Lauren Blackwood is a Jamaican American New Yorker living in Virginia who writes Romance-heavy Fantasy for most ages. When not writing, she's a
physical therapist assistant and violinist who really doesn't know how to settle on one career field.
Her debut YA novel,
Within These Wicked Walls, is a
NYT/Indie Bestseller and the Reese’s Book Club Fall 2021 YA Pick.
At Tor.com Blackwood tagged "a Fantasy Starter Set into the beauty and power of Africa and it’s many cultures." One title on the list:
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Deka is dreading the upcoming blood ceremony—if her blood runs gold instead of red she’ll be seen as impure and will never become a member of her village…and worse. 
When her blood is revealed to be gold, a mysterious woman gives her a choice: stay in the village and discover what “and worse” means or join the Alaki—an army of near-immortal girls with rare gifts just like her, charged to fight for the emperor. The capital is not what it seems, but then, maybe Deka isn’t either. The book is influenced from West African culture and the use of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Brutal imagery paired with beautiful worldbuilding and craft make it one not to be missed!
Read about
the other entries on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
physical therapist assistant and violinist who really doesn't know how to settle on one career field.
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