Young adult novel takes readers on a journey of self-discovery

The Lovers, the Liars, and Me by DeAndra Davis, is a young adult novel about self-discovery, familial complexities and teenage friendships. Every chapter title accentuates a tarot card from the major arcana, and as a dabbler of tarot myself, I found this to be highly organizational and exciting.You don’t have to know a thing about the craft to swim in these pages — Davis has written a highly relatable tale about the innate human need to know where we come from to know where we might be going. Most importantly, it navigates the intersections of being a queer and Jamaican American female-identifying individual.

Jaliya spends her summer in Jamaica, following her high school graduation, with approval of her father, which ends up being the space and environment for her identity to emerge and breathe. At home, Jaliya doesn’t exactly meld with her peers, other than her best friend, Ketta.

Among her Jamaican cousin Shevaughn and his friends — Andre, Deon and India — Jaliya stretches her adventure muscles, along with searching for her estranged mother, using any clue she can find from unsigned letters to locals she meets in bars and shops. Totally self-aware about the mystique of her mother and her absence in her life, Jaliya draws a tarot card a day, semi-guiding her path toward figuring out what is next besides college in the fall.

Upon her arrival to her uncle’s home in Jamaica, Jaliya feels an initial disconnect with Shevaughn — a peer who holds tons of memoires from her childhood, including their mutual friends Andre and Deon. Once easily reacquainted with the new/old group, the mission becomes to locate Jaliya’s mom in a sea of coastal bars and random local hot spots — India, the new girl in the group, sends currents up and down Jaliya’s spine, which can be ignored only for so long.

Jaliya is also into Andre.

I got lost in the natural world of Jamaica — the cliff jumping, rich island cuisine, rock climbing. I admit I found the bonds between all the friends written a little bit too easily, but I forgave the neat fit because the true conflict of revealing sexual identity in a more traditional family home was heavy enough for both Jaliya and Shevaughn throughout this novel.

Davis writes an innocent-leaning love triangle of sorts blended with a beautiful self-discovery romp, and I found it a wonderful read, overall:

“To find myself in the chaos. I’ve been drifting all my life, unmoored, and now I’ll finally anchor myself in something real.”

Whether that refers to her discovering her bisexuality or that her mother truly loved her, it’s a book worth checking out for the YA collector.

The Lovers, the Liars, and Me, by DeAndra Davis
© 2026 Atheneum Books for Young Readers