Hello booklovers! Today’s review is an idiots to lovers story courtesy of romantic prince and a stubborn theif, That’s right today am reviewing Nocturna by Maya Motayne.
Nocturna is Maya Motayne’s debut novel and the first in the Forgery of Magic series. This series is high fantasy, set in Latin America, and contains lots of magic.
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Today is my stop on the Historically Inaccurate book tour! I received this arc from the team at Colored Pages Bookish Tour. Check them out if you’re a fellow book blogger.
Historically Inaccurate by Shay Bravo is a new adult fiction novel that’s out everywhere September 29.
Soledad just wants things to go back to normal after her mother’s deportation she’s had to move homes, switch schools, and adjust to life without her. When Sol decides to join her College’s history club she doesn’t expect to have to sneak into a house and steal a fork. However, Sol is caught by Ethan Winston a resident of the house and the chance encounter forever changes her life.
To celebrate it’s release I thought I turn some of my favorite quotes into graphics that you may download if you please.
Hey book lovers! It’s that time of year again when the weather cools down, sweaters come out, and leaves begin to fall. But with the start of Autumn also comes the start of Latinx Heritage Month! In case you didn’t know, Latinx Heritage Month spans from September 15 to October 15 and if you need some ideas on what books to pick up this month, keep on reading.
I have been following Yesika Salgado since the release
of Corazón. I loved Yesika’s personality and the small snippets of poems she
shared on her Instagram, convinced me that I needed to add this book to my
list. A few years pass, I find copies of Corazón at my college bookstore and
contemplate buying a copy. I decide not to. Yesika releases Tesoro in 2018 and
Hermosa this year.
Finally, I decide to purchase Corazón after catching a
sale in September. And I wish I had read it while I was in college and yearning
for Latinx voices in literature.
Corazón contains a collection of love poems ranging
from ex-lovers, family, loss, El Salvador, and Yesika’s life in the Los Angeles
neighborhood of Silverlake. But most importantly, Corazón explores Yesika’s
life as a fat, brown, Salvadorean, poet. Yesika provides a very unique and
much-needed voice to poetry.
The majority of Corazón’s poems deal with ex-lovers
ranging from fuck boys to happy and hard moments in relationships. However,
Corazón did not speak to me on the romantic level.
I have never had to heal from a breakup, nor have I
spent nights missing an ex, however, the nostalgic elements of Corazón, touched
my heart. These moments include drinking café con conchas, watching parents
carefully slice thorns off of nopales, and even picking Mangos at a
grandparent’s house. These are all moments I have of my childhood. Although
Yesika’s memories are of Salvador, and mine is of Mexico, I think this
resemblance in our lives is pretty cool.
One of the reasons I loved Corazón, was that Yesika
has a way of capturing moments that make you feel like you lived through them
too.
By dividing Corazón into different sections, poems
follow Yesika’s path to heal herself. In this sense Corazón is very similar to
Rupi Kaur’s, “Milk and Honey” and for fans of that collection I would recommend
Corazón.
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.
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