Bayou Bytes Blog

 All of Us Villains is being marketed as magic meets The Hunger Games , and though I've grown wary of dystopian fiction, it was enough to make me grab the title.  To some extent, this comparison is apt.  Seven kids from Ilvernath's great families compete every twenty years. The last kid standing wins their family exclusive access to the town's hidden well of high magick.  But this year's competition is different. Someone in the know published a novel explicitly detailing the nature of the competition and when it becomes a bestseller, little Ilvernath's big secret becomes front page news.   Even though the seven champions thrown into the ring this year have gone to incredible lengths to prepare for the tournament, things have changed. They're starting to rebel from the inside.  By the time I was done with this novel, I was certain that comparing it to The Hunger Games was selling it short. For a novel with so many characters, they are remarkably disti...

       Mateo Garcia lives in New York with his parents and his sister Sophie. At the start of the novel, he's seen in line for an off-Broadway audition with his best friend Adam. Later, he's at dinner with his parents where they reassure the kids they'll be fine as long as they are "careful."       But being careful doesn't seem to be enough. One day, while the kids are at school,   I.C.E. arrives at the Bodega (his dad's store)...Setting the kids on a new journey of facing America without parental supervision.     His usual worries of prepping for the SATs and becoming an actor become overshadowed by Law & Order. Will the courts let his parents stay in the States or will a rigid outlook on citizenship alter their lives unwillingly?      Aleman paints a human tale about the Garcias. Parents who work hard so their children can strive towards their hopes and dreams-- like many other typical American families. This i...

As you might expect, we're starting October off with an eerie novel. The Death of Jane Lawrence is a brand new novel from Caitlin Starling, who you might remember is the author of The Luminous Dead (a novel that I am aggressively recommending to this day). I really enjoy Starling's writing style, as well as the way she builds suspense, so if you're in the mood for a dark thriller, this could be the book for you.  When Jane's foster father accepts a position in another town, she decides the most practical option is to stay behind and marry. She pursues the local physician, Dr. Lawrence. An awkward and introverted man, he accepts Jane's proposition, with the added condition that she must never spend the night at his out of town estate. Though she initially agrees, an unfortunate carriage accident deposits her on his doorstep in the midst of a terrible storm.  The man she finds in the darkened estate is very different from the one she married, haunted and terrified b...