Hi, everyone! Today I'm excited to be sharing a VERY special book; an own voice middle grade fantasy from debut author, Kaela Rivera. Buckle up, you're in for a ride! I'm sharing a review and then an interview with the author. Enjoy!
Book title: Cece Rios and The Desert of Souls
Publication date: April 13, 2021
Author: Kaela Rivera
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Pages: 352
How I got the book: Sent for Review; the publisher provided me an ARC in exchange of my honest review.
Synopsis
Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous—especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits break free from their home in Devil’s Alley to threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas who roamed the desert, much to her family’s disapproval. After all, it’s common knowledge that only brujas—humans who capture and control criaturas—consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime.
When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, everyone in town believes she’s lost forever. But Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself—while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans, and agrees to help her on her journey. With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family—and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way.
When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, everyone in town believes she’s lost forever. But Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself—while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans, and agrees to help her on her journey. With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family—and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way.
Review
If you are searching for a book with a strong female character, CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS is perfect for you. Honestly, this is one of the best books I've read this year! You get to follow the main character, Cece, through a wonderful adventure while she's trying to save her sister. She's such a strong girl! You get to see her development through the story; not only within herself, but also with her family and her community. I enjoyed the setting, the different relationships with Cece's family members, the folktales included, the desserts (but you can read about that in the interview below), and the criaturas! Although, I have to admit, I was a little bit scared at the beginning (don't act surprised, you already know I'm scared of everything!). Also, I have to say that I loved how the author incorporated the elements of fire and water to the story. It was easy for me to fall in love with this fantasy world full of magic!
There are some folktales that I recognized in the story but, some of them, I had to do a little research online. The thing is, I even talked about the folklore stories with my husband's grandfather. He almost recognized all of them! And then, I noticed the glossary at the end. Lol. That's such a great addition to the book! I already told a friend that she HAS to read this book with her daughter (right, Michelle?), and I also request it on my library! So I'm pretty sure you can tell how excited I am about this book. I can't wait to read more stories by Kaela Rivera!
If CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS sounds like something you would enjoy, be sure to add it to you TBR!
Kaela Rivera's interview
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hola, everyone! Thanks for having me! I’m Kaela Rivera, author of CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS, and I’m the daughter of Mexican-American and a British parents with an unsatiated imagination. I grew up hunting the woods outside my house for adventure, an excitable miscreant who carved my own bows and arrows out of bamboo and hoped to find creatures from folklore. When my searches didn’t turn up the magical worlds I was looking for, I became a writer so I could make them myself.
How was the creative process behind CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS and what inspired you to write it?
CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS was a culmination of a lot of things—thoughts, ideas, and experiences that grew into something bigger after coming together. For a long time, I’d been trying to write a novel with a main character who had to take care of people’s souls that existed on the outside. The old idea revolved around an inn, but safe to say, that part didn’t stay. But the idea of souls on the outside—and how that would change the way we take care of each other—remained.
Later, I went and visited with my abuelo during college winter break. I hadn’t seen him in years, since I was a small child, but the experience as an adult was powerful. He told me all kinds of amazing stories about what it was like growing up in Northern Mexico as a child, and his love and memories inspired my own love for my heritage. That eventually turned into the setting and characters of my story and became a great way of expressing my love for this half of my family’s history.
So CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS took years of creative baking in my head, really, but once it clicked and I sat down to write it, it was fast and furious. I wrote 10,000 words in one sitting, and I finished the majority of it in the month of November (that’s right—it was my 2016 NaNoWriMo novel!). I’m a bit of a chaotic writer, though, so it was out of order and had random gaps between scenes. A few months later, after I got settled at my first real job out of college, I sat down one weekend to finish the book and pull it all together. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. And soon enough, CECE’s first draft was complete!
There are many folklore tales included in CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS. How was the process of selecting which ones you wanted represented in the book?
Honestly, I had only two rules for myself when picking a creature or tale from folklore: 1. I had to love it and think it was cool (otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to bring my passion to it) and 2. It had to thematically connect in some way to what I was writing about.
Fortunately, I also gave myself permission to change things about the folklore stories to connect them to the story better if I wanted and liked it enough. That’s how I selected stories like Tzitzimitl, or El Silbon, and even how I decided to center the plot around El Sombreron’s bride-stealing.
Who is your favorite character and why?
This is such an unfair question! They are all mi hijas and hijos! But if I’m pressed and must select one (beside Cece herself; she’ll always win), I’d say Coyote is probably the one I find most interesting to write.
There are a number of reasons why—he’s a complicated character, with a wrestle between hope and guilt, faith and disappointment, that I find compelling. I love his character design, and the way his interactions with Cece push them both to grow in a loving way. Plus, he was one of the most elusive characters to write. It took me a long time to peel back layers of his legendary mystery and reveal his character, despite loving him from the beginning. All the time and thought that took made it all the more rewarding when his character arc came through.
Has someone mentioned to you that they got cravings while reading your book? I LOVE dessert! So I was craving to get some buñuelos and dulce de leche. If you ever come to Puerto Rico, you've got to try my mom's tres leches. THE best dessert ever. Anyway, why was it important to you to include these types of food/desserts?
Hah! That’s the first time I’ve heard I gave someone cravings, but I’m a little proud of myself now that I have! What better food to crave, right?
Anyway, that’s a great question. So, I’m Mexican-American through my dad’s side, but he didn’t seem interested enough in us to share our heritage with us most of the time—whether that was in language, food, or stories.
That said, these foods became more important to me because of how I came to discover them as I grew up. My lovely British mother made buñuelos for us as kids because she got the recipe from Californian neighbors. I tried tres leches for the first time in my early twenties, when I visited my first panadería. And when I went to visit my abuelo, his wife is the one who introduced me to delicious dulce de leche (that my abuelo was very disappointed he couldn’t also eat—it’s for your health, Abuelo! I promise!).
So in many ways, these foods were all special to me in some way because I had to discover them, and they were introduced through experiences and people I loved. And, of course, because desserts are my favorite food group. Desserts are totally their own food group, right?
And about that mom tres leches (best kind of tres leches)—yes please! Brb, packing for Puerto Rico now!
And just for fun, tell us 5 random facts about you.
Prepare yourself for strange facts!
- I have a giant stuffed killer whale named Spot that I’ve had since I was four. I’m now twenty-six. I am not ashamed of my twenty-two-year-long love for this stuffed animal.
- Humpback whales are my favorite animal (though I love almost all aquatic and semi-aquatic animals—see last point).
- I grew up practicing taekwondo as a kid, mixed martial arts in high school, and even capoeira for a short stint in college. Martials arts are the best!
- I love axe-throwing, and I’m still trying to figure out how to write a story that includes it.
- I wanted to be a geologist when I was five because of how much I loved rocks. I used to collect rocks from the side of the road, wash them in my sink, and display them in my bedroom. I still display rocks in my room, but I don’t usually get them from the sides of roads now.
Ok, this was so much fun! Thank you for your time, Kaela! It was a pleasure having you on my blog.
More about the author
Kaela Rivera was raised to believe in will-o'-the-wisps and el chupacabra, but even scary stories couldn't stop her from reading in the isolated treetops, caves, and creeks of Tennessee's Appalachian forests. She still believes in the folktales of her Mexican-American and British parents, but now she writes about them from the adventure-filled mountains of the Wild West. When she's not crafting stories, she's using her English degree from BYU–I as an editor for a marketing company (or secretly doodling her characters in the margins of her notebook).
Her biggest hope is to highlight and explore the beauty of cultural differences–and how sharing those differences can bring us all closer.
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