Summary: On estranged twins Leila and Bianca’s eighteenth birthday, Leila suddenly gains a djinn’s superpowers, and the twins realize that their town can only survive the djinns’ secret plans if they learn to work together as sisters. An action-packed YA fantasy!
Twins Bianca and Leila could not be more different from each other. Being both Argentinian and Iranian in a small town has always been hard, but with Leila shunning her heritage and Bianca embracing it, the two walk very different paths. They run in different circles of friends, and barely talk anymore. Leila’s a homebody who loves to craft and plans on marrying her high school sweetheart. Bianca’s more anti-establishment and plans to get out of Dodge as soon as humanly possible.
But on their eighteenth birthday, the neighbor’s barn mysteriously burns down. When Leila encounters a monster arising from the fire, a djinn, suddenly she gains strange powers–and can no longer touch iron.
What do these djinn want with Leila–or other people in town, for that matter? Can the twins learn to rely on each other–and their cultures–to banish them? It’ll take a sisterly reconciliation for the girls to find out and to save their hometown in this New Visions Award-winning fantasy adventure.
My Thoughts: Twin Flames begins with a simple birthday celebration, but the pace picks up almost immediately. The fires start and the djinn keep the twins scrambling and in a race for survival. This was a book that I read in one big gulp because I could not wait to see what happened next and which type of djinn would jump out onto the page.
It’s a dual narration with the twins sharing their unique ways of experiencing the events. While Bianca leans goth, Leila seems to be heading down the trad wife path. Leila wishes that she had been born back in time a bit and finds comfort and safety in her sewing, crafting and styling herself like women of the past. That isn’t really a perspective that I’ve seen often in young adult books, but there is a rising visibility of that lifestyle in social media so perhaps we’ll be seeing more of this in YA.
The action was suspenseful so it’s a page turner, yet the relationships and interactions between friends and family are also intense. The love between characters is evident, but the complications of being in relationship with one another can be seen and felt throughout the story. The djinn and all they bring are the smoke and fire, but the humans connecting with each other is the real heart of the book.
A lot of the connection, or lack thereof, comes as the twins are struggling with their identities. While working through challenges and trying to stay alive, it becomes clearer what is truly important to them even though they thought they already knew who they were and what they wanted in life.
As tightly as Bianca is holding to her culture and languages, Leila is pushing away those same things in an effort to blend in. It’s fascinating to contemplate how siblings in the same situation can react in completely different ways and move through the world so uniquely.
And did I mention romance? It’s not all about that, but there’s some romance in the air if that is something that appeals.
Recommendation: Get it as soon as you can especially if you have an interest in fantasy involving djinn and intriguing sibling relationships.
Extras: Conversation at ALA with Olivia Abtahi and Isabel Quintero
Publisher: Tu Books
Pages: 368
Review copy: ARC via publisher
Availability: On shelves August 27