Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation...and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can't trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland...
I didn’t love this book at first, until about halfway through when there was a bit of a twist on where I had thought things were going. I loved the worldbuilding and the Latina flavour to the bruja culture. I’m generally not a fan of portal fantasy or urban fantasy but I didn’t mind it here as Córdova’s take was just so fresh. Even her use of fey felt like a unique on a timeworn trope, which is hard to do.
Also of note is that Alex, the main character, is bisexual. I love how Córdova handled the romantic elements to this novel. Alex and Rishi’s relationship is sweet, Alex and Nova butt heads but in a way that reveals they do care for each other. Rishi and Nova just want to tear each other apart. I thought the nuances to this love triangle were really well done and obviously it was so great to read about an explicitly bisexual main character.
The writing wasn’t to my taste a lot of the time and it felt heavy-handed at times. The plot did feel simplistic to me at times and I had a hard time connecting with Alex. That being said, I would still recommend this book with the caveat that the writing feels very juvenile at times and I do still think it’s worth reading for Córdova’s worldbuilding and character development.
