Heather Webber’s Midnight at the Blackbird Café (Tor-Forge 2019) is Southern magical realism novel of family and second chances that is as sweet as tea should be. If you liked The Book Charmer (Karen Hawkins, Dove Pond series), you’ll love this. It’s that same type of candy read, set in a sleepy Southern town withContinue reading “MIDNIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD CAFE – Heather Webber”
Author Archives: Tommi Powell
THE LOST QUEEN – Signe Pike
Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen (Touchstone 2018) is the first in a trilogy following Languoreth, twin of the man who’d inspire the legends of Merlin and forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland. The first of series opens when she is 10, just after the death of her mother and ends when she’s 32 and standing deadContinue reading “THE LOST QUEEN – Signe Pike”
JUST FOR YOU – Jennifer Ann Shore
Jennifer Ann Shore writes some of my favorite candy books. With a comforting and familiar writing style and characters that ring both real and unique, her YA works are quick, delicious reads. Her latest, Just For You (Indie published, 2022) is no exception, and it proved the perfect read for a stormy summer night. VioletContinue reading “JUST FOR YOU – Jennifer Ann Shore”
WAHALA – Nikki May
Nikki May’s Wahala (HarperCollins 2022) is Sex in the City meets Working Moms meets a psychological thriller. The novel, set in England, revolves around a group of three Anglo-Nigerian friends whose worlds are shattered when a fourth joins. It’s vibrant, colorful, and enough to make you hungry. (There are even recipes at the end. IContinue reading “WAHALA – Nikki May”
CROOKED HEART – Lissa Evans
Lissa Evans’s dark comedy Crooked Heart (2015 HarperCollins) made me think of Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai, a 2000 novel that doesn’t get nearly the hype it should. While Evans’s novel is considerably shorter, there are striking similarities in the dark humor and in their young protagonists. Ten-year old Noel Bostock is being raised byContinue reading “CROOKED HEART – Lissa Evans”
BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN – Diane Chamberlain
Diane Chamberlain’s Big Lies in a Small Town (St. Martin’s 2020) is fantastic, page-turning thriller of a candy book. Chamberlain is a North Carolina author, and the novel is set in sleepy Edenton, which is not far from where I grew up. One of the characters is even from Cary, which is where I currentlyContinue reading “BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN – Diane Chamberlain”
WOMAN OF LIGHT – Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s Woman of Light (One World, Penguin Random House 2022) was a highly anticipated read and yet another example of where my expectations for a book are unrealized. One could argue that it was over-hyped and that’s why it fell short, but I’d argue that its failings are due to not providing enough fleshContinue reading “WOMAN OF LIGHT – Kali Fajardo-Anstine”
AKATA WITCH – Nnedi Okorafor
I’m steadily reading my way through my TBR cart. (Though it would appear I am adding more than removing. My cart needs its own cart!) I picked up Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch (Viking 2011) because I wanted a bit of middle grade fantasy. Akata Witch is the first in The Nsibidi Scripts series. Akata WarriorContinue reading “AKATA WITCH – Nnedi Okorafor”
TAKE MY HAND – Dolen Perkins-Valdez
In 1973 Montgomery, Alabama, Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf, sisters both under the age of fifteen, were sterilized without their consent. The procedure was ordered and performed by a federally funded agency. Their social worker reported it to a local attorney, who filed a lawsuit. Relf v. Weinberger brought to light the thousands ofContinue reading “TAKE MY HAND – Dolen Perkins-Valdez”
THE CHERRY ROBBERS – Sarai Walker
Sarai Walker’s The Cherry Robbers (Harper 2022) is a slow burn of a classic Gothic ghost story that just misses the mark. I wanted to love it, and there are some fantastically crafted sections, but the overall feeling I was left with was “meh.” That is due in large part to the lackluster and unsatisfactoryContinue reading “THE CHERRY ROBBERS – Sarai Walker”
A Girl Named Tommi 