Epilogue Books

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

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Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
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Blood Debts is a magical novel about reckoning- societal reckoning, familial reckoning, and personal reckoning. Clem and Cris Trudeau are practitioners of Generational magic, magic derived from the moon and the power of their ancestors. Their family has been torn apart, their connection to magic is unstable at best, and they don’t trust anyone, least of all themselves. Clem and Cris are furious at the injustice their family has been handed- from the violent lynchings of their grandparents, to the racist anti-magic laws being debated in New Orleans, to the recent murder of their father, to the way white vultures keep trying to appropriate Generational magic. Blood Debts handles all of these difficult, emotional topics with care and still gives these teenagers space to experience being kids. Dramatic friendship breakups, sibling bickering, and the beauty of queer, Black love add even more layers to this breathtaking tale. Pursue answers, love, and most importantly, justice, with Clem and Cris in Blood Debts… you won’t be sorry.

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker, (List Price: 18.99, Tor Teen, 9781250825926, April 2023)

Reviewed by Julia Hirschfield, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
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With Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo created a perfect blend of tense, tightly-plotted action and bold character work. The impossible heist the narrative centers around is exciting, and Bardugo’s magical setting sets her plot apart from other heist stories. Her six protagonists, all of whom have their own compelling reasons to agree to such a dangerous job, are dense and rich, and their dynamics with each other are definitely the novel’s greatest strength. The dialogue is sharp and the budding romances are impossible to not root for. Fans of fantasy, romance, mysteries, thrillers, and character dramas will absolutely find something to like in Six of Crows.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, (List Price: $12.99, Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks, 9781250777904, April 2021)

Reviewed by Sam Edge, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

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Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
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An exciting collection of creepy tales from both young authors and noted horror greats. The stories within Never Whistle at Night play within the rules of established horror genres, but there is so much variety from story to story; as a fan of all kinds of horror, I was very happy to have basically every itch scratched. “The Prepper” by Morgan Talty, “Collections” by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, “Wingless” by Marcie R. Rendon, and “Snakes are Born in The Dark” by D. H. Trujillo were my four favorites.

Never Whistle at Night : An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk (editor), Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (editor), (List Price: $17.00, Delacorte Press, 9780593468463, September 2023)

Reviewed by Sam Edge, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Family Meal by Bryan Washington

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Family Meal by Bryan Washington
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An October Read This Next! Book

There are two things I expect from a Bryan Washington narrative: food rendered so exquisitely I could lick the page and an emotional excavation so expansive it swallows the book and me with it. Family Meal delivered on these expectations and more. It’s propulsive and harrowing, the brittle edges of its characters encapsulating a world and giving way to its perfectly tender center.

Family Meal by Bryan Washington, (List Price: 28, Riverhead Books, 9780593421093, October 2023)

Reviewed by Miranda Sanchez, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Family Lore \ Sabiduría familiar por Elizabeth Acevedo

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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
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La primera novela para adultos de Acevedo es un homenaje al intermedio, ocupando los espacios entre los sueños y la realidad, la vida y la muerte, y la República Dominicana y los Estados Unidos. Contadas desde las perspectivas de las mujeres Marte, cuatro hermanas y sus dos hijas, toda la familia contempla las historias y las mujeres que las formaron, mientras se preparan para que su hermana mayor les diga que alguien está a punto de morir. Escrito en la tradición de Sandra Cisneros y otras autoras latinas, Acevedo teje una historia que te abraza con la fuerza de las limas de Yadi, negándose a soltarla mucho después de voltear la última página.

Sabiduría familiar por Elizabeth Acevedo, ($18.99, Ecco, 9780063207318, November 2023)

Reseña escrita por, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews en Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
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Acevedo’s first adult novel is a homage to the in-between, occupying the spaces between dreams and reality, life and death, and the Dominican Republic and the United States. Told from the perspectives of the Marte women, four sisters, and their two daughters, the whole family contemplates the stories and women who shaped them, as they prepare for their eldest sister to tell them someone is about to die. Written in the tradition of Sandra Cisneros and other Latina authors, Acevedo weaves a story that embraces you with the strength of Yadi’s limes, refusing to let go long after the last page is turned.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo, (List Price: $30, Ecco, 9780063207264, September 2023)

Reviewed by Sydney Mason, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Beloved by Toni Morrison

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Beloved by Toni Morrison
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In 1992, Toni Morrison said “In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” This statement stands true to this day, as demonstrated when Disney executives and Adam Sandler’s Waterboy joined forces to make the film adaption of Beloved a box office bomb. Regardless of how the American public feels about the movie, the novel is a gorgeous, vital, and absolutely timeless work. Beloved is one of the best ghost stories ever written (inspired by reports of a slave mother who killed her child rather than return her to slavery) partly because the Atlantic Slave Trade is teeming with boundless horrors to work with. The guts of American history distend with crimes committed against Black bodies, and Morrison tears them out for all to see. Intergenerational trauma, systemic torture, and fractured families occupy these fearsome pages, and I dare you to look away.

Beloved by Toni Morrison, (List Price: 28.99, Vintage, 9781400033416, June 2004)

Reviewed by Terrance Hudson, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

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The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
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A July 2023 Read This Next! Book

I’ll admit I have a bit of a guilty pleasure approach when it comes to thieves and heists. I’m amazed at the planning, the execution, and most of all, the why. When I saw this book about master art thief Breitweiser and his girlfriend, Anna-Christine, I knew I had to read it. I’m not sure what I was expecting it to be. An over-romanticized account about the wild and daring adventures of this couple that managed to steal billions of dollars right under the noses of the art world and art police alike? Whatever the case, that’s not what I got and I think the novel is all the better for it. It doesn’t read like fiction because it isn’t- everything actually happened! And none of this is to say it was boring or uninteresting. Quite the opposite! I was heavily invested. Rather, the matter-of-fact, understated reporting of the thefts as well as the behind the scenes drama are as true to Breitweiser’s manner of stealing as can be. This was not a man who needed to don all black and plan elaborate, barely made it heists. No, all Brietweiser needed was his pocketknife and girlfriend (with the occasional nail clipper). The detailed retelling of many of the thefts is not only paired with insight into the lives of two of the most successful thieves, but also a thorough psychoanalysis from many a psychiatrist interested in the mind behind the man. Well reported and I’d say authentic, The Art Thief is a must read.

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, (List Price: $28, Knopf, 9780525657323, July 2023)

Reviewed by Laney Sheehan, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer

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The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer
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I love when queer women make bad choices. Natalie is eighteen, freshly independent, and painfully naive when she starts an all-consuming relationship with Nora, an older woman who is connected to her own life in surprising ways. Fischer perfectly captures that enraptured feeling of first love, especially with someone older and more experienced. There are parts of this book that are also deeply melancholy; bits and pieces that made me exhale and set the book aside for a minute or two. A little bit heart-wrenching, this one will be perfect for Sally Rooney fans and sad gay people alike.

The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer, (List Price: 27, Algonquin Books, 9781643752723, May 2023)

Reviewed by Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

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Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
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A May 2023 Read This Next! Title

A dark, satirical mindfuck of discourse and cancellation. Yellowface is cutting and incisive, and Kuang did an excellent job of establishing a contemptible main character (in first person POV, no less) who you still hoped, sickeningly, would find her way out of the situation she put herself in. The last 15% or so bordered on psychological horror, and I found myself genuinely freaked by some of Kuang’s imagery. A doomed, twisted ride.

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang, (List Price: 30, William Morrow, 9780063250833, May 2023)

Reviewed by Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco by K. Iver

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Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco by K. Iver
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This is a collection about grief, a persistent grief so steady, so patient, that it grows dear. Iver’s words are cinematic, their poems traceable stories by themselves that resonate and interact with each poem that follows it. I think A Medium Performs Your Visit and Who Is This Grief For? are the highlights of the collection. "My acupuncturist says/ you enjoy this, don’t you./ She’s talking about my grief. I say who else will."

Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco by K. Iver, (List Price: 16, Milkweed Editions, 9781639550609, January 2023)

Reviewed by Sam Edge, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Earth Angel by Madeline Cash

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Earth Angel by Madeline Cash
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Describing this as “the paperback that swallowed the phone” makes sense because reading this with no comprehension of the current state of existence of being Online for people age 21 to 30 would be like reading the late-night musings of a particularly nihilist alien. Cash manages to satirize the seemingly non-satirical by pinpointing the weirdness of current existence and just rolling with it. Destroying your sister’s leg to give her a better choice at a beauty competition? Yea sounds right. A terrorist org getting an image makeover by advertising that they’re body positive? Sure why not. The other day I saw a tiktok where the ai voices of Biden and Obama were arguing foreign policy while playing Overwatch. Nothing is real!

Earth Angel by Madeline Cash, (List Price: 16.95, CLASH Books, 9781955904698, April 2023)

Reviewed by Ndobe Foletia, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs

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Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs
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An absorbing tale that begins with a single, terrible act of violence a father unleashes upon his son before tracing the ripple of that act as it courses over many lives across decades. Structurally, the novel is quite unique; nearly every named character in the novel, all of them affected in some way by this act of violence, have their perspectives shared with us. Childs’s precise writing makes their anguish and their frustration feel so real despite the short time we spend viewing the story through each character’s eyes. A queer coming-of-age story for the ages.

Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs, (List Price: 16.95, Biblioasis, 9781771965491, June 2023)

Reviewed by Sam Edge, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu

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Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu
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Before the most well-known vampire novel of all time, Dracula, was written, there was Carmilla, a queer female vampire from the 1800s. In Carmilla: The First Vampire, Carmilla gets a retelling. It’s the 90s in New York City, and the murders of homeless, queer and trans women have been ignored by cops and uncaring civilians. Though the murderer appears to be monstrous, society and structural inequality are as much to blame. Empathetic, flawed Athena is determined to solve the murders and keep other young women safe when she meets the beguiling, disastrous Violet. Spooky, sexy, and suspenseful, the lesbian vampires of the original Carmilla are blended seamlessly with traditional Chinese lore to create a rich, intense story about geungsi, monster hunters, and murder. The art is stunning, the monsters are terrifying, the vampires are lesbian. What more could you want? It’s sucking fangtastic.

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu, (List Price: 19.99, Berger Books, 9781506734644, February 2023)

Reviewed by Julia Hirschfield, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada

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Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada
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If there’s one thing you should know about me – it’s that I adore a book about an unhappy housewife, not because I like seeing women unhappy, but because I love to support women fighting wrongs. Seeing how a woman reclaims her space, life, and situation – even if she goes about it in questionable ways, is a ride I want to be on. Kashimada’s novel is a prime example of all these elements, with the perfect blend of sparse, deeply impactful prose that explore themes of religion, tragedy, identity, and isolation.

Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada, (List Price: $17, Europa, 9781609458195, March 2023)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Findley, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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