Gallant

Gallant

By Victoria Schwab 

Greenwillow Books, 2022. 338 pages. Young Adult Fantasy 

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. 

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from. Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him? 

Gallant is a haunting, atmospheric, suspenseful story that fully captures the essence of gothic horror. Despite the fact that Olivia Prior cannot speak, we are able to fully understand her by how she interacts with her surroundings, as strange and unfamiliar as they are. In a crumbling manor, surrounded by ghouls, Olivia learns about the dark secrets of her family’s past. This story is often compared to works by Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro and Gallant won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction. 

 If you like Gallant, you might also like: 

The Atlas Six (The Atlas #1)

By Olivie Blake 

Olivie Blake, 2020. 380 pages. Young Adult Fantasy 

The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation ... When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society's archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.

Wilder Girls 

By Rory Power

Delacorte Press, 2019. 357 pages. Young Adult Horror

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her. 

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true. 

Our Crooked Hearts 

By Melissa Albert

Flatiron Books, 2022. 340 pages. Young Adult Fantasy

Secrets. Lies. Bad choices. Dangerous magic. . . . This is Our Crooked Hearts, a contemporary fantasy "so precise and enthralling that the only explanation is that Albert herself is a witch" (Booklist, starred review) 

On the way home from a party, seventeen-year-old Ivy and her soon-to-be ex nearly run over a nude young woman standing in the middle of a tree-lined road. It’s only the first in a string of increasingly eerie events and offerings: a dead rabbit in the driveway, a bizarre concoction buried by her mother in the backyard, a box of childhood keepsakes hidden in her parents’ closet safe. Most unsettling of all, corroded recollections of Ivy and her enigmatic mother’s past resurface, with the help of the boy next door. 

What if there’s more to Ivy’s mother than meets the eye? And what if the supernatural forces she messed with during her own teen years have come back to haunt them both? Ivy must grapple with these questions and more if she’s going to escape the darkness closing in.

LA

I Have Some Questions for You

I Have Some Questions for You
by Rebecca Makkai
Viking, 2023. 438 pages. Fiction 

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past--the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia's death and the conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers--needs--to let sleeping dogs lie. But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn't as much of an outsider at Granby as she'd thought--if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case. 

I Have Some Questions for You Fans shines an uncomfortable light back on our voyeuristic obsession with true-crime. Bodie Kane is generally a reliable narrator, but she’s also manipulative and obsessive, compulsively drawn to the center of Thalia Keith’s story. Author Rebecca Makkai skillfully addresses the complexities of the #MeToo movement, violence against women, racial profiling, and wrongful incarceration while still creating a suspenseful atmosphere and plot. This page-turner will stay with you, and you’ll find yourself thinking of it again the next time  true crime case gains a cult following. 

If you like I Have Some Questions for You, you might also like: 

The It Girl
by Ruth Ware
Scout Press, 2023. 422 pages. Fiction 

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate it girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they cultivated a group of devoted and inseparable friends -- Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily -- during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Hannah is relieved to have finally put the past behind her, but her world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April's death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide ... including a murder. 

When the Stars Go Dark
by Paula McLain
Ballantine Books, 2021. 370 pages. Fiction 

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino. She spent summers there as a child with her beloved grandparents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her to heal. Yet the day she arrives, she learns a local teenage girl has gone missing. Anna is in no condition to become involved with the search--until a childhood friend, now the village sheriff, pleads for her help. Then, just days later, a twelve-year-old girl is abducted from her home. The crimes feel frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when a string of unsolved murders touched Mendocino ... As Anna becomes obsessed with these missing girls, she must learn that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.

SGR

The Measure

The Measure 

By Nikki Erlick
William Morrow, 2022. 352 pages. Fiction

It happened quickly and without warning: all across the globe, from remote villages to crowded high-rises, small boxes appeared in front of every adult's door. The sturdy boxes were made of something close to mahogany, but it was their contents that turned the world upside down: each one contained a string, quickly understood to correlate to the length of its recipient's life. Between word-of-mouth and tireless news coverage, chaos ensued. Society splintered into "long-stringers" and "short-stringers," those destined to live long, healthy lives versus those now awaiting cancer diagnoses or fatal accidents. One small group of people stubbornly refuses to open their boxes, determined to live their lives exactly how they had been before. The author uses a thoughtful and genuine group of characters to outline society's widely varied reactions to the strings' arrival.

How could I not pick this book up?! The bright cover caught my eye, but it was the description on the inside jacket flap that really sparked my interest. This book is a futuristic thought experiment set close to the present day and it had me hooked. How would I react if it happened to me? What would happen to the life I've built with my friends and family? I genuinely think I would be one of the people who stubbornly refused to open my box, but then again...

If you like The Measure, you might also like: 

All the Lovers in the Night
By Mieko Kawakami
Europa, 2022. 221 pages. Fiction

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko's past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale. This book is acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry, but it will also remind them, as only the best books do, that sometimes the pain is worth it.

The Immortalists
By Chloe Benjamin
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018. Fiction

It's 1969 in NYC's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children, four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness, sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality, and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

LKA

Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful
by Ann Napolitano
The Dial Press, 2023. 387 pages. Historical Fiction

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it's a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer; Cecelia, the family's artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia's new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household. But then darkness from William's past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia's carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters' unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

Napolitano writes with beautiful prose that you just want to revel in for a while. I initially didn't pick this book up because I knew it would be sad (trigger warning for a suicide attempt), but I'm so glad that I finally convinced myself to read it. Starting in the late 1970s and spanning through the 1990s, this book is an homage to the love of sisters and friends and to the strength people can gain from a strong support system. It's also a subtle tribute to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. If you appreciate character-driven stories of families and quiet tales of domestic drama, I highly recommend this book.

If you like Hello Beautiful you might also like:

Tom Lake
by Ann Patchett
Harper, 2023. 309 pages. Fiction

In the Spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Family Lore
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Ecco, 2023. 371 pages. Fiction

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own. 

MB

The Jewish Deli

The Jewish Deli: An Illustrated Guide to the Chosen Food

By Ben Nadler

Chronicle Books, 2023. 248 pages. Graphic Novels

A graphic history of the Jewish delicatessen, what can be found behind deli counters, and the stories and culture surrounding the food.

If you love food and the history behind it, Nadler delivers with this fun and insightful graphic novel.  It contains entries on a variety of Jewish foods, gives insight on what Kosher really means, as well as historical anecdotes and interviews with the real people who staff famous delicatessens in places such as New York City and Los Angeles.  Yum!

If you like The Jewish Deli, you might also like:

The Art of Sushi

By Franckie Alarcon

New York, NY : NBM Graphic Novels, 2021. 159 pages. Graphic Novel

Franckie Alarcon offers a gourmet panorama of this exceptional dish that has conquered the planet! But do you really know sushi? The author traveled to Japan to meet all the players involved in the making of this true work of culinary art. From the traditional starred chef to the young cook who is shaking up the rules, including all the artisans and producers involved, this book covers the most emblematic of Japanese products from A to Z.

Let's Make Dumplings! 

By Hugh Amano

California: Ten Speed Press, 2021. 205 pages. Graphic Novels

Including dumpling history and lore, this comic book cookbook invites readers to explore the big little world of Asian dumplings and proves that intricate folding styles and flavorful fillings are achievable in the home kitchen.

RBL

The Last Housewife

The Last Housewife

By Ashley Winstead

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022. 385 pages. Fiction 

During their senior year of college, Shay Evans and her best friend Laurel escaped from a violent, magnetic man and his equally violent views about women and society. Eight years later, Shay has built a new life for herself. But the horrifying news of Laurel's death shatters her world and makes her suspect that the people from her past are back and more dangerous than ever. Recruiting the help of a true-crime podcast host, Shay is determined to find out the truth. When clues lead her to a secret cult devoted to male superiority, she discovers what happened to her eight years ago was only the beginning. When Shay's search for answers turns into an obsession, forcing her to confront her own complicity and conditioning, she'll have to make a life-changing decision: how much would she give up to take down the men who've ruled her life? 

Alternating between Shay’s POV and the podcast transcript in which she relives her past and the details leading up to her friend's death, The Last Housewife hooked me from the very first page. Winstead created a sympathetic and likable character in Shay, so that by the time her college past is uncovered, we can see what led to her choices, both past and present, no matter how unrelatable they may seem. I really enjoy books told through an investigative process and this book really excels at that, especially with the podcast element. Winstead also created a terrifying, yet believable, cult that is inspired by the real-life Sarah Lawrence cult. Overall, if you enjoy dark thrillers inspired by true crime, you are sure to enjoy The Last Housewife. 

If you like The Last Housewife, you might also like:

Just Like Home

By Sarah Gailey

Tor, a Tom Doherty Associates Book, 2022. 344 pages. Sci-Fi 

"Come home." Vera's mother called and Vera obeyed. Despite their long estrangement, despite the memories, she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family. Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren't alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera's childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn't the one leaving notes around the house in her father's handwriting, but who else could it possibly be? There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes. 

More Than You’ll Ever Know

By Katie Gutierrez

William Morrow, 2022. 435 pages. Fiction

In 1985, Lore Rivera marries Andres Russo in Mexico City, even though she is already married to Fabian Rivera in Laredo, Texas. Through her career as an international banker, Lore splits her time between two countries and two families until the truth is revealed and one husband is arrested for murdering the other. In 2017, while trawling the internet for the most sensational news reports, struggling true-crime writer Cassie Bowman encounters an article detailing that tragic final act. Cassie is immediately enticed by what is not explored: Why would a woman, a mother, risk everything for a secret double marriage? Cassie sees an opportunity; she'll track Lore down and capture the full picture. But the more time she spends with Lore, the more Cassie questions the facts surrounding the murder itself. Soon, her determination to uncover the truth could threaten to derail Lore's now quiet life and expose the many secrets both women are hiding.

BW

Ámate: Libera tus Dudas, Crea Autocompasión y Acepta Quién Eres

Ámate: Libera tus Dudas, Crea Autocompasión y Acepta Quién Eres
por Megan Logan
Editorial Edaf, S.L., 2023. 176 páginas. Autoayuda

Embárcate en un viaje hacia el amor a ti misma. Un poderoso libro de ejercicios para mujeres. En un mundo que cambia rápidamente, lleno de desafíos personales y profesionales, no siempre es fácil tratarse a una misma con amor y compasión, pero este libro supone un sencillo paso en esta dirección. Está lleno de ideas que invitan a la reflexión y es un estímulo para todas aquellas mujeres que desean desarrollar la confianza y la autoestima necesarias para enfrentarse al mundo. Ya sea que estés descubriendo tu propia imagen corporal, dejando una relación poco saludable o simplemente tratando de aceptar quién eres, este libro te proporciona las herramientas y los ejercicios útiles para desarrollar una mejor relación contigo misma.

Un enfoque con dos partes. Aprende qué significa realmente quererte a ti misma y qué es tan importante. A continuación, encuentra formas de dejar atrás las dudas, practica la autocompasión y crea una vida llena de significado y propósito. Técnicas probadas. Inspírate con citas, afirmaciones, ejercicios poderosos y sugerencias perspicaces basadas en la psicología positiva, el mindfulness y otros métodos para ejercitar el amor hacia tu persona. Lo único que necesitas es amarte a ti misma. Si estás pasando por un momento difícil, o simplemente deseas tener más amor en tu vida, este cuaderno de ejercicios te ayudará a alcanzar tu potencial máximo y a cuidarte a lo largo del camino.

Si le gusta «Ámate» le recomendamos:

Renuévate con Confianza Total
por Florencia Andres y Veronica de Andres

Ediciones B, 2023. 224 páginas. No Ficción

Al leer este libro vas a sentir una inyección de confianza, será como un ritual diario de conexión contigo mismo. Dedícale solo cinco minutos por día, todos los días, y genera una verdadera renovación en tu vida: la de la fuerza interior que te puede llevar a vivir al máximo nivel y a desarrollar tu máximo potencial. Esa fuerza interior es la confianza total. Y, con confianza total, todo es posible.

¿Sabías que con solo dedicar unos minutos por día puedes ganar un nivel de motivación y confianza increíble? ¿Tan poderoso puede ser un tip por día? Es que los tips de confianza total tienen una combinación única de elementos: ciencia, arte y onda. Están avalados por más de treinta años de trabajo e investigación entrenando a cientos de miles de personas para desarrollar su máximo potencial. A la vez, están escritos con un lenguaje entretenido, moderno, y se leen tan fácil que atrapan.

¿Para qué sirven estos tips? Para que tengas mucha más confianza en ti mismo, para que sepas crear una mentalidad que te sume, para que mejores los vínculos con quienes te rodean y para darte los secretos para tener éxito en lo que te propongas. ¿Cuándo leer el tip de cada día? Cuando quieras: apenas te despiertes, antes de irte a dormir, antes de un momento importante o simplemente cuando pienses «¡necesito una inyección de energía positiva ya!».

Un tip por día que puede cambiarte la vida. Porque más que un tip es una dosis diaria de confianza total y con eso todo es posible. Dale, anímate: lee un tip por día y renuévate .

Libera tu Cerebro
por Susan Peirce Thompson 

Grijalbo, 2023. 296 páginas. No Ficción

A unas semanas de su lanzamiento, «Libera tu cerebro» revolucionó la literatura médica al demostrar científicamente que el cerebro es el verdadero rehén de la comida moderna y que es posible romper con la adicción a los alimentos dañinos, convirtiéndose en un bestseller instantáneo y vendiendo cientos de miles de copias alrededor del mundo.

«Libera tu cerebro» es el primer programa que ataca a la obesidad como una adicción a la comida, fácil de seguir gracias a las cuatro reglas de oro que rompen con los impulsos adictivos. Un libro que cambiará la vida de las millones de personas que a pesar de seguir programas alimenticios y rutinas de entrenamiento físico no logran perder esos kilos de más, y en el que la doctora Susan Peirce Thompson explica que la imposibilidad de alcanzar el peso ideal no está relacionada con la falta de voluntad ni de conocimiento: la clave está en el cerebro. Además de hablar de su experiencia personal, la doctora Peirce suma los testimonios de quienes han conseguido ser felices, delgados y libres a través de su método.

«Una perspectiva vanguardista para enfrentar los problemas persistentes y mal diagnosticados relacionados con el sobrepeso», Mark Hyman, autor de «Come grasa y adelgaza» y «La solución del azúcar en la sangre».

«Este libro no está basado solamente en las experiencias de miles de personas, sino que está respaldado por neurociencia sólida que nunca antes se había presentado de este modo», Christiane Northrup, autora bestseller de The New York Times.

MEB

Etiquetas: Español, MEB, No Ficción, Autoayuda, Manual de Cocina

Just Show Up

Just Show Up 

by Cal Ripken Jr

Harper, 2019. 185 pages. Nonfiction

The record-breaking All-Star draws on stories from his remarkable career and the life of his legendary father to outline lessons in how to achieve true success through consistency, loyalty and fair play

This is a great book for those who are looking for an inside look at baseball and for those who want to adapt solid values to have and live by. Cal Ripken Jr. delivers a solid and fascinating memoir and encouraging words to those who need a push to keep going.

If you like Just Show Up, you might also like...

QB: My Life Behind the Spiral

by Steve Young

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. 419 pages. Nonfiction

Steve Young produced some of the most memorable moments in NFL history. The Run--his electrifying 49-yard game-winning touchdown against Minnesota. The Catch II--his last-second touchdown strike against Green Bay. Then there were his record-setting six touchdown passes in Super Bowl XXIX. But Young's most impressive victories were personal ones that were won off the field when no one was watching. QB is a remarkably revealing memoir of an athletically gifted Mormon boy with a 4.0 GPZ, a photographic memory, and a severe case of childhood separation anxiety. This memoir gives readers the sense of being inside Young's helmet while he runs through opponents both on and off the field.

Courage to Soar

by Simone Biles

Zondervan, 2016. 250 pages. Nonfiction

Simone takes you through the events, challenges, and trials that carried her from an early childhood in foster care to a coveted spot on the 2016 Olympic team

NS

None of This Is True

None of This is True 
By Lisa Jewell
Atria Books, 2023. 370 pages. Fiction

I haven't listened to an audiobook in a long time that hooked me the way this novel hooked me! This book would be great to read on paper, but if you have the chance to listen to the audiobook, I highly recommend. The cast of character voices, plus the realistic nature of being able to hear the podcast portions instead of reading them, absolutely blew me away. The audiobook is ten hours and I listened to it (on 1.5 speed) in only a day and a half! I couldn't stop listening.

Alix Summer is a podcaster looking for a new subject. One evening, she meets a woman named Josie in her local pub. Improbably, they are both celebrating their forty-fifth birthdays. Several days later, they meet again at the school where Alix's children are students, and Josie suggests herself as an ideal subject for Alix's podcast: a woman who shares her birthday and whose life, Josie says, is full of fascinating material. Alix agrees, though once she begins to see what sort of person Josie really is, she develops minor misgivings that turn into serious doubts and then terrifying suspicions. If you're looking for a suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing until the very end, None of This is True is the book for you!

If you like None of This is True, you might also like:

Such A Quiet Place
By Megan Miranda
Simon & Schuster, 2021. 352 pages. Fiction

Welcome to Hollow's Edge, where you can find secrets, scandal, and a suspected killer - all on the same street! It used to be a quiet place, but then two murders throw everything into chaos. A once idyllic street becomes a place where the residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, are confronted daily by reminders of the murders, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own: Ruby Fletcher. Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow's Edge and it's increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night of the murders.

A Slow Fire Burning
By Paula Hawkins
Riverhead Books, 2021. 306 pages. Fiction

When a young man is found gruesomely murdered on a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim's home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim - and three women who are, for different reasons, simmering with resentment.

LKA

Dances

Dances: a novel

By Nicole Cuffy

One World, 2023. 277 pages. Fiction

At twenty-two years old, Cece Cordell reaches the pinnacle of her career as a ballet dancer when she's promoted to principal at the New York City Ballet. She's instantly catapulted into celebrity, heralded for her "inspirational" role as the first Black ballerina in the famed company's history. Even as she celebrates the achievement of a lifelong dream, Cece remains haunted by the feeling that she doesn't belong. As she waits for some feeling of rightness that doesn't arrive, she begins to unravel the loose threads of her past--an absent father, a pragmatic mother who dismisses Cece's ambitions, and a missing older brother who stoked her childhood love of ballet but disappeared to deal with his own demons. Soon after her promotion, Cece is faced with a choice that has the potential to derail her career and shatter the life she's cultivated for herself, sending her on a pilgrimage to both find her brother and reclaim the parts of herself lost in the grinding machinery of the traditional ballet world.

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful cover, and by the story of a ballerina. One of my nieces is a professional ballerina, and I feel that, even on the periphery, I can understand a little, the demands of that life. This story weaves ballet dances and terms (beautiful, mysterious French words) deftly into Cece's story: her life, her insecurities, her family. Told in first person, you soon get caught up in the details of her life: going to the gym as well as dancing ballet for hours; the exhaustion; the friendships; the difficult relationship with her parents and her brother. It's a compelling story and I really enjoyed Cece's journey. Her love of ballet is something that carries her through her difficult life, despite how demanding it is. Even though Cece lives a life very different from mine, there was a lot in the story that I could relate to. I would definitely recommend. There is some language, some spiciness and it deals with the topic of abortion. 

If you like Dances: a novel, you might also like: 

Don't think, Dear: on loving and leaving ballet

By Alice Robb

Mariner Books, 2023. 293 pages. Non Fiction

An incisive exploration of ballet's role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet ... Altogether, their stories are ones of heartbreak and resilience, of reinvention and regret. Along the way, Robb weaves in the myths of famous ballerinas past and present, from the groundbreaking Misty Copeland, to the controversial George Balanchine. Ballet does not exist in a vacuum, it is a laboratory of womanhood, a test-tube world in which traditional femininity is exaggerated. By exploring the psyche of a dancer, Don't Think, Dear grapples with the contradictions and challenges of being a woman today. It's also a story about chasing your dreams, however complicated, and learning when to let them go.

The Turning Pointe

By Vaenssa L. Torres

Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. 425 pages. Young Adult

When sixteen-year-old Rosa Dominguez pirouettes, she is poetry in pointe shoes. And as the daughter of a tyrant ballet Master, Rosa seems destined to become the star principal dancer of her studio. But Rosa would do anything for one hour in the dance studio upstairs where Prince, the Purple One himself, is in the house. After her father announces their upcoming auditions for a concert with Prince, Rosa is more determined than ever to succeed. Then Nikki--the cross-dressing, funky boy who works in the dance shop--leaps into her life. Weighed down by family expectations, Rosa is at a crossroads, desperate to escape so she can show everyone what she can do when freed of her pointe shoes. Now is her chance to break away from a life in tulle, grooving to that unmistakable Minneapolis sound reverberating through every bone in her body.

They're going to love you

By Meg Howry

Doubleday, 2022. 247 pages. Fiction

Carlisle Martin dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer just like her mother, Isabel, a former Balanchine ballerina. Since they live in Ohio, she only gets to see her father Robert for a few precious weeks a year when she visits Greenwich Village, where he lives in an enchanting apartment on Bank Street with his partner, James. Brilliant but troubled, James gives Carlisle an education in all that he holds dear in life--literature, music, and most of all, dance. Seduced by the heady pull of mentorship and the sophistication of their lives, Carlisle's aspiration to become a dancer herself blooms, born of her desire to be asked to stay at Bank Street, to be included in Robert and James' world even as AIDS brings devastation to their community. Instead, a passionate love affair creates a rift between them, with devastating consequences that reverberate for decades to come. Nineteen years later, Carlisle receives a phone call which unravels the fateful events of her life, causing her to see with new eyes how her younger self has informed the woman she's become.

MGB

When You Wish Upon a Lantern

When You Wish Upon A Lantern

By Gloria Chao

Viking, 2023. 340 pages. Young Adult

Liya and Kai had been best friends since they were little kids, but all that changed when a humiliating incident sparked The Biggest Misunderstanding of All Time--and they haven't spoken since. Then Liya discovers her family's wishing lantern store is struggling, and she decides to resume a tradition she had with her beloved late grandmother: secretly fulfilling the wishes people write on the lanterns they send into the sky. It may boost sales and save the store, but she can't do it alone . . . and Kai is the only one who cares enough to help. While working on their covert missions, Liya and Kai rekindle their friendship--and maybe more. But when their feuding families and changing futures threaten to tear them apart again, can they find a way to make their own wishes come true?

This amusing “falling for a friend’ rom com has well-crafted dialogue and a strong sense of place. Each chapter is from either Liya’s or Kai’s point of view. From the very beginning it is clear that these two have fallen for each other. But can they get past The Biggest Misunderstanding of All Time? It was such a pleasure to watch this story unfold. 

 If you like When You Wish Upon A Lantern, you might also like:

A Phỏ Love Story

By Loan Le

Simon and Schuster, 2021. 406 pages. Young Adult

 High school seniors Bảo and Linh, whose feuding families own competing Vietnamese restaurants, conceal their budding romance, as well as Linh's desire to become an artist.

 

Fake Dates and Mooncakes

By Sher Lee

Random House, 2023. 264 pages. Young Adult

Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs--in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt's struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn. Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan's stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. In Theo's glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend . . . but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo's relatives reveal their true colors--but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can't risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems. Can Dylan save his family's business and follow his heart--or will he fail to do both?

AG

The Bone Witch

The Bone Witch

By Rin Chupeco
Sourcebooks Fire, 2017. 411 pages. Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy

Tea can raise the dead, but resurrection comes at a price...

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother, Fox, from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.

In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha—one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles...and make a powerful choice.

Chupeco has weaved together a dark, descriptive, and unique tale with a wide array of cultural influences and personalities. The world the author has built is vivid and descriptive but not overly so, and her characters are sexually and racially diverse while also likable and relatable. The culture of the Asha reminds me of the Japanese geisha but with a bit of magic thrown in. This first book of the trilogy is a bit of a slow burn. The author tells the story through two separate perspectives, one from Tea's perspective in the present and one from a bard's perspective in the future. This format keeps the reader wondering how Tea got from where she is in the present to her future self. This decision on the author's part was frustrating at first, but the method was quite effective in luring you forward to the next chapter. This book didn't keep me up reading at night but was still a pleasant diversion. I'd recommend it to those who like books with morally gray characters, a touch of romance, a moderate amount of action, and dark magic.

JJC

If you like The Bone Witch you might also like:

Serpent & Dove
By Shelby Mahurin
HarperTeen, 2019. 513 pages. Fantasy

Two years ago Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic. Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Then a wicked stunt forces the two into holy matrimony. Lou is unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is. A choice must be made ... and love makes fools of us all.

Truthwitch

By Susan Dennard

Tor Teen, 2016. 415 pages. Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her. The two friends just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship's captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Reign of the Fallen

By Sarah Glenn Marsh

Penguin Random House, 2018. 370 pages. Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy

Odessa is one of Karthia's master necromancers, catering to the kingdom's ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it's Odessa's job to raise them by retrieving their souls from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised: the Dead must remain shrouded. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, the grotesque transformation begins, turning the Dead into terrifying, blood thirsty Shades. A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears among Odessa's necromancer community. Soon a crushing loss of one of their own leaves Odessa shattered, and reveals a disturbing conspiracy in Karthia: Someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead—and training them to attack. Odessa is forced to contemplate a terrifying question: What if her magic is the weapon that brings the kingdom to its knees? Fight alongside her follow necromancers—and a powerful girl as enthralling as she is infuriating—Odessa must untangle the gruesome plot to destroy Karthia before the Shades take everything she loves.