“20 Upcoming Books By Black Female Authors You Don’t Want to Miss.”—Parade magazine“ . . . an impressive, commanding novel about black girl magic . . . The Goddess Twins is an emotive and powerful feminist novel that inspires the innate goddess in every girl..”—Foreword Reviews“Family bonds create the magic in this stirring fantasy.”—Kirkus ReviewsIt’s days before your eighteenth birthday, but … stirring fantasy.”
—Kirkus Reviews
It’s days before your eighteenth birthday, but your mother is missing and suddenly you have supernatural powers. What are you willing to face to discover the truth of who you really are?
After years of traveling the world, black identical twins Aurora and Arden think they’ve settled into normalcy in Ohio. But days before their eighteenth birthday, the snarky twins develop powers in telekinesis and telepathy―at the same time that their famous mother, who’s on tour in London, disappears.
Searching for answers and determined to rescue her, the sisters unearth truths that threaten to extinguish their bond and demolish their strength as individuals. Can they trust their beguiling, newly discovered British cousins when they barely trust one another? Should they heed the warnings of their immortal grandmother, a Patoi-chatting goddess, who says she’s friendly with The Fates and can see inside a person’s very soul?
In order to succeed in their quest, these goddess twins must work together, master their powers, and unveil a horrifying, century-old family mystery. Otherwise, they may not live to see eighteen―or their mother again.
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The Goddess Twins is an addictive YA novel that will live on in the minds of readers long after the final page. Williams weaves characters so real they leap out of the story and into your imagination… A spellbinding tale rich with enchantment and lore. Girl-power meets modern magic. Unforgettable.
Mixed-feelings is what I have for this book. I will be honest, I chose this book not because I liked the cover or the description, but because I found the title odd, ‘The Goddess Twins’… I requested the book on NetGalley, and after a few days, I receive a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The action floats around Aurora and Arden. The two and their mother travelled around the world since they were little kids and after a while, they settled down in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their mother is a famous opera singer, and only a few days before their eighteen birthday, she decided to go to London to replace someone on a show. Only a few hours after she left, the girls find out she has been kidnapped. While on their journey to rescue their mother, they find the truths she has been hiding from them all this time. Arden and Aurora are goddesses! They reconnect with their family and they find out about their destiny, but will the twins have what it takes to save their mother from the evil?
The characters are well developed, and I liked that about the book. The protagonists, as well as the other characters, have had a great story behind them, and that was the only reason I kept reading. Some things that I found quite original were the names of the characters, and I appreciate that about the story. Some examples are one of the cousins of the twins, Leolidessa, their grandmother Ghani or Selene’s brother, Teresh.
The action wasn’t extraordinary. Sometimes I felt like there wasn’t much to it and that the author kept writing without a clear purpose in her head. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and I couldn’t see the logic behind the events. At the same time, her style of writing was exceptional, and I couldn’t put the book down. It is quite hard to explain, I’ll give you that!
The novel started promising, and I had high expectations for it. The prologue settled down the theme of the book and kept me at the edge of my seat. I was eager for the first chapter to start after finishing the prologue. As soon as I got deeper into the book, I realized the chapters were quite long. In a 208-page novel, there were only 7 chapters, the prologue and the epilogue, and if we play a bit with the calculator, we will see that a chapter has about 23 pages. That might not sound like a lot of pages, but it felt that way while reading. Another thing that pissed me off while reading was the format of the book. Some words were split up, and it was quite annoying. I will insert some pictures of my kindle, so you can see what I’m talking about.
The book has great potential and there is a fair chance to a sequel. Although I didn’t vibe with this novel, and giving the fact that the novel has been the first-ever to be published book of the author, I will recommend it for further reading.
Who wouldn’t love a bit of…
Black Girl-power
Modern Magic
Goddess Fantasy
I enjoyed reading this book. It was a fun quick read, quirky characters, and I loved the setting in Ohio, London and Jamaica. I was entertained reading this book, and a great escape read I enjoyed – who doesn’t love magic right? The diversity and representation in this book was fantastic. I think that this book was set up for a good start of a series – potentially crossing my fingers.
Great debut novel.
Yodassa Williams’ debut, The Goddess Twins, is a fantastic ride, viewed through the eyes of girls on the verge of adulthood, wrestling with their secretive opera-singer mother’s disappearance and their family’s mysterious past. Twins Arden and Aurora are at once teenagers tackling contemporary issues as well as immortals in training, learning to harness their supernatural gifts in the face of adversity. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and can’t wait for it to reach its readers!