to her family, her real self, and the truth about her magic. Villified by those closest to her, Naema heads to the Southwest where she is determined to stage a comeback. Everyone loves her-until she's cast as the villain who exposed a Siren to the whole world.ĭragged by the media, and canceled by her fans, no one understands her side: not her boyfriend, not her friends, not even her fellow Eloko. Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw has it all: she’s famous, stylish, gorgeous-and she’s an Eloko, a charismatic person gifted with a melody that people adore.

Meet Naema Bradshaw: a beautiful Eloko, once Portland-famous, now infamous, as she navigates a personal and public reckoning where confronting the limits of her privilege will show Naema what her magic really is, and who it makes her. Knowledge of the previous book is a must self-centered, magnetic Naema is the best kind of unreliable narrator, and familiarity with her prior antagonist role brings the nuances of her perspective into sharp relief.THE LATEST NOVEL FROM YA SENSATION BETHANY C. There are plenty of analogues for real life here, and Morrow trusts her readers to connect the rhetorical dots. Naema's breathtaking selfabsorption and defense of her Eloko privilege can make it difficult to sympathize with her, but it's equally hard to watch her ignorance shattered and replaced with stomach-churning awareness of institutional racism and anti-siren prejudice. Naema realizes that she and Tavia might have more in common than she thought-just enough in common, in fact, to counter the increased threat to Black girls and women and make Portland better for all magical people. Temporarily banned from her channel on an exclusive Eloko social media app, Naema is initially comforted by a new online forum, the Knights of Naema, but to her horror, their supposed devotion to defending their fallen idol quickly evolves into a hub of white supremacy and anti-siren radicalization. Away from the hubbub of Eloko-happy Portland, Naema hears clearly for the first time the voices of the Ancestors speaking to her and begins to better understand what it means to be Eloko beyond effortless charm and popularity.

When what feels like all of Portland turns on Naema Bradshaw, a magical Eloko, for her role in outing Tavia as a siren in A Song Below Water (BCCB 6/20), Naema heads south to a family reunion.

A chorus rises a song below water novel