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K.M. Cookie is an Author, Speaker, and Creator, and award-winning author of Song of Hummingbird Highway (Koehler Books), a work of literary magical realism that follows one woman's reckoning with betrayal, faith, and self-love across Michigan, Los Angeles, and Belize. Every scene opens with a song and a black-and-white photograph, 125 songs and 30 original images woven through 526 pages, alongside more than 90 references to Garifuna, Mayan, and Kriol culture.
K.M. wrote this novel as an outsider to its central cultures. She built the story over years of relationship and collaboration with Garifuna, Mayan, and Kriol partners, to ensure their traditions appear on the page with accuracy and respect.
Song of Hummingbird Highway has earned five literary honors in its debut year, including a Literary Titan 4-Star Rating with Silver Book Award and a 5-star review from Readers' Favorite, alongside a published editorial review from Kirkus Reviews, which called it "an exploration of love, belief, and self-reclamation that hums with the conviction that creation is an act of survival."
K.M. holds an MA from Western New Mexico University and a UCLA Creative Writing Certificate, and serves as Executive Director of Career Success, with a decade as a Certified True Colors Communication Facilitator helping people understand how they grow, connect, and change.
She carries a pair of pink sparkle Chuck Taylors everywhere she goes, a reminder that the creative life is meant to be walked in, not just admired. Asking her signature question: are you creating?
Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite
K. M. Cookie’s Song of Hummingbird Highway starts when Terri, a music lover, gets rid of her boyfriend. She refuses to shed a tear and cannot imagine that one impulsive night at a Santa Monica reggae club will change her life. Enter Reynold, a beguilingly attractive Belizean guitarist who wastes no time in proposing. The whirlwind romance sweeps her from Michigan to Nine Night ceremonies. Terri considers herself happily married until she realizes that Reynold's charm has concealed his infidelity and a final betrayal. When her son is kidnapped, she is propelled through a category four hurricane and into places where sacrifice, love, and ancestral magic collide with her awakening.
In K. M. Cookie’s novel, the character work is incredible. Terri is not just complex; she is flawed and searching for herself, the kind of relatable character who reminds most women of the choices they once made that drained them. Reynold is a manipulative person who infuriates and seduces in turn. You will love Penelope, a nun in her former life who now wields a shotgun, dispenses wisdom, and fills the dialogue with the mirth of friendship. The pacing is measured, and the tension and suspense keep the pages turning, built around suspicion and courtship. Song of Hummingbird Highway is descriptive and exquisite, with imagery that rouses the imagination. The result is an emotionally captivating journey that is a song you hear even after the last page, and a woman you will believe when she says: “I am a rare bird.”
