"Magical realism meets Southern Gothic in this commanding young adult debut from Ciera Burch about true love, the meaning of home, and the choices that haunt us.

Welcome to Coldwater. Come for the ghosts, stay for the drama.

Jericka Walker had planned to spend the summer before senior year soaking up the sun with her best friend on the Jersey Shore. Instead she finds herself in Coldwater, Maryland, a small town with a dark and complicated past where her estranged grandmother lives - someone she knows only two things about: her name and the fact that she left Jericka's mother and uncle when they were children. But now Jericka's grandmother is dying, and her mother has dragged Jericka along to say goodbye.

As Jericka attempts to form a connection with a woman she's never known, and adjusts to life in a town where everything closes before dinner, she meets "ghost girl" Kat, a girl eager to leave Coldwater and more exciting than a person has any right to be. But Coldwater has a few unsettling secrets of its own. The more you try to leave, the stronger the town's hold. As Jericka feels the chilling pull of her family's past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her mother, her childhood, and the lines between the living and the dead."

I mean, I'd choose a creepy town that doesn't want you to leave over the Jersey Shore any day.

“Welcome to Coldwater. Come for the ghosts, stay for the drama." Jericka Walker‘s plans for the summer before her senior year definitely did not include leaving her home and friends in Jersey to care for an estranged and dying grandmother in a small town, seemingly stuck in its dark and haunted past. While the summer did not go as Jericka initially planned, it forever changed her for the better; she learned that goodbyes are not always bad or final and the love of family and home has the power to transcend death.

Something Kindred teaches its readers about small towns, sexuality, secrets, and spirits and is the perfect book to explore these themes among multiple generations.

Just like Jericka who wants people to feel the same way she does when she is taking a photo and looks at something and thinks, That's beautiful, I felt the exact same way about this book!

First off, thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for this e-arc!

This book, on the surface, is a contemporary, magical realism story, but it's also so much more than that. It held so much depth with the town's history, the intergenerational traumas and relationships, and the coming-of-age aspects of Jericka's story.
While this book technically includes a sapphic romance, it's definitely not the focus. Burch nailed each and every relationship written between Jericka and those in her life. She handled themes of family, forgiveness, and grief in such candid and beautiful ways.

There were times that the pacing and scene/chapter transitions felt choppy to me, but the emotional beats and prose were so strong otherwise. I'm also not usually a huge fan of endings that leave as many things "unresolved," but it truly works for this story. It feels like the right ending after everything.

Overall, this book had so many strengths that it's hard to put them all into words.

Jerika isn't thrilled about being dragged to a small town in Maryland for the summer to help with a dying grandmother she's never met, but she hopes to find some inspiration for her photography portfolio. The break from her boyfriend James is welcome, too. Amidst the family drama, Jerika discovers an attraction to a local girl, Kat, as well as mysterious "echoes" - ghostlike entities that haunt the town.

From the cover I had thought this would be a horror novel, but this was a lot less about the echoes and a lot more about familial relationships. Jerika's grandmother had left her mother and uncle when they were young, and then when Jerika's mother had her, she also left Jerika for a few years. The theme of being trapped in the town was reflected by the echoes and in Jerika's relationship with Kat - wanting to stay, but also feeling trapped. I liked the photography aspect and the setting was wonderfully rendered, the relationships all nuanced and realistic. This book wasn't quite what I was expecting, yet it was lovely and a quick read.

This was excellent. I can't say enough nice things about it. The inclusion of deep history and context to the town makes the world feel well rounded, rather than a random urban legend or mystery that I often see as the catalyst in YA horror. The characters in the book are defined and make the world feel full. It includes a coming of age story, southern gothic and magical realism.

It has a sapphic romance as well as complicated family dynamics and secrets.

I highly recommend.

4.5 stars rounded down.

this book will stick with me for a while. i woke up thinking about it still, about the town and the people and the ghosts.

if you liked *we deserve monuments* by jas hammonds (an INCREDIBLE book), this will probably work well for you. it's got similar elements of a prodigal daughter, her child, a sapphic love story, and the ways that the violence of white supremacy and its ghosts (in this case, literal ghosts) run through the town. it's a coming of age story, a time where people learn deeply about themselves and each other, and a meditation on the things that we do and don't talk about, the things we try to learn and the things we try to forget.

there is, of course, the octavia butler reference in the title and plot--i don't want to say it's only connected to this book from like 2022. like kindred, it's set in maryland and like kindred, it's in a town where the past literally grabs you. it's part of a legacy of Black feminist literature and it evokes all of it.

i want this in school libraries but honestly, more than most books i have read, it could work within the context of a class as well.

To start off this review I’d like to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warning: Homophobia

Something Kindred has found me at an interesting time. Our main character Jericka has moved around a lot. Her mother kept them bouncing from one apartment, one town, to the next. Now that her mother is ill, she’s moving them back to her hometown of Coldwater. A town that is heavy with its past and familial secrets.

Jericka loves photography, that’s what she wants to go to college for. She’s got a boyfriend who she’s in a weird spot in after having sex. So the move has given her time and distance to think. I actually really liked this part of the book. That she’s thinking over their relationship. And James is by no means a bad guy, and not the kind of guy who sees having sex as the end all be all in a relationship. Which was also refreshing to see due to so many books making a lot of male characters like that.

Now once in Coldwater, a town started by and for freed peoples, things are different. It’s hot and Jericka is living in a house with the woman who abandoned her mother and uncle when they were very young. And her own mother has never worked on how that makes her feel. So Jericka is angry and a little hostile to the woman. Her gram doesn’t judge her for how she feels.

Honestly, this book is just full of great characters. Jericka meets Kat at the hospital where she sells coffee and hot coco. It was endearing to me when Kat brought her a cup later in the book. It was just cute.

I’ll be talking about homophobia here so please proceed gently.

There is a point in the book where Jericka is hanging out with another girl and this girl is just rude. She seems to have it out for Kat and Kat says it’s because the girl has a crush on her brother and has since the 3rd grade or something. And this girl makes it known that she indeed doesn’t like her.

At one point she calls her a “big fat lesbian” and it’s said with derision. It’s brought up at least twice and always in a negative connotation.

Something that bothered me about it was that Jericka, who is bisexual, didn’t really put this girl in her place. She says she doesn’t care about Kat being a lesbian and tells the girl that it’s not ok for her to talk like that. But she doesn’t do enough. That needs to be shut down. And if Kat was able to have hostility for the old woman who abandoned her mother, she could have kept that same energy for the girl being homophobic to the girl she’s developing feelings for. Or as a member of the queer community herself.

Now, we all know homophobes exist, and they can be particularly bad in small towns. But I would have liked if the author had put a trigger warning or content warning at the beginning of the book. To just have it sprung on you is jarring. And with younger readers, they deserve to know what they’re getting into. It could be a bad day, a bad year, and it could be something that pushes them over the edge.

But with a trigger warning in place, they can make the informed decision about whether they’re in a place to continue the story. And reader safety is important.

That’s the end of the potentially triggering part!

Now, there is a supernatural element to the story. And while it’s important it isn’t the driving force behind the story. This is very much character driven and it’s very well done. I liked that supernatural element and what it added to the book and what it also helped to say about the town and the people. And the lives of people in general.

Wrapping up, this book gets a 5/5 from me. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

I think this book is lovely, but a tad poorly described / pitched. The use of magical realism and gothic in the opening pitch is far more accurate to me than the writing of the summary itself, which leans more into the category of thriller/horror/mystery.

This is, at its heart, a YA Southern gothic family drama / paranormal romance. It paints a great picture of a family experiencing complex feelings of grief and abandonment, while still remaining rooted in the mind of a teenager. It’s absolutely perfect for its audience- young lovers of southern gothic aesthetics and dramas should absolutely pick this up.

For myself, though, the writing felt beautiful in a way that catered towards younger readers, which, honestly, endears me more to it despite my reading experience not being my favorite. I think this book sets out what it wants to do perfectly, and though my personal, subjective rating is low, I will be passing this on to the young readers and audiences in my life.

A sweet coming of age story of a young African American women, going back to the place she was born, to meet her grandmother who is dying. Understanding her family and who she is among them and having her first love affair with another girl. Full of hope

Magical realism meets Southern Gothic in this commanding young adult debut from Ciera Burch about true love, the meaning of home, and the choices that haunt us.

I loved this really atmospheric Southern gothic. The characters and the vibe were top-notch. I look forward to more from this author.

Expected more of a spooky and eerie book after reading the description. Not very atmospheric and more magic realism (not a big fan). Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Something Kindred was a touching story about family, secrets and finding oneself. Jericka returns to her childhood town of Coldwater with her mother to meet a dying grandmother she's never met. Amidst her stay she finds friendship and love and faces the challenge of a town traumatized with the past of slavery and white supremacy. This book was definitely not Southern Gothic and honestly barely scraped magical realism, so that was a huge disappointment for me. Definitely more of a coming of age story but if you're looking for a coming of age story then this was a good read.

A great coming of age story. It was more focused on Jericka in a new environment and the people she meets. The voice is strong and consistent. I would have liked more magical realism.

Something Kindred is a Young Adult novel rich with magical realism. When Jericka Walker is brought by her mother to Coldwater, Maryland to spend time with her estranged and dying grandmother, she finds herself in a small town haunted by secrets and ghosts. The town settles over Jericka like cold water, chilling her with a pull toward the past that makes her question what she believed she knew about her own mother and the grandmother who abandoned their family.

Coldwater is a town founded by formerly enslaved people, and the novel explores the trauma rooted in the history of white supremacy. Burch centers Black experiences and sapphic romance in a way that adds to the Young Adult genre, and her story explores the pain of abandonment, grief, hurt, and betrayal. Overall, the book is a spellbinding look at the way history and family shape our lives and identities.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

Let's get this out of the way first: yes, the hype is wrong. This book should not be described as a Southern Gothic. It's Magical Realism, at best. That said, if you like a coming of age story with side-serving of empathetic ghosts, you'll enjoy this book.

Jericka is the teenaged daughter of a restless mother. The pair are constantly on the move, leaving Jericka longing for home and security. Then her Gram gets cancer, and her mom takes them down to their hometown in Maryland. Jericka spends the summer getting to know Gram for the first time, learning about her family, and making friends or possibly more with a local girl. She's also trying to start a photography project that will help her get into art school.

This was nice. Sweet. It's a lot of Jericka trying to decide between the family tradition of doing an r-u-n-n-o-f-t, and staying put and making a home for herself. New girl or old boyfriend? Mother's way of life or father's?

There's an interesting back-story: ex-enslaved people built the town and were very proud of it, but the local government wasn't a fan so they sent someone to burn down the schoolhouse. It being after hours at the time, the majority of the dead were mothers who had been meeting at the school. These mothers became ghosts, or echoes, which wander the town and try to scare its living women into never leaving. As you can imagine this has the opposite effect, and it seems like a lot of children are left behind by their mothers. Cool history but it never really goes anywhere. It mostly just serves to amplify Jericka's feelings and indecision. I guess this would have been a short book without that storyline.

Alright I'm going to go ahead and address the elephant in room here and just say that yes this book is not spooky. This has much more of a magical realism vibe than a Gothic one but this was still a solid read.
This is a great family drama with some solid romantic and a sprinkle of ghost. This book deals with some great subjects and has a beautiful Sapphic romance at its center. The ghostly aspect feels more like an accent to the real story. That being said I still really enjoyed this book. Everything about it was solid. It should have just been labeled magical realism.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really enjoyed this book, and while I agree that it's focus on ghosts is a small sliver of the story, I don't believe that it was mis-marketed, as I believe that the familial aspect is a big part of the atmospheric gothic vibes. I think this might be one of my favorite reads this year so far, and I think that the unexpectedness of the dynamic might be my favorite part. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

So, this book wasn’t what I was expecting. The synopsis is way more ominous than the book is. I went into the book assuming there would be a curse on the town and vengeful spirits. There are spirits, but they aren’t the focus of the novel. I’d say the book is like 50% family story, 40% romance, and 10% ghosts. Which is not a bad thing at all and it was definitely a good book, I just wish it had been advertised correctly.

This novel was an emotional one full of abandonment, grief, love, and so much more. The family dynamic was very interesting. The family had lots of depth and conflicting feelings of love and immense hurt & betrayal. And I loved Kat, the love interest. She was such a fun and kind person, and honestly, she deserved better than the main character Jericka. I really disliked Jericka’s character. She was selfish, inconsiderate, and just straight up mean at times. I did enjoy a lot of the side characters though!

I definitely would’ve enjoyed this more if I knew that I was getting into more of a coming of age type of story rather than a ghost story. So if you’re looking for an emotional read with complex family dynamics and first love (with a few ghosts & a southern gothic feel) you’ll enjoy this one!

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: parental abandonment, cancer, domestic and child abuse, death, racism, hate crimes

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this book is marketed to the wrong demographic. I read 44% but stopped because it was not what I thought it would be. The description mentioned southern gothic, which I’m obsessed with, but that was completely inaccurate.. (How could it even be southern when it takes place in Maryland???) The gothic atmosphere was just not there for me.
From what I read, it was a mixture of about 70% family drama, 29% lesbian love story, and 1% ghosts.
If you’re looking for those in a YA novel, you might enjoy this one. If you’re looking for a spooky southern gothic, I’d skip this.