Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I really loved this. It was a fun and heartfelt read with magic, mystery, romance and a lot about family. It was very well done and a breeze to read. I desperately hope that this will be a series and we will see books form Sage's sisters' POVs!

This book follows Sage Flores. Sage left her home town after her younger sister, Sky, died. Eight years later she has to return to deal with show more unfinished issues. Things get complicated when she takes on a job for a local farmer helping with botany and finds out her new partner at work is going to be Tennessee Reyes. Her and Tennessee Reyes had a "thing" during high school via an anonymous chatting app; he never knew who she was in person. He hurt her badly and she wants nothing to do with him now. Too bad no one told Tennessee about this unknown past between him and Sage.

Meanwhile things get really complicated when Sky's ghost starts to haunt Sage, demanding Sage make amends with her other sister. But things are complicated in this family and all the women have strange magical powers. Sage can't talk to her living sister without having her call down a storm on her, so how is she supposed to make any peace there?

This book is fairly romance heavy, but also had wonderful magic elements. The mystery behind what happened to Sky is a fascinating one and helps to drive the story forward. Another key element to the story is Sage's family and trying to heal all the ills between Sage, her sisters, and the aunt that took care of them all.

This was incredibly well written and easy to read. I enjoyed the magic, the romance, the family, and Sage as a character in general. Sage grows and finds peace throughout this book and I loved taking that journey with her.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I absolutely loved this. It was a perfect summer escapist paranormal romance read. The romance is well done but so is the intriguing magic, the deep family connections, and the mystery behind Sky's death. This is a well-balanced read that I really enjoyed! I hope that we see more books in this world, maybe books from Sage's sisters' POV? show less

OH MY GOSH. I honestly didn't know what to expect going into this book (UFO abductions?) but it completely blew me away.

Gilliland's novel covers a lot of heavy stuff - racism, sexual abuse, physical abuse, deportation and the death of a parent. She mixes this with quirky characters, magical realism and Latinx representation, and a wonderful, original coming of age story,

The first two thirds of the book focuses on social and relationship issues. Sia is constantly thrown into situations with show more the awful son of the racist sheriff who deported her mom, making for some uncomfortable and maddening scenes. She meets the new boy at school, and her friendship with him puts her at odds with her best friend Rose. (Who has her own secrets, but hasn't actually let Sia in on this.) Her grandmother has passed, but Sia constantly feels her spirit around her - her grandmother is a very feisty spirit, and these scenes were really lovely, many incorporating Mexican folklore.

The last third of the book is where the UFO part of the storyline comes in. It's definitely a change of tempo and it suddenly takes on a much more X-files tone. (There are a lot of X-files references thrown in, too.) Admittedly, this felt part of the story becomes infinitely more quirky and out there, and feels a little out of place. The ending of the UFO portion was NOT what I would have predicted at all, either, so brava to Gilliland for continually keeping me on my toes.

The story has some lovely prose, and its characters are colorful and engaging. I can't wait to see what comes next from this author! show less

We're back with the Flores witches, this time in Teal's head. Teal was so unlikeable in the first book I was looking forward to seeing how she transforms into a lead and the author did not disappoint. We find out that their mother's abandonment affected Teal more than anyone else, as she took Teal's magic as she left, leaving her a witch of Wild Lightning with no control over it. The weather is completely tied to her emotions, so she's had to shut her heart down to make sure she doesn't show more destroy Cranberry. Helping her through things is her best friend Carter, whose heart she broke in the last book because she was scared of how good his kiss felt.

So at the beginning of this book, there's a lot of rebuilding to be done and Teal is committed to fixing the most important relationships in her life. This book features a marriage of convivence, not my favourite trope, but it works here. We get a great chapter that looks at how boys in this culture are raised without any responsibility while girls are constantly criticized, with Teal standing up for herself and subtly calling it out. Except for that piece that Carter needs to work through, he's incredibly supportive of Teal. I really believed in their romance.

This book is a standalone but it gains so much richness if you've read the first book. We see Teal trying way to hard to make things right with Sage after being so hard on her in the first book. We see Sky adjusting to her new self and her new life. We get the payoff with their mother's abandonment, with both Sage and Teal getting what they needed. And we get hints of Sky's story at the end. I can't wait. show less

“Remember when I told you that you were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen? This is still true. And I don’t just mean your outsides. I mean your insides, as dumb and cliché as that sounds."

In the second book of the Wild Magic series we go face to face with Teal. Teal is angry at the world and herself and it stems from something that was taken from her long ago. Many people may get the wrong idea about Teal, but stick with her - she's worth it. This book captivated me even before I show more finished the first book. I knew Teal's story was going to be explosive and would have me from the first paragraph. I was right.

We continue to deal with the family trauma from the first book - it's going to be a long road for this family. We get more in depth about each character and who they are. This is definitely not a series where we just move from couple to couple - these books are showing us growth of all the characters and the relationships. I LOVE THIS. Carter was introduced in Witch of Wild things as someone Teal kissed, but we learn that he is her long standing best friend and now, because of that kiss, they are estranged. Teal is working her way back to her family and to Carter. Carter is one of the good ones - he won't rush her, he doesn't tell her what she's thinking, he respects her and her family. He fixes all the wrongs and he is so right.

I loved this book and cannot wait to read the next book in this series!

“Hey. I know what happened isn’t about how you look. But you know…I want you to know, okay? That you look like a goddess all the f***ing time." show less