The heart wants what the heart wants, and our hearts want books.

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Does your reading life need a little spice?  Me too – I need to mix it up more, which is one reason we chose When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole to read with Virtual Book Club in April!  Is this book spicy in the romance way?  We have no idea, but Cole does write open door romances too.  For these purposes, we were really interested in reading Cole’s first thriller.  We’d love for you to join us in learning just what happens when no one is watching, and discussing it on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. CST, but you do have to sign up here!

J is for Jess. Jess Elle has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in rhetoric and writing from the University of Texas at Austin. Texas is home for her but she has been liking Southern California more and more. When she’s not writing or reading she’s cooking because she believes food is love. Wings of Ebony is her debut novel which was pitched on Twitter in #DVPit. After almost 300 likes and over 250 retweets in October 2018, Rue’s story was picked up by Simon & Schuster. It has since become a New York Time’s bestseller, and the second in the duology, Ashes of Gold, was released on January 11, 2022.

Looking at the original Twitter pitch, the idea of Rue’s story being a mashup of The Hate U Give and Wonder Woman where a “Black teen from the hood learns she’s half-human, half-god” and must destroy racist gods that were “poisoning her block with violence, drugs, and crime,” there’s no question why we were interested in the book. Had Rue’s story lived up to that hype for me, I wouldn’t feel like there are unfulfilled expectations. Rue’s story, however, had me having to hold on to the questions about the magical system and technology that comes from the island of Ghizon. I found Rue’s character filled with impatience. Her rage is justifiable living and growing up a Black kid in Houston’s East Row, but her choices feel like there’s a lack of forethought before she jumps in. Especially in the way she speaks to everyone, elder, peer, or enemy. There were other struggles I had. I felt like even the settings of both Houston and Ghizon lacked small details that could have really brought the places to life for me. They fell flat, and I didn’t have any connection to them. My biggest struggle, however, was several places with a lack of continuity which shows a lack of editing.

Unfortunately, I am going to have to give Wings of Ebony a 2.5 star review. The promise of the premise was there, and the action was on point, but the above issues are something that didn’t meet my expectations and became repeatedly disappointing.  I don’t think that I can read the follow up and ending of the story, I’ll just have to wait for Nikki to give me the overview.

~Ashley

Darling readers, I do so love to tell Ashley’s wrong about a book.  She’s not wrong about this book and it makes me sad.  That pitch, that I *just* read for the first time sounds magical, but it feels very different from the book I read.  I adore everything Wings of Ebony wanted to be, but I agree, it doesn’t live up to the hype, up to the pitch, or up to the story it wants to be.  Like so many other YA books that get a huge hype (I’m looking at you Red Queen) there is SO much potential in the book, but it doesn’t feel finished because I have so many questions about Ghizon and it’s origins because it doesn’t make sense in the context of the book (which is magical realism, in case there was a question).  Like the sense of place, and the magical system, the characters could have used more development as well.  Some don’t receive that development because…plot reasons, but for others, it just isn’t there.  To me, it reads almost like the author was trying to show and not tell, but she didn’t get to flesh it out enough before the text went to print (and according to the press kit, she wrote the manuscript in just 35 days).  It makes me wonder if the pitch competition came with a deadline to print, or maybe the editor was just tired.  

I’m giving Wings of Ebony three stars.  The idea is solid, the writing is fine, but I wanted more from the story.  I considered lowering my rating, but I’m not because I think Elle is communicating some important messages about racism, hatred, the power of all kinds of love and family, caste, and governments.  Those messages are so important, even if I’m underwhelmed by the rest of the execution.  I’m curious about the second in the duology, Ashes of Gold, but I’m not sure I’m 400+ pages curious.  I want good things for Rue and for Elle, but with just a year in between the books, I’m not confident the time was there to address the things I’m going to want in the follow up.  Only time, and my holds list, will tell.  

What’s a book (or series) that others seem to love but didn’t live up to the hype for you?

~Nikki

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What do you do when no one is watching?  Typically, we relish in the quiet and read a book!  If you also like to read books when no one is watching, or when they are, then you’re invited to join us in April to discuss When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole.  Don’t ask Nikki what this book is about.  Not only has she not read the marketing copy (not that she’d remember), but she heard Alyssa Cole and thriller and hit recommend.  When a Virtual Book Club friend commented that we haven’t read a thriller (although we did read a horror novel, which felt thriller adjacent), Cole’s 2020 novel immediately came to mind, so here we are.  If you’re already in, realizing we haven’t actually set a date yet, go ahead and sign up here.  Date TBD before the end of February!

Darling readers, we have to stop doing a whole month of Young Adult novels, except it was a total accident that we did mostly two in a row.  Next month will be different, I think, I hope.  It’s going to be a different kind of wild ride, at the least.  All that said, y’all, Felix Ever After is an important book and I’m SO very glad I read it.  Anyone who reads fiction as a window into the soul and a way to share in the experiences of others needs to read this (understanding that teens frequently use…choice vocabulary some may not appreciate) because this is a window into the soul of a Black trans young person and a reminder of what it’s like to be a teenager, which I found really helpful as there are teens in my life as well as several preteens (and one about to turn double digits very soon at my house).  I needed to remember how big and important everything felt when I was a teen, even though it all (mostly) feels so miniscule now (especially as I just got an email about my 20th high school reunion…yup, there’s that).  

What is Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender about anyway?  It’s the story of a Black trans young person still working to discover his identity.  It’s a story about high school, the pressure of choosing what’s next, relationships, bullies, acceptance, and the importance of communication.  It’s teen drama, but it’s also relatable to an adult because would that I could live in the day where communication problems stop and everyone magically understands each other.  I learned some new, hip (although probably not) things (hacking vs cracking, for example) and I felt seen in the drama of Felix’s parents and how their split affected how he sees himself.  Personally, I really enjoyed the settings of this novel, which is centered around a group in a summer program at an art school in Brooklyn.  The feel of the arts school, and the language of the acrylics classroom combined with the freedom of city living and just hopping on the train made me long to spend some time in the hustle and bustle of a fun, vibrant urban area again.  

As much as I didn’t want to read another book about teens (again), I really enjoyed Felix Ever After.  Callender does a fantastic job of establishing the sense of place, highlighting the struggles of the characters, and carefully placing the small pieces that help them grow through the novel.  I’d love to see the movie version of this, but only if Callender gets lots of input into the script and the casting.  Personally, as someone who’s never really questioned a lot of things about my identity because they’ve just always seemed to fit, I appreciate that Felix is a trans person at the beginning, and still has struggles with his identity.  I didn’t know anything about the depth of the variance that exists in the trans community and I’m glad I know more now.  I am so grateful for this window into the lives of trans people, understanding that this is just one possible window of so, so many more.  

I’m giving Felix Ever After four solid stars.  The book is fantastically written and very well developed.  The story isn’t one I’ll revisit, but it’s one I’m very glad I’ve read, and Callender has earned a spot on my TBR for their backlist and future titles.  I’ll leave you with this – the suicide statistics for trans people are real and high.  The threat of violence is real and high.  When we build understanding for one another, we build a safer world, a more vibrant, beautiful world, and I hope you’ll consider reading Felix Ever After and other books that help you see through windows into the souls of people who don’t look like you or don’t identify like you.  

What’s something you’ve read that really helped you understand someone else?

~Nikki 

Kacen Callender is a best-selling and award-winning author of books for children, teens, and adults. Their debut middle-grade book, Hurricane Child, is a Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Book Award winner. Their two-newest fantasy novels have also won awards. The adult fantasy series entitled Islands of Blood and Storm includes Queen of the Conquered which is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award and King of the Dragonflies which won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Felix Ever After is an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book.  Kacen currently lives in St Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands where they were born and raised. In their free time they enjoy RPG video games, practicing their art, and focusing on healing and growth. 

I feel like their focus on healing and growth is important because of a blog post of theirs that was published in August 2021. In it, Kacen states that they are taking out mentions of Ezra Patel’s nationality as well as mentions of Harry Potter for accuracy and the unintentional harm they have caused readers by using such references in a novel that is supposed to celebrate all types of acceptance and trans joy. I think it’s really important that an author who is Black, queer, and trans takes it upon themself to change things that have caused such harm from future printings of the book (Nikki’s kindle version and my library dead tree copy both included all the mentions). I think it’s admirable that Kacen is not only voluntarily changing things that could cause harm to readers which don’t affect the story and also donating money to groups that help the people who could have been hurt. That is what I would call healing and growth. (And no, money doesn’t fix the hurt that has happened, but without the money that has been given after a hurt has occurred no one can do the good that needs to be done in the future, to keep the hurt from happening to more people.)

Felix Ever After was a book I wish was available in my high school days. Not just for me to learn what it’s like in the minds and hearts of trans and queer persons as regards their identities, but so that I could learn how to love the trans and queer people in my life better. To learn how to be a better ally to them in their struggles, both internal and external. The external struggles of Felix and the way he associates with his friends and family are of course filled with big deal teenage angsty feelings, but gender identity is a big deal no matter the age of the person. People of any age can have these internal struggles, questions, and make decisions that are different from those they have made before. In support of any questions you may have about gender in our society and learning about people in general, Seeing Gender: An Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression by Iris Gottlieb is probably a great place to start. I haven’t read it, but it came up in my searches while researching our author and the excerpts seem right on for follow up reading after Felix Ever After.

Personally, I had a whole lot more feelings that I can’t really remember or place because of my lack of ability to HIGHLIGHT IN A DEAD TREE LIBRARY BOOK (righteous annoyance). I know I want to say more about personal experience loving and allying with my trans, queer, and nonbinary friends and family, but for privacy reasons I can’t and won’t. That’s their story and their choice to share it. My story is just loving them because they are amazing human beings exactly as they are. Felix Ever After gets 4 stars for being a book I will repeatedly recommend to readers of any age.

I’m not going to ask you a question today, I’m going to give you an assignment: Read a book about a person who is not like you then love on people who are like those characters. On purpose and without reservation or judgement. Because everyone deserves love like that.

~Ashley

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The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

New year, same virtual book club goal, same Maas release month!  Can Nikki finish her reread in time?  House of Earth and Blood (#1) is the longest single book we’ve read, and it’s a reread, so she’ll be there regardless, just perhaps a bit rusty on that ending.  Join us to discuss the irony of Target’s vacuum sale during Valentine’s and House of Sky and Breath release, share your own Jelly Jubilee story, and more on Friday, February 11 at 7:30 pm CST, but you have to sign up here to get the link Friday afternoon via email!

Welcome to Nikki’s readerly confessions, which today gives you an opportunity to learn from my mistakes.  When one is roughly half way into a novel, one should be very careful and not read the marketing copy on the follow-up novel, when one is trying to determine the release date for said follow-up novel.  THE STRUGGLE!  I know, I usually don’t read the marketing copy, but I needed that publication date, and it was just screaming at me off the screen, so then for the last 40 or so percent of the book, I was waiting on this thing to happen… 0/10 do not suggest.  The thing happened, and I already knew there was another book coming, but I didn’t need to know about said thing early. At least I warned my book buddy to stand firm against spoilers. Ugh.  Now back to our regularly scheduled review.

Darling readers, this week we are reviewing the story I didn’t know I needed in my life.  I didn’t even sort of understand what we were getting into, but Arthurian legend with a Black YA female hero?  Yes please!  And now, after reading Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, please ma’am may I have another, but maybe before November when the second book in the trilogy comes out!  Content warnings are needed for this book surrounding the death of a parent among other things found on the author’s website.  It doesn’t happen on the page, but this death is a motivator for our hero, and other characters also discuss the loss of their mothers and walk each other through those tragedies.  Also in this book we have a (literal) hero’s journey, which does include demons and such, so there is violence, but it feels appropriate for a young adult novel (our protagonist is a junior in high school, sort of).  

As Legendborn opens, Bree, our hero, lost her mom three months prior, and is still very much struggling with her grief.  She is moving to UNC, mom’s alma mater, to attend their early college program with her best friend Alice, partially to escape her home as it is now, without her mom.  In the course of trying to find her way (via a party, as one does), Bree finds herself witnessing a demon attack, which leads to her being attacked by hellhounds (sort of, but it’s all on the page), and learning that she’s immune from having her memories tampered with by a Merlin (yes, like that Merlin) when she’s in physical pain, which releases a memory from the night her mom died, a memory that she now knows was tampered with.  What follows is the story of Bree’s search for answers about her mom, and what she learns about herself and the world around her in the process.  

Legendborn is ultimately a complex story, fantastically told, in a familiar setting, not because I’ve ever been to UNC – Chapel Hill, but because it’s a college campus.  I’m already looking forward to rereading it before reading Bloodmarked and looking for easter eggs planted earlier in the story for how the ending plays out.  Speaking of endings, I’m not mad about it because it’s not a giant cliffhanger, but we definitely have a lot coming up in books two and three.  One of my favorite things about this book, and I hope the series, is that while Bree is the protagonist, there is a large supporting cast of her friends, with some playing strong supporting roles to the point that they feel like an ensemble supporting our lead.  

I’m giving Legendborn 4 solid stars.  The writing is amazing, the plot is solid, if a bit predictable, but the world building felt like it took longer than I really wanted it to take.  Perhaps that’s an adult reading a YA campus novel, or perhaps it just took longer than necessary.  Regardless, I’m likely to reread when each subsequent book in the trilogy comes out or, let’s be honest, maybe just when the third book comes out I’ll binge it all at once, especially if they’re running two years in between books (you all know I’m scared of #2 in a trilogy).  And, I’m really looking forward to seeing where Deonn takes the rest of the books.  What she’s laid out is pretty amazing, and I’m excited to read the rest of Bree’s story, and her supporting ensemble’s story too.  I feel like these characters have a lot to learn and a lot to teach, and that they have a solid chance of staying with me like some of my favorites.  

What’s a title that you knew might become a favorite after reading it the first time?

~Nikki 

I’m going to start with the usual and important work of author biography and book awards because I don’t want to forget to do it before I get into my own readerly confessions. Tracy Deonn is a masterful writer, creating this world of demons and Arthurian legend mixed with Southern and “African American history and spiritual traditions.” It’s no surprise knowing that she’s a “second generation fangirl;” readers can feel her love of science fiction and fantasy, her knowledge of the current and popular magic-based worlds, and how she transforms them into something brand-new but with deep roots. (See what I did there!?) Deonn is a two-time graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in communications and performance studies. A champion of diversity and representation in all science fiction and fantasy media, she has contributed her voice to two story collections, the 40th anniversary anthology of The Empire Strikes Back, From a Certain Point of View and a story of growing up Black and geeky in Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America. Legendborn is Deonn’s debut novel, an instant New York Times Bestseller, winner of the 2021 American Library Association Coretta Scott King – Steptoe Award for New Talent, among numerous other accolades found here on her website. Per usual, my favorite line of her bio is the last one: When she’s not writing, Tracy speaks on panels at science fiction and fantasy conventions, reads fanfic, arranges puppy playdates, and keeps an eye out for ginger-flavored everything. It sounds like the perfect geek-life.

Now, for Ashley’s readerly confessions: I’ve been low-key obsessed with Arthurian tradition since high school. So much so that I took an entire English course on Arthurian tradition in Literature when I went on my undergraduate exchange adventure to Bishop’s University in Canada. I’m going to blame my former roommate and friend of the blog for getting me sucked into Marion Zimmer Bradley’s epic The Mists of Avalon. The 2001 television mini-series starring Juliana Marguiles, Angelica Houston, and Joan Allen that featured music by Loreena McKennitt sealed the deal. I have gotten away from my more hardcore obsession of Arthurian tradition as an adult by trying to learn about more diverse legends and mythology. Legendborn, though… it’s bringing me back in a whole brand new way and I’m loving it. If I were to allow myself to follow the path of readerly feelings, I would jump right back in with two feet, settle into a nice re-acquaintanceship, and sail along until Deonn’s Bloodmarked arrives in November. Obviously, I’m here to join in with any re-reading plans that Nikki places in front of me, for any and all the reasons.

There are two points that I want to make about why I love this book. The first is that I knew from the first chapter that the two best friends, Briana and Alice are our people. Here’s the first and best example:

[Alice] eyes me as if gauging my mood. “ ‘I hate tiny parties—they force one into constant exertion.’ ” I squint, searching my memories for the familiar words. “Did you—did you just Jane Austen me?” Her dark eyes twinkle. “Who’s the literary nerd? The quoter or the one who recognizes the quote?” “Wait.” I shake my head in amusement. “Did you just Star Wars me?” “Nah.” She grins. “I New Hope’d you.”

The second point is that Deonn seamlessly, expertly, allows for a plethora of diverse characters in her ensemble cast. There are LGBTQIA+ characters and relationships, plus additional persons of color  – not just Briana’s immediate family. I love it. It’s much more representative of what we know life on a college campus to be like.

I’m giving Legendborn 4.5 stars and rounding it up to 5. I’m obsessed, I’m definitely going to re-read, and Deonn’s future works are going straight to my TBR. It didn’t hurt that our friend of the blog and blog photographer extraordinaire recommended the title this past fall, spurring us to get Legendborn off of Nikki’s holds list ASAP.

Has there been a book you picked up as an adult that reopened a childhood obsession?

~Ashley

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