Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys #1

by Aiden Thomas

Un roman important qui fait la part belle aux fantômes de nos vies : ceux qu'on invoque par accident lors d’une cérémonie – certes – illégale , mais aussi ceux qui font obstinément partie de nous.

Abordant des sujets tels que la transidentité, le racisme, les relations familiales et tant d’autres, Aiden Thomas transforme la petite histoire en une histoire collective, immense, fantastique.

Cemetery Boys est une aventure à trois, colorée, drôle et pleine d’amour qui vous emportera au fil des pages aux côtés de Yadriel, Maritza et Julian.
Yadriel, adolescent transgenre issu d’une famille latine aux États-Unis, essaie de prouver son genre à ses proches. Il a beau avoir été assigné fille à la naissance, il n’en est pas une. Il s’essaie ainsi à un rituel réservé aux hommes et tente d'appeler le fantôme de son cousin assassiné.
Peut-être qu’il réussit.

Mais peut-être que celui qui se tient devant lui n’est pas tout à fait son cousin.
Ce best-seller du New York Times est une réussite.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Fiction, Paranormal

493 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2020

About the author

Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans, Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

Their debut novel, CEMETERY BOYS, was published on September 1st, 2020.

Reviews

[chai ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew I would love Cemetery Boys from the first few pages.

Aiden Thomas lured me in with an enchanting mix of mystery and magic, but it's his indelible characters that made me stay. The author sees the characters—really sees them—and wants them to see themselves. In his hands, their stories transcend what is expected of them, but Cemetery Boys more than just an exercise in subverting expectations. There’s so much tenderness infused into this novel, fizzing so joyously through its veins: the characters are rendered with so much care, meticulously polished in all their conflicted, multifaceted glory.

Our protagonist Yadriel, a 16-year-old gay Latinx trans boy, successfully performs the ritual his family denied him in front of Lady Death, and inadvertently unlocks his magical powers as a brujo. Soon after, Yadriel discovers that his cousin has suddenly and inexplicably died but that his spirit is nowhere to be found. The mystery calls to Yadriel, and determined, he sets out to root it out. If Yadriel can find his cousin’s body and release his spirit to the afterlife, he can finally prove to his family that he is a true brujo—and a boy. Yadriel’s plan definitely does not include falling for one Julian Diaz, the spirit of a handsome dead boy Yadriel accidentally summons. But now it is just the two of them, tangled up in a mystery they don't know where to begin to solve.

Yadriel wanted to be accepted by his family and community with all the fierce longing of a thwarted child. He yearned for it even when his family family refused to acknowledge him as a brujo and as a boy, even when he had to endure painful conversations where he felt constantly misunderstood, even when he tired of always being the one to swallow his hurt and extend people the benefit of the doubt. Yadriel knew that it was still more endurable than the inconsolable grief of losing his connection to his family.

I think oftentimes in queer YA books the queer protagonist is either wholeheartedly embraced by their family, or shunned by them completely. But few novels venture into the vast area in between where it feels like the people around you are embracing you with an arm, but pushing you back with the other, and how painful and taxing it is to navigate that. Yadriel’s family claims to accept him as a boy, but throwaway comments like his dad asking him to “stay [there] with the rest of the women” or his grandmother telling him he’ll always be “[her] little girl” cut like a knife, swift and deep. Yadriel did not know how to fit love and resentment into the same cupboard. He loved his family and community and wanted to belong with them, but their failure to embrace him the way he deserved to be embraced hurt, and Yadriel struggled with how to reconcile the two.

In one of the novel's most heartwarming scenes, Julian tells Yadriel, “You don’t need anyone’s permission to be you, Yads,”  and something inside Yadriel (and me) lights up. Wanting acceptance and waiting for permission can feel like flip sides of the same coin sometimes, flashing end over end. Where does one end and the other begins?

“Why do you have to prove anything to anyone?”

Speaking of Julian, the loveable ghost of my heart. Julian Diaz is like cheer in a bottle. Born with his heart on the outside of his body, Julian loves very deeply is loyal to the point of recklessness. But the rumors hanging heavy around Julian spole of brawls and drug deals, of a runaway mother and a dead father, and decided who Julian is: the brooding, bad boy with a tortured past and an infamous present. Thankfully, the novel handles this trope by walking right up to it and smacking it upside the head. Cemetery Boys shows us Julian with his defenses lowered, and there is an untried, fragile feeling to the unfurling of his character. Instead of a troublemaker and a “bad boy”, we simply see… a kid. A kid who is bright and loud and kind and feels most at home where there is jolly chaos to be sowed, who makes endearingly bad jokes, and hilariously mixes up his idioms, and has so much warmth and energy thrumming through him it’s as though he is twice as alive as the next person.

There’s something so tenuous and vulnerable on the line at the beginning of one’s life, this novel demonstrates, something that could be so easily broken if you’re not careful. The names people assigned Julian, wishing to see in him only what they wanted to see, had a marked effect on him. As a kid, with little language to shape around his feelings, Julian simply accepted what everyone else told him, and started believing that there must be something wrong in him, rotting away. It's heartbreaking, and makes you wish adults were just kinder to children. Imagine how different a world we would be living in.

I really loved this book. Cemetery Boys is one of those stories that feel so impossibly familiar, a thing already part of yourself, and I hope many readers find their way to it.

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My HEART is GLOWING I caNt SToP SMILING

Read this.

[Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ * · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah i cried, and?

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read a novel quite like this one—equally entertaining, smart, funny, and also sad, heartfelt, emotional, and intense all at once. It’s uplifting, but also heart-wrenching, taking your emotions on a rollercoaster. You’ll find yourself smiling and crying at the same time.

The novel addresses several sensitive issues in a harmonious blend. Transphobia, deep parental conflicts, deportation, and grief are the main topics, all approached from the perspective of the Latinx community.

Yadriel, our brilliant main character, just wants his family’s approval and acceptance of his gender. To prove himself, he secretly attends a brujo ceremony to summon a ghost. The ritual works—sort of. Instead of summoning the spirit he intended, he brings back Julian Diaz, the school’s rebellious boy who has no intention of moving on until he ties up his loose ends and deals with his unfinished business.

Yadriel sets out to find his missing cousin and a few runaway boys from the Latinx community. To accomplish this, he needs the help of Julian and his cousin Maritza. Together, they form an unlikely team, solving each other’s problems. Along the way, Yadriel finds himself falling for Julian (which is both the most heart-wrenching and sweetest part of the story).

There’s so much to love about this book, but I want to start with my favorite character—Julian. He’s so adorable, full of life and energy! He was once a gang member, and as you learn about the dysfunctional family relationships, traumatic experiences, and the broken foster care system, it becomes clear why kids like him are drawn to gangs. They’re searching for belonging, for people they can trust.

I also loved following Yadriel’s journey of self-discovery, learning to embrace his powers, strengths, and identity. In the end, he not only finds himself but also earns the understanding and approval of those around him, especially his father (whose acceptance is a highlight of the story).

Overall, this is a mystical, enjoyable, and emotional journey that I wished would never end. But it did, and with a great conclusion. I’m happily giving this book five shining stars and can’t wait to read more from the author!

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[Unknown Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing this review after a month long absence doesn’t seem very fair, as I don’t have a copy of Cemetery Boys at my bedside anymore and I can’t flick for appropriate plot references and so on. However, there’s no way I can move onto another book and not feel guilty over not having this review done, so, alas, a late Christmas present.

Yadriel, a young, trans boy desperately wants to be seen as a brujo by his family – a wielder of magic who assures spirits pass safely into the next life. To prove himself, he attempts to summon the ghost of a murdered family member except there’s a slight bit of a mistake. Instead of his cousin, he gets Julian – a reckless, foul-mouthed bad boy who happens to be in Yadriel’s grade and also dead without a clue what happened to him. Partnered up with Maritza, Yadriel’s cousin, the two boys attempt to solve Julian’s murder while a much darker threat looms on the horizon.

A quick warning, this review should be short as my memory is a little foggy and I’ll be solely focused on the parts of the book that stood out to me the most, whether they’re bad or good. And luckily, there good news for the characters. I liked them . Especially, Julian. Especially, especially, Julian. Because, you know when you read a debut - cross that out - the fourth book of an established authors career and you see they’re trying to write a funny, quirky character and it doesn’t pan out? Well, it does here. Because, Julian is genuinely a funny character and such a sweetheart at that. I won’t lavishly throw praise over the dialogue, because sometimes it was a bit on the nose, but to see little spurts of realism and humour done well in a debut is a good indication to me the author is going to get even better, and is quite promising.

Moving on, I was also pleased with Yadriel and Maritza. Being fair, both were more thinly draw than Julian and often outshined by him, but there is a difficulty in writing a relatively good, “everyman” main character without them being blander than the supporting cast.

I did like Yadriel, I can say, due to his own sense of humour as well as not being overtly bland or passive. However, the most compelling aspect of his character happened to be his struggles. By far, the most interesting part of the book to me was Yadriel trying to live life as a trans man, minus his mother, multiplied by his families ignorance, plus all the mysticism that surrounds him. This was possibly the most nuanced exploration of being trans I’ve read yet, and I believe it was quite an important read. Seeing things like Yadriel’s family use his deadname, misgender him or even his struggles with the school bathrooms lends a much deeper layer beyond the supernatural in this book, and a much more heartfelt one too. When something goes right for Yadriel, you cheer. You want the best for him and whenever he has a little win, or a new advancement is made, you can’t help but feel happy for him.

I also liked Thomas’ choice to portray a more three-dimensional take on Yadriel’s family. They don’t outright accept or reject him. They’re trying to navigate through it with a lot of goodwill but with many mistakes along the way. His dad is trying his best, but he still doesn’t fully understand the best way to behave, or the fact Yadriel’s grandmother still uses female pronouns when speaking Spanish, without understanding the harm it causes Yadriel. The book being more balanced adds both much-needed realism with such an important topic. Not to mention frustration. These slip-ups are not fun to read about, yet it is believable that a family leaning more towards tradition see them as either insignificant or petite. Even more irritating, these kind of things do happen to transgender people every day and Thomas accurately writes Yadriel’s annoyance, as well as ours.

Swinging back to characters, I also liked Maritza too. I feel she was the personification of readers trying to get the Yulian (?) ship sailing, and she maintained a good dynamic with both boys. Also, she consistently proved herself to be a strong character who took no bullshit. Though there may have been a few, too many mentions of her hair colour (sorry, I just hate when authors repeat “look, their hair is purple!” or “she somehow has a secret mole on her face” for some reason.) Bonus, she plays soccer and for some reason I think that’s cool.

So, while I did like the characters and believe all of the any conversations regarding being LGBTQ+ were done beautifully, they sadly can’t accost for the issues with this book, and unfortunately, there were a lot of them.

To summarise the predicted plot in a few lines: Someone is attempting to re-access a deadly type of power with dangerous consequences. People have gone missing. Yadriel summons a ghost. Ghost happens to be cute, bad boy. Yadriel + CBB try to solve the mystery before Día de los Muertos, complete with action, forbidden romance and rep along the way.

That sounds like a cool book, except we don’t get this. There are hints of it, except this book is very much bogged down by exposition, bland writing and a structure that feels in no way cohesive.

You see, the world-building sounds really interesting. It’s clear Thomas has put a lot of work into their premise and I always love reading about mythologies that I know nothing about. But honestly, it seemed like the more interesting aspects were locked off to us as readers and very much put in the background. For example, things like the challenges people had to face to make it to the afterlife, or just the general history about Lady Death and the Jaguar God (I can’t remember his name, so please excuse me if this is incorrect.) all sounded amazing and very fantastical. As a contemporary fantasy, I understand why the magic would be more grounded but the book really would’ve benefited from the wilder parts of Thomas’ world-building.

Because unfortunately, the plot is boring and not tightly written. The links between scenes and plot points felt very artificially done and I was disappointed by the lack of imagination. The whole thing felt as if it was written without a plan, like Thomas wandered from scene to scene without thinking what makes an action-packed and entertaining book. Obviously, not all books need to be action-packed (you would hope they’re entertaining though), but the writing was not strong enough to carry this book on atmosphere or characters alone. A lot of the book focuses on the relationship between Yadriel and Julian, but I nearly always wondered “couldn’t Thomas have come up with a more interesting scene relevant to the plot and still have the relationship develop?” instead of re-treading “they’re in Yadriel’s bedroom, they’re walking somewhere, they’re in Yadriel’s bedroom again.” Have them talk after a fight with spirits turned bad maybe? An exploration into more magic? Something, anything to further in a plot in an organic, interesting and scary way (sorry, I wanted some Halloween feels.)

Another issue is that this book contains little to no tension, as the evilness plot is kind of forgotten about. It’s hard to be scared of an apparent killer trying to re-claim the power of an evil god when the characters appear so indifferent to it. The whole book feels so passive, I think is the best way to describe my feelings. You're supposed be tricked into thinking this darker plot is going on when really there’s no suspense or thrills because the characters care more about other things. I’d even say I’d rather this book just be about Julian and Yadriel’s relationship since it was a lot more interesting and the book wouldn’t be bogged down in something that only feels half-heartedly invested in. For example, at one stage, they use a party as an excuse to take the day off. Never mind the party doesn’t make it past a page, but this is just a weak plot device to get the boys to Secluded Spot to Have Feelings. Seriously, could Have Feelings not had happened during an actual plot point that might be relevant to the story?

(Also, the villain was ridiculously predictable. They could’ve been called Villain for all I care, since it was basically stamped on their face the moment we met them. To add to that, since the main plot is forgotten about, their motivation gives us no empathy for them.)

Another thing I want to point out, which is a little odder, is this book does not feel mature enough. Maybe I had different expectations than everyone else, but I genuinely think if you cut out the swearing in this book, it could be easily marketed to 10-13 year olds over older teenagers. Something about the cast and writing felt very young, and maybe it’s due to the book being a debut, maybe it’s due to the light-heartedness of the story, but it is the most juvenile YA book I’ve read in a while. I don’t mean that as an insult, and it’s possible the teens in the story are a more accurate depiction than the usual brooding, self-suffering teens of YA, but I just didn’t expect it, if I’m honest.

Also, the writing. Yeah... I have to say it, it wasn’t great. This book is very clearly a debut and in all honesty, I do think it should’ve run through an editor again. I’m no expert, but something felt off straight away when I saw the amount of exposition in the first few chapters. I can’t lie, I’m genuinely surprised a published book had such amateur tell-tales. And, I think I pointed out the amount of exposition in my review for “Into The Drowning Deep,” too, but at least that was somewhat organic. Here, Yadriel’s thoughts can jump from something like thinking about his family to what Brujx receive when they’re fifteen. It hits you with the force of the train with it’s randomness and could be plucked straight from a history book in the way it’s told. This book contains the worst examples of exposition I’ve read this year. Now, this does get better since there’s less exposition later in the book, but that’s because practically all of it was in the first few pages. Rather than being woefully lopsided, the information should’ve been spread out through the book and dropped a little bit…well, more subtly anyway.

The prose also wasn’t great either which maybe enhanced the juvenile feel I was getting from it. Being fair, basic prose in books doesn’t bother me (unless it doesn’t flow well), but this really felt like an earlier draft rather than the fully edited, published book. Things were told in a very mundane way which meant I got a little bored or disinterested during scenes.

Some parts of the plot I liked, for example when we meet Julian’s group of friends (who are all interesting characters in their own right) or Yadriel in school, but they’re so detached from the overall plot, it does feel like flicking back and forth between different genres.

Also, the ending. Very anti-climatic, though the lack of build-up prepares you for it anyway. It’s quite rushed and I’m wondering will there be a sequel, but if there is, what was the point of this book either than Yadriel’s personal/romantic life? It sets up little to nothing. It’s possible Thomas stored up the more fantastical elements for the future, but they could’ve easily been used in this book to make it more entertaining. I know this book means so much to so many people, and I’d recommend you to read it, but the story itself just didn’t work for me beyond Yadriel and Julian’s relationship.

Honestly, looking at the distance between this review and when I read it (six weeks maybe), my general thoughts of the book would be "it's underwhelming". This is super subjective, since most Goodreads readers loved it and I’d always advise you to trust them over me, but I could not vibe with the plot or weak story structure. Though I will say this: That yearbook scene gets a star of its own – I did not expect it to make me feel some type of way.

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But belonging meant denying who he was. Living as something he wasn't had nearly torn him part from the inside out."

Yadriel has always felt in his soul which sort of magic he would have but his family refuses to consider that he might be a brujo, instead telling him to test for the female magic as a bruja.

“Why do you have to prove anything to anyone?"
"It's just how it is, how it's always been. In order for them to let me be a brujo—"
"You don't need anyone's permission to be you, Yads”

Despite feeling confident in his identity, Yadriel cannot help but want solid proof that he has the magic of a brujo and not a bruja. That he can work with spirits, just like his father before him.

So Yadriel (and his cousin, Maritza) decide to conduct the ritual on their own and at first, Yadriel is ecstatic at the ghost's arrival. But then he realizes who it is - Julian Diaz.

Julian is not exactly known for his cooperation, or his tact, or his good nature but Yadriel tries to help anyways. Beneath that tough-guy exterior, Yadriel realizes that there's more to Julian. Julian makes him laugh and wish for things that he never thought of before. He's obnoxious, but also oh so endearing.

"My singing voice is too sexy," Julian said with a solemn shake of his head. "You'd fall in love with me, like, immediately."

Together they must find out who murdered Julian but the more time they spend together, the less Yadriel wants to say goodbye.

"No, it wasn't the end. It was a better beginning."

Oh my gosh. I cannot even BEGIN to talk about how ADORABLE this one was.

I was hooked from the start - the way the author set up the characters and the Brujx world was so intriguing and exciting.

The plot felt so unique and fresh - I literally read this in a single night and was devastated there wasn't more.

I thought the author did a really good job with Yadriel's character, the need to prove yourself and still obtain the love of your family felt so heartachingly real.

I also really appreciated the direction that the author took with the father in this book - it's so easy to create dismissive or 'evil' parents, but at the same time, just because the parents struggle a bit, doesn't mean that they don't love and want what's best for their child.

I also adored Julian - and I'm normally the type to roll my eyes at characters like this in YA. And yet, it worked so well for him. He really embraced himself and did a fabulous job of giving the book some much-needed spunk.

The two characters clicked together right from the start and kept that momentum going. They played off of each other so well and honestly carried the book to new heights.

With thanks to Swoon Reads for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[sunkissedmiranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

EDIT: 6/24/2020

So, I did NOT edit in a few days but that's okay because I wrote a TON of notes for this book. Here we go.

2/5 stars

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oof, this review is going to be controversial, so fair warning! To be clear: it has nothing to do with the latinx, trans, or gay representation throughout the novel. All marginalized identities are presented in a positive, fulfilling, and engaging light, and my review does not take away from Thomas' ardent dedication to marginalized teens. This review has everything to do with style, voice, plot structure, character development, and even relationship dynamics. To be blunt: none of it was good.

PROS:

Worldbuilding: While I'm not a fan of the heavy exposition, I love the burjx community Thomas created. You can tell a lot of care was put into this setting, and I greatly respect that.

Representation: It's great. Yadriel is a trans latinx man and I'm so grateful he exists. His relationship with his father mirrors the relationship between many latinx children and their parents, particularly if they're LGBT+. As non-binary latinx, I felt Thomas represented our community well. Julian was also wonderful gay representation: unconventional but still honest, kind, and even goofy. One of my favorite scenes involve Yadriel confronting his fears and insecurities revolving around his identity and Julian encouraging/supporting him the entire way through. Thomas also does a great job exploring a multigenerational latinx family, which again, I have personal experience of. Some scenes made me chuckle, given how closely they mirrored some of my own memories.

CONS (minor spoilers below):

Writing Style & Exposition: This, right here, is why I did not enjoy this book. Scenes dragged out for AGES, it felt like someone was oh so slowly dragging their nails against a chalkboard. The prose and Yadriel's voice is passive, dry, and lacks any flow, which all combined is a trifecta for reading displeasure. We are always told how people feel rather than shown. Instead of letting scenes play out, Thomas explains what people are doing and why they're doing it. Scenes, INCLUDING ACTION SCENES, lack any semblance of dynamic prose. Scenes that should be quick and engaging are not, weighed down by random tidbits we don't need during the tension. The start of this book especially should have been fast, electric, EXCITING. But it's bogged down by the prose and Thomas' lack of direction.

There are literal pages of info-dumping and exposition that make it hard to stay engaged. SO MUCH of the novel is straight filler and holds no weight on the story, and history that the reader should be learning is thoroughly ignored for more irrelevancy. Like, did we NEED two pages of history for the ghost gardener? Whose only purpose was to corrupt and eventually attack the party? We did not! That time could have been used to develop Yadriel and Julian's relationship organically, or even add some weight to Yadriel's relationships with other characters, like his older brother or his uncle.

Repetition: This gets its own section because holy wow. So much flushing. So many ears burning red. There are other ways the body shows embarrassment, please, omg.

Plot: The romantic subplot takes over the main plot from about the 65% mark and doesn't let up until the 90% mark. Just straight up we abandon the main plot and the romantic subplot takes over. But that's not how it works. That's not why I'm here! I want the mystery solved AND Yadriel to get the boy. But if you abandon the WHOLE POINT OF THIS BOOK, the reader (me) is going to be frustrated! Yes, the scenes with Yadriel and Julian were very cute but they didn't advance the MAIN PLOT AT ALL. Because we abandoned it! Yadriel literally went "welp, fuck it" and went on a romantic day trip with his ghost boyfriend. And that works fine in fanfiction because that's all about wish fulfillment but that's not why I'm here! This is a novel, there needs to be point, there are beats you need to hit and Thomas just doesn't hit them. Literally 80% into the novel and we were not any closer to uncovering the mystery of what happened to Yadriel's cousin than we were at the start of the book!

Villain: I can't discuss them much without giving them away, but if you're aware of standard fantasy tropes, you'll know who it is very early on. And unfortunately, they never reach their full potential. And even in the end, when we're given a very basic motivation, we're never given a real "why?" It's all very basic and I didn't care.

Character Development: This ties into everything else but the characters are so stale. There is no depth to any of the secondary characters, and what little character we get from our main cast never really expands outside of their initial characterization. Sure, Yadriel becomes more confident in his brujo abilities, but that's about it.

Relationship Development: Because of how passive the writing style is, I don't find Yadriel and Julian's romance very developed or even engaging. They barely feel like friends until the 65% mark hits, and then we got heart eyes galore. This is fine because their scenes thereafter are cute and their ending is sweet, but I would have LOVED it to be more fulfilling (and you know, in sync with the actual main plot). But if you're going to have your romantic subplot take over for about 25% of the novel, it better be developed well. And it wasn't, so again, I was frustrated by how much I disliked this entire novel's structure and pacing.

So, there you have it. I feel like shit giving this novel such a bad review but these are my honest feelings. This book needed another round of edits, particularly a development editor who could have tightened the last half and a line editor to make Yadriel's voice more active and dynamic. I'm sure teens will love the representation as I did but everything else leaves so much to be desired.

[EmmaSkies · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOBODY SPEAK TO ME I AM EMOTIONAL AND PROCESSING

Edit: This books is YA at its best. I adored every moment I spent with this story and with these characters. My deepest apologies to the woman who was trapped next to me on a long flight while I read this book and who was kind enough to pretend she couldn’t tell I was crying harder than I had any right to be in public.

[Sahil Javed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cemetery Boys follows Yadriel, a transgender teen who must deal with the consequences when he summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, whom he can’t get rid of.

“Queer folks are like wolves,” Julian told him. “We travel in packs.”

This book. This damn book. I knew I was going to love it the minute I preordered and I was absolutely right. It was hella gay and hella queer and that was just the best. It had the right amount of everything: action, romance, a little bit of mystery, wholesome, cute moments and a really nice family dynamic and a hell of a lot of rich culture. One thing that I loved so much about this book was how much culture is embedded and wrapped into the story. There is so much of the Latinx culture and it warmed my heart to see it, from the festivals, to the different food, to the various members of the large family, to Yadriel’s own feelings. Everything was just presented and portrayed really well and I felt so immersed in the culture, to the point where I came away having learned more about it. It’s colourful and it’s vibrant and it’s beautiful and I just loved it all so much.

“Yadriel stared at the boy sitting next to him. A boy with a bright smile and an easy laugh. Who liked skateboarding the streets of Los Angeles and stargazing on the roof of his dad’s car. Who would do anything to protect his friends. Reckless and brilliant.”

“Yadriel wanted to chase down the sunset. To not let it rise. How long after he was gone would Yadriel be dreaming about Julian and this drive? Yadriel thought it would be worth the sleepless nights ahead.”

Now, Yadriel is transgender and that is a large part of the story, as novel begins with him trying to summon a spirit in order to prove to his family that he is a real brujo. The main problem is Yadriel’s father, and it’s not like he doesn't outrightly accept him, more that he doesn’t understand his son and this is a journey that is developed further in the story and culminates in some really sweet moments. Now, not every transgender teen gets this sort of reception from their family but it was nice to see the portrayal to see a father really putting in work to accept his son for who he is and that was heartwarming to see.

“Julian’s hips rolled, his head bobbed. Eyes closed and smiling, the firelight danced over his skin. Yadriel was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. To his foolhardy charm and striking features. Julian was achingly beautiful, but in the way a thunderstorm was beautiful—wild, rough, electric. And bound to leave devastation in his wake.”

We have to talk about the romance! And oh god was it delicious! It was slow burning, very slow burning, to the point where it made me ache! I just loved it so much. I loved Yadriel, who was such a wholesome character and I loved Julian so much because they way he was characterised was amazing. He was hilarious, and insanely loyal, and it was his unwavering loyalty for his friends and the people he cares about that truly cemented him as one of my favourite characters of this book. Their interactions were funny and tense at times and it culminated in a scene that genuinely made me cry. And I’m surprised that I cried because I knew it was coming but it managed to wreck my emotions anyway. I am really, really happy with the way the romance was handled and concluded but I just want more. Can we have a sequel, pretty please?

“I kind of made a mess of things, huh?” Yadriel said. He wasn’t fishing for sympathy, just stating the obvious. Keeping secrets from his family. Putting his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion. Completely botching the conversation with Julian’s friends. More sneaking, more lies. He was in over his head.

“Yeah,” Julian agreed very matter-of-factly, not malicious or even teasing. “But now your mess is my mess, too.” He tilted his head toward Yadriel and spoke softly. “It’s bound to be easier if we’re both cleaning it up, right?”

Another one of my favourite aspects of the story was the friendship that were introduced, in particular the one between Yadriel and his cousin and best friend, Martiza who was also insanely loyal and supported Yadriel through everything. I loved the bond that they had, it was my favourite. But I absolutely adored Julian’s group of friends and was quite sad that we didn’t get to see more of them in the story. They were so varied and interesting and I wanted to see more of them, which is why I’m hoping there’s a sequel happening sometime soon.

“For the first time, it struck him how terribly unfair this all was. He hadn’t really thought about what it meant, when all of this was over, after he released Julian’s spirit and he was gone.

He didn’t deserve death. He didn’t deserve any of this. Julian had literally died protecting his friends. And Yadriel was quite certain he didn’t deserve Julian. There was no reason for Julian to help him find Miguel, but he did it anyway, and there was no way Yadriel could ever repay him.

He gave everything and expected nothing in return. Yadriel’s heart ached. No, none of them deserved Julian Diaz.”

Overall, Cemetery Boys was so wholesome and amazing. I love queer books like this. They make me laugh, they make me cry and they warm my heart so much. I cant wait to read more from this author and I will definitely be revisiting this one, only so I can have my emotions sent on a rollercoaster again!

a gay book about a trans boy who may or may not be in love with a ghost? i didn't know i needed this until right now.

[Alexis Hall]

Ah, so this is super delightful.

I did struggle with it initially because I’m kind of in a place in my life that I don’t feel super connected to YA stories in general. Because, y’know, I’m fucking old. But, anyway, this book is so warm, so very charming that I was pretty soon swept away.

The story centres on Yadriel—he’s gay and transgender, and wants to accepted by his traditional Latinx family, not just as who he is, but as a brujo: someone gifted with my magic by Lady Death, who helps souls find their way to the afterlife. Denied the opportunity to present himself to Lady Death by his family, Yadriel goes through the ritual with his cousin, Maritza, and duly receives the power from the brujo. Only for his first attempt to sever the cord tying a ghost to the world of the living go more than slightly awry, embroiling him with the highly unquiet ghost of Julian Diaz, a murder mystery and ultimately a plot of mystical usurpation.

Plotwise, it’s really pacey and engaging, although I will say it’s fairly obvious what’s going on by the midway point, especially when the narrative somewhat clumsily finds an excuse to drop a lot of information about Balam on you. But, really, the strength of this novel lies in its character work, the nuanced way it explores its themes of tradition, family and identity, and the love story which tender and gorgeous and completely hit all my romance reader buttons.

I should also mention there’s some pretty heavy shit in this novel—a lot of it to do with the real world consequences of marginalised identity, especially on the young. Julian and his queer Latinx friendship circle are social outcasts in the deepest sense: abandoned by the very systems, education, residential care, health, immigration, that should be there to protect them. With my teacher hat on, I’m pretty sure Julian himself has undiagnosed ADHD. Which made me feel all protective and angry for a fictional character. And takes us neatly back to the wonderful characters—all of whom jump cleanly and clearly off the page, even if they’re only present for a scene or two. Although, of course, Yads, Julian and Maritza are *chef’s kiss*. I mean, there’s an extent to which they’re the sort of people you expect to encounter in a YA, Yads is the slightly anxious but endlessly relatable protagonist, Julian is the force of nature love interest, and Maritza is the ever-dependable, uber-confident best friend. But they’re all written with such commitment and affection that they quickly become their own people. I will note I was especially fond of Julian’s malapropisms.

Obviously it’s way way out of my lane to go into too much detail about the portrayal of Yads’ transness (it felt nuanced, respectful and well done to me but what the fuck do I know?) but I do think, more broadly, his identity does raise interesting questions and—I should hasten to add, from a purely fictional, genre-centric perspective—about the role of trans characters in highly gendered magic systems. There’s a bit towards the end of the novel where Maritza has a go at Lady Death about something unrelated, and I was really struck by the fact Maritza is the only person in the whole book remotely critical of Lady Death and the frankly problematic way she hands out magic powers, especially because Maritza is a vegan and therefore can’t do healing because she won’t use animal blood. I mean, obviously the gendered magic system is meant to reflect upon the gendered nature of some social traditions: but what I don’t understand is that if Lady Death is cool with trans identity, why can’t she let women do the spirit guide thing, instead of the healer thing if they’re not into healing?

But this gets very tangled because there is a bit where Julian asks Yads about why being a brujo is so important to him, pointing out that Yads doesn’t need anyone’s permission to be who is he, nor should he have to provide “proof” of it. But the fact that Lady Death grants Yads his brujo powers, and accepting him without question, is one of the ways the book establishes early on that Yads’ gender identity is not up for external questioning. And that’s not really about the book so much as the larger social context in which the book exists. While I think we’re moving away from all trans stories having to be about either transitioning or oppression (much in the way that all cis queer stories previously had to be about coming out oppression) but I think writers still have to sort of work around the reality that not everyone is on the trans-identity-is-real-and-none-of-your-business train.

Of course this does lead to a situation in which Yads’ father, who is doing so-so on the acceptance front, finally realises that Yads is who he says he is because he witnesses Yads doing the brujo bit. And that kind of begs the question what you do if you’re a trans teenager and don’t have a literal god on side to present incontrovertible testimony of your gender identity. Basically I understand the power of having an authority figure within the text reinforce Yads’ own (I should clarify unwavering) sense of his gender identity but I do think this takes us to some complicated places when considered more broadly. Obviously I’m out of my lane again, but what makes trans identity “real” is an incredibly fucked up social debate we’re all apparently having at the moment, whether we want to or not? And I guess for me the issue with Lady Death is that, from a certain perspective, there’s no difference between her and a man in a white coat who decides you get to go on hormones. They’re both abstract external authority figures who are deemed to validate something that shouldn’t require validation.

When people tell us who they are, we should probably just believe them, you know?

Anyway anyway anyway.

Gorgeous book. Strongly recommend. So happy it exists.

[Josu Diamond · Rating 2 out of 5]

No sé por dónde empezar.

A Los chicos del cementerio les precede una gran fama. Es una novela que ha estado en boca de toda la comunidad lectora online durante muchos meses. Y no, no me ha terminado de convencer, pero no ha sido por todo el hype que lo rodeaba. Venga, os cuento.

Para empezar, el libro tiene un muy buen gancho: magos, una desaparición, cultura mexicana y problemática trans. Literalmente tiene todos los elementos que NECESITO en un libro, pero por el camino nos encontramos cosillas que van restándole esa fuerza e impacto que se recibía en las primeras páginas. Sin duda, los primeros capítulos son bestiales. Enganchan muchísimo y Aiden Thomas plantea las tramas y personajes de un modo increíble. El problema viene después.

[image error]

El hecho de que el protagonista, Yadriel, sea un chico trans gay da bastante juego en la novela. No es lo central, pero sí es importante porque su identidad va muy ligada a los problemas que vienen con la cultura que le rodea, y especialmente el hecho de ser un nahualo. Es muy interesante ver estos conflictos desde esa óptica, además de que es un 2x1 acercando nuevas realidades a culturas que no conocemos tanto en Occidente. En este aspecto no tengo ninguna queja, porque termina siendo lo más interesante del libro con diferencia (y no lo parecía en un principio).

Los chicos del cementerio empieza con un tono serio. Descripciones largas, atmósfera lograda, buenos diálogos y un ritmo que hace un perfecto balance con todos los elementos a presentar. Pero para mi sorpresa, todo se desconfigura en cuanto llega el primer punto de giro del libro: Julián. Aparece un nuevo personaje cuyas situaciones vuelven todo… algo infantil. No sé cómo explicarlo, pero el libro empieza a perder fuelle a pasos agigantados. Pasamos de grandes conflictos familiares y culturas olvidadas, magia ancestral y racismo, a una historia sobre un Casper de pacotilla escondiéndose de una abuela cotilla y misiones absurdas.

Porque, mirad, en teoría el libro va de salvar a un tal Miguel. De hecho, parece ser lo central tanto en las primeras páginas como en la propia sinopsis del libro. Termino el libro sin saber quién narices es Miguel para ser tan importante, porque literalmente en 200 páginas centrales NI SE MENCIONA. O sea, no entiendo nada. El libro transcurre en 3-4 días en los que hay que encontrar a Miguel y terminamos viendo aventuras que no llevan a ningún lugar… Bueno, sí, a una resolución de conflictos bastante deus ex machina.



No comprendo muy bien las motivaciones de Yadriel, ni las de Julián o Maritza. Quitando todo el tema de ser aceptado como nahualo, creo que el protagonista no tiene nada más que aportar o contar. Vale, sí, un romance que va surgiendo... Pero es todo tan deprisa y tan mal llevado que me ha costado disfrutarlo como querría. (Eso no quita que haya marcado con post-its los momentos romanticones.) Pero vamos, que en teoría el tema central era encontrar a Miguel y si no es porque los personajes secundarios lo mencionan, ni siquiera te acuerdas.

Creo que es una novela pensada para un público juvenil primerizo. No es un libro complejo y el tono y estilo que Thomas utiliza terminar por ser bastante sencillo, especialmente en diálogos y en complejidad de los conflictos internos de los personajes -a excepción de Yadriel, que en este aspecto sí que tiene un poco más que aportar que los demás personajes.



En definitiva: Los chicos del cementerio es un libro que no termina de cuajar, que parece romper con esquemas pero se queda a medio fuelle. Atrapa, pero no consigues conectar con la historia. ¿Leeré lo siguiente que saque Aiden Thomas? Probablemente. Démosle una segunda oportunidad, porque su visión tiene potencial.

[Adri · Rating 5 out of 5]

CWs: Misgendering, allusions to deadnaming, depictions of gender dysphoria, exploration of parental death, non-violent references to blood magic, some descriptions of ritualistic blood-letting

☑ Watch my spoiler-free #ownvoices reading vlog for Cemetery Boys!
☑ Check out this interview I did with Aiden Thomas!
☑ Read my second CB review for even more detailed feelings!

I am THRIVING. I am LIVING. I am convinced this book was written for me and me alone and I will be accepting no other feedback at this time. While this story acknowledges the realities of queer pain and queer trauma, it is resolutely written from a place of JOY and love. It's fun as hell to read, the trans Latinx rep is out of this world, the gender-affirming magic system is so well executed, and ultimately it's an empowering story about honoring your truth.

Don't you dare sleep on this goddamn blessing of a book, because it's going to be a mirror that so many of us have needed for so long.

[ari]

"Latinx trans teen boy, hoping to release his cousin's spirit and prove himself as a brujo, accidentally summons the wrong ghost and ends up falling in love with him"...............this honestly sounds like everything i've ever needed in my life, 2020 already serving us

[Britt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I definitely got the "did I read a different book than everyone else" feeling when seeing the scads of positive reviews, but I did not like this at all. I'll get to why in a second, but let's start with the part of it that was great, which was the trans representation. I think trans boys are going to read this book and feel seen. This aspect of the book was super well done, compassionate and important. The romance is pretty cute, and I liked the romantic interest (Julian).

BUT.

This book is next-level sexist. And it starts with the main character and worldbuilding. In terms of the worldbuilding, boys get cool knives and the ability to do ghostly magic, and girls have to carry around rosaries (which are a type of necklace) and have healing powers. The lineage is patriarchal - only men can lead the aquelarre (aka coven). Because ladies can't be leaders, amiright? Now, while I understand this is likely somewhat based on actual mythology, I've read plenty of books based in Latinx mythology that were not so insanely gendered and insulting to women (I list a few below). That said, I probably could've ignored the worldbuilding aspect if women weren't also consistently treated like second class citizens throughout the book. For example, right at the beginning, a character is murdered, and the men all go out to find his murderer, ordering the women to stay home and cook. Because ladies belong in the kitchen, amiright? And Yadriel only bats an eye because he is forced to stay home with the women when he is a boy. Which, to be clear, is also extremely wrong (he's a boy and should be treated like one), but it never occurs to him that the women should not be treated like lesser people. He only cares when HE is treated like a woman, aka a lesser human, and is so directly affected. This behavior persists throughout the book. The sexism was really weird because the book otherwise goes out of its way to be conscientious. It was baffling. There are also some plot, writing and character development issues, but those issues could be fixed with editing, and quite frankly pale next to the sexism.

There are other, better, queer Latinx fantasies out there. If you're looking for some cool insight into the mythology, try J. C. Cervantes' The Storm Runner. If you want a queer fantasy, I'd recommend pretty much anything by Anna-Marie McLemore, We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia or The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected on Water by Zen Cho (not Latinx, but does have a trans mc and is so so good). 1 star. I did not like it and will not be recommending it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Swoon Reads for the eARC, which I received for my obviously unbiased opinion. Cemetery Boys is out 01 September.

[Fadwa]

CW: death of a loved one, talk of loss of a parent, misgendering, mention of parental abuse, mention of transphobic parents and deportation.

Genuine question: How do you review a book that feels like it nudge a piece of yourself forward, shifted it slowly to make you click in place and make that slight feeling of wrongness go away? If you think I’m being hyperbolic, I am not. Cemetery Boys brought me more than I can put into words and I have been struggling to write this review for over a month, always putting it off to tomorrow, because maybe then I’ll wake up with the words to do it justice, but at this point, I don’t think that will happen and all I can do is give it my best shot.

The writing is fairly simple, straight forward and quick to read at first glance, and while all of that does hold true, it’s also beautiful in the fact that it burrows itself deep into the reader’s soul and hits you with the most beautiful quotable lines that live you thinking about them for a while afterwards. Quotes that although specific, can and will speak to a lot of people and maybe, just for a moment, make them feel less alone. And that’s exactly what it did for me, reading Cemetery Boys felt like home, it shone a light on some of deepest darkest corners of my soul and said “hey, I got you. I see you. All of you. Even these tiny bits and pieces that you have been looking away from”. This book made me feel seen in ways I didn’t expect or account for when going in, it made me smile, made me rage, made my cry and laugh. Oh and it’s also really fucking funny.

This book is equally fun, funny and joyful as it is at time sad, heartbreaking and painful, and for me, that’s where its strength lies. Cemetery Boys is one of the most, if not *the* most nuanced book I have ever read in term of its exploration of queerness, transness, and the way both of these things are treated in brown patriarchal communities. In this specific case, it’s the Latinx community, but you can broaden it to encompass other brown communities, as a lot of them mirror each other in the way they treat all the above as well as identity, family and community. Yadriel is a trans boy whose only wish is to be accepted in his brujx community as a brujo, which is a thing that has always been denied to him. While on a surface level Yadriel’s community seems like they’re accepting him, using his chosen name as well as his correct pronouns, on a second look, you find that he is anything but. This acceptance feels like humoring him, because when it comes to real test, to giving him his quinces and thus access to his brujo powers, they refuse to do so. Waiting for something to change, maybe for him to “grow out” of being a boy, for him to finally relent and be ready to accept the “girl” powers.

Read my full review on my blog Word Wonders

[kory. · Rating 1 out of 5]

oh boy unpopular opinion time :///

content/trigger warnings; transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, gender dysphoria, death of a loved one, grief/loss, blood, murder, discussions of violence, mention of deportation, mention of xenophobia, mention of gun violence, mention of disownment, homelessness, mention of child abandonment, mention of police discrimination, mentions of smoking and alcohol consumption, violence, knife violence, dead bodies, injuries, hospital, sexism, non-binary erasure,

rep; yadriel (mc) is cuban-mexican-american, gay, and trans. julian (li) is colombian-american, gay, and has adhd. maritza (sc) is puerto rican-mexican-american. rocky (sc) is gay. flaca (sc) is transgender. all latinx cast.

this was one of my most anticipated books and i really thought i was going to love it. but i'm super bummed that i just don't like it. at all.

but first. the things i like.

— julian diaz. what a legend. he is by far my favorite thing about this book. i would take a whole book about him in a heartbeat.

— the rep. i've seen so many glowing ownvoices reviews and i'm so happy for the people who feel seen and understood and loved by this book and i'm happy it's doing so well.

— i love that maritza is vegan and rejects being a bruja because the tradition is to use animal blood and is supported by those around her for doing so. so often you see people act like just because something is a tradition in a culture that everyone has to just be okay with it, so it's just nice to someone within the culture not partaking in an aspect they don't agree with while still being involved and respectful. and when she does do magic and says "and i did it without animal blood, bitch"?? iconic.

now, the big things i don't like.

— one of my big dislikes is yadriel. it seems like i can't win with main characters, because i usually find myself adoring love interests or side characters and either hating or being neutral on the main character. but in this case, i cannot stand yadriel. he's self involved, judgmental, and just an asshole. yadriel goes on and on about how julian is a dick, when for a guy in his situation, he is a fucking angel to yadriel.

when yadriel accidentally summons julian, he has absolutely no concern for julian. he doesn't want to be bothered with the consequences of his own actions, so he tells julian he's going to send him to the afterlife or whatever, and when julian doesn't want to go, yadriel tries to do it without his consent.

julian mentions the terms non-binary, genderqueer, and intersex and yadriel has the nerve to be surprised julian even knows those words, and what makes it even more "dude what the fuck" is the fact that yadriel literally thinks he's the first trans brujx ever. it's played off like "i thought i was alone this whole time" but no, yadriel literally argues with julian and says it multiple times. anyone else would've just been like "what no fucking way that's incredible".

then there's the part where yadriel is resentful of maritza for rejecting being a bruja because she's accepted, whereas he would love to be accepted but isn't. and like....his circumstances have literally nothing to do with her circumstances. i hate the whole "i would love to have what you have and you have the nerve to be dissatisfied with it?" shit. mind your own and let people be.

yadriel has the tendency to play devil's advocate. when maritza is talking to julian about how she chooses to not do magic because it requires animal blood and she's vegan, yadriel feels the need to point out that it's locally sourced, as if one) she doesn't already know that and two) if it makes a difference. like, let her have her beliefs without trying to convince her or others that she's lowkey just being dramatic. then when julian is talking about his friends sleeping on the street and not having (good) homes to go to, he says one of them is in a group home, and yadriel chimes in to say "not all foster homes are bad" to which julian corrects his ignorance about foster and group homes not being the same thing. and aside from that, what the fuck does ~not all matter when clearly if julian's friend would rather be on the street it clearly means their home is not ~one of the good ones. every single time julian was talking about his or his friends' home and family, yadriel felt the need to talk down to them about how they didn't actually have it that bad.

— the other big thing is one i didn't really even process fully while reading, it took reading other reviews for it to sink in. this book is wildly sexist. brujos get badass blades, can summon spirits, and can send them off to the afterlife. brujas, on the other hand, get necklaces and are healers. brujos are the leaders and make all the decisions and do all the heavy lifting. brujas, on the other hand, are told to stay home and cook. when yadriel's cousin dies, all the brujos go searching for him, while the brujas stay behind at home. the men are literally treated as gods, and the women are treated like lesser humans. and what's even more fucked up is that yadriel is only bothered by these roles when he's told to stay home with the women. obviously, he has a right to be upset with being treated as a woman, because shit's transphobic. but the women shouldn't be treated the way they are, either. it's like, "i shouldn't sit and twiddle my thumbs with the women while the men get shit done, because i'm not a woman" rather than "the women shouldn't be forced to stay home, either", ya know? to that i say, fuck your patriarchy.

now the other things i don't like.

— people aren't being dramatic when they say this book has no plot. literally nothing happens until the very end. it takes place over like a few day, less than a week. and it's all just the characters doing and accomplishing literally nothing. the only reason the book is as long as it is is because of the many page long infodumps, expositions, and descriptions, as well as the multiple times things are repeated.

— and it sucks because all those pages could've gone to developing the characters (not just the main character and love interest, but pretty much every side character deserved to actually be fleshed out) and romance, as the characters have one characteristic and the romance is rushed (which technically would've been the case regardless because the book take places over like four? five? days), or you know, the fucking plot, because it's very easy to forget that they're basically trying to solve a murder.

— it's very binary. everything is men and women. and the only time non-binary people are acknowledged is solely to make a point. they literally are used as a talking point once, along with intersex and genderqueer people, and that's it. sexuality is the same, too; gay or straight. i just expect so much more from queer books, because at this point there's no excuse.

— i hate that yadriel equates telling julian's friends that he's dead to outing him. i need people, especially queer people, to stop comparing sharing people's secrets to outing them and/or telling someone something big to coming out. they are fundamentally not the same thing and never will be. stop.

— i knew transphobia was gonna be a thing because of the synopsis, but it was still a lot. at least in the beginning. and i really don't like how it feels like yadriel's dad only accepted him as a boy because the magic accept him as a boy. he was transphobic as hell, and then suddenly changed his tune the minute he found out yadriel was able to do "boy magic". and the entire time yadriel was pulling that "but he's my dad" shit that i personally just hate reading. queerphobic family members are not entitled to forgiveness or the benefit of the doubt or endless time to ~come around simply because they're family.

— yadriel's dad's "big gut" is mentioned more than once and it just feels unnecessary. if you aren't constantly mentioning the weight of thin characters, why do it with fat characters?

— i mention before that there have been glowing ownvoices reviews, but i've seen multiple reviews that mention how mishandled the aztec, mayan, and incan cultures are. it's important to pay attention not only to those who loved the rep in a book, but also those who were offended or disappointed.

all in all. just another hyped queer book that didn't do it for me.

[Kai Spellmeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Queer folks are like wolves. We travel in packs."

Reading this book is like seeing a ray of sunshine break through eternal grey clouds. This is a straight up feel-good book. The characters are instantly loveable, honestly such an adorable bunch, from the trusting and kind main character and the loyal, sassy best friend, to the cutest pair of dogs alive (in fiction) and the chaotic good love interest. I love a character-driven story which is why the book worked really well for me, because the plot itself wasn't outstanding. It was pretty predictable - even when the author laid the groundwork for the plot in the beginning I could tell exactly where it was going and it didn't hold much of a surprise. The finale was very stereotypical, including the standard spiteful villain soliloquy and something I will mark as a - mc sacrifices themselves for their friends, basically dies, is then magically brought back to life - even though it's fairly common. It wasn't the most original part of the book, but it didn't bother me much because I just really liked the characters and the message behind the book. There's a chosen family trope that's really well done, it's super inclusive and portrays a great variety of Latinx cultures, there are many queer characters and I genuinely enjoyed reading a fantasy story with a trans main character, something we don't get to see often but more and more as of late. My only other criticism is that the writing could've benefitted from a little more attention to detail. When an author tells me "the dancers danced" I can't help rolling my eyes just a tiny bit knowing that they can do better than that.

I'm struggling to decide whether to give this four or five stars. From a craft perspective it wasn't perfect, but it has so much heart and it's a very empowering story. So I think it's fair to give five stars. Aiden Thomas is someone to watch and I'm really hyped what he's going to do next. I'm not the biggest Peter Pan fan buts Lost in the Never Woods is a guaranteed 2021 read for me.

Find more of my books on Instagram

[Nataliya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may officially be too old and too grumpy for this one.

It’s overall a sweet story about a trans kid who tries to prove to his family that he’s a boy - and a brujo. Oh yeah, he also lives in the cemetery and sees ghosts (as I said, “brujo”) and it’s the family business to help ghosts cross to the other side. And then he meets a ghost boy, freshly murdered, and under supposed plot to uncover the mystery a whole bunch of tender teenage feelings develop, aided by banter* and oodles of cuteness. And there’s a bit of overabundance of messaging — to the point where I sigh and wish the author would stop hitting over the head with it and opt for subtlety at least once.

* “I’m not letting you abandon me in a haunted church—”
“It’s not haunted!”
“If I’m in here, and I’m a ghost, then it’s haunted!” Julian shot back.

And it may be my non-teenage grumpy soul complaining, but I found our protagonist Yadriel a bit too self-centered. I get that Yadriel’s family, while figuring out how to be accepting of him as a boy, makes a few missteps, and some are painful — but right when you learned your cousin just died and his mother is right there is not an appropriate moment to bring attention to misgendering and deadnaming. They are in shock over the death, pick a better timing, dude. Also, while I’m at it, please take a second to grieve before figuring out how you can benefit from solving it. Holy egoism, Batman!

“Why did Yadriel always have to absolve people of their guilt? He didn’t want to be understanding. He didn’t have it in him to be forgiving this time.”

Because your cousin just died and everyone is in shock. Duh. Have a sit down with them later and explain how it makes you feel, but give them space to grieve first.

Overall it reminded me of an angsty teen movie, complete with a fast ride in an old car, with feelings galore and a fair share of lovesick gazing, and a lovestruck boy seriously telling the brother of his love interest he knew for a day or two - the brother who raised the abovementioned love interest - that he doesn’t know him at all (!), and of course love is always right. And the romantic subplot quickly took over the adventure subplot, making it very simple without much room to really develop and therefore with few real surprises, and often our characters just pointlessly go through the motions without it contributing much to the story and making it drag.

That said, the romantic subplot at least arises organically, so at least there’s that — but it may have worked out better as simply a straightforward romantic story with generational conflicts thrown in without an attempt at mystery or supernatural.

But seriously, I actually wrote a note about 2/3 through in my Kindle app — “Can we stop the lovesick gazing and get back to the plot, please?”


Imagine Yadriel instead of Demi Moore here. Keep the ghost.

The narration itself leans a bit too heavily on overexplaining and exposition, and it led to a few grumpy eyerolls from me. There was constant repetition, making it feel overlong. The insta-love is a bit too insta (but that’s YA, I suppose — it’s all those teenage hormones going crazy). The ending is too sweet and too easy, and conveniently sweeps any possible hard choices under the rug for the sake of happy endings for all. Yadriel having to let Julian go would have been powerful, but instead we get the convenient resurrection which just cheapens the emotional stakes. And because of romance taking center stage, the more interesting plot points got dropped — what about Julian’s tense relationship with his brother, for instance? (And how the hell does the loads of sweet cuteness that is Julian ever get a reputation of a bad boy???)

And all that made me feel bored and unengaged with the story. Who knows, maybe I would have loved it at 13-14 years old, but now it’s not enough to make me care more than just superficially.

2.5 stars.

——————

My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mrinmayi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.75🌟
Buddy read with Drama Queen
How I expected that this book will end

How it actually ended

I mean don't get me wrong...I LOVED the book
BUT I just expected an emotional read
The book was fluffy and cute!!(Not complaining)
But it felt like WE (Joshita and Mrin) were chilling with the characters xD
This book had a "chill" vibe going on..as against to the "spooky" vibe
The premise was pretty simple:
The MC summons a ghost and is not able to get rid of the said ghost
Thats all I will say...Go into this book without knowing anything else
just enjoy the cool vibes of the book

As my buddy read partner said at the very beginning of the book... THIS BOOK HAS COCO VIBES!!!!
And she was right!!! Coco is one of my all time fav movie & this book reminded me a LOT about that book!!

(I bawled like a baby during this scene 🥺😭)
Another thing which I ADORED in this book is the family aspect
They had a close knitted family which I appreciated VERY MUCH!!
For me family is very important...I mean I am Indian ...so I basically grew up with the teaching that family comes first ...ALWAYS

(Idk how to translate this☝ I just know my family is gonna kill me after they see this meme😂if you know the translations please do tell)
And I guess I related to Yadriel in that aspect
He was close to his cousin#relatable
had a big ass family#relatable
the said family is nosy BUT Loving at the same time#relatable
I mean it was great seeing a FAMILY for once in YA novels xD



Stuff like this NEVER happens in YA novels!!

Now the characters

Shall I say this book has some of the MOST amazing characters ??!!
They will be going to the list of my all time fav book characters !!
Especially Julian and Maritza !!
Julian was like my twin brother(?)
I mean now I know how I would be as a Ghost
Cause Julian represented me xD
He was loud and irritating and loved playing pranks😂
If I died and I was turned into a ghost..even I would have the same reactions as he did!!
He was an extrovert who got hold of an introvert
And now the said introvert is not able to get rid of him(My life summed in 2 lines lol)
But yeah you should read this book at least for him (I am NOT bragging about myself...ok maybe just a little😂😅)
The fact that Julain was a Scorpio was cherry on the cake!!
I am Cancer and get very well along with Scorpios xD

Water signs need to stick together lol
Ok now the other character whom I loved was the MC's cousin Maritza
Now here's the thing...I have a friend whose name is also Mari
And both the Mari (Yadriel's aka the MC's Mari and Mrin's Mari) are the people whom you run for help when you are in trouble 😂
like trust me ...we all need a Mari in our life
That one cousin who wont judge us for our wierdness & will have our back
The only difference is Mari is not my cousin (But I do consider her as one now xD)
The characters are just so relatable!! You wont be disappointed in them!!
My only complaint of this book is that the Main character Yadriel did not feel fleshed out
I wanted more character depth
Same goes for the plot line
It was really slow paced

I personally feel that there was so much scope for world building and magic system
This was low fantasy BUT I am someone who enjoys good world building
The author did not explain the magic system well
I was honestly left with so many qts!!

Awww look at the cute owl!!🥺
But those were my only complaints !!
Really enjoyed this book and most importantly enjoyed the BR with the crazy woman xD
I swear we were being OTT dramatic for more than half part of the discussion lol
Mrin:

Joshita:

Mrin:

Joshita:

that's how this be went




Update 1
Mature Mrin: NO FANTASY!!! TRY DIFFERENT GENRES!!!
Normal Mrin: But...
Mature Mrin : NO But Wut!!
Normal Mrin: *Snickers*

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, I knew what I was getting into. You should too. Cemetery Boys is definitely young adult, young teenage level with angst on the level of Sixteen Candles: sweet, but as much about the internal and family drama as it is an external driving plot. On the plus side, there are very well developed young high-school aged characters, which is to say, balls of changeable emotions, doubts and insecurities. Thomas wrote them all well enough to be just this side of annoying. As in many YA books, I thought the messaging to be extremely overt. In this case, it’s largely about identity in culture and gender, so at least the messaging adds further diversity voice to the genre. I’m noting it as a caveat for your consideration: in YA, such clarity is sometimes appropriate, but it’s a storytelling style that can only hold my interest for so long.

Yadriel is a teenage trans boy who has already passed age that he would have undergone the ritual acceptance into his family’s magic heritage. The magic has historically been along sex lines, with male brujos receiving a dagger and female brujas a rosary to aid their magic. Yad’s gender status presents a conundrum to his father, the leader of the brujos. Yad and his bestie Maritza undergo the ceremony in secret. When Yad summons a spirit, he ends up with Julian, a ghost who doesn’t want to be freed.

Although I noted some of the overt presentation of issues, I did appreciate further insight into the trans experience. Bringing up his “deadname” is extremely upsetting to Yadriel, and it’s worth noting we never see it as the reader. On the flip side, some of the Information on Dia de los Muertos was overly detailed. I appreciated how it contextualized the events, but on the other hand, it was probably a level of description that didn’t always come organically. I liked how people would speak in Spanish and then Yad’s would note the English translation in some way, such as “What? Why would we need to go now?” that works fairly well. That said, the Spanish wasn’t complex, for the most part, and assimilation might have worked just as well.

To me, the story seemed quite long for what was presented—perhaps too much over-explicit description of Y’s internal state—and predictable. I was at 47% when I guessed the villain, remaining arc and denouement. I had narrowed down the villain before that, but was very sure at that point. There is also a budding romantic storyline. At first, I thought it felt organic, but by the end, I had few doubts. There’s a ‘wild night of escape’ scene that gave me the eyerolls, although it at least was done with nice emotion. I suppose if you like watching a young person navigating identity with family and community, and budding friendship, you may enjoy witnessing Yad’s repeated struggles. For me, not so much.

Overall, a nice, sweet read, kind of like watching a John Hughes movie. It’s a nice twist on the brujos of folklore, and integrates well with Dia de los Muertos. It’s a nice addition to the genre.

[Cece (ProblemsOfaBookNerd) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5/5

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Queer folks are like wolves. We travel in packs."

First of all, Cemetery Boys was my first major re-introduction into YA fantasy after taking almost two years off from the genre, and let me say that it was literally one of the best possible stories I could have chosen to break my hiatus with. YA fantasy used to be my most commonly read genre, so I got a bit burnt out and thought I had just worn out my welcome with it, but Cemetery Boys reminded me of everything I adore so much about the incredible offerings the world of YA fantasy gives us. This is a story full of self-discovery, and self-love, and hope, and forgiveness, and healing, and it is full of some of the most lovable characters I've read in a long time.

Yadriel is such a delightful narrator to spend time with. He's impossible not to love and root for, and I just wanted to climb into these pages and grab some of his family members by the shoulders and shake them for not recognizing the wonderful human he is. Watching him deal with the casual transphobia and erasure in his home was a painful reality to witness, which made his emotions when some of those family members apologized and began to truly realize how wrong they were even more powerful. And then there's Maritza, who is such a hilarious and fiercely protective cousin and best friend, I knew I'd adore her from the moment she was introduced.

He gave everything and expected nothing in return.
Yadriel's heart ached.
No, none of them deserved Julian Diaz.

Finally, Julian exudes all of the best himbo energy I love to see in a love interest. He's dopey at times, a little oblivious, volatile and young — but compassionate, protective, supportive, and honest, and I love him. I think one of my favorite moments in the entire book was when Yads spotted Julian's graffiti message about transphobes (IYKYK). Loving Julian so much made the entire scenario tug on my heartstrings every step of the way, because knowing that he's a ghost and his entire life should have been ahead of him just hurts once you realize how important this kid is, and how much everyday greatness he's meant for.

The magical elements in Cemetery Boys are captivating and lovely, and feel like the most brilliant love story to many walks of Latinx spirituality that I found myself needing more, more, more information about how the brujx magic and rituals worked and about the deities referenced throughout the book. The mystery that plays out was probably the only part of the story that I didn't fully connect to, but I think that's because I was so enraptured by the characters and the magic that the mystery felt like a side arc that I could have taken or left. That said, I still enjoyed how it played out and was quite surprised by some of the developments near the end!

All in all, Cemetery Boys is a gorgeous book from start to finish and is entirely deserving of every ounce of the hype it's received since it came out. I'm so grateful to have read this, and will absolutely be reaching for more of Aiden Thomas' books in the future. ♥

Buddy read with Malka!

✨ Representation: Yadriel is Cuban-American, gay, and a trans boy; Julian is Colombian-American and gay; most side characters are Latinx; one side character is a trans girl

✨ Content warnings for: transphobia, misgendering, deadnaming, loss of a parent, grief, loss of family members, minor self-harm for magical purposes, use of animal blood for magical purposes, murder, extensive discussion of death and spirits, mentions of anti-Latinx racism and cultural appropriation

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[Xandra (StarrySkyBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

DID I FINISH THIS BOOK OR DID IT FINISH ME?


- - -
(spoiler free review. tw list at the bottom. this is a Latinx ownvoices review)

I really experienced so many different emotions while reading this book, and most of them were just some form of happiness. Happiness for Yadriel, whenever something good happened to him, and happiness for myself, because I was blessed with this ARC. (Thank you to MacMillan, Swoon Reads, and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC!)

It’s difficult to put my feelings for this book into words. My feelings toward it fall under my own special category of “I loved it for so many reasons but most of those are personal”. In other words, this book had a lot of things that I personally love, but I’m not sure they are things other people would love as well.

First of all, the characters! I loved the characters. As a character-based reader, these bright characters really made the whole experience for me. I loved how the interacted with each other, and I loved how different they were from each other. As a Latina, I also appreciated the Latinx representation in this book. Many Latinx books feel stiff and stereotypical, but this one was bright and lively, and it made me proud to know a lot about Yadriel’s culture already. I could tell this was personal to the author, and I really appreciated that.

Another thing I admire about the writing is the amount of times I related to the events in this book, or the times I really believed what the characters were doing. There were times when Yadriel did something and I felt in my soul that I related so much, that I would also do the same thing if I was in his situation. And there were times when Yadriel’s Lita did something frustrating, and I believed it because I have an abuelita and she would 100% do the same thing.

Something I noticed and liked, but also recognized that not everyone would feel the same way about, was the fact that these characters were sometimes a bit too exaggerated. At times, it was just characteristic, but other times, their action were a bit too fast-paced or their dialogue was a bit too loud. (For example, if a character yelled about something in all caps, italics, and with an exclamation point, rather than just italics.)

There were a few scenes which were kind of messy, in a way which made the dialogue flow a little bit difficult to follow, but I think that’s common when it comes to debut books. (Although, I think this is technically Thomas’ second book.) But this was easy to overlook and understand for me. Also, according to Aiden Thomas’ twitter, they’ve made a lot of edits since the ARCs were sent out, so hopefully a lot of these issues have been resolved.

Character like-ability: 4.5
Character development: 3.5
Plot development: 4
Writing style: 3
Dialogue: 3.5
Personal emotions: 5

3.9 ≈ 4 stars

---

tw: transphobia, death, misgendering and deadnaming, gender dysphoria, parental death, some references to blood magic.

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m on BookTube now! You can find my channel here! =)

“Yadriel’d once asked his mom why they didn’t just take all of someone’s pain when they were sad. She had explained it was important to let people feel grief and mourn the loss of a loved one.“

So many people told me “Cemetery Boys” would be amazing and even though I was pretty sure I’d enjoy it, I never would have been able to anticipate how much I’d actually end up loving this book! This was so damn good! Seriously! I’m absolutely and totally in love with this story and this is definitely one of those books I’ll throw at people in order to make them read it! *lol* You’ve been warned! ;-)

Joking aside this book really blew me away and even though the plot sounds so simple there’s something about the way Aiden Thomas told this story that made it extremely endearing to read. You just can’t help but fall for those characters and their little quirks and secret mission. Yet despite the supernatural element of ghosts everything felt very real and relatable. I mean Yadriel and Maritza continued to go to school and tried to solve the mystery in the afternoon when they got back home. If that isn’t realistic, then I don’t know. I already loved the book for this fact alone.

But there’s so much more to enjoy about this story. For instance the trans rep which was done so well and a constant and consistent part of the book. All the tasty food that was mentioned and made me hungry while I read the book and all the little bits and pieces we got about the brujx and Latinx culture in general. I have no idea how Aiden Thomas pulled this off but this book was awesome and definitely worthy of a long review. So buckle up, my friends, and let’s do this! ;-)

The characters:

Only ghosts and brujx are allowed to enter this cemetery. So if you’re not one of them you better retrace your steps and turn around. Not everyone is made for the supernatural world, because some spoilers and truths aren’t easy to take. Tread with caution or leave the cemetery of spoilers and go back to the real world. ;-)

Yadriel:

“The murmuring turned angry, and so did Yadriel. Over the last few years, more and more people in their community – brujx and otherwise – had been deported. Families were split apart and good people were torn away from their homes. People were fearful of the police and scared to seek out help when they needed it.”

Yadriel was such a precious character and I really liked him! It was interesting to see the world through his eyes and to experience how he was a part of this huge family (related or not) that really cared about and tried to take care of each other. Despite his father and grandma not being able to understand him being transgender, it was obvious they still cared for him. And sometimes it is that way, sometimes our family loves us unconditionally even if they don’t get us or what’s important for us. It was nice to see Yadriel take a stand for himself, though. There’s only so much you can forgive and let slide and sooner or later, you just have to confront your loved ones because they NEED to understand and accept you for who you are. So Yads character arc was really nice and lovely to follow. Plus I absolutely loved the scene when he used the men’s bathroom for the first time. It was so empowering and really had me cheering for Yadriel. =)

“His dad’s face – the look of regret when he realized what he’d said to Yadriel – flashed in his mind. Yadriel was always forgiving people for being callous. For misgendering him and calling him by his deadname. He was always giving them the benefit of the doubt, or writing it off as people not understanding or being stuck in their ways when they hurt him.
Well, Yadriel was tired of it. He was tired of forgiving. He was tired of fighting to just exist and be himself. He was tired of being the odd one out.“

Julian:

“I can’t take you home, someone will see you!“ Yadriel told him.
„I’m not letting you abandon me in a haunted church –„
„It’s not haunted!“
„If I’m in here, and I’m a ghost, then it’s haunted!“ Julian shot back.

Julian Diaz!!! OMG! Where do I even start? If you don’t have a Julian Diaz you better try to get yourself one!! This boy was absolutely amazing and I loved him so damn much! With him it were all the many little things that made him so very special and endearing! I mean he scribbled Yadriels real name in the yearbook and scratched out his deadname. Also his bouncy energy and the way he cared about his friends! T_T They were more important to him than his own life and he literally died defending Luca. I just loved him! Such a precious human being!!! Him getting words or sayings wrong just made him even more adorable and I just couldn’t with him. I was totally besotted with Julian and I could totally understand why Yads fell for him. Still, my heart bled for this boy because he deserved the world and to think that his life was over before it even began was so heart breaking. Also can we talk about how he didn’t even hesitate when he said that Yadriel is his “querido”!? Ahhh! My heart was so full when I read that scene!

”All things considered,” Yadriel ventured, “you’re taking this whole being-dead thing pretty well.”
Julian exhaled a small laugh. “I don’t know, I never expected to live that long, anyways,” he confessed. Yadriel didn’t know what to say. There was something so profoundly sad in how casually he said it.

”He didn’t deserve death. He didn’t deserve any of this. Julian had literally died protecting his friends. And Yadriel was quite certain he didn’t deserve Julian. There was no reason for Julian to help him find Miguel, but he did it anyway, and there was no way Yadriel could ever repay him.
He gave everything and expected nothing in return.
Yadriel’s heart ached.
No, none of them deserved Julian Diaz.”

”Julian was the most alive person he’d ever met. Even as a spirit, he was bright and full of constantly moving energy. A sun crammed into the body of a boy. Yadriel didn’t want to see him without his light.”

”Julian’s hips rolled, his head bobbed. Eyes closed and smiling, the firelight danced over his skin. Yadriel was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. To his foolhardy charm and striking features. Julian was achingly beautiful, but in the way a thunderstorm was beautiful – wild, rough, electric.
And bound to leave devastation in his wake.”

Maritza:

“I figured something was up, I was just waiting for you to spit it out.” During that time, Maritza had been his reliable secret keeper, smoothly going back and forth between pronouns when they were alone, versus when they were around everyone else, until he was ready.

Maritza is such a Queen!!! I loved how badass she was and how much she loved and supported Yadriel! This girl is amazing and deserves all the love as well! To have such a good friend like her definitely made Yads life a lot easier and that she used the right pronouns when no one else did meant the world. Also she didn’t even hesitate to use human blood to get Yadriel back – and this even though she’d refused to use her powers with animal blood for years – she also made a portaje for him to be able to summon ghosts in order to help them into the afterlife. Add to that the fact that she basically told Lady Death to go screw herself and took it upon herself to save Yadriel’s life! Iconic! Maritza is the best bestie ever! <333

Julian scowled. „The fuck?“
„Right?“ Yadriel huffed. „They’re so stuck in their ways and traditions, they wouldn’t even let me try.“ He undid the sleeping bag and shook it out with a snap. „So, Maritza made me a portaje and I did the binding ceremony myself.“
Julian grinned approvingly. „Badass.“

The relationships & ships:

Yadriel & Julian:

“I just wanted to give them a clean break,“ Julian said quietly.
Yadriel didn’t think that was possible. He didn’t see how anyone could get a clean break from Julian once they entered his orbit.
Himself included.

Those two gave me life!!! No kidding! I was so here for their slowly developing romance and all those tiny little gestures. Yads thoughts killed me because I could relate to them. I mean Julian really made it so easy to fall for him. Plus they were so good for each other! Julian helped Yadriel to find himself and to be a little bit more daring. Without him he probably would have never even found the courage to enter the boys bathroom. Jules just accepted Yads the way he was and this was extremely important for him. Same goes for Julian! Yadriel never questioned the things he said, he just accepted him the way he was and he showed him that he is a good person. That he deserves a good life and people that care about him. Julian just did the things he did because he was a genuinely kind and caring person, he never expected anything back and Yadriel helped him to see himself the way his friends and him saw Julian. I think in some way Yads presence also kinda tamed Julian’s impulsive nature and helped him to get a better grasp on it. There aren’t a lot of people that will call you out on your bullshit, even less who will be able to make you reflect on your actions and cause you to try to do better in the future, but Yadriel did. And just for the record, I read that hospital scene where they finally see each other in person about three times or so because it was just so wholesome and I needed to read that so badly after everything Julian went through. <3 Those two are definitely one of my OTPs now and I’ll throw this book at everyone! Everyone! I’m not even kidding. XD

”But with Julian, there was no training involved because he already understood him. It was … easy. Yadriel hadn’t known it could be that painless and simple for someone to see him as he was.

”Yadriel held his breath. His fingers knotted into the blanket under him. A thrill tickled down his spine to the tips of his toes. It was disorienting, filling his head with dangerous thoughts. He wanted to feel Julian’s hands ghosting over his skin. Wondered what Julian’s short hair would feel like under his fingertips, what his skin would smell like, or if his lips felt as soft as they looked.
But it was silly and stupid, because you couldn’t touch dead boys, and they couldn’t touch you back.”

Julian squinted, the angles of his face tight in concentration. Slowly, he brought his hand up to the side of Yadriel’s face, close, but not touching. His stormy eyes slid to Yadriel’s, holding a question.
„¿Me dejas robarte un beso?“ he said softly, in the most agonizingly beautiful Colombian accent Yadriel had ever heard. It was pure and melodic, like a song.

”Yadriel didn’t have time to say anything before Julian was on his feet and across the room. They collided, and Yadriel could only clutch and hold on tight as Julian slammed into him, sending them toppling into the wall. Julian’s arms locked around him so tight it hurt, but Yadriel didn’t care.”

Yadriel & his parents:

“They wouldn’t even let him try. It was easier to hide behind their traditions than to challenge their own beliefs and understanding of how things in the world of the brujx worked.“

I think it was very relatable and interesting that Yadriel’s parents were so different when it came to his gender. While his mom championed for him, corrected everyone and helped him to be accepted among the community, his dad still didn’t see him as a boy and couldn’t seem to be able to wrap his head around the fact that he had a son instead of a daughter. Speaking from experience here, it’s mostly the dads that have a hard time with their kids being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. At least in my country it is. I think a huge part of that has to do with my country still being very conservative and the picture of a family that consists of father/mother/child is still in everyone’s mind. Change takes time and you could see it in “Cemetery Boys” too. The brujx are very traditional as well, so it wasn’t surprising that Yadriel’s dad had a hard time to get used to his pronouns. The good thing was that Enrique loved his kid so there was a lot of room for improvement and it eventually happened. I just wish Yads mom would have lived a little longer and would have been able to help her son more. To lose your mom at such an age is horrible and Yadriel still needed her so much. >_<

“His mom championed for Yadriel to be given a brujo’s quinces, to be welcomed into the community as he was – a boy. She’d taken on the task of trying to explain to his dad that he was a brujo. He was a boy.
He can’t just choose to be a brujo, he’d heard Enrique say from the kitchen one night as he and Camila spoke quietly over sweet coffee.
It’s not a choice, his mother had said, her voice calm but firm. It’s who he is.“

”I did not think it was possible,” his dad confessed, still looking quite shocked. “I thought – “ He shook his head at himself. “Whatever I thought, I was wrong.”
It was Yadriel’s turn to be shocked. “You were?”

Julian & his friends:

Julian stiffened. „Jesus, Luca.“ He moved to his friend, reaching as if to grab his chin, but he stopped, probably remembering he couldn’t touch him.

I loved Julian’s friends so damn much! They were unique and had their little quirks and this even though we didn’t see a lot of them. I really enjoyed that they were so fleshed out despite being side-characters and that they all had their own background story. Luca was adorable, but obviously had a really tough life and Flaca who was a transgender girl, most definitely didn’t have it easy as well. Omar and Rocky seemed to be cool too once you got to know them and I could see why Julian would have died for them. They were all special, they were his found family and they all would have done literally everything for each other. Their friendship and bond was amazing. <3

“They're worrying too much about me and need to be worrying about themselves," Julian spoke up, walking closer to the group. "They need to go somewhere more safe than this," he said, thrusting his arms out.

The trans rep:

“Being transgender and gay had earned Yadriel the title of Head Black Sheep among the brujx. Though, in truth, being gay had actually been much easier for them to accept, but only because they saw Yadriel’s liking boys as still being heterosexual.“

The trans rep in this book was impeccable!! No matter if it were the troubles Yadriel had to face, or if it was his binder that was present throughout the entire book, Aiden Thomas really did a great job at making this trans rep extremely realistic. (And this despite the obvious ghost plot.) Yadriel always wore his binder and when he took it off at night it was also part of the plot and this was … I just lived and breathed for that realistic portrayal of transgender life. The problems he had with his family accepting him for who he was also felt extremely real and that quote above about the brujx being more accepting of him being gay than of him being transgender because him being gay made him heterosexual in their eyes was spot on. I recently had a discussion with my bestie about some not all too well known identities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella that still have a hard time being accepted. Like for instance aro/ace or genderfluid/non-binary people. If people already have troubles to wrap their minds around the fact that someone is transgender and isn’t the gender they were born with, they will haven even more problems to accept people that sort of “switch” genders or are no gender at all. Because they will always look at the body parts and never see the person as who they are. It’s sad but it is the way it is. Bodyparts obviously still weight a lot when it comes to straight people… Anyway! What I wanted to say is that I loved the trans rep in this book and the topics and themes it addressed. Well done, Aiden Thomas, well done! =)

”There’s no way y’all have been around for thousands of years without there being one person not fitting into the ‘men are this, women are that’ bullshit.” Julian sounded so convinced, so sure. His obsidian eyes locked onto Yadriel’s. “Maybe they hid it, or ran away, or I dunno, something else, but there’s no way you’re the first, Yads.”

”Yadriel’s hoodie was sopping wet, and his jeans were starting to chafe. Water had soaked into his binder, making it tight and freezing cold, sucking all the warmth from his core.”

Conclusion:

“Cemetery Boys” was awesome and it’s one of those books I can recommend to literally everyone who wants to read an LGBTQIA+ story with a great trans rep! This book might be a standalone but the characters felt very real and fleshed out and you can’t help but fall for them. They are so endearing! In addition to that, the rep of Latinx and brujx culture and the supernatural ghost element had me glued to the pages as well. This book was amazing! Read it! Now. *throws book at you* I held back long enough! ;-P

__________________________________

Okay, I absolutely, really ABSOLUTELY and TOTALLY loved this book!!!
It was so damn good! The trans rep, Julian and Yadriel, Maritza and the brujx/Latinx culture!
Wow, just wow! I think I’ll throw this book at everyone now! <333 Be warned! *lol*

Full RTC soon! I have so many thoughts and all the feels!! AHHH!

__________________________________

Am I going to read a spooky/paranormal LGBTQIA+ book in May?
Hell yes, I am! Because why not?!
Give me all the ghost/human love because I feel like reading it right now. Kinda scared of how it will end, though. Human/ghost relationships are never easy. >_<

Did any of you already read “Cemetery Boys” and if yes, did you like it?!

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[Kevin (Irish Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this so freaking much!!

This story was so beautiful and had such a great cast of characters. I loved Yadriel, the main character, so much. He was such a strong character, that was struggling with so many things, such as being accepted by his family for being transgender. His best friend and cousin, Maritza, was another one of my favourites, as she was so sarcastic and witty. Finally, of course, I loved Julian Diaz so, so much! He was such a great character and I empathised with him a lot.

The romance in here was also very cute and it felt very well developed and not rushed. The ending also shook me as I didn’t see that coming! Overall, I just loved it so much and would highly recommend.

I also did a vlog on my YouTube channel where I discussed my thoughts on this book, you can check that out here: https://youtu.be/KkjqEK5fdco

[Imme van Gorp · Rating 2 out of 5]

|| 2.0 stars ||

Well, that was disappointing. I had such high hopes for this, but absolutely nothing about it delivered. I thought this would be a beautiful and perhaps even emotional book, but it wasn’t.

First of all, the pacing was horrendous. I think the entire book takes place over only three days, and you can definitely feel it. Each scene crawls by so very slowly and absolutely nothing happens.

The plot was also beyond boring. It was painfully predictable and uneventful.
It’s about witches who live in a graveyard and who can talk to the dead, so that sounds like it should be pretty cool, right? Well, somehow it wasn’t. It was all very repetitive, and almost every chapter felt the exact same. I started skimming when I was about halfway through the book and never felt like I missed anything, because nothing was really happening and I could always fill in the blanks myself as everything was just so obvious. Almost the entire book felt like filler to me. Also, I could guess everything that was going to happen from pretty much the very beginning, so there was zero suspense or mystery left…

I don’t even really want to talk about the characters or the romance, because it was all just so empty and flat. The protagonist had no personality whatsoever, and his romance with the dead boy, Julian, had less than zero amount of depth. The only thing I can really say about the protagonist, Yadriel, is that he was very self-absorbed.
For example: When his cousin (who was always extremely kind to him) DIED, he managed to make the entire situation all about himself and his own issues. His cousin’s mother was literally right there, grieving the recent news that her SON had died, but Yadriel thought it was appropriate to throw a tantrum about himself (that had nothing to do with his cousin; so it was not because he was grieving too).

The writing was also just plain bad. It lacked any kind of emotion and had a lot of info-dumping, which was especially odd since there wasn’t even a lot of information to give? Honestly, the writing style was just very bland and dry. It wasn’t engaging in any way, shape or form.

Of course, I really do appreciate the trans representation, but to me it really felt like this entire book was about that.
I mean, the whole plot about becoming a brujo was just a metaphor for Yadriel truly being a boy; which was kind of inherently sexist, by the way, because why do boys have to play with knives and why do girls have to heal people? Why is it based on gender, anyway? I mean, Yadriel was really bothered by the fact that the men didn’t incorporate him into their little club, but he was never bothered by the fact that the women weren’t allowed to do whatever they wanted to do either. The entire vibe of their family was just very sexist, but Yadriel didn’t give a damn about that, because, as I said before, he only cared about himself.
Truly, though, Yadriel’s entire personality revolved around being trans and how he struggled with acceptance from his family. Literally, that was his one and only defining feature. Nothing else.
So, yea, all that kind of sucked. And don’t get me wrong, representation is important to incorporate in a story, but it can’t be the whole story. And if you do decide to create a book only about the trans experience, it would need much better writing and a more meaningful storyline. Otherwise it’ll become very flat and simple and boring and even annoying, which was the case here.

All in all, this book never captured my interest in any way, and I simply did not have fun with it or have any kind of emotions while reading. I didn’t connect with anything and I was just bored.

[Anniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a book has you crying at 5% in, you know it's going to hit hard.

Cemetery Boys was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020. I've been desperate to read it for months. So even though I'd preordered a book box with the book, I couldn't wait for it to arrive and purchased the ebook so I could start it on release day. And I have zero regrets, because as high as my expectations were, this book lived up to them perfectly.

I firmly believe this will be a new comfort read for me, one I'll reread again and again when in need of comforting, and that's honestly the highest praise I can give any book. It's this perfect fantasy with a contemporary feel, full of funny moments but also full of hard-hitting ones. Overall, I found it a rather fluffy fantasy, but it does have its impactful moments, and I thought it had a really great balance between romcom aspects and more impactful ones.

Yadriel and Julian have my absolute favourite dynamic, and it was consistently there from the moment they met. Julian just... will not shut up, and Yads has had this long-suffering weariness from the minute they met. Both of these characters are characters you can't help but love, and their relationship is so special to me, because they both have these reasons to believe they're not worthy of (romantic) love and it's wonderful to see them proving each other wrong. Because they're both so incredibly loveable, and they deserve the world.

The trans rep was honestly... so incredibly special to me as well. I already cried twice during the first two chapters, because I felt so seen in some really difficult struggles. And it was just amazing to see how this book does deal with transphobia in Yadriel's day to day life, but in a way that never makes this a heavy book to read, which means it's such a safe space to process and engage with these issues.

[Lucy Tonks (the invisible life of a reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No, it wasn't the end. It was a better beginning."


I really liked this book, it was so cute, I do have a few complaints which I'll get to in a second, but at the time that I read this book this was just what I needed!


This book follows Yadriel, a trans boy, who is determined to prove his gender to his family and that he is a real brujo. With the help of his cousin, Maritza, he performs a retual to try an summon his murdered cousin's spirit. However, he end up summoning the ghost of the school's resident bad boy, Julian Diaz. Julian is determinated to find out what happened to him, so left with no choice Yadriel makes a bargain to help him. But the longer they spend time together, the less Yadriel wants let Julian leave.


The plot was intriguing, but quite predictable. From the beginning of the book I said please let this character not be the villain, but low and behold, they were the villain. I was quite surprised by how predictable it was since I hear so many good things about this book and I never heard this book being depicted as predictable. But taking into consideration that this was a debut novel, the author did an amazing job. I loved learning more about Latinx community and the brujos, and I'm really interested to learn more about this topic and this culture.


To be honest, I also found this book to be a bit more younger than I expected. This wasn't as dark as I expected. Like when I heard the word "ghost", I thought it would be a but more spookier, but, well, that did not happened. This book ended up being more of a rom-com, than spooky book.


I really loved having Yadriel as a main character and, oh boy, I loved Julian. This was just the cute book that I needed. Although, I felt like the romance was a bit rushed and there could have been more development, I still really liked it. I love how Julian was so understanding of Yadriel. Yadriel struggled so much with his family and them not being able ot understand him, that was just what he needed, somebody to understand him.


Maritza had to be my favourite character. She was so badass and, most importantly, she was always there for Yads, she was always there to help him when he needed. By the way, can we talk about her purple hair?! LOVE IT!!


I really liked this book, but I am still sad that it ended up being predictable. Overlooking that, I am really excited to read more from this author in the future!

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free audio file in exchange for an honest review

"Don't mourn me.
If you cry for me, I grieve your pain.
Instead, if you sing to me, I'll always live and my spirit will never die."

I probably wouldn't have picked this up if my friend Miranda hadn't recommended it to me but I am very glad she did. It was spooky, funny, and so, so adorable. It also had a pretty hefty plot twist in the end.

So, what's this book about?
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

I absolutely loved the Latinx culture. I've said it in multiple reviews but in case you haven't read and reread all 800+ of my reviews (how dare you), my dad is 100% latino making me 50% latino which I guess makes me biracial. ANYWAY, this isn't a discussion of my ancestry. My point is I love learning more about the Latinx culture (I admit I don't know as much as I wish I did) and also reliving the stuff I already know.

Yadriel's family, in spite of some of them being unaccepting, were sweet. It reminded me of being surrounded by my Abuelos, Tios, Tias, and cousins and the sweet chaos the brought with them.

I also loved the magic that was tied to the Latinx culture. It was fascinating and enjoyable to read and I really hope to see more of it in this author's upcoming books.

I loved the characters too. Yadriel reminded me of myself (a little bit) and I loved his determination. Julian was so adorable. "It's a doggie dog world" will forever be one of the best, most adorable quotes I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

I enjoyed the mystery that was woven into the story. I won't spoil but the plot twist in the end was so good and it totally surprised me. It was very Stalking Jack the Ripper-esque.

Bottom Line:
4 stars
Age Rating - [ PG-13 ]
Content Screening (Mild Spoilers)
Positive Messages (3/5) - [Sacrifice, Selflessness, Perserverance]
Violence (4/5) - [Gore, Body horror, Ghosts, Death, Blood, Stabbing, Shooting]
Sex (1/5) - [Mild sexual themes, Kissing]
Language (2/5) - [Sh*t, d*ck]
Drinking/Drugs (3/5) - [Alcohol consumption, Medicinal drugs]
Content and trigger warnings - Transphobia, Loss of a loved one, Violence, Gore, Horror
Publication Date: September 1st, 2020
Publisher: Swoon Reads (an imprint of Macmillan Children's (an imprint of Macmillan))
Genre: Fantasy/LGBT

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Hecka cute and a substantial plot twist at the end! review to come

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I'M SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDDD

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