THE BONE BRIDES

To what lengths will a girl go to save her love—how far will she push herself?

When Lumi reveals that she can reanimate bones, her girlfriend, Nola, immediately accepts her magic. When Lumi announces that she’s running away from the cold, murderous mother who has never truly believed she’s her daughter, Nola declares that she’s coming along. And when Lumi’s footprints disappear into a lake in the middle of a forest, Nola walks into its cold waters too. The girl Nola loves is a changeling, and when she arrives in faeryland, the only person who helps her is self-taught witch Kyteler, the asexual human girl who should have had Lumi’s life and human family. Poet Rose-Teter’s debut novel features easily riled fae who are one with nature. They wear ghoulish “veils”—skins that change their faces like masks. Nola’s own face frequently dissembles; she learned long ago to plaster a smile over her perpetual sadness. The narration sometimes offers little explanation for events or characters’ reactions, keeping readers slightly off-kilter, but the effect feels appropriate to the fae setting, where humans are confused more often than not. The one thing that never wavers is the sweet love between the two 17-year-olds. The representation of Nola’s and her parents’ struggles with depression is highly empathetic. Main characters present white.

A marvelous, metaphorical masquerade.