Bindle Punk Jefe: A Novel

Bindle Punk #2

by Desideria Mesa

From award-winning author Desideria Mesa comes the glittering sequel to Bindle Punk Bruja in which Earth witch Rose (Luna) Lane’s secret life comes to a breaking point as outside threats lurk—perfect for fans of Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Libba Bray’s The Diviners, and Chloe Gong’s These Violent Delights duology.

Prohibition is in full swing, and the glamorous life of upper-class Kansas City is everything Rose (Luna) Lane ever hoped it would be. Being married to her best friend isn’t so bad either, considering their agreement to keep their real love lives out of the public eye. However, try as she might to continue her life of anonymity, her popularity as a land developer’s wife—and as a successful club owner—draws even more attention to her personal endeavors. Soon, the balancing act between the life of Luna and Rose becomes a full-time job itself, making visiting home harder than ever before.

However, her haven, which once offered a place of acceptance, is growing more hostile. Her community of brujas criticizes her methods of using magic for economic and social gain while consorting with nefarious witches of the North. Meanwhile, the Pendergast Machine is running at full force, pushing his will and money all over the city. Keeping her true identity and powers a secret while posing for the society papers gets all the more dangerous as new enemies start to question her origins…and old ones creep up from dark realms.

The pressure could force Rose to do questionable things for the greater good, distancing herself from her loved ones and who she wants to be. She may have mastered her earth magic, but she still has a lot to learn about the heart…

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Science Fiction

Audible Audio

First published October 29, 2024

About the author

Desi has eclectic taste, her favorite novels ranging anywhere from Anne of Green Gables and The Help to Mistborn and Ready Player One. Getting lost in a historical, sci-fi, or high fantasy novel will likely be her ultimate demise, besides crafting her own stories, of course. She is represented by Rachel Brooks at BookEnds Literary Agency and is currently editing her second book in the Bindle Punk duology, published by Harper Voyager. Her debut novel, Bindle Punk Bruja, was noted among the best of fall releases in 2022 by several publications, including The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Tor Books, Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, Audible, Publisher’s Weekly, and many more. Sticking to her roots in writing about Latinx culture and magic, she also placed an article in Good Housekeeping entitled, “In My Family, Home is Where the Magic Is.”

Reviews

[Nicholas Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Months after the events of Bindle Punk Bruja, Luna Alvarado, under her white name Rose, still profits from the sidelines from the bar she once ran. She is in a marriage her friend Heck Kessler, both to give her some protection and status and to cover Heck being gay and in love with Luna's brother Javier. She sees her Italian-American boyfriend Gio on the side and goes out to party at night. But there is still civil and magical unrest in Kansas City. Javier's energy is declining and Luna is sure something related to magic after his resurrection is afoot. An investigator is tailing Luna as soon as some wood barons come to town. What can she do?

First off, in some ways this is an improvement over Bindle Punk Bruja. The pacing and prose are much tighter here. This goes by quickly after a certain point and I was able to remember most of it. There were a few times I had to reread because I wasn't sure what just happened, such as something that occurred at the book's ending. However, the book's main issue that any sort of concrete plot does not begin until halfway through the book. Prior to that, Luna navigates her 1920s society and the prejudices that come with it, and while interesting things happen nothing resembling an overarching narrative begins till later. I can't remember how Desideria Mesa handled the social issues in the previous book too much, although I do remember that too much was going on with Luna going up against Al Capone, the KKK, and various business lords, but Mesa handles the social issues quite well here.
There's a lot of different identities and social standings in these books: there's Luna/Rose herself, a white-passing Mexican woman who can't be caught even speaking an iota of Spanish due to the racial and ethnic laws of the time; Heck has to hide his homosexuality; Javier, Luna/Rose's darker-skinned brother also has to hide his sexuality, but there's extra pressure due to his race and Mesa does touch upon white queer men fetishizing Latino men for a little bit; Penny, one of Luna/Rose's flappers, is a Black lesbian in a secret relationship with Margaret, Luna/Rose's report friend who is bisexual, pregnant, and an advocate for women's rights; a new character Hiram who is bisexual and trying to break away from his family controlling hands; and Doris, the sultry and unapologetically sexy flapper. I never found Mesa to be too heavy-handed with these identities and the discussions of how they are affected in 1920s Kansas City. Luna does bring it up frequently, but she never got preachy and it does inform how she moves through society and what she could do in response to certain events.
Overall, I just really enjoyed Mesa fleshing out these side characters a bit more. We get to see how Gio is a bit more complicated and why he does the things he does. Hiram is genuinely fleshed-out and we see why he wants to help Luna. Heck and Javier's relationship deepens. We even get a quiet little moment with Penny that was so sweet. While I do have my criticisms of this book, I do think Mesa excels at character relationships and emotional development here.

Once the plot finally comes to us, it is genuinely interesting, but I was a touch frustrated with how little certain parts of it were given once we started. Part of this plot involves the mysterious and twisted brujas of the north. When we first see them, although we get a feeling of tension and foreboding, they are only briefly shown. I felt disappointed about it given how far we were into the story and after hearing so much about them beforehand. When we finally see more them, it is a damn good time. The brujas of the north may have been the best part of the book, if not the entire duology. The scenes with them and some of Luna's brujería had some very bloody and pulpy body horror moments that were both a surprise and a delight. I genuinely think Mesa should write horror next. Honestly! She's got the talent for part of it. The brujas of the north were so weird and wonderfully twisted I wished we could've seen more of them.

Towards the end of the book, some of the plot gets rushed. I think Mesa realized she was running out of time. The ending portions of the book were still very fun, but they were just so rushed. As I said above, there is a moment that happens so quickly towards the book end, I had to reread it to understand it. So, Hiram dies and eventually his soul gets shoved into the body of Luna's bouncer. Both Hiram and the bouncer's souls struggle for supremacy within the same body while the brujas of the north try to influence him. After defeating the brujas in a quick way, the bouncer's body gets washed away in the river and Hiram's body is sent to his family. At the end, while Luna and her co-workers and friends are remembering all those they've lost, Hiram shows up. Only Luna reacts. At first, I thought it was his visiting soul. But apparently, he's back in his body? Only Luna has a reaction and then it's passed up. It honestly felt like whiplash, but the emotional beats felt during these last scenes were honestly tender and heartfelt, but then the brisker stuff weakens it.

I will say the ending caught me but surprise. Not because any plot-twists, there's none of that, but just because of how bittersweet it was. So many lives lost, so many people moving on. Luna hopes for a better far future and this adds to the bittersweetness. Yes, a lot's changed since the 1902s, but things still aren't as great as they could be and I think that's what Mesa was getting at.

I do think this is a better book, but it still could've been even better. This is a debut duology and as I have said many, many times before, debuts are rarely perfect. I still want to see more from Mesa (again, horror please!) and I always want to read more from Latina authors being Latino myself.

Till next time!

[Drew Doll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

In the brilliantly crafted novel Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria Mesa, readers are magically whisked away to the jazzy Kansas City of the Prohibition era. Meet Luna Alvarado aka ‘Bindle Punk,’ a Mexican-American woman who not only has to fight to stay alive but strives to make a living in the violent world full of discrimination and organized crimes along with the underworld, literally and figuratively.

Luna is a nightclub owner and is used to a world that is patriarchal and uncaring to women like her. But in order to prevent her true ethnicity from aggravating Kansas City’s racialized din while operating her business, she is compelled to conceal her real lineage. But Luna has another secret: she is a bruja, or witch, with magical powers that have been handed down through the generations. As Luna shifts through various powers—gangsters, lawmen, and her moral compass—her powers are both a blessing and a curse.

One of the gripping intrigues of the novel is how Luna deals with members of the Octopus? More specifically, the enforcer Jefe is quite taken with her lovely appearance. Even though they have a powerful attraction, the stakes get complicated when Luna becomes embroiled in a perilous duel with both the magic world as well as the crime world.

The high-stakes climax—where Luna has to use her bruja powers to save herself and her family—is also one of the highlights. The combination of spell casting and The Roaring Twenties era gives the story an enchantment while simultaneously depicting the harshness of humanity’s everyday lives.

This book is more enjoyable because of how beautifully Mesa imbued Luna’s dual distress caused by racism and sexism, thus making this book not only a thriller but also a contemplative piece about identity and fight for one’s self. Bindle Punk Bruja is a book filled with tension, magic, and power, that has a unique blend of historical fiction and magical realism and is guaranteed to allure anyone that enjoys such stories.

It’s a thrilling novel that I recommend for those who are into urban fantasy, historical fiction, or well-written female leads.

[Mary Gramlich · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are magical, does the magic always have to control you?

Rose ‘Luna’ Lane is living a complicated double life in Kansas City, MO during the turbulent times of prohibition. She is married to wealth and power as a cover for her husband, Heck Kessler who longs for another as much as she does. However, they are powerful movers of great moonshine and run the most successful owners of multiple underground nightclubs. This should be the best time for Rose but she is struggling with the powerful magic she is trying to learn, control, and understand while creating help not danger for those she loves. Her family is the key to her heart and making sure everyone is safe and secure is not as easy as it should be. Her brother is struggling to establish himself among the rich and powerful but is not paying attention to any warning signs that mingling with that group of reprobates will cause.

While Rose maneuvers through all the barons of Missouri trying to create deals for her illegal businesses to stay open she is also wading into the nasty side of paying off the politicians and police to stay out of her business. No one truly knows the level of her magical powers but enough have a hint that her abilities are powerful yet still not manifested. Rose is trying to control the evil coming at her from all sides but even with her husband Heck’s protections she is not immune to the curses and pain caused by the wealthy who feel entitled to everything and anything they want with no repercussions. The other dangers come from the spectral sisters who seem to know more than they will share and want things Rose is not prepared to give away. The greatest blessing is her Abuela, the woman trying to teach and guide Rose to where she needs to be and understand the potency of what she has been gifted with.

This is a stunning story of love, magic, politics, manipulation, and maneuvering through so many worlds you are not sure which one you belong in. The characters are rich with colorful intricacies and at every turn you are taken into a layered world of love and greed in equal measures.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book due to the 1920s time period and the Latina viewpoint character.

The author is great at giving the reader a good picture of the characters. They are well fleshed out and it’s easy to get a feel for who they are no matter whether they are friend or foe. All characters are three dimensional. No one is 100 percent good or evil. (Although Sol and Idoya are close to being 100 percent evil, but it’s questionable if any of their humanity remains.) I found Heck Kessler particularly engaging.

The other strength of this writer is being a proponent of the underdogs in society - those who suffer discrimination due to ethnicity or sexual orientation. The viewpoint character, Rose, is a Latina who can pass for white. It’s a great method for showing the differences in how she is treated versus how her brown family members and black friends are treated.

Rose’s brother, Javi, and her best friend and husband, Heck Kessler, are secret lovers. Heck’s marriage to Rose gives this wealthy man the air of legitimacy he needs in high society.

I loved everything about her characters and her compassion for those who are treated poorly at the hands of the dominant white society.

All of that said, at times I found the descriptions of surroundings or actions a bit hard to follow. I found myself re-reading, which took me out of the flow of the story. It made certain sections a chore to read. And it is because of this, I am ambivalent about reading another book from this author. That said, Bindle Punk Jefe is only her second book and this issue may be something that will improve over time. I hope so. I think this author has valuable messages to share, and messages that need to be heard.

[Danielle Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bindle Punk Jefe by Desideria Mesa is a combination of historical fiction, women's fiction, and fantasy. I liked the witch and her struggles with magic. She is a powerful witch yet she has a family member bound to earth without her own magic. Tragic. Nothing but tragic events happen throughout this read.

The beginning started off excellent. I could sense the tension from living two different lives...and how one or both will end up destroyed if not careful. It was also to the point I could not decide if the character would be happy to have it all out and done with so that she didn't have to juggle them anymore. She performs magic without having any confidence and not sure if she is doing correctly yet she still does it...that made me greatly dislike her as a character. Witches in most novels do not perform magic they do not know unless it is a dire situation with no other options. She is an adult yet behaves like a wild child. That is exactly what she is. The story only proves it.

As for the prohibition era and her being the owner of a club was an exciting premise, but it felt like there was multiple stories trying to be molded together with too many strange things that affect both plots. Thus, the tale overall did not form as smoothly as it should. Desideria Mesa created enough conflict and action for the book to not be slow. It was not slow. The novel was moderate pacing, great sense of doom, and plenty of conflicts to keep things interesting. The dialogue was done well. Overall, it was a good story but with too many plots trying to meld together. That it came off not as excellent as it should be. Looking for a fun action-packed adventure? Bindle Punk Jefe has you covered!

I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a new venture into a ethnic tale of magic and mystery. The ethnic part was subtle at times, dealing with the Latino main character and the hurdle she has had, and continues, to deal with: the bigotry and suspicion just because people are different. That same hurdle also comes into light when she introduces her band as black. Personally, I'd have loved to listen to them - they are a jazz band, and I love jazz.

That aside, it's a really good story, although it took a little longer than I thought to reach the heart of the story. That heart was that someone or something is less than benevolent to our main character, Rose, or Luna, as her family named her.

Rose is married to a wealthy man from white uppercrust society, and much of her business dealings come from interacting with that society. She runs a speakeasy (this is the 1920s!) and a bar, and a few other businesses. Part of the story deals with the bigotry and desire to oust her, and all other non-whites, from the view of the "upper society", except of course as workers.

Would I have changed anything? I would ask for the songs scattered throughout the text to be interpreted. I was able to google what I didn't understand for the most part, but in place would be handy.

I loved the interplay, and the obvious love, between Rose and her husband. I wish things had ended differently, but overall, the story ended well.

I didn't give it 5 stars, simply because it deals with bringing the dead back to life. One of those who died and was brought back even chided her, because heaven was so much better. But that's only one small part of the story, so my final vote / rating is 4.5 for this excellent story which crosses societal, gender, gay and racial barriers.

[Jeimy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bindle Punk Jefe, the sequel to Bindle Punk Bruja, continues Desideria Mesa’s exploration of a magical, Prohibition-era Kansas City, blending glitz, crime, and witchcraft. While I admired the intricate world-building and the morally complex characters, I realized that my lukewarm feelings toward the series stem from its noir elements.

Noir’s grim atmosphere, shadowy morality, and sense of inevitable despair aren't typically my cup of tea, especially when I'm not in the mood to delve into the darker aspects of human nature. That said, Mesa’s characters, particularly Luna/Rose, kept me engaged. Despite their flaws and ambiguous morals, I found myself rooting for her and her found family. The anti-hero narrative, with Luna as a femme fatale navigating a corrupt world, added a compelling layer to the story.

What drew me in most was the writing style—sharp, witty, and laced with a touch of cynicism. Mesa’s prose captures the essence of noir while infusing it with a magical world that sets the series apart. Even though the darker themes weren't my favorite, the writing styles, main characters, and magical elements provided a balance that kept me invested. These aspects ultimately redeemed the book for me, offering enough intrigue and depth to make it an enjoyable read despite my reservations about the genre.

[claudia reads it all · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prohibition is in full swing, and even though Luna got what she wanted, it's difficult to keep all the plates spinning in the air. In Bindle Punk Bruja, we met Luna, a novice Earth witch whose Mexican heritage is at odds with her desire to make it big in Kansas City. Her family tugs her one way, the booze business another, and in the end, she seemingly managed to reconcile everything. But maintaining something is many times more difficult than achieving it in the first place.

Now a socialite who goes by Rose, and married to her brother's lover for appearances' sake, she finds refuge in her grandmother's magical teachings and in her relationship with her boyfriend. But life in Kansas City is not easy, with the rich doing what the rich do, i.e. roll over everyone to get their way, and Luna/Rose and her loved ones may be part of the casualties.

I loved going back into the world of Bindle Punk Bruja and Luna is such a wonderful protagonist. I found her struggles with not knowing where she fits in relatable, and wanted her to triumph in the end. There is joy, there is grief, there is booze, and I really hope we haven't seen enough of Luna.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The is the sequel to Bindle Punk Bruja set in the 1920s in Kansas City. Rose/Luna, the main character, lives a double (and actually more roles than that) life, passing as white, while actually her family is Mexican, running a speakeasy by night and with other roles/jobs in the day. The women in her family are brujas, magic users. Although I thought the first book was mostly light on the magic, this book seems to have more magic than Kansas City points of interest although I appreciate having the Elms Hotel included. Rose finds she cannot use her magic as expected and there's fallout from events in the first book. She and her band of friends are all headstrong and frequently work at counter purposes to each other. I get that as not only are they young adults, they seem to be having 'growing pains' with the restrictions they now have in relationships. Still I love the KC history. My rating is 3 stars. This book effectively addresses red-lining and barriers experienced by the Mexican community and others.

[Victoria Brinius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the different aspect of this story. Rose, aka Luna, had to find her way in a world that is against her. Not only is she a woman during the 20's, but she is also a minority. She has to keep her true self hidden from those around her that want to do her harm. She is also a witch. These traits are not safe for her. She is in a marriage of convenience and her fellow witches are not really supportive. The magic and spells were fun to read. There was a lot of world building going on, and at times I felt weary. However, I enjoyed the read and can not wait to read more from this author. I am giving this book a 3/5. I was given a copy, all opinions are my own.

[Karen Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads. I tried really hard to get into this book but had to dnf it about 200 pages in because it just wasn't grabbing my attention. Because of that, I was often confused about what exactly was going on. Then it started getting weird with the little girls scaring her and stuff so that's when it decided to just give it up. I'm not a big fan of dnf-ing books so I might pick it back up later and update this review if/when I finish it. Plus I haven't read the 1st book in this series so maybe I need to read that as well before it come back to this one.

[SydnieRaeDaile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this as a giveaway without realizing that it was a sequel. Still it wasn’t terribly hard to figure out the main gist of what had happened in the first book and begin to enjoy the second. Good writing, good story, good characters. I enjoyed the slightly different magic and the Latinx aspect. Would recommend.

[Denisele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway. I did not realize it was the second in a series until the last two chapters. I was excited for it to be historical fiction set in the flapper/prohibition era, but it wasn't realistic enough for me. I was also a little confused by the number of characters, maybe that's where the first book would have helped?

[Dr G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get ready for a wild read!

[Roxanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea.

I won a copy from GoodReads.

[Rosite Sony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhh this was so good. I loved the vibes and enjoyed the story woven into it.

[Sarah Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

More on the fantasy this time around. The series as a whole is good but definitely not the palate cleanser I thought it was going to be. That's on me 😅

[Yazmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazingly thought provoking story. While this story is historical fiction it also has a bit of fantasy that works so well together.

[Annalisa Ely · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful follow up to the first book. Gotta love that platonic love all over the place with a bit of romance as well, and lots of magic!