Hi All!
I just thought I’d switch things up by starting up my own site and share a bit more with you guys than I do on my bookstagram and Tumblr!
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Seher and I’m a reader based in Pakistan! I read just about everything I can get my hands on! That being said I adore fantasy and poetry! I used to post exclusively on Instagram, but now I’ve decided to try and maintain my own blog!
If you prefer Instagram, that’s all good! I’ve linked that below! And if you prefer getting your reviews and giveaways on Tumblr and Twitter, those will be here too!
I’m also using this as a more creative space, so you’ll also get plenty of tarot card posts, restaurant reviews (from Islamabad), and pictures of the sky after it rains! I’ll also be posting my writing update, which is something I’m trying to get back into!
This is The Girl Who Reads in chaos mode!
I maintain two tumblr accounts! Which does sound like a bit much, but both serve for different moods!
My book tumblr lets me post more content than I can on my bookstagram, so you’ll find more posts here (in the future) and more excerpts, etc!
https://bookstagramofmine.tumblr.com/
My poetry tumblr is a mood. Things that I love are posted there!
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/alliwanttodoiscollectpoetry
You can also find me on twitter (where I generally just cry and complain about life)
I have a lot of badges from all the sites I usually review on and now you have to see them because this is the first time I’ve had a place to put them! 🙂
And last but not least, my google reviews!
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Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin
Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin; Book Review brought to you by The Girl Who Reads courtesy of Random Things Tours
“He should have got therapy, Noor…It wasn’t binary. It wasn’t death or deletion. I can see him now, making his decision between honour and disgrace.“
Housekeeping:
Tell Me an Ending, a debut novel by Jo Harkin, is a sci-if almost dystopian book that would be perfect for fans of Black Mirror. It came out on the 1st of March and was published by Scribner.
Tour Scehdule for Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin Review for Tell Me an Ending
We’ve all wondered what it would be like if we could just delete a memory. If we could erase our trauma just like that. But don’t our memories make us who we are? Doesn’t the body also remember? Can it really be that easy?
Tell Me an Ending follows the stories of different people, whose lives overlap, who have all been impacted by the erasure of memories. Noor works at the clinic, Mei’s mother is important in the company, Oscar was one of its earliest patients, William had an illegal procedure, Finn was afraid that his wife had an affair and so on.
Jo Harkin does a fantastic job of exploring the consequences that this could have on a person, and people around them. It’s made more intriguing when people find out that memories can’t just be blacked out like that, and can be restored. The changing perspectives kept things going in what could have been a really slow book. This was definitely a great debut novel and I can’t wait to see more of Jo Harkin!
About Jo Harkin:
Jo Harkin studied English Literature at university. She daydreamed her way through various jobs in her twenties before giving in and becoming a full-time writer. She published four real-world literary fiction novels under a pseudonym, before deciding to follow her passion and move into speculative fiction. Her focus is ‘what if’ stories with an emphasis on human lives. She lives in Berkshire
Blurb for Tell Me an Ending
Across the world, thousands of people are shocked to receive an email telling them that they once chose to have a traumatic memory removed. Now they are being given the chance to get that memory back.
For Mei, William, Oscar and Finn there is a piece missing, but they’re not sure what. And each of them must decide if the truth is worth the pain, or better left unknown.
For Noor, who works at the memory clinic Nepenthe, the process of reinstating their patients’ memories begins to shake the moral foundations of her world. As she delves deeper into the programme, she will have to risk everything to uncover the true human cost of this miraculous technology.
An exploration of secrets, grief, identity and belonging – of the stories we tell ourselves, and come to rely on, Tell Me An Ending is a sharp, dark and devastating novel about the power and danger of memory.
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Cover Reveal: Headcase by Onley James
Headcase by Onley James will be available in audio on May 30th! Check out the series audio today, and be sure to grab your copy on May 30th!
Thank you Ink Slinger PR, for the chance to showcase this cool upcoming release!
About Headcase
Title: Headcase
Author: Onley James
Genre: Dark MM Romance
Release Date: May 30th
Book Blurb:
Asa Mulvaney is half of a psychopathic whole. He and his twin brother live together, party together…kill together. In the Mulvaney family, murder is the family business and business is good. So, when an experiment separates Asa and his brother, Asa is forced to navigate the world on his own for the first time in his life.
Zane Scott is a small-time crime blogger and amateur sleuth, but he dreams of a byline in a major paper someday. When he winds up at a boring fundraiser beside Asa Mulvaney, they share an intensely passionate encounter that leaves Zane with an ache in his chest and a story idea that could make his career dreams a reality.
At a nearby college, a cluster of suicides isn’t what it seems. When Asa’s father asks him to look into it, he sees the perfect opportunity to see his little crime reporter again. And Asa needs to see him again. Zane’s suspicious of Asa’s motives, but he won’t say no to a chance to peek behind the Mulvaney family curtains.
As the two unravel a sinister plot, Asa’s obsession with Zane grows and Zane finds being Asa’s sole focus outweighs almost anything, maybe even his career—which is good for Asa because loving a Mulvaney is a full-time job. Can he convince Zane that he’s worth navigating a family of psychopaths and his pathologically jealous twin, or will Zane learn the hard way that the Mulvaney boys always get what they want? Always.
Headcase is a high heat, intense, lovers-to-frenemies, psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features an obsessive, calculating psychopath and a wannabe reporter who will stop at nothing to earn himself a major byline. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, enough killers to fill an auditorium, and enough heat to melt your kindle. This is book four in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.
Headcase by Onley James Read Headcase Today:
Listen to the Series:
About the Author:
Onley James lives in Central Florida with her daughter, her daughter-in-law, son-in-law, and a menagerie of animals, both good and evil. James splits her time between writing m/m romance and mainlining dangerous levels of caffeine and attempting to maintain her ever-slipping sanity.
When not at her desk you can find her whining about how much writing she has to do and avoiding said writing by binge-watching unhealthy amounts of television. She loves true crime documentaries, anti-heroes, obsessively scrolling social media and writing kinky, snarky books about morally gray men who fall in love with other men.Connect with the Author:
Twitter | Facebook Reader Group | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok| Newsletter
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The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero
The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero ~ Book Review
Maybe
my father is still running from Prague.
Maybe
my mother is still fleeing Havana.
Maybe
my entire family is still trying to escape history.
(But if that’s true, what am I doing here, drowning in it?)Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree for the chance to read and review The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero.
I was a little confused when I started the book. I liked it, but I was like, is the formatting just off? Well, turns out NetGalley put it in the poetry section for a reason.
Do I like modern poetry? No. 9 times out of 10 I don’t care for it and I have to think of something nice to say because I like the poet. In this case, it weirdly works, and while individual quotes won’t work for you, the overall effect of the book does. It makes it soft and slow and perfectly conveys a haunting, and the darkness behind it.
Ilana has been banished from Miami for the summer. Her parents have taken her violin and want her to focus on studying for the SATs for the summer in Prague with her aunt.
“I fight with my parents. I dream about monsters. What else do you do when you’re sixteen?”
They also hope that the life of a writer will scare Ilana away from becoming a musician and turn to a more sensible career. Ilana instead tends to a cemetery and meets a Jewish ghost named Benjamin, who shows her around Prague and the ways in which it’s haunted by more than just ghosts.
“I want to clean Benjamin’s grave, lay a stone there for him.
(Flowers would wither
and fade. A stone is eternal— like memory,
like love.)
But how can I honor a disappearing boy when I don’t even know where he’s buried?”Ilana meets the 3 other ghost children, all Jewish; it was a rabbi who had cast the man without a shadow out of his original home. While she wants to join them and be understood for her music in their home, she slowly comes to understand what it means to be a vodnik and why the ghosts are fading.
“If you must live with a monster, it’s safer to be adored by him above all others.”
Can’t wait to see more by this author in the future!
Blurb Book Blurb for The Ghosts of Rose Hill
“A must-read for lost souls everywhere.” —Kirkus,STARRED REVIEW
Magic will burn you up.Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez—a biracial Jewish girl—finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents’ desire for her to pursue a more stable career.
When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin’s grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth.
But Benjamin isn’t the only one interested in Ilana. Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow, has become fascinated with her and the music she plays. He offers to share his magic, so Ilana can be with Benjamin and pursue her passion for violin. But after Ilana discovers the truth about Wassermann and how Benjamin became bound to the city, she resolves to save the boy she loves, even if it means losing him—forever.
With spellbinding verse prose, R.M. Romero channels the spirit of myth into a brilliantly original tale, inspired by her experiences restoring Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. -
Giveaway: Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody
Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody ~ Hidden Hollow Book Tours and The Girl Who Reads
Thank you Hidden Hollow Book Tours for the chance to read and review Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody.
Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody is the first book in the Fae & Crystal Thorn series, which is set in the same universe as The Fae of Bitter Thorn universe. It comes out on the 10th of May, and is a very sweet clean fantasy read!
Giveaway!
Grand Prize: (1 winner)
- Signed Hardcover of Flame & Crystal Thorns + swag (US Only)
- Unsigned Hardcover of Flame & Crystal Thorns from Book Depository + signed bookplate + swag (International Only)
- The givaway is on instagram, so to enter you’ll need to click right here!
Flame & Crystal Thorns by Kay L. Moody I also have to thank Hidden Hollow Books for sending me this beautiful bookmark by @artzzofkae and the art print by @artbyartemis! I was genuinely so surprised when I got this in the mail because I genuinely didn’t think that places would ever bother sending an art print and a bookmark to Pakistan.
Back to Flame & Crystal Thorns!
Blurb
As a human girl, Chloe is perfectly happy being back in the mortal realm where she belongs. She’s even become the town apothecary. When a fae from her past shows up begging her to return to Faerie, she utterly refuses.
But then she finds out an angry group of mortals are using iron to hold an entire castle full of fae hostage. And of course, the hostages include Chloe’s older sister and her sister’s beloved.
Reluctantly, Chloe packs a bag for what is supposed to be a short trip to Faerie.
But the mortals are more powerful than she expected. To fuel them, they have weapons, flames, and revenge. They won’t stop until they control every court in Faerie.
With the help of a new and mysterious magic and a devastatingly handsome fae companion, Chloe has to save Faerie before her sister and the other fae are killed.
Book review:
Flame & Crystal Thorns was a very easy read that I finished in one sitting. It’s a regular sized book at 350 pages though, so don’t think that was because it was a small one!
It’s very fast-paced and builds up an existing world. I haven’t read the first series, so I don’t know if it went over the same details as it did in that, but to me, it didn’t feel like information had been crammed in, which is always good!
What stood out for me were Chloe’s fears. The very human, very real ones, that a lot of women still face in society. She’s worried about her livelihood and being replaced by a man, no matter how good she is. She’s worried that all she can do is give, and no one does something for her. She’s worried about being too strange to be wanted. She’s been trained to be polite (which gets her into trouble). She’s so afraid of not being marriageable after her injury at the end, and that’s such a real fear for so many women; statistically proven that your husband will leave you if you get really sick, and in brown families how would you get a girl married in the first place?
Chloe also faces some pretty hard choices at the start of the book (trying not to spoil it), which I feel could have been brought up in the rest of the book more often. With the hospital crisis that happened at the start of covid, I’m sure a lot of readers will ache when they read that.
That being said, Quintus slowly grew on me, but I couldn’t figure out what had happened between them that caused them to fall apart in the first place. I’m also very glad, that he basically told her that he didn’t need someone to be his mother, but a partner, that giving wasn’t all that she was good for!
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Giveaway | Heathen: The Complete Omnibus by Natasha Alterici & Ashley A. Woods | Book Review
Heathen: The Complete Omnibus ~ Blog Tour by Rock Star Book Tours and The Girl Who Reads
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the HEATHEN by Natasha Alterici & Ashley A. WoodsBlog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Heathens: The Complete Omnibus by Natasha Alterici & Ashley A. Woods About The Book:
Title: HEATHEN: The Complete Series Omnibus Edition
Author: Natasha Alterici, Ashley A. Woods (Illustrations), Rachel Deering, Morgan Martinez
Pub. Date: May 17, 2022
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 336
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
Details: Heathens: The Complete Omnibus comes out on the 17th of May 2022, on amazon! However, each of the volumes is available on Amazon via Comixology, which is the best way to read e-comics or graphic novels! Each volume ranges from $1.99 to $8.99, so getting the omnibus at $9.99 for anyone who would love to read a queer Viking epic, with gods, mermaids, trolls, and valkyries to name a few.
Heathens: The Complete Omnibus by Natasha Alterici & Ashley A. Woods Giveaway
Not gonna lie, I loved Heathen and I’m pretty sad that the giveaway is US only!
2 winners will receive a finished copy of HEATHEN, US Only.
Review for Heathens
The series starts with our protagonist, Aydis, coming out as queer and being banished from her community after her best friend kisses her. Aydis’ father isn’t like the others in his community, and recognising the strength in Aydis has always prepared her to be able to walk alone. Instead of killing her, he lets her go, knowing that they will probably never meet again.
Instead of giving up, Aydis sets out to free Brynhild , the leader of the Vikings who was imprisoned long ago in a wall of fire, after being punished by Odin for killing a man and going against his orders. While the punishment was to marry a mortal and live in exile, the fire was set up by the Valkyrie to keep cowards out. Aydis gets through the fire, but doesn’t want to marry Brynhild; she wants to end Odins tyranny and help other women. As she sets of on the quest, spread out over 12 volumes, she encounters different people, and creatures, and understands the way to move forward.
I absolutely loved this omnibus! I’m so glad I’ve been able to get this instead of needing to wait for each issue to come out. The art is stunning, the writing perfect, and each character is beautifully drawn out. I wasn’t perhaps the biggest fan of the last volume, I did find the end to be anticlimactic in some ways, but also very powerful; if that makes sense. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone, so all you need to know is this:
“I will live.”
More on Heathens
Blurb:
WOMAN. WARRIOR. VIKING. HEATHEN. OUTCAST.
THE GODS MUST PAY…
Born into a time of warfare, suffering, and subjugation of women, and exiled from her village for kissing another woman, the lesbian Viking warrior, Aydis, sets out to destroy the god-king Odin and end his oppressive reign. She is a friend to many as she is joined by mermaids, immortals, Valkyries, and the talking horse, Saga. But she is also a fearsome enemy to the demons and fantastic monsters that populate the land.
Heathen – The Complete Series Omnibus Edition trade paperback collects the entire twelve-issue series.
Soon to be movie directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Red Riding Hood, & Lords of Dogtown)
Perfect for fans of Monstress, Helheim, and Northlanders.Heathens on Amazon
About the authors
Natasha Alterici
Natasha Alterici is a writer and artist living in Tulsa, OK who has been working as a freelance artist for over ten years. Works include Heathen (Vault Comics), Dinosaur Project, Gotham Academy: Yearbook, Grayson Annual, The Lez Film Review, Mixed Signals, Lovers and Other Strangers, Transcience, and a number of others. When not drawing, she enjoys watching cooking shows with her wife and their two cats, Cheshire and Louise.
Ashley A. Woods
Ashley A. Woods is a comic book artist, writer, & creator from Chicago known for her work on the “Niobe”, “Ladycastle” and “Tomb Raider” series. She got her start through self-publishing her action-fantasy comic series “Millennia War” which led to her career in comics and TV. After earning her degree in Film and Animation from IADT, she traveled to Kyoto, Japan where she presented her work in a gallery showcase called, “Out Of Sequence”. Recognized for her female illustrations and designs, her most prominent work is “Niobe: She is Life” with Stranger Comics.
Her latest work can be seen on HBO’s “Lovecraft Country”, DC’s “Wonder Woman Black & Gold 2” and “Jupiter Invincible” with Pulitzer Prize winning author Yusef Komunyakaa which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival June 2021. -
The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge | Review
This book review is brought to you by The Girl Who Reads and The Write Reads!
The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge ~ Housekeeping
The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge is an adult fantasy novel. Most readers would much rather call it an alternative history book. NetGalley decided to put it in the poetry section! This is probably why the Goodreads reviews are currently at 3.18, when this book is clearly a 5 star read!
The book was published on the 15th of March, 2022, by Rebellion Publishing, and is 528 pages long. It’s the second novel by Tom Beckerlegge, with the first being Cold Trap.
I was lucky enough to receive an e-galley via the wonderful NetGalley, but I’ll be honest, getting a paperback from The Write Reads did influence my review, because this is one of those books that just hits me better in paperback. There are some books I can read as an ebook, and still enjoy. This one I would have enjoyed, but I would have wanted a paperback pretty badly!
Book Review:
The city of Cadenza is known to be a city of words. We have ink maids, who write smut for you, plagiarists who kidnap writers and compete to write the most beautiful ransom notes, and poets who rule. The city is threatened by Venice whose inhabitants would gladly burn it down; if the poets of Cadenza don’t do it themselves.
Of course a city of words, ruled by poets, is steeped in madness.
The story is told through 14 chapters, each called a canto. If you’re thinking that’s a reference to Dante’s Inferno, then you’re right. The city was ruled by someone close to the devil (not literally, but you get what I mean), and with each chapter, you go deeper into the darkness of the city. With each chapter the fall becomes more and more inevitable. Of course, there is hope at the end and they discover what they thought was lost forever. Each canto is told from the point of view of a different character, and each is linked into the story of each another, from Carlo and Vittoria, to Lucia and the Duelling counts. We even hear from Fiametta at the end.
The story starts with young Carlo as he comes to the city to prove himself a poet. He is not welcomed, to say the least, and becomes friend with a gravedigger for his remaining days in the city. They’re not very many of those, but don’t worry, he doesn’t die, and he turns out to be a lot smarter than he looks, even if he isn’t a brilliant poet. He also has a lot of emotional intelligence, which, as it turns out, is not in abundance in a city of writers.
Do keep in mind, that this first chapter is interesting, but also one of the slowest ones in the book because you’re being told the history of how the city came to be. That being said, it’s also your first taste of how dramatic and lovely and funny this book will be!
There is a lot of stuff on goodreads about trigger warnings, and I am not the best person to comment on those, I think you do need to remember that this is a city that’s falling apart. This is the descent into hell and there will be violence in there. While I don’t think Tom Beckerlegge makes it particularly graphic, I would like to stress again that I am not the best person to judge.
Blurb for The Carnival of Ash
Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter.
Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether…
About the author:
Tom Beckerlegge grew up in the northwest of England in a house filled with books. Writing as Tom Becker, he won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with his debut novel; The Carnival of Ash is his first adult book. He lives in Enfield with his wife and young son.
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Eid Mubarak ~ Book Stack Edition
Eid Mubarak Everyone!
I was so excited for today I didn’t sleep all night and I decided to wake up and do a book stack and I guess issue a challenge!
It took me a while to find a book to match each letter! Why do so many books start with “The”?
I would love to see your version of the Eid Stack Challenge, or just hear what you’re doing today!
E ~ Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
I ~ I am an executioner by Rajesh Parameswaran
D ~ Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
M ~ Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden
U ~ Uncles Tom Cabin by Harrier Beecher Stowe
B ~ Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
A ~ A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens
R ~ Rape by Mithu Sanyal
A ~ Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
K ~ Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga MakumbiQOTD: Are any of these books from my Eid Book Stack in your TBR pile or have you read them?
I made a gallery of all the books that I used in the stack! I also included Amazon links in case you’d like to read more, and a link to my TikTok for the stack, just because I can’t resist!
If you’re based in Pakistan, and want to know where each book is from, let me know! Generally speaking, these books are from The Last Word Books, Readings, The Old Book Shop or from Omar Imam books!
Here is each book from my Eid Stack Challenge:
Empire of The Vampire by Jay Kristoff 
I am an executioner by Rajesh Parameswaran 
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan 
Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden 
Uncles Tom Cabin by Harrier Beecher Stowe 
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote 
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens 
Rape by Mithu Sanyal 
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint 
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi -
Cover Reveal: Twisted Games We Play by Marie Lynn Brewster
Twisted Games We Play by Marie Lynn Brewster Twisted Games We Play by Marie Lynn Brewster
Thank you Blissful Book Services for the chance to be part of the cover reveal for Twisted Games We Play by Marie Lynn Brewster!
Twisted Games We Play is a high school bully romance that comes out later this year!
Blurb:
The Kings are powerful.
They’re ruthless.
And they own me.
When my mother dies of an overdose, I’m forced to live with an aunt that hates me. Her desire to stay close to the elite pushes me right into the domain of the Kings. Kieran, Heston, and Xavier.
These guys don’t just rule the high school, everyone seems to bow down to them. No body crosses them and lives to talk about it, or so I’ve heard. Their families are the richest in this city. In fact, they are so powerful that even the city authorities bend to their will.
They don’t trust me because of where I come from. My uncle was one of the founding families, along with their fathers, and he betrayed them. Now they believe that I am the enemy.
There’s an old saying, the truth will find you out. How true thatstatement is. My family’s secrets are revealed, and I discover that my entire life has been full of lies and deceit. Those secrets also have the power to take everything from me. But will this new revelation be enough to earn their trust, or will it destroy everything I hold dear?
QOTD: What do you feel about the bully romance genre? Is that a genre that you avoid or love?
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Currently Reading: The Prince’s Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner
The Prince’s Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner I’m reading The Prince’s Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner
I was lucky enough to be sent the arc from Valentine PR! The book comes out on the 2nd of May and will be available on Kindle Unlimited! It’s a glorious steampunk epic fantasy and I feel some of you guys will just adore it! It’s also the first book in the Infernal War saga, in case anyone wants to start a new series!
#QOTD: Do you have a booklist ready for May or are you going to just be mood reading for the month?
I’ve got a goal of 40 books that I need to complete for May with 12 book tour reads, 17 NetGalley arcs, and 4 books from Edelweiss! This is pretty ambitious, but I do have a week off as a result of Eid so I can’t wait to celebrate with a lot of books!
Blurb for The Prince’s Poisoned Vow
Every country is built on revolution.
THE WARDEN. Soren is a nameless, stateless man, tasked with keeping watch over Maricol’s borders. He isn’t meant for politics, only dealing with the dead. His past was buried in the poison fields, but after a fateful encounter with a prince, Soren comes to realize he can’t keep what magic burns inside him hidden forever.
THE PRINCE. Vanya Sa’Liandel was the spare who survived the Houses’ murderous games to become the Imperial crown prince of Solaria. He has a duty to his country, but he’ll owe his life to the wardens. Payment of any kind is costly, especially when he’s at risk of losing his heart to the man who saved his life.
THE COG. Caris Dhemlan hears the siren song of clarion crystals better than anyone in Ashion. That skill for inventing has enriched her bloodline, but it’s who she can become that will ultimately entangle her with the Clockwork Brigade.
THE PRINCESS. Eimarille Rourke should have been raised to be queen of one country; instead, she is prisoner of another. Guided by a star god, Eimarille bides her time in a gilded cage, spinning a political web to gain a throne and start a war the world isn’t ready for. -
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow | Book Review
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow!
Memphis came out of the 7th of April and is a debut novel by Tara M. Stringfellow. It’s about the lives of 5 black women as they live in home, built with a great deal of love, in Memphis.
Book Review for Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
“As my mother helped undress me with a gentleness that only increased my fear, I understood then why the first sin on this earth had been a murder. Among kin.”
Memphis is an absolutely wonderful book! It’s told from the point of view of four women and how they work to protect each other and their family from the violence of Memphis.
The story starts with Miriam moving back to her home in Memphis to live with her sister, August, and her son, after Jax, her army husband takes his anger out on her in front of their children.
It’s early on that we realize that Joan (Miriam’s older daughter) was assaulted by her cousin at the age of 3. While action against Derek was taken at that point, it doesn’t make it better for Joan that they now need to live in the same home.
Honestly, one wouldn’t be able to tell that this was a debut novel. Tara M. Stringfellow put together a beautiful book on how complicated family can be. This is not to say that Derek is ever forgiven by his mother or family, but the entire situation makes you feel really incredibly helpless. As family what do you do?
Joan is also an incredibly talented artist, while My, as they can all tell, will make a great doctor. We also watch the way Miriam and Joan clash as Joan wants to pursue art and Miriam wants her to do something that might be a bit more stable.
Blurb
Joan can’t change her family’s past.
But she can create her future.
Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. She doesn’t remember the bustle of Beale Street on a summer’s night. She doesn’t know she’s as likely to hear a gunshot ring out as the sound of children playing. How the smell of honeysuckle is almost overwhelming as she climbs the porch steps to the house where her mother grew up. But when the front door opens, she does remember Derek.
This house full of history is home to the women of the North family. They are no strangers to adversity; resilience runs in their blood. Fifty years ago, Hazel’s husband was lynched by his all-white police squad, yet she made a life for herself and her daughters in the majestic house he built for them. August lives there still, running a salon where the neighbourhood women gather. And now this house is the only place Joan has left. It is in sketching portraits of the women in her life, her aunt and her mother, the women who come to have their hair done, the women who come to chat and gossip, that Joan begins laughing again, begins living.
Memphis is a celebration of the enduring strength of female bonds, of what we pass down, from mother to daughter. Epic in scope yet intimate in detail, it is a vivid portrait of three generations of a Southern black family, as well as an ode to the city they call home.