Holly Black - The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3)

Holly Black - The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) 

5⭐

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

Pages: 310

Format:  Paperback 

Publisher:  Hot Key Books 

Date Published: 19th November 2019 

 Big thanks to Hot Key Books for the copy of this book and TandemCollectiveUK for having me on their #TheFolkOfTheAir #TandemReadalong on Instagram. 

Book Blurb: 

After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.

When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.

When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.

My Review: 

I was so excited to read this book because The Wicked King ended with such a big cliffhanger. Honestly, this book didn’t disappoint. Although it was not as good as The Wicked King it was still pretty amazing. It read so easily and it was so hard to put it down.

In this book, we follow Jude who is in exile in the human world. She is angry at Cardan for betraying her and tries to find as much information as she can on what is going on in Faerie. Soon however she is visited by her sister Taryn, who is in so much trouble that she needs Jude to go back to Faerie and pretend to be her in front of the Faerie Court. Jude agrees and comes back to Faerie pretending to be Taryn. For Jude, it looks like Faerie is heading to war, with Madoc making alliances with different courts and wanting to challenge Cardan for the throne. Jude also finds out that Cardan went searching for her in the human world. So now she is now conflicted about whether she should help Cardan or step to Madoc’s side. Will her growing love for Cardan is stronger than her desire for power?

My favourite character is without a doubt Jude. She grew so much during the whole series and she is not only a badass but also fierce, loving, caring and true to herself. She fights and stands up for herself no matter what. Jude is such an inspirational character.

Throughout the books, Cardan started to grow on me. I think his character developed significantly through the series. Also, we got to know quite a lot of information about his horrible upbringing and why he was so cruel at first to everyone and especially to Jude. Also, it was nice to see him falling for Jude and Jude helping him to become the better version of himself.

However, that one character that I couldn’t love or even like throughout these books was Taryn. Honestly, she is just the worst. She not only betrays Jude numerous times but comes back begin for Jude to come back to Faerie and pretend to be Taryn, only because she is in trouble. I can’t believe she did that after all those times betraying Jude! That was so bad! The worst character in this series by far!

Special mention for underrated characters who were amazing during this series and especially during this book was Grima Mog, The Bomb and The Roach. They all have been there for Jude when she needed them the most. Wish they had more time in these books or even get their own sequel/novella.

I hoped that there was going to be more romance in this series. I mean there was some but I am a sucker for romance so I needed more of it. Also, the ending was quite abrupt. I really wanted more of a closure for Cardan and Jude, as well as Heather and Vivi, Taryn and Oak. I am hoping for a novella on Taryn and then a novella on Vivi and Heather to tie their stories and give them the ending they deserve.

Overall: Loved this series, especially because it made me get back into reading fantasy books. I haven’t read a fantasy series in a while but after The Folk of the Air, I want to read more. I am also looking forward to reading The Stolen Heir when it comes out in January 2022, as I am not emotionally ready to leave all these characters behind just yet. Honestly, a series that is worth reading and having on your bookshelf!

About the Author:

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

https://blackholly.com/

Holly Black - The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2)

Holly Black - The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) 

5⭐

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction 

Pages: 322

Format: Paperback 

Publisher:  Hot Key Books 

Date Published: 22nd August 2019 

 

Big thanks to Hot Key Books for the copy of this book and TandemCollectiveUK for having me on their #TheFolkOfTheAir #TandemReadalong on Instagram. 

Book Blurb: 

The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

My Review: 

I enjoyed The Cruel Prince but The Wicked King was just on another level. I loved it so much…Everything…The characters and how they all grew so much throughout the series, the drama, the tension, the suspense, the secret love, the power, and the betrayal….This book has it all and OMG it was that good!

This second book follows where the first left off. Cardan is now a King, whilst  Jude is ruling Elfhame in secret as Cardan's right hand and Oak is safe with Vivi in the human world. However, of course, it can’t stay like this for a long time in Faerie…There’s always someone that wants to steal the crown and the power and Jude needs to think of ways to keep hold of her newfound fame and power. If only that was easy when the Queen of Undersea joins forces with Balekin to win back the crown. Also, some people close to Jude easily betray her again to support the Queen of Undersea. So, Jude has to be extra careful, whilst also planning how she can stay in power for as long as she can.

I really liked Jude in this book. We got to see her as a very strong and determined person, who also knows how to lead, plan and manoeuvre politically. She is a natural leader. However, in this book we also see some of her weaknesses, her growing feelings towards Cardan, her missing her sister and Madoc, who she does consider a family. At points, she was struggling to hold onto the power and at points, she questioned if it was really what she wants. It was so interesting to see those different sides of Jude.

This book had a perfect balance of tension, suspense, drama and action, which not only kept me on my toes but also made me develop love-hate relationships with most of the characters, including Cardan. Oh, and the book finished on such a cliffhanger that was so well played.

Cardan also grew on me as a character. Now we got to know his past and upbringing, and it is easy to see why he was so cruel to people, especially to Jude. Also, I liked how he tries to make amends with people that he hurt and also become a better version of himself. However, I do feel that Jude is helping him to become better, like some kind of good influence on him.

There was a bit more romance in this book too, which I was so excited for…So I am hoping that the last book in the trilogy will have a lot of love and romance.

Overall: Such a great book, with amazing characters, with so much tension, suspense, action and drama. Writing is also superb. The complex but beautiful Faerie world that Holly Black created is just brilliant. Can’t wait to read the third instalment and find out what happens to Jude. 

About the Author:

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

https://blackholly.com/

Holly Black - The Lost Sisters (The Folk of the Air #1.5)

Holly Black - The Lost Sisters (The Folk of the Air #1.5) 

4⭐

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction 

Pages: 49

Format: Kindle Edition 

Publisher:  Hot Key Books 

Date Published: 2nd October 2018 

 

Book Blurb: 

Sometimes the difference between a love story and a horror story is where the ending comes

While Jude fought for power in the Court of Elfhame against the cruel Prince Cardan, her sister Taryn began to fall in love with the trickster, Locke.

Half-apology and half-explanation, it turns out that Taryn has some secrets of her own to reveal.

The Lost Sisters is a companion e-novella to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince, by master writer Holly Black.

My Review: 

I very much enjoyed this short The Folk of The Air series novella written in an apology letter style. Taryn writes this letter to Jude as an apology for betraying Jude and as an explanation of her relationship and love story with Locke. The novella also presents the most important events and twists that happened during The Cruel Prince in Taryn’s POV. It also in a way offers some sort of justification for why Taryn did things that subsequently betrayed Jude, as well as gets a glimpse into why she made certain and sometimes questionable choices for herself.

I enjoyed the writing of this novella. It was so beautifully written but this novella also made me dislike Taryn even more. Yes, I understand some of her actions and reasons why she did what she did, especially to Jude but most of her reasoning was so weak. If she felt like this, then instead she could have just talked to Jude and explained the situation honestly, instead of going behind Jude’s back. Taryn betrayed her sister so easily and it made me so sad and frustrated at her. Jude and she would have been so powerful if they have stuck together. Plus, Jude always stood up for Taryn no matter what. I kind of felt that Taryn is jealous of Jude being better and bolder when it comes to trying to belong at Faerie. Due to this jealousy, she decides to betray her and because of that, she chose Locke instead of her sister.

However, I did like the fact that this novella gave me a chance to get to know Taryn’s personality, thoughts, and intentions in more depth and see the Faerie world from her POV, something that was missing from The Cruel Prince. Taryn similarly to Jude is trying to find a way to belong in Faerie. She is eager to be loved and to belong, even if the person who can give her all that is as wicked as Locke. Unlike Jude, Taryn thinks that the only way to belong in Faerie is to make Faerie fall in love with her, and to do that she needs to marry someone powerful like Locke.

What was really missing for me from this novella is more details about how Taryn and Locke fell in love, especially since it is Taryn's POV on what happens in The Cruel Prince. I felt that not exploring their relationship in more depth in this novella was a missed opportunity.

Overall: This novella gives a good insight into Taryn as a character. It also sets the reader perfectly for The Wicked King. I really recommend this little novella if you want to know more about the twins and more about the reasons why Taryn betrayed her sister.

 

About the Author:

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

https://blackholly.com/

Holly Black - The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)

Holly Black - The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) 

4⭐

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction 

Pages: 370

Format: Paperback 

Publisher:  Hot Key Books 

Date Published: 2nd January 2018

 

Big thanks to Hot Key Books for the copy of this book and TandemCollectiveUK for having me on their #TheFolkOfTheAir #TandemReadalong on Instagram. 

Book Blurb: 

Of course, I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. 

My Review: 

This is my first YA fantasy book series in like 4+ years and honestly, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I am going to. The Cruel Prince definitely put me in the mood for finding my old YA fantasy series and putting them on my already quite big TBR shelf. Also, it was my first Holly Black book. So yes, I am late to the party BUT better late than never!

This book has it all from drama to gruesome moments, from lies to bloody deaths, from hate to hints of potential romance and love…This story basically ticks most, if not all the boxes for YA fantasy. Although, I did wish that there was more romance but even without it, the tension between Jude and Cardan as well as Jude and Locke were enough to satisfy my needs.

The story follows Jude, who as a seven-year-old sees both of her parents brutally murdered by Faerie general Madoc. Then she and her twin sister Taryn together with her older sister Vivi are taken against their will to Faerie, where fast forward ten years all three of them live with Madoc and his wife. Madoc raised them as his own children amongst the fey even though Taryn and Jude are both humans. Whilst her twin Taryn is settling into the Faerie world quite well, for Jude this is not the case. She battles between hate for them and love for them. She wants to belong to their world because that is the only place she knows and can call home but at the same time, she knows how cruel they are. On top of that she and Prince Cardan, one of the Elfhame princes hate each other and Cardan tortures Jude as much as he can in school and outside. To survive in the Faerie world Jude, need to become powerful, and just as cruel and to do that she will have to lie, deceive and hate…

I enjoyed Holly Black’s writing and how perfectly she built such a complex world of Faeries. Also, from the very first page, I was hooked by the never-ending drama, action, lies and tension, which all kept me wanting to read more and more. I also really liked that the characters in this book aren’t labelled just as bad or good, but instead it is portrayed that each character is capable of being both good and bad depending on the situation.

In terms of the plot, I always thought, especially from Bookstagram that there will be a huge romance story in this book between Cardan and Jude and to my disappointment, there wasn’t a love story at all. Yes, there was some tension between those two characters but I wouldn’t call it a full fairytale story. For me this book was more about family drama, power, revenge, coming of age and finding a place to belong as well as personal conflict and personal acceptance.

Overall: I enjoyed this book and the world of Faeries and can’t wait to read the second book. I loved the intensity, drama, action and tension in this book, as well as the variety of characters who one minute you love and the next you hate. Also, in this book, you don’t know what might happen in the next chapter so it is one of those that you don’t want to put away but just want to read it all in one sitting. It was definitely a perfect book to get myself back into YA fantasy books. 

About the Author:

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty fantasy novels for kids and teens. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.

https://blackholly.com/

Matt Haig - How To Stop Time

Matt Haig - How To Stop Time 

4⭐

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Pages: 345

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Canongate 

Date Published: 6th July 2017 

Huge thank you to Canongate for sending me a copy of this book and for inviting me to be a part of #CanongateReadalong on Instagram

Book Blurb: 

A love story across the ages – and for the ages – about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live

"The first rule is that you don't fall in love,' he said... 'There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love. If you stick to this you will just about be okay.'"

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history – performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

So Tom moves back to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher – the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first-hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him. But the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behaviour of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

My Review: 

How to Stop Time has a very interesting premise and explores the meaning of life through someone who ages but doesn’t age as quickly as an average person. Very enjoyable writing and narrative, especially the alternating chapters that explore the main characters' lives throughout the last 400 years and now. Very original and interesting book!

The story follows Tom, who has this very rare condition that makes him age at a much slower rate than a normal person would age. Although he only looks like a forty-year-old, in reality, he is over 400 years old. Being alive since the late 1500s means that he needs to be constantly on the move, changing his identity. This also means that he can’t fall in love, connect with people, stay long in one place, or have a home or a family. Even though over the years he met famous people, travelled all over the world, saw the world change, and had loads of amazing adventures, he just wants to stop running and wants to have a quiet life. However, the secret society, Albatross Society, which looks after people like Tom is not convinced that Tom should have a simple human life but allows him to have a go for eight years. That’s when Tom goes back to London and starts working as a history teacher in one of the secondary schools. There he meets a beautiful French teacher who reminds him of the love of his life, but also recaps his memory that somewhere out there is his daughter that needs to be found and who Tom hasn’t seen for more than 300 years…

I loved the writing of this book, especially the beautiful inner monologues Tom has about life and what it means to him. He also explores the pros and cons of living for so long, including loss, grief, adventures, chance to see the change and history playing out in front of him. I liked how Tom compared places and societies together from different historical periods, highlighting similarities and differences in personalities, beliefs, traditions and cultures. The book itself explores the best and worst of life and displays to us that we should live for this moment and enjoy ourselves as much as we can because the world and we are constantly changing and that the time never stops no matter what.

This book was quite a slow burner and although I enjoyed this story, I hoped for more action and romance. Especially I hoped for more romance as the first rule of Tom’s was not to fall in love and this premise would have made a great forbidden love story together with things that are already explored in this book. I also think some of the chapters were unnecessary, especially one where Tom meets F Scott Fitzgerald or goes on a boat to Tahiti…These chapters didn’t add much to the overall story of this book.

Overall: It was my first Matt Haig book and I really enjoyed reading it. It was a book with a very unique and interesting concept, exploring the purpose of life from a very different perspective. The writing also is very good. My only downside of this book was the fact that there was an amazing opportunity and premise for exploring a forbidden romance but it was not taken. However, it is a very unique book and I would be definitely interested in reading other Matt Haig books to see whether I would enjoy those, too. 

About the Author:

Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include  the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library.He has sold over three million books worldwide.

http://www.matthaig.com/

Tahmima Anam - The Startup Wife

Tahmima Anam - The Startup Wife    

4 ⭐

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Science, Technology, Feminism 

Pages: 296

Format: Paperback  

Publisher: Canongate Books

Date Published: 3rd June 2021

Massive thanks to Canongate Books for a copy of the book and for the invitation to join Canongate's June 2022 Readalong! 

Book Blurb: 

A quirky, funny, deeply intelligent story of love, big dreams, starting up and feminist geekdom

Halfway through her PhD and already dreaming of running her own lab, computer scientist Asha has her future all mapped out. Then a chance meeting and whirlwind romance with her old high-school crush, Cyrus, changes everything.

Dreaming big, together with their friend Jules they come up with a revolutionary idea: to build a social networking app that could bring meaning to millions of lives. While Asha creates an ingenious algorithm, Cyrus' charismatic appeal throws him into the spotlight.

When the app explodes into the next big thing, Asha should be happy, shouldn't she? But why does she feel invisible in the boardroom of her own company? Why are decisions being made without her? Gripping, witty and razor-sharp, The Startup Wife is a blistering novel about big ambitions, speaking out and standing up for what you believe in.

My Review: 

The book begins with Asha Ray who meets her high school crush Cyrus Jones later in life whilst completing her PhD. They fall in love instantly and get married within a couple of months of reuniting. Whilst they start their married life, Asha notices that Cyrus has this aura, this book of knowledge about religions and can bring a sense of community and belonging to anyone he speaks to. People from different kinds of life love him and accept him. This gives her an idea to use the knowledge that Cyrus has and create a social media platform where people can build their communities based on what they believe in so they can feel like they belong somewhere. On this social media app, they can request rituals based on different religions and people’s lifestyles, which then connect them to like-minded people all over the world. All with the power of AI and the knowledge that Cyrus poses. That’s how WAI is born. Book then follows both, the creation of WAI and Asha’s relationship with Cyrus, whilst covering how everything starts to crumble after Cyrus wants more and more power and is branded as The Messiah by millions of people.

My favourite part of this book was the power relationship between Cyrus and Asha. She believes that nothing will come in between their love and marriage, because they are soulmates. However, once Cyrus tasted the power and fame, he starts to completely ignore Asha and her input for the platform. He wants to do it his way, thus when Asha stands up to him, as a CEO he just fires her from the board and replaces her. For me, that was so interesting as Asha didn’t see that as a big issue, since she loves Cyrus so much. She then thinks that maybe she was wrong to stand up to him and challenge him, even though she is the brains of the WAI. She is the one who created the platform, she was the one who encouraged Cyrus (who didn’t want to) to become a CEO and she was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. Yet, she is the one who doesn’t get any credit, although is usually right about things.

I also liked how gender and race are explored in this book. How Asha with her idea of WAI didn’t get any funding from big corporations but once Cyrus stepped in as CEO, he straight away got people interested in funding WAI. There are many other examples in the book, where female tech start-ups are less favoured than start-ups created by males.

Some bits of the book was too slow for me, especially how they got the WAI going. I think it was way too long spent on that when Asha’s and Cyrus' relationship could’ve been explored in more depth. I felt that some bits of their relationship was covered too quickly so as well as, so all of the things that happened at the end of this book were so abrupt.

I couldn’t connect with Cyrus' character at all and at times his character just plainly annoyed me, whereas I loved Asha’s character. I have to admit, her character did annoy me a few times but only because she kept putting herself down thinking that because she loves Cyrus, whatever he does is ok. Up until the very end of the book, she does not challenge him. At times it was so hard to read as she is such a smart and intelligent woman who created a platform out of nowhere but doesn’t get any credit at all, whilst her husband waltzes into fame. Asha’s character grew so much over the book, whereas Cyrus’s character became more selfish and egocentric. She became stronger and realised that she is just as worthy as her husband.

Overall: It was a really interesting and great read. It wasn’t my favourite but only because at parts it was too slow for me and also there was so much tech/nerdiness going on instead of character exploration, which is something that I wanted to see more in this book. However, this book is very well written and covers very important topics, such as the power of AI, the power of religion and faith, feminism, race and gender, the power of relationships, etc. I recommend reading it if you are interested in technology, start-ups, gender and race as well as feminism. 

About the Author: 

Tahmima Anam is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, and anthropologist. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Granta Best Young British Novelist, and winner of a Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her work has been published in Granta, The New York Times, and The Guardian. She was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and lives in London, where she is on the board of ROLI, a music technology startup founded by her husband.

https://www.thestartupwife.com/

https://twitter.com/tahmima

Raven Leilani- Luster

 

Raven Leilani- Luster 

3 ⭐

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Race, Literary Fiction 

Pages:  227

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 21st January 2021

Big thank you to Picador for gifting me a copy for a The Motherload Book Club (Facebook) readalong.

Book Blurb: 

Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort of agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young black woman wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric’s home and family.

Razor sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now.

My Review: 

I had such high hopes for this book, as I read so many amazing reviews and saw people raving about this book all over the Bookstagram and BookTube. So naturally, I expected Luster to be amazing...but from the very beginning of this book, I realised that I hoped for more. More character development and a more engaging plot. At times I wanted to DNF this book, but I persevered and read it cover to cover…

The book follows a 23-year-old Eddie, who hates her job in a publishing company, as she wants to pursue her true ambition, painting. She also has an affair with Eric, who’s not only a middle-aged white man but is also in an open marriage. One day she suddenly losses her job and Rebecca, who is Eric’s wife decides to take Eddie into their house so she can help and look after their adoptive teenager Akila. The book explores and shows emotions from Eddie’s POV, how she deals with losing her job, her affair, living with Eric’s family, and her relationship with Rebecca and Akila.

I do think that Leilani is a talented writer, as some parts of the book are beautifully written, especially when she sets the scenes in such a flowy and descriptive manner. At times her writing did make me feel like I am there seeing the world from Eddie’s POV.

However, I found it so hard to connect with Eddie’s character. For me, she felt so flat, cold, detached, sarcastic and rude. It felt like for most parts she doesn’t care about anyone or anything. At times she even felt so hypocritical, especially when she says she wants to be an artist and that her ambition to do that is so strong but really doesn’t try her hardest to build her career and when it hits a barrier, she just blames it on society or the environment. I felt that she was a bit too naïve for someone who is supposed to be a 23-year-old with a degree. Her character just frustrated me so much and I honestly thought there is going to be some evolution and growth in her throughout the book but there wasn’t…

I wanted to know more of a backstory of Eric, Rebecca and Akila. I must say I liked the depiction of Eric and Akila in the book. I think these two characters were really well thought out and had quite a lot of substance to them. However, I felt that I didn’t get to know Rebecca’s character that well and I would have loved to know more about the backstory of that couple and how they came about to be in an open marriage, as I think that would’ve helped to understand Eric and Rebecca as characters more (and even relate to them).

I also think the plot of this book had so much more potential, especially to explore relationships between the characters and certain themes, such as race, identity, belonging, and family in more depth but it missed the opportunity to do so.

Overall, there were aspects of this book I enjoyed, especially Leilani’s writing but could not connect with some of the characters and the plot. I would definitely give Leilani’s writing another go if she writes another novel, but this story is not for me. 

About the Author: 

Raven's debut novel, Luster, is forthcoming from FSG August 2020. Her work has been published in Granta, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Narrative, Yale Review, Conjunctions, The Cut, and New England Review, among other publications. She completed her MFA at NYU. 

https://ravenleilani.weebly.com/

Aiwanose Odafen - Tomorrow I Become A Woman

 

Aiwanose Odafen - Tomorrow I Become A Woman  

5 ⭐

Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction

Pages:  416

Format: Hardback 

Publisher:  Scribner UK

Date Published: 28th April 2022

 

Huge Thank You to Scribner UK/ TandemCollectiveUK for the copy of this book and for TandemCollectiveUK & ScribnerAmbassadorsUK for having me on their #TandemReadalong.

Book Blurb: 

When Gozie and Obianuju meet in August 1978, it is nothing short of fate. He is the perfect man: charismatic, handsome, Christian, and – most importantly – Igbo. He reminds her of her beloved Uncle Ikenna, her mother’s brother who disappeared fighting in the Civil War that devastated Nigeria less than a decade before. It is why, when Gozie asks her to marry him within months of meeting, she says yes, despite her lingering and uncertain feelings for Akin – a man her mother would never accept, as his tribe fought on the other side of war. Akin makes her feel heard, understood, and intelligent; Gozie makes her heart flutter.

For Uju, the daughter her mother never wanted, marriage would mean the attainment of that long-elusive state of womanhood, and something else she has desired all her life – her mother’s approval. All will be well; he is the perfect match, the country will soon be democratic again and the economy is growing, or so she thinks …

Loosely based on the real stories of real women known to the author, Tomorrow I Become a Woman follows a complex relationship between mother and daughter as they grapple to come to terms with tremendous loss. This powerful debut by Aiwanose Odafen is a sensitive exploration of a woman’s struggle to meet societal and cultural expectations within the confines of a difficult marriage, a tribute to female friendship and a love story that spans two decades and continents against a backdrop of political turmoil and a fast-changing world.

My Review: 

This is one of those books that stays with you for a long time! I loved it so much, even though at times it was so hard to read and the flood of all of the possible emotions hit me quite a few times in between the pages of this book. Aiwanose Odafen’s writing is so captivating, so beautiful and so raw, which makes it so hard to put this book down.

Obianuju (Uju), is an ambitious, intelligent, strong-minded woman, who is at university and wants to continue her studies further. However, her mother believes that Uju needs to get married whilst young and instead of education, she needs to dedicate her life to bearing children and loving her husband. Uju finds a perfect man, Gozie, who is everything that Uju’s mother wanted for her. Since Uju all her life wanted her mother to be proud of her, Uju marries Gozie, puts her dreams on hold and starts a family…The book follows Uju’s life after marriage, the struggles, the joys, the abuse from her husband and his family, the pressures and expectations from her mother, and the gender expectations put on her by people around her…However, Uju is not alone in this, she has her best friends Ada and Chinelo, who are also on this journey of being a good wife, mother and most of all to be a woman.

I loved that this book explored so many important cultural and societal topics that we sometimes shy away from. The one theme that shocked me, made me cry and made me feel a range of other emotions, was Uju’s relationship with her mother. At times her mother was so harsh and brutal and I was shocked when she didn’t find anything wrong that Uju’s husband is physically and mentally abusing Uju. Her mother just tells her repeatedly that it is her fault for not being a good enough wife and that she deserves the abuse. Those scenes made me sob, but they also made me learn so much about a different culture and how different generations understand and see marriage.

Odafen, also explores gender roles and male dominance in Nigeria, with females not having rights, money, power, opinions, or dreams, but having to obey their husbands, raise to the expectations that are set to them by the society and the church and live life the way other people decided for them. It made me think about patriarchal society and how it is different in various cultures and societies across the world.

All characters in this book are portrayed so well, they all felt real and with so much substance, emotions and baggage. It felt like I was there, watching as the plot unfolds, getting to know these characters, their personality, their individual stories and most of all following their story over the years and their change and growth. All this for me made this book perfect.

Overall: It is such a moving book! I learned so much about the country that I knew very little about and that’s the power of brilliant writing. I loved how the writing was raw and the author doesn’t shy from heavy topics throughout the whole book, starting with very complicated mother-daughter relationships, societal expectations of Nigerian women, male dominance, complicated political realities, remanence of the war wounds and how it all intertwines in the lives of Uju, her family and her best friends. Honestly, it’s a wonderful debut and I can’t wait for what Aiwanose Odafen will write next because I can’t wait to read it. 

About the Author: 

Aiwanose was born in Nigeria and spent the better part of her life wanting to be an accountant before discovering her love for writing. She has contributed to published nonfiction works in the past and was recently selected for and participated in Chimamanda Adichie's prestigious Purple Hibiscus Trust Writing Workshop. Her short story Faces was also longlisted for the 2020 Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize.

Aiwa holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and during the day, works with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, helping to save lives. Tomorrow I Become A Woman is her first novel.

https://twitter.com/aiwahannah

Tara M. Stringfellow - Memphis

 

Tara M. Stringfellow - Memphis 

5 ⭐

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Race, Literary Fiction.

Pages: 258

Format: Paperback ARC

Publisher: John Murray Press 

Date Published: 7th April 2022 (UK)

Big thanks to John Murray Press for the ARC and for TandemCollectiveUK for having me on their #MemphisReadalong #TandemReadalong.

Book Blurb: 

In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father's violence, seeking refuge at her mother's ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan's grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighbourhood of Douglass--only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn't the first time violence altered the course of Joan's family's trajectory, and she knows it won't be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis--including their enigmatic neighbour Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition--and the women in her family as her guides to healing--that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.

Inspired by the author's own family history, Memphis--the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read--explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.

My Review: 

Wow, just wow! What a debut by Tara M. Stringfellow! I cried and I laughed and cried again…and then went through so many other emotions….Honestly, it is such a beautifully written book about the lives of three generations of women in the North family. This book gripped me from the very first chapter and the truth is I wanted to read it all in one sitting, but since I was a part of #TandemCollectiveUK #MemphisReadalong I couldn’t read it all at once.

The book follows three generations of women in North Family over 70 years. Chapters are multiple POVs and jump the timeline, but this is what made me intrigued and gripped me even more. The chapters and their non-linearity tell a story in a way that shows how each of the lives of these women are interlinked, not only because these women are related but also by the things, they all had to live through – the traumas, hurt, pain, loss…

The trauma that Southern black women have been and are experiencing, such as racism, domestic abuse, discrimination, rape, and brutality of police was heart-breaking to read. I loved how the author displayed how all of that made the North family and their neighbours resilient, strong, ambitious and determined to fight for what is right, for their rights and voices to be heard.

For me, the characters that stood out the most are Hazel and Joan, by are so similar to each other, although they haven’t met each other and lived in a very different version of Memphis. There is that fire in both of them that fuels their ambition, their determination and their love for their family and their love for Memphis.

Overall: At times this book didn’t feel like I was reading a piece of fiction, as everything that happened in the book felt so raw and real. It is that well and beautifully written. I honestly could’ve read more and more about the North family, and would’ve loved it if there were any chapters from Mya’s POV.

I am usually quite critical of books but I couldn’t even find one negative thing about this book. It is one of the best, if not the best, books that I have read this year. I truly think it should be on everyone’s TRB because this book will not disappoint.

I really can’t wait for what the talented Tara M. Stringfellow writes next as I will be definitely reading that.

About the Author: 

Former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and Pushcart Prize nominee Tara M. Stringfellow’s debut novel Memphis (Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House) is a multi-generational bildungsroman based on the author’s rich Civil Rights history.

A recent winner of the Book Pipeline Fiction Contest, Memphis was recognized for its clear path to film or TV series adaptation and is due out in 2022. Third World Press published her first collection of poetry entitled More than Dancing in 2008.

A cross-genre artist, the author was Northwestern University’s first MFA graduate in both poetry and prose and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, as well as Best of the Net.

Her poems have appeared in Collective Unrest, Jet Fuel Review, Minerva Rising, Women’s Arts Quarterly, Transitions and Apogee Journal, among others.

If she isn’t writing, she’s gardening. If she isn’t in Memphis, she’s in Italy.

https://www.instagram.com/tarastringfellow/