The fate of humanity is in the hands of a witch and a dream traveler in Paradiso’s novel.

In 2028, Estella Larsen, a self-effacing witch who has visions, suffers from the tragic loss of her husband, Lucas. Before the accident, she quit her legal job to focus on writing a novel. Now, Estella is having difficulty getting the words to come, and she’s desperately searching for a new house so her two daughters can have stability. It’s during this instability that she meets the mysterious Caelum Di Rosa and is immediately drawn to him. There’s a good reason; we learn he’s a dream traveler, and he and Estella once had a life together. After being separated for generations, he’s finally able to reunite with her, and he wants everything to be perfect. The problem is, Estella doesn’t remember him, and Caelum isn’t the only one with sights on her. Estella’s book is meant to help bring peace to humankind (“She’s a key—one of many—to unlocking doors that lead to truth”), and there are others, known as half-souls, who will stop at nothing to keep her story from getting out there. Along with a group of eccentric dream travelers, Caelum joins in the mission to keep Estella—and humanity—safe, all while trying to reignite their old love. The idea of a witch and a dream traveler working together is a fun concept, but a lack of deep worldbuilding flattens the novel: The main bad guys, Alexander and Cassius, aren’t given much motive or background; the existence of witches is never fully explored; and some might find the world of dream traveling confusing, as many aspects aren’t explained. Even so, Caelum’s narrative is fun, and his relationship with Kal, a fellow traveler, is one of the story’s highlights.

An intriguing modern-day fantasy that’s hindered by skimpy scene setting and character development.

Paradiso presents a collection of poems about love, loss, and healing.

The book’s first section, “thunder,” uses a storm metaphor to describe a tumultuous relationship’s end, while the second, “daisy,” explores the speaker’s emotional growth following that painful experience. In the opening poem, “passing storm,” Paradiso describes a love that shakes the speaker awake, lights up her eyes, and opens her up to love; then the energy shifts, and lies and games tarnish the relationship. In the aftermath of the failed romance, the speaker in “running” wonders if starting over in a new city would provide relief, writing, “i’ll fill my head with different thoughts / there won’t be the promises you whispered / your touch / or other precious things that can’t be bought.” The pitfalls of technology in modern relationships are the foci of “virtual disconnect,” in which texts, photographs, and screens keep love interests at a distance. The speaker laments that her ex preferred to be alone with their fantasies rather than reciprocate affection; after much introspection and mourning, the speaker comes out the other side, able to make beauty from the ashes. Among the lessons learned are to “see people for who they are / not who you wish them to be” (“slow down”) and to not “let the people / who don’t deserve your energy / take it from you”(“note to self”). Confident that they will find love again, the speaker in “my kind of peace” disavows lukewarm love and mixed feelings, instead seeking “passionate peace.” Some readers may feel that the book’s themes feel limited in scope, and that the storm and daisy motifs lack originality. However, others will find that the poet effectively blends raw vulnerability with empowering recovery, acutely depicting the difficulties of dating in the digital age, when reminders of one’s ex are online and unavoidable. Some readers are likely to find solace in lines such as “look past your heartache / see yourself as i see you / you’re not your bad experiences / you’re not your mistakes” (“look closer”). Simple, tasteful line drawings of female figures enhance the poems’ intimacy.

A tender, relatable set of works on experiencing and overcoming heartbreak.