January 4, 2016
Esden’s deliciously dark debut, which opens a new adult paranormal series, introduces readers to a secretive family who are the caretakers of magic objects and the jailors of dangerous djinn. If the djinn were set free, they would wreak havoc across the world. Annie Freemont had an unconventional childhood, traveling with her antiques appraiser father and learning his craft after the death of her mother. Her father’s abrupt descent into dementia forces them back to his family’s gloomy home of Moonhill, on the coast of Maine, to undergo treatment. Chase, the estate’s half-djinn caretaker, tries to warn Annie away from her father and Moonhill before she has to confront the danger that swirls around her. Though romance is a secondary plot to Annie unraveling her extended family’s history and her determination to join their fight against the djinn, the connection between her and Chase provides enough heat to propel the series forward. Agent: Pooja Menon, Kimberly Cameron and Associates.
February 1, 2016
In newcomer Esden's adult contemporary gothic, Annie Freemont, an aspiring art appraiser, takes her dad, who seems to be descending into dementia, to Moonhill, the old family home on the coast of Maine, where several family members still live. Annie has no memories of the family or the place where her mother died in a freak accident. Filled with antiques and treasures, Moonhill also features strange shadows and secret passages. Acting strangely and becoming threatening, Annie's father, who has always refused to be parted from the urn holding his wife's ashes, which they have carried with them for years, now forces Annie to dump her mother's cremains in the ocean, nearly killing her in the process. A hunky and mysterious groundskeeper adds romance to the tale, while a cousin who just wants to have fun incites trouble. A major and unexpected paranormal threat adds freshness to Esden's page-turner, and readers will be delighted that this is the first in her series, Dark Heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
Starred review from June 6, 2016
In this timely collection of essays and poems, Ward (Men We Reaped) gathers the voices of a new generation whose essays work together as one to present a kaleidoscopic performance of race in America. The 18 contributions (10 of which were written specifically for this collection) cover topics deep in history as well as those in the current culture. One, for example, reveals fresh insight about Phillis Wheatley, the first published African-American poet, and her husband, while other essays are situated in the present, taking readers on a tour of street murals in N.Y.C. and exploring the music of hip-hop duo OutKast. One entry evokes the experience of a young college student exploring the streets of a new city as he learns “what no one had told me was that I was the one who would be considered a threat.” Over the course of the collection, readers engage with the challenge of white rage, and learn about the painful links between Emmet Till’s open casket and the black bodies on today’s streets. The two concluding pieces provide a profoundly moving view of the future deeply affected by the past, through a husband’s letter to his expectant wife, followed by a mother’s message to her daughters. Ward’s remarkable achievement is the gift of freshly minted perspectives on a tale that may seem old and twice-told. Readers in search of conversations about race in America should start here.