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A Snake Falls To Earth by Darcie Little Badger — Lipan Apache Fantasy of Storytelling, Shapeshifters and Hurricanes

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This book is an actual a soft and wholesome delight. 🥺

Last year I fell in love with Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger so I needed her next book SO BADLY. A Snake Falls To Earth is a gorgeous follow-up. It has a different feel than Elatsoe (the biggest factor being it feels much younger), but it cemented my love for the author’s voice and storytelling style. Sometimes you just want to read about soft kids who want to help people and take care of each other and 😭 cherish tight-knit friendships above all else.

A Snake Falls To Earth has two narrators in two different worlds. (1) is Nina, a Lipan Apache girl who is a storyteller at heart and loves connecting to her roots and believing in old myths and legends. She lives in our world and her family runs a bookstore and her grandmother’s land miiiiight be a crossing between two worlds. (2) is Oli is a cotton mouth snake in an alternate dimension, one of the animal people who can shift shapes at will. He’s newly left home and loves reading and has made some unusual friends as he camps in the forest, but when one of his friends gets very sick, he realises the answers lie in earth. Cue — universes COLLIDING. But gently. Because no loud noises here.

I loved both Nina and Oli’s stories but I was kind of more invested in Oli. He has a ton of “everyday adventures”, from catching voices in jars to meeting his coyote soon-to-be-besties to having a run in with a nonbinary eagle to getting his tail stepped on. It reminded me a lot of my childhood faves of Farthing Wood and Beatrix Potter. Just gentle, cottagecore vibes. He also gets more page time (I think?). While Nina’s part was still lovely, as she tries to translate a story from her late great-(great?!?!) indigenous grandma who spoke in a Lipan dialogue Nina didn’t know. Plus Nina’s half deals a bit more with climate change critiques and hurricanes.

It did feel very young, basically middle-grade voice and vibes. Mostly this is because none of the characters had flaws? Everyone was just really kind and curious, and the book kept reassuring the reader that nothing bad would happen, so even when we DID get some high stakes, it all smoothed out easily. So basically — read this if you need a break from stressful books 😂🙌🏻 but also just read it because it’s GOOD 😌✨. I appreciated the change of pace and the comfortable vibes.

Other things I liked

  • Oli basically just avoid confrontation at ALL COSTS and his #1 hobby is napping in the sun…so like, maybe i too am a snake.
  • I just loved the animal people shapeshifters 🥺
  • the focus definitely is on friendship, and Oli’s bond with Risk and Rain (the coyote twins) is super lovely.
  • there are lowkey monsters in the background
  • Nina was so chill. 10/10 would like to be her friend.
  • Nina says she is asexual on page, but Oli also seemed super ace to me! He was pretty much like “marriage seems ok i guess if you meet the right person but idk”. BLESS.
  • lots of homage and love words Lipan Apache culture and the importance of verbal storytelling

If you’re looking for a book that is both wholesome and comforting, full of heart and storytelling and friendship and chaotic teens on adventures — this is it!! It was a lovely story and beautifully written.

I also listened to the audiobook from NetGalley and really loved the narrator too!

Title: A Snake Falls To Earth
Author: Darcie Little Badger
Date Published: November 9th 2021
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
Add it on Goodreads
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.
Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.
Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.
And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.
Darcie Little Badger introduced herself to the world with Elatsoe. In A Snake Falls to Earth, she draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed.

 

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge – Sea Themed Fantasy Of My Heart!!

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What I’m just saying is that I need to fold myself into this book and stay there.

Deeplight was so good 😭 It’s the type of book I finish and whisper, “Oh that was a ME type of story,” and I just love stumbling into these treasures. The story is an absolute love letter to the ocean, but it’s also stuffed with monstrous sea gods and hardcore smugglers, and a valiant and heartfelt lying little thief boy who has absolutely one braincell and proceeds to not use it for most of the book — and I could not love him more. Hark is just the best. And his arc [chef’s kiss] just seeing him grow up was both heartbreaking and epically done.

In the end, we are what we do and what we allow to be done.

It’s about monsters and stories, it’s about the strangulating hold toxic friendship can have on your life, it’s about how in the end we are made up of stories. Stories define us and teach us and remember us.

(Also side note: it gave me such big Strange the Dreamer vibes. So if you like that style of fantasy, you’ll probably like this.)

WHAT IS IT ABOUT
Deeplight is set in a sea-based fantasy world of islands, where once everyone worshiped fearsome monstrous sea gods until they day the gods tore themselves apart. We are talking gods who swallow islands whole and eat fleets of ships and rule in terror. However they are also just big dumb hungry fish. But yet everyone worshiped them. Now it’s been 30+ years since they’ve gone extinct and their remnants get sold off as souvenirs but everyone still secretly reveres the gods.

Hark is a 14-year-old thief, an orphaned street kid, who is both con artist and opportunist and storyteller. His entire life revolves around his best friend, Jelt, and they run cons together and get in and out of scrapes. But even as you start reading you notice Hark doing his very very deepest best to convince us that Jelt is wonderful. While Jelt is there gaslighting and abusing Hark. Hark reads like a drowning boy, valiantly and loyally convincing himself that because Jelt saved him growing up, they are closer than brothers and should always be friends. Recognising toxic friendship and then dealign with it is hard — and this story shows just how hard. The way it’s written is a blow to the heart but so well captured.

Hark is a total cinnamon roll, soft and lovely, he talks fast and lies hard, but to his core he wants to know who he is and be proud of that person.

You could keep people alive forever through stories.

I also just love this kind of fantasy, because it’s both character-centric AND world-centric. The plot is driven by Hark’s actions (or inactions) and is basically a chain reaction of all the dumb things he does. (He’s so cute, I do not mind.) And the world building is gorgeous and vivid, and the underwater descriptions owned me. I felt so drawn in.

Also there is Deaf representation! Deaf culture is a huge part of the entire world, there’s no token-one-disabled-friend here — the sea-kissed are revered and respected in the islands, and sign language is well known. Plus the book takes care to talk about Deaf culture and incorporated it flawlessly. This is the disability rep in fantasy that I crave. While Hark is hearing, Selfin is a main character (sometimes narrates) and she is profoundly Deaf after an accident.

I have so SO much love for the characters. From the old priests (espeically Quest!!) to the slippery Doctor Vine to the stabby Briggs — and let’s not forget Selfin, utterly angry, stubborn and brilliantly brave. A DELIGHT. At one point Hark is just like “every time I see Selfin I am unsure if she’ll stab me” and like, we love her for it. There is also no romance! This book really went and said: let’s talk about FRIENDSHIP. And focused on that with its whole heart.

I could gush forever, let’s be real, but just the style of the writing, the gorgeous sea-aesthetics, the way the world building sprawled lush and vivid and full of detailed care, and the characters who were all interesting and dynamic and complex and just leapt off the page — everything is A+. Masterpiece. I enjoyed myself so, so much.

Note: I bought the audiobook (honestly the best narration too, 10/10 recommend) so most of the spellings here are probably phonetic.

Title: Deeplight
Author: Frances Hardinge
Date Published: October, 2019
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy
Add it on Goodreads
The gods of The Myriad were as real as the coastlines and currents, and as merciless as the winds and whirlpools. Now the gods are dead, but their remains are stirring beneath the waves . . .
On the streets of the Island of Lady’s Crave live 14-year-old street urchins Hark and his best friend Jelt. They are scavengers: diving for relics of the gods, desperate for anything they can sell. But there is something dangerous in the deep waters of the undersea, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it.
When the waves try to claim Jelt, Hark will do anything to save him. Even if it means compromising not just who Jelt is, but what he is . . .

 

[Blog Tour] Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows — Magic, Chaos, and a Cat-Eared Thief!!

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Time for my tour stop with MTMC Tours to talk about Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows!

Get ready for magic, sass, chaos and disaster teens who maybe are saving or breaking the world 😍🙌🏻 They don’t know yet. A surprise for us ALL. I was so excited to dive into Bloody Spade (side note: absolutely love the author’s art too; it’s so cute and made me fall even more in love with the characters) and the story turned out to be jam-packed with loveable characters and epic magic. It’s definitely perfect for readers who love superhero-style novels with X-Men team vibes, magic schools, and a cast that’s effortlessly diverse and dynamic. We’ve got your tragic backstories and loveable rouges right here!!

THE WORLD
The magic system is really unique and complex! A lot of it is themed around cards, which felt so fun. Cardplay, Jokers, Blackjacks, etc. There are four people with special powers, Diamond, Hearts, Clubs and Spades. But plenty of characters have magic aside from that, and there’s corrupt magic, and a complex history of power disappearing and returning to the world. It’s also an urban fantasy world, and I loved that it was queer-inclusive.

THE CHARACTERS
Okay my FAVOURITE THING were the characters!! There are three main narrators (Iori, Ellen and Alexander — plus an occasionally 4th POV that’s probably best left secret for now 👀) and a ton of amazing secondary characters. It’s also got found-family vibes 🥺 and a gentle, tentative romance. The story takes time to talk about trauma responses and therapy too, instead of just leaving these kids to internalise everything and combust.

  • Iori Ryone – an instant favourite, I mean come on, he is a sassy thief on the run, stuffed with corrupt magic and a tragic past, has cat ears and a tail, is pansexual, and he’s super powerful but also is a traumatised disaster who jokes through his pain. He totally thinks he’s invincible (he is not 😪) and when help is offered, he runs. IORI 🥺💛 All his chapters were my favourite and I loved his arc!! Learning to accept not everyone is the enemy and then showing his softer side.
  • Ellen Amelia Jane – Okay she is so nice. She has a very unique power that she’s meant to keep hidden in case someone forces her to use it badly, but she’s just NICE to everyone. And like if she sees a stray cat (cough, Iori) she’s gonna keep it and tend to its wounds. She’s also asexual!
  • Alexander Jane –  He’s Ellen’s older brother and while Ellen is dealing with the loss of their parents, he’s actually internalised so so much rage. Even though he is the school’s “golden boy” of pyro powers, he’s interanlly dealing with a lot of anger. He does act like he’s the most hurt person in the room, and his bullheadedness made me mad, but he also has one of the best character arcs in the book. (His and Iori’s insta-hate-relationship was 😂 so fun. When Ellen was like, “Iori flirts with everyone” and one of the secondary characters was like “Actually no, he just flirts with you and Alexander in a homoerotic hateship”, well, I CACKLED.) Also Alex is aromantic so it was like, two aspec siblings?!!? My ace heart is so happy.

THE PLOT
It’s got action, evil villains, betrayals, kidnapping, and plenty of twists. I also loved the different variety of powers; so fun to read. There are training scenes as Iori learns to stop being a self-combusting-bomb. And there are dark scenes that—  👀👌🏻 well, no spoilers. But the villains are evil. If you like books like The Extraordinaries and Cute Mutants, this one will definitely make your heart happy.

A magical explosion of dark magic, tragedy, hope, and found family — this is a story full of characters you’ll want to protect and secrets you’ll want answers for.

Head over to my instagram for the intl giveaway for a digital copies of Bloody Spade!

A girl full of heart
A thief touched by darkness
A boy with a fiery temper
An unwitting servant of evil
The era of magic was once thought to be a myth, but after the Reemergence ushered forces both dark and light into the mundane world, it has since become a harsh reality. Now those affected by this strange power-a specialized group of Empowered called Jokers, known collectively as Cardplay-must protect their world from the darkness that threatens to consume it, all the while fighting for equality in a society clinging to normalcy.
But the Reemergence was only the beginning.
When another influx occurs on the seventh anniversary of that fateful event, an unfortunate encounter at ground zero lands Iori Ryone, a teenage boy in possession of a corrupt and legendary magic, in the care of recent Joker graduate Ellen Amelia Jane. From him, she learns the Reemergence may not have been the inevitable natural disaster it first seemed.
Someone is trying to tear down the barrier that separates the magical realms from the mundane. The question is, can Cardplay stop them before it’s too late?
Bloody Spade is the first installment in an urban fantasy duology that follows a cat-eared thief and a spirited girl as they try to navigate his wild magic, her hotheaded brother, a sinister plot, and the feelings they’re developing for each other.

Amazon | Book Depository | Indiebound | Blackwell’s | Barnes & Noble
Add on Goodreads!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brittany M. Willows is a bisexual/asexual author and digital artist living in rural Ontario, Canada. Inspired initially by video games and the stories they told, she began building her own fictional universes and has no plans of stopping any time soon. When she’s not writing about post-apocalyptic lands, wild magic, or people gallivanting through the stars, she can be found hunched over a tablet drawing the very same things. To keep up with the latest news regarding both current and future stories, and to find out more about Brittany or to delve deeper into the worlds she has created, check out the links below! She can also be contacted directly via these platforms.
Website | Instagram | Goodreads | Twitter

Hi Brittany! Thanks for chatting with me today about your novel, Bloody Spade! Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey and how your book went from idea to finished novel?

Hi, thanks for having me! It’s actually been a very long journey for this story. Twelve years as of the release date, in fact (created the story and Iori on September 15th 2009, published September 15th 2021. I was very attached to my release date for that reason, haha). The project began life as an idea for a manga. I even bought Manga Studio and wrote up a 93,000-word script for it. Creating a manga turned out to be a much larger undertaking than fifteen-year-old me had anticipated, though, and I never completed the first page.

So, I learned manga/comics weren’t for me. But I still very much enjoyed writing.

I shifted gears in 2011, shelved Bloody Spade and went to work on The Calypsis Project (the space opera about a galactic war between humans and aliens that would become my debut duology). Then in 2018, with the TCP duology wrapped and me in a writing slump, I made the decision to revive Bloody Spade and turn it into a novel. I spent the next few months tinkering with the world and the characters, jotting down bits and pieces here and there, and finally started drafting in the summer of 2019. Fastest draft I ever wrote (just shy of two months)! To be fair, it was a very messy zero draft written in a stream-of-consciousness present-tense summary style. But, still.

The next year and a half or so was spent revising it, then it was off to beta readers—and that was a wild thing, finally getting to share this story that had lived almost solely in my head for so many years with other people!

And now of course I’m here and the book is done and out and being read by more people than my younger self ever imagined it would be. It’s a really cool feeling, and I’m so happy I decided to breathe new life into this project when I did. This story is super important to me, and it means so much to see other people genuinely enjoying it and connecting with the characters <3

Ahh love this origin story for Bloody Spade 😍 And so glad it came to life! Now I’m totally obsessed with your artwork! Which comes first: drawing your characters or writing about them?

Thank you! Drawing definitely comes first (and was my first passion before writing). I’ve always been a very visual person, and while I do see my characters and worlds in vivid detail in my mind, I do find that by drawing the characters on paper (or rather these days, a digital canvas), and actually being able to see them in front of me does help to develop them.

What’s your favourite part of the writing process?

Zero drafting, I think! It’s the easiest part of process and I mostly just get to let the little movie of the story play out in my head while I’m laying all the details out on the page (meanwhile, the first couple rounds of revision are really tough on me because I’m super slow when it comes to the actual prose and making things sound nice. I do still enjoy that part in a way, though, despite what my yelling and whining on social media would have you think while I’m in the depths of the revision cave).

I also adore the freedom of zero drafts so 👀👌🏻 Am with you on this. What were some things you were really excited to write about in Bloody Spade?

I’m a massive sucker for the hurt/comfort trope, so every single hurt/comfort scene I had in mind was definitely something I was looking forward to (unlike the battle scenes, which are the literal bane of my writerly existence). There’s just something about one character delicately tending to the wounds, physical or emotional, of another character that tugs at my heart in the most satisfying way. *chef’s kiss*

The hurt/comfort scenes were so so good 🥺 I love every moment Iori and Ellen are together. So can you tell us some fun facts about Iori and Ellen?

Certainly! So, one fun fact I like to share about Iori is that he began life as a Vocaloid fan character, which is why his surname ends in “ne,” following the naming style of all the established Vocaloid characters (“Ryone” specifically comes from merging the Japanese words for “dragon” and “sound”). I’d intended to use him in a written role-playing game on a forum site I used to frequent, but on the same day, his existence sparked the idea for Bloody Spade and he was a Vocaloid FC no more!

Ellen meanwhile was born out of a simple love for red-eyed, white-haired, scythe-wielding anime girls, and I actually created both her and her brother before Iori! They were created earlier in the summer of 2009, but I had no home for them until Bloody Spade came about a couple months later.

Additional fun facts: Iori hates cucumbers, loves napping in the sun, and likes to be up high (yes, these are all cat references); and Ellen loves strawberries, baking, and always cries at those heartwarming animal rescue videos. Or videos of baby animals. Or anything overpoweringly cute, really (she is the biggest crybaby).

And we know she does love taking in stray cats 😌 Now lastly lastly! Was any chocolate harmed in the making of this novel? 😉

Haha, if by “harmed” you mean thoroughly devoured, then yes, absolutely! Much chocolate was harmed in the making of this novel (and is currently being harmed as I continue chipping away at revisions for the sequel).

It went down for a worthy cause 😌 Thanks so much for this amazing interview and sharing all these sneak-peeks about the making of the amazing Bloody Spade!! 😍

MTMC TOURS Schedule

September 20
@paperfury – Bookstagram + Book Blog
September 21
@calmdust – Bookstagram
September 23
@thereaderandthechef – Bookstagram + Book Blog
September 24
@dreaminginpages – Bookstagram
September 25
@nelthewhichcraftsbooks – Bookstagram + Book Blog
September 26
@jenniaahava – Bookstagram
September 27
@regal_leaves – Bookstagram + Book Blog
September 28
@readmeinpastel – Bookstagram
September 29
@celiamcmahonreads – Bookstagram + Book Blog
September 30
@clockwork.bookdragon – Bookstagram

The Hawthorne Legacy (#2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – Billionaire Angst & Puzzles in a Brilliant Sequel!

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I’m such a fan of The Inheritance Games series and SO glad it got a sequel.

Excuse me while I settle down with this book and a hot chocolate for some pleasurable wish-fulfilment (referring to inheriting an eccentric billionaire’s fortune fyi — not the murder attempts Avery goes through….pass on those). But I am here for TIPS 🙌🏻 10/10 would like a fortune too.

The sequel kicks off directly where book 1 left off. You can catch my review of The Inheritance Games here! I didn’t have time for a reread, but I lowkey wish I had because there are a LOT of characters. It does a bit of a recap, but I was struggling to remember some of the minor characters. (The Laughlin family tree left me fuzzy, but that’s on me.) We launch instantly into the new puzzles and twists: with Avery and Jameson making a bet on who can solve the mystery first. Is Toby Hawthorne still alive.

I really don’t want to spoil anything but just know that there are a LOT OF TWISTS. There are twists that double back on themselves just to leave you pleasantly spinning. A lot of it is about family trees and the past too, so we get to unpack the mystery behind Toby’s “death” and start chewing through more clues on WHY Avery was chosen to inherit the Hawthorne fortune (also why Tobias disinherited all his kids too). The whole book is so thoroughly unpredictable too. I love that. I love how I never knew what would happen next, which twists would toss me off the next proverbial cliff, or who would even be telling the truth.

“Allow me to let you in on a Hawthorne trade secret, Heiress: There are no rules that matter more than winning.”

Avery really does NOT rest or catch a break through all of her powering through the clues and unravelling mysteries. Which like I get, but also (a) girl is not enjoying her fortune very much, and (b) I want to know how Mr Hawthorne even had time to amass his billions because all he seemed to do was leave clues and puzzles within clues and puzzles for his kids/grandkids to solve 20 years later. There is a lot of rich people angst here, but pfft, it was fun.

Also the characters continue to be my favourite!! I love Avery. I love how she’s still an overwhelmed, rough-around-the-edges teen who gets annoyed at rich people protocols and literally has no idea how to enjoy being famous. She is very reserved still, very unwilling to want things in case they’re snatched away. Also I lowkey love her relationship to her lawyers/surveillance team 🥺 I know it’s just their job, but Alisa and Oren are the best and care for her so much.

And those stupid Hawthorne boys 😪👌🏻 I love them. Greyson, the composed cool calm and collected young mister business man. Jameson, the absolute charming suave little shit who is all about puzzles and games and being enigmatic while a little bit tortured. Xander, who is just cheerful and fun and isn’t into his older brothers’ dramas and always inventing some robot contraption. Jameson is my favourite, I will not lie. I just love his devil-may-care attitude until he realises that he does, in fact, care quite a lot. Also Greyson/Jameson are drama queens with their brotherly challenges to each other and I love them but they’re also idiots 😂 (Also I realise Nash is the fourth Hawthorne brother, but let’s agree he’s useless.)

Games, twisted secrets, ridiculous wealth, and shocking revelations — this is such a deliciously enjoyable mystery series and so unputdownable. I need more.

Thanks to Penguin Australia for the review copy! It’s out Sept 14th, 2021.

Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.
The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions – including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.
As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture – by any means necessary.
With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia | Penguin AUS

 

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé – Only The Best YA Dark Academia Thriller of 2021!?!

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So everyone has been raving about Ace of Spades and I knew it’d be excellent, but STILL– I should have read it sooner!!

I am still in that exhausted post-incredible-novel haze where I’m still absorbing all the twists and betrayals and cruelties that Devon and Chiamaka went through. Easy 5 stars 😩👌🏻 This is so darkly compelling and exceptionally well written.

I really really don’t want to give too much away, because I think the less you know about the plot, the harder the twists hit. So!! Just know it’s about two Black teens in an elite rich school (everyone else is white) and how they are just striving for the top of their class, to be something someday and live their dreams, when they get targeted by an anonymous bully who sends vicious text messages to destroy them. They have to figure out who it is, but in the meantime they’re being emotionally manipulated and destroyed.

“I’m tired of having faith things will work out, only for any hope I have to be violently crushed.”

I loved Devon instantly 😭 He’s a soft musician, gay but mostly closeted because he lives in a tough neighbourhood, and he also is scared his mum won’t accept him. His mother is working like 3 jobs and they’re poor, so Devon is under so much pressure to make this expensive school worth it. He is just SO NICE and his ptsd is so obvious from just existing in this world carved cruelly to hate Black kids, Black boys even more so. Also there’s a scene about his dad that fully made me tear up… Just. Devon goes through a lot.

Then there’s Chiamaka, who is like the mean girl badass popular top of the class prefect, who plays the mind games with the white kids and is untouchable. She’s going to be a doctor. She’s going to THRIVE, no matter what she has to go through. I didn’t like her at first because she treats even Devon like a dirty rug to walk over, but by the end I loved her fiercely and I think she’s exceptionally well written. Her arc is powerful, and so is her personality and character the whole way through. She is unapologetic about wanting to be the best– and WHY NOT. You go Chiamaka.

I stop myself from apologizing-because what would I even be sorry for? Existing too loud?

And omg the TWISTS. The whole book balanced perfectly between being chilling and disturbing, but also realistic in everything that goes down. It’s horrible what they go through, but I would not be surprised if it was real. Truly. This world sucks. By halfway through I knew there was no pausing. I needed to finish it in a day. I needed ANSWERS. It’s also a stark critique of “dark academia”, and the white supremacy and elitism that twists through our society.

Bold, fast-paced, and sobering in a chilling way; this is a thriller not to be missed.

Going to say shout out to my library for buying this one on my request 😂

Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.
When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.
Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.
As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?
With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia 

 

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating – Another Amazing Read from Adiba Jaigirdar!

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Another absolutely excellent read from Adiba Jaigirdar!!

I loved The Henna Wars, and Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating was equally good. 🥺💛 It’s about two Bengali queer teens fake-dating amongst pressure from school and parents, add in some complicated family dynamics, plus your-existence-annoys-me to I’d-do-anything-for-you romance dynamics and you have this most amazing book.

It is so so easy to love both the characters. It’s narrated by both Hani and Ishu, and the stakes are quiet but super important to them, so every failure or lovely moment the girls go through hits so hard while you’re reading.

Meet Hani • She’s the youngest daughter of super loving and accepting parents. She’s bisexual and out to her family. But when she comes out to her white friends…they are snarky and toxic about it. Basically her friends are awful but she’s known them forever and can’t accept the reality that: they suck. It HURT watching her accept and internalise how they treat her. (Also utterly painful flashbacks and teeth-clenching grimacing to my teen friendships too lolol ouch.) Basically Hani ends up needing to fake-date Ishu to PROVE to her friends she is bisexual. Hani is really sweet and lovely and friendly, but zero skills in the confrontation department.

Meet Ishu • She is a study machine, super intense and serious and focused. (Hobbies? No. Ishu studies.) She’s not out to her parents and while they’re loving and caring, they’re set in their ways and have some toxic tendencies. Like when her older sister Nik announces she’s getting married and dropping out of uni, her parents are furious and cannot forgive this. So Ishu suddenly decides to be the Good Child that everyone respects for once. She wants to be Head Girl at school and please her parents’ high expectations since Nik is failing them. But to achieve THAT Ishu needs Hani’s smiles and connections and sociability to help her get popular enough for their classmates to vote for her.

Let the fake dating commence.

Okay these two are AWKWARD together. Their relationship is absolutely slow burn, with the most tentative friendship first before those inevitable feelings catch. But seriously these two couldn’t be more different. I loved the contrast of their personalities and by the end you are like 😩🙌🏻 just kiss.

Things I Also Enjoyed

  • the way it unpacked that parents aren’t usually “good or evil”. Ishu’s parents were caught somewhere in that place of love for their daughters, but also trapped in the toxicity of unaccepting queerness or mental health struggles. I just thought it was really well written.
  • I loved the dynamics between Ishu and Nik’s sister-relationship and their sad but sweet arc 😩 Adiba Jaigirdar writes the BEST sister duos. Complex and messy and relatable.
  • the writing is engaging and easy to devour
  • book made me utterly hungry and I protest
  • toxic friendship dealt with nuance amongst the agony
  • the stakes of the finale really made me ache for Ishu 🥺 and it calls out micro-aggressions and white feminism
  • the audiobook is so so good (I really loved the Irish narrators) and made reading all the more enjoyable.

Overall a thoroughly perfect read of finding a way to live for yourself, call out toxicity, and learn to be vulnerable and loyal to the right people. With amazing character arcs and relationships, this story is so full of heart.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review-copy! It’s out August 2021.

Everyone likes Humaira “Hani” Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita “Ishu” Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.
Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.

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Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn – South African Contemporary Not To Be Missed!

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Talk about an absolutely amazing read! 😍

Sugar Town Queens is the kind of story that’s easy to fall in love with and hard to put down. It has such complex and fiercely loveable characters — which is what I crave in a good book. And if you’re looking for complicated messy family drama, with ugly secrets hidden, and regrets and love and tragic backstory all tumbling out: THIS is the book for you.

The story follows Amandla who lives in a makeshift town/slum called Sugar Town in South Africa. Her mother has a mental illness that Amandla has to manage, even though she’s only 15 and just trying to survive school and get by in their tiny one-room home. Also her mother is white and Amandla is brown (her Black father a mystery in her life) and Amandla is often ostracized at school for not being “Black enough” OR “white enough”. But life gets a whole lot more complicated when Amandla learns the truth: her mother is the disinherited daughter of an extremely rich and powerful white family, the Bollards. Amandla’s grandma wants to reconnect, but her grandfather is a huge bigot, and there are SO many dark family skeletons in the closet. You just !! Are not ready for what Amandla discovers. I ached for what she goes through; she has so many mixed feelings and hopes and hurt to absorb.

I adored Amandla. 😩🙌🏻 She has such a fantastic voice that leaps off the page, and she’s not ashamed of who she is or where she comes from, while also wanting to know the family secrets and dreaming of a better life for her and her mum. I also loved her friends, especially Lil Bit, who has a great sense of humour, and is just such a loyal and stubborn best friend. They also end up making friends with Sugar Town’s resident “princess”, named Goodness, who they used to think was stuck up but actually she’s amazing. There is also a smidge of romance for Amandla AND there’s a side queer romance which I loved!!

The book unpacks so many themes, and discusses poverty vs gross wealth with keen precision. There’s community love and pride in Amandla’s neighbourhood, as well as shifty people and danger. I found it really hard to forgive the Bollards though…like, the book handles the themes of second chances well while also refusing to let hate and bigotry get a free pass. And OH there are tense scenes and some massive plot twists.

The writing is engaging and captivating, and you will fall in love with Amandla’s voice as you tumble into this story of family drama, trauma, and redemption. I’m so so glad I got to read this one!

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review-copy! It’s out August 2021.

Fifteen-year-old Amandla’s mother has always been strange. For starters, she’s a white woman living in Sugar Town, one of South Africa’s infamous shanty towns. She won’t tell anyone, not even Amandla, about her past. And she has visions, including ones that promise the return of Amandla’s father as if he were a prince in a fairytale, but their hardscrabble life is no fairytale.
Amandla knows her father is long gone – since before Amandla was born – and she’s pretty sure he’s not a prince. He’s just another mystery and missing piece of her mother’s past, and one of the many reasons people in Sugar Town give them strange looks – that and the fact that Amandla is black and her mother is not.
Lately, her mother has been acting even more strangely, so when Amandla finds a mysterious address at the bottom of her mother’s purse along with a large amount of cash, she decides it’s finally time to get answers about her mother’s life. With her best friends by her side, Amandla is ready to take on the devil himself, and as she confronts devastating family secrets and pain that has lasted a generation, taking on the devil is exactly what she must do.

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The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk – An Exquisite Story of Ballet, Agony & Healing

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This book was just so excellent.

I was keen to start it because of the disability rep and ballerinas, but it only took a few chapters before I knew this would be a book to remember. The characters! The themes! The writing! I loved it all?!? It unpacked a lot of really difficult and messy themes, too, and gave us conversations that are really important and that I don’t see enough of in YA. Things like jealousy, losing your purpose in life, knowing when to stand up for yourself, making horrible friendship mistakes and yet finding a way forward. It had a huge theme of forgiveness. Not just forgiving others, but forgiving yourself. And honestly I got emotional in several parts. 🥺💛 You know when even a scene or a line of a book jumps out at you and you feel SEEN? That hit here. As an artist, I just connected a lot to Alina.

First we have to talk about the characters!! I LOVED them so much. Lately I haven’t been connecting to the characters in my recent reads, but I just fell into this book and adored everyone immediately. They’re all dimensional. Complex. Messy and loving and proud and funny and broken and beautiful. After Alina shatters her leg in a fall, she can never go up on pointe again. So her dream of a professional ballet career is over. She’s back to normal high-school and the “real world”. Her grief and rage is so so palpable. Like why her?!? She was so focused on ballet that literally nothing else mattered. Now ballet things trigger her grief, she’s wretchedly jealous of her old ballet friends. She gets angry and isolates herself and I felt for her down to my soul. We feel Alina’s excruciating pain and we wince with her as she hates the world and we melt with happiness as she starts to find friends. You go on such a journey with Alina as she tentatively tries out for the high school musical when she thought she’d never dance again.

I still loved ballet, but it didn’t love me back. All I could do was linger on, like a sad, rejected ghost, hurting people who didn’t deserve it.

And the secondary cast is AMAZING. I loved Jude, the absolute softest Soft Boi, who knits and does musicals and purposefully deconstructs toxic masculinity. Then there’s Ethan, his BFF, who is gay and a photographer and so lovely. And Margot!! Who is terrifying and sharp and stabby, and she and Alina collide when they most needed each other. And Colleen, Alina’s ex-BFF from ballet school, who she can’t bear to talk to but Colleen doesn’t give up on Alina 🥺 They were the only two girls of colour in the school too, so they went through a lot together.And I cannot forget Josie! Alina’s younger sister, a modern dancer, and they have this fractious relationship but the arc there is [chef’s kiss] relatable and so well done. Alina and Josie are also biracial Japanese and their parents are from Hawaii.

Friendship-group dynamics that are complex and beautiful but sometimes hurt? We gotcha.

A huge theme of the book is jealousy, and it’s a hard topic to tackle because jealous can make you into a nasty person. But it happens in real life a lot? And actually reading about Alina going through being broken by jealousy and learning to face her feelings was so good. It also talks about racism in ballet, how Alina accepted a lot of it in order not to “rock the boat” or risk being purposefully overlooked for a part. She wanted the top parts so she thought she had to accept a side-dish of racism — which she comes to realise is gross and unacceptable.

I just loved how the book gave us real-life messy issues full of strife and ugliness — and TALKED ABOUT THEM. Unpacked them. Talked about the difference between thinking horrible things and being a horrible person. Life isn’t fixed and tied up into a neat-little-bow in the book either, but it definitely tackled everything fantastically.

I could pretty much go on forever about how much I adored this book! It was so perfectly crafted, with characters who literally danced off the page and writing that swept you up and kept you hooked on every word. A beautiful and emotional story about being broken and being beautiful.

Maybe ballet was like beautiful dynamite. Stunning and dangerous at the same time, so you couldn’t love it simply. You had to figure out how to handle it. How to love the beautiful parts and defuse the dangerous ones.

Thanks Allen & Unwin for the review copy! Published May 2021.

A stunning and unique story about healing that offers a gentle hand to anyone who struggles with perfectionism, competition and an all-or-nothing mindset, as well as those who don’t understand ambition.Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but one terrifying fall shatters her leg – and her dreams of a ballet career along with it. After a summer spent healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and bingeing ballet videos on YouTube), she must trade her preprofessional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the musical. Rehearsals are nothing compared to Alina’s past life at the acclaimed Kira Dobrow Ballet School. But the stage does offer more than she expected – namely her castmate Jude. He’s annoyingly attractive, ridiculously optimistic and, worst of all, Alina just might be falling for him. However, finding a new normal means making peace with her past and acknowledging the racism she faced. Deep down, Alina still yearns for the world of ballet she left behind. But what does it mean to love something beautiful, yet broken? And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else?
Lyrical, romantic and peppered with humour, this debut novel explores the tenuousness of perfectionism, the possibilities of change and the importance of raising your voice.

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Into The Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer – Soft Boys & Monster Tree Girls

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You know the books that just come at the perfect time for you?

This was one for me!! It is such a lovely and perfect mix of whimsical and cozy, but also packed tight with inner darkness and all things monstrous and bloody. I truly love books about monster girls and soft boys 😩👌🏻 and this did it perfectly. It also felt like a fairytale, both in style and in plot. I love love how the story unravelled. It begins with the softness of a brother caring for his baby  sister and baking bread and mapping the stars — against the backdrop of a vicious wood that kills all who enters with the song of tree sirens who hunt souls.

Owen was precious. The ultimate softest of soft boys, and he is 17 and spends his day caring for his 2-year-old wild little sister, baking bread and tending the garden, playing cello and then at night mapping the stars with his father. He gives people chances and he’s vulnerable, but also a little awkward. And it broke me!! when the book!!! decided to harden him up. He actually doesn’t have a whole lot of direction to start, and I think I appreciated that? He was content — and then the world stepped in to ruin his life. (Owen and I both say thanks for that 🤨)

And then there is Seren! She is a tree siren, created by her mother (witch of the wood) to kill people and gather their souls. When she meets Owen (by, you know, nearly killing him) it awakens this craving to connect with her humanity. She hates that she’s been created to be a monster. But she’s powerless against her mother’s ultimate power. I loved the contrast of their purposes in life — but also how, under the layers, they really are similar people.

Their collision is violent and then gentle, it’s tentative, then lovely. It really is a gentle romance and I loved how it blossomed — and also suffered.

Other things I loved:

  • complex villains
  • the contrast of gentle people in absolutely brutal situations
  • it was dark but not written in a gory way? more fairytale style the entire time
  • both Seren and Owen never never quitting 🥺 despite the brutality they face
  • the creepy forest and the darkness of the trees! I LOVED how sentient it became.
  • the ending is to make us 😙👌🏻suffer beautifully

I’m so glad I read this one and it really fit my heart just right.

It’s a slower paced fantasy, caught up in sensory details and lovely writing (a bit repetitious at times was my only drawback). It’s both whimsical and lovely, and packed with heartache and war and bloodshed. It contrasts loveliness and violence in a thoughtful way and the ending was so perfect.

(Side note: Audiobook was amazing too! Loved the narrators.)

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.
When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

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Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters — Haunted Music, Messed Up Families, & Murder Mysteries!

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This is exactly the kind of book I’d been craving!

I’m currently on a creepy-forest-and-low-key-horror reading kick lately, and I had preordered this ages ago (fun story 😂it took like 4 months to arrive despite preordering) so I was like NOW IS THE TIME. I ended up listening to the audiobook and it was so fantastically narrated. Sometimes heavy Southern accents are hard for me (an Australian) to understand, but this worked out! I absolutely sank into the story and it entirely stole my heart.

It’s so deeply about grief. I think the audiobook narrator enhanced this but…my heart broke several times over. Generational grief, suffering, self-torture, and secrets. It’s about a family whose pain runs layers deep, but their avoidance of it just poisons themselves. I kind of love books about dysfunctional families and their secrets, so this captivated me.

Shady Grove’s family falls apart when her step-father is murdered and her brother, Jesse, is jailed for it. She’s not even over her father’s death and his legacy of playing a magic fiddle that can raise ghosts haunts her. She wants the fiddle back. Even more so now, because she needs it to figure out who really killed her step-father so she can get her brother out of jail. She’s always winced at being seen as “white trailer trash” but her family is such a mess. Reclusive aunt. Dead father. Haunted ex-family home. Magic in their bones. Angry brother. A Shadow Man that haunts her sleep. I loved her absolute determination, but also her softness. She is a vulnerable girl keeping herself together through sheer grit. Music owns her soul — but not always in healthy ways.

THINGS I LOVED

  • The music aspect! The haunted fiddle is amazing and creepy and all-consuming. Althooooough…Shady does start a bluegrass band with her friends and I 💀 cannot deal with country music. I will look passed this. 😪
  • Big friend groups! It actually deals with toxic friendships (I do think Sarah was thoroughly toxic to Shady).
  • Shady is bisexual!! She has a crush on Sarah (who is closed off and cold to her) and ends up also crushing on Cedar (who is a soft but smug cowboy and a real sweetheart).
  • JESSEEEEEE. Okay to be absolutely honest, he’s my favourite character. He doesn’t have a lot of page-time, but he is obviously a huge catalyst to the story and the driving force behind Shady’s actions. His backstory BROKE me when it all comes out. He’s angry and stuffed with survivor’s guilt and he’s absolutely thoroughly alone 🥺I am in pieces for Jesse and this kid really deserves a hug. When he broke down crying near the end just….me too, son. (The way Shady was angry at him…no 😭)
  • It was so emotional and it truly made me FEEL that.
  • Loved that it had creepy magic and superstition but it was still rooted in our world. It’s not so much set IN a forest, but there’s a woods that plays a good part.
  • Also loved little toddler Honey 🥺👌🏻

It’s a highly emotional story with a riveting murder mystery and ghosts with sharp teeth and anguished tears. It’s full of grief, but also healing. I totally loved the characters and I wanted nothing more than for Shady to face her past and find a way to face the future.  

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.
Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.
But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.
In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.
Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

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