I loved how the author showed the different ways that people can cope with grief and loss through Abby, whose loss took the form of hatred towards others, and her brother Aiden, who continued to honour their mum's memory through kindness and love. While she doesn't feel like a good enough bruja in comparison to the rest of her family, she also has to deal with bullying from her former best friend, Abby and the rest of her mean girl gang. She struggles with accepting that her grip on magic is so weak compared to the rest of the Morales and that she has so little control over what she can and can't do with her empathic powers. Omega was a fantastic character! She's part of a family who is entirely made of magic while she's only half-magical because her Papi is a non-magical human. It was so easy to picture each scene and bonus points because this story has several illustrations that only serve to bring the story more to life! The empath magic of the Morales family was also really cool! I don't think I've read a story before with this type of magic but I found it fascinating. All of this was woven so well into the heart of the La Lechuza myth and it made me love the story even more. I appreciated the way the author tackled themes of coping with grief and loss, as well as love and hate and the extremes of emotions, in general, but this was also a story about finding your place in the family and finding acceptance in yourself. ![]() My favourite aspect of this story was the mystery and myth of La Lechuza! It was creepy and horrific but the truth of it was also heartbreaking. I can still picture some of the scarier moments with gleaming smiles full of sharp teeth in the dark and the twisted bitter faces emerging at the window! As I knew I would, I really enjoyed Zea Kemp's writing-it's engaging, well-paced and such a joy to read, plus I love the way she infuses the richness of Mexican/Chicane/Latinx culture so seamlessly in the story and the characters' lives. The story is set in the town of Noche Buena and the small town's spooky autumn vibes were in full swing! I'm not much of a spooky reader and I know this is MG so I wasn't sure how spooky it would get but the imagery that the author brings to life definitely resulted in some spine-tingling goosebumps. There's a lot for all readers to take away from this magical adventure-filled story and I'm hoping that the author will create a series with Omega, Carlitos and Clau because I loved this terrific trio so much! From the myth/lore to the intergenerational magical family you want to be part of, the spooky Halloween vibes, the themes of grief and loss, and love and hate, and the fantastic characters who you can't help but to root for, once I had the chance to sit down with it, I didn't want to stop reading. There's honestly so much to love about Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza. TL DR: It's been a minute since I've read a MG fantasy but when I saw Laekan Zea Kemp wrote this one, I knew I wanted to read it immediately. Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ![]() I read this book as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours. This spooky middle-grade debut is full of magic, adventure, friendship, and a captivating heroine who isn’t afraid of the monsters lurking around every corner-even the dangerous La Lechuza! ![]() Omega will have to decide what’s more important-trusting the instincts of others or learning to trust in herself. ![]() Suddenly Omega’s magic begins to change, and the key to understanding her powers is more complicated than she thought. When a witch with the power to transform herself into an owl-known in Mexican folklore as La Lechuza-shows up unannounced, Omega, her best friend Clau (who happens to be a ghost), and her cousin Carlitos must conduct a séance under a full moon in order to unravel the mystery of the legend. But Omega’s powers don’t quite work, and it leaves her feeling like an outsider in her own family. So Omega’s family keeps to themselves, and in private, they’re Empaths-diviners who can read and manipulate the emotions of people and objects around them. But over the years, the town's reputation for the supernatural is no longer one the people carry with pride. Omega Morales’s family has been practicing magic for centuries in Noche Buena. Fans of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, and Disney's Encanto will be captivated by this fantastical novel about a girl who must learn to trust her ancestral powers when she comes face-to-face with the Mexican legend La Lechuza.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |