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magical realism

What the River Knows

“In Egypt? We’re all looking for something.” Author: Isabel Ibañez A plucky young heroine, willing to risk life and reputation for answers. An embittered man with a shady past and the capability to fight crocodiles in the Nile. A mysterious, underground artifact stealing ring. Pyramids and magic and Cleopatra. Secrets and betrayal. Forbidden love and broken families. Death, disaster, and hope. It’s all here. I first encountered Isabel Ibanez in Woven in Moonlight, another YA novel where she blends magical realism with fairy-tale like worlds, plucky heroines, danger, and betrayal. I fell in love, so when my beloved Book of the [...]

2025-11-06T12:58:40-07:00November 6th, 2025|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat

“Cats are more effective than any other medicine out there.” Author: Syou Ishida In five interconnected narratives five down-and-out people, each suffering from acute mental distress, find themselves in the magical Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul, consulting the disconcertingly laid-back Dr. Nikké and his irritable nurse, Chitose. You only find this clinic from rumor – the recommendation of a friend’s brother’s babysitter’s aunt, for example. It’s down a difficult to navigate alley, it appears like magic, and no matter what you are suffering, they will cure you. The cure, however, is just as unexpected as it is delightful and adorable. [...]

Bullet Swallower, The

The Wages of Sin  Author: Elizabeth Gonzalez James Lamentations 5:7: Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities. The history of the Sonoro’s starts with a man who has gold in his eyes and hate in his heart. His atrocities have cleaved lands asunder, have left the innocent to die deep in the earth, have become the stuff of legends. It’s 1895, and this man’s latest descendent, Antonio, is leaving the peace of his farm to follow the family line. Antonio is a bandit, and he will rob a train to save his [...]

2024-12-24T11:10:51-07:00December 24th, 2024|Tags: , , , , |
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