Cinnamon Spice Inn by Harper Graham

Madison left Maple Falls six years ago for a brilliant NYC career, leaving behind  the small-town life, her family, and her young love, Zach. Her mother’s passing hasn’t help her want to return to the memories and pain, but an anonymous letter urges her to come back and help her father and the family inn before it falls apart.

The plot has great potential. The characters are mostly likable and their relationships and backgrounds are strong. You can feel the MCs belong together—you yearn for them. It also makes you want to visit the small town of Maple Falls, feel the calm, the coziness, and eat all the pastries and dishes! 

Original title: Cinnamon Spice Inn

Publisher: Bookouture

Expected publication date: Aug 28th, 2025.

However, I personally felt the narrative a bit weak and kind of repetitive (same wording, same phrasing, too many times). As a debut, I truly hope Harper Graham improves and grows into a great romance author—the ideas and potential are definitely there!

This books is about roots: resentment, revival of young love, finding the way back home, and family. I wouldn’t label it enemies-to-loves. It works as it is without marketing it to the wrong audience.

Agosto 1983 (Haiku de Iswid_books)

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Agosto 1983

Bilbao no olvida 

Las lágrimas del cielo

De aquel agosto 

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

A Black Southern family drama that deals as much in tenderness and humor as it does in brutality, Addie E. Citchens’s Dominion reveals the many sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy.

As I started reading, I quickly realised the synopsis did not do it justice — it was not what I expected. And how happy I was to uncover its twists and turns.

This is a fast, compelling and engaging read, cleverly written from the POV of two women, each with her own authentic voice.

Set in a small town in southern Minessota called Dominion, the story follows a family led by a Reverend highly respected by the community, his wife and their five grown-up children—all independent, except for one: Wonderboy, a 17-year-old angel who still lives with his parents.

On the other hand, there’s Diamond, a poor 17-year-old girl who lives with her adoptive mother. Rejected by her birth mother and separated from her siblings, she had endured a hard life—until she finally finds love with Wonderboy.

Same community, same church, yet two different worlds apart divided of money, respect and appearances. Appearances that will soon turn their lives upside down.

I truly admire how the story evolves from blindness to realisation. Two women—one young one older—finding their way through the structures of patriarchy.  

The ending was unexpected and satisfying. However, I would have liked that the character's change of heart that led to it, was developed a little further, it felt rushed.

I found the wordplay between the town’s name and the concept of patriarchal male dominance to be quite clever.

For a debut novel, congratulations—I look forward to seeing what more she will share with the world.

Dominion 

Publication date: Aug 19, 2025

Editorial: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Interesting quote or description: 
“That was so forever ago; a tune snuck into my mind, a bit about time slipping, slipping into the future.”

Expected for Aug 19 2025, this is a honest personal opinion. I’d like to thank Farrar Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for this post.

Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊⯪ 

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Sola

Tumbada sola

con grandes esperanzas

espero gozar.

African Folktales For The Young At Heart by Abubakar Yusuf Ibrahim

(In English, below)

African Folktales For The Young At Heart (Hausa Tales of Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder) es una compilación de 20 fábulas que bien podrían ser contadas antes de ir a la cama o alrededor del fuego en una acampada.

Es un libro corto de 100 páginas, ilustrado y ameno, y aunque no comprendiera todas las moralejas, muchas me hicieron sonreír. 

Título original: "African Folktales For The Young At Heart

Hausa Tales of Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder"

Fecha de publicación: 15/08/2025

Editorial: Iskanchi Press (miembro IBPA)

La mayoría de protagonistas están representados por animales, y es curioso qué atributos les achaca cada cultura a cada uno de ellos. En este caso, son relatos tradicionales del norte de Nigeria con especial protagonismo de serpientes, cabras, hienas y chacales. 

Eso sí, los valores son similares en todas las sociedades, aún distantes, transmitiendo valores fundamentales y universales como la amabilidad, el karma, la sabiduría, el aprendizaje, advirtiendo contra otros negativos como el mal carácter o la codicia.

Si te gustan las historias y/o cultura africanas o simplemente quieres ver el mundo a través de otros ojos, te animo a leer estos cuentos tradicionales. 

Gracias NetGalley e Iskanchi Press por este ejemplar anticipado. ¡Espero que en el futuro, haya más compilaciones de este tipo!

Puntuación: ★★★★☆

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Desamor

Quien da la espalda

al amor primaveral

pierde un verano.

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Alma vagabunda

Aquel que encuentra 

Amor y lo desprecia

Pierde su alma