Sundown in San Ojuela

3.5 stars rounded up. This is a pretty decent Latine (specifically Chicana and Indigenous) paranormal horror filled with family secrets, brujería, and a haunted house. I really liked how each character came into their own the more you read. Every major character felt fleshed out enough that you could......more

After her aunt’s death, Liz returns to the desert town of San Ojuela, site of a childhood trauma. Liz has to reckon with her past and family secrets in order to dispel the darkness in this town. This reminded me a little bit of The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas mixed with The Devil Takes You Home by Gabi......more

Thank you to NetGalley and Lanternfish for the arc. I’ve been having a string of disappointing reads lately, and unfortunately this book only added to it. My most glaring complaint: nothing in this book serves a purpose. The tense changes, the POVs, the “romances.” I just sat there screaming “WHAT I......more

Review in the October 2024 issue of Library Journal. Issue also has my interview with Olivas: [URL not allowed] Three Words That Describe This Book: family Saga with folk horror, multiple narrators, unnerving Draft: San Ojuela, an isolated, harsh landscape, east of San Diego, is......more

"We are Essences. We are stories, Julian. Of the wind, and death, and water, and soil. We persist as long as we are told." I was immediately hooked by this family saga that incorporates pre-Hispanic folklore and mythology. Silvia Moreno Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow is one of my all-time favourite......more