A story of about battling racism in the Jim Crow South coupled with saving yourself, and your sisters all while baking a strange magic hidden within yourself. I enjoyed this book easy now than I expected and it was a pretty quick read

Not only does this book offer up a unique form of magic, but it provides historical context for the time period. This is a great addition to the world of YA fantasy.

Evvie is a teenager helping her younger siblings to lighten the load of her single mother. Their father is in prison. Jubilation runs in the family and Evvie’s magic is coming on strong. She causes odd behavior in others and can change the world around her, usually unintentionally. She’s falling for Clay, her longtime crush that’s very interested in her too. A creepy stranger keeps showing up, scaring Evvie and her mother tells her the past experiences with him. Virgil Hampton is not a good man and he hurt Evvie when she was little. Her mother lost her job over it because she was angry that he hurt Evvie and she was fired because her family is black and Virgil’s family is white and rich. This is a beautiful story of hardship and perseverance which brought me to tears many times while reading it. I cried for the touching and sweet moments, for the fear and loss and for the bravery, kindness, love and hope. Highly recommended and an emotional journey, 5 stars!

Did I request this book because of the cover? 100%.

Don't get me wrong, I knew going into this book that it was going to be emotionally heavy, but when you couple the pandemic and everything that has transpired with the resurgence of the BLM movement last summer, I just found this one even more difficult as a Black reader.

This is an incredibly important book, and I definitely think that we need more of this for young readers, but definitely keep in mind the trigger warnings (rape, abuse, assault, racism, racist language) and the content that is discussed.

I thought the writing and the characters were really incredible in this book. They were engaging and interesting and I enjoyed reading for the most part. Unfortunately for me, I just wish there was more plot. This is more of a slice of life in the American south in the 60s following a girl who happens to have magic. And that's fine but I personally was just hoping for a stronger plot rather than following her around for this period of time. I'm sure other readers will love this but I will be cautious in recommending it to teens without giving proper trigger warnings since the story and especially the ending deal with a lot of extremely traumatic situations. I think it is important and heartbreaking in a great way to read but I don't want to send any teens to this book without making sure they know to expect that.

Reading Daughters of Jubilation is seriously a gift. It was the root magic for me! I really appreciated this book and the characters in the book. The setting was an interesting and wonderful choice on the author's behalf. I loved this magic system called Jubilation and her grandmother was not to be played with and I was here for it.

I really loved what I could read of this book. Unfortunately the ARC I got from Netgalley had significant issues that made the text difficult to read, but what I got through of the book was engaging, interesting, and I will absolutely be picking this to read on is final version at some point. I'm definitely not going to mark what looks like a great book down because of problems that aren't it's fault.

Wow, this one hit much harder than expected emotionally. Definitely check content warnings if you need them, because it's an intense one but it's also very, very good. Daughters of Jubilation is set in the 1960's and follows a sixteen-year-old Black girl in the South with magical abilities, passed down through families for the survival of Black women. In some ways this is a coming of age story about first love, but it also verges into horror as Evvie encounters misogyny, racism, and a very disturbing man who is obsessed with her.

Evvie is struggling to cope with her growing abilities that can be as dangerous as they are powerful. She is also falling in love with her first boyfriend (Clay), exploring her sexuality, and facing the dangers of racism and white supremacy for herself and the people she loves. Her relationship with Clay is achingly beautiful and feels real. In general, this is the sort of book that just might rip your heart out as it explores the difficult realities of how slow change can be and the evil in the hearts of people. I don't want to say too much more about the plot but I really hope people will pick this book up! Just do be aware that this book gets quite dark, and I'm not sure the cover really gets that across. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings include rape, murder, racialized violence, racist slurs, misogyny, references to childhood sexual abuse, graphic violence.

This book deals with magic, birthright, and racism in a way that I hadn’t seen done before.
I almost DNF’d this one because of the racial tensions and themes throughout, but I think it’s important to read these things. I don’t think I’d read it twice but it was decent.


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Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Hear Our Voices tours for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has so many trigger warnings I can’t even start. Rape, Racial Slurs, Racism, Violence, etc. It was incredibly hard to read at times, but it was still a pretty phenomenal book.

This is the kind of book that breaks your heart and makes you feel so hopeless. The characters were so well thought out and the mother daughter relationship felt more real than most do. It reminded me a lot of my own relationship with my mother.

Overall, this was a powerful read but not an easy one. I cried a lot and even now I am at a loss for words on what to say about it. It was heartbreakingly great.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Disclaimer: I got this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warning: Rape, racial slurs, and violence. This book was hard to read at times because of how detailed it was but overall the plot was incredible. It takes place in 1962 South Carolina and is about 16 year old Evvie who learns that she has "jube" or magic that has been passed down from Black women for years but doesn't know how to control it.

Evalene "Evvie" Deschamps life appears like one of a typical teen, working to help her family, caring for her twin sisters, gossiping with her best friend Anne Marie, being swept off her feet by Clay the cutest boy in town, just enjoying summer vacation, despite the shackles of Jim Crow. Yet, Evvie ain't your typical teen, she is struggling with the conjure known in her family as the jubilation. While she trying to gain control of her witchcraft abilities and trying to decide whether the jubilation is a blessing or a curse, an old foe makes his way back into Evvie's life and she no longer has the time to weigh the pros and the cons of jubilation, she needs harnest all of her newfound skills to protect her loved ones and banish this miscreant from her life permanently. Can Evvie master jubilation in time to protect her family, well pick up a copy this fantastical book and discover for yourself.
Daughters of Jubilation is an excellent, young adult, historical fiction fantasy laced with magical realism and timely horror elements. Through the book's protagonist and narrator, Evvie, Corthron captures the beauty and complexities of Black life in the Jim Crow South, which means that racism & social justice are important themes filled with evergreen truths, but so is Al Green's love and happiness. So much of that joy is embodied in our protagonist, Evvie, who is snarky, witty, funny, incorrigible, kind, loyal, & loving, no matter what crazy predicaments she finds herself in, you find yourself always rooting for her. Daughters of Jubilation is at times enchanting, at times terrifying, at times heartbreaking, but always a pleasurable read, even as it delicately tackles mature and taboo topics, I highly recommend it.

Speculative Fiction. Black Girl Magic. Historical Fiction. Only a greedy troll would ask for more. Evvie was born with Jubilation or the Jube, all the women in her family were. She has the ability to manipulate the world around her, to break, to fix, to create. Her powers seem to be limitless. When Evvie begins to learn to control her magic, her timing is impeccable because a man from her past has resurfaced, a man Evvie’s mind won’t allow her to remember.When Virgil re-enters Evvie’s life forcing memories that no mind should ever have to hold and Evvie has to learn to not only control her ability but make herself whole to rid him from her life once and for all.


*Sigh* I think it will be easier for me to not so much review the book, as drip all of the feelings it cause onto this piece of virtual paper. 


I like this book. I honestly do. I have to say that it makes me unbearably sad and kind of hopeless. While reading the end of this book I couldn’t help but wonder… How much suffering does a group of people have to endure? How much trauma? How much pain? How much angst? Do we ever get a plain and simple happily ever after? Then I could imagine some troll coming out of the folds saying something about how everyone has trails and tribulations but then I thought of the Margaret Atwood quote.


“Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” 



Which leads me to some of my favorite quotes from the book. Black people, particularly black women are know to be strong, stubborn, straight forward, you will not win an argument (all a little problematic if I’m being honest but that’s another post entirely), Queen. We’re that way because we have to be. We’re that way because the world has forces us to be. We will get you before you get us. Again a little problematic but I’ve had a rough day so I’m here for it. Which leads me to…


“Quit it with the sorries! It’s weak. Don’t be sorry. Do better.”


My second favorite quote…


“In defiance of their mutilated bodies, they all smile at me, and I think I smile back. This is my family, and they’re beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. Like me.”


 As I sit here, on a rough day after having listened to a woman tell me about a “woke reading challenge” turning my pain and the pain of those before me into a unit of study worth a grade or worse crappy fidget spinner prize, I almost want to cry. And I guess that’s what makes a good book. A book that makes you feel not only what you want, but what you dread. A book that chews you up and spits you out and boy. The last few chapters of this book did exactly that while they did sprinkle a little bit of hope, so I leave you with one final quote to shed a bit of light on this dim dim world some of us live in.


“You will not win every battle. Any victory is a gift to be cherished.”

3.5 stars

"You are horror and beauty in rare combination"- Octavia E. Butler, Epigraph for Daughters of Jubilation
From the jump, Daughters of Jubilation snags your attention. Evalene's a young Black girl with a love for astronomy coming up in Jim Crow South Carolina. She navigates the usual trials of Black adolescence: first loves, encounters with racism, and budding life aspirations. But she also has one unique gift: magical powers.
Evvie and the women in her family all share "the jube," a set of witchlike abilities akin to telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, and time travel. The jube is both the key to their survival as Black women and a distressing responsibility.

I know Kara Lee Corthron as a playwright first and a novelist second. She's a gifted storyteller in both genres, stitching elegant and surreal tales about race and femininity. In Daughters of Jubilation, Corthron reclaims the magical negro trope, inserting Blackness into the world of fantasy fiction. 

Due to her dramatic background, Corthron's strength lies in dialogue, in character voice. Daughters of Jubilation's first person narration crackles with life. Corthron's prose captures Evvie's effervescence, making her headspace an intriguing place to be.

I most appreciate Evvie's friendship with Anne Marie. Their kinship models healthy female companionship, which I always valued as a teenager. Anne Marie keeps Evvie honest, and their conversations about dating, feminine hygiene, and their uncertain futures conjure up fond memories of high school heart-to-hearts.

As a reader of Corthron's plays, I pick up on her trademark use of surrealism. Bizarre, inexplicable events tend to appear in her works. Sometimes they work for me and sometimes they don't. In Daughters of Jubilation, a few quirky moments disrupt the plot and cause me to question the rules of this fantasy world. Similarly, some plot points strike me as too adult for the YA genre. I would feel most comfortable recommending this book to readers of sixteen years or older.

This book was a blend of darkness and joy. If the mention of Jim Crow causes you to hesitate with this book I suggest putting aside your fears and picking this up anyway. If the subject matter makes you feel uncomfortable it should. The violence and pain our ancestors have experienced some of which we still experience today is very real but still we rise.

You can read the synopsis but you never truly know what you're getting into until you open up the pages. Yes, there is violence in Daughters of Jubilation as our young heroine, Evvie navigates living in South Carolina in 1962. Sometimes it feels like she has no options and her dreams are beyond far fetched. But in the midst of those moments there is joy.

Evvie is coming into her own with her powers of jubilation. Jubilation is a hard to explain gift passed down through her bloodline from generation to generation. It can protect them when they need it the most. But right now for Evvie these powers are hard to control. And she needs her Grammie's guidance to help her get a handle of them.

All the while she is balancing new love with Clay, the boy she's crushed on for some time, babysitting a bratty white child, helping take care of her little sisters, and trying to keep the peace with her momma. As if all that isn't enough a dangerous white man from her past reappears intending to hurt her even more than he had before.

This book is written in an easy to connect to dialect and though there's violent trauma there's the joy of discovering new love, embracing your family for all that they are, and discovering yourself. The themes of finding your power resonate.

Kara Lee Corthron offers a nuanced portrayal of growing up Black in The South in the 60s under the hot summer heat trying to survive the racism and hardships thrown your way while also living life enjoying music, movies, and good food.

See full review.
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2020/10/daughters-of-jubiliation-by-kara-lee.html

TW: Sexual Assault
I really enjoyed this book! I felt that the author did a good job of making the character who is relatable and someone you can feel for in multiple ways. I love that Evalene experiences a young love and that she is able to be herself with a person. I love that the authors made the characters to be literal Black Girl Magic. It was important to see that Evvie was strong in different ways. I think it was beautiful to see different mother and daughter relationships because that is the truth in humanity that relationships aren't perfect and that trauma can determine how future relationships are for those people. I think the book really used generational trauma to the forefront of a fiction book. I was engaged in this book because I felt that it was hard to see a young teenager who had hopes and aspirations but felt that maybe she wasn't able to because of the social setting and not being able to afford it. The part where she remembers her assault as a kid was hard to read because of how much White men during this time were able to terrorize individuals and their whole families because they felt like it and because the way they continued to see Black people as objects rather than people. Overall, this book was really touching and would recommend it for a different type of read.

2020 publishing is determined to ruin me. I mean I think this is the 4th time I’ve cried this year because of a book and it takes a lot to make me cry because of a book. Quite honestly I was surprised by Daughters of Jubilation. I went into the book expecting a certain kind of magic and got something more powerful. It’s not your typical or traditional fantasy. It explores some very difficult, but very real topics that have affected Black women. This book definitely has trigger warns for rape, attempted rape, use of racial slurs, and violence.

Daughters of Jubilation is set in 1962 in South Carolina and follows 16 year old Evvie as she learns about her “jube,” a magic that has been passed down an endless line of Black women. She doesn’t quite understand it’s purpose or how to control it, but when something from her past resurfaces she must learn all that she can. Evvie is a bad ass character. She’s resilient, she takes no nonsense. Evvie is the type of character that you want as a friend and I loved that she did everything in her power to make her friends feel comfortable. She was always aware and considerate of how people felt even if she didn’t quite understand. There’s also a romance in this book between Evvie and Clay that seems to happen to fast but it does slow down and readers get the opportunity to see their romance develop. There is sex on page several times but it’s treated with care and normalcy and quite honestly I loved that. To see the sex positivity was refreshing. There was even a point where there was a discussion about the importance of protection and respect. Overall, there were so many positive relationships in this book and I loved it especially the relationship between Evvie and her grandmother. She reminded me so much my great-grandmother that it hurt my heart. She's wise and caring, but in her own way. She doesn't follow anyone's rules and I loved that.

This book is laced with history albeit painful, dark history but it’s important to the narrative and I understand why Corthron felt it important to make this a true Southern fantasy. The writing is written in dialect which makes the reader feel more immersed in the story. For me, it felt like home. My moms side of the family is from South Carolina so I felt a personal connection to a lot of the discussions and the dialect used within the book. The magic system was interesting and definitely serves a purpose that I didn’t expect by just reading the synopsis. I think that a lot of people aren't going to expect the way that the magic system and the plot work together. It was just a well put together book and I absolutely devoured it. I’m hoping that this book gets a sequel because that ending!!!

This book was not what I was expecting AT ALL!

Evalene Deschamps as a power called Jubilation, passed down through family generations from before slavery when women in her family needed power to survive. But Evalene is just a high school student living in Jim Crow and hoping to fall in love. But when someone from her past comes back to haunt and threaten her, she will need her family, her Jubilation, and her strength to survive.

"I believe I have the strength to take care of myself and the people I love. I will keep my eyes and my heart directed at them, so that if destiny tries to harm any of 'em, it will have to go through me."

I loved Evalene - she is a typical teenager, waffling between love and lust, having petty fights with friends, and generally having emotions all over the place. EXCEPT, she has this Jubilation power that is growing and she doesn't know how to handle it. I loved that the power is called Jubilation - so much Black people use joy and resilience and celebration to survive. The connection there was so beautiful. My favorite character was Grandma Atti tho - what a SPITFIRE. She is the epitome of Black grandmas and I loved her. I also loved the setting and how mysticism, power, and magic is set alongside Jim Crow, racism, and real life history of the fight for civil rights.

"We just keep fightin' the same battles in new eras with new faces each time. It's never ending"

I found this quote critical because it highlights that the fight for civil rights, the fight to be respected and not murdered as a Black person is literally never ending. The faces change but the cause doesn't. And we need to fight in order to survive - we need to use everything we've got, especially some Jubilation.

CW/TW: rape, abuse, assault, racism, racist language

This book was amazing! The only con is that I wanted more. The characters were very well developed. The pacing of the novel started from the first page. The novel was written in dialect that was reflective of the time and it was perfect. Lastly, the storyline was very intriguing.

Daughters of Jubilation is a powerful read.  Imbued with a beautiful, graceful sense of strength, it comes out swinging with a heroine who has a wonderfully memorable voice.

Sixteen-year-old Evalene – Evvie - Deschamps is growing up in a Jim Crow Era mid-south, helping to care for her younger twin half-sisters, crushing on cool older kid Clay – whom she’s been eyeing forever - and babysitting on the side for a woman she can’t stand when her Jubilation arrives and quite literally shakes up her world.  Her growing psychic powers uproot a tree and brings true her wish for a family of racists to experience an accident.  Evvie saves the life of those racists and ends up being hailed as a hero?? in the local paper.  With that, she realizes her Jubilation has begun – she’s the latest in a long line of generational magic makers, going all the way back through her maternal bloodline.

Evvie is well aware that this family gift is part and parcel of being a Deschamps woman (her mother calls it a curse). It manifests early as blackouts that happen here and there in their youth, and they begin to jube on the regular sometime in their teens. It’s something they rarely talk about outside of their close family circle, and each woman in the Deschamps family has a different opinion about their powers.  Evvie decides to follow along her caustic, magic-loving Grandma Attie’s path – she’s going to practice her gifts instead of avoiding magic and the practice thereof like her own more religious mother.  Evvie is galvanized into action when the man who raped her (this happens before the book opens) begins to stalk her, threatening her sisters with violence. Training under Attie, Evvie must learn how to hex her stalker and protect her loved ones before it’s too late.

The worldbuilding alone is worth the price of admission to Daughters of Jubilation.  Corthron’s approach toward magic – and how it affects each of the women in the Deschamps family for better or worse, is multilayered and a great example of letting characters drive your universe instead of the other way around.

Aside from its exploration of magic, the book combines family feelings, generational conflicts, the swoony feeling of youthful falling in love, and the bigger picture of life in the racist hell that was the segregated south in the early 1960s.  You can feel the heat of the summer sun, the way it wavers up from car hoods, the sound of owls in the trees, and the smell of tomatoes frying.

Evvie is wonderful – complicated, tough, blunt, romantic, warm, bright and impassioned.  She’s funny – the kind of person who calls her period “Ambushina” – and I loved her.  Just as wonderful is her no-nonsense yet loving mother, and wise but tough and acerbic Attie.  Her playful and realistically messy twin sisters are funny and both come off as well-rounded individuals.

Evvie’s more wallflower-like friend Anne Marie - who is suffering from abuse at the hands of her uncle and trying to puzzle out a crush on a fellow female classmate - is the quieter and more subdued half of their friendship.  And then there’s Clay, who has a beautiful, playful and touching romance with Evvie with a complicated and sad conclusion.

There’s not much more I can say about the story without spoiling it, but Daughters of Jubilation is one of those books where you’ll be more than glad you were left to take the ride alone and discover the journey for yourself.

Buy it at: Amazon or shop at your local independent bookstore
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NOTE: The book includes references to pre-book rape, semi-explicit sexual encounters, depictions of racial violence, physical abuse, graphic (and in several cases richly enjoyable) murder, racism – including usage of the n-word, depictions of stalking and period-typical sexism and a scene where our heroine tries to force her whole period to happen in a single moment and almost passes out from the bleeding.