Bibliographic info
Title: The Lovers, the Liars, and Me
Author: DeAndra Davis
ISBN: 9781665852682
Publisher: atheneum, an imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing Division
Copyright date: 2026
Genre/Format: Contemporary young adult fiction
Awards: none. Davis has previously received the 2026 Morris Award for YA best debut, for her novel All the Noise at Once.
Reading level: Grade 9 and up (School Library Journal)
Plot Summary
Jaliya is finishing up her senior year in Florida, but when she receives a mysterious, unsigned letter from Jamaica, she decides to visit her mother’s home country for the first time in seven years to find answers. Her uncle’s home that she spent her childhood summers visiting is not what she remembers, nor are her childhood friends, Andre and Deon, and her cousin, Shevaughn. During her mission to track down her elusive mother, Jaliya navigates her relationship with Jamaica, her childhood crush, and a new friend, India. As it turns out, some questions don’t want to be answered, and Jaliya learns to accept who she is, and what that may mean for the beginning of her life as an adult.
Author background
DeAndra Davis is a first generation Jamaican-American raised in southern Florida. She openly identifies as neurodivergent, which informs her character writing. Her novels explore queer, diverse, and cultural journeys. In addition to her novels, she is also a creative writing professor at Appalachian State University.
WATCH: Davis discusses Jamaican identity on the Jamaican Bwoy podcast, hosted by Anthony Tracey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2zTxAyQlFI
Critical Evaluation
I really enjoyed my time with this novel! I found Jaliya to be a very realistic recent high school graduate, especially since her time visiting Jamaica and deciding on where she’s headed off to college crunches the book down to a short time period. The love Davis has for these characters is very present on page, and the struggles that Jaliya faces feel rooted in lived experience.
I especially enjoyed Jaliya’s relationship with the tarot card deck left behind by her mother. (In fact, I just finished a fictional biography, Pixie, of Pamela Colman Smith, illustrator of one of the most ubiquitous tarot decks…!) At the beginning of the novel, Jaliya uses her morning and evening card pulls as a crutch, asking the deck for guidance in a way that mirrors how she might have used her mother for input growing up. Throughout the novel, the cards become a symbol of Jaliya growing up and coming to terms with her reality.
Coming back to Jamaica is more challenging at first than Jaliya expected, and she struggles to explain to her family and childhood friends why she stayed away for so long. I thought that Davis amplified these moments well, showing the reader the reality of a life lived in two countries. Difficult conversations about being a foreigner in your home country, parental figures, and sexuality cement this is a wonderful coming-of-age novel.
Creative use for a library program
An interactive tarot card display would be a fun way to incorporate the central themes of this book in the YA section of a library. Experimentation with the unknown is common with young adults, which can make things like tarot readings, for the uninitiated, exciting. The library could also put on a presentation about underrepresented forms of magic and the occult.
Speed-Run Book-Talk
Jaliya’s never been kissed, never knew her mother, and is headed off to college in the fall… but she needs to fix those first two ASAP. Returning to Jamaica to visit family, she’s secretly planning on tracking her mother down, as long as her childhood crush (when did he get hot?) and a new friend, (slash crush?) India don’t get in the way.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
Davis begins the book with an author note, explaining her experiences growing up visiting Jamaica and how she’s learned to love the culture, even when it can be in conflict with her beliefs. These themes are present throughout the book, where characters come to terms with their sexuality, in a culture that punishes and ostracizes members of the LGBTQ+ community. Jaliya and side characters face homophobic rhetoric from loved ones, and navigate how to continue having those relationships despite fundamental disagreements. There is no sexual content beyond kissing, nor do any characters discuss romance beyond dating, kissing, and having crushes. Jaliya, India, and others are all 18 and up, but the content leans a bit younger.
Reason for inclusion
This book is new to my public library, and it’s been on display, which is how it first caught my eye. I thought that including a book based right around summer, ending senior year, and starting college would be a good start for the month of August. Based on my initial appraisal of the book, I thought it sounded perfect for balancing out my collection: a contemporary novel about a girl figuring herself out, in a setting I hadn’t read about before.
References
Press Kit- DeAndra Davis. (2026) Retrieved from https://www.deandradavis.com/press-kit
Walker, Emily. (2026, April 17). The Lovers, the Liars, and Me. School Library Journal. https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/review/the-lovers-the-liars-and-me-100011195
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