Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Anderson - Lander Memorial Branch | Book | 22960002428513 | F MESA DESIDERIA | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Dorchester - Summerville Branch | Book | 30018006423749 | FIC MES | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Boardwalk Empire meets The Vanishing Half with a touch of earth magic in this sexy and action-packed historical fantasy set in the luminous Golden Twenties from debut author Desideria Mesa, where a part-time reporter and club owner takes on crooked city councilmen, mysterious and deadly mobsters, and society's deeply rooted sexism and racism, all while keeping her true identity and magical abilities hidden--inspired by an ancient Mexican folktale.
Yo soy quien soy. I am who I am.
Luna--or depending on who's asking, Rose--is the white-passing daughter of an immigrant mother who has seen what happens to people from her culture. This world is prejudicial, and she must hide her identity in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. Using her cunning powers, Rose negotiates with dangerous criminals as she climbs up Kansas City's bootlegging ladder. Luna, however, runs the risk of losing everything if the crooked city councilmen and ruthless mobsters discover her ties to an immigrant boxcar community that secretly houses witches. Last thing she wants is to put her entire family in danger.
But this bruja with ever-growing magical abilities can never resist a good fight. With her new identity, Rose, an unabashed flapper, defies societal expectations all the while struggling to keep her true self and witchcraft in check. However, the harder she tries to avoid scrutiny, the more her efforts eventually capture unwanted attention. Soon, she finds herself surrounded by greed and every brand of bigotry--from local gangsters who want a piece of the action and businessmen who hate her diverse staff to the Ku Klux Klan and Al Capone. Will her earth magic be enough to save her friends and family? As much as she hates to admit it, she may need to learn to have faith in others--and learning to trust may prove to be her biggest ambition yet.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mesa's ambitious but messy historical fantasy debut plunges deep into the underbelly of Prohibition-era Kansas City, following half-white, half-Mexican Luna Alvarado as she crafts a new life for herself as Rose Lane, cub reporter by day, and speakeasy manager by night. Passing as white is not as difficult as passing as mortal; she's also half bruja, or earth witch, and her powers manifest in an ability to charm men into doing her will by kissing them. She uses this charm to open a club "with real booze and a real orchestra" in the ritzy Hotel Bellerive--but as soon as she does, the Klan tries to shut her down, local mobsters extort her, all the men in her life try to claim and control her, and Al Capone schemes to use her to expand his operations across the Midwest. The result is fun but shallow, with brassy one-note characters who constantly repeat themselves and often speak in goofily rendered dialects ("Hey, latecoma', I'm the one who's skewa'd here!") in between bewildering or groan-worthy descriptions of emotions ("his eyes hardening in sable angst"). This is a lesser addition to the recent slew of 1920s-set SFF, one perhaps best left to diehard fans of Prohibition-era historical fantasy. Agent: Rachel Brooks, Bookends Literary. (Sept.)
Kirkus Review
One bruja--a witch--takes on the underbelly of 1920s Kansas City. Luna Alvarado leads a double life; when she visits her family's boxcar, she's Luna, half-bruja with only the gift of charm, but in the city, she's Rose Lane, reporter by day and proprietress of the speak-easy the River Rose by night. Luna's abuela has powerful earth magic, and some of that power has passed down to Luna--enough to influence men through a kiss, but nothing more, possibly because of her White father. If his blood has diluted her Mexican magic, it has also granted her the ability to pass as White, an opportunity her mother insists she seize, even if it means growing apart from her family. Luna also has ambitions of her own: She wants to manage a thriving jazz club, no husband necessary. As Luna takes chance after chance in pursuing her dreams, she becomes ever more entangled with mob factions, rich men who keep secrets, and even the Ku Klux Klan. Tense action and scheming inside and outside the bedroom are interspersed with reflections on Luna's identity and the inequities of the time that leave so many in the shadows. While the plot and characters are engaging, some dialogue is hampered by overwritten accents that, rather than establishing the setting, verge instead toward parody. Clunky voices aside, the friends and family surrounding Luna are a joy to meet--if she can find it within herself to let them in. Good flapper fun, if a bit rough around the edges. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Prohibition-era Kansas City gets the magical treatment in this debut. Rose Lane, aka Luna Alvarado, passes for white while working days as a reporter for the Kansas City Star and nights running her own speakeasy in the Jazz District. While her light skin allows her to find success in business, she must continually tamp down her real identity as the latest in a long line of earth brujas descended from a family of Mexican immigrants. She calls on her power just enough to charm the men around her with her kisses--a practice that can get a little messy from time to time. Her ambition to open a higher-class establishment, though, puts her at odds with some powerful enemies, including the Mob and the Klan, and Rose will need to use all of her abilities, along with her family and friends' support, to make it out alive. Rose is a heroine to root for and Mesa's writing has charm and wit--and there's plenty of action to keep readers invested right until the very last pages. For fans of Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches (2020).
Library Journal Review
DEBUT Rose Lane and her ragtag band of social outcasts take on City Hall, the Mob, and the Ku Klux Klan in Mesa's debut Prohibition-era historical fantasy. Rose has a secret: she is a Latina, passing as white to provide for her family. But it's her power as a bruja, an earth witch, that makes the local mob covet her illegal jazz club and her power. They'll do anything to own her, and she'll do anything to keep her family safe--even finally using the magic that she's always seen as more curse than gift. Rose knows the price for being both female and non-white in a time and place that steps on both at every turn. That she wins by embracing her roots, gives the novel a kind of magic that urban fantasy readers will love. VERDICT Mesa's debut mixes a bit of Mexican folktale, a chunk of magical realism, and tons of period detail into a page-turning urban fantasy that takes the glitter of Boardwalk Empire and combines it with a story of found family, mob violence, and romance.--Marlene Harris
