#the book is never look back by lilliam rivera

[lilyvines]

im reading a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story and like. i know how it ends. i knew how it was gonna end before i started reading. but this entire time ive been like “maybe it’ll be different, maybe they’ll make it”

[bookaddict24-7]

AUTHOR FEATURE:

﹒Lilliam Rivera﹒

Five Books Written By this Author:

The Education of Margot Sánchez

Never Look Back

Dealing in Dreams

Barely Floating

We Light Up the Sky

___

Happy reading!

[cheshirelibrary]

8 Excellent Greek Retellings to Add to Your TBR 

[via Book Riot]

I love reading retellings. They give us fresh twists to stories we already know and love. Plus they also allow us to revisit some of our favorite stories through a new perspective — and often through an entirely different genre! Greek retellings in particular have become quite popular, let’s take a look at eight excellent Greek retellings.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

Oreo by Fran Ross

Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane 

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

[mediaevalmusereads]

Never Look Back. By Lilliam Rivera. Bloomsbury, 2020.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: YA contemporary romance, mythological retelling

Series: N/A

Summary: Eury comes to the Bronx as a girl haunted. Haunted by losing everything in Hurricane Maria--and by an evil spirit, Ato. She fully expects the tragedy that befell her and her family in Puerto Rico to catch up with her in New York. Yet, for a time, she can almost set this fear aside, because there's this boy . . .

Pheus is a golden-voiced, bachata-singing charmer, ready to spend the summer on the beach with his friends, serenading his on-again, off-again flame. That changes when he meets Eury. All he wants is to put a smile on her face and fight off her demons. But some dangers are too powerful for even the strongest love, and as the world threatens to tear them apart, Eury and Pheus must fight for each other and their lives.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: teen drug/alcohol use, attempted sexual assault, blood

OVERVIEW: I was looking around for interesting Greek myth retelling when I stumbled upon this book. I wanted something different than just a historical fiction, something other than the same story told from the woman's perspective or something. When I saw this book, it seemed perfect, and in a lot of ways, I loved Rivera's rendering of the Orpheus myth into the modern day. The main reason why this book is getting 4 stars is because the writing style is not for me and the narrative shifts in tone rather abruptly at the 2/3 mark. But other than those things, this is a lovely retelling, and a good choice if you're drawn to literary movements like #ownvoices.

WRITING: Before I say anything specific, I should point out that this book is not written for me. It's aimed at a younger audience, so take anything I say with a huge grain of salt. I will be biased because of my age.

Overall, I liked that Rivera wrote with such honesty, making characters aware of things and emotions in ways that felt very real. For example, Pheus is constantly thinking about how Black people have to act to avoid scrutiny in public, and Eury has a difficult relationship with therapy for many race-related reasons. I liked that Rivera wrote them in a way that felt natural and relevant to what was happening, and it added depth to the characters and their internal monologs.

There are, however, some aspects of the writing that simply did not work for me (but again, I am biased). For one, Rivera writes with a lot of short, simple sentences that privilege telling over showing. Perhaps this style is common for books aimed at younger readers, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. It was confusing to me, however, because the style made the prose feel "younger," perhaps akin to something for middle school readers. I may be a poor judge of that, however.

For two, Pheus's perspective is written using a lot of slang (not dialect - there is that too, but it's different). While I didn't find the slang confusing, I so worry that it will age the book after a few years, and the setting isn't central enough to the narrative (in the way something like historical fiction centralizes setting) to make the slang feel like Pheus and Eury's story is entertained with its situation in time and space. Perhaps that's asking too much, but given that a huge part of Eury's story involves Puerto Rico's destruction by Hurricane Maria, I think time period could have been more important.

PLOT: This book is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, where our protagonists are teenagers living in the Bronx. Pheus is a popular local musician with Afro-Carribean roots; Eury has relocated from Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and is pursued by a mysterious spirit named Ato.

I liked the way Rivera took the main beats from the myth and constructed a teen romance that clearly interfaced with themes such as race, mental health, etc. in the modern day.

The connection between spirits and colonialism, capitalism, and pain was also intriguing. I liked the idea of these concepts as things that "haunted" the living, giving shape to people and places while also doing damage. It was a clever way of conceiving of the more mythical elements of Greek myth, and it did a good job of mirroring the way myth tends to personify abstract concepts.

Along similar lines, I liked the magical realism of the first half of the story, with Ato only popping up in Eury's POV. It really made me doubt whether the spirit was real or some sort of trauma response, and I actually found the ambiguity to be a great way to keep some suspense in the story.

However, I do think that in the last third, magical realism tips firmly into fantasy, and while I enjoyed the fantasy narrative, it also felt abrupt and jarring when I got there. Personally, I would have liked the whole story to be magical realism, but I do respect what Rivera was doing.

Lastly, I just was not a fan of the attempted sexual assault. I know why it was included, but it didn't have to be there.

CHARACTERS: Eury, our heroine, is sympathetic in that she is terrified of the spirit pursuing her. It's easy to want her to be free of Ato, and her desperation combined with her lack of trust is heart-wrenching, to say the least. But Eury is also more than her suffering; I loved her love for Prince and birds and the sisterly affection for her cousin, Penelope. Eury might also appeal to a lot of readers because she's shy and awkward, but makes a brave effort to go places with her friends and with Pheus.

TL;DR: Never Look Back is a touching retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, focusing on things such as identity, trauma/mental health, happiness vs suffering, and so on. Though this book was written for a younger audience (and thus didn't resonate with me as much as it might with a teen reader), I still enjoyed the way Rivera played with the myth while introducing themes of her own that make the story resonate with a modern audience.

Pheus, our hero, is charismatic and a little bit of a flirt, but he finds himself in deep when Eury fails to fall for him immediately. I liked that though Pheus is a charmer, he does genuinely care about people and doesn't stop from criticizing friends who are unfair or unkind. I also liked Pheus's struggle to believe in the supernatural; he had a strong belief in what he can see and what he can do with his own hands, and that ethic is not only admirable, but also makes for an interesting stumbling block in his relationship with Eury. He must struggle to overcome it so that the two can grow closer, and I appreciated this kind of development.

Supporting characters are fine and did their jobs well. I liked the friendship between Pheus and Jaysen and the closeness between Eury and Penelope. I also liked the bond between Pheus and his father and the honesty they gave to one another. Melaina was probably the one that puzzled me most in that she was poised to be a jealous rival (and, in fact, was that), but Pheus came to recognize the way he was hurting her. I kind of wish more was done with this, but then again, it might have distracted from the main story.

Ato, our antagonist, is a little hard to understand, and personally, I wanted to see Rivera explore him more. I wasn't entirely clear or even sold on why he was so attached to Eury - the given explanation of her "light" felt a little vague to me. When his background was revealed, I liked that there were a lot of implications about what suffering and hate could do to people, and I would have liked to see those aspects pushed more.

[rhodeslibby]

@storyseekers​ event 05 - retellings - [ Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera ]

Our joy is also part of this chaos. Pheus and I will not succumb to their predictions. We won’t. Pheus begins to walk up the hill, and I follow. 

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

Okay, I’ve just finished reading Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera and I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s a YA novel adaptation of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice focusing on two Latinx teenagers in the Bronx. It gracefully handles some heavy topics, from mental health to strenuous family relationships to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, whilst blending Greek and Caribbean mythologies into a beautiful story of love and healing. It’s lovely, it’s engaging, it’s well-written, and if you can, please read this book.

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

Cover Art | Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

Acclaimed author Lilliam Rivera blends a touch of magical realism into a timely story about cultural identity, overcoming trauma, and the power of first love. Eury comes to the Bronx as a girl haunted. Haunted by losing everything in Hurricane Maria--and by an evil spirit, Ato. She fully expects the tragedy that befell her and her family in Puerto Rico to catch up with her in New York. Yet, for a time, she can almost set this fear aside, because there's this boy . . . Pheus is a golden-voiced, bachata-singing charmer, ready to spend the summer on the beach with his friends, serenading his on-again, off-again flame. That changes when he meets Eury. All he wants is to put a smile on her face and fight off her demons. But some dangers are too powerful for even the strongest love, and as the world threatens to tear them apart, Eury and Pheus must fight for each other and their lives. Featuring contemporary Afro-Latinx characters, this retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice is perfect for fans of Ibi Zoboi's Pride and Daniel José Older's Shadowshaper.

Artwork by Krystal Quiles

Release date | Sept 1, 2020 Goodreads

[notebookmusical]

since greek mythology has so clearly bypassed ya, here's a quick list of some ya greek mythology retellings:

never look back by lilliam rivera: a latinx take on orpheus & eurydice

orpheus girl by brynne rebele-henry: a sapphic orpheus and eurydice love story between two teenage girls who are sent to conversion therapy after being caught together in an intimate moment

the star-touched queen by roshani chokshi: loosely based on hades & persephone

this poison heart by kalynn bayron: a sapphic ya fantasy inspired by greek mythology & has secret garden vibes

some other diverse ya books inspired by myths & folktalkes:

an arrow to the moon by emily x.r. pan

a song of wraiths and ruin by roseanne a. brown

a thousand ships in the night by traci chee

blood scion by deborah falaye

daughter of the moon goddess by sue lynn tan

dauntless by elisa a. bonnin

the candle and the flame by nafiza azad

wicked fox by kat cho

[chthonic-cassandra]

Recent books, fiction -

Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know - crime/mystery novel. Following a car accident, the woman responsible discloses that she is one of two sisters who went missing the area thirty years prior; the local police department attempts to discover whether her claims are true. This is really not my genre, and this novel, though tightly written and probably a good exemplar of its type, showed me why. I guessed most of the main twists pretty early on, and was made uncomfortable by the novel's relationship to survivorship, and what I felt was a pitting of types of violence seen as more 'sensational' against those seen as more quotidian; I found this alienating. (One of the male pov characters also spends a lot of time thinking about female characters' weights, which was not great.) Nonetheless, not bad, had some interesting things to say about loss.

Nina Varela, Crier's War - YA fantasy, set in a world where automata have taken over and humans are an underclass, centering around a romance between an automaton princess and a human servant. This had some nice imagery, and the central romance was appealing, but overall the characters didn't have enough depth for me and it was a little too generically paint-by-numbers (it would be nice if we could do a little more holistic cultural processing of colonialism and white supremacy so that we can move past the million 'two different groups that are different in fundamental ways and one is an underclass!' type of YA fantasy).

Lila Bowen, Wake of Vultures - YA western with monsters. This at least had an original setting, and some cool use of Native American mythology, but it was made almost unreadable by its attempts at poetic imitations of western movies in dialogue and prose. It also had a lot of darker narrative elements (including multiple incidents of attempted sexual violence) that didn't get the emotional weight they needed. Didn't work for me.

Leah Franqui, Mother Land - an American woman moves to Mumbai with her Indian husband, and doesn't know what to do when her mother-in-law abruptly leaves her father-in-law and moves in with them. This was fluffy and somewhat orientalist (definitely what Naben Ruthnum calls a "curry book" - seriously, everyone, read Ruthnum's Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race), but there was a lot of warmth and nuance in the central relationship between the protagonist and her mother-in-law, which ultimately carried the book and made it peculiarly compelling, despite its shortcomings.

Lilliam Rivera, Never Look Back - YA retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice with teenagers in the Bronx. This was extremely sweet, with believable, lovable characters (particularly liked Pheus' underestimated father, Apolo), and a notably thoughtful and compassionate handling of experiences labeled as mental illness. I wish it had been a little bolder in its ending, which I don't want to spoil here - it went a gentler route than it could have, and I think it weakened the book as a whole.

Jo Walton, Or What You Will - Okay. So. This is a metafictional novel whose frame is an aging SFF Canadian writer whose muse is trying to give her immorality; within that we have the novel she is writing about a magical Florence inhabited by Miranda and Orsino (Shakespeare's, sort of), who have been granted immortality in a perpetual Renaissance by the heroic sacrifice of Pico della Mirandola. It was essentially Walton going off the deep end into her own preoccupations. I admire her lack of self-consciousness her, and have a certain fondness for the book for this reason, but it was nearly incomprehensible (certainly would have been without reading her other work), and didn't hold together as a novel.

Riku Onda, The Aosawa Murders (trans. Alison Watts) - Japanese crime novel about the mysterious poisoning of a family, told in multiple voices. I really should not read crime novels; I didn't much like this one either. Also guessed the twist early; the multiple voices were an interesting conceit but took me out of it too much.

Dalia Sofer, Man of My Time - an Iranian man visits NYC and his estranged family for the first time after breaking with them due to his participation in the 1979 revolution and subsequent work as an interrogator. I appreciated this book's slow, thoughtful pace and its willingness to let its protagonist be unsympathetic, but he was so very unsympathetic that sometimes I felt at sea in the text, without anything to hold onto. I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't want to reread it.

Jo Spurrier, Winter Be My Shield - quite dark fantasy, largely about torture. A young woman with forbidden, powerful magic, escapes from the torturer-sorcerer who has been trying to train her as his apprentice and bands together with the nation's exiled, torture-survivor princes. I frankly appreciated how much this book is about bluntly about torture, and torture and magic, and torture and telepathy, but its plotting was frequently a mess; its circuitous and not totally thought-through plot twists reminded me of some of the more memorable and involved forum-based RPGs I have done in my life. Also, for a book about torture, it doesn't quite get how it works psychologically, which threw me in several places. It triggered the hell out of me. I will read the sequels.

[richincolor]

Sometimes it's fun to revisit books you love. Today we're taking a quick look at three Latine books we loved so far this year! Have you read them, or are they on your TBR list?

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie Feiwel & Friends || Group Discussion

A teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie. Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys - way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn't change, even if she wanted to.

So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia's firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love--and sexuality--never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she's always imagined or upending everyone's expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes Balzer & Bray || Review

Seventeen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers drawing attention for her killer eyeliner, not for being the new kid at a mostly white, very rich, Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend, she could use the fresh start.

At Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: make her mom proud, keep her brother out of trouble, and most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that’s a problem for Future Yami.

The thing is, it’s hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. Either way, Yami isn’t going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she’ll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?

Told in a captivating voice that is by turns hilarious, vulnerable, and searingly honest, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School explores the joys and heartaches of living your full truth out loud. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories edited by Yamile Saied Méndez Algonquin Young Readers || Review

From zombies to cannibals to death incarnate, this cross-genre anthology offers something for every monster lover. In Our Shadows Have Claws, bloodthirsty vampires are hunted by a quick-witted slayer; children are stolen from their beds by “el viejo de la bolsa” while a military dictatorship steals their parents; and anyone you love, absolutely anyone, might be a shapeshifter waiting to hunt.

The worlds of these stories are dark but also magical ones, where a ghost-witch can make your cheating boyfriend pay, bullies are brought to their knees by vicious wolf-gods, a jar of fireflies can protect you from the reality-warping magic of a bruja—and maybe you’ll even live long enough to tell the tale. Set across Latin America and its diaspora, this collection offers bold, imaginative stories of oppression, grief, sisterhood, first love, and empowerment.

Full contributor list: Chantel Acevedo, Courtney Alameda, Julia Alvarez, Ann Dávila Cardinal, M. García Peña, Racquel Marie, Gabriela Martins, Yamile Saied Méndez, Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Lilliam Rivera, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Ari Tison, and Alexandra Villasante. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

[cielrouge]

YA SFF Books by Latinx Authors

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry: Spending the summer with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico, 17-year-old Lucas turns to a legendary cursed girl filled with poison when his girlfriend mysteriously disappears.

All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry: Working in the maguey fields of the Southwest, Sarah Jac and James are in love but forced to start over on a ranch that is possibly cursed where the delicate balance in their relationship begins to give way.

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria: In the city of Eldra, people are ruled by ancient prophecies. For centuries, the high council has stayed in power by virtue of the prophecies of the elder seers. In the present day, Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, is determined to fight back against the high council. But by the time Cassa and her friends uncover the mystery of the final infallible prophecy, it may be too late to save the city — or themselves.

Blanca & Roja by Anne-Marie McLemore: The del Cisne girls, Blanca & Roja, have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals. Because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them.

Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz: 17-year-old Lana Torres, who after rescuing a prized dragon, is awarded a spot on her native Puerto Rico’s Blazewrath World Cup team. But the return of the Sire, an ancient dragon, soon threatens to compromise this year’s tournament.

They Both Die in the End by Adam Silvera: Set in a near-future New York City where a service alerts people on the day they will die, about two teens who meet using the Last Friend app and are faced with the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day.

The Body Market (Wired #2) by Donna Freitas: When Skylar's sister betrays her and opens the Body Market, everyone in the App World is for sale and Skylar resolves to stop her sister and the malevolent market.

Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2) by Zoraida Cordova: Teenage bruja Lula Mortiz tries to save her boyfriend, Maks, by cheating Death; however, Lady de la Muerte is not so easily bested.

The Buried by Melissa Grey: After disaster strikes the remote town of Indigo Falls. A horrific event drove the residents underground, into shelters that keep them safe from the danger on the surface. Now, a handful of families inhabit this bunker together, guided by a charismatic leader named Dr. Imogen Moran. 

Cazadora (Wolves of No World #2) by Romina Garber: In this follow-up to Lobizona, Manu and her friends as they continue to fight for a better future.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas: Latinx trans teen Yadriel, hoping to release his cousin’s spirit and prove himself as a brujo, accidentally summons the wrong ghost and resident bad boy Julian Diaz, falling in love with him.

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore: Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fever’s history better than anyone: Emil.

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera: 16-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City, but when she sets her sights on giving this life up for a prestigious home in Mega Towers, she must decide if she’s willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants.

Diamond City by Francesca Flores: Pulled from the streets at age twelve and trained to become one of the most powerful assassins in Sumerand, Aina Solis discovers a conspiracy that could rewrite the kingdom's history. 

Dragonblood Ring (Blazewrath Games #2) by Amparo Ortiz: After the Sire’s capture, teen athletes Lana Torres and Victoria Peralta travel to Puerto Rico with their former Blazewrath team. While Lana discovers her roots, nothing fills the void Blazewrath’s cancelation has left in Victoria. But it’s up to their team and the Bureau to protect their dragons.

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro: Xochital is destined to wander the desert alone. Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit. One night, Xo’s wish is granted—in the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town’s murderous mayor. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match… if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down.

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria: A contemporary fantasy about two sisters, Dani and Eden Rivera, who were raised to be fierce dragon slayers but end up on opposite sides of the impending war when one sister forms an unlikely, magical bond with a dragon.

The First 7 (The Last 8 #2) by Laura Pohl:  After leaving Earth, now devastated by an alien attack, and exploring the galaxy, Clover Martinez and her fellow teen survivors return home to find crystal formations in the soil that are threatening to destroy the planet, and a colony of survivors who are not who they seem.

Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal: If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends.

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante: To have her family’s asylum request accepted, 17-year-old Marisol participates in a risky experiment to become a grief keeper, taking another’s grief into her own body to save a life.

The Healer by Donna Freitas: Manifesting astonishing healing powers that cause some people to consider her a saint, Marlena Oliveria struggles with edicts that prevent her from attending school, having friends and falling in love when she meets a boy who makes her question what she is willing to sacrifice.

Hollywood Witch Hunter by Valerie Tejeda: When a coven bent on retaining their youth must sacrifice the beautiful, and rich women of Southern California, a society of witch hunters will try to protect humans from a great evil uprising. 

Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova: As Renata Convida grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom–and end a costly war.

Illusionary (Hollow Crown #2) by Zoraida Córdova: Reeling from betrayal, Renata Convida is a girl on the run. With few options and fewer allies, she reluctantly joins forces with none other than Prince Castian, her most infuriating and intriguing enemy.

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera: In the Bronx, two brothers, Emil and Brighton, get caught up in a magical war generations in the making.

Infinity Reaper (Infinity Cycle #2) by Adam Silvera: Emil and Brighton Rey defied the odds. When Brighton drank the Reaper’s Blood, he believed it would make him invincible, but instead the potion is killing him. In Emil’s race to find an antidote that will not only save his brother but also rid him of his own unwanted phoenix powers, he will have to dig deep into his past lives.

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria: In 1919 Boston, best friends Corinne and Ada perform illegally as illusionists in an infamous gangster's nightclub, using their "afflicted" blood to con Boston's elite, until the law closes in.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova: Alex is a bruja and the most powerful witch in her family. . When a curse she performs to rid herself of magic backfires and her family vanishes, she must travel to Los Lagos to get her family back.

The Last 8 by Laura Pohl:  After an alien attack devastates the Earth, pilot and future astronaut Clover Martinez bands with seven other teens to survive. 

Lobizona by Romina Garber: As Manuela Azul uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal… .it’s her entire existence.

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas:  When children start to go missing in the local woods, eighteen-year-old Wendy Darling must face her fears and a past she cannot remember to rescue them in this novel based on Peter Pan.

The Mind Virus (Wired #3) by Donna Freitas:  Skylar Cruz has managed to shut down the body market that her sister Jude opened, and to create a door to allow App World citizens reentry into the Real World. But as tensions between the newly mingling people escalate, she s not sure if it was the right decision after all. Still reeling from Kit’s betrayal, she s not sure of anything anymore.

Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore: Two friends, Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla, one made of stardust and one fighting to save her family’s diner, take on their small town’s 50th annual pageant in the hopes that they can change their town’s destiny, and their own.

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore: Graciela Cristales meets Lock, a boy who was sexually assaulted at the same party as her, and they find their fates unexpectedly intertwined during a month of vanishing trees, enchanted pan dulce, and inherited magic.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera: After enduring his father's suicide, his own suicide attempt, broken friendships, and more in the Bronx projects, Aaron Soto, sixteen, is already considering the Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure when his new friendship with Thomas turns to unrequited love.

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera: An Afro-Latinx retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice set in the Bronx. Pheus is a bachata-singing dreamer who falls in love with Eury, a girl who lost everything in Hurricane Maria and is haunted by the trauma—and by an evil spirit.

Nocturna by Maya Motayne: In the Latinx-inspired kingdom of Castallan, face-changing thief Finn Voy and grief-stricken Prince Alfehr must race to vanquish a dark magic they have unleashed.

Oculta (A Forgery of Magic #2) by Maya Motayne: After joining forces to save Castallan from an ancient magical evil, Alfie and Finn reunite once again to preserve Castallan’s hopes for peace with Englass. But will they be able to stop sinister foes before a new war threatens their kingdom?

Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda: Tuck Durante, a shipraider, and Lana Gray, a curator, must work together to try to rescue a space capsule hijacked by nightmarish creatures who kill with a scream.

Rated by Melissa Grey: For the students at the prestigious Maplethorpe Academy, every single thing they do is reflected in their Ratings System. But when an act of vandalism sullies the front doors of the school, it sets off a chain reaction that will shake the lives of six special students – and the world beyond.

Sanctuary by Abby Sher & Paola Mendoza: In a near future dystopian America set 2030, 16-year-old Vail and her brother must escape a xenophobic government to find sanctuary in California.

The Savage Dawn (Girl at Midnight #3) by Melissa Grey: A darkness has entered the world and the Dragon Prince is wreaking havoc wherever she goes. With the war upon her, Echo must use every bit of her firebird powers or risk losing those she holds dear. 

Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda & Valynne E. Maetani: A contemporary fantasy set in Japan, about Shinto temple priestess Kira Fujikawa, who must seek the aid of seven demons in order to protect her village and the world from an ancient evil. 

Shadow City (The City of Diamond and Steel #2) by Francesa Flores: Aina Solís has fought her way to the top of criminal ranks in the city of Kosín by wresting control of an assassin empire owned by her old boss, Kohl. But Kohl will do anything to get his empire back.

The Shadow Hour (The Girl at Midnight #2) by Melissa Grey: With the firebird awakened, the war has become even more dangerous for Echo and her friends. There is a darkness spreading too and staying in hiding might not be enough to keep them alive. 

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older: When her summer plans are interrupted by supernatural phenomena, Puerto Rican teen Sierra Santiago finds herself in a battle with the killer targeting her family of shadowshapers who believes she is hiding their greatest secret.

Shadowhouse Fall (Shadowshaper #2) by Daniel Jose Older: While working on her shadowshaping skills, Sierra Santiago is beginning to think she may need all the skill she can summon because it seems that when she channeled hundreds of spirits through herself in order to defeat Wick, she woke up something very powerful and very unfriendly and put her family and friends at risk.

Shadowshaper Legacy (Shadowshaper #3) by Daniel Jose Older: Sierra Santiago and the shadowshapers have been split apart, but a war is brewing among the houses. As old fates tangle with new powers, Sierra will have to harness the Deck of Worlds and confront her family’s past if she has any hope of saving the future and everyone she loves.

Shutter by Courtney Alameda: When a routine assignment goes awry, 17-year-old ghost hunter Micheline Helsing is infected with a curse and on the run, pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, with only seven days to exorcise the entity or be destroyed body and soul. 

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland: A Mexican American teenage girl discovers profound connections between immigration, folklore, and alien life, when a spacecraft crashes in front of her car…and it’s carrying her long-lost mom, who’s very much alive.

They Both Die in the End by Adam Silvera: Set in a near-future New York City where a service alerts people on the day they will die, about two teens who meet using the Last Friend app and are faced with the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day.

Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry: Loosely inspired by the story of King Lear and his daughters, set in San Antonio, Texas, following the Torres sisters, struggling to escape their tyrannical father’s claustrophobic world while dealing with the loss of their eldest sister, whose troubling death continues to haunt—perhaps even literally—the loved ones left behind.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson: While investigating the supposed suicides of her best friend, Riley, and mean girls June and Dayton, 16-year-old Wiccan Mila Flores accidentally brings them back to life.

Unplugged by Donna Freitas: When she moves from the Virtual World to the Real one, Skylar Cruz discovers that her body is both exquisite and valuable -- a dangerous combination in a place where bodies are sought after in sinister ways.

Wayward Witch (Brooklyn Brujas #3) by Zoraida Cordova:  Rose Mortiz begins to discover the scope of her powers, the troubling truth about her father’s past, and the sacrifices he made to save her sisters. But if Rose wants to return home so she can repair her broken family, she must figure out how to heal the land of Adas, a fairy realm hidden in the Caribbean Sea, first.

The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore: Although Lace Paloma knows all about the feud between the Palomas and the Corbeaus, she finds herself falling for Cluck Corbeau when he saves her life while both families are performing in the same town.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia: When she is asked to spy for a resistance group working to bring equality to Medio, Daniela Vargas, a student at the Medio School for Girls, questions everything she's worked for.

We Unleash the Merciless Storm (We Set the Dark on Fire #2) by Tehlor Kay Mejia: La Voz operative Carmen Santos is forced to choose between the girl she loves, Dani, and the success of the rebellion she’s devoted her life to.

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore: As odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel's skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they're willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore: A novel of magical realism, the Nomeolvides women have tended the lust estate grounds of La Pradera which they’ve grown for generations, until the reemergence of a family curse starts to makes the men they love disappear, again.

[nerdynatreads]

☆☆YouTube | Tumblr | Instagram | Storygraph ☆☆

april wrap up || Little Bit Much -- April Wrap Up || 12 books!

I had such an amazing reading month! Not picture is:

Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby  (review linked)

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons

Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

[bookaddict24-7]

New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (September 15th, 2020)

___

Note: Since so many release dates have been changed for various Young Adult novels, keep in mind that there might be some titles missing in this post.

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know! ___

New Standalones/First in a Series:

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Horrid by Katrina Leno

K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu

The Ninth Life by Taylor B. Barton

Sisters of the War by Rania Abouzeid 

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour

Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke

The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis

Even if We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

New Sequels: 

For Better Or Cursed (The Babysitters Coven #2) by Kate Williams

#Noescape (MurderTrending #3) by Gretchen McNeil 

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Happy reading!

[snoopysfriendwoodstock]

books i read in january:

such a fun age by kiley reid

watch over me by nina lacour

from the desk of zoe washington by janae marks

never look back by lilliam rivera

the invisible life of addie larue by v.e. schwab

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado

the veldt by ray bradbury (short story)

[mizamour]

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera This was my last book of winter break, and what a finale it was! When I read that it was a reimagining of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, told from the perspective of two contemporary teens, one from Puerto Rico, and one Black/Latinx with family from the Dominican Republic, I was hooked immediately - and reading it, it was even more wonderful than I expected. Pheus, like his namesake, is a bit of a player, a talented musician (and amateur local historian!) who loves his art but doesn't take it seriously, despite his father's wishes that he use his powerful gift to help people heal. Eury is a deep-thinking girl just moved to the area after having bounced around several places after becoming a refugee from Hurricane Maria, which ripped apart everything her family knew. When they meet, they don't expect to grow to love each other, but Pheus is struck by Eury's shy depth, and Eury finds herself turning towards Pheus' ability to make her feel home. But something haunts Eury, even beyond the PTSD of her hurricane ordeal, and if Pheus is to truly connect with her, he must learn to accept a whole world he never imagined was real. For readers who are already Greek myth devotees, book is filled with fun references, like two girls in Pheus' friend-group being named Clio and Thalia (though as very minor characters, they don't offer poetry or comedy) a Silenus expy as a lecherous bar owner (who's pretty scary), Penelope as Eury's loyal cousin-friend, Pheus' father having a plaque with his first name, Apoló, and lots of other Easter eggs sprinkled in - but even those not yet familiar with Greek myth will love the tale! Both Pheus and Eury are well-drawn characters who grow throughout the story, and the Underworld journey is as eerie as it is suspenseful (with some awesome Dominican Carnival-inspired creatures), opening a window into Rivera's masterful worldbuilding ability. Offer this to readers who loved Percy Jackson in elementary or middle, who like sweet romance with adventure, and anyone who enjoys realistic fiction mixed with fantasy. This was a perfect read for right after A Song Below Water! Tags in comments. https://www.instagram.com/p/CJmuk9iMQSl/?igshid=1xazgswtxrzhu

[illbefinealonereads]

Blog tour day! Today I’m sharing some information about Lobizona by Romina Garber, as well as an excerpt. Scroll down to learn more.

Some people ARE illegal.

Lobizonas do NOT exist.

Both of these statements are false.

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.

Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.

Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past—a mysterious "Z" emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.

As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it's not just her U.S. residency that's illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.

Early Praise: “With vivid characters that take on a life of their own, beautiful details that peel back the curtain on Romina's Argentinian heritage, and cutting prose that shines a light on the difficulties of being the ‘other’ in America today, Romina Garber crafts a timely tale of identity and adventure that every teenager should read.”–Tomi Adeyemi New York Times bestselling author of Children of Blood and Bone

“Romina Garber has created an enthralling young adult fantasy led by an unforgettable Latinx character Manu. In Manu we find a young girl who not only must contend with the injustice of being undocumented she also discovers a hidden world that may explain her very existence. I fell in love with this world where wolves, witches and magic thrives, all in a rich Latinx setting!” –Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams and The Education of Margot Sanchez

Buy Link:https://read.macmillan.com/lp/lobizona/

Author bio:

ROMINA GARBER (pen name Romina Russell) is a New York Times and international bestselling author. Originally from Argentina, she landed her first writing gig as a teen—a weekly column for the Miami Herald that was later nationally syndicated—and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Her books include Lobizona. When she’s not working on a novel, Romina can be found producing movie trailers, taking photographs, or daydreaming about buying a new drum set. She is a graduate of Harvard College and a Virgo to the core.

Social Links:  Twitter: @RominaRussell // Instagram: @rominagarber

Excerpt:

2

I awaken with a jolt.

It takes me a moment to register that I’ve been out for three days. I can tell by the well-rested feeling in my bones—I don’t sleep this well any other time of the month.

The first thing I’m aware of as I sit up  is an urgent need  to use the bathroom. My muscles are heavy from lack of use, and it takes some concentration to keep my steps light so I won’t wake Ma or Perla. I leave the lights off to avoid meeting my gaze in the mirror, and after tossing out my heavy-duty period pad and replacing it with a tampon, I tiptoe back to Ma’s and my room.

I’m always disoriented after lunaritis, so I feel separate from my waking life as I survey my teetering stacks of journals and used books, Ma’s yoga mat and collection of weights, and the posters on the wall of the planets and constellations I hope to visit one day.

After a moment, my shoulders slump in disappointment.

This month has officially peaked.

I yank the bleach-stained blue sheets off the mattress and slide out the pillows from their cases, balling up the bedding to wash later. My body feels like a crumpled piece of paper that needs to be stretched, so I plant my feet together in the tiny area between the bed and the door, and I raise my hands and arch my back, lengthening my spine disc by disc. The pull on my tendons releases stored tension, and I exhale in relief.

Something tugs at my consciousness, an unresolved riddle that must have timed out when I surfaced . . . but the harder I focus, the quicker I forget. Swinging my head forward, I reach down to touch my toes and stretch my spine the other way—

My ears pop so hard, I gasp.

I stumble back to the mattress, and I cradle my head in my hands as a rush of noise invades my mind. The buzzing of a fly in the window blinds, the gunning of a car engine on the street below, the groaning of our building’s prehistoric eleva- tor. Each sound is so crisp, it’s like a filter was just peeled back from my hearing.

My pulse picks up as I slide my hands away from my temples to trace the outlines of my ears. I think the top parts feel a little . . . pointier.

I ignore the tingling in my eardrums as I cut through the living room to the kitchen, and I fill a stained green bowl with cold water. Ma’s asleep on the turquoise couch because we don’t share our bed this time of the month. She says I thrash around too much in my drugged dreams.

I carefully shut the apartment door behind me as I step out into the building’s hallway, and I crack open our neighbor’s window to slide the bowl through. A black cat leaps over to lap up the drink.

“Hola, Mimitos,” I say, stroking his velvety head. Since we’re both confined to this building, I hear him meowing any time his owner, Fanny, forgets to feed him. I think she’s going senile.

“I’ll take you up with me later, after lunch. And I’ll bring you some turkey,” I add, shutting the window again quickly. I usually let him come with me, but I prefer to spend the morn- ings after lunaritis alone. Even if I’m no longer dreaming, I’m not awake either.

My heart is still beating unusually fast as I clamber up six flights of stairs. But I savor the burn of my sedentary muscles, and when at last I reach the highest point, I swing open the door to the rooftop.

It’s not quite morning yet, and the sky looks like blue- tinged steel. Surrounding me are balconies festooned with colorful clotheslines, broken-down properties with boarded- up windows, fuzzy-leaved palm trees reaching up from the pitted streets . . . and in the distance, the ground and sky blur where the Atlantic swallows the horizon.

El Retiro is a rundown apartment complex with all elderly residents—mostly Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan, Nicara- guan, and Argentine immigrants. There’s just one slow, loud elevator in the building, and since I’m the youngest person here, I never use it in case someone else needs it.

I came up here hoping for a breath of fresh air, but since it’s summertime, there’s no caress of a breeze to greet me. Just the suffocating embrace of Miami’s humidity.

Smothering me.

I close my eyes and take in deep gulps of musty oxygen, trying to push the dread down to where it can’t touch me. The way Perla taught me to do whenever I get anxious.

My metamorphosis started this year. I first felt something

was different four full moons ago, when I no longer needed to squint to study the ground from up here. I simply opened my eyes to perfect vision.

The following month, my hair thickened so much that I had to buy bigger clips to pin it back. Next menstrual cycle came the growth spurt that left my jeans three inches too short, and last lunaritis I awoke with such a heightened sense of smell that I could sniff out what Ma and Perla had for dinner all three nights I was out.

It’s bad enough to feel the outside world pressing in on me, but now even my insides are spinning out of my control.

As Perla’s breathing exercises relax my thoughts, I begin  to feel the stirrings of my dreamworld calling me back. I slide onto the rooftop’s ledge and lie back along the warm cement, my body as stagnant as the stale air. A dragon-shaped cloud comes apart like cotton, and I let my gaze drift with Miami’s hypnotic sky, trying to call up the dream’s details before they fade . . .

What Ma and Perla don’t know about the Septis is they don’t simply sedate me for sixty hours—they transport me.

Every lunaritis, I visit the same nameless land of magic and mist and monsters. There’s the golden grass that ticks off time by turning silver as the day ages; the black-leafed trees that can cry up storms, their dewdrop tears rolling down their bark to form rivers; the colorful waterfalls that warn onlookers of oncoming danger; the hope-sucking Sombras that dwell in darkness and attach like parasitic shadows . . .

And the Citadel.

It’s a place I instinctively know I’m not allowed to go, yet I’m always trying to get to. Whenever I think I’m going to make it inside, I wake up with a start.

Picturing the black stone wall, I see the thorny ivy that

twines across its surface like a nest of guardian snakes, slith- ering and bunching up wherever it senses a threat.

The sharper the image, the sleepier I feel, like I’m slowly sliding back into my dream, until I reach my hand out tenta- tively. If I could just move faster than the ivy, I could finally grip the opal doorknob before the thorns—

Howling breaks my reverie.

I blink, and the dream disappears as I spring to sitting and scour the battered buildings. For a moment, I’m sure I heard a wolf.

My spine locks at the sight of a far more dangerous threat: A cop car is careening in the distance, its lights flashing and siren wailing. Even though the black-and-white is still too far away to see me, I leap down from the ledge and take cover behind it, the old mantra running through my mind.

Don’t come here, don’t come here, don’t come here.

A familiar claustrophobia claws at my skin, an affliction forged of rage and shame and powerlessness that’s been my companion as long as I’ve been in this country. Ma tells me I should let her worry about this stuff and only concern myself with studying, so when our papers come through, I can take my GED and one day make it to NASA—but it’s impossible not to worry when I’m constantly having to hide.

My muscles don’t uncoil until the siren’s howling fades and the police are gone, but the morning’s spell of stillness has broken. A door slams, and I instinctively turn toward the pink building across the street that’s tattooed with territorial graf- fiti. Where the alternate version of me lives.

I call her Other Manu.

The first thing I ever noticed about her was her Argentine fútbol jersey: #10 Lionel Messi. Then I saw her face and real- ized we look a lot alike. I was reading Borges at the time, and

it ocurred to me that she and I could be the same person in overlapping parallel universes.

But it’s an older man and not Other Manu who lopes down the street. She wouldn’t be up this early on a Sunday anyway. I arch my back again, and thankfully this time, the only pop I hear is in my joints.

The sun’s golden glare is strong enough that I almost wish I had my sunglasses. But this rooftop is sacred to me because it’s the only place where Ma doesn’t make me wear them, since no one else comes up here.

I’m reaching for the stairwell door when I hear it.

Faint footsteps are growing louder, like someone’s racing up. My heart shoots into my throat, and I leap around the corner right as the door swings open.

The person who steps out is too light on their feet to be someone who lives here. No El Retiro resident could make it up the stairs that fast. I flatten myself against the wall.

“Creo que encontré algo, pero por ahora no quiero decir nada.”

Whenever Ma is upset with me, I have a habit of translat- ing her words into English without processing them. I asked Perla about it to see if it’s a common bilingual thing, and she said it’s probably my way of keeping Ma’s anger at a distance; if I can deconstruct her words into language—something de- tached that can be studied and dissected—I can strip them of their charge.

As my anxiety kicks in, my mind goes into automatic trans- lation mode: I think I found something, but I don’t want to say anything yet.

The woman or girl (it’s hard to tell her age) has a deep, throaty voice that’s sultry and soulful, yet her singsongy accent is unquestionably Argentine. Or Uruguayan. They sound similar.

My cheek is pressed to the wall as I make myself as flat as possible, in case she crosses my line of vision.

“Si tengo razón, me harán la capitana más joven en la his- toria de los Cazadores.”

If I’m right, they’ll make me the youngest captain in the history of the . . . Cazadores? That means hunters.

In my eight years living here, I’ve never seen another per- son on this rooftop. Curious, I edge closer, but I don’t dare peek around the corner. I want to see this stranger’s face, but not badly enough to let her see mine.

“¿El encuentro es ahora? Che, Nacho, ¿vos no me podrías cubrir?”

Is the meeting right now? Couldn’t you cover for me, Nacho?

The che and vos sound like Argentinespeak. What if it’s Other Manu?

The exciting possibility brings me a half step closer, and now my nose is inches from rounding the corner. Maybe I can sneak a peek without her noticing.

“Okay,” I hear her say, and her voice sounds like she’s just a few paces away.

I suck in a quick inhale, and before I can overthink it, I pop my head out—

And see the door swinging shut.

I scramble over and tug it open, desperate to spot even a hint of her hair, any clue at all to confirm it was Other Manu— but she’s already gone.

All that remains is a wisp of red smoke that vanishes with the swiftness of a morning cloud.

Excerpted from Lobizona by Romina Garber. Published by Wednesday Books.