost in time. Inspired, Roberts joined them—and started on a path of discovery more challenging and personal than she could ever have imagined.

In this lush and lyrical memoir, she tells a story of exploration and reckoning that takes her from her home in Washington, D.C., to an exotic array of locales: Thailand and Sri Lanka, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Benin, Costa Rica, and St. Croix. The journey connects her with other divers, scholars, and archaeologists, offering a unique way of understanding the 12.5 million souls carried away from their African homeland to enslavement on other continents. But for Roberts, the journey is also intensely personal. Inspired by the descendants of those who lost their lives during the Middle Passage, she decides to plumb her own family history and life as a Black woman to help make sense of her own identity.

Complex and unflinchingly authentic, this deeply moving narrative heralds an important new voice in literature that will open minds and hearts everywhere.

Admittedly, I’m not familiar with Tara Roberts’s work, as much as I would like to be. Before BookishFirst shut down in December, her new memoir, Written in the Waters, was one of the books being offered for review. And, after reading the excerpt, I jumped at the chance to read the rest of it.

Tara Roberts wove a compelling memoir that was part journey of self-discovery and part historical narrative about the complicated history of the transatlantic slave trade, while also reconciling how it related to her own life. From a not-so distant relative who was born enslaved, to the journey Roberts embarks on through diving and travel, to exploring shipwrecks and talking/meeting with people doing important work—with student programs, with politics, or working to find new evidence and preserve an important part of history—in the hopes of finding a sense of understanding, belonging, and peace in her own life.

Most of the memoirs I’ve read didn’t approach history quite like Written in the Waters, which I get, because they were, first and foremost, written with a specific focus (kind of like how some fiction is more of a character study rather than anything else). But Roberts found a good balance, a bridge between the past and the present (no pun intended), through the ups and downs of her life—and even the highs and lows of gaining more experience as a diver.

Written in the Waters is a compulsively readable memoir. And, I highly recommend it!

About the author....

Tara spent the last six years following, diving with, and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they searched for and helped document slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and featured in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. Tara became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of Nat Geo. In 2022, Tara was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Currently, she is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. And her book Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging hits stands in January 2025.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (National Geographic) via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees

Title: We Shall Be Monsters 

Series: n/a
Author: Alyssa Wees
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Del Rey; November 12, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

A dark, lyrical fantasy blending the world of the Fae with the stories mothers tell to keep their daughters safe - and the consequences of disregarding the truth, no matter how sinister.

Gemma lives with her mother in an isolated antique shop in Michigan, near a small patch of woods that conceals an enchanted gateway to fairyland. She knows she's not supposed to go into the woods - her mother Virginia has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there - and yet defiantly, curiously, she goes anyway. Virginia understands her daughter's defiance. She knows the lure of the woods all too well. Her own mother warned her about the monsters that resided there, and she also did not listen. Until a witch cursed her true love, Ash - Gemma's father - into the form of a beast in the days before Gemma's birth. And if Virginia cannot break the curse before her daughter turns fifteen, Ash will eat Virginia's heart and Gemma will belong to the witch. So Virginia will do whatever she can to protect her daughter - even if it means stealing Gemma's memories away. But everything changes when Gemma inadvertently gets too close to the truth, and the witch steals Virginia away instead. Now it is up to Gemma to venture deep into Fae lands to try and rescue her mother and break the curse.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Gemma and Virginia, this lyrical novel is not only a tale of a girl's fantastical quest through a darkly magical fairyland, but also an examination of the complex bonds of love and resentment that lie between parents and their children.

Some of my favorite fantasy tropes include fairies (or fey equivalent) and woods that may or may not be friendly. Novik’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver come to mind, as well as Ava Reid’s A Study in Drowning, which is why I was drawn to the new Alyssa Wees novel, We Shall Be Monsters.

We Shall Be Monsters had fairies, monsters, and an antique shop wrapped up in a story about mothers and daughters and the three generations that have lived next to and seen the good as well as the worst the nearby woods have to offer. Oh, and the breaking of curses and the unraveling of long held secrets. So when the synopsis called this book a “dark, lyrical fantasy,” that description is accurate. We Shall Be Monsters has its whimsical and magical moments, but it was, at its heart, a darker story that, at times, felt much closer to horror. The woods were eerie, dangerous, and inhabited by fairies and other creatures, some friendly, some who offered dubious ties, or even those that were entirely driven by appetite or greed. There was also imagery of body related horror. However, those aspects worked well, since part of what the book tackled overall was the question of what truly makes a monster; and explored the divide between a hero and a killer. The characters made mistakes and payed for them, but they also learned from them. In that regard, We Shall Be Monsters is a nuanced story, and the characters that inhabited the pages were just as complicated.

Generally, I liked how Wees handled the viewpoints. It was first person, but Gemma and her mother, Virginia, each had quirks in the way they were written, which made it easy to tell them apart.

Gemma, like her mother and grandmother before her, was fascinated by the woods and didn’t recognize the danger posed by it, before she was confronted with the truth and tasked with a dangerous quest. Virginia was stuck in the past, figuratively and literally. Her history had everything to do with the issues that arose in the current timeline of the book, affecting not only her, but her daughter as well.

We Shall Be Monsters was, at the end of the day, right up my alley, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a dark fantasy story.

 

About the author....

Alyssa Wees is the acclaimed author of The Waking Forest and Nocturne. She grew up writing stories about her Beanie Babies in between ballet lessons. She earned a BA in English from Creighton University and an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago. Currently she works as an assistant librarian in youth services at an awesome public library. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and their two cats.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Del Rey) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

Title: The Maid and the Crocodile 

Series: Raybearer
Author: Jordan Ifueko
Source/Format: Publisher; Paperback ARC
More Details: Fantasy; Young Adult; Romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Harry N. Abrams; August 13, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution.

In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, country bumpkin Small Sade needs a job—preferably as a maid, with employers who don’t mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be hired, she accidentally binds herself to a powerful god known only as the Crocodile, who is rumored to devour pretty girls. Small Sade entrances the Crocodile with her secret: she is a Curse Eater, gifted with the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses. The handsome god warns that their fates are bound, but Small Sade evades him, launching herself into a new career as the Curse Eater of a swanky inn. She is determined to impress the wealthy inhabitants and earn her place in Oluwan City . . . assuming her secret-filled past—and the revolutionary ambitions of the Crocodile God—don’t catch up with her. But maybe there is more to Small Sade. And maybe everyone in Oluwan City deserves more, too, from the maids all the way to the Anointed Ones.

I rarely pick up young adult romances these days, except for on rare occasions like this, when a synopsis is enough to garner my attention. The Maid and the Crocodile is Jordan Ifueko’s standalone romance set in the same world as the Raybearer series, and while I still want to check out those books eventually, that didn’t curb my enthusiasm for this story.

Small Sade was a very personable character. Life hadn’t been kind to her and, now that she aged out of the orphanage, she needed a job more than ever, and her ability as a Curse-Eater might just be the thing to do it. Enter a plucky, lovable gecko and the Crocodile, a supposed god with a questionable reputation. When Small Sade and the Crocodile’s paths cross, they end up with an unexpected bond, and embark on a journey of self-discovery in a story set to challenge everything they thought true about themselves.

The Maid and the Crocodile is a slow burn romance through and through. The story spent a good chunk of its page space developing the characters, and bringing them to a place of equal footing. The relationship wasn’t without its troubles and was even tumultuous at certain points. However, that being said, I liked that Ifueko gave the relationship enough time to breathe and develop into something not only believable but also heartwarming and something to really root for.

The relationship wasn’t the only point of the book, though. There was the storyline set at the Balogun Inn. I also enjoyed this look into the Raybearer world, and it is something to keep in mind when approaching The Maid and the Crocodile. If you’re like me and don’t mind spoilers for the other books, then it won’t be an issue. But, as this takes place after Raybearer and Redemptor, there were passages related to events that took place in those books.

That aside, with a cast full of colorful and endearing characters, cute and romantic moments, and even aspects of a race against time, The Maid and the Crocodile was a delightful, heartfelt story. And I can’t recommend it enough.

About the author....

Jordan Ifueko is the NYT Bestselling Author of the RAYBEARER series & the Disney-Marvel comics MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR. She’s a Nebula Award, Ignyte Award, Audie Award, and Hugo Lodestar finalist, and she's been featured in People Magazine, NPR Best Books, NPR Pop Culture Hour, & ALA Top Ten. She writes about magic Black girls who aren’t magic all the time, because honestly, they deserve a vacation.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Harry N. Abrams) in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

Title: The City in Glass

Series: n/a

Author: Nghi Vo
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: TorDotCom; October 1, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

In this new standalone, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city that burns at the heart of the world.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot. And then the angels come, and the city falls. Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned. She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever. Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

The City in Glass is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to burn a world to ashes and build it anew.

Nghi Vo’s, The Singing Hills Cycle, is one of my favorite series, so I was interested in checking out her latest story, The City in Glass. Essentially, this is a tale about a ruined city that might rise again from its ashes, a demon, an angel, and the strange tumultuous sort-of fascination/love story between the two.

The City in Glass was engaging from the very first page. It begins with a revelry, the fall of the city, and the demon, Vitrine’s effort to rebuild what she lost. Despite the book’s short length, the actual timespan of the story was hundreds of years with sporadic time skips, which sometimes spanned as long as decades. The book was written incredibly well and with enough detail to give the characters—particularly Vitrine—and Azril a rich history.

A large part of the book was dedicated to—and lingered on—Vitrine’s grief as well as her memories of the people and the place she’d lost. During these flashbacks, it was clear how much she’d loved the city of Azril, following generations of families, shaping the place into what it was before everything ended, like a gardener. Her grief was, for lack of better terms, consuming, and The City in Glass allowed Vitrine to go through these stages. It was messy—she was prone to giving into her rage, lashed out, and wanted to be left alone with memories and ghosts—but it drove home the devastation. The way she wanted to linger in the past reminded me of a short story I read earlier this year (Something Small Enough to Ask For by Anamaria Curtis), and the lesson for that main character was ultimately a similar one. Stay in the past or finally move forward? As character arcs go, Vitrine’s was a good one.

One avenue that I was pretty undecided on (and still am), was how the relationship landed, whether it worked as well as some of the other aspects of The City in Glass or not—especially with the way the story ended. On one hand, I understand Vitrine had to work through her grief and come to terms with the angel’s role in it. While on the other hand, some of the angel and Vitrine’s best moments were when they communicated, when there was this push-and-pull albeit with a sense of burgeoning closeness and understanding (even frustration and anger) with each other. However, I wish there had been more of it, or at least a little more of the angel’s perspective on the situation, particularly before the end.

Despite how conflicted I was about the aforementioned, it wasn’t bad actually. In fact, The City in Glass was thoroughly engaging and enjoyable, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

 

About the author....

Nghi Vo is the author of the novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful, as well as the acclaimed novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle, which began withThe Empress of Salt and Fortune. The series entries have been finalists for the Locus Award and the Lambda Literary Award, and have won the Crawford Award, the Ignyte Award, and the Hugo Award. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (TorDotCom) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Clock Striker Volume 2: The Sharing Society by Issaka Galadima and Frederick L. Jones

Title: Clock Striker Volume 2: The Sharing Society

Series: Clock Striker #2
Author: Issaka Galadima; Fredrick L. Jones
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Manga; Teen
Publisher/Publication Date: Rockport Publishers; September 10, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Clock Striker, Volume 2, is the exciting follow-up to the acclaimed first volume, featuring shonen manga’s first Black female lead character! Combining sci-fi, steampunk, action-adventure, and insightful humor, this new volume explores teenage hero Cast’s desire to (once again) save her friend Klaus while dealing with an entire town that confounds her with its unique sharing culture. Something is off—and Cast and her mentor, Ms. Philomena Clock, engineer-warriors called SMITHS, are determined to find out what it is before it’s too late.

Klaus is a runaway prince who has been captured by cybernetic outlaws, the Demon Bandits. Cast has almost never ventured past her hometown, so the demanding trek, including rough terrain and the strange kingdom of Alter, will test her beyond anything she has encountered before. With a rival SMITH and STRIKER on their tails, as well as the mysterious King of Alter—who seems to have a powerful kingdom despite rejecting cutting-edge technology—can our female dynamic duo save the day?

**Note: mild spoilers for volume 1 past this point, you’ve been warned.**

Another one of the sequels I was keeping an eye out for was Issaka Galadima and Fredrick L. Jones’ second volume of Clock Strikers. The series opening was one of my favorite manga releases of 2023, and I have been eagerly awaiting its sequel since.

Titled, The Sharing Society, the story charges right ahead and quickly picked up where the last volume left off. It combined a couple of humorous moments with plenty of action, while also continuing to explore some of the darker and far more complex themes present in the series. It had echoes of the conflict that took place in the first volume, but while the core was similar, this time around it was under vastly different circumstances—which kept the volume interesting as well as moving at a good pace. I flew through this one, and enjoyed every second of it.

This volume was story heavy and threw the characters into a number of perilous situations. Klaus is in a bind. He’s back in Altar and at the mercy of his father. However, there’s trouble in paradise for the Demon Bandits who were his captors, but it seemed like it was a deal/exchange that was always destined to go sideways. On the other side, our Striker and Smith duo, Philomena Clock and Cast, are in pursuit—while also being pursued. Some of the most unexpected twists arrived while the majority of the cast was in Altar, the supposed “sharing society.” The story peeled back the layers of that society and delved into the underlying darkness of the situation, and those were among the most compelling areas of the volume.

And, while a lot of ground was covered, the last chapter ends on a cliffhanger with the beginning of another mystery. However, that nicely set up the potential for the next volume.

Overall, Jones and Galadima have hit it out of the park with the second volume of Clock Striker.

 

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Rockport Publishers/ Quarto Publishing) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker

Title: Haunt Sweet Home

Series: n/a
Author: Sarah Pinsker
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Paranormal; Novella
Publisher/Publication Date: TorDotCom; September 3, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along―is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

I’ve mentioned SurrealEstate on the blog before. Well, its second season had an episode that was essentially a parody (or recreation) of a ghost hunting show. It was comedic but also told a heartfelt story about the fictional show’s host, a parallel to the interpersonal arc of Luke Roman. The concept was simple: manufactured haunting on a niche show that inevitably encounter a scenario outside of their control. So I’m more than familiar with a setup like that, which was why I was looking forward to Sarah Pinsker’s latest, a novella called Haunt Sweet Home.

It’s no secret: I like house stories (or stories involving houses). It’s why a show like SurrealEstate was so appealing, and Haunt Sweet Home fell into that same category. It combined home renovation and supposedly haunted properties into the titular show, while also shaping up into a narrative of self-discovery for the story’s main character, Mara Billings.

Mara started things but never committed; she often thought of herself as the black sheep of her family and was uncertain of her future and struggled with building connections with others. So when she gets the opportunity to work for her cousin’s niche show as a production assistant for the night crew, she’s hopeful it’ll be the thing to stick. It wasn’t an easy job. However, half the fun of the story for the reader, was watching the scenarios unfold/ the show being filmed as well as how Mara would handle being so far outside of her element, with a secondary cast also navigating a cut throat environment. Mara was sympathetic but also at times abrasive. However, I liked the nuance of Pinsker’s characterization of Mara. She almost haunted the narrative, even when she wasn’t fulfilling the role of a ghost. So when the inevitable confrontation happens, the proverbial shoe drop, when she could no longer run from herself, the emotional payoff was just chef’s kiss.

In Haunt Sweet Home the houses were secondary while much of the page space was devoted to a great ghost story and an exceptional character exploration. I highly recommend this one!

 

About the author....

Sarah Pinsker is the author of over fifty works of short fiction, two novels, and one collection. Her work has won four Nebula Awards (Best Novel, A Song For A New Day; Best Novelette, "Our Lady of the Open Road," Best Novelette, "Two Truths And A Lie," Best Short Story, "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,"), two Hugo Awards ("Two Truths And a Lie" and "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather"), the Philip K Dick Award, the Locus Award, the Eugie Foster Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and been nominated for numerous Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her fiction has been published translated into almost a dozen languages and published in magazines including Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Uncanny and in many anthologies and year's bests. Sarah's first collection, the Philip K Dick Award winning Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories, was published by Small Beer Press in March 2019, and her first novel, A Song For A New Day, was published by Penguin/Random House/Berkley in September 2019. Her latest book is We Are Satellites, published in May 2021. Her second collection, Lost Places, will be published by Small Beer Press in March 2023. She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels (the third with her rock band, the Stalking Horses). She lives in Baltimore, Maryland and can be found online at sarahpinsker.com and twitter.com/sarahpinsker.

Goodreads     Website 

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (TorDotCom) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!