Review by Booklist Review
Desamours debuts with a tense, speculative mystery about a Black Atlanta teen balancing her intrusive psychic ability, problems at home, and her friend's disappearance. Sariyah can sense other people's needs, normally for mundane items like ChapStick and hair gel, which batter her mind until fulfilled. To stave off migraines, she carries a "Santa bag" stuffed with items everywhere. Every so often, though, a need worries her. Like when she fulfills her friend Deja's need for pepper spray, right before she disappears at the Afro Alt music festival. Aware of how the police and media neglect missing Black girls, Sariyah and her friends campaign on social media to raise awareness of Deja's disappearance while conducting their own investigation. Yet every lead raises more questions. Desamours touches on relevant social justice topics, particularly the disparity in how missing Black and white girls are treated, while slowly building a twisty mystery with plenty of surprises, suspects, and red herrings. Sariyah's authentic troubles with her tight-knit family and friends provide grounding for the interesting speculative elements.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Because of a genetic trait passed down by her paternal ancestors, clairvoyant Black teen Sariyah Lee Bryant possesses the ability to hear other people's thoughts--specifically about things they need ("Paper clip. Crayon. Shoelace. Chewing gum"). Though she often dons noise-canceling headphones to drown out the voices, ignoring them for too long causes painful migraines. Therefore, she sometimes grants these unspoken desires, earning her the nickname Santa Bag, as well as free tickets to the Atlanta Afro Alt Music Festival from a grateful stranger. While attending the festival with friends Deja, Jude, and Malcolm, Sariyah insists they stay together. Then Deja disappears, prompting traumatic memories surrounding Malcolm's twin sister Tessa's disappearance and launching an unsettling series of events into motion. As Sariyah searches for Deja, her loved ones' secrets come to light. In this mesmerizing speculative thriller, debut author Desamours eschews standard plotting surrounding superpowered individuals: instead of secrecy, isolation, or derision, Sariyah receives genuine support and ample resources from family and friends alike, who help her manage her gift and its side effects. The high-concept premise serves to balance instances of intimate partner violence while bolstering themes surrounding spirituality, grief, and racism. Ages 13--up. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up--Sariyah, who is Black, has a special gift like her grandmother's: a psychic-like ability that senses the needs of others, often before they know themselves. This results in migraines from the constant requests she senses, most of which are common objects like gum, pen, or a nail file. Sariyah keeps these in her "Santa bag" she carries everywhere. Her bestie Tessa, also Black, has been missing and forgotten for five years, while media spotlighted a missing local white girl a year ago who was found dead within two days. When Sariyah, love interest Jude, and friend Deja catch the Afro Alt Music Festival with Malcolm (Tessa's twin), catastrophe strikes again--Deja goes missing. As established, a missing Black girl does not receive media attention, so Sariyah uses her gift to assist as the friends play detectives. She doesn't want her friend reduced to a hashtag, but #FindDeja is a necessary tool in the absence of media coverage. This genre-crossing mystery/thriller with interlaced fantastical elements results in a page-turner. The interwoven story lines are short but pack a punch. Character development is strong; there are authentic introspective emotions in the face of social injustices, mental health issues, and devastating events. The engaging banter between Sariyah and Malcolm provides necessary comic relief during intense times. Unexpected twists are sprinkled throughout, with a bombshell cliffhanger setting up for a potential sequel. VERDICT Riveting and complex, this debut is a robust companion to Jade Adia's There Goes the Neighborhood and Tiffany D. Jackson's Monday's Not Coming.--Lisa Krok
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A teen springs into action after her friend vanishes at a music festival in Atlanta. Like her grandmother, Sariyah Bryant, a Black high school senior, inherited the ability to sense people's needs. Unfortunately, her powers exact a toll--if Sariyah doesn't fulfill these wishes or physically distance herself from the person, she experiences acute migraines. That's why she never goes anywhere without her Santa Bag: a duffel brimming with everyday items to give out. When a grateful woman she once helped gifts her four tickets to Afro Alt Music Festival, Sariyah's ecstatic. Alongside best friend Malcolm, new friend Deja, and love interest Jude, she immerses herself in the festival's atmosphere of positivity and creativity--until it all comes crashing down. Deja disappears from the grounds, igniting a frantic search that unearths multiple suspects and tests Sariyah's hope. As Sariyah and her community work to bring Deja back home, she realizes her friends are keeping shocking secrets. Desamours' debut spotlights an emotionally complex hero who's painfully aware of the social inequities and injustices that affect Black girlhood. Sariyah's mother has depression, and the depiction of mental health struggles is handled with realism and cultural sensitivity. The author portrays Sariyah's relationship with her brother, who has sickle cell disease, with tenderness. Readers will be thoroughly surprised by the unexpected conclusion. An engaging, innovative critique of the systems that protect whiteness and rob Black girls of their innocence.(Mystery. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
