Zendaya

Zendaya: Una Biografía No Autorizada
Por Alison James
Roca Editorial, 2024. 224 páginas. Biografía

Una biografía para saberlo todo de Zendaya: un icono de su generación con más de 200 millones de seguidores y una de las 100 personas más influyentes del mundo, según la revista Time.

Descubre cómo Zendaya ha conquistado el mundo del cine, la televisión y la moda para convertirse en el rostro de toda una generación. Desde sus primeras apiciones en Disney Channel, Zendaya ha ido conquistando el corazón del público y la crítica con cada nuevo paso en su carrera.

En esta detallada biografía, la periodista Alison James, colaboradora habitual de la prensa estadounidense y autora de otras biografías de personajes públicos, como Bruce Springsteen, la reina Elizabeth II o el rey Charles III, explora todos los aspectos de la vida de la actriz y su carrera hasta la fecha.

Lleno de fotografías a todo color, el libro incluye in repaso desde sus primeras incursiones en la música hasta su sensacional ascenso en el mundo de la moda y el cine; así como algunos apuntes en su vida pública y vida personal, incluyendo desde su activismo hasta su consolidada relación con Tom Holland.

Adéntrate por completo en el fascinante mundo de una de las estrellas más populares del momento. 
El libro resalta cómo Zendaya ha conquistado el mundo del cine, la televisión y la moda, convirtiéndose en el rostro de toda una generación. Analiza su influencia no solo como artista, sino también como figura pública que utiliza su plataforma para promover cambios positivos en la industria y la sociedad.

Esta biografía no autorizada ofrece una visión completa de Zendaya, desde sus humildes comienzos hasta su estatus actual como fenómeno global, proporcionando a los lectores una comprensión más profunda de su impacto cultural y su trayectoria profesional.

Si le gusta «Zendaya» le recomendamos:

El Libro Polinesio
Por Los Polinesios
Montena, 2025. 256 páginas. Biografía

En diez años ha sucedido de todo: giras internacionales, sold out a sus eventos en minutos, premios, botones diamante en YouTube, casi 80 millones de followers en total en sus redes sociales, hasta evolucionar profesional y personalmente, encontrar su esencia y convertirse en adultos que nos han dado lo mejor de sí.

Pero el camino no ha sido fácil, los tres hermanos han tenido momentos increíbles con los polinesios en distintas ciudades, y también instantes en los que han tenido que hacer a un lado “una vida normal” con tal de ser lo que siempre quisieron.

A través de este gran viaje en forma de libro, conocerás cada uno de esos instantes emblemáticos para la gran familia polinesia y descubrirás por qué se han quedado en el corazón de millones de personas. No olvidemos las palabras de Rafa, Karen y Lesslie a la comunidad polinesia: ningún sueño es demasiado grande si pones tu corazón, entusiasmo y trabajo en alcanzarlo.

"El Libro Polinesio" parece ser una obra que combina elementos biográficos con mensajes motivacionales, dirigida principalmente a los fans de Los Polinesios y a jóvenes aspirantes a creadores de contenido. Ofrece una mirada íntima a las experiencias y el camino al éxito de estos influyentes youtubers latinoamericanos.

Taylor Swift: Un Diario Swiftie
Por Marcos Bueno y Laia López

Alfaguara IJC, 2024. 123 páginas. Biografía

Sea cual sea tu era, este es tu libro.

Todo el mundo sabe quién es Taylor Swift: su reputación la precede. Artista, compositora, actriz, directora, ganadora de miles de premios. En conclusión, una de las figuras más importantes de la industria musical hoy en día.

Pero ¿cómo se ha transformado Taylor Swift en uno de los grandes iconos musicales del siglo XXI?? ¿Qué tiene su música para conseguir atrapar a tanta gente y despertar una fidelidad casi religiosa en sus seguidores? ¿Qué hay en sus letras para que toda una generación se sienta reflejada en ellas?

Este diario trata de responder a esas preguntas. Aquí, la vida de alguien que lleva toda su vida escuchando a Taylor Swift (alguien que podrías ser tú) y la de Taylor se mezclan y se confunden. Porque seguro que esto es lo que tú has sentido alguna vez, ¿verdad? Que Taylor, al hablar de sí misma, hablaba también de ti y de todas esas cosas que recuerdas demasiado bien.

El libro busca explorar el fenómeno cultural que rodea a Taylor Swift, analizando cómo su música ha logrado crear una conexión tan fuerte con sus seguidores y por qué sus letras resuenan con tanta fuerza en su audiencia. Este enfoque permite examinar no solo la carrera de Swift, sino también su impacto en la industria musical y en la cultura popular en general. Este libro promete ser una lectura atractiva tanto para fans dedicados como para aquellos interesados en comprender el fenómeno Taylor Swift y su influencia en la música contemporánea.

MEB

Labels: Español, MEB, No Ficcion, Adulto Joven, Biografía

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

By Grady Hendrix
Berkley, 2025. 482 pages. Horror.

Four teenage girls trapped in a secretive maternity home for unwed mothers in 1970 St. Augustine, Florida, find an unexpected source of power through witchcraft.

The pace is pretty slow until after the midpoint, but once it picks up it doesn't stop. In the end what makes the story truly scary isn't witchcraft, but the reality of the mostly powerless pregnant characters in regards to their bodies and their babies. As well as the societal atrocity of trying to collectively erase their experiences. However, the body horror does add an extra punch. Perfect for Hendrix's fans and for those who like their books with a smidgen of witchcraft. 

If you like Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, you might also like: 

The Furies

By Kathryn A. Lowe

St. Martin's Press, 2019. 358 pages. Fiction.

In 1990s England, at an elite boarding school connected to seventeenth-century witch trials, troubled sixteen-year-old Violet is drawn into a circle of friends dabbling in witchcraft to avenge wrongs done to them.

The Girls Who Went Away

By Ann Fessler

Penguin Press, 2006. 362 pages. Nonfiction.

This book brings to light the lives of 1.5 million single American women in the years following World War II who, under enormous social and family pressure, were coerced to give up their newborn children. It tells not of wild and carefree sexual liberation, but rather of a devastating double standard that has had punishing long-term effects on these women and on the children they gave up. Single pregnant women were shunned by family and friends, evicted from schools, sent away to maternity homes to have their children alone, and often treated with cold contempt by doctors, nurses, and clergy. The majority of the women interviewed by Fessler, herself an adoptee, have never spoken of their experiences, and most have been haunted by grief and shame their entire adult lives.

RBL

The Honey Witch

The Honey Witch
By Sydney J. Shields
Hatchette Book Group, 2024. 359 pages. Fantasy.

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who've tried to woo her. So, when her grandmother whisks her away to her cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence comes with a price: no one can fall in love with the Honey Witch. When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And, when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home--at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

This is without a doubt the book version of a bumblebee on a summer day, mostly lazy but still a bit alarming when you hear the sudden buzzing sometimes. It was mainly low stakes coziness that made me wish I was living in the countryside with my own sapphic love story. The plot progresses slowly giving the main character time to explore themes of grief, belonging, and wanting. But towards the end it picks up pace in order to resolve the main conflict in a rather dramatic showdown. If you need a break from high stakes fantasy series, this gentle stand alone is a great palate cleanser. 

If you like The Honey Witch, you might also like: 

The Spellshop

By Sarah Beth Durst

Bramble, 2024. 376 pages. Fantasy.

Kiela, a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, and her assistant Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire's most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city's elite. Then a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames. She and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she'd see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy--and very handsome--neighbor who can't take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she's fed and help fix up her new home. In need of income and reluctantly inspired by the beauty and people of the island who have welcomed her into their hearts, Kiela discovers something that even the bakery in town doesn't have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries that become the town's, and her handsome neighbor's, new favorite confection. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela decides to open the island's first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.

The Midnight Bargain

By C.L. Polk

Erewhon Books, 2020. 375 pages. Fantasy.

Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling. In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice's first kiss . . . with her adversary's brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan. The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries--even for love--she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?

The Phoenix Keeper

By S.A. Maclean
Orbit Books, 2024. 486 pages. Fantasy.

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila's childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There's just one glaring caveat: her zoo's breeding program hasn't functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins. But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons ... Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. But mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo's most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible. Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the face of a goddess who's convinced that Aila's beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than as a passive conservation exhibit. With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila's success is no longer merely a matter of keeping her job.

KJ

Onyx Storm

Onyx Storm (Empyrean #3)

By Rebecca Yarros 

Red Tower Books, 2025. 527 pages. Fantasy 

After nearly 18 months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves--her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find--the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath. 

In this third installment of the Empyrean series, Yarros has expanded her world even further, both in terms of territory covered, and individual characters. With so many names and places it can be a challenge to keep everything straight, but it works with the scope of the story she’s telling. This is the midpoint of the series, so it’s clear there’s a lot of setup for what is to come, but each stop Violet and crew makes on their journey in OS is action-packed, suspenseful, and enriches the world. I immediately had to start rereading FOURTH WING as soon as I finished Onyx Storm, just so I could look for the breadcrumbs of foreshadowing that were left earlier in the series. 

If you liked Onyx Storm, you might also like: 

The Serpent & the Wings of Night  

By Carissa Broadbenty 

Bramble, 2023. 464 pages. Fantasy 

Oraya, the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, enters the deadly Kejari tournament to prove she’s more than prey, facing fierce warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, she forms an uneasy alliance with the dangerous and mysterious Raihn, a ruthless vampire who may be both her greatest threat and her unexpected attraction. 

When the Moon Hatched  

By Sarah A. Parker 

Avon, 2022. 547 pages. Fantasy 

Raeve, an assassin for the rebellion group F́íur du Ath, is captured by powerful fae after a rival bounty hunter disrupts her life, leading her into a political nightmare. Meanwhile, Kaan Vaegor, haunted by the loss of his love, finds himself on a quest that leads him to Raeve's prison, where their tangled past resurfaces. 

ACS

Murder Road

Murder Road

By Simone St. James

Berkley, 2024. 342 pages. Fiction

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They're looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart but take April and Eddie down with it all. 

 A spine-tingling thriller that borders on horror, Murder Road is the ultimate tale of a honeymoon gone wrong. Simone St. James is the master of blending true crime inspired stories with the supernatural resulting in a realistic and believable ghost story. April and Eddie were fully realized characters with just a touch of mystery to keep the narrative building until the conclusion. I really enjoy how James incorporates citizen sleuths into her stories, not only because I love true crime, but it makes me feel like I’m a part of the investigative process. Overall, this was an atmospheric murder mystery with a supernatural twist sure to please lovers of thrillers and horror alike.

If you like Murder Road, you might also like:

The September House

By Carissa Orlando

Berkley, 2023. 344 pages. Fiction

You can survive anything. That's what Margaret tells herself when the walls of her house start to drip blood every September. She's learned how to live with it ... and the other terrifying apparitions that have made the sprawling Victorian house she and her husband bought four years ago turn from a dream home into a living nightmare. But she can outlast all of it. Hal felt differently, though. Her husband couldn't take the hauntings anymore, and he left. But now he's not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine arrives, intent on looking for her missing father, convinced something grim has happened to him. With every desperate attempt Katherine makes at finding Hal, the hauntings at the September House grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

Diavola

By Jennifer Thorne

Tor Publishing Group, 2024. 291 pages. Fiction 

Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive. It isn't easy when she's the only one in the family who doesn't quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he's practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone--including her blandly docile husband and two kids--falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet. The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails--the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself. (Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)

BW

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies 

by Alison Goodman

New York: Berkley Prime Crime 2023. 336 pages. Mystery 

A high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an 'old maid' to protect other women in a new historical mystery series. Lady Augusta Colebrook, "Gus," is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband. The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan. 

This book is a breath of fresh air amongst other Regency-era fiction, which typically focuses on romance between two young characters. This story features two women in their 40s whose goals in life have nothing to do with finding love (although there is a little sprinkling of that in this book too). It’s a fast-paced story with the main characters getting wrapped up into schemes to help other women out of dangerous situations. The characters in this book are well-developed, and throughout the story they struggle with things like loss of faith and health issues, including breast cancer and an interesting look into early treatments for it. This book is recommended for anyone who loves women supporting women, period dramas, or Jane Austen. 

If you like The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies, you might also like:

Of Manners and Murder 

by Anastasia Hastings New York: Minotaur Books 2023. 304 pages. Mystery 

Of Manners and Murder is the first in the delightful new Dear Miss Hermione mystery series from Anastasia Hastings. 1885: London, England. When Violet's Aunt Adelia decides to abscond with her newest paramour, she leaves behind her role as the most popular Agony Aunt in London, "Miss Hermione," in Violet's hands. And of course, the first letter Violet receives is full, not of prissy pondering, but of portent. Ivy Armstrong is in need of help and fears for her life. But when Violet visits the village where the letters were posted, she find that Ivy is already dead. She'll quickly discover that when you represent the best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course. 

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord 

by Celeste Connally New York: Minotaur Books 2023. 304 pages. Mystery 

London, 1815. Lady Petra Forsyth, daughter of the Earl of Holbrook, has made a shocking proclamation. After losing her beloved fiancé in an accident three years earlier, she announces in front of London's loosest lips that she will never marry. A woman of independent means--and rather independent ways--Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life is gone. Instead, she plans to continue enjoying the best of society without any expectations. But when ballroom gossip suggests that a longtime friend has died of a fit due to her "melancholia" while in the care of a questionable physician, Petra vows to use her status to dig deeper--uncovering a private asylum where men pay to have their wives and daughters locked away, or worse. Just as Petra has reason to believe her friend is alive, a shocking murder proves more danger is afoot than she thought. And the more determined Lady Petra becomes in uncovering the truth, the more her own headstrong actions and desire for independence are used against her, putting her own freedom--and possibly her life--in jeopardy. 

The Murder of Mr. Wickham 

by Claudia Gray New York: Vintage Books 2022. 336 pages. Mystery 

After many years of happy marriage, Emma Knightley and her husband are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances-not all of whom are well known to the Knightleys but are certainly beloved by every Jane Austen fan: Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Marianne and Colonel Brandon, Anne and Captain Wentworth, and Fanny and Edmund Bertram. Very much not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him newfound wealth-and a broadening array of enemies. With his unexpected arrival, tempers flare and secrets are revealed, making it clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet the Knightleys and their guests are all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered-except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst. With everyone a suspect, it falls to the house party's two youngest guests to solve the mystery of who finally delivered to Wickham his just deserts: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney, eager for adventure outside Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, Elizabeth and Darcy's eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem relaxed.

EP

The Heart of Winter

 The Heart of Winter
by Jonathan Evison
New York: Dutton, 2025. 356 pages. Fiction

Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together, at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a seventy-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and out of their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged. But when Ruth's loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they've created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other. In this big-hearted and profound portrait of a marriage, Jonathan Evison explores 70 years of big moments in subtle ways, elegantly braiding the Winters' turbulent history with their present-day battles, showing us how the oddly paired college kids became parents, fell apart, and back together, and grew into the Abe and Ruth of today.

The Heart of Winter is an endearing and honest portrayal of a long marriage, capturing the joys and struggles. I like how, rather than romanticizing commitment, the story embraces its complexities—the sacrifices, misunderstandings, and enduring devotion that shape a shared life. Bittersweet and deeply moving, it highlights the resilience that keeps two people bound together through the seasons of life. This book is a compelling read for anyone who appreciates stories of deep emotional resonance.

 

If you liked The Heart of Winter, you might also like: 

This is a Love Story
by Jessica Soffer
New York: Dutton, 2025. 295 pages. Fiction

For fifty years Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now. Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew--their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives--and the parts they didn't always want to know--the determined young student of Abe's looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. Told in various points of view, even in conversation with Central Park itself, these voices weave in and out to paint a portrait as complicated and essential as love itself.

The Collected Regrets of Clover
By Mikki Brammer
St. Martin’s Press, 2023. 314 pages. Fiction

What's the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can't give yourself a beautiful life? From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process. Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story--and perhaps, her happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she wants, and whether she'll have the courage to go after it. Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.

BWW

All We Were Promised

All We Were Promised
by Ashton Lattimore
Ballantine Books, 2024. 357 pages. Fiction

Philadelphia, 1837. When nineteen-year-old Charlotte escaped from the deteriorating White Oaks plantation four years ago, she'd expected freedom to look completely different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. Instead, she's locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, hiding their past and identities to protect themselves from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives. Pennsylvania is a free state, yet abolitionists are struggling to establish a permanent home for the anti-slavery movement, as southern sympathizers incite violence against free Black people, and white vigilantes stalk the streets.

Undeterred, Charlotte sneaks out and forges an unlikely friendship with Nell, a member of one of Philadelphia's wealthiest Black families. When Evie, Charlotte's enslaved friend from White Oaks, shows up in the city, Charlotte and Nell conspire to help her flee North. Yet Charlotte's plans to help her friend threatens her own freedom as well.

I really appreciated the perspectives this story offers. It's not often that you read about how the slavery was perpetuated in the "free" states, and this book exhibits this with a great sense of time and place. Lattimore has written an engrossing, complex story where each character has interesting, and sometimes conflicting, desires and needs. This means that while this book offers a history lesson, readers are also equally invested in each character and in their friendship, making this book one that stands out in multiple ways.

If you like All We Were Promised you might also like:

The Thread Collectors
by Shaunna J. Edwards
Graydon House, 2022. 384 pages. Fiction

In 1863, an ingenious young Black woman, who embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army, crosses paths with a Jewish seamstress who helps her discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us.

 

American Daughters
by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
One World, 2024. 285 pages. Fiction

When Ady, who is enslaved to a businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans, is separated from her mother, she meets Lenore, a free Black woman who invites her to join a clandestine society of spies called the Daughters, setting her on a journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.

MB

Here One Moment

Here One Moment
By Liane Moriarty
Crown Publishing, 2024. 501 pages. Fiction

"Cause of death. Age of death." A woman walks down the aisle of a two-hour flight in Australia, predicting passengers' demises. Civil engineer Leo will die of a workplace accident at age 43. Ethan will die of an assault at age 30 (he's currently 29). Sue Sullivan will die of pancreatic cancer; baby Timmy Binici will drown at age seven. Although rattled by "the Death Lady," most passengers ignore her words as the ramblings of an unwell old woman; until her predictions start coming true. The novel interweaves stories of the lives of the passengers post-flight as they contend with what they believe to be their destinies with the life of Cherry, the Death Lady, whose mother worked as a psychic, but whose relationship with fate becomes more complicated as her story is slowly revealed. 

What I loved most about this book was the questions that it left unanswered - questions of determinism versus free will and chance versus fate. Reading the physical copy of this book was also part of the experience for me - with so many characters and various stories, I liked being able to flip back and forth to check things. Would I want to know the when/how of my death? I don't think so, but Moriarty's book definitely has me evaluating my thoughts.

If you like Here One Moment, you might also like:

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

It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to them? As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

Masters of Death

By Olivie Blake
Thorndike Press, 2023. 643 pages. Fiction

Fox D'Mora is a medium, and though he is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn't entirely without his uses - seeing as he's actually the godson of Death. Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the mansion has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on. With the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn't nearly as distinct as they thought. 

Black Water Sister
By Zen Cho
Ace/Berkley, 2021. 370 pages. Fiction

A reluctant medium is about to discover the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power. When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she's moving back to Malaysia with her parents - a country she last saw when she was a toddler. She soon learns the new voice isn't even hers, it's the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the god- and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jes wants to or not. Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated.

LKA

Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance

Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance 

By Jessamyn Stanley 

Workman Publishing, 2021. 198 pages. Nonfiction. 

Remember Jessamyn Stanley? How could you not? She's the proudly fat, Black, queer yoga teacher and charismatic author of Every Body Yoga, who drops a lot more f-bombs than namastes and refuses to pray at the church of Lululemon. Now she's back, here to take us even further on a personal and provocative journey into what it means to "practice yoga." Where Every Body Yoga, with 59,000 copies in print, taught us how to do yoga, Yoke tells us why ... In a series of deeply honest, funny, gritty, thoughtful, and largely autobiographical essays, Yoke explores issues of self-love, body-positivity, race, sex and sexuality, cannabis, and more, all through the lens of an authentic yoga practice. Every reader is invited to find this authentic spirit of yoga in their own lives and practice. To yoke. 

As someone who knows very little about yoga, this was a great little book that focuses on the reasoning behind practicing yoga and the mental and spiritual benefits that come from practice. Yoga is something I have wanted to get into, but I am worried going into it without having the typical body type of people you regularly see online doing yoga, but Jessamyn is a wonderful instructor and she destigmatizes doing yoga in a fat body. This book is much more focused on yoga as a theory and a spiritual practice than it is an instruction manual. She does have another book called "Every Body Yoga" that might be more instructional, so I am hoping to check that out soon. 

If you like Yoke, you might also like: 

Rest Is Resistance 

By Tricia Hersey 

Little, Brown Spark, 2022. 211 pages. Nonfiction. 

Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice. What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine-level pace -- feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us. Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey's lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture. 

More Than A Body 

By Lexie Kite Houghton 

Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 346 pages. Nonfiction. 

Positive body image isn't believing your body looks good; it is knowing your body is good, regardless of how it looks. How do you feel about your body? Have you ever stayed home from a social activity or other opportunity because of concern about how you looked? Have you ever passed judgment on someone because of how they looked or dressed? Have you ever had difficulty concentrating on a task because you were self-conscious about your appearance? Our beauty-obsessed world perpetuates the idea that happiness, health, and ability to be loved are dependent on how we look, but authors Lindsay and Lexie Kite offer an alternative vision. With insights drawn from their extensive body image research, Lindsay and Lexie--PhDs and founders of the nonprofit Beauty Redefined (and also twin sisters!)--lay out an action plan that arms you with the skills you need to reconnect with your whole self and free yourself from the constraints of self-objectification.

LA

Graveyard Shift

Graveyard Shift 

by M.L. Rio 

Flatiron Books, 2024. 126 pages. Fiction.

This is a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave. Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story. One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom? Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks-and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought. 

This intense novella can and should be read in one sitting. The book opens in a very ominous graveyard setting with a long abandoned church. From there, the book only gets more alarming. A mystery is discovered and the plot moves quickly. In only 126 pages the author creates a well-developed cast of characters that readers will root for. I did wish the book continued on and we could learn the consequences of the characters actions. It felt like a small slice of a longer horror novel.

Middle of the Night

by Riley Sager

Dutton, 2024. 365 pages. Fiction.

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh's backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again. Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy's presence keep appearing in Ethan's backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle? The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place--be it quiet forest or suburban street--is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.

The House of Last Resort 

by Christopher Golden 

St. Martin’s Press, 2024. 290 pages. Fiction.

Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild - selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It's a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy's grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy's grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they've bought. There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn't know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they're certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years … and how many people died in the strange chapel inside.

JK