A beautiful set of interlocking stories from Palestinian American families living in Baltimore. Every character was given their own voice and each narration was powerful and lovely to listen to. I loved the intricacies of parental relationship (especially father daughter) and sibling relationships, all while balancing their culture and traditions. Samira was so sweet to listen to and I loved when Marcus traveled to Palestine and learning more about the land. Truly a moving and beautiful book.

This started so great and I'm sad I had to end up forcing myself to finish it. The beginning was poetic and beautiful and the authors words really helped creating the magical realism tone. However, the magical realism never quite meshed well with the brutal and horrifying pieces about slavery and cruelty. It just felt clunky and I think the magical realism should've been in a separate novel and this one could've focused on the historical aspects. Hiram was a wonderful character and it kind of felt wasted here.

This has been on my TBR for awhile and I'm so mad it took me so long to read it...IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! From the beginning, the magic was amazing and vivid. I love plants so the plant powers Bri has was so cool. I haven't been into Greek retellings lately but this one felt fresh like it wasn't leaning on Greek mythology like many do. It used the bones of it's original story and grew into a whimsical and fantastical story of it's own.

This was a stunning and evocative debut that I was glued to the entire time. I loved the emotional story and dual timelines that tells two different stories that eventually weave together. I loved that family was an integral part of this story and it's importance. This novel also talks about the loss of culture, language, the shameful reality of residential schools, and even includes MMIW. The important themes mixed with a little mystery was a great combo. The "mystery" is fairly obvious but I don't think the author really meant to keep it shrouded from the audience.

I know a lot of people don't like this but I absolutely devoured this. Once you get passed that's it's not meant to be an epic fantasy with intricacies and super well written, you've opened yourself up to have a blast. This was just so much fun. Evie? Iconic. The Villain? Hot. Kingsley? A king indeed. Literally every character was so vastly different and I loved them all. This was so campy and I can't wait for book 2.

This started so well. Beautifully written, there's a mysterious and dark undertone to the story, the author paints a clear picture of the town and the racism and the missing girls...but it lost the plot. There were loose ends and those became quite clear towards the ending and everything just got so convoluted. I liked that this took a horror turn but it just...was over the top and didn't make much sense.

This book made me realize a couple things: I'm not a second chance romance girly and I'm not a fan of YA romance or books that have that vibe. The before timeline was them in high school and it just didn't give me anything, it felt so YA (and I love YA) but I expected different. Also, the writing was off and I didn't particularly care for any of the characters because of that.

I had high expectations and they were met. I always heard this was a fantastic book and it blew me out of the water. The magic system was so cool. The way the spirits were described and their role with these young students training to be a queen was such a unique plotline. The deaths were gruesome and brutal and added another level of fear for the spirits. I thought Daleina was a great character and loved her growth and the ending was wild.