Gripping and cinematic, the novel’s worlds of El Paso past and present will bewitch and enrapture.
A busy El Paso lawyer embarks on a supernatural journey when she uncovers a startling truth about her great-aunt.
In 1943, Elena Eduviges Montoya, called “Nena” by her family, resigns herself to serving her older sisters as a housemaid and nanny while World War II rages, “biding her time until the Germans attacked.” But one sweltering afternoon, Nena has a vision foretelling the death of their landlord, and that night she receives a midnight visit from black-clad Sister Benedicta de la Cruz, who transports her to 1792—when El Paso del Norte was still part of New Spain—and leads her to a strange convent, where the nuns are likewise afflicted by visions. Nena learns she must remain in this enchanted realm in order to undertake training to channel “La Vista,” that part of God that comprises nature and chaos, before she can return home. Fast forward to the present day, and Nena’s great-niece, Marta, juggles her roles as a lawyer at a struggling firm, a mother to two boys, and a wife stuck in a humdrum marriage. All this gets turned upside down when an alarming kitchen incident involving the elderly Nena, burned rice, and handsome firemen brings Nena to live with Marta’s family. After Marta has an unnerving experience with seemingly supernatural soot (“when she opens her eyes again, the wall continues to blink, soot there, soot gone”), Nena comes clean about a secret she’s kept for a lifetime: She gave birth to a baby, Rosa, during her time on “the other side.” The revelation sets the women on a path to recover Rosa from the shadowy realm of El Paso del Norte. Alternating chapters between Nena’s past and Marta’s present, Jaramillo braids the storylines together like a mal de ojo bracelet, seamlessly weaving in Spanish language terms and Mexican cultural touchstones such as pozole, rebozo, and el aquelarre. Jaramillo’s atmospheric prose conjures the dusty El Paso of the past, and depictions of La Vista vibrate with “colorful knots of waves,” glowing indigo, maroon, and bright pink, yielding “a wild spell, like yeast in the air.” This riveting page-turner affirms the adage, “Family stories teach us how to live. Family secrets teach us to kill parts of ourselves.”
Gripping and cinematic, the novel’s worlds of El Paso past and present will bewitch and enrapture.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781668033210
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Primero Sueño Press/Atria
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
A compelling and skillfully written end to a thrilling fantasy series.
In the final book of Corland’s dark fantasy trilogy, a ragtag band works together to liberate a colony and dethrone tyrants.
A group of spies, thieves, and murderers, united by a common goal of ending the treacherous rule of King Joon of Yusan, regroup after a bloody battle claims the life of one of their own—the banished Yusanian prince, Euyn. However, there’s little time for Mikail, Aeri, Sora, and Royo to mourn. Bounty hunters and assassins are after them, in part because they now possess three of five legendary Relics of the Dragon Lord. Mikail, who’s just found out that he’s the last surviving member of a royal family, wields the Water Scepter of Wei, while Aeri, King Joon’s daughter, holds the Sands of Tim and the Golden Ring of Khitan. The remaining relics—the Flaming Sword of Gaya and the Immortal Crown—remain with King Joon, who’s desperate to have all five to wield a great deal more power. Meanwhile, the cruel Count Seok, who once indentured Sora, has usurped the throne of Yusan. The group has two goals: overthrow the king and liberate the Yusanian colony of Gaya—Mikail’s homeland—so that it can again be a thriving, independent realm. The relics are powerful tools in combat, but using them is adversely affecting Aeri and Mikail’s health. They need allies, but trusting strangers is a dangerous gamble. Corland’s final book in her Broken Blades trilogy is a relentlessly thrilling and action-packed dark fantasy featuring memorable characters, intense battle scenes, romance, and a satisfying conclusion. Alternately narrated by Aeri, Mikail, Sora, Royo, and their long-lost friend, Tiyung, readers benefit from watching the story unfold through the perspectives of each compelling, well-drawn character. The author’s passion for the fantasy genre shines through in the novel’s richly detailed worldbuilding, including vivid descriptions of landscapes and palace layouts, as well as its exploration of magic. Readers will also delight in the sardonic humor sprinkled throughout, as when Mikahil narrates, “Rune thinks he fathered Seok’s son. Truly, the nobility of Yusan has too much time on their hands.”
A compelling and skillfully written end to a thrilling fantasy series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781649379153
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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