Sponsored by Algonquin Books.
Lil and Frank married young, after bonding over how they both lost a parent when they were children. Now that they are retired, Lil is determined to leave a history for their own kids. She sifts through letters and diary entries, uncovering old stories—and revealing more secrets than Frank wants their children to know. Empathetic and profound, this novel from master storyteller Jill McCorkle deconstructs and reconstructs what it means to be a father or a mother, and to be a child trying to know your parents, trying to make sense of the hieroglyphics of history and memory.
Welcome to Read This Book, the newsletter where I recommend one book for your TBR that I think you’re going to love! Genre fiction is my wheelhouse, and about 90% of my personal TBR, so if if you’re looking for recommendations in horror, fantasy, or romance, I’ve got you covered!
If I could sum up this week’s read in one it would be: I came for the murder marriage and possible necromancy, and stayed for the gorgeous worldbuilding. If you love stories about monsters, and the monstrous things we do for the ones we love, set in vibrant worlds full of magic and myth, this book is definitely one for your TBR.
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Malik and Karina stand on two separate sides of the same world, on the brink of a religious festival that comes only once every 50 years. For Malik, Solstasia means a new beginning not just of an era but of a new life in Ziran for himself and his two sisters, Nadia and Leila. Their home has been devastated by war, and what is left of their family cling to survival in a refugee camp, relying on the money that he and Leila will send back. But when Nadia accidentally makes a bargain with a dangerous dark spirit, Malik is forced to strike a deal as well: kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran. His sister’s life for that of the princess.
But when Malik joins the Solstasia champions in a bid to get closer to the princess, he doesn’t realize that he’s involved himself in another deadly game, this one of Karina’s making. Her mother, the Sultana, is dead; a closely guarded secret being kept from the thousands who flocked to Ziran for the celebrations. Karina has until the moment that secret gets out to stop it from being true. She will do whatever it takes to enact the ancient ritual that will bring her mother back from the dead, including marry the champion who wins the Solstasia competition as a means of acquiring the rarest component for the spell: the still-beating heart of a king.
Inspired by West African folklore, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin sings with color, music, and magic. And while there were some aspects the did feel underdeveloped at times, that didn’t at all detract from what ended up being an engaging, suspenseful battle of wills between the two protagonists caught up in magical forces far greater than themselves.
Happy Reading!
Jessica