#ayanna lloyd banwo
Quote
They so close now that the only thing between them is breath and dusk and promise.
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds
59 notes
·
View notes
Text
➫ monthly book round-up: february 2024
books read: 6 [1 DNF] [-14%]
average rating: 3.6 [-4%]
average speed: 7.8 days [-20%]
total pages: 2,083 [-27%]
yearly goal progress: 11/50
best of the month: the space between here & now, sarah suk
worst of the month: knife skills for beginners, orlando murrin
4* reads:
the space between here & now, sarah suk
a song of wraiths and ruin, roseanne a. brown
3.5* reads:
flux, jinwoo chong
when we were birds, ayanna lloyd banwo
3* reads:
gleanings, neal shusterman
DNFs
knife skills for beginners, orlando murrin
currently reading:
saving time, jenny odell
the murder at the vicarage, agatha christie
#monthly roundup#the space between here & now#sarah suk#gleanings#neal shusterman#knife skills for beginners#orlando murrin#when we were birds#ayanna lloyd banwo#flux#jinwoo chong#a song of wraiths and ruin#roseanne a. brown#currently reading#booklr#bookblr#bookworm
3 notes
·
View notes
Photo
When We Were Birds: A Novel
By Ayanna Lloyd Banwo.
#When We Were Birds#Ayanna Lloyd Banwo#Turkey#Passion Flower#botanical#animals#books#book covers#birds#parrots#ibises
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is OCM Bocas Prize 2023 winner.
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo was named the winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2023 on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
The OCM (One Caribbean Media) Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, worth US$10,000, is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first handed out in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry, fiction (both novels and collections of short stories), and…
View On WordPress
#Ayanna Lloyd Banwo#OCM Bocas Prize#OCM Bocas Prize 2023#OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature#OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2023
0 notes
Text
Title: When We Were Birds | Author: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo | Publisher: Doubleday Books (2022)
1 note
·
View note
Photo
currently reading
0 notes
Text
The Gift Exchange, part 1
CW: institutionalised slavery, pet whump, dehumanisation
“Miss Lydia, Miss Lydia, what do you think about this?.”
Coriander jogged into the kitchen, brandishing a roll of wrapping paper patterned with abstract swirls in silver and dark green. The silver accents glittered in the pale winter morning sunlight falling in through the windows.
“It is really pretty!” Miss Lydia smiled, brown eyes warm. “Good choice, Cory!”
The blonde pet ducked his head, but smiled back from underneath his bangs. He wore a soft, green sweater with leather patches on the elbows that matched his chestnut trousers.
Lydia was dressed in a dark grey, knitted dress with red leggings. She leaned over the table to move the pot with the red and white amaryllis out of the way.
“Should we wrap everything into one present, or should we wrap each gift separately, do you think?”
“T-this pet thinks we should w-wrap one gift for Colton and one for Linden, b-but that all their gifts can be wrapped together.”
“That’s a good idea, let’s do that.”
Coriander spread out several seed packages on the table and studied them thoughtfully. Closest to Lydia was a packet with a picture of lush, green sugar snap peas labelled: ‘Mangetout, pea seeds 'Norli' ORGANIC’. Then, there were two packets both marked ‘Thunbergia alata, Black-eyed Susan’, the first one called ‘African Sunset’ in shades of red and apricot, the second one ‘Alba Oculata’ in brilliant white. The final was a handwritten envelope simply marked in Cory’s neat handwriting: ‘Chili, mix’.
“Are you happy with those seeds?”
“Y-yes, Miss Lydia. C-Colton will be able to grow them on the balcony, and i-it will be fun that we both can try to grow the same seeds. P-perhaps we can compare notes.”
Cory gathered the seed packets and tied them together with a neat red bow. Meanwhile, Lydia grabbed a hardback book. The blue dust jacket had brightly coloured leaves scattered all over the cover. The title stood out in bright white: When we were birds, by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo.
Opening the book, she wrote on the inside of the cover. ‘To Linden. Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year.’ Signing it, she handed it over to Coriander to add his name too.
“‘It is a bit of a risky gift,” she admitted to Cory, “since I haven’t read the book yet, but it seems so good. I got a copy for myself too, and I hope I will get the chance to read it over the holidays.”
They added two bags of homemade butterscotch candy in green paper cups, and two reused milk cartoons filled with gingerbread cookies, the result of last night’s baking spree.
Lydia and Cory put their joint efforts into wrapping the gifts into two neat packages. The dark, red ribbon a nice contrast to the green and silver wrapping paper.
“Let’s go for a walk and send it off this afternoon.” Coriander nodded.
“Y-yes, Miss Lydia.”
*
Linden wiggled the pen between his thumb and index finger, deep in thought. Leaning back in his kitchen chair, he looked over at Colton, who was working diligently at the end of the table. With wholly unbroken concentration, he was pulling strips of sellotape from the dispenser and sticking them in a neat row along the table’s wooden edge. When Linden had done the altogether far more fiddly task of wrapping a gift up, Col could pluck a pre-cut piece of tape and stick it in place. It was, as Linden had said about fifty times, excellent teamwork.
“Hey, Col, have you ever seen this before?” Linden asked, lifting his hand for Col to see. With the pen held right in its middle, Linden wiggled it gently, until it looked as if the pen was bending at the edges.
Col’s eyebrows twitched, and for a beautiful second Linden thought he was going to burst out laughing. Instead, his mouth curved upwards into a tiny smile. “Yes, Sir. I have.”
“Ah, not too impressive then. Haha, no matter.”
“Do you need any tape for the envelope, Sir?” Col asked, eyeing the Christmas card laid out in front of Linden.
“In a second… I’m just trying to figure something out.”
“Ah, okay, Sir.”
Col took another breath, as if to speak, then stopped himself. Linden prided himself on reading Col well enough by now to know that it was because he wanted to ask a question. Probably what are you trying to figure out?
“I’ve written my part of Lydia and Cory’s card, but I’m not sure how to do yours. I’m not going to make you try and hold a pen. I was thinking - do you want to just dictate it? It doesn’t have to be much, just a little festive greeting sort of thing. I can be your text-to-speech robot.”
Linden was always cheery around Christmas time. Something about winter setting in, dark and long and rainy, and then being cut through by glittering lights, gifts and music. Today, he felt like he was on a veritable warpath to make Col smile.
“That sounds good, Sir… I can do that.”
“Great!” Linden said, overjoyed that Colton hadn’t taken issue with the idea of ‘dictating’ something to his owner, hadn’t overthought any possible rule-breaking that could come with speaking and forcing his Master to write it all down. “And instead of you signing the card the normal way, I thought you could do a fingerprint?”
“That’s a good idea, Sir, thank you for c-”
“Wait, no!” Linden said, making Col flinch. “Sorry, I’m sorry love. I just realised. We’ll both do our fingerprints. That’ll be nice. Then we’re the same.”
There it was again, the coveted half-smile. Col’s cheeks glowed. “Thank you, Sir, that’s really kind. I think- I, uh…”
“Go on,” Linden said warmly. “I want to hear what you think.”
“I think Lydia and Cory will like that, Sir.”
“I agree. Now, here’s what I’ve written.”
Linden pushed the card over. He’d written a short message making light of the strange way they first crossed paths, saying how glad he now was to know the both of them, wishing them a peaceful and happy holiday. He waited patiently as Colton gave his message some thought, then wrote it down exactly as dictated on the left hand side of the card.
Linden found some stamp ink in the back of a drawer, and the two of them rolled their index fingers in it until they could leave two bold prints, one below each message.
Once the card was sealed, it was time for the gifts. Lydia’s gift was a specially-made book embosser, which had EX LIBRIS - LYDIA WINTERTHORPE printed onto it. The embosser itself was a satisfying, weighty thing, and Linden hoped she’d get great pleasure out of stamping all of her most beloved books.
Cory’s gift was also a bespoke item: a brass door sign with his name, Coriander, printed on it. It had ornate rounded corners which gave the thing a rustic, rather stately look, and although Linden had never seen Lydia’s house he guessed it would fit right in. He had run the gift idea past Col first - would a pet such as Cory be okay with claiming the bedroom as his in this way? Col had given it a fair share of thought, ultimately telling Linden, in a way that sounded more like a sinful confession, that Cory would like it very much.
The two men performed their well-honed wrapping ritual, with Col sticking down the final piece of tape with a flourish.
*
This is a collaboration between @whumpzone and @maracujatangerine.
We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas!
*
Tag List Part 1: @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-em @wh-wh-whu @neuro-whump @carnagecardinal @cowboy-anon @whump-me-all-night-long @redwingedwhump @myst-in-the-mirror @haro-whumps @eatyourdamnpears @bloodsweatandpotato @pinkraindropsfell @whumptywhumpdump @theydy-cringeworthy @whump-in-progress @whumpsy-daisy @nicolepascaline @whumpcreations @briars7 @shiningstarofwinter @whumppsychology @alex-ember @miss-kitty-whumptastic @whumpy-writings @in-patient-princess @youtube-fandoms-bands @goblinchildindabog @mazeish @distinctlywhumpthing @inpainandsuffering @canniboylism @icannotweave @incoherent-introspection @kim-poce @broken-typewriter @the-monarch-whumperfly @whumpers-inc @grizzlie70 @lil-whumper @writingbackwards-blog @sunflower1000 @wingedwhump @thecitythatdoesntsleep @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @onlybadendings @rabass @wolfeyedwitch @melancholy-in-the-morning
#lydia and linden#lydia and coriander#linden and colton#whump fic#pet whump#pet whumpee#bbu#box boy universe#box boy multiverse#box boy whump#writers on tumblr#original writing#christmas whump#chirstmas
94 notes
·
View notes
Note
3, 11 and 17 for the book asks?
3. what were your top five books of the year?
based on stars, my best rated (5) were the darker face of the earth by rita dove, when my brother was an aztec by natalie diaz, and little thieves by margaret owen; the runners up (4.75) include: ovid at fifteen by christopher bursk, suspiciously sweet by samantha sorelle, how to sell a haunted house by grady hendrix, ella minnow pea by mark dunn, when we were birds by ayanna lloyd banwo, she tries her tongue, her silence softly breaks by marlene nourbese philips, and the ballad of songbirds and snakes by suzanne collins
11. what was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson. lives up to the hype
17. did any books surprise you with how good they were?
lots and lots! little thieves was a pleasant surprise especially; i was not anticipating writing that satisfying in a YA novel. i also reread many (many) of my childhood delights in the process of clearing my shelves and the two princesses of bamarre by gail carson levine? holds up impeccably. arguably has aged like fine wine for me what with the epic poetry
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
Are there any new book releases that you are looking forward to reading?
Yes, looking forward to all these 2022 releases:
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury
The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper
Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
Neom by Lavie Tidhar
The Red Palace by June Hur
Strike the Zither by Joan He
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
And some 2022 releases I've already read and enjoyed:
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
Babel by R. F. Kuang
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
I posted 3,047 times in 2022
That's 22 more posts than 2021!
132 posts created (4%)
2,915 posts reblogged (96%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@a-ramblinrose
@therefugeofbooks
@leer-reading-lire
@mostlyghostie
@stefito0o
I tagged 3,045 of my posts in 2022
#who queue? - 2,870 posts
#book covers - 915 posts
#stacks of books - 652 posts
#bookshelves - 601 posts
#cover art - 432 posts
#spines - 386 posts
#open books - 333 posts
#book recommendations - 295 posts
#mugs - 209 posts
#bookstores - 203 posts
Longest Tag: 112 characters
#lords noodle and doodle came back and there was the most spectacular collective accident scene i've read in ages
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
2022 Release TBR
Where the Drowned Girls Go - Seanan McGuire (contemporary fantasy) - January 4
Heartstopper, Volume Four - Alice Oseman (YA romance) - January 4 🏳️🌈
Battle of the Linguist Mages - Scotto Moore (contemporary fantasy) - January 11 friend says it’s probably not my thing
Anatomy - Dana Schwartz (YA historical fantasy) - January 18
The Servant Mage - Kate Elliott (fantasy) - January 18 🏳️🌈
Love and Other Disasters - Anita Kelly (romance) - January 18 🏳️🌈
Some by Virtue Fall - Alexandra Rowland (fantasy) - January 25 🏳️🌈
Hot and Sour Suspects - Vivien Chien (cozy mystery) - January 25 BIPOC
The Christie Affair - Nina de Gramont (historical fiction) - February 1
Bluebird - Ciel Pierlot (science fiction) - February 8 🏳️🌈
Dead Silence - S.A. Barnes (science fiction/horror) - February 8
Age of Ash - Daniel Abraham (fantasy) - February 15
Carolina Built - Kianna Alexander (historical fiction) - February 22 BIPOC
Gallant - V.E. Schwab (YA fantasy) - March 1
The River of Silver - S.A. Chakraborty (historical fantasy) - March 1 BIPOC
Spelunking Through Hell - Seanan McGuire (contemporary fantasy) - March 1
Umboi Island - J.J. Dupuis (mystery) - March 8 🇨🇦
Memory's Legion - James S.A. Corey (science fiction) - March 15 I’m three books behind on the series, no way am I getting to this this year
When We Were Birds - Ayanna Llord Banwo (fabulism) - March 15 BIPOC
The Cartographers - Peng Shepherd (mystery) - March 15
How to Take Over the World - Ryan North (science/humour) March 15 🇨🇦
Comeuppance Served Cold - Marion Deeds (historical fantasy) - March 22
The Diamond Eye - Kate Quinn (historical fiction) - March 29
The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper (historical fiction) - March 29
Conversations with People Who Hate Me - Dylan Marron (memoir) - March 29
Portrait of a Thief - Grace C. Li (thriller) - April 5 BIPOC
Shadows of Berlin - David R. Gillham (historical fiction) - April 5
Amongst Our Weapons - Ben Aaronovitch (urban fantasy) - April 12 BIPOC
Persians - Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (history) - April 12
See the full post
97 notes - Posted January 1, 2022
#4
A couple weeks ago I was blessed with a reading copy of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows, and let me tell you, it should be on every fantasy lover’s TBR for this summer. This is a story about kind, sensible, competent people dealing with assassins and intrigues, about finding love in unexpected places, about healing and unlearning unconscious biases. The writing and the setting are both lush and to be sunk into. It’s a beautiful queer love story, full of gentleness, wonderfully escapist in general, and gave me serious Marvellous Light vibes the whole way through. It’s not without darkness—there’s a very notable rape early on, for instance—but gosh, I need people to read this just so I can squee about it with them.
Out July 26, 2022.
108 notes - Posted May 16, 2022
#3
My dad unhauled a bunch of books before Christmas and let me have my pick of them. A pic of the full stack will be coming, probably in my February wrap-up, but I just had to share this one! Don’t have a date for it, but it was awarded to a technical school student in 1910.
116 notes - Posted February 25, 2022
#2
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper is a refreshing take on historical fiction. Not only is it set in Roman Pompeii rather than northwestern Europe in the 19th or 20th centuries, but it’s centered on enslaved sex workers and told in modern language. (No thou’s or attempts to mimic Latin here!) The author has done a great job of bringing the ancient world to life and making it feel nearer than it is.
The book focuses on Amara, born into a middle-class Greek family and sold into slavery after family tragedy. As she does her best to better her circumstances at any cost, we get not only a portrait of a living Roman city with its pubs, parties, clothing stores, food stalls, and everyday injustices, but also a wonderful sense of the friendships and competition within the brothel she works in. I loved seeing how the women there formed a community among themselves, and how they fit into the wider society (or didn’t). I got the real sense that Harper had not only delved deep into how Roman society would’ve worked at the street level, but had done her diligence regarding the lives of (modern) sex workers too.
I also thought that Harper did a good job portraying the characters as complex, fallible, and human. She gives her female characters, especially Amara, the full range of emotions and all are believably imperfect. The worst of the men get sympathetic moments and the best of them, damning ones. They all feel of their time too—relatable or familiar, but also holding attitudes and beliefs that remind you this isn’t a modern story. (For instance, it’s clear that Amara knows slavery sucks for all enslaved people, but she never quite questions why slavery is even a thing.)
All in all, reading this felt like reading about real people leading real lives much more often than it felt like reading a novel. It’s a slowish read that feels at times like it’s digressing or offering up set pieces of Pompeiian life, but those moments all get woven back in neatly by the end. (It’s also slowish because of emotional drain. I couldn’t binge-read because bad things kept happening.) I found the ethical dilemmas compelling, though—if you’d damned no matter what, what’s the right option?—and enjoyed both how Harper told this story and woven in her themes and critiques. It’s definitely been one of the highlights of my reading month and I hope it gets a lot of attention once it’s out.
Note: while this book is definitely pro-sex work and has a lot of sympathy for those who find themselves forced into that life or exploited, it’s still set within an incredibly misogynistic society that saw no problem with degrading or harming women. If harassment, issues with consent or boundaries, or sexual violence are things you don’t want to read about, this might not be the book for you. They’re rarely graphic, but definitely prevalent.
122 notes - Posted February 21, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Hello! I saw your 2022 Release TBR come across my dash, and I don't know if the Pride flags are to denote that the author or that the book itself is queer, but in either case, Seanan McGuire can absolutely have a flag :-)
Thanks! The flags are to denote queer characters here, not queer authors (for brevity and minimal confusion). I'm trying to be responsible and not put flags on books I'm not 100% sure of. For instance, I know Where the Drowned Girls Go is Cora's book, but I don't remember if Cora is canonically queer? Same goes for the characters in Seasonal Fears and for Alice in Spelunking Through Hell. If they're confirmed, I'll be adding that flag during my wrap-up, for sure.
129 notes - Posted January 15, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
Tagged by @aliteraryprincess and @franticvampirereads, thank you!
Tagging @lizziethereader @thelivebookproject @rae-reads @thesheepthewolf @doughtah @howlsmovinglibrary
13 notes
·
View notes
Quote
How to explain to him that her mother is a womb and a grave; a cage and a pair of wings; a feeding tube and a noose.
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds
63 notes
·
View notes
Text
when we were birds // ayanna lloyd banwo
first published: 2022
read: 13 february 2024 – 16 february 2024
pages: 278
format: ebook
genres: fiction, adult, literary fiction, magical realism, family, romance (non-traditional)
favourite character(s): darwin, yejide esp. in terms of her relationship with petronella
least favourite character(s): probably seema
rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
thoughts: i took a second to review this because i read it for a book club and wanted to attend before gathering my thoughts together. i think it's a good thing because, while hearing the discussion didn't largely change my opinion on the book, it did give me a little more appreciation for the story and themes as a whole. on the other hand, it's now a little less fresh in my mind so i'll keep this review short and sweet.
when we were birds was a really interesting read. it did take a little getting into, especially as i sometimes struggle to wrap my head around lit fic, but there was a certain point where some unexpected plot kicked in and the middle through to the ending turned out to be way more tumultuous and action-packed than i was expecting.
the book covered a lot of thought-provoking themes, such as death, religion, identity, and mother-child relationships. i came to love the characters and what they came to symbolise, and i enjoyed exploring the deeper symbolism around each one. i thought the final few chapters were brilliant and, while the start was a little slow, it then kept me hooked throughout most of the story.
3.5* overall because, while i did enjoy it for the end, i'll drop a little for the slow start and the points where it got a little too literary and opaque for my liking.
#when we were birds#ayanna lloyd banwo#2024 reads#3.5 stars#fiction#literary fiction#book review#booklr#bookblr#bookworm
1 note
·
View note
Text
What I’m Reading
BOOKS OF MAY
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (SS)
My Favourite Girlfriend Was a French Bulldog by Legna Rodríguez Iglesias
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers **
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree **
Graphic Novels:
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Vol.1-3 — Mercer/Colville/Samson**
Graveneye by Sloane Leong & Anna Bowles
Persona3 Vol.1-3 by Shuji Sogabe & ATLUS
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall & Lisa Sterle **
Himawari House by Harmony Becker **
Marvel’s Voices: Heritage by Various Writers & Artists
Skyward Vol.1 by Joe Henderson & Lee Garbett
(78 books read / 125 books goal)
currently reading:
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Greedy: Notes From a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much by Jen Winston (NF)
A Game of Fate by Scarlett St. Clair
Black Light by Kimberly King Parsons (SS)
The Renunciations by Donna Kelly (P)
Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Making Love With the Land by Joshua Whitehead (NF)
* - re-read // ** - 4+ star-rating (recommended)
GN - graphic novel // NF - non-fiction // P - poetry
SS - short story collection // AB - audiobook
TBR:
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez (SS)
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad (NF)
Poppy’s Inferno by Poppy (GN)
WHAT ARE YOU READING? :D
Find me on: GOODREADS | THE STORYGRAPH
#books#bookworm#reading#TBR#what are you reading#my books#2023#may#june#reading year 2023#books of 2023#novels#graphic novels#manga#Marvel#DnD#non fiction#essays#memoir#poetry#historical fiction#fantasy#magical realism
2 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Book Recommendations: Magical Realism
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
The St. Bernard women have lived in Morne Marie, the house on top of a hill outside Port Angeles, for generations. Built from the ashes of a plantation that enslaved their ancestors, it has come to shelter a lineage that is bonded by much more than blood. One woman in each generation of St. Bernards is responsible for the passage of the city's souls into the afterlife. But Yejide's relationship with her mother, Petronella, has always been contorted by anger and neglect, which Petronella stubbornly carries to her death bed, leaving Yejide unprepared to fulfill her destiny.
Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when his ailing mother can no longer work and the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life she built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.
Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, Port Angeles's largest and oldest cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both. A masterwork of lush imagination and immersive lyricism, When We Were Birds is a spellbinding novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal.
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low or empty, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers - even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets that she has held onto so tightly their whole lives. Instead, Orquídea is transformed, leaving them with more questions than answers.
Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, the four descendants travel to Ecuador - to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked back.
The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal
There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child...
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.
When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.
At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can't solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.
The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother's disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman - especially a Black woman - can find herself on trial for witchcraft.
But fourteen years have passed since her mother's disappearance, and now Jo is finally ready to let go of the past. Yet her future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30 - or enroll in a registry that allows them to be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy. At 28, Jo is ambivalent about marriage. With her ability to control her life on the line, she feels as if she has her never understood her mother more. When she's offered the opportunity to honor one last request from her mother's will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
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 what they promise?
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?
#fiction#magical realism#fantasy#new books#library books#book recommedations#reading recommendations#book recs#reading recs#TBR pile#tbr#to read#booklr#book tumblr#book blog#library blog
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Book Digest: Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Jessemusse Cacinda, Okechukwu Nzelu
Book Digest: Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Jessemusse Cacinda, Okechukwu Nzelu
We wrap up book news for our readers in our regular Book Digest segment with books from Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Jessemusse Cacinda, and Okechukwu Nzelu.
Consolée by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
Publisher: LITTERATURE FRAPublication Date: August 17, 2022Genre: Literary fictionLanguage: FrenchWhere to find it: Coming soon
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse.…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
toshinori-symbol-of-peace
It's fine, now. Why? Because I am here!
woodunderwears-blog
woodunderwear
dwayneharrisgolf
Dwayne Harris Golf Blog
btcbunny-blog
BTC Bunny start with cloud mining
skysyzygy
i have an undisclosed number of green jackets