Author: Alex Brown

YA librarian by day, local historian by night, and Tor.com pop culture critic/reviewer by passion. QWoC – crazy rat lady – writer.

Magical World Building: Cazadora by Romina Garber

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: August 17, 2021
Series: Wolves of No World #2
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Description

Following the events of Lobizona, Manu and her friends cross the mystical border into Kerana–a cursed realm in Argentina–searching for allies and a hiding place. As they chase down leads about the Coven–a mythical resistance manada that might not even exist–the Cazadores chase down leads about Manu, setting up traps to capture and arrest her.

Just as it seems the Cazadores have Manu and her friends cornered, the Coven answers their call for help. As Manu catches her breath among these non-conforming Septimus, she discovers they need a revolution as much as she does.

But is she the right one to lead them? After all, hybrids aren’t just outlawed. They’re feared and reviled. What happens when the Coven learns of Manu’s dual heritage? Will they still protect her? Or will they betray her?

And after running this far, for this long–how much farther can Manu go before her feet get tired, and she stops to take a stand?

Continue reading “Magical World Building: Cazadora by Romina Garber” →

Review: “If It Makes You Happy” by Claire Kann

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: June 4, 2019
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Description

High school finally behind her, Winnie is all set to attend college in the fall. But first she’s spending her summer days working at her granny’s diner and begins spending her midnights with Dallas—the boy she loves to hate and hates that she likes. Winnie lives in Misty Haven, a small town where secrets are impossible to keep—like when Winnie allegedly snaps on Dr. Skinner, which results in everyone feeling compelled to give her weight loss advice for her own good. Because they care that’s she’s “too fat.”

Winnie dreams of someday inheriting the diner—but it’ll go away if they can’t make money, and fast. Winnie has a solution—win a televised cooking competition and make bank. But Granny doesn’t want her to enter—so Winnie has to find a way around her formidable grandmother. Can she come out on top?

Continue reading “Review: “If It Makes You Happy” by Claire Kann” →

Review: “This Poison Heart” by Kalynn Bayron

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: June 29, 2021
Series: This Poison Heart #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Description

Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch.

When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage.

When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.

Continue reading “Review: “This Poison Heart” by Kalynn Bayron” →

Review: “Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol” by Mallory O’Meara

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: October 19, 2021
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Genre: Non-Fiction

Description

Strawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. These are the cocktails that come in sleek-stemmed glasses, bright colors and fruity flavors–these are the Girly Drinks.

From the earliest days of civilization, alcohol has been at the center of social rituals and cultures worldwide. But when exactly did drinking become a gendered act? And why have bars long been considered “places for men” when, without women, they might not even exist?

With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly Drinks unveils an entire untold history of the female distillers, drinkers and brewers who have played a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to iconic 1920s bartender Ada Coleman. Filling a crucial gap in culinary history, O’Meara dismantles the long-standing patriarchal traditions at the heart of these very drinking cultures, in the hope that readers everywhere can look to each celebrated woman in this book–and proudly have what she’s having.

Continue reading “Review: “Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol” by Mallory O’Meara” →

Review: “The Other Man” by Farhad J. Dadyburjor

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: October 12, 2021
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Romance

Description

Heir to his father’s Mumbai business empire, Ved Mehra has money, looks, and status. He is also living as a closeted gay man. Thirty-eight, lonely, still reeling from a breakup, and under pressure from his exasperated mother, Ved agrees to an arranged marriage. He regrettably now faces a doomed future with the perfectly lovely Disha Kapoor.

Then Ved’s world is turned upside down when he meets Carlos Silva, an American on a business trip in India.

As preparations for his wedding get into full swing, Ved finds himself drawn into a relationship he could never have imagined—and ready to take a bold step. Ved is ready to embrace who he is and declare his true feelings regardless of family expectations and staunch traditions. But with his engagement party just days away, and with so much at risk, Ved will have to fight for what he wants—if it’s not too late to get it.

Continue reading “Review: “The Other Man” by Farhad J. Dadyburjor” →

Feature: “Pilgrim” by Lisabelle Tay

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

Release Date: October 3, 2021
Publisher: The Emma Press
Genre: Poetry, Young Adult

Description

In her debut pamphlet, Lisabelle Tay leads the reader down through the underworlds of illness, motherhood and family histories. Lighting the way with her luminescent poems, the poet draws on Celtic, Classical and Chinese mythologies, appealing to the selkie, Eurydice, and Chang’e in turn as she seeks a path through the darkness – and back to the light.

Pilgrim depicts a journey and a return, moving from the expansive and mythological to the inward and personal. The pilgrim who left is not the pilgrim who returns…

Illustrated by Reena Makwana and gorgeously printed in monocolour risograph at The Holodeck, this is not a collection to be missed.

Continue reading “Feature: “Pilgrim” by Lisabelle Tay” →

New Young Adult Speculative Fiction October 2021

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

I come bearing gifts of great reading! Here’s a comprehensive guide to young adult speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror) being published in October 2021. Up first is a short list of the books I highly recommend, followed by a long list of basically every book being published.

Get your library cards and indie bookstore pre-orders ready, y’all.

Continue reading “New Young Adult Speculative Fiction October 2021” →