A Ruin of Roses by K.F. Breene is another beauty and the beast retelling but what sets this series apart from other retellings is the erotic, hilarious, and romantic setting of this world. Plus, the heroine Finley does not hesitate to step on a few toes especially if they belong to the arrogantly handsome Nyfain.
If you’re a fan of A Court of Thorns and Roses or smutty fairytales add this series to your list!
Bruja Born is the second installment of the Brooklyn Brujas series.
The series follows the Mortiz family, a family of
three sisters and their mother. During the first book of the series, Labyrinth
Lost middle sister, Alex, struggles to come to terms with her identity as a
bruja and on her death day she cast a spell that accidentally sends her whole
family to the underworld. Alex and Nova, another brujo, both travel to the
underworld to free her family.
Bruja Born is Lula’s story and it begins with Lula trying to readjust after living in the underworld. Lula is struggling, and she becomes even more stressed when her boyfriend, Maks unexpectedly breaks up with her right before his soccer game. On the bus ride over to his game, the group of soccer player and cheerleader are involved in a tragic accident that kills everyone on board. Lula survives because her family combines their powers to heal her while she’s in the hospital. Lula is heartbroken to learn that Maks is in a coma and healing him might end up doing more harm than good, but Lula convinces her sisters to help her bring him back to life but upsetting the balance of nature comes with huge consequences. Lula ends up pissing off Death herself.
The monsters, the monsters, they crawl in the night. The monsters, the monsters, they hide in plain sight.
Lula’s inability to let go of her relationship to Maks is one of the main plot points of this book. Although, Maks clearly ended things with her the night of the accident. After he is brought back to life, both of them act as if nothing happened and go back to somewhat being in a relationship.
Maybe I am overanalyzing this a bit too much, considering Maks, conveniently does not remember the accident but I thought it was odd that he would not remember what happened before the accident.
One of the things I really enjoyed about Bruja born is that Death is a woman, which is rare in pop culture and other stories that make Death into a character. This depiction of death reminded me of the Earth mother goddess from Aztec mythology, Coatlicue, as she is also the deity of life and death. Although physically, the two goddesses look nothing alike, I believe they are both meant to be unnerving. La Muerte is not a kind diety she is mostly angry at Lula throughout this book, rightfully so, but towards the end of the novel, La Muerte ends up helping Lula. Which made me a little less of afraid of her.
Hooray, Nova gets a redemption arc! I won’t spoil what he did in Labyrinth lost but homeboy really had a lot of atoning to do. I’m curious to see how his story evolves in the next book.
Something I found a bit off about this sequel was the
introduction of other supernatural creatures. I need to refresh my memory of Labyrinth
lost because I don’t remember the sisters ever mentioning the existence of
other supernatural creatures.
Additionally, Lula gets another love interest, but his
introduction is very brief that I forgot he existed. When Rhett is introduced
again and positioned to be the love interest I felt thrown off. The two have
one scene together in which they decide to kind of flirt before jumping back
into the action. It was a very fast enemy to friends’ transition and I
personally did not feel the chemistry between the two. Maybe I’ll see it more
in the next book.
I really love that that the Mortiz sisters are proud of their roots and won’t let anyone disrespect them by calling them witches because they are brujas.
When you think witch, you think Hogwarts or some other European tradition of witchcraft. One of the main reasons I enjoy this series is that Cordova blends different religions and traditions from different Latinx cultures to create this world. I am here for this kind of representation! Truthfully, the Mortiz sisters are not witches because their world revolves around the traditions and legacies of Latinx cultures.
I give Bruja Born 4 Stars because it’s awesome. Definitely a good read for Latinx heritage month.
Same hot mess but now with a bachelor’s degree. I breifly fell off the edge of the earth for a bit there, nothing wild happened I just needed extra space and time to focus on schoolwork.
I thought I kick off my new unemployed/ super free status with a review of Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. For those of my readers who haven’t read this book or seen the iconic Netflix movie I will quickly summarize the plot. The story centers around Laura Jean Song Covey, a Korean American teen, living on the East Coast. Laura Jean is the 2nd of three sisters and she loves to stay at home, bake, scrapbook, and knit. For the most part Laura Jean’s life is pretty much sheltered, and her sisters are really her only friends. Laura Jean has never had a boyfriend, but she has had plenty of crushes who she writes love letters too with no intention of ever handing these letters out. However, when Laura Jean’s letters are accidentally mailed out, she ends up in a fake relationship with Peter, who she thought she no longer had feelings for.
This story is a slow. After her older sister, Margot
leaves for college in Scotland; Laura Jean spends 30 pages sad about her
departure. At this point I was tapping my fingers on the desk wondering when
Peter would make his grand entrance and the plot would kick off. However, after
the initial excitement of their fake relationship I was bored but I continued
reading anyways. The book continues with not much excitement happening between
Laura Jean and Peter’s relationship until their Ski Trip when everyone becomes
super noisy about their sex life.
Unlike other readers on goodreads who were annoyed by Laura Jean’s personality, I found her to be more boring than anything. I have similar hobbies to Laura Jean, and I like staying home but not to the extent that Laura Jean enjoyed her alone time. Moreover I found Margot annoying, she constantly caused Laura Jean stress about college by reminding her that she was doing things wrong at home. Let your sister be a teen Margot!
Kitty was more interesting than her two sisters, in my opinion, she is sassy and can be a brat but at the end of the day she only wants to help her sisters.
So some of you may wonder how does this book compare
to the movie? In my opinion the movie brought a lot of these characters to life
and made them more interesting. Movie Peter and Laura Jean are the cutest! And
I tolerate movie Margot. The Movie also made Kitty shine even more.
I would recommend this book to readers who are curious
about the story behind the movie or if anyone is impatient and wants to find
out what happens to Peter and Laura Jean after the events of the movie.
I would give this book 2.5/3 stars as it is a pretty
average read and good world to jump into if you need a quick and easy read and
a great distraction.
Until next times friends continue Living in Libros,
Gaby
PS.
I began reading the sequel and I had to put it down after 100 pages because I was so bored. I’m hoping the movies continue to bring life to these characters.
Today I thought I would recap my favorite books of 2018.
Some books on my list are absent from this picture. To my Primas, I want my books back.
Emergency Contact
I purchased this book, went to Mary HK Choi’s signing at the LA Festival of Books and then read the book a month later. And it was amazing. Definitely a book I would reread.
2. Labyrinth Lost
This book was amazing. Sure we got famous wizards such as Merlin, The boy who lived but were are our Brujas at? Look no further, Labyrinth Lost has a beautiful mix of different Latinx cultures and religions that make up this world. In addition, we also get a strong Latinx protagonist who is Bi!
3. Warcross
Warcross is amazing! If you were a Sword Art Online lover, like me. This book will blow your mind. This story had me at the edge of my sit and I loved that it was set in Tokyo, Japan.
4. Geekerella
Geekerella was so cute. I loved the way the fandom, cosplay, and the con was written. As a sometimes cosplayers I thought this story captured that aspect well. In addition, the characters in this book were awesome. Especially Fairy Godmother Sage.
5. The House on Mango Street
I had not read the House on Mango Street cover to cover until this year and I really enjoyed it! The collection of small poetic stories were really beautiful and Esperanza’s growth through the story was my favorite part of this book.
6. Six Of Crows
I have been meaning to read Six of Crows ever since I had heard about the series but did not read it until this year. This duology honestly blew away my expectations. I laughed. I cried. (I cried a lot). And I will carry the characters with me forever.
7. Kill the Queen
This book was described as a mixture of Game of Thrones and Black sails and it did not disappoint. There was a lot of action but also betrayal and deception as well as the overall growth of the main character, Evie as she prepares herself to take back her Queendom.
8. The Princess Saves Herself in this One
Another collection of poetry I fell in love with. The poems were beautiful and heart wrenching but what I liked the most about them was the way that they filled me with both inspiration and love.
Compiling this list of favorites was a little hard considering there were other great books I read this year that did not make this list. So here are some honorable mentions.
The Victoria in my head
Alex, Approximately
Daughter of the Pirate King
The Girl from the other side (read my review for this here)
A Dash of Trouble
What was your favorite read of 2018? And what books do I need to check out for 2019?
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