Forty Words for Love

June 15, 2023
Love blooms between two best friends in a magical town grieving a tragic loss. Raf and Yas have been best friends since the former's home was destroyed and his people fled to Moonlight Bay via the enchanted Golub tree in the Willow Forest. Despite warnings from his community elders, Raf decides to confess his romantic feelings to Yas--but he finds her with Moses, the Holler Candy empire heir. The golden leaf-shaped birthmark burns against Raf's wrist, and he runs to the shoreline, where he discovers 5-year-old Sammy Holler dead. Now, a year later, Moonlight Bay is struggling--the Hollers have moved away, the once pink-and-lavender waters have turned dark gray, several local businesses have shut down, and tensions between the locals and the Golubs are rising. Yas, whose parents are struggling to make ends meet, faces the prospect of leaving her hometown. Raf, once excited about college, becomes resigned to staying home to support his family. When the wealthy Naismiths move into the Holler Mansion, the townspeople are desperate to make them stay, but Yas and Raf question what their true intentions are in Moonlight Bay. Saeed takes readers on a gentle exploration of losing faith, finding yourself, and grief's impact on a community. Unfortunately, the slow-burn romance is sluggish, and the secondary characters feel underdeveloped. Readers who don't mind light worldbuilding that allows them to imagine details for themselves may enjoy this lightly magical story. Characters are racially ambiguous. Intriguing but lacking in impact. (Fabulism. 12-17)

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June 26, 2023
Two teens navigate grief and first love in this romantic fantasy by Saeed (Omar Rising), set in a magical world. Moonlight Bay local Yas and Raf—who has a leaf-shaped birthmark and is part of the Golub people—have been friends since Raf and his family moved to town as climate refugees when he was young. Determined to confess his feelings for Yas, Raf seeks her out, only to catch her in a seemingly tender moment with Moses Holler, the heir of Moonlight Bay’s most influential family. Raf later stumbles upon the corpse of five-year-old Sammy Holler, setting into motion a chain of events with disastrous implications for everyone in town. Moses and his family move away, taking with them the town’s economic security, and the ocean, once a soothing pink and lavender, becomes a grimy gray. Thin worldbuilding deflate the intriguingly rendered landscape and a jam-packed plot stymie Yas and Raf’s budding, Romeo and Juliet–esque romance. Still, skillful characterizations keep readers invested as Saeed weaves a tale of a grieving town on the brink of financial collapse and the resourceful, minimally described protagonists intent on saving it. Ages 12–up.