Ehh. When I got this book, I was so excited to read it, but then when I started, I quickly realized it may not be a book for me. I feel like so much happened on this book but also nothing at all if that makes sense? I kind of wish the story was more focused on Orquedia’s life growing up since I found that much more fascinating than the present timeline, but I recognize that’s my contemporary bias showing.

I will say it’s honestly a disservice to this book to be compared to Encanto. They came out at similar times and both followed Latine families with sprinkles of magic and pounds of generational trauma, but that’s where it ends. It’s giving still trying to make a monolithic experience so like let’s not and instead encourage more creatives to make stories about magical brown people.