Family Spirit by Diane McKinney-Whetstone has everything I love in a family saga messy secrets, generational drama, a touch of magic, and characters who feel like people you actually know or are related to!

Ayana is supposed to carry on the Mace family’s Knowing, a gift that lets her see into the future but she spends most of her time pretending it doesn’t exist. She lies to her family, to her mom, even to herself, trying to keep the peace while holding it all together. Enter her Aunt Lil, who was basically banished years ago for breaking a sacred vow, and suddenly the old family tensions come roaring back. Add in Ayana’s own haunting premonitions and the return of some shocking family history, and you’ve got a story that’s equal parts heartbreaking and fascinating!

What I really loved here is how Diane McKinney-Whetstone blends the ordinary chaos of family life with the extraordinary pull of magical inheritance. The writing is beautiful but approachable, and the way she layers in Nona the writer inside the story was such a cool twist! It makes you think about how family stories get told, and who gets to tell them!

I enjoy a book featuring magical realism and this one did not disappoint. This is the story, employing dual timelines, to focus Ayana and Lil and their coming to terms with their gifts of “knowing”. It is a beautiful story of family, tradition and acceptance. The story of Nona is intertwined with the rest of the story and, in my opinion would have been just as well left out to focus solely on the Mace family.

Thank you to Amistad and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful story about family history, tradition and different viewpoints of the story. Was a pleasant read. There was a lot to keep up with when it came to the different storylines within the story, but once you can sort them out, the story has a lot of beautiful points.

2.75

Family Spirit was beautifully written, and the story of a family of women with a special inherited gift truly intrigued me. I especially appreciated the background of the Mace family and found them to be a compelling focus. However, I really wish the story had stayed centered on that aspect and been given more pages to develop.

The shifts between characters moving from Nona to Anaya, back to Nona, then Lil, and so on felt jarring, almost like emotional whiplash. I’ve realized through this book that I’m not a big fan of the “book within a book” format. As interesting as the Mace family was, the structure didn’t work for me personally.

I think this book could definitely resonate with other readers, it just wasn’t the right fit for me. I do look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

An enticing and magical tale that kept me guessing until the end! I loved the back and forth between the author and her characters, and the way it widened the scope and deepened the meaning of the novel. Extremely descriptive and evocative prose kept the plot moving forward, and there was enough happening that I think most people would really enjoy this story!

I enjoyed this novel. I finished it in 2 days. I wish it was longer. The Mace family was very intriguing and I loved the idea of their family rituals. Very beautiful story.

I was immediately drawn into Family Spirit as a story that doesn’t just center on a family of women with psychic gifts but also explores what it means to carry both power and pain through generations. At its heart, this novel is about the Mace women, whose lineage is marked by a gift known as the “Knowing,” and how they each come to terms with what it means to carry a legacy that others either deny, reject, or betray.

I enjoyed how the narrative interweaves the voice of the novelist writing the story—Nona—whose presence reminds us that storytelling is never neutral. She begins the book uncertain of what form the narrative will take, unsure of the time period or direction, and yet she surrenders to the unfolding process the way all writers have to. That moment mirrored so much of what the Mace women themselves are going through: Ayana hesitating to claim her gifts out of fear of alienating her mother; Lil returning to a family she was exiled from, hoping to make amends; GG, the elder matriarch, grappling with whether forgiveness is even possible. Everyone is negotiating truth, love, and identity while trying to protect what remains of their shared lineage.

What moved me most was how the novel suggests that healing doesn’t happen outside of our histories, but through them. The characters aren't navigating their choices in spite of who they are or what they’ve endured. They’re making those choices because of what they've survived. There's grief and shame, yes—but also grace, ritual, and a deep sense that sometimes we don’t choose the story, it chooses us.

Family Spirit is a layered, intimate story about inheritance, estrangement, and the difficult work of reconciliation. It left me thinking about the stories we inherit, the ones we tell ourselves to survive, and the ones we must speak aloud to be free. 3.5 stars.