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Our Sister's Keeper
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100 copies available
U.S. only
Mississippi, 1927. The groanings are coming.
No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.
Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.
A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance.
No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.
Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.
A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance.
336 pages, Paperback
Expected publication June 9, 2026
3052 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 5, 2026
4.5*
this was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLEEEE
this was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLEEEE
September 21, 2025
Read for work, yall are not ready for the twist in this!!!!
October 23, 2025
WHOA. If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. WHAT A STORY with things I did not see coming! WOW. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this deep, emotion filled story. As a black woman, I will be thinking about this story for a long time. This has nestled itself into my soul - recognizing the strength that black women have had & continue to still, endure. Jasmine Holmes, THANK YOU for these characters and for this POV with this story.
December 29, 2025
Thank you to Netgalley, Bindery, and Mareas for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Our Sister's Keeper left me speechless. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and yet I don't know how to explain how incredible this book is.
The storytelling is masterful, and I love how intertwined the mystery and the character development are. It keeps the pacing steady and creates a very immersive experience while reading.
On a sentence level I was so impressed with how much feeling, worldbuilding, and character exposition were able to fit in very few words. All it would take was one scene and I'd feel like I knew the history, tone, and personality of the characters and their relationships, almost like I'm being let in on an inside joke with an old friend.
This was my first dip into horror, so I didn't know what to expect or how much I would enjoy it. But it's not horror without a purpose, and I think that's what really got me invested. Everything in this book was in service of the story, in the best way possible.
If anything about the synopsis, or the beautiful cover, grabs your attention, I want you to follow that attention and get a copy. Read it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.
4.5/5, rounding up to 5
Our Sister's Keeper left me speechless. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and yet I don't know how to explain how incredible this book is.
The storytelling is masterful, and I love how intertwined the mystery and the character development are. It keeps the pacing steady and creates a very immersive experience while reading.
On a sentence level I was so impressed with how much feeling, worldbuilding, and character exposition were able to fit in very few words. All it would take was one scene and I'd feel like I knew the history, tone, and personality of the characters and their relationships, almost like I'm being let in on an inside joke with an old friend.
This was my first dip into horror, so I didn't know what to expect or how much I would enjoy it. But it's not horror without a purpose, and I think that's what really got me invested. Everything in this book was in service of the story, in the best way possible.
If anything about the synopsis, or the beautiful cover, grabs your attention, I want you to follow that attention and get a copy. Read it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.
4.5/5, rounding up to 5
October 1, 2025
OMG OMG OMG. This was incredible. I devoured it in less than 24 hours. And a satisfying ending?! And the commentary on black women’s strength, communal trauma, the cost of having it all?! This one will stay with me for a while. Thank you to Bindery Books for the ARC!
January 10, 2026
Firstly, since the book is set in 1927, Mississippi, I was expecting a little more of a historical vibe. This book felt more modern to me, especially in their dialogue.
I think the concept was great. The whole thing of women taking over the men’s grief was very original, and I was excited to read the story. But alas this seems to be a common theme in the last couple of years where books have a great plot or grab factor, but does not deliver once you start reading the book.
Also, the story was very slow, and it took a long time to get to the meat and potatoes of the plot. To the point that when I got to the interesting part of the story I was bored and didn’t really care. The characters were very underdeveloped and seemed very surface level.
The book cover was cool though. I just expected a lot more than what I was given.
I think the concept was great. The whole thing of women taking over the men’s grief was very original, and I was excited to read the story. But alas this seems to be a common theme in the last couple of years where books have a great plot or grab factor, but does not deliver once you start reading the book.
Also, the story was very slow, and it took a long time to get to the meat and potatoes of the plot. To the point that when I got to the interesting part of the story I was bored and didn’t really care. The characters were very underdeveloped and seemed very surface level.
The book cover was cool though. I just expected a lot more than what I was given.
October 9, 2025
At first, this story moved at a slow burn, carefully laying the groundwork, but once the momentum built, the twist completely caught me off guard. I loved how this book forced me to think about the burdens our partners may carry and the weight, physical or emotional, that love sometimes asks us to bear. At its heart, it’s also a testament to the quiet, unshakable strength of women.
Though my feelings toward the women of the town never softened, Thea’s journey was a haunting ride. Her relentless need to press the others for honesty, instead of trusting her instincts, or her husband, made her path frustrating at times. Still, her journey kept me hooked, and I couldn’t look away from the unraveling truths.
With Mississippi, 1927 as its backdrop, Our Sister’s Keeper blends historical fiction and Southern gothic horror beautifully. It’s a superb, thought provoking read that lingers in your mind and leaves you reflecting on the heavy price of carrying another’s pain.
Thanks Netgalley and Bindery Books | Mareas for the ARC and opportunity to provide an honest review.
Though my feelings toward the women of the town never softened, Thea’s journey was a haunting ride. Her relentless need to press the others for honesty, instead of trusting her instincts, or her husband, made her path frustrating at times. Still, her journey kept me hooked, and I couldn’t look away from the unraveling truths.
With Mississippi, 1927 as its backdrop, Our Sister’s Keeper blends historical fiction and Southern gothic horror beautifully. It’s a superb, thought provoking read that lingers in your mind and leaves you reflecting on the heavy price of carrying another’s pain.
Thanks Netgalley and Bindery Books | Mareas for the ARC and opportunity to provide an honest review.
November 15, 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Devastating Masterpiece That Demands to Be Read
Rating: 5/5 Stars
It has been a long time since I've read a piece of historical fiction that has moved me as profoundly as Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. This book is an experience, a reckoning, and a mirror held up to the intersectional oppression that Black women have endured throughout history. From the moment I started reading at midnight on November 13, 2025, I was consumed by the mystery, the horror, and the brilliance of Holmes' storytelling.
THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Holmes employs a narrative technique that is nothing short of genius. What begins as seemingly two parallel stories—THEA Elliott, a journalist who moves to East Cobb with her husband Kid, and MARAH, a mysterious carrier with psychic abilities—converges in a twist that absolutely shattered me. Without spoiling, I'll say that the realization of how these narratives connect transformed my entire understanding of the novel. We think we're reading forward chronologically, but Holmes reveals we've been reading an origin story all along. The moment I realized my suspicions were correct about the connection between these characters, I wept.
THE SETTING AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Set in 1920s East Cobb, the novel takes place during the Great Migration era, but with a twist. East Cobb is presented as a Black utopia—a place where Black families can thrive separate but equal from the white settlement of West Cobb. The town was built on the promise that Black men, emasculated by slavery and ongoing racism, could finally exist as men, protect their families, and build prosperity without white interference.
But this paradise is built on blood and bones—specifically, on the plantation where Dr. Grimm's family once enslaved Black people. And the experiment that the benevolent white doctor claims will help Black people heal is actually something far more insidious. The parallels to the Tuskegee experiment are unmistakable and chilling.
THE CARRIERS AND THE BURDEN-BEARING SYSTEM
The most devastating aspect of this novel is the system of "carriers"—Black women with psychic abilities who physically absorb the trauma, pain, and memories of Black men so these men can function without the psychological weight of slavery, racism, and oppression. These women are called "reparations" for Black men. Let that sink in. Black women serving as reparations for Black men, while the white system that created the trauma watches, studies, and benefits.
Holmes brilliantly explores how these women become conduits, absorbing not just the burdens of Black men but eventually—in the most horrifying twist—the guilt and wickedness of white men who have harmed Black people. Then the men’s wives talk like the characters in Jordan Peele's Get Out—robotic, subdued, existing at the edge of themselves. They've learned to silence their own pain, to pretend they don't hear the "groanings" (the spirits and memories of those who suffered on this land), because to acknowledge what they experience is to be labeled hysterical and locked away.
THEMES THAT GUTTED ME
Black Women as Accessories: Throughout the novel, women are treated as accessories to men, as comfort systems. THEA's qualifications as a journalist are dismissed. Even her seemingly progressive husband Kid doesn't truly value her work, seeing it merely as something she can do while also managing the home and children. The women of East Cobb exist to perform excessive femininity, to cuddle the egos of broken men.
Memory and Forgetting: Memory is transient and weaponized in this book. The men need to forget their trauma to function. The carriers must remember to survive and resist. MARAH is haunted by a spirit friend who keeps telling her to "wake up"—to remember who she was before she became a carrier. The manipulation of memory is a form of control, and reclaiming memory becomes an act of resistance.
Sisterhood—Two Definitions: Holmes presents two kinds of sisterhood. For the wives and respectable women of East Cobb, sisterhood means keeping each other in line, enforcing the patriarchal system, maintaining the status quo. For the carriers, sisterhood means protection, solidarity, sharing the burden, being a shoulder to cry on. The difference is stark and meaningful.
The Experiment Within the Experiment: Just when you think you understand the horror—that Black women are being used to heal Black men—Holmes reveals the true depths of the exploitation. All of them—the carriers, the men, the entire community—are part of a grand experiment designed to benefit white people. The same people who caused the trauma are now providing the "solution" and using Black bodies as test tubes.
THE CHARACTERS
Every character in this book serves a purpose. There are no throwaway side characters. THEA is complex—educated, ambitious, yet slowly realizing her voice doesn't matter in this "paradise." Kid is portrayed as liberal and open-minded, yet he too falls into misogynistic patterns, unable to truly see his wife's work as valuable. Mildred, Vera, Gertrude—each woman represents different responses to patriarchal oppression. And MARAH—oh, MARAH—her story broke me.
When Canaan comes to the infirmary and recognizes her, when we learn that her husband signed away his wife's life to this prison! I felt a rage I cannot adequately express. The betrayal. The disposability of Black women's lives, even by those who claim to love them.
THE ENDING AND THE POWER OF ANGER
I won't spoil the ending, but I will say this: women's anger is what saves them. Black women's anger has power, and Holmes doesn't shy away from showing us that rage can be liberating. There's a quote about Gertrude that encapsulates so much: her last thought before death was that even dying "felt so much better than being so damn nice all the time, and what had all that niceness been for anyway?"
As a Black woman, as someone who has been belittled in classrooms, who has had students look down on me, who has been taken for granted and taken advantage of—this book gave me permission to be angry. To let that anger remind me that I can overcome.
COMPARISONS AND LITERARY MERIT
This book deserves to be discussed alongside Toni Morrison's Beloved, Octavia Butler's work, and contemporary Black horror. It has the atmospheric dread of Jordan Peele's films, the social commentary of Ryan Coogler's work, and the historical depth of the best literary fiction. Holmes has created something that feels both timely and timeless.
The writing is vivid and immersive. I could see, feel, and taste the world of East Cobb. The descriptions are lush without being overwrought. The dialogue rings true to the period while remaining accessible. The plot is intricately woven, with details that seem minor early on becoming crucial later.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Our Sister's Keeper is a five-star read that needs to win awards. This is the kind of book that stays with you, that changes how you think about history, about Black womanhood, about the ways oppression layers and compounds. It's a book about how separate but equal was always a lie, how utopias built on exploitation can never be paradise, and how Black women have always borne burdens that were never theirs to carry.
This is an Advanced Reader's Copy, and I'm so grateful to have read it early. When this book releases, please read it. Sit with it. Let it challenge you. Let it anger you. Let it move you to tears as it did me.
Jasmine Holmes has written something truly special. this is a book that is both a warning from history and a call to remember, resist, and refuse to be silent anymore.
Content warnings: Racism, slavery references, experimentation on Black bodies, psychological abuse, trauma, mentions of violence, loss of bodily autonomy
Rating: 5/5 Stars
It has been a long time since I've read a piece of historical fiction that has moved me as profoundly as Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. This book is an experience, a reckoning, and a mirror held up to the intersectional oppression that Black women have endured throughout history. From the moment I started reading at midnight on November 13, 2025, I was consumed by the mystery, the horror, and the brilliance of Holmes' storytelling.
THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Holmes employs a narrative technique that is nothing short of genius. What begins as seemingly two parallel stories—THEA Elliott, a journalist who moves to East Cobb with her husband Kid, and MARAH, a mysterious carrier with psychic abilities—converges in a twist that absolutely shattered me. Without spoiling, I'll say that the realization of how these narratives connect transformed my entire understanding of the novel. We think we're reading forward chronologically, but Holmes reveals we've been reading an origin story all along. The moment I realized my suspicions were correct about the connection between these characters, I wept.
THE SETTING AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Set in 1920s East Cobb, the novel takes place during the Great Migration era, but with a twist. East Cobb is presented as a Black utopia—a place where Black families can thrive separate but equal from the white settlement of West Cobb. The town was built on the promise that Black men, emasculated by slavery and ongoing racism, could finally exist as men, protect their families, and build prosperity without white interference.
But this paradise is built on blood and bones—specifically, on the plantation where Dr. Grimm's family once enslaved Black people. And the experiment that the benevolent white doctor claims will help Black people heal is actually something far more insidious. The parallels to the Tuskegee experiment are unmistakable and chilling.
THE CARRIERS AND THE BURDEN-BEARING SYSTEM
The most devastating aspect of this novel is the system of "carriers"—Black women with psychic abilities who physically absorb the trauma, pain, and memories of Black men so these men can function without the psychological weight of slavery, racism, and oppression. These women are called "reparations" for Black men. Let that sink in. Black women serving as reparations for Black men, while the white system that created the trauma watches, studies, and benefits.
Holmes brilliantly explores how these women become conduits, absorbing not just the burdens of Black men but eventually—in the most horrifying twist—the guilt and wickedness of white men who have harmed Black people. Then the men’s wives talk like the characters in Jordan Peele's Get Out—robotic, subdued, existing at the edge of themselves. They've learned to silence their own pain, to pretend they don't hear the "groanings" (the spirits and memories of those who suffered on this land), because to acknowledge what they experience is to be labeled hysterical and locked away.
THEMES THAT GUTTED ME
Black Women as Accessories: Throughout the novel, women are treated as accessories to men, as comfort systems. THEA's qualifications as a journalist are dismissed. Even her seemingly progressive husband Kid doesn't truly value her work, seeing it merely as something she can do while also managing the home and children. The women of East Cobb exist to perform excessive femininity, to cuddle the egos of broken men.
Memory and Forgetting: Memory is transient and weaponized in this book. The men need to forget their trauma to function. The carriers must remember to survive and resist. MARAH is haunted by a spirit friend who keeps telling her to "wake up"—to remember who she was before she became a carrier. The manipulation of memory is a form of control, and reclaiming memory becomes an act of resistance.
Sisterhood—Two Definitions: Holmes presents two kinds of sisterhood. For the wives and respectable women of East Cobb, sisterhood means keeping each other in line, enforcing the patriarchal system, maintaining the status quo. For the carriers, sisterhood means protection, solidarity, sharing the burden, being a shoulder to cry on. The difference is stark and meaningful.
The Experiment Within the Experiment: Just when you think you understand the horror—that Black women are being used to heal Black men—Holmes reveals the true depths of the exploitation. All of them—the carriers, the men, the entire community—are part of a grand experiment designed to benefit white people. The same people who caused the trauma are now providing the "solution" and using Black bodies as test tubes.
THE CHARACTERS
Every character in this book serves a purpose. There are no throwaway side characters. THEA is complex—educated, ambitious, yet slowly realizing her voice doesn't matter in this "paradise." Kid is portrayed as liberal and open-minded, yet he too falls into misogynistic patterns, unable to truly see his wife's work as valuable. Mildred, Vera, Gertrude—each woman represents different responses to patriarchal oppression. And MARAH—oh, MARAH—her story broke me.
When Canaan comes to the infirmary and recognizes her, when we learn that her husband signed away his wife's life to this prison! I felt a rage I cannot adequately express. The betrayal. The disposability of Black women's lives, even by those who claim to love them.
THE ENDING AND THE POWER OF ANGER
I won't spoil the ending, but I will say this: women's anger is what saves them. Black women's anger has power, and Holmes doesn't shy away from showing us that rage can be liberating. There's a quote about Gertrude that encapsulates so much: her last thought before death was that even dying "felt so much better than being so damn nice all the time, and what had all that niceness been for anyway?"
As a Black woman, as someone who has been belittled in classrooms, who has had students look down on me, who has been taken for granted and taken advantage of—this book gave me permission to be angry. To let that anger remind me that I can overcome.
COMPARISONS AND LITERARY MERIT
This book deserves to be discussed alongside Toni Morrison's Beloved, Octavia Butler's work, and contemporary Black horror. It has the atmospheric dread of Jordan Peele's films, the social commentary of Ryan Coogler's work, and the historical depth of the best literary fiction. Holmes has created something that feels both timely and timeless.
The writing is vivid and immersive. I could see, feel, and taste the world of East Cobb. The descriptions are lush without being overwrought. The dialogue rings true to the period while remaining accessible. The plot is intricately woven, with details that seem minor early on becoming crucial later.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Our Sister's Keeper is a five-star read that needs to win awards. This is the kind of book that stays with you, that changes how you think about history, about Black womanhood, about the ways oppression layers and compounds. It's a book about how separate but equal was always a lie, how utopias built on exploitation can never be paradise, and how Black women have always borne burdens that were never theirs to carry.
This is an Advanced Reader's Copy, and I'm so grateful to have read it early. When this book releases, please read it. Sit with it. Let it challenge you. Let it anger you. Let it move you to tears as it did me.
Jasmine Holmes has written something truly special. this is a book that is both a warning from history and a call to remember, resist, and refuse to be silent anymore.
Content warnings: Racism, slavery references, experimentation on Black bodies, psychological abuse, trauma, mentions of violence, loss of bodily autonomy
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Intersectional feminist fantasy that's both tender and rage-filled, thrilling and heartbreaking. I didn't know books like this existed and now that I do, there's a whole new standard for the genre.
Our Sister's Keeper focuses on a thriving free black town in Mississippi with a haunting underbelly. East Cobb is every man's dream because every woman, but especially the designated carriers, carries the men's burdens for them.
Holmes nailed the best aspect of fantasy: using magic to give shape to reality. I loved the 1920s historical setting, the variety of heroes and villains, and the social commentary that never explained but was clear as day. The carriers' sisterhood and rage was palpable and relatable.
I truly hope we get more books like masterpiece and that Holmes has a long, awarded career. Cannot believe this is her debut!
Our Sister's Keeper focuses on a thriving free black town in Mississippi with a haunting underbelly. East Cobb is every man's dream because every woman, but especially the designated carriers, carries the men's burdens for them.
Holmes nailed the best aspect of fantasy: using magic to give shape to reality. I loved the 1920s historical setting, the variety of heroes and villains, and the social commentary that never explained but was clear as day. The carriers' sisterhood and rage was palpable and relatable.
I truly hope we get more books like masterpiece and that Holmes has a long, awarded career. Cannot believe this is her debut!
February 5, 2026
This book will have you bouncing all over the feelings wheel. It had me laughing and cheering and punched me right in the heartstrings.
“Thea is NEVER a burden to me.”
I think it’s incredibly rare to find a story that will truly make you wonder which side of things you would be on. Do you ignore what’s happening around you for the chance to live a privileged life, at the expense of others? Or do you look at the horrors and know that you might have to join them if you don’t comply.
“Thea is NEVER a burden to me.”
I think it’s incredibly rare to find a story that will truly make you wonder which side of things you would be on. Do you ignore what’s happening around you for the chance to live a privileged life, at the expense of others? Or do you look at the horrors and know that you might have to join them if you don’t comply.
October 9, 2025
I devoured this book in a few sittings. I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, this was masterful. From the slow unveiling of horrific truths, to plot twists, some I saw coming and some I didn’t, to the atmosphere of the town and the 1920s, to the honoring of individual stories, to the female rage, to the intersectional feminism and anti-racism, to the body horror and psychological horror—-I can’t recommend this enough. Black women I think will find vindication and solidarity in the characters and their rage, though as a white woman I can only assume. But I can say that any woman can feel the rage for the misogyny in this book, and anyone who wants to spend more time understanding Black women’s rage, their burdens, not only for white folks but even for Black men, the way they’ve carried America’s history in a way no one else has, you’re gonna love this book. For what it can teach you and for the ways it will draw you in, mangle you, and spit you back out.
I’ve read only one of Holmes’ nonfiction and it was great, but the fiction writing chops this woman has are just as impressive. She knows her history, and she knows how to write the horror and the rage AND the honoring of individual stories. The book unfolded and peeked into complexities and nuances in the female experience, the Black female experience, in the post emancipation era, in the way Black folks have been used and manipulated by white folks…. Honestly, I can’t recommend it enough.
In summary, if you like dark, psychological horror, body horror, female rage, history, plot twists, and feeling SEEN by an author as a woman of any race, if you liked Ring Shout or the movie Sinners, you’ll love this book.
Thanks to Bindery books and Netgalley for the ARC.
I’ve read only one of Holmes’ nonfiction and it was great, but the fiction writing chops this woman has are just as impressive. She knows her history, and she knows how to write the horror and the rage AND the honoring of individual stories. The book unfolded and peeked into complexities and nuances in the female experience, the Black female experience, in the post emancipation era, in the way Black folks have been used and manipulated by white folks…. Honestly, I can’t recommend it enough.
In summary, if you like dark, psychological horror, body horror, female rage, history, plot twists, and feeling SEEN by an author as a woman of any race, if you liked Ring Shout or the movie Sinners, you’ll love this book.
Thanks to Bindery books and Netgalley for the ARC.
October 24, 2025
5⭐️!!!!!
This is a story that needs to be read by everyone!!!!!!!
“A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance”
This is a masterfully written piece of Southern Gothic psychological horror that is as beautiful as it is utterly terrifying. I couldn’t put it down!! This is the most powerful metaphor for emotional labor I’ve read in years. It exposes the cost of patriarchal convenience and the silent, invisible burdens women are expected to carry. There were a few places where the pacing was off for me but not in a way that ruined the story. Seriously, this is a must read!!!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bindery for the arc . These are my honest opinions
This is a story that needs to be read by everyone!!!!!!!
“A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance”
This is a masterfully written piece of Southern Gothic psychological horror that is as beautiful as it is utterly terrifying. I couldn’t put it down!! This is the most powerful metaphor for emotional labor I’ve read in years. It exposes the cost of patriarchal convenience and the silent, invisible burdens women are expected to carry. There were a few places where the pacing was off for me but not in a way that ruined the story. Seriously, this is a must read!!!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bindery for the arc . These are my honest opinions
arcs
October 31, 2025screaming crying throwing up thank you Bindery Books Mareas for the ARC of this extremely highly reviewed book!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT BUT I HAVE A HALLOWEEN PARTY RN AND PLANS ALL WEEKEND AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
January 12, 2026
This historical urban-fantasy exploration of the concept of caring pain for others, of racism, sexism and privilege, as well as where they intersect, was chilling and vibrant.
Emoji-Aesthetic: 🧪🌻🎩🪡🌫️💞
Listen to
🎶 Jericho - Iniko
🎶 Nobody’s Soldier - Hozier
🎶 People Live Here - Rise Against
This book absolutely blew me away. The book features strong stories of black women and their resilience, resistance and strength. It tackles topics like communal and inherited trauma in a really vibrant, explicitly clear way. It also deals with women as the bearer of the weight that trauma brings into relationships and the expectations applied to them - as well as the intersection of that with the trauma that results from prejudice and racism.
The storytelling was gripping and the main character made me feel for her in an intense and deep way, so much so that the plot twist made me physically gasp, even though i was already feeling for the character before that.
The story is devastating and gorgeous and a beautiful portrayal of grief and sisterhood.
If there’s only one book you read this year - let it be this one.
~~~
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Emoji-Aesthetic: 🧪🌻🎩🪡🌫️💞
Listen to
🎶 Jericho - Iniko
🎶 Nobody’s Soldier - Hozier
🎶 People Live Here - Rise Against
This book absolutely blew me away. The book features strong stories of black women and their resilience, resistance and strength. It tackles topics like communal and inherited trauma in a really vibrant, explicitly clear way. It also deals with women as the bearer of the weight that trauma brings into relationships and the expectations applied to them - as well as the intersection of that with the trauma that results from prejudice and racism.
The storytelling was gripping and the main character made me feel for her in an intense and deep way, so much so that the plot twist made me physically gasp, even though i was already feeling for the character before that.
The story is devastating and gorgeous and a beautiful portrayal of grief and sisterhood.
If there’s only one book you read this year - let it be this one.
~~~
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 27, 2025
📚Our Sister's Keeper
✍🏻Jasmine Holmes
Blurb:
Mississippi, 1927. The groanings are coming.
No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.
Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.
A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance.
My Thoughts:
This is a book where, even if you see the twist coming … you don’t know what the twist is, not in its horrible entirety. And I loved it. The writing has such personality, and while I might have preferred the characters to be a little more developed, this book isn’t a character study. Or rather it is, but the character is more all-encompassing than one woman, or one woman’s pain, and grief, and rage at a stolen life. At being forced to carry the weight of someone else’s life, someone else’s guilt and remorse so that they can live their happy little entitled happy endings.
It’s a book about sisterhood, too, in the way Marah and her fellow gifted women come together to shield and support one another, to be present for each other’s pain. It’s a bond formed by trauma, but also empathy and love. Contrast that to the women in the city, living the homemaker’s dream with handfuls of happy children, beautiful houses, and content husbands with none of them having to suffer the slings and arrows and hatred of the outside world.
It’s Stepford Wives set in the 1920s rather than the ‘50s, and the spectre of Slavery is everywhere. These are people who knew relatives, sometimes living relatives, who had suffered enslavement at the hands of white people. They knew or knew of people who had been beaten, raped, lynched, ignored, spit on, harassed, and hurt in so many ways without having the freedom and bodily autonomy to defend themselves; and even the current generations enduring all of this in the modern age where people ought to know better, to be better.
The story builds with a grim, inexorable pressure that has you anticipating the ending — waiting for the catharsis of the wronged women getting their revenge. Personally I wanted less of a tidy end. I wanted it messy and visceral and more drawn out. I wanted more of that release of tension. But I think there’s a point to an ending that — while well done — isn’t and can’t be perfect. Because revenge is brief; death can only be handed out once, and these women must now live beyond it and hopefully find a way to heal.
This book is one of my favorites of the year, and I can’t wait to see what this author does next. I also can’t wait for the physical copy, which I ordered tonight, to get here so I can put it on my shelf to occasionally pet.
Thanks NetGalley, Mareas Books and Auther Jasmine Holmes for the advanced copy of "Our Sister's Keeper" I am leaving my voluntary review in appreciation.
#NetGalley
#MareasBooks
#JasmineHolmes
#OurSister'sKeeper
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✍🏻Jasmine Holmes
Blurb:
Mississippi, 1927. The groanings are coming.
No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.
Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.
A gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, Our Sister’s Keeper is a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance.
My Thoughts:
This is a book where, even if you see the twist coming … you don’t know what the twist is, not in its horrible entirety. And I loved it. The writing has such personality, and while I might have preferred the characters to be a little more developed, this book isn’t a character study. Or rather it is, but the character is more all-encompassing than one woman, or one woman’s pain, and grief, and rage at a stolen life. At being forced to carry the weight of someone else’s life, someone else’s guilt and remorse so that they can live their happy little entitled happy endings.
It’s a book about sisterhood, too, in the way Marah and her fellow gifted women come together to shield and support one another, to be present for each other’s pain. It’s a bond formed by trauma, but also empathy and love. Contrast that to the women in the city, living the homemaker’s dream with handfuls of happy children, beautiful houses, and content husbands with none of them having to suffer the slings and arrows and hatred of the outside world.
It’s Stepford Wives set in the 1920s rather than the ‘50s, and the spectre of Slavery is everywhere. These are people who knew relatives, sometimes living relatives, who had suffered enslavement at the hands of white people. They knew or knew of people who had been beaten, raped, lynched, ignored, spit on, harassed, and hurt in so many ways without having the freedom and bodily autonomy to defend themselves; and even the current generations enduring all of this in the modern age where people ought to know better, to be better.
The story builds with a grim, inexorable pressure that has you anticipating the ending — waiting for the catharsis of the wronged women getting their revenge. Personally I wanted less of a tidy end. I wanted it messy and visceral and more drawn out. I wanted more of that release of tension. But I think there’s a point to an ending that — while well done — isn’t and can’t be perfect. Because revenge is brief; death can only be handed out once, and these women must now live beyond it and hopefully find a way to heal.
This book is one of my favorites of the year, and I can’t wait to see what this author does next. I also can’t wait for the physical copy, which I ordered tonight, to get here so I can put it on my shelf to occasionally pet.
Thanks NetGalley, Mareas Books and Auther Jasmine Holmes for the advanced copy of "Our Sister's Keeper" I am leaving my voluntary review in appreciation.
#NetGalley
#MareasBooks
#JasmineHolmes
#OurSister'sKeeper
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
November 23, 2025
This is a book where, even if you see the twist coming … you don’t know what the twist is, not in its horrible entirety. And I loved it. The writing has such personality, and while I might have preferred the characters to be a little more developed, this book isn’t a character study. Or rather it is, but the character is more all-encompassing than one woman, or one woman’s pain, and grief, and rage at a stolen life. At being forced to carry the weight of someone else’s life, someone else’s guilt and remorse so that they can live their happy little entitled happy endings.
It’s a book about sisterhood, too, in the way Marah and her fellow gifted women come together to shield and support one another, to be present for each other’s pain. It’s a bond formed by trauma, but also empathy and love. Contrast that to the women in the city, living the homemaker’s dream with handfuls of happy children, beautiful houses, and content husbands with none of them having to suffer the slings and arrows and hatred of the outside world.
It’s Stepford Wives set in the 1920s rather than the ‘50s, and the spectre of Slavery is everywhere. These are people who knew relatives, sometimes living relatives, who had suffered enslavement at the hands of white people. They knew or knew of people who had been beaten, raped, lynched, ignored, spit on, harassed, and hurt in so many ways without having the freedom and bodily autonomy to defend themselves; and even the current generations enduring all of this in the modern age where people ought to know better, to be better.
The story builds with a grim, inexorable pressure that has you anticipating the ending — waiting for the catharsis of the wronged women getting their revenge. Personally I wanted less of a tidy end. I wanted it messy and visceral and more drawn out. I wanted more of that release of tension. But I think there’s a point to an ending that — while well done — isn’t and can’t be perfect. Because revenge is brief; death can only be handed out once, and these women must now live beyond it and hopefully find a way to heal.
This book is one of my favorites of the year, and I can’t wait to see what this author does next. I also can’t wait for the physical copy, which I ordered tonight, to get here so I can put it on my shelf to occasionally pet. Thank you so very much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!
It’s a book about sisterhood, too, in the way Marah and her fellow gifted women come together to shield and support one another, to be present for each other’s pain. It’s a bond formed by trauma, but also empathy and love. Contrast that to the women in the city, living the homemaker’s dream with handfuls of happy children, beautiful houses, and content husbands with none of them having to suffer the slings and arrows and hatred of the outside world.
It’s Stepford Wives set in the 1920s rather than the ‘50s, and the spectre of Slavery is everywhere. These are people who knew relatives, sometimes living relatives, who had suffered enslavement at the hands of white people. They knew or knew of people who had been beaten, raped, lynched, ignored, spit on, harassed, and hurt in so many ways without having the freedom and bodily autonomy to defend themselves; and even the current generations enduring all of this in the modern age where people ought to know better, to be better.
The story builds with a grim, inexorable pressure that has you anticipating the ending — waiting for the catharsis of the wronged women getting their revenge. Personally I wanted less of a tidy end. I wanted it messy and visceral and more drawn out. I wanted more of that release of tension. But I think there’s a point to an ending that — while well done — isn’t and can’t be perfect. Because revenge is brief; death can only be handed out once, and these women must now live beyond it and hopefully find a way to heal.
This book is one of my favorites of the year, and I can’t wait to see what this author does next. I also can’t wait for the physical copy, which I ordered tonight, to get here so I can put it on my shelf to occasionally pet. Thank you so very much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!
October 19, 2025
Bindery Books has done it again! "Our Sister's Keep" by Holmes is another brilliantly written book from a BIPOC author, and I'm already telling everyone I know to pre-order it. This story grabs you immediately; the hook is strong, and the pacing kept me so engrossed I finished it in a weekend while ignoring literally everything else. The blend of historically accurate fiction with nods to Black Wall Streets of the past creates such a rich backdrop, and Holmes doesn't shy away from addressing not only the racism felt from Whites but also the prejudices and assumptions found within the Black community itself, which is so necessary. The horror elements and foreshadowing are expertly woven throughout, creating this psychological thriller atmosphere that also has touches of fantasy with the "carriers" and their powers. But what really got me was the metaphor for the burdens Black people, particularly Black women, carry. When Holmes wrote "The anxiety of being not enough or too much" (pg.145), I shouted. That quote just hit! Also, the way the main character fails in segregated systems and then fails again in non-segregated ones based on the "systems" that are supposed to be helpful? That's the kind of reflection good literature should spark. There are sharp jabs at misogyny throughout, both within the Black community and America at large. The side characters have main character energy, which adds so much drama and depth. Even the character names are historically accurate! And that plot twist? Chef's kiss. The line "Settling was the only path of safety" (pg. 225) still haunts me. My only critique is that occasionally the pacing moved too quickly, and I had to reread sections to catch what Holmes was saying. But a careful reader can follow along, so no real loss.
This book is already in my online shopping cart for when it releases. Do yourself a favor and add it to yours, too!
This book is already in my online shopping cart for when it releases. Do yourself a favor and add it to yours, too!
February 12, 2026
Our Sister’s Keeper is a bold, haunting, and deeply imaginative novel that lingers long after the final page. Jasmine Holmes blends historical fiction with Southern gothic horror in a way that feels both fresh and emotionally resonant, creating a story that is as much about sisterhood and survival as it is about the monsters—real and supernatural—that shape a community.
Set in 1927 Mississippi, East Cobb appears at first to be a dream: a prosperous all‑Black Free Town untouched by white oppression. But Holmes quickly reveals the unsettling truth beneath the surface. The “groanings”—ghoulish, memory‑ridden figures only women can see—are a brilliant, chilling metaphor for generational trauma. The idea that men can be freed of their pain while women carry the burden is both horrifying and heartbreakingly familiar.
Thea and Marah are compelling, complex heroines whose lives collide in unexpected ways. Thea’s ambition and optimism contrast beautifully with Marah’s weary understanding of the groanings and the cost of being a “carrier.” Their relationship becomes the emotional core of the novel as they uncover the truth behind East Cobb’s prosperity and the terrible price its women have paid.
Holmes’ writing is atmospheric and lyrical, filled with tension but grounded in humanity. The horror elements are unsettling without overshadowing the emotional depth, and the historical setting is richly drawn. What stands out most is the novel’s fierce exploration of Black womanhood—its strength, its rage, and its unbreakable bonds.
A gripping, beautifully crafted story that blends history, horror, and heart with remarkable skill. Our Sister’s Keeper is a powerful testament to resilience, sisterhood, and the courage it takes to confront the truths a community would rather bury.
With thanks to Jasmine Holmes, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Set in 1927 Mississippi, East Cobb appears at first to be a dream: a prosperous all‑Black Free Town untouched by white oppression. But Holmes quickly reveals the unsettling truth beneath the surface. The “groanings”—ghoulish, memory‑ridden figures only women can see—are a brilliant, chilling metaphor for generational trauma. The idea that men can be freed of their pain while women carry the burden is both horrifying and heartbreakingly familiar.
Thea and Marah are compelling, complex heroines whose lives collide in unexpected ways. Thea’s ambition and optimism contrast beautifully with Marah’s weary understanding of the groanings and the cost of being a “carrier.” Their relationship becomes the emotional core of the novel as they uncover the truth behind East Cobb’s prosperity and the terrible price its women have paid.
Holmes’ writing is atmospheric and lyrical, filled with tension but grounded in humanity. The horror elements are unsettling without overshadowing the emotional depth, and the historical setting is richly drawn. What stands out most is the novel’s fierce exploration of Black womanhood—its strength, its rage, and its unbreakable bonds.
A gripping, beautifully crafted story that blends history, horror, and heart with remarkable skill. Our Sister’s Keeper is a powerful testament to resilience, sisterhood, and the courage it takes to confront the truths a community would rather bury.
With thanks to Jasmine Holmes, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
January 18, 2026
4.5 stars
Our Sister’s keeper mostly goes between two perspectives: a young wife moving into a strange but proud all black town and a woman at a clinic that takes away men’s pains. I was intrigued from the start about this concept of being able to carry and take away another persons pain and what that might do to the carrier.
The book does a great of creating a sense of the characters being trapped in their roles and expectations. It confronts relationship dynamics and the role of the wife. Is a married couple supposed to support each other equally emotionally or does that role fall on the wife? The book also addresses how race may play into the marital dynamic. Many of the black women have aspirations of white womanhood to no longer carry the heavy burden society puts on them and to be wives who sit back and let themselves be taken care of.
There are interesting discussions here on the intersection between race and gender within society.
When the book occasionally switched from the two main viewpoints, I enjoyed getting the chapters of backstory for some characters.
One of the main themes throughout the book, was away from the pain of others to live in comfort. The book really helps create feeling of isolation as you see the injustice and want to fix to scream for the rooftops but everyone else wants to look away and treats you like you’re crazy for bringing it up.
I felt like it was an interesting concept of what could black men achieve without the burdens of trauma.
I enjoyed the contrast of the results of what happens when women stand together instead of tear each other down.
Overall, I loved the concept and themes of this book. The characters were engaging. The book did a great job of creating a sense of horror and dread within ordinary life.
Our Sister’s keeper mostly goes between two perspectives: a young wife moving into a strange but proud all black town and a woman at a clinic that takes away men’s pains. I was intrigued from the start about this concept of being able to carry and take away another persons pain and what that might do to the carrier.
The book does a great of creating a sense of the characters being trapped in their roles and expectations. It confronts relationship dynamics and the role of the wife. Is a married couple supposed to support each other equally emotionally or does that role fall on the wife? The book also addresses how race may play into the marital dynamic. Many of the black women have aspirations of white womanhood to no longer carry the heavy burden society puts on them and to be wives who sit back and let themselves be taken care of.
There are interesting discussions here on the intersection between race and gender within society.
When the book occasionally switched from the two main viewpoints, I enjoyed getting the chapters of backstory for some characters.
One of the main themes throughout the book, was away from the pain of others to live in comfort. The book really helps create feeling of isolation as you see the injustice and want to fix to scream for the rooftops but everyone else wants to look away and treats you like you’re crazy for bringing it up.
I felt like it was an interesting concept of what could black men achieve without the burdens of trauma.
I enjoyed the contrast of the results of what happens when women stand together instead of tear each other down.
Overall, I loved the concept and themes of this book. The characters were engaging. The book did a great job of creating a sense of horror and dread within ordinary life.
January 4, 2026
I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes; this in no way influences my review.
Actual rating: 4.75
Our Sister’s Keeper is a doozy of a book telling so many stories and having so many conversations with important topics. It was a little slow to hold my attention, but once I got halfway in I was absolutely hooked and finished quickly. I love Thea and Kid’s love and how they both try to care for the other, at times to their own detriment. The whole way Black women are made to hold burdens, especially those of Black men to create a space where men can be seen as a man, is such a sharp part of this story. I don’t know if I have all the words for how much this story has utterly wiggled into my brain and got me buzzing with thoughts. I feel like this is an important book and saying such important things, but I also recognize this is a book that many will struggle with - there was a couple points where I wasn’t sure I could keep reading because of what Marah and the others were being made to carry. It broke my heart, but the ending was fantastic, though I was hoping for a brighter conclusion. This just is such a powerful book and I cannot wait to see what else Jasmine Holmes writes.
Content notes:
Actual rating: 4.75
Our Sister’s Keeper is a doozy of a book telling so many stories and having so many conversations with important topics. It was a little slow to hold my attention, but once I got halfway in I was absolutely hooked and finished quickly. I love Thea and Kid’s love and how they both try to care for the other, at times to their own detriment. The whole way Black women are made to hold burdens, especially those of Black men to create a space where men can be seen as a man, is such a sharp part of this story. I don’t know if I have all the words for how much this story has utterly wiggled into my brain and got me buzzing with thoughts. I feel like this is an important book and saying such important things, but I also recognize this is a book that many will struggle with - there was a couple points where I wasn’t sure I could keep reading because of what Marah and the others were being made to carry. It broke my heart, but the ending was fantastic, though I was hoping for a brighter conclusion. This just is such a powerful book and I cannot wait to see what else Jasmine Holmes writes.
Content notes:
October 29, 2025
“…Maybe she would have grabbed his hands and weathered the storm of his memories with him. Maybe she would have been his beast of burden one more time, a living sacrifice for his peace and well-being. A living monument to a wife’s sense of love and duty.”
I just finished Our Sisters’ Keeper and I would like to file a formal complaint because… what the actual hell did I just read (in the best possible way).
A historical Southern gothic horror set in a town where women literally take on the burdens of men, in every sense of the word. The imagery in this book is powerful, and the horror does not hold back. I was minding my own business, thinking I knew where things were headed, and then the twist hit. I gasped. I sweated. I clutched my pearls (that I don’t even own). My jaw? Still on the floor somewhere.
Ans I’d like to use this space to talk about how the author handled the Black historical angle, because I felt it was done really well. No trauma parade, no tired tropes. Just Black people being powerful, complex, and caught in something dark and otherworldly. I was fed, and I am still full.
Thanks to NetGalley, Mareas, and Bindery for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. It was my pleasure to reflect on this book.
I just finished Our Sisters’ Keeper and I would like to file a formal complaint because… what the actual hell did I just read (in the best possible way).
A historical Southern gothic horror set in a town where women literally take on the burdens of men, in every sense of the word. The imagery in this book is powerful, and the horror does not hold back. I was minding my own business, thinking I knew where things were headed, and then the twist hit. I gasped. I sweated. I clutched my pearls (that I don’t even own). My jaw? Still on the floor somewhere.
Ans I’d like to use this space to talk about how the author handled the Black historical angle, because I felt it was done really well. No trauma parade, no tired tropes. Just Black people being powerful, complex, and caught in something dark and otherworldly. I was fed, and I am still full.
Thanks to NetGalley, Mareas, and Bindery for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. It was my pleasure to reflect on this book.
November 27, 2025
First, a huge thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy (eARC) of Our Sister's Keeper. This book is a fascinating dive into a richly imagined world of magic and secrets, and Jasmine Holmes certainly delivers on atmosphere and concept. However, after finishing it, I'm left feeling that while it was good, it wasn't quite great. The Lit Whisperer's analysis points to the character development as the biggest area holding it back from being a spectacular read. While the world-building is detailed and the plot is clever, the main characters, though relatable, never quite develop the emotional depth needed to fully propel the story into truly compelling territory. The foundation is solid, and the premise is excellent, but the lack of strong, transformative character arcs meant I was never fully invested in their plight. This is a very solid debut—I'm giving it a measured 3 stars—and I highly recommend it to readers who prioritize imaginative world-building and unique mystery over character immersion.
December 5, 2025
This book was fantastic—an easy 5 stars for me. It’s described as “a gripping blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic psychological horror, and a fierce exploration of Black sisterhood, rage, and resistance.” And the author truly delivers on all fronts.
The atmosphere is eerie in the best way, and the storytelling pulls you in right from the start. The writing style and pacing were so well done. I never felt bored or lost; instead I was constantly engaged, curious, and a little on edge (in that good way).
And the plot twists? They’re definitely twisting. A couple genuinely surprised me, which I always appreciate.
Overall, this was just a really wonderful and captivating read. If you enjoy southern gothic horror mixed with rich historical elements and strong storytelling, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC
The atmosphere is eerie in the best way, and the storytelling pulls you in right from the start. The writing style and pacing were so well done. I never felt bored or lost; instead I was constantly engaged, curious, and a little on edge (in that good way).
And the plot twists? They’re definitely twisting. A couple genuinely surprised me, which I always appreciate.
Overall, this was just a really wonderful and captivating read. If you enjoy southern gothic horror mixed with rich historical elements and strong storytelling, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC
December 5, 2025
4.0
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Halfway through the book, I thought I had a vague inkling on how the story would progress. However, the twist literally made me jump out of my seat, things aligning perfectly and clicking into place like jigsaw puzzles.
The writing is beautiful - not elaborate, but painfully and brutally honest, requiring not just the characters, but the readers themselves, to confront the daily prejudices and burdens that have gone invisible simply because people have long since ignored them.
A masterful blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic horror, Our Sister's Keeper is honestly one of my greatest reads of the year.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing me this ARC via NetGalley. This does not in any shape or form influence my review on this book.
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Halfway through the book, I thought I had a vague inkling on how the story would progress. However, the twist literally made me jump out of my seat, things aligning perfectly and clicking into place like jigsaw puzzles.
The writing is beautiful - not elaborate, but painfully and brutally honest, requiring not just the characters, but the readers themselves, to confront the daily prejudices and burdens that have gone invisible simply because people have long since ignored them.
A masterful blend of historical fiction and Southern gothic horror, Our Sister's Keeper is honestly one of my greatest reads of the year.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing me this ARC via NetGalley. This does not in any shape or form influence my review on this book.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
5 ⭐ (Maybe even a 6, iykyk)
Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes is one of the most moving and emotionally devastating books I’ve ever read. Set in 1927 Mississippi, it blends historical fiction with Southern gothic horror in a way that feels both unsettling and deeply purposeful. I’ll be honest—the beginning is slow, slow enough that I almost DNF’d it—but I’m so glad I stayed. Once the story settles into its rhythm, it becomes a powerful exploration of Black womanhood, generational trauma, rage, and sisterhood. The concept of women carrying the pain men are freed from is haunting and symbolic, and it lingers long after the final page. This book doesn’t rush its message, but when it hits, it hits hard—and it’s absolutely worth the patience.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bindery Books, for the early read!
Publication date: 6/9/2026
Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes is one of the most moving and emotionally devastating books I’ve ever read. Set in 1927 Mississippi, it blends historical fiction with Southern gothic horror in a way that feels both unsettling and deeply purposeful. I’ll be honest—the beginning is slow, slow enough that I almost DNF’d it—but I’m so glad I stayed. Once the story settles into its rhythm, it becomes a powerful exploration of Black womanhood, generational trauma, rage, and sisterhood. The concept of women carrying the pain men are freed from is haunting and symbolic, and it lingers long after the final page. This book doesn’t rush its message, but when it hits, it hits hard—and it’s absolutely worth the patience.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bindery Books, for the early read!
Publication date: 6/9/2026
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
"Our Sister's Keeper" powerfully blends historical fiction with Southern gothic horror, presenting an imaginative and unsettling premise. The dark and eerie atmosphere clearly aims to explore themes of trauma, power, and survival within a tightly controlled community.
While the concept is intriguing, the execution may not work for every reader. Some ideas feel underexplored, and the story can be challenging to fully connect with as it unfolds. The characters are compelling, but the larger revelations may leave readers more contemplative than satisfied.
Overall, this is an ambitious and thought-provoking read that will likely resonate strongly with some audiences, even if it doesn’t completely come together for others.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review
While the concept is intriguing, the execution may not work for every reader. Some ideas feel underexplored, and the story can be challenging to fully connect with as it unfolds. The characters are compelling, but the larger revelations may leave readers more contemplative than satisfied.
Overall, this is an ambitious and thought-provoking read that will likely resonate strongly with some audiences, even if it doesn’t completely come together for others.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review
February 1, 2026
This was my first NetGalley ARC and first horror book and wow! The bar has been set high. Despite taking place in the 1920s, I couldn't help but draw parallels to the present day, especially as it relates to Black women's strength, generational trauma, and misogyny. As I finished the book, I was left pondering what healing from centuries of violence, oppression, and injustice looks like, especially when it is not at the expense of women or the oppressed carrying the burdens of society, and how do we leverage rage in current times in the face of so much injustice? Our Sister's Keeper is rich in history and masterful storytelling. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy and thank you to Jasmine Holmes for writing this spectacular work of literature. I will absolutely be buying this book, supporting this author, and recommending this book to all.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It took me a while to find the footing with Our Sister's Keeper, but after a few chapters the pace picks up and doesn't let go. I didn't expect any of the plot twists, and in the last third of the book I was on the edge of my seat, eagerly waiting to see how the story could possibly end.
About the ending myself, with books like these I like my finales a little less clear cut, but I suspect most readers will feel the opposite way.
I think what will stay me the longest will be the characters of Thea and (to my own surprise) Clothilde, and the questions that the story and characters ask of themselves and the reader, mainly: as we all try to build our ideal future, who are the carriers of our burdens?
About the ending myself, with books like these I like my finales a little less clear cut, but I suspect most readers will feel the opposite way.
I think what will stay me the longest will be the characters of Thea and (to my own surprise) Clothilde, and the questions that the story and characters ask of themselves and the reader, mainly: as we all try to build our ideal future, who are the carriers of our burdens?
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
4.5/5
It's 1927 in East Cobb, Mississippi.
Thea Elliot and her husband Kid have just moved here to start a new life.
However, unbeknownst to them, this town is not all at as it seems.
This book is described as a historical fiction with southern gothic horror, and it delivers just that.
The first bit of the book is a slow burn, but once the actual story gets rolling it was hard to put down!
Although I kind of saw the plot twist coming, the way it was executed still had me shocked.
I can definitely see this being one of the top books got 2026
If it's not on your TBR, I would highly recommend adding it.
4.5/5
It's 1927 in East Cobb, Mississippi.
Thea Elliot and her husband Kid have just moved here to start a new life.
However, unbeknownst to them, this town is not all at as it seems.
This book is described as a historical fiction with southern gothic horror, and it delivers just that.
The first bit of the book is a slow burn, but once the actual story gets rolling it was hard to put down!
Although I kind of saw the plot twist coming, the way it was executed still had me shocked.
I can definitely see this being one of the top books got 2026
If it's not on your TBR, I would highly recommend adding it.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.
This book has an incredibly unique premise - a group of "select" black women that live in a utopic town work to take away the pain of the black men in the community.
What was particularly enjoyable about this book was the focus on sexism, misogyny and their interplay with race, as well as the philosophical/moral questions raised (e.g. does inflicting grave harm make a difference if it inflicted on a person of the same gender/race). Especially Thea's character and internal monologue was thought-provoking. For me, the book lost momentum at around the 60% mark and I felt that some of the plot choices made were a bit haphazard compared to the first half of the book where plot and pacing were well thought out.
This book has an incredibly unique premise - a group of "select" black women that live in a utopic town work to take away the pain of the black men in the community.
What was particularly enjoyable about this book was the focus on sexism, misogyny and their interplay with race, as well as the philosophical/moral questions raised (e.g. does inflicting grave harm make a difference if it inflicted on a person of the same gender/race). Especially Thea's character and internal monologue was thought-provoking. For me, the book lost momentum at around the 60% mark and I felt that some of the plot choices made were a bit haphazard compared to the first half of the book where plot and pacing were well thought out.
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