ash.reads.horror | When the Reckoning Comes: A Novel
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When the Reckoning Comes: A Novel
LaTanya McQueen
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“So deliciously uncomfortable there were moments where I had to put the book down, take a deep breath, and like Mira, its protagonist, urge myself to go further. This is a novel, like Octavia Butler's Kindred, that reminds its readers that as long as people don't acknowledge how much of the past still shapes the present, it will bring its whips, its hatchets, and fists to make us learn.” —Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood
A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind now available as a Harper Perennial Olive Edition.
More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.
But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.
But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainment includes horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests.
As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.
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Posts about this title from ash.reads.horror
ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Feb 22
👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻 \ \ These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghos
👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻
These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghosts a plenty.
#horrorbooks horrorbooksta #horror
18 books
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Thought Daughters HQ\ \ Sabrina\ \ • Apr 12
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You’re anti-Black if you don’t swipe till the end. I don’t make the rules but I do enforce them.
The Sinners hype won't die until we get more Black movies that aren't made by Tyler Perry.
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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Feb 22
👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻
These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghosts a plenty.
#horrorbooks horrorbooksta #horror
18 books
Bookish AfroLatina's Library\ \ Gabby\ \ • Jun 19 2025
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My May Reading Wrap-Up is overdue!
My May Reading Wrap-Up is overdue! I read 10 books last month & here are my thoughts:
Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins I was fascinated by the last book in the Destiny series! Years after he was Shanghaied* off the coast of California, he is the captain of his own ship (named for his mother Alanza). As a pirate working to liberate Cuba, Pilar chooses the Alanza as her crew’s next target. I had never really learned about these experiences before, so it was awesome that one of my favorite authors introduced it to me in this book. Their chemistry is hot, of course, but the characters and their backstories are what kept me locked in. *Being Shanghaied meant that a person was put aboard a ship by force often with the help of liquor or a drug to work as sailors.
Love and Sportsball by Meka James This is a sweet & spicy romance inspired by the Black American classic, Love and Basketball. I enjoyed the chemistry the leads had w/ each other & the emphasis on clear communication. It was a fun book but the pacing dragged a bit. Folks who enjoy basketball & sapphic romances would love this one, I think!
School for Extraterrestrial Girls #2: Girls In Flight by Jeremy Whitley & Illustrated by Jamie Noguchi The School for Extraterrestrial Girls series is such a fun read for sci-fi fans who like imaging different alien races. Girls in Flight is the second graphic novel and it transports us to the School for Extraterrestrial Boys with Tara, Misako, Summer, and Kat, since their school was compromised in book 1. I love that there are multiple POVs and that we get to know each of the main characters much more. The illustrations are also fantastic! If you love queer sci-fi and graphic novels, definitely give this series a go.
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins At its core, this is a multi-generation story about love. Ardelia & Oliver get engaged in 2019 but struggle to hold onto one another as the stress of wedding planning AND Oliver's work at the hospital becomes overwhelming as the pandemic explodes in the US... [Continues in comments]
#BookReviews #BookRecommendations #BlackBooks #LatinxBooks #Romance #HistoricalFiction #SciFi #Fantasy #Queer #Horror
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • May 19 2025
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Women in Horror. Do our tastes align?
Women in Horror edition! Drop your score below! Did you know that my publishing imprint on Bindery has expanded? We are publishing books by Indigenous authors AND horror books written by women?! And you can help us, by showing up to support (even as a free follower!) I have almost 6,000 followers here and it would be everything if all of you would go and follow me right now! #womneinhorror #horrorbooks #bookrecs
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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Oct 17 2024
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My full stack from our book swap yesterday! I forgot to take a photo of my donation pile, but I definitely left with ones that I am way more excited about. I did pass along some very loved books that I know I will never read again and deserve a spot in someone else’s library–whoever got To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, I hope you love it as much as I did.
Do you have any favorites in this stack?
Also, check out my cute new earrings! Shout out to makers who have clip on options for those of us with metal allergies.
✨ When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya Queen ✨ The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley ✨ O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker ✨ Graceling (graphic novel adaptation) by Kristin Cashore ✨ My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino ✨ Belladonna by Adalyn Grace ✨ Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao ✨ The Year of Witching by Alexis Henderson ✨ Burial Rites by Hannah Kent ✨ Black Hole by Charles Burn
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EGP\ \ Aubrei\ \ • Aug 13 2024
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Horror Books by Black Women👻 // part 2
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