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“Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.

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.”

Cemetery Boys

I got an ARC of this book.

LOOK AT THAT COVER. The colors, the people, the symbolism. I could go on for a long time about how much I love that cover and how perfect it really is, but then I couldn’t talk about how wonderful the book is.

So iam found this book for me. I got a message and all I really needed was trans ya with ghosts (it seems that gay trans ghost romances are a favorite niche genre for me). I requested a copy and didn’t get it. I tried to enter to win one. I then begged to be part of a blog tour. I was DESPERATE for this book. The publisher finally took pity on me and let me part of the blog tour. Be sure to check out the other reviews and iam’s review! If you are excited like I was there is still a giveaway available that ends on September 9th. The giveaway I entered ended on September 1st, so it is always a good idea to add a book to your shelf and to follow the author!

I went into this knowing pretty much nothing, which is the norm for me. So the first chapter just blew me away. I was HOOKED. There was a lot going on to start. Then it ebbed and flowed in a way that felt natural and kept me reading more and more. I lost more than a few hours of sleep reading too late into the night in this book. I have sent information to everyone. This book is pretty amazing.

The characters felt so real. They were varied. They were family. They were exactly what I want to see in a book. None of the characters were perfect. They all played roles in the story in a way that they could not be replaced. It was easy to tell who was speaking. I loved some characters and I hated others, but because I felt like I knew them. Maritza and her dogs are just love. The Julian’s friends immediately wormed their way into my heart. I am a sucker. I would have joined these adventures in a heartbeat. Add in that the characters were complex. The characters were battling tradition getting in the way of family. They were battling fear and lose. There was just so much perfection in the characters.

The plot was so attention grabbing. I could not put this book down. I have been in a reading slump and even when I have enjoyed a book, I have had issues focusing. This book I read almost like normal. This book fought my reading slump.

There were a few plots happening at once. There was the plot of Yads proving her was a brujo, finding a way to help Julian, trying to find the cousin, and the budding romance between Julian and Yads. I had some issues with two of the plots. The proving himself plot was just so full of transphobia and was just the basic “the MC is trans” plot of having to deal with acceptance and fighting for yourself. I am so tired of those plots. This one was very well done. It fit the story, it fit the characters, it gave some depth to characters and plots. I just wish we were beyond the basic trans plots. The rest of the plots helped. If this were the only plot in the book, I would be so let down. Instead this plot is more like flavor and context, instead of the focus. The other issue I had was Julian and Yad’s romance. Don’t get me wrong, I shipped them hardcore. I may have even sent iam and a partner a message about how I needed ghost sex to happen. My issue is I am worried about Julian’s anger. He had so much anger that he could not control. It was a huge red flag for me. So I am worried about Yads. But I also really appreciated how full of life Julian was (pun clearly intended). He was not the typical romance hero. I just worry. I want to protect Yads so badly. So I can’t even really complain about the plot there, I just wanted to whine for a second about how much I love Yads.

I could go on forever about this book. It is well written, well paced, complex characters, and the ending was pretty perfect. I started tearing up at the ending. I won’t spoil anything, just know that I loved it and it was the best ending I could have ever imaged for this story. It fit the story and the characters, it was perfectly paced, and it felt like it happened at exactly the right point.

Read this book. Seriously. This book is the YA answer to Gideon the Ninth.

5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.

You can buy the book here.

~Isaiah