Jennifer Cervantes

This is the best love story I've read in ages. You are set up nicely by the countdown, then pulled along through a field of metaphorical flowers, most of the forget-me-not kind. Hart and Ruby are not only in love, they're best friends and have a future planned together. His drowning kicks everything to the curb, leaving her in grief limbo.Then Hart gets a reprieve of sorts. Local bad boy Jamison is in a coma and will die soon, but Lourdes, an angel that sorta reminded me of Luna Lovegood if show more Luna had a celestial boss, steps in with a deal. Hart gets to inhabit Jamison's body, but will gradually lose his memories, not only of Ruby, but of everything else.
Following his efforts to regain his relationship with Ruby, who detests Jamison, especially when every time he tries to to explain anything about the switch, he's silenced, is fascinating. Also fascinating are the ways all the other characters, most sympathetic, come into play as the star-crossed lovers try to make sense of everything. This is a story where you alternate rooting for them to have a happily ever after, and a dread that it's not gonna happen. Read the book to see how that quandary is resolved...or not. show less

For the first few chapters, I was worried that this was another 'romance' where lust and sex are a cheap replacement for love and personality, but I kept reading and found a beautiful story about magic, family and yes, actual love! There are a couple of heated scenes that are well written yet don't go all the way, so to speak, and then the final 'reunion' between Harlow and Ben, which is enough for me.

In the spirit of Practical Magic, which is one of my favourite films, and, yes, Encanto, show more that I haven't actually seen, Harlow Estrada comes from a long line of magical women and her family run a flower farm in Mexico where they grow enchanted blooms. Her mother can influence dreams, her sister communicates with ghosts, and a cousin has the gift of healing. The women are all named after flowers, too - Jazmin, Rosa, Camelia, Liliana, Dahlia. Only Harlow lacks a specific magical power, and is named after rocks (or a town in Essex, if you're English). When Harlow's one-sided relationship with a dude bro called Chad ends with a drink in his face and a quick escape from New York, she returns to the family farm and finds the love and magic she has been missing.

I love a good Hallmark movie and this novel is like a rejected script. The city boyfriend, the return home, sparks flying after a meet-cute in a local eatery (owned by her godfather!), a cute older couple who show what real love can be, romantic dates, the former girlfriend who throws a spoke in the wheels - all that was missing was snow! Harlow's fear that her feelings are the result of magic and not genuine connection was also handled well (and her friend Laini lampshades my hatred of 'romance' novels perfectly: 'No way could someone fall this madly if they hadn't had sex, right?') Harlow's empowerment is satisfying, Ben is pretty bland but sweet and his grandparents are adorable, and dear lord, would I love to live on the family flower farm (the shop is called 'Encanto', nudge nudge). I even remembered to water my plant after reading about so many beautiful blooms!

The writing is a bit clumsy in places and perhaps the pages could do with a bit of pruning, but I've read worse this week! Delightful. show less

If you are looking for a fantastic, funny, crazy adventure for your middle grade reader, J.C. Cervantes’ novel The Storm Runner is an excellent choice. A modern take on Maya folklore, it offers readers a rollicking adventure with disgusting foes from the Underworld, crazy Maya gods and other unexpected creatures, and is helped along in his adventure by an unlikely cast of characters including his pro wrestling-mad Uncle Hondo, his nearest neighbors who consist of the blind phone-psychic show more Mrs. Cab and the besotted Mr. Ortiz who is obsessed with growing hot peppers, and a girl with more than a few secrets of her own.
The Storm Runner is narrated in the quite expressive, honest, earnest voice of its 13-year-old hero, Zane Obispo. An unlikely hero he is – born with a limb difference, he is used to being taunted by classmates for an obvious limp due to his “gimpy” leg, and so he’s happiest on his own, exploring the dormant volcano near his home in the New Mexico desert with his three-legged dog Rosie. Did I mention that his mom doesn’t like him exploring the volcano, or that he’s been warned away by Mrs. Cab?
When he sneaks out one night to explore the volcano, he sees something bizarre – and soon realizes that nothing in his life is what he thought it was, or people are more than he knows them to be – including the father that he never met.
He’s a character that means well, but sometimes breaks the rules – even if he has good intentions behind his decisions – and one of those decisions fulfills a Maya prophecy at which he is the center. This story unfolds with a breakneck pace and a whole lot of imagination, from mystical ways of travel, crazy inventions from a diabetic giant (who grows when his blood sugar gets low), and breakaway twists and turns. This book is pure FUN.
The Storm Runner is part of Rick Riordan Presents, a Disney imprint, which publishes books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage. It has the feel of one of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson tales, only with a disabled Hispanic teen at the center of a great Maya prophecy and tangled in Maya folklore. It’s a lot to celebrate here, and Zane is a brave, realistic hero that I think will appeal to middle schoolers (and those of us of an older age who still love a great adventure.) show less

Ok, so I have huge admiration for Rick Riordan for knowing his audience really well and for channeling that audience towards mythologies that he doesn't know everything about written by Own Voices authors. I also have huge admiration for JC Cervantes for writing a fast paced, never ending mystery of an adventure that will absolutely appeal to Riordan fans -- this is an excellent book in that genre.

Unfortunately, I am not the right audience for that genre, so while I have an endless appetite show more for ridiculous romance scenarios and paranormal silliness, I just couldn't get into this thing, any more than I could get into the original Riordan books. Tell your rabidly pacing 3rd-6th graders who are dying for the next Riordan adventure to pick this up. They will not be disappointed. I'll be in the next aisle, enjoying steampunk and werewolves and adventuring wombats. show less