Tag: black women authored

Wish of the Wicked Glossary & Readalong: Part II: The Present: Chapters 9-31 (spoilers)

A Wish for the Wicked Wishalong

I: The Past~ Chapters 1-8

II. The Present: Chapters 9-31

đŸȘ„Chapters 9 (orphanage)

đŸȘ„Chapters 10-20 (couterie place)

đŸȘ„Chapters 21-31 (in the palace)

I. Place

Manse

Blenheim- third queendom

Thirteenth queendom- unknown, will not denounce magic

Cusata River-raging river

Couteries live in a manse – concentric dining room place setting (like liver pool city hall)

Enchanted forest- where Entente lived

Fallens Wing = where they imprison the Fallen, ten cells with Black Glass doors

I. Characters

Palace

Gerard -guard of prince Mather

Thornton-guard of Mather

Court of genteman-Mathers only friend

Hark- queens right hand since 6 years old, Mather best friend

Sadie- queens lady in waiting

South-guard, assumed to be a fallen by queen, used to live with entente

Couterie

Farrow-main character, couterie to Mather
Tork- couterie to Queen Papillion, Third Queendom Blenheim

Shadows

Jacoby- Torks twin
Holocene- former maid turned shadow to Farrow

Lavendra- former couterie then shadow to Farrow, currently making her own destiny outside couterie

Madame viola- woman over orphanage Farrow ends up in

Madame linea – woman over Couteries and shadows

The Witch finder- used by monarchy to find magic users

I. Events

the burning – entente battle with crown at end of part I

the becoming- couteries and royals seal their bond, feels like wedding night ceremony

the challenge- shadows challenge couterie for their spot with monarchies

I. Terms

Black Gemstones

Wands- used to channel entente magic?

The Ana or Ana- leatherbound book that has everything about palace and chosen royal

Gray glass – hectate see future helped linea

Couterie- companion and lover to a royal

Shadow- replacement if couterie gets sick, dies, or reneges on duty

Fallen-men touched by entente magic during the Burning

I. Info


Shadows undergo surgery to match their couterie

Queen Magrit taking down other queendoms

Queem Magrit wears black glass as outfit

Prince Mather wants to reform kingdom

Some think Mather caused his mother’s insanity because her struggle to produce a female heir then ending up with him

Farrow spent 5 years in orphanage and 5+ year being a couterie

I. Commentary

♚Event: The challenge♚

First (love ❀): It was smart to not make it a choice of love or crown, it shouldn’t be. I can understand either point of view.

Crown is over a bunch of people thus should belong/represent people like a president. The crown choices like who they marry have an effect over an entire kingdom. Is it smart to marry for love looking at how queens & kings have been manipulated by it?

Second (influence 👑): I like neither one of their answers because it sides with the crown which makes sense if you are speaking with intent of working for the crown. It makes me think that Farrows revenge makes her selfish the opposite of what Entente are supposed to be. I do think Lavendras is clever tho.

Third (devotion🍎): Of course, Farrow choice made the most sense.

It is interesting we get to see Queen Magrit and Mathers reactions. Notice the queen is letting Mather have the deciding vote to test him alongside the shadow and couterie.

Love and Care that Queen Magrit is showing to Mather is surprising since usually queens be trying take out their sons & trying to live forever.

I get the sense that the queendom is more for the monarchy than people.

Is there nuance to the queen Margrit because she is up against queendoms that are not for a man being over a thrown or even the main throne (as queen Magrit is taking over thrones to make it so)?

I liked The Challenges they felt very fairy tale-esque.

Michel François Golden Cage
2008

Two cages were found in queen Magrit room:

Cage #1 – empty fancy decorated

Cage #2 -Iolanta aka the Present of Les Soeurs was tortured to find more entente

Present power is hard to quantify because it seems like it overlaps with being able to tell the future.

I like the future talk/present talk from Iolanta it gives foreshadowing.

Isolanta says love is what saves Farrow and Hinter.

Farrow was given a choice by Iolanta – a fork in the road:

A. Stay in palace/Revenge= never find Entente

B. Leave the palace/let go revenge= find Entente

She chose B.

I. Commentary & Questions

Themes in story: monarchy, freedom, choice, fate

đŸȘ„Similarities of Couteries & Entente: The story is aware that couteries and entente are all in service to someone else.

Entente = for betterment of kingdom, all subjects and maybe the world

Couteire = service to the crown.

The children born/chosen to be in either couterie or entente do not get a choice (neither does queendom).

đŸȘ„I feel a way about Entente continuing the horrible aspects of the kingdom =example: helping throne pick couteries and shadows

♚If the crown/kingdom is selfish what then? Is monarchy and someone being over everyone bad?

♚Part I is about the dynamics and setup of Entente while Part II is about the kingdom. This is a commentary on kingdoms, how so many aspects of it is just seen as normal like.

đŸȘ„Is Lavendra and Tork more than they appear?

đŸȘ„Is there a meaning behind Farrow losing her shadow? Being only one with a shadow? Are we going to see Lavendra again?

đŸȘ„Those turned by entente magic during the burning-I want to see more of them.
đŸȘ„Farrow will kill Mather along with the queen?
♚Queen Margit burning innocent human girls-parallels to Salem witch trials which was under a patriarchy

♚Queen Magrit couterie disappeared because they knew too much
đŸȘ„Fate & hectate -she knew this would happen & story still manages keep mystery

đŸȘ„Did the entente who are in hiding escape to the thirteenth kingdom?

♚What is Harkers motivation? To kill the queen?

đŸȘ„Hectate- what type of being is she?

đŸȘ„Is the father in woods daughter, Ella, Cinderella? Or an allusion/illuding to Cinderella?

đŸȘ„♚ Does black glass work against magic?

đŸȘ„Does Tork like Lavendra? Yes.
đŸȘ„Who turn coated the entente? Other magic users, older entente?

I. Predictions

đŸȘ„Bari is probably in thirteenth queendom or the Rooks amassing a following to take revenge for the Burning. They have mentioned both (Rook and thirteenth kingdom) too many times for the characters to not visit in the future. I am excited in general to explore outside of Hinter.

On Creating a glossary- This part covered chapters 9-31, a lot happened. The biggest challenge was organizing everything. If part III is as long as part II there will be a breakdown by chapters or events or something.


Current Recommendations đŸȘ„The Ring & The Crown by Melissa De La Cruz đŸȘ„The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna đŸȘ„Damsel (movie)

Links

Manse image from wikipedia

Black Gemstones from dreamtimes

Michel François – Golden Cage

71: In Search of a Prince

Synopsis

Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha’s Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops the mother of all bombshells–Brielle is a princess in the kingdom of Ọlọrọ IlĂ©, Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, King Tiwa Jimoh Adebayo, is failing.

Distraught by her mother’s betrayal, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ IlĂ© Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before assuming the throne or the crown will be passed to another. Uncertain who to choose from the council’s list of bachelors, she struggles with the decision along with the weight of her new role in a new country. With her world totally shaken, she must take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring.

The Good

💍Faith and having relationship with God as a constant in the story was thought provoking – makes me realize how absent faith & religion is to many stories.

💍Lore of the world

💍Representation of God and Godly vision was interesting.

💍The different conflicts

💍Bachelorette-esque meeting of the romantic options was fun

The Bad

💍The story…

~Could have done more in terms of conflicts?

~Can feel low stakes at times

~Skips interesting events- kings death, wedding, romantic build up (we really do not get to see them bond & the love interest is eh)

~Does not sit with the characters enough – so villain(s) reveal could have been better.

The Meh

💍Does the story work better as a contemporary more than a romance?

Thoughts

💍Faith & romance – interesting reading this with the increase of open door/spicy romances

💍How does religion effect the story? The pace? The stakes? The romance?

💍Did religion/faith step in the way of fully sitting with conflicts? (This is not to put down the presence of faith in the story)

💍Trope of the American coming in fixing Africa with their advanced American ways can be messy

💍Does the story lowkey talk down the kingdom of Ọlọrọ? Is the king a good king if he cannot buy folks bibles?

(cover and synopsis are from goodreads)

my book club won this from Bethany House Publishers

Wish of the Wicked Glossary & Readalong: Part I: The Past~ Chapters 1-8

A Wish for the Wicked Wishalong

I. The Past: Prologue + Chapter 1-8

đŸȘ„Chapters 1-5 (inside Reverie)

đŸȘ„Chapters 6-8 + prologue (inside Hinter palace)

I. Place

Hinter- first and most powerful queendom

Tourlais- ninth queendom, is a desert (Amantha conjured sand from there)
Hiding Place- Entente birthing place & safe house, everything made of magic, glass coffin in middle

Reverie- place that Entente reside

I. Characters

Fates of Les Soeurs

Galatea- Past of Les Soeurs

Iolanta- Present of Les Soeurs

Hectate- Future of Les Soeurs, mother of Farrow

Sisters of Entente
Farrow- main character, 6 or 7 years old

Effie – shapeshifter?

Sistine – power of music that effects mood

Selina – power of nature

Tere- controls weather

Odette- teleportation

Amantha- can teleport
Bari – 7 1/2 years old, powerful beyond years, seemingly going go power crazy
South – male, no powers, possible heir queendom/first male magic user, only guy raised in Entente

Royalty

Queen Meena- predecessor to queen Magrit

Her Roya Highness Queen Magrit- black hearted, lacks empathy and morality, she seems more defense/aggression minded like many monarchies in existence which is always/generally root of their downfall

Prince Mather- first prince born ever to queendoms, son of Queen Magrit

I. Magic

Abilities & Weaknesses

Past of Les Soeurs -see everything about someone

Present of Les Soeurs -feeling all people in present

Future of Les Soeurs -see all possible futures

Weakness of Les Seours- they can misinterpret their visions from too much information they receive and getting lost in gifts (getting lost in past/present/future)

I. Terms


Veil- magic hides Reverie from rest of world
Rookery- rebels don’t support crown p. 70-71 , some rogue magical users

Entente – the enchanted sisterhood that are advisors, confidants, leaders to the queendoms

I. Information

đŸȘ„Queendom = women run world through throne.

đŸȘ„There are Thirteen queendoms

đŸȘ„The thirteenth queendom got into a fight with the Hinter

đŸȘ„Entente and all magic users are outlaws now

đŸȘ„Black glass- strongest metal known to man and Entente, only found in Hinter, behind supreme power of Hinter, reveals the entente true faces (of course going to be used later for war against Entente/magic users), being used on walls of Hinter for war against other 12 queendoms

I. Commentary & Questions

Gender Wars: There is a setup of a gender conversation looking at the disdain for South, first male heir (Mather) existing, and the fact that men cannot sit on the throne. Outside of Entente do male magic users exist?

Fates:

We are the Entente.

We have no fathers or mothers-only sisters and The Three-

We are defenders of destiny.

Our hearts have no function other than to serve.

Our hearts do not beat for ourselves-our hearts beat for the Hinter.

We are the Entente…now and Ever After.

Creed of Entente

đŸȘ„It is interesting looking at the Fate creed because all that – their altruism- is going to be tested. The fates could be rulers of all the queendoms, easily, with the amount of power that they possess. I could see a queen feeling threatened/not liking the amount of power they hold.

đŸȘ„Does entente have specific powers under their fate?

đŸȘ„ Is Bari going to be a villain or divide the fates community? Bari wants a wand that can bend fate itself, yikes.

đŸȘ„Why did Hectate separate Farrow from everyone else? Why her particularly? Looking at prologue quote from Galatea I assume the fates/Entente are going in dark direction that Hectate wanted Farrow to avoid.

đŸȘ„If Farrow spells lasts for a bit that means she is going to be a Fate eventually, right?

đŸȘ„Queen Magrit makes me think of Foundation ruler(s) having the same mans genetics being recycled over and over again causing the fall of the empire. There is a conversation to be had about the flaws of monarchy in general… but is there a flaw in women being the only ones in power? Isn’t there a flaw in men being the only ones in power?

đŸȘ„fate: what is fate when you can see the past, present, and future?

On creating a glossary- a glossary is mean to be created from a place of knowing everything, right? Creating a glossary can be fun it’s something I have wanted to do for a fantasy series for a minute, but it is a responsibility. I think it can feel like you are, for me, you are so on trying to keep up with all moving pieces that you are not sitting in the story. If I continue to do this, I wonder if I will continue to feel this way. I also think about projecting too much onto the story my expectations. coming up with elaborate ideas of what the story is setting up to do or could do while missing what it is/is doing.

đŸȘ„A Black castle could look cute. (insert different Black earth metals articles(s)

đŸȘ„Is South and/or Mather love interests?

đŸȘ„The structure of the story plays with the past, present, and future. We are already shown at the beginning that the queen is going to ban magic users/entente. There is also a lot of foreshadowing through the fates and characters.

đŸȘ„The most interesting thing is going to be everyone place in the future when we time jump to the present.


Current RecommendationsđŸȘ„The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna đŸȘ„ Cinderella Is dead by Kaylnn Bayron

90: I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me & Thoughts (Slight Spoilers Sprinkled Throughout Review?)

Synopsis

From debut author Jamison Shea comes a slow-burn horror that lifts a veil on the institutions that profit on exclusion and the toll of giving everything to a world that will never love you back.

Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an ax to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.

The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom.

But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is—monstrous heart and all. That is, if the god-killer doesn’t catch her first.

The Good

Appreciate Black authors exploring different types of horror & fantasy with a variety in settings.

Bringing up issues to ya audience that it brings up – (look at thoughts section)

The Meh

Mismarketing- Almost all of the reviews I saw mentioned that they think the story is misrepresented in the marketing and I agree.

The Bad

I. Beyond the mismarketing did this succeed at what it was? Did I like it for what it was? I could be wrong about its goal, but it did not go hard like it could have.

It did not go that far into the messed-up system of ballet (as much as it talked about it) or racism or many of the interesting themes. There was something there about ballet being their god & the applause is like worshiping I was waiting to hit the surface.

II. Poorly paced – to point I thought it held back just to make a sequel.

III. Repetitive – we were in a wheel of the same actions happening over and over.

(1) Laure finds out about something – sets up for something to move plot forward.

(2) Next chapter or scene we move past it like nothing really happened. No, I do not mean it happens offscreen it’s like they skip addressing reasonable conflict in the story.

IV. Time skips – so you don’t get to sit in moments, and it skips past interesting things.

V. Ballet felt like window dressing after a while because we were told so much about ballet this or that without us really doing much with it.

VI. Doesn’t sit with people so I felt no connection to them -friends, foes, etc.

VII. No, I do not want to spend pages on pages on this boy instead of…

~ exploring the fantasy of the story

~this entity you made a deal with

~ballet world beyond set piece

~who is killing people

~your family

~etc

Thoughts

I. Mismarketing

What subgenre(s) would you say this story falls under?

Fantasy, paranormal romance (unsure about this), slight bit of horror

II. Racism, validation

A. Spaces not build for Black people

~Ballet is feminine/soft/regal

~feminine = white

~Black women are considered the furthest from feminity /softness/regalness.

At the fundamental level ballet is not built (as many spaces) for Black people so of course there is opposition.

C. Using an outside force to circumnavigate the force of racism.

What is cheating or meritocracy when fundamentally things are built for you not to succeed/flourish? If you need help from the beast, were you good enough in first place? What is good enough when your race is on the judging table (you can’t out excel racism)?

~How desperation for equality/equity/notice/be on same playing field can be exploited.

~Validation & racism vs enjoyment of an activity such as ballet

III. Mini-rant

On the deity/entity: Acheron cannot get worship or seen as amazing entity/god when they got whooped and people killed multiple times. I am supposed to be impressed by them like lol.

Do they (characters) seriously not wonder what the entity they are sacrificing themselves to want? Like no one is going to look into it?

(cover and synopsis are from bookishfirst)

received from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group via bookishfirst

94: Forgive Me Not & Thoughts

Synopsis

All it took was one night and one bad decision for fifteen-year-old Violetta Chen-Samuels’ life to go off the rails. After driving drunk and causing the accident that kills her little sister, Violetta is incarcerated. As a juvenile offender, her fate is in the hands of those she’s wronged—her family. With their forgiveness, she could go home. But without it? Well


Denied their forgiveness, Violetta is now left with two options, neither good—remain in juvenile detention for an uncertain sentence or participate in the Trials, potentially regaining her freedom and what she wants most of all, her family’s love. But the Trials are no easy feat and in the quest to prove her remorse, Violetta is forced to confront not only her family’s pain, but her own—and the question of whether their forgiveness is more important than forgiving herself.

The Good

+Has a lot of discussions that usually do not happen: incarceration, forgiveness, family, grief, addiction, and more.

+Showing the flaws with the system that we have now while also showing the flaws with The Trials (which seems like something someone has/will propose).

+Everyone from family, adults, teens, those incarcerated and etc is given humanity.

+Readers got this specific conversation about judicial system and incarceration that we usually are not able to have.

+Violetta is the one that is incarcerated because we rarely get to see Black girls or girls in general in the juvenile justice system in young adult lit.

+Vincent point of view chapters added to the story.

-it definitely added the viewpoint of family members of those incarcerated

– perspective on addiction

The Bad

The ending did not wrap everything up as well as it could have.

Thoughts

I. Forgive Me Not title inspiration.

A. Play on words Forgive Me Not = Forget Me Not

B. Is it inspired by the single Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen?

II. What happens when Black people make mistakes or do wrong? So much is about wrongful convictions.

III. Punishment

A. Obsession with punishment & jail as only form of punishment.

-Need for eye for an eye punishment & vindictive quality to incarceration and punishment.

-Should forgiveness necessarily be about punishment?

-Is punishment more for victims or perpetrators?

-Can punishment work for victim, person who did crime, and as a preventive measure for others?

-There is such an attachment to shame/shaming in terms of prevention and aftermath of crime.

-Does everything have to be jail or prison or need to involve the state?

-How do you make amends for murder?

IV. Black Young Adult Dystopia & Contemporary Trend

A. Is there a trend of Black people writing contemporary dystopia-esque stories to talk about systems that harm Black and brown people? This is my second book, Promise Boys being the first, that I got a dystopia vibe from.

B. Also, I felt that like Promise Boys adults would benefit from reading this book.

V. Teen Anguish

A. Is anyone hearing the teen anguish coming from many of these stories?

B. Romanticizing teen drug use & teens drug addiction pipeline. Introducing teens to drugs and alcohol is causing them not to learn how to cope with things.

VI. Miscellaneous

Violetta point of view allowed the story to focus on judicial system while I think Vincents would have been more about privilege and racism.

(cover and synopsis from Jennifer N. Baker website)

I won this on bookishfirst from Penguin Teen

99: Promise

Synopsis

Two Black sisters growing up in small-town New England fight to protect their home, their bodies, and their dreams as the Civil Rights Movement sweeps the nation in this “magical, magnificent novel” (Marlon James) from “a startlingly fresh voice” (Jacqueline Woodson).

The people of Salt Point could indeed be fearful about the world beyond themselves; most of them would be born and die without ever having gone more than twenty or thirty miles from houses that were crammed with generations of their families. . . . But something was shifting at the end of summer 1957.

The Kindred sisters–Ezra and Cinthy–have grown up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents, who let them believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbors, the Junketts, the only other Black family in town, whose home is filled with spice-rubbed ribs and ground-shaking hugs. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point, a beautiful Maine village perched high up on coastal bluffs.

But as the girls hit adolescence, their white neighbors, including Ezra’s best friend, Ruby, start to see their maturing bodies and minds in a different way. And as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom, equality, and justice for Black Americans, the white villagers of Salt Point begin to view the Kindreds and the Junketts as threats to their way of life. Amid escalating violence, prejudice, and fear, bold Ezra and watchful Cinthy must reach deep inside the wells of love they’ve built to commit great acts of heroism and grace on the path to survival.

In luminous, richly descriptive writing, Promise celebrates one family’s story of resistance. It’s a book that will break your heart–and then rebuild it with courage, hope, and love.

The Good

I. There is a lot to process from the story.

II. Inclusion of all the different characters and their backgrounds. It would be a good book club book or a story to study.

It made it so that there are different representations of parenthood, trauma, trajectory of lives, mothers, fathers, families (white and Black), Black families, older generation & younger and more.

It is important to emphasize that there is different representations of Black people even though there are two Black families in a majority white neighborhood.

III. Is the message of story the bittersweetness of Black life and ways Black folks survive & thrive? If that is the message it did a good job portraying that.

The Bad

I. I felt a distance in away with the Black characters because it seemed like there was something missing in their story.

II. There is a dissatisfaction I experienced with what the ultimate message(s) (or at least the messages I got) from the story.

The Meh

I think the story tried to show how Black people attempt to counterbalance the darkness of Black life, but it did not resonate emotionally with me.

Thoughts

I. Part of my reaction to this story is reading Cherokee Rose , Your Plantation Prom is Not Okay, and this back-to-back.

II. This is the second time I am seeing Black people be more well off than their white counterparts. So far it is not being explored as much as it could (or as I would like).

III. Are white characters getting more nuance than Black characters? Does it feel like they are allowed more space as characters because they get to step out of the script that is Black stories?

IV. Black story script

A. The constant feeling that Black stories are in funeral/mourning like there is a dark cloud over them.

B. Are messages, depths, and such lost because Black stories are on this script? The Black families keep finding themselves in majority white neighborhoods so that they can react to whiteness and be subjected to racial violence. Are they retracing the same messages because of all these prerequisite set ups?

II. What Stuck out to me

Intergeneration trauma but also what is passed on to deal with the roads of life.

How do you heal from intergenerational trauma? The healing part is what I am interested in now.

I won this from Random House Book Club via goodreads

(cover image and synopsis are from goodreads)

100: The Cherokee Rose

Synopsis

Three women uncover the secrets of a Georgia plantation that embodies the intertwined histories of Indigenous and enslaved Black communities—the fascinating debut novel, inspired by a true story, of the National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of All That She Carried , now featuring a new introduction.

“ The Cherokee Rose is a mic drop—an instant classic. An invitation to listen to the urgent, sweet choruses of past and present.”—HonorĂ©e Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST

Conducting research for her weekly history column, Jinx, a free-spirited Muscogee (Creek) historian, travels to Hold House, a Georgia plantation originally owned by Cherokee chief James Hold, to uncover the mystery of what happened to a tribal member who stayed behind after Indian removal, when Native Americans were forcibly displaced from their ancestral homelands in the nineteenth century.

At Hold House, she meets Ruth, a magazine writer visiting on assignment, and Cheyenne, a Southern Black debutante seeking to purchase the estate. Hovering above them all is the spirit of Mary Ann Battis, the young Indigenous woman who remained in Georgia more than a century earlier. When they discover a diary left on the property that reveals even more about the house’s dark history, the three women’s connections to the place grow deeper. Over a long holiday weekend, Cheyenne is forced to reconsider the property’s rightful ownership, Jinx reexamines assumptions about her tribe’s racial history, and Ruth confronts her own family’s past traumas before surprising herself by falling into a new romance.

Imbued with a nuanced understanding of history, The Cherokee Rose brings the past to life as Jinx, Ruth, and Cheyenne unravel mysteries with powerful consequences for them all.

The Good

I. I appreciate the books and articles put at back of this book I want to read them.
II. Historical fiction portions were my favorite parts of the novel (midkey think that this story would have been improved by being purely historical fiction)
III. It did make me think about plantations, history between Native Americans & Black Americans & complexities, quiet activism, conceptualizing history, and more.

The Bad

I. Characterization lacking

A.  Kept mistaking characters for each other because they do not have a strong voice as people.

B. Characters were mouthpieces for history, and it felt at times the history was random/not interesting/we already know this.

C. They felt like they were plucked out of 90s Black contemporary novels without change to accommodate this story.

II. Writing

A. Personally, felt that the story did not go hard as it could have looking at the premise: Why are we focusing on this? Why is the characterization like this?

I guess I just feel it was a missed opportunity with the story that this is.

B. Writing did not fit the story that was being told.

C. It felt like author was adding stuff as the story was going along instead of it feeling craftily done.

D. It retraced many of what other stories about Black American experiences did.

Thoughts

I. My Personal Recommendation of novels/nonfiction

Darkly by Leila Taylor – nonfiction

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora- historical fiction, adult

Deathless Divide – ya, historical fiction, fantasy/science fiction (did not read Dread Nation but it is not lost on me that I am recommending the second in a series that was critiqued for its portrayal of Native Americans)


II. Makes me want to research plantations, flowers, memory gardens, Vann plantation, all nonfiction Tiya Miles wrote, all books that the author mentioned.


III. Different relations/concepts of legacy with land between different races


IV. Is the message dated or too simple? Does the story improve by a discussion/class setting?


V. What should we do with a plantation? Is it offensive to turn it into a bed & breakfast? Should we destroy them all? Should/can we give them back to descendants of those who were enslaved on the land?


VI. It was published in 2015 but written (if I am not mistaken in 90s/early 2000s) I think that shaped many of things (good and bad) – Does the messages feel done before because this is from 2015 (when this could have been more progressive)? If this was written and published later what would the story look like? What is the reaction between those who read the story in 2015 vs 2023?


VII. How do folks feel about the Christian aspect?


VIII. Quiet Social justice

A. While reading this book I viewed a reading sprint where the two hosts talked about (starting at 1:34:39) Black folks looking back negatively on their ancestors. It made me conceptualize my thoughts alongside the book about how so much social justice by Black Americans was/is quiet out of survival. How much can we judge what our ancestors did when so much of what they did was/is lost to time because of it needing to be a secret?

C. All the quiet histories in a Black family line.


IX. Humanizing history -Need for heroes/villains in history without context to time or what a person was experiencing.

X. Ghosts

A. I really had it in my mind that this story was going to be a legit thriller/horror ghost haunting revenge novel vs historical fiction/contemporary slight ghost story. In my expectations the revenge was going to be towards Native Americans and white people who enslaved the Black folks which would bring discourse towards relations between these groups.

B. Ghost stories: Lovecraft Country, The Cherokee Rose, etc. Is the ghosts goal revenge? What is their motive? Why are they haunting/existing on the land still? Are they stuck? what is the authorial intent with the ghosts?

I won this in a giveaway from Random House Book Club via goodreads

102: Entwined Within the Darkness

The Good

+There is a glossary at the end!

+World

+Black main witch main character

+is a good read if you like urban fantasy/paranormal romance

The Meh/The Bad

It has a fast pace which can be positive/negative depending on type of reader that you are.

I would have loved for there to be more transitions and more space for the moments to sit.

Book Blitz Entwined Within the Darkness by Charley Black

This is my stop during the book blitz for Entwined Within the Darkness by Charley Black. When a witch with forgotten memories and a vengeful vampire meet, it will take magical power to bring them together as they embark on a journey to save the ones they love.

This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 22 May till 2 June.

See the tour schedule here: http://www.lolasblogtours.net/book-blitz-entwined-within-the-darkness-by-charley-black  

Entwined Within the Darkness (Within the Darkness #1)

By Charley Black

Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Romance

Age category: Adult

Release Date: 4 September 2022

Blurb:

Patience craves answers. Half a century after appearing on the steps of the witch academy, she was still no closer to recovering her lost memories and identity. Tormented nightly by visions of red eyes and burdened by dreams that, although connected, remain unclear. Patience, to distract herself, decides to defy the rules and enter the vampire club, Moarte, an act strictly forbidden for witches. Never expecting her best friend, Michael, to begin his transition into a full demon, Patience, desperate to save him, binds him to his vampiric lover.

To make matters worse, Lucius, the domineering brother of the vampire, whom Michael is now bound to, harbors a deep resentment for witches and especially for Patience. Even so, they must now work together to find a soul gem that will untether the bond before her best friend completely consumes his brother’s soul. As their unlikely alliance takes form and their attraction grows, Lucius’ presence draws out long-forgotten memories deep from within Patience. He may just be the key to unlocking her past—but will she be able to convince him that he needs her far more than he needs her dead? Rediscovering her past and how it binds her to Lucius may just prove to be far more dangerous than either of them imagined.

Links:

– Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62295054-entwined-within-the-darkness  

– Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/entwined-within-the-darkness-book-one-in-the-within-the-darkness-trilogy-by-charley-black  

– Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Entwined-Within-Darkness-Book-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BD577QKC  

About the Author:

Charley Black is an up-and-coming writer and author who has been creating stories since she was twelve years old. Her early short stories dabbled in different genres, but her passion for romance novels — paranormal romance in particular — always shone through. Charley currently resides in Rhode Island, with her family and works at a local university. Debuting in September, Entwined will be the first of three novels set in the Within the Darkness universe.

Author links:

– Website: https://www.charleyblack.com/  

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcharleyblack  

– Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCharleyB  

– Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22777464.Charley_Black  

– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorcharleyblack/  

– Newsletter: https://mybookcave.com/direct/entwined-within-the-darkness/  

Giveaway

There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of Entwined Within the Darkness. Three winners will each win a signed copy of Entwined Within the Darkness.

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

< So the rafflecopter would not display but if you click on either of the links it comes up>

a Rafflecopter giveaway

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1000e4f1423/

112: On Rotation

Synopsis

For fans of Grey’s Anatomy and Seven Days in June, this dazzling debut novel by Shirlene Obuobi explores that time in your life when you must decide what you want, how to get it, & who you are, all while navigating love, friendship, and the realization that the path you’re traveling is going to be a bumpy ride.

Ghanaian-American Angela Appiah has checked off all the boxes for the “Perfect Immigrant Daughter.”

– Enroll in an elite medical school
– Snag a suitable lawyer/doctor/engineer boyfriend
– Surround self with a gaggle of successful and/or loyal friends

But then it quickly all falls apart: her boyfriend dumps her, she bombs the most important exam of her medical career, and her best friend pulls away. And her parents, whose approval seems to hinge on how closely she follows the path they chose, are a lot less proud of their daughter. It’s a quarter life crisis of epic proportions.

Angie, who has always faced her problems by working “twice as hard to get half as far,” is at a loss. Suddenly, she begins to question everything: her career choice, her friendships, even why she’s attracted to men who don’t love her as much as she loves them.

And just when things couldn’t get more complicated, enter Ricky Gutierrez— brilliant, thoughtful, sexy, and most importantly, seems to see Angie for who she is instead of what she can represent.

Unfortunately, he’s also got “wasteman” practically tattooed across his forehead, and Angie’s done chasing mirages of men. Or so she thinks. For someone who’s always been in control, Angie realizes that there’s one thing she can’t plan on: matters of her heart.

The Good

+A representation of Ghanian-American suburban family

+Story is approachable.

+A representation of the divide between Black Americans and Africans (in this case Ghanaians) can see things (it did not go deep into it because that is not one of the main issues the story is dealing with)

~ specifically the divide that can come with Black Americans history with the medical community/field

+It gave what people say is a realistic romance because it had both main characters have issues that make sense to who the characters are.

The Meh/The Bad

Vibes

A. Contemporary Romance hybrid- It feels in vibe more realistic contemporary than romance, but it did not give itself fully to realistic contemporary elements either.

B. Slice of life- So we would go from situation to situation/get into situations without buildup or enough attention/resolution. The story really could have had a resolution to issues in relationship with the main characters, but it picked up issues —-> dropped them —> then in final portion wrapped things up quickly.

-It gave a bit of a slice of life vibe because of its going from one situation to another.

I won this in a giveaway from William Morrow on goodreads

131: How to Succeed In Witchcraft

Synopsis

Magically brilliant, academically perfect, chronically overcommitted—

Shay Johnson has all the makings of a successful witch. As a junior at T.K. Anderson Magical Magnet School, she’s determined to win the Brockton Scholarship—her ticket into the university of her dreams. Her competition? Ana freaking Álvarez. The key to victory? Impressing Mr. B, drama teacher and head of the scholarship committee.

When Mr. B asks Shay to star in this year’s aggressively inclusive musical, she warily agrees, even though she’ll have to put up with Ana playing the other lead. But in rehearsals, Shay realizes Ana is . . . not the despicable witch she’d thought. Perhaps she could be a friend—or more. And Shay could use someone in her corner once she becomes the target of Mr. B’s unwanted attention. When Shay learns she’s not the first witch to experience his inappropriate behavior, she must decide if she’ll come forward. But how can she speak out when her future’s on the line?

The Good

I. There are a lot of lessons that I think were important for young adults to take in- one of those being not to go against your instincts.

II. It is a fantasy world with interesting magic happening in background.

III. The grooming plot line gave space to a bit of interesting discussion:

i. power imbalance in teacher & student relationships (the part when he started picking on Shay)

ii. that Mr. B could have problems but still be a predator

iii. Is it right for someone who was preyed on to have everything taken away and their achievements seen as without merit?

iiii. There is a narrative pushed that as a young adult you must handle everything yourself, so I like that they went against that and showed Shay parents being active.

The Bad

I. The Issues

Does it interject real life stuff inorganically?

Do I feel the political social economical aspect of the story is done well?

Does it feel like it focuses on wrong things or at least the least interesting threads? It felt like the story dealt with low hanging fruit in terms of discussion/its focus.

Does it feel like magic is tacked on and the story is more contemporary than fantasy?

I do not think it handled the contemporary topics well enough.

II. The ending?

The Meh

Grooming plot

Thoughts

I. Contemporary+Fantasy

A. Fantasy

There is a difference between a dark and light fantasy contemporary story where the “issues” speak louder than the fantasy.

Light = low on fantasy

B. Why fantasy?

Why did this need to be fantasy? Why do stories that are heavily #messages need to be fantasy? Why in a space that you can create any world, talk any topic, pick this one? It makes me (cynically) think there is a push to turn stories that are originally not fantasy to fantasy so to sell books. So, we end up getting barely fantasy or tacked on fantasy.

C. Centering whiteness

Why do so many current (Black) fantasies center whiteness? Does it feel like folks are creating their identity as a Black person based on whiteness? Is publishing somehow moving forward with more representation but still centering whiteness?

IV. University/college

A. Dispelling

Definitely want to go against the narrative that university or college is your only option in life.

Also, if you can’t/don’t go your life is not over and you are not a failure. All this messaging about going to right the school and such is why so much abuse is able to thrive.

It makes it like university or having a high paying job solves everything.

B. Parents

Parents: says you are pushing yourself too hard to child

Parents: pushes child to go to elite school which equals child having to push themselves hard

V. Threads Way More Interesting Than grooming

A. The stay awake potion/Shay overworking herself plot.

B. Ethics of Acting

Is it wrong for Shay (who is not good at dancing or acting) to get the part over someone else who can act and dance?

If Shay was picked because Mr. B assumed she was Latina: Is it right for people who are not of a certain race/ethnicity to take an acting gig giving off the impression they are of that race/ethnicity?

C. Power imbalance in teacher/student relationships- it does not even have to be sexual at all.

D. The dynamics of being a non-white person who can pass or people seeing you as another race than what you are

E. overachiever low social economic status+non-white person doing things to prove something vs enjoying them.

F. Pitfalls of scholarship, grants, etc vs structural change around/in college?

G. Magic is not the great equalizer and can create worse problems

Why is the messages just rehash of what is discussed all the time? I wonder if there is so much focus on certain topics because they are easy meaning everyone has an agreed upon wrong and right answer?

VI. Story questions/comments

Does Shay and Ana have chemistry?

Is magic basically a replacement for industrial revolution technology?

Is the cover false advertising? What would be a better cover to represent the story?

Instead of everyone running their magical and physical energy could they have not just invested in electrical technology like those in prop departments use?

Pilar you are an adult being shown red flag…so she gonna ignore it?

Having a character sit back and constantly not say anything but judging everyone is …lame?

I won this from Penguin Teen via bookishfirst