School Library Journal Review
In the decades before the novel's present, Augusta Montrose was blessed with a gift from her ancestor, the loa Lanora; recognizing this, the powerful Bela Nova began training her in the religion of Voodoo and the practice of hoodoo magic. But when Augusta ran off with Bela Nova's son, Bela Nova cursed the Montrose family: the men they love will die. Years later, as her daughter, Madelyn, struggles with addiction, Augusta takes her granddaughters Victoria and Willow and moves to California. Now the women, including Victoria's daughter, Nickie, cohabitate in an uneasy alliance. Victoria uses Lanora's gift as a therapist; Willow creates spells and potions. When Nickie invites a boy over for her birthday dinner, the women find themselves trying to explain their family curse to a teenager ignorant of their history and gifts. Augusta, left unable to speak after a stroke, struggles to communicate with her family the events that led to the curse. Madelyn joins the household, adding to the tension as she tries to redeem herself. The family fractures, culminating in Nickie running away and the women returning to New Orleans to confront Augusta's past so they can move forward. Chapters provide alternating points of view, and the lack of Madelyn's voice reinforces her outsider status. Augusta's narrative focuses on the past, illustrating the ripple effect of her actions. A Spotify playlist is provided by the author. VERDICT Generations of women must confront their fears, resolve their issues, and rebuild their relationships. Good general purchase.--Tamara Saarinen
Publisher's Weekly Review
Love and death plague four generations of magical Montrose women in Brown's middling debut. Augusta; her granddaughters, Victoria and Willow; and her great-granddaughter, Nickie, all share the Montrose curse: any person they fall in love with dies. The women have managed to live self-sufficiently in California thanks to Willow's hoodoo and Victoria's successful therapy practice. Then, on Nickie's 17th birthday, she invites a boy home for dinner. Her mother, Victoria, is determined to stop the relationship before it can start and encourages Nickie to focus on her destined gift for helping others. But Nickie, who's unaware of the curse, instead turns to her aunt, Willow, to learn love spells to keep her crush. As past mistakes and present secrets threaten to break the family, the secret of the curse's origin--and the only hope of breaking it--lies with Augusta, who is unable to speak after two strokes. Interspersed with flashbacks to 1950s New Orleans, this multiple POV narrative offers a holistic portrayal of voodoo practices, but doesn't offer as well-rounded a portrait of its heroines, who come off oddly flat. Still, for fans of intergenerational family dramas, this magical twist on the genre will prove refreshing. Agent: Cherise Fisher, Wendy Sherman Assoc. (Mar.)
Booklist Review
Four generations of Montrose women navigate secrets and a family curse: anyone the women fall in love with will die prematurely. When 17-year-old Nickie brings home a boy, Felix, her mother, Victoria, does everything she can to keep them apart. While she lights a black candle and presents offerings to the loa, her sister, Willow, is more sympathetic to Nickie, and secretly offers up a spell to keep Felix around. Nanagusta, left unable to speak after several strokes, tries to justify keeping her past a secret from her granddaughters and great-granddaughter, that the reason for the curse is not because they are female descendants of the powerful Lanora, but because of something she did in 1950s New Orleans when she was learning hoodoo and falling in love for the first time. Brown deftly portrays an insular family of women in all of its complicated glory in alternating chapters narrated by each of the four women. Each woman's voice is unique and captures her essence: too-strict Victoria, big-hearted and resentful Willow, pained but powerful Nanagusta, and confused adolescent Nickie. The spiritual angle gives this powerful family drama a magical twist that will delight readers.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT Brown's first novel is a gripping Black family drama that involves four generations of the family living under one roof in California. The Montrose women have been cursed for generations. Thanks to a curse cast by a New Orleans voodoo priestess in the 1950s, anyone whom a Montrose woman falls in love with will die. When the youngest Montrose daughter, Nickie, brings home a boy for the first time, the other Montrose women must decide how to tell her about the curse and come to terms with their own past traumas. The story switches between four points of view, spanning three generations of the women in the house; each of the women feels real and complex. The voodoo in the book is rooted in actual practices, and at the end of the book Brown credits the people who helped her research it. While this novel deals with grief, generational trauma, addiction, and more, it provides readers with a feeling of hope at the end. VERDICT A cozy autumn or winter read with a main cast of complex Black women. Brown's debut tackles generational trauma in an engaging and heartfelt way.--Carleigh Obrochta
