Author: Vanessa Diaz

Finally! The sequel to Incendiary and conclusion to the Hollow Crown duology is here! I’m about to give a spoiler for Incendiary, so stop reading now if you intend on reading it. Go! Be Gone!

For those of you who are still reading, Renata and Prince Castian are on their way back to Puerto Leones to bring justice to the kingdom. Ren is reeling from betrayal by the Whispers and unsure if she can trust Castian and his bombshell revelations (oof! that ending!), but she and ol’ princey prince embark on a dangerous mission to find the fabled Knife of Memory, kill b*tch a** King Fernando, and bring peace to the nation. (YA fantasy)

Read by Frankie Corzo (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Incendiary)

This is the third book and first full-length novel in The Dead Djinn universe, all set in an alternative, steampunk version of Cairo in 1912 (see my latest listen for more!). Special Investigator Fatma el Sha-arawi has been tasked with investigating the murder of a brotherhood dedicated to a Sudanese mystic. The murderer claims to be that very mystic, al-Jahiz, a man who disappeared decades ago after tearing a hole in the veil between the magical and mundane worlds. Together with her partner and a friend from Dead Djinn in Cairo (ehhem love interest ehhem), Fatma sets out to solve the case and uncover the truth about this self-professed prophet.

Read by Suehyla El-Attar (A Dead Djinn in Cairo)

Jessamyn Teoh has just moved back to Malaysia with her parents after not having been back since she was a toddler. She’s closeted, broke, has no job, no prospects, so this homecoming isn’t exactly triumphant. When she begins to hear a voice in her head, she at first chalks it up to stress. Turns out that voice is actually her dead grandmother, who in her life was an avatar to a deity called the Black Water Sister. Ah Ma wants revenge on a business magnate who insulted the Black Water Sister, and she’s going to use Jessamyn to get that vengeance—even if it’s against her will.

Read by Catherine Ho (Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim, How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang)

A brain implant called a Pilot is the hot new thing taking the country by storm, going from a curiosity to a necessity to facilitate multitasking and keep up with school or work. Soon the implications are clear: you either get a Pilot or get left behind. And why wouldn’t you get one? They’re subsidized and they’re everywhere! “Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot’s powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.”

Read by Bernadette Dunne (We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson)

In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a scholar on the brink of achieving a greatness that he did not ask for and doesn’t want. What he does want is to explore what lies beyond the city walls, a place the Bassai elite claim contains nothing of interest. “But when Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders.”

Read by Korey Jackson (Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles, Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson)

When she isn’t out there fighting for democracy, Stacey Abrams is an author! She’s published several romance novels under the name name of Selena Montgomery as well as a book on leadership and activism (Lead from the Outside). Her first legal/political thriller, set within the halls of the US Supreme Court, is about young law clerk Avery Keene. Her life is completely upended when she learns that one of the Supreme Court justices has slipped into a coma and left instructions for her to serve as his legal guardian and power of attorney. As she’s plunged into a role she never saw coming, she discovers that justice may have secretly been researching a controversial case—and “suspected a dangerously related conspiracy that infiltrates the highest power corridors of Washington.”

Read by Adenrele Ojo (Call Your Daughter Home by by Deb Spera, Conjure Women by Afia Atakora)

Like I mentioned above, The Dead Djinn universe is set in an alternative, steampunk version of Cairo in 1912. Decades earlier, it’s said that Sudanese mystic and inventor al-Jahiz shook the world when he literally drilled a hole in the veil between the magical world and the non-magical world using a mix of magic and machinery, then disappeared. Some say he still roams both the magical and non-magical realms, wreaking havoc and chaos in his wake.

Because the world is now magical, beings like Angels and Djinn exist alongside humans. Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha-arawi, the youngest woman working for the Ministry or Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, is investigating what appears at first to be the suicide of a Djinn. The case sends her on a ride through the city’s underbelly that brings her into contact with nefarious ghouls, assassins, clockwork angels, and a sinister plot that could alter the course of time.

This is a shorty at just over an hour, but I was sucked into the story from the very beginning thanks to Suehyla El-Attar’s stellar performance. She really embodies the quirk and swagger of our investigator and gives a distinct voice to the myriad characters—both human and fantastical—packed into this fast-paced novella. El-Attar also leans into the book’s examination of gender, class, and colonialism with her delivery. Readers (listeners) won’t be able to look away from what this tiny wonder of a book has to say.

Come for the steampunk details and world building, stay for the colonialism side eye and feminist themes. This was so, so much fun.

I have been waiting for this book for months! It’s the first in a new foodie cozy series and it’s by an author of color. To quote the great philosopher Britney Jean Spears, “gimme gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme more.”

Lila moves back home after an awful breakup who’s then tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and then has to deal with her matchmaking aunties who are equal parts loving an judgy AF. Things get complicated when a notoriously nasty food critic kicks the bucket moments after a confrontation with Lila, especially since said food critic is kind of her ex.

Read by Danice Cabanela, an actress and produce known for Forget Me Nots (2019) and The Debt Collector (2018). Really digging that sample!

I forgot Rivers Solomon had another book out this year! Vern is seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the religious compound where she was raised. She flees for the woods and gives birth to twins, planning to raise them far away from the clutches of the outside world. But when she’s hunted by the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes a kind of brutality that she did not know she was capable of, that she shouldn’t be capable of. “To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future – outside the woods.” (fiction)

Read by Karen Chilton (The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr., A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole))

Valora Luck has a ticket for the Titanic and big dreams of escaping England to pursue a career as a circus performer in New York, but she’s turned away because Chinese aren’t allowed into America. She simply has to get on board if she’s going to find her twin brother Jamie and audition for an influential circus owner though, both of whom are on the ship. She finds her way on as a stowaway, so she should stay hidden and out of sight. She has only seven days to find her twin brother, perform for that circus owner, and get him to help both her and Jamie into America. (YA historical fiction)

Read by Rebecca Yeo, an actress and producer, known for work such as Six Feet Apart (2021), Dead End – Dead Man Walking (2020)

Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up in the lap of luxury. But beneath her golden palace lies the threat that is her brother, the Minotaur, the monster who demands blood sacrifice. Then Theseus arrives, and in him Ariadne sees the possibility of escape. She defies the gods in an act of betrayal against her family and country and helps the Prince of Athens slay the Minotaur. But will doing so give her the happy ending she so craves?

Circe lovers: this one’s for us! I am so excited for another exploration of the forgotten women of Greek mythology.

Read by Barrie Kreinik (Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon)

I admit the American education system failed me (and SO many others) in not teaching me about Juneteenth; it’s pretty sad to think that I only came to know about it in my twenties. “Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.” (nonfiction, history)

Read by Karen Chilton, her second appearance on this newsletter!

Listen to this one now! Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine is a biracial, unenrolled tribal member with dreams of studying medicine, but those dreams are put on hold when she defers enrollment to stay local and care for her mother and grandmother. Her world is rocked even further when she witnesses the murder of her best friend, a killing followed by a strings of other deaths all linked to a new lethal cocktail of meth. Daunis gets pulled into an undercover criminal investigation into the source of the meth but also pursues her own secret investigation, using her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to get to uncover buried secrets in her community. Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Ojibwe woman and decide far she’s willing to go to protect her community, not to mention how to handle her complicated feelings for the new boy in town who may have something to hide.

Isabella Star LaBlanc is a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota stage and screen actor and her performance of this book is pitch-perfect! It would have been practically criminal to have this narrated by a non-indigeouns person and I’m glad someone had the sense to remember that. LaBlanc not only gives us just proper Anishinaabemowin pronunciations of words, names, and places, but also warm delivery of res slang and colloquialisms. The sense of place and community jumped off the page with her delivery. I hope we get to see more of her audiobook work soon!

If you’re looking to diversify your reading with books by indigenous authors, this is a fantastic, well-paced YA (bordering on New Adult) mystery that asks readers to ponder the importance of tradition and community, the attempted erasure of indigenous culture, and the politics of identity—not to mention how law enforcement ain’t always, shall we say, helpful.

TW: drug abuse, drug overdose, sexual assault (mostly off page, no graphic details)

I love this book’s origin story so much. Brené Brown and Me Too movement founder Tarana Burke are friends who’d recently been exchanging home decor ideas when Tarana reached out to Brené to ask if she was free to jump on a call. Brené expected wallpaper talk and got something much more serious: Tarana confessed that as a Black woman, she often felt like she had to do serious work to see herself in Brené’s words. Tarana suggested working together on a book about the Black experience with vulnerability and shame resilience, and the idea for You Are Your Best Thing was born. Contributors include Kiese Laymon, Imani Perry, Laverne Cox, Jason Reynolds, Austin Channing Brown, and more. (nonfiction, essays)

Read by Tarana Burke, Brené Brown, and the book’s contributors, as well as Mirron Willis, Bahni Turpin, JD Jackson, L Morgan Lee (in other words: hot fire!!)

I knew I needed this book about a woman who accidentally kills her blind date (whoopsie!) when Jamie highlighted it in this list of “It Was Self Defense! But Help Me Hide the Body!” crime novels. Meddelin Chan’s meddlesome mother calls her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body, and that turns out to be a lot harder than it seems. The corpse kiiiinda ends up in a cake cooler en route to the billionaire California coast wedding that the Chan women are working. What could possibly go wrong? (mystery)

Read by singer and actress Risa Mei

Elissa Washuta grew up surrounded by cheap imitations of Native spiritual tools, superficial interests in occult trends, “starter witch kits” full of sage and crystals, and the like. After a decade of abuse, addiction, PTSD, and a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, she found herself drawn to the real spirits and practices of her displaced ancestors in her search to find love and meaning. Here she writes about “land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch” as she explores “questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule.” (nonfiction, essays)

Read by Kyla Garcia (There There by Tommy Orange, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez)

I don’t usually see the word “toddler” in a romance title, so when I do, I need to know more. The Widow’s Grace is a secret society that helps ill-treated widows regain their reputations, their families, and even find true love. After barely surviving a shipwreck en route to London from Jamaica that leaves her imprisoned and with a case of amnesia, Jemina St. Maur is relying on the society to unearth her true identity. Barrister Daniel Thackery, Lord Ashbrook, who was widowed by that same shipwreck, betrays the law he holds so dear to free Jemina from prison. But can he be trusted? Can she? As “ruthless adversaries close in, will the truth require him, and Jemina, to sacrifice their one chance at happiness?” (romance)

Read by Bahni Turpin (The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas)

Amanda Gorman: ever heard of her? Consider this a reminder to revisit the stunning, powerful, soul-shaking poem first read at President Biden’s inauguration. This nine-minute recording is just of the titular poem, but what a standout nine minutes those are. Don’t forget to check out her debut collection (The Hill We Climb and Other Poems) when it hits shelves in September.

Read by the author

Mary Oliver was the first poet that made me feel like I “got” poetry and her work resonates with me differently every time I read it. Her poetry is as soothing as it is striking in its perfect simplicity and so accessible, too. This audio collection of forty of the late great’s favorite poems is so special because it’s a rare one: in her decades long career, she rarely performed her poetry in live readings. Enjoy this very special treat and take a moment for some reflection.

Read by the author

I don’t normally do Audible originals as a rule, but this one feels special enough to make the exception. This collection isn’t strictly poetry but a mix of essays, poems, and interviews by and from over 90 authors including Kwame Alexander, Andre Dubus III, Nikki Giovanni, Pam Houston, Caroline Leavitt, Ada Limón, Dani Shapiro, David Sheff, Garth Stein, and Luis Alberto Urrea. Themed in the possibility of hope and change in the age of isolation and uncertainty, the book is divided into five sections (What Now?, Grieve, Comfort, Connect, and Don’t Stop).

The full cast of narrators is every bit as impressive as the author list, including the likes of January LaVoy, Dion Graham, Julia Whelan, Adenrele Ojo, Emily Woo Zeller, Thérèse Plummer, Adjoa Andoh, Almarie Guerra, and more.

I’m so excited for this one! This debut is a Jamaican-inspired fantasy about sworn enemies Iraya and Jazmyne, two witches who enter into a deadly alliance to take down their common enemy. Iraya has lived her life in a cell and Jazmyne is the queen’s daughter, and they’ll both have to navigate the intoxicating effects of power in this bloody pursuit of revenge. (YA fantasy)

Read by actress Nicola Lambo (American Crime Story: Versace, NCIS) and Tamika Keaton-Donegal — both appear to be new to audiobook narration but that sample sounds amazing.

I have been seeing this book everywhere, it’s time to add it to my queue. Michelle Zauner is an indie rock star of Japanese Breakfast fame and the author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book. This is her memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own path in the wake of that loss. Everyone I know who’s read this has said it made them cry, too. (memoir)

Read by the author

In 1426 in Joseon (Korea), Hwani’s family hasn’t recovered since she and her younger sister went missing and were later found unconscious in a nearby forest next to a grizzly murder scene. Years later, Hwani’s detective father learns that 13 other girls have disappeared in that same forest. He travels to their hometown to investigate, then vanishes himself. Hwani takes it upon herself to find her father and get to the bottom of these awful disappearances, and the secrets she unburies in the process suggest the answer could lie within her own buried memories. (historical YA mystery)

Read by Sue Jean Kim (If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, another book I keep meaning to read!)

Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are super besties with a mutual love for all things musical theater and the same taste in boys. That becomes a wee bit of a problem when Matt, their long-distance crush, shows up at their school (how dare!) and lands the lead in a musical opposite Kate. Kate thinks Matt might actually be into her, but she doesn’t want to go for it and hurt her bestie’s feelings. Turns out mutual crushes are a little less fun with when real life feelings are involved. (YA romantic comedy)

Read by actress Bebe Wood (Love, Victor, The New Normal)

This enemies-to-lovers romance introduces us Hana Khan, a 24-year-old living in the close knit Toronto neighborhood of Golden Crescent. She works part time as a waitress at her parents’ restaurant, the only halal restaurant in town, but her real passion is telling stories: she produces a podcast under an anonymous name and also secures an internship at a local radio station (if only it didn’t entail a daily barrage of microagressions). When plans are announced for new upscale halal place to open in the Golden Crescent, Hana just knows it will threaten her mother’s already struggling restaurant. A hate-motivated attack on the neighborhood complicates the situation further, as does Hana’s growing attraction for Aydin, the inconveniently handsome young owner of that rival restaurant. (romance, rom-com)

Read by Ulka Simone Mohanty (Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli, A Burning by Megha Majumdar)

This collection came out last year in the UK and it’s finally out in the US! It’s an anthology of love stories from across the globe and throughout history; some of the stories reenvision Nigerian folklore or retell a Ghanaian love story, some are remixes of Greek mythology, and some of them are just original stories of her own, including one based on her own parents’ love story. Babalola takes such care with the stories to preserve their original elements but twist them in ways that give rather than take away power to women. These stories are just so amazing—I’m almost done with this one and want to keep on savoring each story. (short stories)

Read by Ajjaz Awad, Nneka Okoye, Bolu Babalola, Olukemi Babalola

I wanted to read this so badly for this week’s episode of All the Books but I didn’t get the galley in time! Tina may seem like your average teenager, but she’s actually the keeper of an interplanetary rescue beacon. When that beacon activates, she’ll finally get the chance to save all the worlds, go on all the interstellar adventures, and generally do all the things. The thing is…. the danger at hand is much worse than she anticipated, and the beacon doesn’t turn her into the brilliant tactician and military captain everyone expects her to be. “Luckily, Tina is surrounded by a crew she can trust, and her best friend Rachel, and she is still determined to save all the worlds. But first she’ll have to save herself.” (YA science fiction)

Read by Hynden Walch, an actress best known for voicing Starfire in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!

This collection is all about the ways in which “the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children’s game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother, pining for her children, feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void.” Those are just a few of the stories in what sounds like a fabulous, thought-provoking collection about the ties that bind. (fiction, short stories)

Read by Kate Reading (A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas + the rest of the Lady Sherlock series, A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab) and can I just say yaaaaay! She is so good, I’ve been looking for another one of her books to read.

There is no new audiobooking in my life this week, so I thought I’d tell you about a listen from earlier this year (or was it late last year? Who even knows?) Shuri is the first in a three-book middle grade Black Panther series by the wonderfully talented Nic Stone, author of beloved YA novels like Dear Martin and Odd One Out. T’Challa’s younger sister is a skilled martial artist and science + technology wiz. But she’s also a teenager and a princess, so people try to undercut her at every turn. Surprising no one, Shuri don’t like that. When the Heart-Shaped Herb that’s essential to Wakanda’s survival and prosperity begin to die off, no one can figure out how to save it. Shuri knows something is seriously wrong, so she takes matters into her own hands. She travels from Wakanda to find out what’s killing the plant and how she can save it, but she’ll need to remember to save herself too.

I confess that my familiarity and love for Shuri and the Black Panther universe is all based on the films, but I know a lot of you go way back with these characters and their comic book origins. Whether you’re newer to the fandom like me or longtime honorary Wakandan, I think you’ll enjoy getting to spend this time with Shuri in all her brainy, badass glory. It’s so fun to finally see more books about girls in STEM, especially girls of color who go off on action-packed adventures and find their voice when the world tries to silence them.

The book is read by actress Anika Noni Rose (Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older) and wow, what a pitch-perfect pick. You may recognize her as the voice of Tiana, Disney’s first Black princess from The Princess and the Frog, but her filmography is a lengthy one that includes everything from Dreamgirls and Jingle Jangle to The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and Little Fires Everywhere. Her voice is so beautiful and buttery one moment and tense and conflicted the next, capturing both the frustrations and brilliance of young Shuri and the menacing, slippery evil of the baddies. This was a perfect pick-me-up in a time when I felt low and in need of a little magic. I hope it can be that for you too!