Not in the mood to write a long or semi-eloquent review for this one. I enjoyed Leah Johnson’s debut and found it charming, can’t say the same about most of this one. Toni was easily the better of the two protagonists, and I don’t just mean this because of the “hey! I connect with her over having a dead dad who loved music!” deal. Olivia left her friend in the dust so many times that I was cheering Imani on when she called her out. (Olivia gets self-sabotaging towards the end, but somehow, that still feels selfish? And poor Imani should have gotten a better friend.) Many difficult topics are in this novel, but some are barely written about, not in a deft way but in a way that seems kind of careless..? 

The beginning started off cute and very fluffy, but the instalove drove me up the wall, and that last half was rough…also Peter felt like he was trying a little hard to have golden retriever energy.

Some bits/ideas of worldbuilding and a central sibling relationship showed some promise for this book, but overall, I thought it fell flat. The time jumps accelerated romances and bonds that should’ve gotten the chance to organically develop, I was expecting more insight on certain parts of the world(especially the political revolution!), and it ended abruptly. Thirty-five years were covered in under 240 pages, and the skips made the story hard to follow at times.

But! I liked that we had a queernormative world, and the fusion of Wuxia-esque storytelling and western fantasy made for an interesting setting. Akeha’s self-discovery in the beginning deftly balanced their inner thoughts with the faster pace from the shorter page count. (Proof that short gender discovery arcs *can* be meaningful—even if it’s only a bit—and not sidelined, actually! Targeted post.) 

The second novella in this series seems more interesting based off of the summary and some of the reception, so I might check it out? However, I cannot say I’m excited to return to this world.

If I had no self-control I’d say THIS IS AMAZING!!, leave a couple keysmashes, ramble about a couple points I liked in an order that makes sense to only me, and end the review there. But I actually feel like writing a review to articulate why I loved this book, so, here we are!

As a novel in-verse, this was great. Acevedo’s experience with slam poetry executes the feel of this story much better than a more traditional, flowery poetry format ever could. As a character study, this was fantastic. Yahaira and Camino had their moments where their voices blended, however, the differences in their motivations was crystal clear—as well as how they viewed their relationship once they met. The facets of their grief were realistically written, offering an unflinching dissection that felt cathartic to read. I haven’t been this immersed in a book in a while—another reviewer described feeling like “a fly on the wall watching the characters”, and I 100% agree.

I didn’t know about flight AA587 until I read “Clap When You Land” and the author’s note, but it put me in the shoes of that community and gave me a feel for one part of the collective loss felt.

I felt for both protagonists left to process their anger and sadness without ever having an honest discussion with their father. I never had a father who cheats, but I have one that is dead, and left me with many emotional scars that I can never find closure on. To have that kind of grief be the centerpiece of a book plot brought tears to my eyes. I’m glad this exists.

3.5 stars, might round up to 3.75! I'll see if I want to give it the Fun Rating later. Soapy and sweeping, with all the tropes of a saturated 80's swashbuckling flick that I enjoy: Pirates(although there's not a *ton* of piracy)! Daring escapes and betrayal! Mermaids! Unfortunately, that also included the abruptly intense romance...lol. I'm not a fan of instalove and my last terrible read involved a Fated Mates main couple, so seeing that trope here in a different format was a little less than ideal. (AROGB and Wattpad have ruined me. I'm never going to use the term "soulmates" to describe that trope unless it's outside of a romantasy, am I...)

The queer rep was stereotypical I'll admit, but I liked our comedic relief and bisexual flirt, Santi. Some reviewers like him more than others, but I thought he was fun and I'm glad that towards the end he got to have an emotional layer to him. (Ough and the sad sapphics Juana and Isobel too! At least nobody died! Can't say that for many of those kinds of couples when they're side characters in fantasy stories like these.) I also didn't see his twist coming, so kudos?

There was more telling instead of showing than I would've liked, and I kind of wish the main characters got to have some more depth to them, but: everyone I hated enough to want to see brutally murdered on-page got an appropriate fate(sorry about the trauma for the MCs though, oof), I was surprisingly content to see the main characters have a happier ending after everything they went through, and again, this was a blast. Good popcorn read. Someone pull out one of those vintage cameras sold for thousands of dollars on Ebay, and hire a couple "Princess Bride" fans to help with writing the screenplay. This is probably the nicest review I've written for a book below 4 stars.

Cute! The bond between the main girls’ was believable, the color schemes for each story were both pretty and great at executing their moods, and I liked how each character’s relationship with their hair was shown.

I want more from these characters, though!! The snippets we got were great, but that’s not enough!!!

Oh this was wonderful!! 😭💕 a fun, diverse historical fic comic with gorgeous art, and unexpectedly casual rep throughout the cast kind of in the same vein as “Rock And Riot”? (That’s their only similarity though, lol.) Everyone’s motivations were clear, the central witch community was super sweet and I loved how it was also a little nod to queer circles in that time! Each identity was integrated with care. I especially liked the quieter moments we got with some of the main relationships in the novel. 

My only gripes are that there isn’t a ton of character development, and I wanted to see the world fleshed out more (the pacing was very quick lol), but I recommend this without a second thought!! And the epilogue pictures of the main cast all grown up made me tear up a bit ough

I’ll see if my rating changes, but although some parts of it were a little confusing due to the fractured structure, I loved this!!

IT HAS BEEN!!! THREE MONTHS ON AND OFF READING AND EVEN MORE OF HOLDING THIS BOOK HOSTAGE, AND I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED IT!!! :D

“Blood Debts” is a messy urban fantasy following 16 year-old twin siblings Clem(ent) and Cris(tine). Decades after the lynching of their grandmother, the two of them are trying to reclaim their family’s throne on the Gen Magic council, but their search for justice turns into a tangled series of mysteries once they not only uncover the truth about the murder that led to her death, but that their mother’s deadly illness was caused by a hex placed on her. Despite the secrets, hurt, and drama in the Dupart-Trudeau family, Clem and Cris will have to find a way to bring everyone together if they want to protect themselves and each other. The story is told in six POVs: Clement, Cristine, Valentina,

Zachary, and for one chapter each, Lenora and Jean-Louise.

Unfortunately, my progress was really slow because I was also following along with the audio. But it’s not a choice I regret doing! All the narrators are phenomenal, and why wouldn’t they be, with the cast we got? (I recognized Zeno Robinson from his voice work in The Owl House and Neon White, and while I wasn’t familiar with Joneice Abbot-Pratt before this, she’s gotten a couple of well-deserved accolades for her narration. Those two narrate Clem and Cris’s POVs, respectively.) I loved the emotions brought to the characters, especially in moments of sadness or anger. My only gripe with the audiobook is that

Zachary’s

narrator sounds like he has a different mic than the other three? (But his range is still incredible! It’s just that the quality’s a bit eh if you listen too hard.)

Onto the story itself! First of all, I really enjoyed the main sibling dynamic!! I’m a twin myself, and I don’t see many stories that both explore how twins have a different kind of connection than siblings with an actual age difference, but they also, in essence, have the same conflicts and bumps in their relationship. Some other elements I liked were the magic system, which was divided into three different types, with their own distinctive practices. Gen Magic was intrinsically tied with the heritages of the Black characters in this novel, which makes sense considering its Voodoo inspiration, and I liked how that was something discussed in the story. (There was some discussion about cultural appropriation because of that, too.) I’ve been gradually getting into urban fantasy, so the setting is another aspect I liked, but I can understand if a couple of people are disoriented by some of the references to pop culture and social media.

Also, SHEESH, the villain’s death was brutal!!! I haven’t read one like that in while.

A point of contention for the reviewers of this book is the drama. Personally, I thought it made the book more entertaining, although the sheer amount of it + the large cast makes it difficult to keep track of everyone (thank god for the family tree). If you get attached to a specific character, just realize that literally everyone in this novel makes at least one terrible decision lol(clem…). 

But there’s a couple of things I didn’t enjoy as much. For one, I didn’t like Clem and Yve’s romance. Their introduction was cute, and I wanted to see how their relationship progressed(especially since Yves is pivotal to the story), but it moved too fast for me and felt instalove-y. I was annoyed more than a couple of times hearing about how “strong their connection was” when the entire book takes place over the course of 2-3 weeks. As a result, I wasn’t as emotionally affected by a certain moment in the novel as I should’ve been. *But*. I think Clem’s little cliffhanger corruption arc is promising. I predicted it would happen, but I want to see where it goes. (I like his cinematic parallels with another character.)

I also easily predicted a lot of the twists. The cause of (grandmother and Cris’s namesake) Cristine was pretty obvious, so was Clem’s set-up arc, and another plot point I don’t want to spoil. This also has a couple of indicators of a debut novel, including some issues with pacing and numerous plot points at a time, and the POV distribution felt a little wonky. (The POV thing was because it was setting up for the sequel, though. I’ll have to see how

Zachary’s POV in particular is utilized, because he wasn’t as important in this book. Not saying I’m super bummed about that, though. He has ISSUES.

) I wasn’t a big fan of the climax, but I liked the actual ending. There’s enough material within this universe to make a sequel feel warranted and not forced.

In conclusion, I’ll definitely be checking out the sequel! My feelings about this book are a little mixed but I want to see where these characters go.

Oh goodness where do I start with this one lol. (And if StoryGraph glitches again, I’m gonna fight it lol.)

To be honest, I gathered the plot from the summary and it seemed like a couple of other books I’ve either heard about or read(mostly YA, to be honest), but with queer people! And wolf shifters. (And, the other thing I knew was that it was narrated by Vico Ortiz, lol.) Somehow, that would fit into the retelling genre, although that’s a sort of loose descriptor for the book—probably for the best actually: not much happens in Sleeping Beauty, so as long as you have the sleeping curse and a true love’s kiss to break it, you can fill in the blanks of the plot with whatever you want. And romantasy is a genre I usually avoid, and I don’t like soulmates/Fated Mates, but I was curious about this one.

Arguably, my negative review is partially influenced by my own personal preferences. But I was still willing to go on with the book and overlook my own opinions of some of the tropes, because judging it only by that would be completely unfair.

Unfortunately, my issues are not only personal. For an adult novel, most of this felt very YA. (I get that this is most likely meant to be NA, but still.) The descriptors and the romance were very Wattpad-reminiscent, which started out hilarious but became progressively more grating. There was almost nothing left for interpretation, because Calla would say a character’s motivation for their reaction or behavior, or said character would state it themselves. If a theme was supposed to be in the text, it would be explicitly stated instead of left as subtext. The plot was very formulaic, for it being an adventure it was very slow, and none of the characters felt three-dimensional. Even Calla, who we spend the duration of the novel being inside their head.

I was anticipating Calla’s self-discovery—I knew they would eventually come out in the book as nonbinary/gender-fluid. But there’s not a proper arc for that?!?! Yes, there are crumbs leading up to that point that show they have some kind of discomfort in being called a “woman” or “girl”. Considering how that overlapped with their hate of the wolf society’s patriarchy, I assumed that part of their arc would be untangling what parts of that were them not wanting to be trapped as someone AFAB, and what was them not wanting to be trapped in the role of a woman. Surprisingly there was no discussion of that? I also wish them and Ora had a stronger bond. It’s clear that Ora kicked off Calla’s genderqueer awakening, but instead of it feeling like something to be discovered in the middle of a meaningful friendship, Ora felt like a character meant specifically for that plot point. Which sucks, because I latch onto gender-nonconforming characters easily and wanted to like them more over the course of the story. (And also, that part of the story was so short!)

Also, what was the reason for having a very transphobic villain lmao?!?! (Sorry to my cat, who I accidentally woke up after yelling “SHE’S A TERF?!?!” in response to my audiobook.)

Talking more about characters, the found family fell flat for me. The rest of the wolves in the main cast catch up to Calla during a point in the story where they haven’t bonded with Galen den’ Mora enough yet, so Calla’s relationships already came off as unbalanced. Grae was an…interesting love interest?!?! Conceptually, he’s not terrible, and he has a healthy relationship with Calla, but personality-wise he feels a little too “engineered to be the perfect love interest”. (Complete with the tragic backstory, and the brooding nature.) He also had the most cringy lines in the book. (please god spare me from the memory of  his audiobook voice. It’s so forced. It haunts me. Help me) The romances were all very rushed, Briar and Maez’s being the biggest offender imo, but arguably Calla and Grae’s had the same vibe. At least in Grae’s case, him being a childhood friend of Calla’s gives an excuse for them being in love from the very start of the story, but their childhood bond didn’t seem very fleshed out.

(But! The highlight of the cast, imo, was Sadie. Probably biased because she has the name of my aforementioned cat, but I thought her voice in the audio fit her pretty well, and her being both kind of silly and the most ready of the characters to murder somebody made her entertaining. I wished Calla’s friendship with her had been explored more outside of their obvious thematic parallels.)

I’m gonna try to wrap up my list of grievances in this review because otherwise I would be very frustrated, the last things I’ll say is that A) I hated the worldbuilding. Yes, this was European-inspired fantasy, but what are the cultural differences in each wolf kingdom?!?! Besides the climate?? There was a ton of infodumping on stuff like the bits and pieces of kingdom politics, which made listening to this book annoying at times. B) There was clearly meant to be sexual tension between Grae and Calla, but it was very poorly-timed, often grinding the plot to a screeching halt, or sometimes even vice-versa! They got interrupted FOUR TIMES. Literally getting their own room was not enough for most of the book lmao.

I gave up on keeping this at above 2 stars lmao. Even if there were a couple parts I liked, and most of this remained entertaining enough that until the end I didn’t consider DNF’ing it, all the elements of the story get worse the more I think of them. Didn’t stop me from caring a lot about this book for an uncomfortably long amount of time, though. My ADHD unfortunately got other plans, so it latched onto this and it was one of the only things I could think about for weeks?!?!?!?! (Which was an unfortunate, but expected, result. And “AROGB” is an autofill option on my phone now, someone sedate me.) Which is also why this review is so damn long. And I probably read into a couple things too much.

(P.S., to the reviewer on here who said “came here for queer people, left when I entered Wattpad wolf mating territory”, you are a national treasure and an inside joke to the few friends who I told about this book)