Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books 
 Lovecraft Country is tragically devoid of romance and yet I can't resist reviewing it for you, dear Bitches, because it's one of the most satisfying books I've read in quite some time. 
 Lovecraft Country is a series of connected stories (together they form one cohesive arc, but most of the chapters could easily stand alone) about a Black family living in Chicago in the 1950s. The family business consists of publishing The Safe Negro Travel Guide, a guide for Black people traveling throughout the US. The stories of the Turner family demonstrate the racism and unrelenting danger of being Black both in the Jim Crow South and in a suspicious and violent North. 
 There's an enormous amount of humiliation and tragedy in this book but the overall sense is one of endurance, resourcefulness, and triumph. It's also a celebration of Black fans of speculative fiction, a genre from which people of color have often felt excluded. The first time we meet Atticus, a cop is rifling through the science fiction books in his car (the bastard BENDS THE PAGES, ugh). Later, Atticus bonds with his uncle over SFF and fights with his father over it (his father is quick to point out the racism that pervaded the genre during the 1940's and 1950's). His nephew, Horace, writes comic books, and Horace's mom, Hippolyta, grew up dreaming of being an astronomer. Ultimately, the family benefits from having members who are savvy about both science and speculative fiction - they don't waste much time refusing to believe in what is clearly happening, and instead just get on with survival. 
 As a reader, I've been thrilled to see the very people Lovecraft either ignored (women) or vilified (almost everyone else) claiming what they love from his work and putting their own spin on it. It's not only a social move forward; it makes for fresh, exciting fiction. I can't think of many more satisfying things than the many moments of triumph in Lovecraft Country. 
 Lovecraft Country is sad, and scary, and funny, and exciting. It's also fist-pumping-in-the-air awesome. I loved the range of characters and the many tough, smart women. I loved the seamless melding of the magical and the mundane, the tragic and triumphant, the funny and the terrifying. The writing is simply impeccable. If I had extra thumbs, they would all be up. 
 - Carrie S.