Reflections (Unabridged‪)‬

The perfect blend of mystery and fantasy and heart.

There’s nothing I love more than a story with a strong female character who learns to be her own hero and Briana Morgan majorly delivers that in her beautiful novel Reflections.

Ramachandra “Rama” Ganeshan just wants to be anyone but herself. After being sexually assaulted in her family’s restaurant, any self confidence she once had is absolutely gone. She doesn’t want to think about it, she doesn’t want to deal with it, and she absolutely doesn’t want to look at herself in the mirror. Meanwhile in her small West Virginia town, there’s other just as sinister events happening- teenage girls are being murdered and no one can figure out who’s behind it. When Rama stumbles across the dead body of a classmate in the woods and recognizes the face of the murderer, she knows she has to do something, even if it means leaving behind everything she knows and joining a mysterious group of shapeshifters she’s certain know more about the killings than they let on. Joining the tribe of shapeshifting strangers gives Rama the chance to escape herself and, if she can gain their trust, perhaps find some answers as to what is really happening in the small town of Aldale.

Morgan perfectly crafted a tale with just the right amount of mystery and fantasy and heart, filled with incredibly realistic characters. They feel like real people who sometimes make rash decisions and regularly deal with the idea that not every choice fits into the category of strictly “right or wrong”, which left me guessing until the reveal as to who exactly could be trusted. But the best part of all the character development is absolutely Rama. I just adored her from the very beginning. She starts off vulnerable and has dealt with so much and to see her find a sense of purpose and slowly regain her own self-worth in her fight for justice was inspiring. I particularly loved that Morgan made her main character different than most YA heroines I’m used to seeing. Rama is Indian and not stick thin and a victim of sexual assault, all things that I think are woefully under represented in both the YA and urban fantasy/paranormal genres. And I truly appreciated that Morgan did an excellent and respectful job including sexual assault in her novel. It isn’t graphic or explicit and it also isn’t simply a plot device used to endear Rama to the reader. It is a part of Rama’s history and gives depth and a greater understanding to why Rama feels the way she does.

The story itself is also fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat at times, making excuses to listen to just a few more minutes of the audiobook because I needed to know what happened next. Morgan knows how to world build, I loved how she crafted the supernatural elements that Rama finds herself in the middle of. There was the perfect amount of “how” and “why” the shapeshifting works, mostly told through Rama learning the skill, that it was easy to get sucked into the magic of it all, but not so much that you feel burdened by trying to wrap your brain around all the details.

All in all, Reflections, was a great read with a poignant message about learning to love yourself again after a tragedy and I highly recommend it. I also strongly recommend it as an audiobook. Kamala Alcantara did an amazing job of bringing Morgan’s characters to life and giving a performance that truly made me feel every emotion Rama dealt with.

Disclosure: I know Briana Morgan personally and received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.