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Tami Orendain

Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Time and Time Again

Review by Tami Orendain

For weeks, Phoebe Mendel has woken up, eaten pancakes with her mom, played Scrabble with her dad and gone to bed hoping the next day will come. It never does. Phoebe’s stuck in a time loop—one that keeps her trapped in the same dry summer day, alone in the repetitions. That is, until her old friend Jess Friedman accidentally hits her with their car and becomes aware of the loop too, urging Phoebe to use the extra time to let loose and have fun. As they spend their repeating days together, feelings grow and secrets are revealed, but ultimately, their hopes for the future depend on escaping the time loop once and for all.

Chatham Greenfield’s debut novel, Time and Time Again throws a new twist into the age-old time loop scenario: What if you had to experience with your childhood friend and crush to whom you haven’t spoken in years? For Phoebe and Jess, the loop is a supernatural way to figure out their relationships—with each other, their loved ones and themselves.

While the speculative aspects may grab readers’ interests, the characters drive the heart of this book. Both Phoebe and Jess, whose families initially bonded over shared Jewish identity, also both have chronic illnesses that impact every decision they make, granting glimpses into life with irritable bowel syndrome and oligoarthritis. Phoebe is reflective and self-aware, but often has trouble standing up for herself, whether that means demanding that a fatphobic doctor take her IBS seriously or acknowledging her feelings toward Jess. Jess, on the other hand, is bubbly and brash, but they tend to retreat into secrecy, making Phoebe wonder who they really are and how they really feel.

In fact, the entire cast of this time-bending story is vibrantly multidimensional. Phoebe’s parents are divorced and co-parent their daughter along with the help of her uncles Gabe and Adrian. Jess’ brother Zahir is part of a rowdy band with friends from different classes, backgrounds and identities—all of whom amaze Phoebe with their kindness. Their small town is full of characters with real-feeling histories, preferences and hopes.

Time and Time Again is about being honest with others and with yourself, and finding the courage to dream for your future—and work for it, too. As Phoebe and Jess are given the chance to work on their most important relationships, readers may reflect on what they might do with the same opportunities. Readers looking for a sweet, moving love story will enjoy getting to know Phoebe and Jess in this fun, speculative queer romance.

Readers looking for a sweet, moving love story will enjoy getting to know Phoebe and Jess in Time and Time Again, a fun, speculative queer romance.
NonfictionAudioMedicine

A Fatal Inheritance

Review by Tami Orendain

Lawrence Ingrassia is intimately familiar with the painful, inevitable question many face after losing multiple loved ones to cancer: Why? In his book, A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery (9.5 hours), Ingrassia explores research on hereditary cancer predisposition and introduces families—including his own—who are grappling with what this research could mean for them.

Narrator Roger Wayne gives this topic the care and honesty it deserves. He lends a friendly, personable tone to Ingrassia’s recollections: Happy memories are read with nostalgic tenderness, while painful moments are treated with solemn respect. Historical sections telling the stories of the doctors, scientists and patients involved in the progress of research emphasize the connection between the scientific and the personal.

Listeners will find A Fatal Inheritance to be an effective overview of research on cancer and hereditary predisposition, one that achieves serious investigation while remaining intensely human.

Read our starred review of the print edition of ‘A Fatal Inheritance.’

Listeners will find A Fatal Inheritance to be an effective overview of research on cancer and hereditary predisposition, one that achieves serious investigation while remaining intensely human.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Sleep Like Death

Review by Tami Orendain

Armed with well-honed combat skills and a magical connection to nature, Princess Eve wants nothing more than to defeat the Knight, a mysterious figure who’s been preying on the people of her kingdom. But just as Eve is about to turn 17, her mother, the Queen, secludes herself in her room, mumbling to a mysterious mirror. Eve decides that the time has come to fulfill her destiny and sets out to defeat the Knight once and for all, a journey that leads to treachery, battles, and answers about who the Knight really is—and who Eve really is, too.

Kalynn Bayron once again puts an inventive twist on a classic fairytale in Sleep Like Death. This time, she turns Snow White into a story of morally complicated characters and twisted legends. There’s a meta layer, too, as Eve collects tales of the Knight and observes how they change over time, allowing Bayron to explore how truth distorts into rumor and how that could lead to the birth of a fairy tale.

Sleep Like Death expands the world of Snow White into a universe of gray morality and ulterior motives. The Queen, for example, isn’t a jealous villain with clear motives; she’s a mother torn between her duty and her love for her daughter. The mirror isn’t just a soulless tool, it’s also a way for the characters to talk to the Knight’s charismatic and mysterious liaison, Nova. And Eve isn’t a dreamer, she’s a warrior—one whose passion grows into a balance of wisdom and experience.

Like the tale it’s based on, Sleep Like Death is a moving, memorable story about love, revenge and triumph. But it gives its characters room to breathe, letting them grow. Eve’s story strikes that delicate balance between classic and inventive: Bayron honors the heroine she takes inspiration from while maintaining the originality of her own character. It’s fun to recognize callbacks to Snow White while seeing how Bayron repositions familiar tropes and characters in new, innovative ways, turning the fairy tale on its head without betraying its heart and soul. 

Full of heroism, romance and wisdom, Sleep Like Death is a wonderful coming-of-age fantasy that will delight readers searching for a robust fairy tale retelling.

Full of heroism, romance and wisdom, Sleep Like Death is a wonderful coming-of-age fantasy story that will delight readers searching for a robust fairy tale retelling.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Ready or Not

Review by Tami Orendain

Cassie, Marcy, Aaron and Nico have been best friends since birth, and now that senior year’s done, they have one last summer together before moving on to the next step. Marcy’s moving across the country to pursue art, Aaron’s preparing for law school, Nico’s moving to London, and Cassie? Cassie isn’t sure what she’s doing next. So in an attempt to have one final, epic summer together, she ropes her friends into a game of Risky Slips: a contest of dares they used to play as kids.

Andi Porretta’s debut graphic novel, Ready or Not, dances on the edge between youth and adulthood. Its characters are vibrant and fun, but they’re also facing a lot of change—which lets the story explore the joy, pain and chaos of growing up. Porretta’s expressive, colorful art style lends itself well to the emotional ups and downs of this charming story.

Porretta gives her characters real, resonant challenges, like struggling with grief, anxiety or high expectations from parents. As recent high school graduates and new adults, they’re just learning what it means to have responsibility over their rapidly changing lives. There are also interpersonal conflicts between them, born out of the natural transition from a shared childhood into college and long-distance friendship. How do you stay friends when you’re in different states—and different countries? What does friendship mean for adults? What does it mean to grow apart?

These serious conflicts contrast with the tenderness of their friendship and the whimsy of their dares. The characters race through train stations and perform flashy songs and dances in a public park. They good-naturedly egg each other on, encouraging their friends through every dare. As their summer dwindles down, they reminisce about their childhoods and wonder about their futures. Readers will have a blast following their schemes—and will also be satisfied as they tackle more serious topics together.

Ready or Not is a refreshing graphic novel that doesn’t ignore the real challenges of growing up. It gives Cassie and friends moments of play and moments of reflection, asking them to take control of their changing lives while also remembering what they truly value. It’s a great life lesson for all ages: Just because you’re growing up doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

Andi Porretta’s debut graphic novel, Ready or Not, dances on the edge between youth and adulthood. Its characters are vibrant and fun, but they’re also facing a lot of change—which lets the story explore the joy, pain and chaos of growing up.
FictionAudioShort Stories

The Black Girl Survives in This One

Review by Tami Orendain

The 15 short tales that make up The Black Girl Survives in This One (10.5 hours) have one thing in common: Their Black girl protagonists make it out of the horror story alive. Beyond that, these terrifying vignettes are anything but predictable, stretching the limits of the horror genre towards sci-fi, gothic, comedy and more.

Author and film historian Tananarive Due reads the anthology’s introduction, situating the book in the history of horror writers’ erasure and stereotyping of Black girls. Narrator Shayna Small reads the stories, honoring each unique atmosphere with different accents and inflections, making every story a distinct experience. Across the collection, her narration has a hushed, mesmerizing tone, luring listeners into each chilling tale.

Fans of horror are sure to enjoy The Black Girl Survives in This One’s array of new, creative takes on the genre.

These terrifying short stories starring Black girl protagonists are anything but predictable, stretching the limits of the horror genre towards sci-fi, gothic, comedy and more.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Lockjaw

Review by Tami Orendain

When her friend and classmate Chuck Warren dies in a “tragic accident,” Paz Espino knows the real culprit: a monster that’s been haunting the town of Bridlington. But the more she talks about the monster, the more the citizens of the town ignore her, calling her a liar and a troublemaker. So Paz and her friends set out to kill the monster themselves, determined that no more kids will die—but their hunt reveals that this strange, mysterious force is much stronger than they first thought.

Matteo L. Cerilli’s debut novel is an ambitious horror, and it succeeds in telling a story that’s both scary and profound. Lockjaw is absorbing and disorienting, with shifting perspectives and the slippery, charismatic voice of its third-person narration. Foreshadowing recurs and truths are turned on their heads, leaving readers constantly unsure of what’s coming next.

This twisted storytelling centers on the people of Bridlington. Everyone has a mask they show to others, from Paz, the “weird” kid who insists monsters are real; to Asher, the odd but charming newcomer to Bridlington; to Caleb, the all-star son of the town’s police chief. Cerilli doesn’t go easy on his characters—no one comes out of Lockjaw unscathed. The story demands they undergo not only deep personal reflection, but also actionable change. 

Which points to the message at the heart of the book: The burden of trauma, healing and forgiveness requires a great amount of personal responsibility and nuance. This is especially true in Bridlington, which has been built on decades of exclusion, its outcasts not only shunned, but also often forgotten. Cerilli navigates the balance between believing people can change and holding them accountable. Everyone must answer for their beliefs and their actions, and that makes for a very satisfying story that handles serious themes with care: For example, Cerilli refers to slurs only vaguely, such as, “thing that rhymes with—,” depicting harmful bigotry with honesty without making it painfully explicit for readers.

This candor, when coupled with the supernatural horror, makes the book thrilling from start to finish. Questions abound: What is the monster? Why won’t the adults acknowledge it? Why is Paz a town outcast? Lockjaw’s creative storytelling will keep you guessing, while its full-bodied characters will keep you reading. A horrifyingly honest tale with a hopeful ending, this engrossing novel is sure to get hearts racing and leave readers reflecting upon their own place in their communities.

A horrifyingly honest tale, Lockjaw will keep you guessing with its creative storytelling, while its full-bodied characters will keep you reading as they band together to kill the monster haunting their town.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

The Vanishing Station

Review by Tami Orendain

Between the grief of losing her mother to cancer and the strain from caring for her ill but frivolous father, Ruby Santos is just trying to stay afloat. So when she discovers that her father is in debt to a powerful family who secretly rules the San Francisco BART system, Ruby doesn’t hesitate to take on his contract—which means becoming a “jumper,” or a person who magically travels between train lines to make mysterious, under-the-table deliveries. Ruby is determined to do well, but as she learns more about what the deliveries are and how the train-jumping business works, she begins to wonder if this new, magical world is darker—and deadlier—than she expected.

The Vanishing Station is a sweeping journey told in beautiful, first-person prose full of Ruby’s dynamic personality. As Ruby jumps around the world, Ellickson brings each place to life with vibrant descriptions, including sensory elements and Ruby’s emotional responses. Ruby’s charming and personable voice comes through to the reader in asides, exclamations and clever quips.

Ruby lives in between many worlds. While she was raised in a house passed down through her mother’s Irish family, her father also passed along the food, music and beliefs of his Filipino upbringing. Ruby has a burning desire to pursue art but feels pressured to focus on jobs that pay more because of her father’s mental and physical health issues. Isolated by her family’s troubles and the loss of her mother, Ruby starts the story feeling completely lost: “I’m a ghost in my own city.” 

Becoming a jumper seems to promise a life of adventure, if not freedom. But Ruby finds herself entangled in lies and secrets, stuck trying to balance her heavy responsibilities and her beliefs. As Ruby learns more about the people around her, including her father and members of the Bartholomew family, she begins to recognize that power can manifest and be claimed in many different ways.

Ultimately, Ruby’s development hinges on knowing and accepting herself. As she is forced to look inward, she learns more about where she comes from and who she truly is—and who she wants to be. Even when life feels out of control, we have the power to make meaningful decisions.

The Vanishing Station is about complex relationships: with family, with our choices and especially with one’s self. Ruby is a reminder that even under the heaviest, most difficult circumstances, it’s worth it to love, try and believe in yourself.

As Ruby jumps around the world in The Vanishing Station, author Ana Ellickson concocts vibrant descriptions of settings, sensory elements and her teenage heroine’s emotions.
FictionAudioSatire

Come and Get It

Review by Tami Orendain

Come and Get It (13 hours) follows the colliding stories of students, resident assistants and professors at the University of Arkansas—and it’s full of intrigue, betrayal and a lot of drama. The audiobook is read by Nicole Lewis, who also lent her voice to Kiley Reid’s hard-hitting debut novel Such a Fun Age.

Lewis’ narration drips with nuanced sarcasm. She gives a vibrant voice to Reid’s clever prose and cutting social commentary. Word choice and accents matter in Come and Get It, and Lewis takes full advantage of the audiobook format to give characters their own unique voices, expertly acting out their evasions, backhanded compliments and double-entendres. Listening in feels like hearing a friend share a piece of enthralling, complicated gossip from their undergraduate days.

Darkly funny and provocative, Come and Get It is absolutely absorbing. Listeners will get lost in the story: Reid writes unabashedly about the unique dramas of university life, and Lewis’ dynamic choices as narrator make it difficult to turn the audiobook off.

Read our review of the print edition of Come and Get It.

Darkly funny and provocative, Come and Get It is absolutely absorbing. Kiley Reid writes unabashedly about the unique dramas of university life, and Nicole Lewis’ dynamic choices as narrator make it difficult to turn the audiobook off.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Six Truths and a Lie

Review by Tami Orendain

Every year, Muslim students from different Los Angeles high schools celebrate Independence Day together at Monarch Beach. But this year, while everyone’s waiting for the fireworks, an offshore explosion detonates, destroying the beach, injuring many and even causing death. Police detain six Muslim teenagers at the scene, calling it terrorism. Samia, Nasreen, Qays, Muzhda, Abdullahi and Zamzam are caught in a court case that seems stacked against them, and proving their innocence might mean giving up personal secrets from that night. Can they work together to find the truth? Who can they really trust?

Six Truths and a Lie is a powerful examination of modern justice. The story unfolds from six different points of view, in a dizzying experience that sets up heart-racing tension from the very beginning. As the large cast of characters reveal bits and pieces of the truth, the reader—like the teenagers—must figure out how everything fits together.

The suspects are determined to defend their innocence, at the risk of revealing their true whereabouts and intentions on the night in question. Their dreams and dignity are threatened by accusations of terrorism, and the authorities seem determined to take everything from them.

Ultimately, each teenager just wants to walk free. But Six Truths and a Lie forces them, and readers, to reconsider: What does freedom really mean? And what are you willing to sacrifice, for even just a piece of it? The book holds a mirror up to our modern world and asks us to acknowledge how racism and prejudice still plague our legal system and our everyday interactions—and how our preconceived notions of people can mislead us.

Harrowing and heartbreaking, Six Truths and Lie sheds light on the uncomfortable truth that justice is not blind, while demonstrating the inspiring bravery of those who fight for true justice, no matter what it costs.

Harrowing and heartbreaking, Six Truths and a Lie sheds light on the uncomfortable truth that justice is not blind, while demonstrating the inspiring bravery of those who fight for true justice.
Audio

The Bullet Swallower

Review by Tami Orendain

The Bullet Swallower (10 hours) is a sweeping western dripping with magical realism. The novel recounts the checkered history of the Sonoro family, focusing on two men: Antonio, a thief seeking revenge for his brother’s death in the late 1800s, and Jaime, a 1964 performer whose image is threatened by a book that claims to expose his family history.

The story of the Sonoros sits between reality and fantasy, and Lee Osorio’s narration helps create a world that feels surreal. His tone manages to sustain a wistful seriousness that both captures the fantastic and respects the very real conflicts of colonialism and trauma. The book jumps across times, places and moods, but Osorio’s tone remains steady, making it easy to fall into the rhythm of this otherworldly story.

The Bullet Swallower is a luxurious audiobook, brimming with memorable imagery that’s bound to stay with listeners for a long time.

Read our starred review of the print edition of The Bullet Swallower.

The Bullet Swallower is a luxurious audiobook, brimming with memorable imagery that’s bound to stay with listeners for a long time.
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

Into the Sunken City

Review by Tami Orendain

The rain never stops and most of the world is underwater, but Jin Halder refuses to dive again after her father’s fatal accident. All she wants to do is keep her 14-year-old sister, Thara, alive and ensure their family’s inn stays afloat. But when a drifter named Bhili visits their inn and promises a share of treasure submerged in a now-sunken Las Vegas, Jin can’t help but be interested—especially when Thara is determined to go.

Into the Sunken City (HarperTeen, $19.99, 9780063310513) paints a harrowing but beautiful picture of a rain-soaked apocalyptic world.Cities named “Phoenix-Below” and “Vegas-Drowned” add to the eerie feeling that this world is an uncanny reflection of what our world could be in the aftermath of a mysterious natural disaster. Humans have adapted to this world, putting sailing and diving at the forefront of survival, yet nature constantly reminds them of its power: Dangerous creatures fill the deep; rough waters threaten to overturn boats; and torrential, nonstop rain impacts all human life on the surface. 

Jin is sarcastic and practical, yet intensely devoted to her family. Her sister, Thara, is a gentle gardener and culinary extraordinaire who’s interested in adventure. The mysterious drifter, Bhili, tells Jin about the sunken gold, but not much else about her past. And despite Jin’s mistrust of him after he secretly joined the Coast Guard, Jin’s recent ex, Taim, also joins their crew. Into the Sunken City creates compelling dynamics among these diverse and lively characters: Jin, for example, is torn between being Thara’s guardian and her sister, forced to balance the nuances of raising a teenager while being a teenager herself. 

Jin is wary of both Bhili and Taim, while Thara seems more open towards others. In a world where survival isn’t guaranteed, it’s no surprise that Jin struggles with trust. She wrestles with nightmares about her father’s death and has a blazing determination to keep Thara, her only remaining family member, safe. Ultimately, Into the Sunken City is about learning what it means to stay hopeful—and learning how to keep going when that hope is broken.

Charming characters and multilayered mysteries will keep readers hooked from beginning to end in this well-developed eco-thriller with a lot of heart.

Charming characters and multilayered mysteries will keep readers hooked from beginning to end in Into the Sunken City, a well-developed eco-thriller with a lot of heart.
Audio

The Reformatory

Review by Tami Orendain

Robbie Stephens, Jr. is sent to Gracetown School for Boys after protecting Gloria, his older sister, from a wealthy white boy. At the reformatory, where boys are punished for their “crimes,” students are going missing—and with his ability to see haints, or ghosts, Robbie can uncover the truth behind these disappearances. Dark and terrifying, The Reformatory (21 hours) paints a haunting picture of the Jim Crow South, based partially on author Tananarive Due’s family history.

Joniece Abbott-Pratt gives a multifaceted voice to this audiobook, narrating alternatively with a hushed urgency that adds to the tension and terror of the most gruesome, frightening moments, and a steady, hopeful tone that conveys the Stephenses’ love and perseverance. The Reformatory contains both intensely difficult subject matter and resonant emotional scenes, and Abbott-Pratt’s deft navigation between different moods will keep you listening closely.

Read our starred review of the print edition of The Reformatory.

Dark and terrifying, The Reformatory paints a haunting picture of the Jim Crow South, based partially on author Tananarive Due’s family history.
Audio

The Wonderful World of James Herriot

Review by Tami Orendain

The Wonderful World of James Herriot (12 hours) collects James Herriot’s classic tales into a warm, welcoming audiobook. Based on his work as a veterinarian for farming communities, Herriot’s writing captures a humor and a gentleness that makes for a delightful listen.

While the audio version misses out on the print edition’s illustrations, it gains a comforting resemblance to the experience of hearing bedtime stories read aloud. The introduction is read by Herriot’s daughter, Rosie Page, and the stories by narrators Anna Madeley and Nicholas Ralph, who also star in “All Creatures Great and Small,” the TV show based on Herriot’s work. Madeley and Ralph deliver each character and scene in bright, vivid tones that match the charm of Herriot’s writing.

The Wonderful World of James Herriot gives listeners a peek into Herriot’s life, tracing parallels between his time on rural homesteads and his well-loved tales. This collection invites listeners to sit back, relax and reminisce about more peaceful times.

Read our literary gifts feature on the print edition of The Wonderful World of James Herriot.

This collection of James Herriot’s classic tales invites listeners to sit back, relax and reminisce about more peaceful times.

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