Deep In Providence by Riss M. Neilson

*Spoiler free*

For best friends Miliani, Inez, Natalie and Jasmine, Providence, Rhode Island has a magic of its own. From the bodegas and late-night food trucks on Broad Street to The Hill that watches over the city, every corner of Providence glows with memories of them practicing spells, mixing up potions and doing séances with the help of the magic Miliani’s Filipino grandfather taught her. But when Jasmine is killed by a drunk driver, the world they have always known is left haunted by grief…and Jasmine’s lingering spirit. Determined to bring her back, the surviving friends band together, testing the limits of their magic and everything they know about life, death, and each other. And as their plan to resurrect Jasmine grows darker and more demanding than they imagined, their separate lives begin to splinter the bonds they depend on, revealing buried secrets that threaten the people they care about most. Miliani, Inez and Natalie will have to rely on more than just their mystical abilities to find the light. 

My excitement for this book truly came from a friend who screams about it all the time. And, a story who about grief, and doing whatever it takes, truly whatever it takes, to bring a friend back from the dead sounded incredible, and I was eager to see what I think of it. Trigger warnings: grief, sexual harassment, drug use, addiction, talk of abortion

This is a haunting book, one that sticks and lingers, and is brilliantly put together.

It’s a book that captures such deep emotion, from every single character. There is pain and love and joy and hurt and so much more. At the same time, it is written in a way that didn’t feel overwhelming. It portrayed those emotions authentically, but it didn’t make me anxious myself. I’ve had that problem with books before, where I had to put them down because they made me too anxious or I ended up not enjoying them as much as I thought I would because my anxiety rose. It doesn’t mean they are bad books, just written in a certain way! And in this one, I really liked things were laid out, delved into, but it didn’t feel completely overwhelming.

Speaking of the characters, I adored the girls. They each have their own journey, their own inner struggles, and each felt so, so complete. Nothing felt rushed or packed in. Every single element is given room to breath, stand on it’s own, but also complement everything else happening around it. It made for three extremely solid, extremely real feeling, POV characters.

Another thing that I really liked was the writing. It feels like a smooth stream of water, something that might have been touched my magic. It aches, and sometimes pulses, and it just compliments what this book is trying to do very, very well.

I think I was expecting a bit more out of the haunting and magic aspect of this book, and wanted a bit more too. But, I’m honestly not that completely bothered by it, because I really, really liked where the book went. It’s about three girls who are messy and magic and completely human. And I loved them a lot.

Overall, this book was different than I was expecting it to be, but not in a bad way. There’s such a core of friendship, one that is packed with so much love, and the pain that comes when that friendship is fractured. It truly is a good book.

Deep In Providence comes out May 31st, 2022! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy in the meantime!