A sparkling novel set in the same world as the author’s West African-inspired Raybearer series succeeds as a lively stand-alone. Small Sade (Black) is an orphan who’s aged out of the care system. With no supports for young people like her and a crushed foot from an accident when she worked as a child laborer years before, her prospects aren’t promising. Small Sade also has mottled skin (vitiligo), but finds comfort in her appearance. When Small Sade meets Crocodile—a cursed man slowly losing his human form—the attraction between them is immediate. Every time he uses magic he furthers his transformation; this complicates their developing love story, since he often uses magic to be helpful to Small Sade. Small Sade gets a cleaning job at a struggling inn run by a once wealthy and still self-serving and self-centered woman. When the woman discovers Small Sade’s Curse-Eating gift—she can consume people’s negative emotions, transforming the way they feel—she offers Small Sade’s services to eat people’s guilt. Small Sade knows she’s being used, but to her it is a means of independence—employment and a place to stay among the community of friends she’s made on staff, whose dreams inspire her. Themes of social justice, self-worth, and personal empowerment are deftly woven through a story told in Small Sade’s observant, captivating voice. A concluding author’s note acknowledges references to popular fairy tales throughout, as well as factual information about society and politics that informed her telling.

A romantic standalone fantasy set in the world of Raybearer, from New York Times bestselling author Jordan Ifueko

The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution.

In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, Small Sade needs a job—preferably as a maid, with employers who don’t mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be hired, she accidentally binds herself to a powerful being known only as the Crocodile, a god rumored to devour pretty girls. Small Sade entrances the Crocodile with her secret: she is a Curse Eater, gifted with the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses.

The handsome god warns that their fates are bound, but Small Sade evades him, launching herself into a new career as the Curse Eater of a swanky inn. She is determined to impress the wealthy inhabitants and earn her place in Oluwan City . . . assuming her secret-filled past—and the revolutionary ambitions of the Crocodile God—don’t catch up with her.

But maybe there is more to Small Sade. And maybe everyone in Oluwan City deserves more, too, from the maids all the way to the Anointed Ones.