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You know what comes after September, that month that just can’t figure out if it’s summer or fall, at least in the southern US?  OCTOBER, and October is for witches, which makes Virtual Book Club in October about … WITCHES!  Join us as we hang out in New York City in the 1960s with Susanna, Franny, Jet, and Vincent OWENS via Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic by signing up here.  That’s right, we’re getting the backstory of the Aunts from Practical Magic!  And I hope I’m not the only one considering watching the movie again as research!  

VBC Reminder:  You can also Save the Date and pre-register for the date of Friday, December 9.  In December, we’re delighted to bring you Veronica and Stoker #3, I mean, A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn (please don’t jump in at #3, you’ll regret it, and Veronica would be a delightful read in any season).

I think I might have had a first with this week’s title.  It was too much.  I was having an entire week (month / year, thank you, The Rembrandts) and then in the book there was some tension, and a whole mess of feelings (but not YA feelings, or rather not just YA feelings), so I closed the book, and put it down for a few days, and read two shifter romance novels.  Darling readers, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES!  Just because a book is good or recommended (and this one is both) or anything else does not mean it is the right book for you, and even if it is the right book for you, it doesn’t mean it’s the right book for you right now.  This was definitely one of those cases, and I felt it, and I just listened to myself and rolled with it.  Even now though, I’m reading a very chill book (which I’ll happily share at the end of the month, or you’re welcome to check Goodreads), and I just want to finish the shifter romance anthology, but that’s an entirely separate issue as I plan to cancel my Kindle Unlimited subscription to focus on some library holds (yes, that’s still an entire situation, and no I haven’t committed holds bankruptcy, yet).  

Now that I’ve finished, I can most definitely recommend We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia, and let you know that my big struggle is deciding if I’d like to read the second in the duology, We Unleash the Merciless Storm on audio or non-kindle e-book.  I’m on the fence honestly, but I’m not mad at where we left the characters, just concerned I won’t remember if I wait long (or even if I don’t wait).  What you need to know about this title before diving in is that it’s got a lot going on.  “In this daring and romantic fantasy debut perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale,” we have our protagonist finishing school, where she’s been trained to be a perfect society wife, well, one of a team of two, and is also tasked with keeping her past, before she entered school, a secret.  Yes, that quote is from the marketing copy and it’s on point.  Daring and romantic, but mostly the former, are the right descriptors, and also coming of age as the protagonist didn’t realize just how much she needed to find herself during this major life transition.  She has an amazing journey and it was a nail-biting pleasure to read along with it.  

I’m giving We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia four solid stars.  I may increase the stars after reading the second half of the duology, because I need to know how the story ends to know if this is going to be a potential favorite of the year or not, and as you know, if it’s not a potential favorite, or obsessive reread, it’s not likely to get five stars from me.  Yes, I am a rough crowd, unapologetically.  Mejia’s writing is amazing, and combined with the story, this title sucks you in wholly, and I loved it, right up until I had to pause (because of how it combined with the extra feels in my real life).  I’m very interested in reading Mejia’s other titles too, and probably will pick up her Paola Santiago series at some point, as my people have already consumed the published titles.  

What’s a book you hesitantly loved because you weren’t, or aren’t, sure how the series would end?

~Nikkii

What I really loved about We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia is that it didn’t read like a debut novel. Mejia set an amazing tone for the book with a sense of place and characters that grow and evolve. It’s no surprise that it is an award winning YA novel, specifically the Oregon Spirit Book Award for debut fiction and runner up for the Neukom Institute Literary Arts award for speculative fiction. It’s been featured on the best of lists for Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and O by Oprah Magazine and was the 2019 book of the year selection for Kirkus and School Library Journal. (We Unleash the Merciless Storm is also critically acclaimed but we did not read that so I’m not going to talk about that here.) I am going to mention that her Paola Santiago series is already in development at Disney with Eva Longoria as producer, so Nikki had better catch up with her littles soon! I’ll end up joining them on that journey so that’s a-ok with me! Mejia lives in Oregon with her daughter, partner, and two small dogs. She plays the guitar, grows heirloom corn, and is trying to perfect the vegan tamale.

I’m going to admit that I didn’t start reading We Set the Dark on Fire knowing that it is the first in a duology. I figured that out at about the 60% mark because I thought that there was just TOO MUCH plot that needed to be tied up while keeping the same pacing. So, then I go and research this issue, bring that information to my book buddy, AND SHE TELLS ME SHE ALREADY KNEW THAT. I TRUSTED HER! [Nikki here: more than 20 years later she knew better than to trust me to hold back with books!] I felt a little betrayed by my lack of knowledge about book two. But, maybe that’s my #EnneagramOne showing, but my book buddy’s #EnneagramSix also does not like surprises to the plan, so I feel like this is a fair request for the future…I digress. 

Betrayal is quite a theme as relates to today’s review because Daniela is recruited to be a spy in the rebellion against the government of Medio, for which her new husband is a high ranking official. The book opens with the tale of two brother-gods, the God of Salt and the God of Sun. The God of Sun fell in love with the daughter of the king of Medio and asked to be hers forever. The Moon Goddess fell in love with the god-turned-human as she shown her light into the room he shared with his human-turned-goddess. The God of Sun was swayed by the sensuality of the Moon Goddess and so he deliberated for six days on what to do, as he loved both goddesses. The God of Salt was furious as the tides of his sea had always obeyed none but the Moon Goddess, and he loved her from afar even though she repeatedly turned her face from him. After the God of Sun’s six days of contemplation, he appeared to his brother and his people to announce that he and the two goddesses would rule Medio together as one family. The God of Salt was so furious that he released a storm on the island, ravaging the land and the people. In retaliation the God of Sun shed his human form and fought for a day and a night against his brother. Ultimately victorious against the God of Salt, the Sun God banished his brother from the islands of Medio for betraying his and his goddess-queens’ wishes. This story, legend, mythology, whatever you want to call it, is the basis for the elite in Medio society to take two wives, a Primera and a Segunda. The Primera is the husband’s public equal like the princess was to the Sun God and the Segunda is the sensual, child-bearing, home-beautifying representation of the Moon Goddess. The unanswerable question to the mythology is why did the Sun God think that the Salt God betrayed him, when he voluntarily took the Moon Goddess as a second wife knowing that her tides held sway over the Salt God’s seas?  

Y’all, if you can’t tell, I was hooked from the fictional mythology from the prologue. I need to know what happens next in Daniela’s story but I just can’t see when I’m going to be able to fit book two into my reading schedule and that is so frustrating. I am also giving We Set the Dark on Fire four stars, and reserving the right to revisit my star rating when I finish the duology. I’m thankful, however, that I am not like a dear friend of the blog who has to keep going one book after another in a series with no pauses just to know how the story ends. That’s rough going when a series isn’t completed, so, I like to take a healthy pause now and again, too. 

~Ashley

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