B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsChinese American heroine / coming-of-age / Dark Fantasy / diversity / First-Person / Historical / Hollywood Golden Age / lesbian heroine / LGBTQIA characters / Magical Realism / monsters / POC / POC authorNo Comments
From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes a dazzling new novel where immortality is just a casting call away It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. “No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming ... more >
Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsBollywood / divorce / family relationships / First-Person / Indian American / Magical Realism / middle grade / POC / POC author / self discoveryComments Off on REVIEW: That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar
Bollywood takes over in this contemporary, magical middle grade novel about an Indian American girl whose world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. You know how in Bollywood when people are in love, they sing and dance from the mountaintops? Eleven-year-old ... more >
A- Reviews / Recommended ReadsLiterary fiction / love story / Magical Realism / migration / Relationships / war8 Comments
Dear Mr. Hamid, Your acclaimed novel begins this way: IN A CITY SWOLLEN BY REFUGEES but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her. For many days. His name was ... more >
B ReviewsContemporary / Magical Realism / Time-Travel4 Comments
Dear Ms. Sotto, So, this was an interesting book. It has a high concept. Cellist Andrea in modern San Francisco, when she plays her cello, can somehow create a crack in the space-time continuum and somehow commune with a young man her age, living centuries ago—who turns out to be ... more >
C ReviewsAlgonquin / female friendship / ghosts / Magical Realism / murder / Young-AdultComments Off on REVIEW: The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Dear Ms. Suma, Your debut novel, Imaginary Girls, served as my first exposure to your work. It featured secrets and sisters, both things I love. The Walls Around Us follows a similar vein. It’s a story of friends and the awful truth that binds them. Vee and Ori have been ... more >
B- ReviewsContemporary / Magical Realism12 Comments
Dear Ms. Allen, I am a huge fan. There’s just no use starting out with any other introduction than that. A clever friend gifted me a copy of Garden Spells several years ago, and it was love at first sight. I quickly devoured each of your successive books, and while I can ... more >