"I wish I could really, really get myself to understand that the things that make you happiest are the things that can tear you apart and leave you so empty that nothing feels any more."

GENRE: Romance
RATING: 4/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Tropes: Single Dad, Sports Romance (Lacrosse), Small Town, Mental Health Rep

Overall Impression: A lovely tale that takes you on an emotional adventure (literally) with the characters as you experience their journey with them.

Review:
I've started getting into Sport Romance and when I saw that this was Single Dad x Sport Romance? I was in for the adventure!

Now, Long Hot Summer was an interesting read for me in that the way we get to know the MCs was done differently than what I'm used to. In the beginning, I had a lot of questions as to who were both of our MCs, Jordan and Rod? We only knew them as they knew each other, which was superficially and that left space for a lot of curiosity as a reader. As we progress through the story, we get to know them as they know each other and I think this was uniquely done and super fitting for both of our MCs, who have been scarred in the past and do not trust easily.

This writing style and way of exploring their love for each other won't work for all readers and will require patience from whoever reads it. I do think it is worth it, seeing them find love and finding support in one another that they never did elsewhere.

My favourite thing might just be how they both eventually shed their tough exterior and open their hearts up to each other at last. It's been a lovely way of seeing it blossom and I think it was a fun to see Jordan bonding with Rod's family, especially Tali (my recent obsession in Romance is Single parent trope as it leads so naturally to found family).

And the way Esha Patel wrote Rod and his mental health journey? Oh what a way to read it and how accurate it felt as someone who has gone through something similar. I think, ultimately, Long Hot Summer does not shy away from the heavier theme but is done in a unique narrative style that has it hitting you all at once and you get to feel the entire journey with the characters. This is especially true with both MCs, with Rod and his mental health journey plus his past with his ex and how he became a single dad. It is true with Jordan, her past and childhood, which led to the fear of being in a relationship.

I am very excited to read Esha Patel's other stories, see how her narration style plays out in there in comparison to Long Hot Summer. Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for the Arc copy in the exchange for my honest opinion.

Good afternoon, mis internet amigxs,

We're chatting with Alvaro on Monday night about Now I Surrender, but we're in the midst of our spoilery discussion of Now I Surrender today on Discord. I'd meant to record a video on my thoughts to submit to book reviews, but since losing Veela on Monday, I haven't felt up for being in front of the camera. So today is a first for Bien Leidos: I'm sharing all the notes I've written down (warning: some are spoilery thoughts) about Now I Surrender and also a bibliography I developed from Alvaro's acknowledgements and personal lore below:

Literary fiction that comes with a bibliography can be a blessing or a curse. It can ask too much of the reader, dragging down the action of the story. But how many facts tips fiction towards nonfiction? Does a zealous love of history make historical fiction inaccessible or boring for the reader? I've seen a number of takes like this about Now I Surrender this month and it's been so interesting because if this was a more familiar history, would readers have felt the same way? I know for me, I always approach historical fiction as a student and luckily for me, Alvaro is a professor who shares the books he references openly not just in his text but in his acknowledgements. We have a full bibliography to pull from and his references lead me down a mini 2-book rabbit hole after I finished my reread on audio (see below).

This small literary detour made big changes in my perspective of the book. For example, when I originally read the opening of the book, it struck me as an anxious and self-aware author pretending he was the biblical god in the book of Genesis, creating the world they were introducing to us. I thought it was a clever, self-depricating device that delivered this work of fiction to the reader, reminding us that Alvaro is the person creating the story, but also as a way of injecting himself into the story, which he would do time and again throughout the novel.

However, when I read Geronimo: In His Own Words, I realized the opening of Now I Surrender was actually a reference to how Geronimo's autobiography begins:

"In the beginning the world was covered with darkness. There was no sun, no day. The perpetual night had no moon or stars."

versus Now I Surrender:

"In the beginning, things appear. Writing is a defiant gesture we've long since gotten used to: where there was nothing, somebody put something, and now everybody sees it."

I'm pretty sure there are many, many references like this I would never get in Now I Surrender, but for what Alvaro delivered, I appreciated both what this book was on its face, what it tried to teach the reader about this often overlooked part of history, usually swept aside and whitewashed not just by history books, but also in media. His focus on making the borderlands complicated, messy and multifaceted both in its population and history is greatly appreciated by this student of history.

Whether you get the references or not, Alvaro makes the setting, place, and people fully developed elements of the story. You can see the landscape, mountains, feel the heat and dustiness of the desert. Janos is a footnote of a town. You travel through the desert side-by-side with Camila. Geronimo is much, much more than the chief of the Chiricahua Apache. American and Mexican bureaucracy is desultory and ineffectual. You also felt the dizzying grief of surrender but not defeat.

I'm never sure whether to greet Alvaro's absurdity with laughter or tears. He has this penchant for writing about these unbelievably sad turning points in history and making the details funny while talking about the last of something: in the case of Geronimo, the last to surrender. You could tell Alvaro truly admires Geronimo as a person, warrior, leader, legend and wanted the reader to come out of the book with some semblance of his respect. Alvaro taught me more about Geronimo than any history class I had in school.

I am the first to admit that I do not gravitate towards women written by men, but I was pretty awestruck in the way Camila was developed: from a nameless, fearful woman fleeing to a strong and extremely competent Chiricahua wife telling Zuloaga how things were going to be. Quite honestly, I was suspect when she first appeared on the page, but she became central to the story and was the vessel through which timelines are revealed--because it DID take me a while to realize that Geronimo's timeline was decades after hers--but she was also far more important than the opening of the novel appeared to make her. The revelation of who she was to Geronimo was bittersweet in many ways and I loved how it tied to all the lore of Mangas Coloradas, Cochise and Geronimo and their joint lineage together.

Alvaro certainly had more runway to write than in his previous ones and I loved that he included epistolary elements such as interviews and telegrams to set the political stage of Geronimo's surrender. He made politicians and soldiers farces for their participation in the decimation of indigenous peoples. He dehumanized the colonizers through their bureaucracy and I was cheering him on for that type of intellectual humiliation.

I found the distinction, or lack of distinction, between the Mexican government and the US government so interesting. I also thought the reasoning the Chiriacahua chose to surrender to the US was absolutely fascinating. You so rarely hear the perspective of the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous peoples. Again, I learned so much from this book, and I was so grateful for the lesson, although I do understand that historical fiction isn't here to necessarily teach us, but it can be the beginning of understanding a moment in history.

I personally believe that the key to enjoying an Alvaro book is if you can read the first line and last line in a row and you not only does your jaw drop from the way they're connected, but find that you enjoyed the journey between them satisfying. He lands a last line like gymnast hurtling towards a perfect landing on the vault that gets 10s across the board. Now I Surrender is all 10s for me.

READING JOURNEY

As I mentioned, Now I Surrender lead me down a path, so here's my reading journey and why I followed up with these books:

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli: Fun fact for the chismosas, Valieria is Alvaro's ex-wife and this book is her perspective on the real-life trip Alvaro took with his family from NYC to Arizona to research Now I Surrender. This is a fictionalization as well, so obviously not all fact, but this was an interesting foil to how the road trip was presented in Now I Surrender. Read this if you're into he-said-she-said.

Geronimo: In His Own Words as told to JM Barrett: It was so fascinating to hear Gernonimo's story and perspective as was told to Barrett. Again, he's a historical figure I'm not super familiar with, so it was fascinating to hear the cadence of his words and storytelling.

Here are others referenced in the acknowledgements for those that want to continue to learn:

If you made it all the way here, thank you so much for your attention. I'm curious what you thought about Now I Surrender and if I said anything in the review that made you want to pick it up.

xoxo,

Carmen

Friends! Enemies! Everyone in between!

I hope you're all doing as best as you can be and taking care of yourselves. It's time to vote for the May book club!

After her mother is sentenced to life in a hilltop prison, Suzanna vows to return to the hill forever. An unexpectedly funny and deeply moving novel about the many ways we punish and return to each other.

Suzanna Klein was a baby when her mother got up early one morning to rob a bank with a group of fellow radicals. Now, every Saturday, Suzanna lines up at the prison gates among the other children, each dressed as if for celebration. Inside there is a nursery and a cemetery; there are watchful guards and distractable nuns; there are women counting down to release and women like Suzanna’s mother, who will never be released.

At home, Suzanna is raised by her grandmother, who is entirely unforgiving of her daughter’s crime and refuses to visit the prison. Surrounding Suzanna are her grandmother’s friends, who know one another from their years in the Communist Party and still spend extended cocktail hours debating the Hitler-Stalin pact. Though these women once insisted on changing the world, they are torn between teaching Suzanna how the world works and shielding her from it.

Suzanna vows to return to the prison forever but her mother wants her to be free. Harriet Clark’s The Hill is an incandescent novel of a child growing up between worlds, the last of three generations whose fates have been tied to punishment. It is the tale of a family broken apart by the desire for change, told with irreverent wisdom and visionary force. The Hill brings new music to American fiction.

For readers of Elizabeth Strout and Sigrid Nunez, a darkly funny and moving debut novel about the unforgettable Agatha, whose devotion to a widow with dementia (and an inconvenient attachment to her daughter’s grave) sparks a radical reckoning with life, loss, and love’s aftermath.

Agatha, a bristly painter fleeing her own darkness, decamps to rural New Mexico to live the reclusive life of a small-town curmudgeon. It is there she meets Alice, a mild widow with a deepening case of dementia who keeps steady vigil at her daughter’s backyard grave. Despite Agatha’s rough edges and fierce aversion to sentimentality, she surprises herself by falling in love, and her well-worn convictions begin to upend.

As Alice’s condition worsens, Agatha hatches a plan for them to live together at her remote residence at Mesa Portales. But when Alice’s wayward son comes along with different ideas—and Alice suddenly goes missing—Agatha takes matters into her own hands with the help of a faithful thirteen-year-old-neighbor, a pair of shovels, and her trusty pickup, embarking on an unusual mission that calls into question whether some secrets are better kept buried.

Sharp, watchful, at once thrillingly perceptive and hidden from herself, Agatha is as imposing as the vast landscape her rustic adobe home overlooks. Loosely inspired by the life of Agnes Martin, I Am Agatha introduces us to this irascible, indelible character who learns—over a stretch of strange, singular days—new ways to fathom life, death, and her own heart.

A polyphonic debut following an aging French bulldog and the parasitic worms that send her toward death — a singular, sly novel about form, freedom, interiors, and the matter by which we are composed and consumed.

Gelsomina is a French Bulldog who leads a routine life in a glass house. One day, she ingests an orb of parasitic worms who make an imperfect home inside her. Approaching death, yet filled with new life, she begins to see everything differently: her attachment to the designer-architect couple with whom she lives; the naive preoccupations of their younger French Bulldog, Zampanò; her feelings for an elusive fox; and the voids within and beyond her. The worms propel Gelsomina to plumb the meaning of her domestic existence and ask if her rebirth lies in the wild unknown outside the panes.

The Oldest Bitch Alive is a polyphonic story of containment refracting across scales. Revolving perspectives meditate on consciousness, theories of everything, multispecies narratives, philosophies of form and the immaterial, and other ways in which matter is composed and consumed. Gelsomina’s introspections culminate in an ecstatic sprint through a natural world she’s never seen, awakening the French Bulldog to the depths of love, reverence, death, and the bound self in dichromatic color.

“If Philip K. Dick had written The Bell Jar” (Camille Bordas) it would resemble Albertine Clarke's mesmerizing debut about the frayed borders between our bodies and minds.

Ada lives a solitary life. She spends her days in her London apartment building's swimming pool, occasionally visiting with her cousin Francesca and meeting her friends, each of them chatting, drinking, posing invitations Ada ignores. Ada's parents are recently divorced after her father became a bodybuilder: he spends his days at the gym, which is crowded and bright, warm with human proximity, infrequently calling to express minor concerns around his daughter's well-being.

When she meets a man named Atticus by the pool, Ada immediately feels an intimate connection between them: they share a life, in a way she can't explain. Little by little, Ada's estrangement from her familiar surroundings and from reality widens, as though seeing her reflection through a mirror, pieces of it falling away. After her mother entreats Ada to join her on a remote Greek holiday, Ada is jolted out of the physical world and into a new, artificial environment, one that a mysterious and potentially otherworldly force has created and designed for her. As this brilliant first novel pivots with masterful effect into the surreal and speculative, we move through Ada's experiences of life like spokes on a wheel, profoundly surprised by the enduring mystery of our existence, and of our relationships with ourselves and others. When a person's life, in the odd space between mind and body, is inherently one of isolation, are our connections with those around us merely projections of ourselves? And if not, where do they come from?

Albertine Clarke transforms the speculative into an entirely singular experience of deep interiority. The precision, subtlety, and confidence of her writing is nothing short of astonishing. THE BODY BUILDERS is new classic of the speculative fiction genre, landing like a blow, widening a crack that allows us to perceive the world wholly differently than we ever imagined.

Four very compelling choices! Happy voting and remember we are reading Whidbey by T Kira Madden in April, today is your last day to sign up.

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"We're bugs in a terrarium. Not being hunted. Just watched."

GENRE: Horror (Body Horror with Worms)
RATING: 4.25/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc

Review:
Indigent is such an interesting story that tackles a lot of social commentary in a perfect way for this horror book with Worms (!!) in it. The way it's weaved in and with some of the social commentaries, you do have to pay attention and reflect back to it (and reread it, which I will be doing) in order to grasp it all. Briana does a lovely work of combining so many commentary, themes and important message together in the book.

I also quite enjoyed that we get multi-POV and I am always going to be a huge fan of books that have multiple POV, especially from minor characters. Some of the characters, like Xavier and Ari, get deeper POVs and more of them so we get to know them a lot more. Others, we see their POV and understand their impact on the main characters instead. I think in this way, the multi-POV feeds in beautifully together to deliver the themes across.

Essentially, I dont want to share anything as to avoid spoilers but the author wrote this book as a commentary to the medical system and healthcare in the USA. We see the impact of society, lack of funding and finance on people who cannot afford healthcare and we see what greed and so many other things do to further this.

The writing in here was done well and I quite enjoyed the fact that we also have so many anatomical phrases, which Xavier uses throughout the book. Also, I loved the footnotes in the book, I'm always here for having them in fiction books! I am looking forward to more by the author and can't wait to read their future work!

Thank you to the author and netgalley for the Arc copy in the exchange for my honest opinion.

Here are some Indigenous audiobooks that are currently on sale on Libro! (I think it varies by region)

Audiobooks took me a looong time to get into. As someone with autism and ADHD, processing information (especially verbal) has always been a challenge. But I really wanted to find a way in, especially during burnout, when reading with my own eyeballs is too dang hard.

If audiobooks are hard for you too, but you want them to work, I really recommend pairing them with something that keeps your body busy and your mind open to processing sound information. I know a lot of people craft, but for me that takes too much focus because I need to think about my art. What’s helped me is sort of mundane tasks like doing the dishes, tidying up, small chores that you can do on auto pilot. Audiobooks make those moments feel more doable and enjoyable. There has been a substantial increase in my available spoons since getting into audiobooks!!

I used to avoid listening on walks because I really value being present- taking in the world around me and being in relationship with the land. But lately I’ve been going on night walks with an audiobook, and it’s been sooo nice. A different kind of presence. In the darkness of night the sounds are dull, the brightness is gone, the humans are asleep and everything is . It’s just you and a story and the light of the moon. (sometimes some little furry pals lurking about !!) I find myself walking three times farther than usual. It’s turned into a gentle way to move my body, especially on days when that feels hard. It’s my new favourite coping skill (and I’ve been needing to do a lot of coping!!!!)

If you haven’t joined libro, I highly recommend it. It is superior to every other audiobook service. You get to support in the bookstores and the sales selection is always vast and you get to keep the audiobooks, even if you unsubscribe and you can bookmark different parts of them, etc!!!

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"Traveling as much as she did, home hadn't been singular in a very long time. Each place holding a special corner of her heart based on what happened there."

GENRE: Romance
RATING: 5/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Tropes: Sport Romance, Fake Dating, Black Cat FMC x Golden Retriever MMC, He falls First

Overall Impression: This one is for us who are from everywhere and are in search of a home that represents us and its for those of us who had to say goodbye to those we loved from far away🤎 May this story heal you the way it healed me

Review:
Salacia Project is the story for those of us who are in-betweeners, you know, those of us who never really fit in anywhere fully. It's for those of us who are always one foot in this world and one foot in another. It's also a story that follows the consequences of that and what we miss because we are never fully in any place.

Salacia has my heart as someone who is mixed and grew up somewhere that isn't their home. It's about speaking multiple languages yet mastering none. It's about growing up in one place but leaving to find a place that feels true to you, one that is home to you rather than to everyone else in your family and circle.

And the mention of Grief in here, exploring how it affects Sofia, how she goes back home and gets to be with her loved ones as they go through it? That hit so hard. The dedication alone just shows that this is for those of us who live away from what is meant to be home, whether because we have to or because we are in search of somewhere that is home for us
"For my grandparents and my aunt, and for everyone who had to say goodbye from far away."

I loved the dynamic between Sofia and Ilias, getting to know their family and friends and watching their loves blossom and grow. I loved that Ilias helps Sofia with breaking down her walls post her break up and that he is there with her during her grief. I loved how Sofia helped him with his family business and how they just brought the best out in each other

I can't wait to read the next book in the series and I'm SO excited to read Elena's backlog! What a book😍

Thank you to the Author for sending me an early copy (& a netgalley copy) as well!

I am writing this as a queer therapist who specializes in religious trauma and cult recovery. I sit with people who are trying to rebuild a sense of self after systems tried to erase them.

This is not abstract for me. It shows up in sessions every week. It shows up in how people speak about themselves, how they regulate their emotions, and how safe they feel existing in their own bodies. I, myself am a queer person who is still recovering from a high control religion I have been out of for many years now.

So I want to be clear. What is happening in the courts right now has direct psychological consequences.

The Supreme Court Ruling and What It Means

On March 31, the Supreme Court issued an 8 to 1 decision in Chiles v. Salazar.

This case challenged a Colorado law that banned licensed mental health professionals from engaging in conversion practices with minors.

The Court held that these bans raise serious First Amendment concerns related to therapist speech. In practice, this opens the door for limits on a state’s ability to prohibit these practices.

Here is the impact. If states cannot regulate this, licensed providers gain more protection to engage in practices that major medical and mental health organizations have already identified as harmful. There were NO mental health professionals consulted in this ruling. 

This shifts protection away from vulnerable clients and toward those in positions of power.

Naming the Practice for What It Is

The term “conversion therapy” suggests treatment.

That is inaccurate.

This is conversion abuse.
This is coercive identity suppression.

These practices attempt to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through authority, shame, and fear.

From a clinical perspective, the structure is clear.
There is a power imbalance.
There is coercion.
There is removal of autonomy.

That meets the definition of abuse.

What the Data Shows

The harm is well documented.

Research supported by the NIH and large national studies on LGBTQ youth show consistent outcomes.

• LGBTQ youth exposed to conversion efforts are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to those who are not exposed.

• One large study found about 28% of youth exposed to these practices reported a suicide attempt, compared to around 12% who were not exposed.

• Exposure before age 18 is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, severe psychological distress, and long term trauma symptoms.

These findings repeat across studies.

This is not a question of belief. This is a question of measurable harm.

What I See in the Therapy Room

People who have experienced conversion abuse do not come in confused about who they are.

They come in after being told who they are is wrong.

They present with:

• chronic shame

• dissociation

• hypervigilance

• fear tied to identity expression

• difficulty trusting their own thoughts and feelings

Many folks have learned to disconnect from themselves in order to stay safe in environments where authenticity historically led to punishment.

That is not identity exploration.
That is trauma adaptation.

The Link to Religious Trauma and High-Control Systems

Conversion abuse often exists within high-control environments.

The patterns are consistent with what we see in religious trauma and cult dynamics:

• authority defines identity

• questioning is punished

• fear is used to enforce compliance

• belonging is conditional

When identity becomes something controlled by an external authority, the nervous system shifts into survival mode.

People suppress parts of themselves to avoid rejection, harm, or abandonment.

That suppression does not resolve distress. It internalizes it.

Book Bans and the Removal of Representation

At the same time, there is a growing push to remove books with queer and trans representation from schools and libraries.

This is not separate from what is happening in the courts.

Representation serves a critical psychological function.
It provides language.
It reduces isolation.
It supports identity development.

When you remove representation, you remove access to self-understanding. I use literature in the therapy space constantly to support my clients and to give them something they can see themselves in, and see someone like them flourishing and thriving.

A young person who cannot see themselves reflected anywhere is more likely to internalize shame and accept narratives that frame them as wrong.

That increases vulnerability to coercive systems, including conversion abuse.

The Ethical Responsibility of Therapists

As a licensed clinical social worker, I am bound by the NASW Code of Ethics.

Three principles are central here:

• self determination

• nonmaleficence

• dignity and worth of the person

Conversion abuse violates all three.

A client cannot exercise self determination if their identity is treated as something to change.

A provider violates nonmaleficence when engaging in practices known to increase suicide risk and psychological distress.

Dignity is undermined when identity is framed as disordered or immoral.

This is not an ethical gray area within the profession.

I am beyond livid as I type this thinking about the catastrophic impacts of this ruling.

The Larger Pattern

When you look at these issues together, a pattern emerges.

Limit access to affirming information.
Remove representation.
Frame identity as dangerous or immoral.
Protect systems that enforce conformity.

This is how erasure operates.

It does not begin with identity disappearing.
It begins with making identity unsafe to acknowledge.

The Psychological Impact Right Now

When your existence becomes a topic of legal debate, your nervous system responds.

I am seeing increases in:

• anxiety and hypervigilance

• emotional shutdown

• identity suppression driven by fear

• internalized stigma

These responses are not exaggerated. They are adaptive responses to perceived threat.

What Ethical, Affirming Care Looks Like

Affirming therapy does not attempt to direct identity.

It supports you in understanding yourself.

It focuses on:

• restoring autonomy

• rebuilding trust in your internal experience

• processing trauma without reinforcing shame

No ethical framework supports attempting to change a person’s core identity.

What Needs to Happen

At the policy level:
States need the ability to ban conversion abuse and protect minors from these practices.

At the professional level:
Mental health providers must adhere to ethical standards and refuse to legitimize harmful practices.

At the community level:
Access to queer and trans representation must remain protected.
Support for queer-led organizations needs to increase.

At the individual level:
Seek affirming care.
Build supportive networks.
Stay informed about policy changes that impact your safety.

Refusing Erasure

This is not about competing beliefs.

This is about whether systems are allowed to override a person’s identity under the label of care.

Queer and trans identities are not conditions.
They are not symptoms.
They are not problems to solve.

The harm comes from systems that insist they are.

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"I wasn't sure I had one - a belief in any perfect, untouchable oasis. Then again, I had always moved through life a little too skeptically. I'd been raised to mind the gaps. The deceptively small ones. The one you think you can jump, even though you know those that try never make it."

GENRE: Cyber-punk Sci-Fi Retelling (The Great Gatsby)
RATING: 4.5/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc

Review:
A Retelling of The Great Gatsby as a Cyerber punk story? I knew this one was going to be a good one and I'm glad I wasn't disappointed!

I read The Great Gatsby in high school os its been many years now since I've read it and analysed it (meaning I didnt remember all the finer details but knew the overall story enough) and I think Local Heavens is a lovely retelling of it. My favourite parts are that there is an introduction of them vs us and instead of New Money vs Old Money (its still there and a bit more to the background), there's more of a focus on being othered, a POC and marginalised communities.

The concept of corruption, people who are self serving and billionaires who think of themselves only is blended really well with the idea that "third world corporations" and people who want to destroy America are coming back to hurt them. We see this through Tom and how he sticks to so many of his learnings of being morally superior as an Old Money, non-modded American.

And yet, everyone that stands and tolerates Tom's talk is no better. Nick, our narrator, is meant to be someone watching from the outside and someone who slowly fits in and uses his privileges to his advantage. In fact, it is said by Tom that he forgets Nick is "one of them" from third-world nations. I think Nick is our ideal character that essentially becomes a wallflower. He absorbs what happens and tries to minimise the damage by not really being proactive or doing much about it.

I genuinely enjoyed the character development in Nick and how we got to see him change and embrace that he is different. He can't really blend in and do good that way. The ending of the story isn't meant to solve all of the issues that arises throughout but to show a realistic understanding of how using your privileges the wrong way can still be harmful. Nick had one foot in both worlds and you truly see how he changes as a character in the book with everything that happens.

There are so many other themes done beautifully in the story, like chasing your legacy, building a relationship and finding who you are amongst it all, understanding your privileges and doing better and I think K.M. Fajardo did a beautiful job connecting them all while standing true to The Great Gatsby as a retelling.

I think the only thing that would have made the book better for me is if we got a deeper dive into the Sci-Fi element of the book as I really wanted to know more about the mods and the way it all worked (being a diver...etc.). I appreciated that the author wrote about her struggles of getting a balance between her own author voice vs the original works voice in the book. I do think we can see this struggle a little bit throughout the story but K.M. Fajardo's voice is unique, lyrically beautiful and mysterious in just the right moments throughout Local Heavens and it was lovely to be able to read that.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for the Arc copy in the exchange for my honest opinion.

If you have taken part in any Mia Ballard discussion, I would like you to watch this video, which confirms what many of us suspected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8wFC1EQ2Yk

This isn't about whether or not Mia Ballard used AI in any part of the book's process.

This is about a witch hunt.

This is about marginalized authors who will suffer the consequences of these witch hunts.

This is about the lack of journalistic integrity.

This is about piracy.

This is about marketing and sales of AI detection tools.

This is about publisher's looking to make money quickly. This is about a publisher's responsibility not only to their authors, but to readers.

This is about book content creators who have enough time to spend making a 3 hour video on a witch hunt, without providing any actual proof, to farm engagement for their otherwise sleepy page.

If your response to this video is "okay, but she still used AI and therefore deserves any and all ramifications" I do not believe you are capable of critical thinking. There are larger issues at hand here than whether or not she used AI.

Yes, Mia Ballard and her career and her mental health are all at the core, but how easily this could happen to anyone else?

Since this situation has been trending, I've seen numerous authors use Mia's downfall to market their own books, " My book doesn't have AI" "Want an AI free book?" "I worked really hard on this all on my own!"

Classless and truly desperate.

I've unhauled every single one and won't ever read them again.

I also think this is going to get much worse. A 3 hour YouTube video dissecting something you think is AI slop? We should not welcome these folks into the book space.

This is about the collective demand for "justice" at the expense of humanity.

You can be staunchly against generative AI use and not be the police.

I had hoped to host the Leans Literary book club on Discord (and we'll get there!), but we're going to start here as I've had technical difficulties and haven't had time to work through them as I'm preparing for a trip.

I'll post my thoughts on the first section of Good People by Patmeena Sabit and some questions here, and feel free to chime in! This post is member only so your comments won't be publicly visible.

This is the schedule I plan on following:

• 4/3 The Hour (pages 1-90)

• 4/10 Things Secret and Open (pages 91-192)

• 4/17 In the Garden and A Witness from Every Nation (pages 193-249)

• 4/24 Judgment Day (pages 251 - end)

Of course, these posts will be available for you whenever you read the book!

So some thoughts on the first section of Good People by Patmeena Sabit:

I love that we're just dropped into this Afghani refugee community and given some information about what is important to them as refugees of war seeking better for their children. You also see some longing for their home, even if that home doesn't exist as it once did. This is something that is even more pronounced in another of my recent reads, The Renovation by Kenan Orhan. And ultimately, if they can't go back home, they find home in one another.

Another thing that stood out to me was the internalization of the "American dream" and the policing of one another when they don't find the success it promises. Of course the American dream has always been a lie, but it can be easy from the outside to attribute difference of outcome to personal character rather than systemic issues.

• What do you think about the Sharaf family?

• How does not hearing from the family directly impact your impression of them?

• Where do you think we're going?

Hi Ifrits,

April is upon us (where is time going!!) and in the US, it is both a SWANA Heritage month and Arab Heritage month together so its the perfect timing for us to read and dive into the stories by Authors within the region 🥰

Resources to find New Reads for this month:

Here are a few helpful links for this month (bare in mind that the 2026 releases lists gets updated periodically too):

• Storygraph Challenge

• GoodReads for 2026 releases

• Pagebound List for 2026 releases

• Story template & Instagram templates (Monthly & genre)

Here's a post that I did in collaboration with Val and the lovely Bec, Dija and Meg from Sleepy Readers Club to spotlight 155 SWANA stories from our Storygraph Challenges!

Ifrits & Ink Book Club Spotlights:

As we are entering a new season, we are going to say goodbye to our old spotlights! This few months have been quieter as I've had a lot happening in my personal life but I am hoping that in the next upcoming year, we can have more fun discussions with all of our spotlighted books🥰

Here's our first Season Spotlight of 2026 and I'll be picking this season's in the next few weeks and sending it out to you guys

Update 3/23/26: WOW everyone has been so kind! We were able to get our ABA membership, including our GLIBA membership (regional), and I'm waiting on the affidavit for our sole proprietorship certificate! Our next plan is to register for an LLC ($150) per advice from those with small businesses of their own. Our website did have listings on it for a period of time, but due to financial constraints, we've had to deactivate our website listings. But everything is going on PangoBooks instead! They handle the shipping costs which works out much better for us. We have bookmarks and stickers now, and will be restocking soon! We'll also be getting tote bags in soon, so please spread the word if you can. We appreciate everything that everyone has done so far and hope you'll still around with us as we continue to grow!

Update 2/5/26: WOW we're so close to the initial goal! So I'm going to share a bit of the plans with you guys. Our plan is to get a website up once we've gotten the Bookshop.org stuff done, and then I'm leaving this up to help people contribute if they want to helping us open a brick and mortar location! Our plan is to save everything we earn from Bookshop.org and merch sales (bookmarks, stickers, and tote bags though totes are a maybe) to open a shop within 3-5 years. Every share matters, so please share this with your friends! Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. :)

Update 2/5/26: WOW WOW WOW, thank you to our anonymous donor for their enormous contribution as well as our other contributors as well! All contributors get a branded bookmark printed and hand-cut by me, so please if you feel comfortable, share you address via DM on Instagram! I'm going to be sharing our long term goals with everyone on the Instagram acccount (@twostoriesbookshop) so stay tuned there!