A powerful ghost story about transformative healing. I could not put it down. Beautiful.
Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour, (List Price: $11.99, Rocky Pond Books, 9780593108994, January 2022)
Reviewed by Abbe Townsend, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
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Clipstone’s Unholy Terrors takes us to a Wuthering Heights-esque setting, wildly beautiful in its ruin, and drops us off with only the honey and ash prose we fell in love with in her Lake’s Edge duology to guard our hearts and souls against the monsters of truth and generational loyalty that howl in the Thousandfold. A beautiful and haunting read for fans of transforming girls and kissable monsters.
Unholy Terrors by Lyndall Clipstone, (List Price: $19.99, Henry Holt and Co., 9781250887733, January 2023)
Reviewed by Candice Conner, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama
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Damsel messed me up beyond all belief, so when I heard about Red Hood, I knew I needed it in my hands immediately. It did not disappoint one bit, and I can’t quite find the words to explain just how it made me feel. It made me cringe, it made me angry, and above all it had me on the tips of my toes the entire time. Arnold has this innate talent to take fairy tales and rip them apart to tell you a new one that you didn’t know you needed, one that actually puts women in a position of power. Men think we want to be queens and princesses when really we just want to be able to protect ourselves and the women that can’t protect themselves. She just gets it.
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold, (List Price: 10.99, Balzer+Bray, 9780062742360, February 2020)
Reviewed by Caitlyn Vanorder, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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“Amo, amo, historias que cuentan del amor. Creo que más que nada, es la emoción detrás de cada palabra, cada personaje, cómo puede inspirar a alguien a sentir amor y dolor, y alegría y reír a carcajadas o llorar. Hay algo tan hermoso en escribir una historia con la que muchas personas pueden relacionarse o apreciar. Quiero ser escritor porque quiero vivir en mi imaginación, y no en ningún tipo de estructura. Escribir me permite acceder al pozo de mi creatividad y a menudo me sorprende.”
― Isabel Ibañez, Entrevista, American Writers Museum
Lo que dicen los libreros de What the River Knows
Sobre Isabel Ibañez
Isabel Ibañez es autora de Together We Burn (Wednesday Books) y Woven in Moonlight (Page Street), finalista del Premio William C. Morris, y figura entre los 100 mejores libros de fantasía de todos los tiempos de la revista Time. Ella es la orgullosa hija de inmigrantes bolivianos y tiene un profundo aprecio por la historia y los viajes. Actualmente vive en Asheville, Carolina del Norte, con su esposo, su adorable perro y una colección seria de libros. Manda tú saludo en las redes sociales en @IsabelWriter09.
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This is one of my favorite books of all time. Following Simon and his friends, Rowell’s fantasy centers their fight against the Insidious Humdrum, an evil that’s sucking magic out of the world and Simon is prophesied to defeat (and they’re trying to finish their last year of magic school at Watford). Featuring a ghost story, a love story, and an epic arc, this book has everything a book should have! Inviting queer characters to the forefront of the fight, Simon Snow discovers himself and his limitations, tackles his worst fears, copes with the trauma that comes with being Chosen, and falls in love, working through the pitfalls of a relationship built in the rubble of a war. His journey is incredibly poignant for anyone who has had to face their nightmare and came away scarred, only to discover that wasn’t the end of it. A wonderful, approachable, and shockingly personal fantasy trilogy that’s completely different from what you’d expect, Carry On stole my heart from the first page, and I hope it makes your heart sing the way it makes mine.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, (List Price: $19.99, Wednesday Books, 9781250806918, July 2021)
Reviewed by Shae Jordan, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
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“I love love love telling stories. I think more than anything, it’s the emotion behind every word, every character, how it can inspire someone to feel love and hurt, and joy and to laugh out loud or cry. There is something so beautiful about writing a story that many people can relate to or cherish. I want to be a writer because I want to live in my imagination, and not in any kind of structure. Writing allows me to access the well of my creativity and it often surprises me.”
― Isabel Ibañez, Interview, American Writers Museum
What booksellers are saying about What the River Knows
About Isabel Ibañez
Isabel Ibañez is the author of Together We Burn (Wednesday Books), and Woven in Moonlight (Page Street), a finalist for the William C. Morris Award, and listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time. She is the proud daughter of Bolivian immigrants and has a profound appreciation for history and traveling. She currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, their adorable dog, and a serious collection of books. Say hi on social media at @IsabelWriter09.
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“I am always very interested in the deconstruction of fairy tales, the relationship between folklore and nationalism, and the role of stories in shaping identity on both the personal and political level. If The Wolf and the Woodsman is about the pain of being excluded from the narrative, and Juniper & Thorn is about the pain of being forced into a narrative against your will, then A Study in Drowning is about crafting an intricate, epic narrative of your own, in order to protect yourself from the pain of life’s daily, banal cruelties.” ― Ava Reid, Interview, Books Forward
What booksellers are saying about A Study in Drowning
About Ava Reid
Ava Reid was born in Manhattan and raised right across the Hudson River in Hoboken but currently lives in Palo Alto. She has a degree in political science from Barnard College, focusing on religion and ethnonationalism.
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It’s impossible to say enough about this book! This is definitely being added to my top reads of 2020. There’s magic, art heists, ghosts in the house, space pirates, talking dogs, and so, so much more! It’s part Clue, part Sliding Doors, part Knives Out (before Knives Out existed though), and pure genius on Cashore’s part! It has a Choose Your Own Adventure feel to it, with lots of quirk and heart and just overall fabulousness!.
Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, (List Price: 18.99, Little, Kathy Dawson Books, 9780803741492, September 2017)
Reviewed by Kate Towery, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
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“I think the best horror is a combination of the fear of something inside themselves and something external, especially when one of them inherently feeds the other. However, external horror is what speaks the most to me as both a writer and reader. I can’t speak for all marginalized identities, obviously, but external horror for a lot of marginalized identities is terrifying because it’s real. The world is always lurking, waiting to make a horror movie of our lives or the lives of those we love. It doesn’t care about your internality. You’re different, and therefore a target. For me, the best horror acknowledges that, illustrates that, and allows the internality of both the character and the audience to expand from there.” ― Andrew Joseph White, Interview, Scifi Pulse
What booksellers are saying about The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
About Andrew Joseph White
Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back.
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Oh man, I loved everything about this book. I loved that West Africa makes a long overdue appearance in the predominately white realm of YA Fantasy. I loved the characters as well. Young and powerful (though they may not yet know it) teenagers who are charged with the task of bringing magic back into their world and thus saving their people from genocide at the hands of a terrible tyrant. Most of all, I loved the writing. Adeyemi will have you in the palm of her hand gripped by the fast pace and reading long past bedtime. She will have you absolutely dying to read book 2!
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, (List Price: $21.99, Henry Holt and Co., 9781250170972, March 2018)
Reviewed by Gretchen Fitzgerald, M. Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina
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Beautiful coming of age story that follows a teenager in Harlem as she copes with questions around family, religion and relationships through finding herself in poetry.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, (List Price: 15.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780062662811, March 2020)
Reviewed by Melissa Summers, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
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After the death of her father, Kit discovers a grandmother she never knew she had. Invited to visit her grandmother in Rosemont, Kit’s father’s hometown, Kit quickly finds herself entangled in a mystery that her family has had a long involvement in. Eerie and engrossing, Starlings is a rosey-tinged gothic where monsters lurk and secrets can’t stay buried.
Starlings by Amanda Linsmeier, (List Price: 18.99, Delacorte Press, 9780593572337, June 2023)
Reviewed by Charlie Williams, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi
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Dylan and Jonah have a long history of despising each other. Their friends have long insisted that the boys secretly have the hots for each other, though. So Dylan and Jonah agree to fake date for a while, and then they can break up and go about their lives without their friends trying to get them together. Except while they’re ‘dating’, they get to know each other — that Jonah works too much because his sisters are everything to him and he doesn’t want them to be taken away, and that Dylan has a brother he hasn’t even talked to in years because of something that happened in their past. And as they open up to each other, they find that maybe friendship — or more — could actually be there after all. This is a poignant story that is as much about Dylan and Jonah’s separate trials as it is about their romance, which makes it that much more satisfying when things work out for them.
They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody, (List Price: 18.99, Viking Books for Young Readers, 9780593403099, May 2023)
Reviewed by Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina
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“If I had a dollar for every writer who told me of their childhood love for the d’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths…what is it about that book?
Everyone has an illustration that’s stuck with them. For me, it’s the kraken rising up out of the ocean. And for a lot of people it was one of our first exposures to really old stories and a deep, continuous mythology. They’re unapologetically complex, internally referential, and ask a lot of young readers, visually and narratively. When you work hard to enjoy something at a young age, it leaves an impression.” ―Kiyash Monsef, Interview, Horn Book
What booksellers are saying about Once There Was
About Kiyash Monsef
Kiyash Monsef is an Emmy Award–nominated producer and director; a writer of short stories, videos, comic books, and games; and a designer of innovative conversational and voice interface experiences. Once There Was is his first novel.
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I wish I could put this book in a time machine and send it back to my high school youth orchestra friends in the 2000s! I’m so glad that books like this exist for teens to read now. Edward Underhill’s passion for the piano and classical music shines on every page of this book and his trans protagonist Miles who is figuring out who he is and what he stands for as he prepares to enter a big competition will capture your heart. I also loved that this book is set in Wisconsin, a state I don’t know very much about!
Always the Almost by Edward Underhill, (List Price: $18.99, Wednesday Books, 9781250835208, February 2023)
Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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