Librarian: We probably won't be ordering this one, Not because it isn't good, but because we don't have the first one. I might try to get the first one added to the order, but without one, we won't get two.
Reader: I picked this one up because eI absolutely adored Labyrinth Lost, and I hoped Bruja Born would be similar. In this it exceeded my expectations. The plot line was a lot deeper than the last book, and the world felt more detailed. I will say that it felt more like a companion novel then a sequel, but that probably had more to do with the perspective shift then the content.

I hadn't read the first book in this series, so was a tad lost at the beginning. Despite being the second in a series, the opening of BRUJA BORN could have used a bit more exposition to seat the reader more firmly in the milieu. I eventually did get somewhat into the story, The world building was good, the bruja-mythology intriguing, but characterization seemed somewhat lack as did true emotional content. This mostly seemed like teenagers ignoring their elders and repeatedly doing things they shouldn't have been doing—and not getting the fact that they were repeatedly digging themselves in deeper. The characters suffered a constant cycle of injuries, healings, and more injuries.

Another great step into the world the author has created but with different stakes and goals. An excellent read

RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY

4.5/5

HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK. I looooooved this book. Loved it more than the first. Zoraida Cordova I need the third book ASAP, in my hands. It will be even better if I got the ARC of this one too. More in-depth review can be found on The Nerd Daily website and Netgalley reviews 3 video (to come).

First, the usual disclaimer. I received a free eARC of this novel from the publisher via Netgaller.com in exchange for my honest review. This review will contain spoilers because in this house we do not fear a spoiler, nay we seek them out willingly with a brave heart and a curious mind!

Rating: 3.75/4

Let's start with the cover. 100%, the cover of this book is what initially lured me in. So much so that I failed to realize that it was a sequel, and had to get my hands on book one so that I could read it! I love everything about this cover. The clean geometric lines, the blue and gold colour scheme and the moth at the centre of it all really speaks to me. Oh, and the phases of the moon, because I love me some phases of the moon worked into art.

I enjoyed this story much more than the first book. With Labyrinth Lost, I felt like I was always wanting more from the story- something was just off and lacking. I enjoyed it, but I didn't -love- it. This book improved in leaps and bound, in my opinion.

Confession. I hated Lula in Labyrinth Lost. In Bruja Born, I hated her less, but I also felt like her character got the "protagonist scrub", that some of her difficult behaviour and sharper edges were filed down for palatability when the spotlight was turned on to her. I wanted to see her really bond with Alex, express her forgiveness and understanding, but instead it felt like she forced Alex to help her by manipulating Alex' guilt, and still felt like her endangering the world was justified, and that Alex's was not. There was a bit of a turn around on those thoughts, but they really didn't have a satisfying scene together hashing it out.

The plot of this one felt more immediate and faster paced, and I was a big fan that the Deos were more present in this one, that their stories and myths were delved into. I love me a magic system that is divine in origin, and this didn't disappoint.

Alex was still in a weird place for me. The romance between her in Rishi felt odd in book one, and this book didn't do it any favours by shunting Rishi off to Fort Lauderdale (I think? She had almost zero screen time and was only ever mentioned in barest passing). The number one complaint I have with these books is that while the idea and characters are great in concept, the execution can be a little weak and thin, especially the relationships between all the characters, romantic, friendship and familial. Everything stays on the surface, and the book surfaces for it. We barely see Rishi and Alex as friends at the begining, so when they develop a romance it seems sort of dropped out of the blue, considering the book up until that point explored Alex's romantic curiosity and complicated alliance with Nova almost exclusively.

Bruja Born continues that trend, by popping Rishi on a plane out of Brooklyn and dropping Nova back into Alex's orbit. They barely interact, just mostly circle each other, clearly both feeling some complicated things about each other, but never really having a good moment to figure anything out between them. Then Nova starts spending time with the youngest sister Rosie, and book three warning bells are going off in my head.

The plot in Book 2 revolves around Lula being unable to let go of her love for Maks, her longtime boyfriend, both relationship wise, and then letting him pass on in death. She wrangles first her sisters and Nova into things, and then half the magical community of Brooklyn when they accidentally kick off a Casimuerto apocalypse. Oops. Teenagers in love, am I right? Always starting world ending events instead of doing their homework and helping out around the house.

Lula and Maks' relationship ends before we can see any of it, as he breaks up with her immediately. This makes the emotional side of the rest of the book fall flat when it needs to be a pillar for the plot to stand on. How can we understand Lula's drastic decisions to save and hold on to this love no matter the cost, when all we are shown is this jerk breaking up with her for struggling and not being as bubbly and outgoing as she used to be while acknowledging he knows she is going through some heavy stuff? I'm glad he stays definitively dead in the end, good riddance to his garbage personality.

The magic seems better flushed out in this one, and I'm very, very hyped to explore Rose's in the next book. Her newly discovered power really speaks to me, and hands down, she is my favourite Mortiz sister. It's not even a contest. Please don't let her character drasticaly change in the next book!

All in all, they are fun books, with magic, and teen drama, and a world that is expanding out and becoming more interesting. Love the addition of Thorne Hill Alliance characters and the Knights of Lavant being in this book. I hope to see more of them in later books. It's an enjoyable quick read, but it's missing that something special to truly make it one of my favourites that I will come to again and again. If witches, supernatural creatures and magical realism are your thing, give this series a try.

I thought the plot was great. The magic system is very well developed and I love that we have Latino families heading our set of main characters. Cordova did an amazing job as always with the magic and gods and everything.

My main complaint is that I didn't hear or feel much difference in Lulas voice from Alex in book 1. I regularly forgot I was reading from Lulas pov until Alex would be mentioned.

I love that family always prevails in these stories. I can't wait for more with the Kingdom of Adas

If you are just getting into YA you might enjoy this book, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it. It was painfully predictable, Lula was entitled and I didn’t enjoy reading this book. I ended up DNFing the book.

So this second book was definitely better than it's predecessor but still has similar problems. This one follows the oldest daughter, who has a boyfriend that breaks up with her in the first few pages for a stupid reason as far as I can tell. But she decides that she still loves him and when a horrible bus accident occurs, then she is fighting for his life. Soooo... following family tradition, she makes a terrible, idiotic decision and almost causes the end of the world. Positives include this MC is a lot less annoying than Alex, the book takes place in the real world and focuses on family relationships, which is more interesting than certain side characters who make a reappearance. The world is becoming more interesting. Negatives: these girls keep making the same ridiculous mistakes. You'd think after seeing your sister do something dumb, you'd stop from making the same one. I have a feeling that the third book will be the youngest doing something even worse and then the world almost ending. I am not going to stick around for that installment.

Lula, the middle sisters of the Brooklyn Brujas series, is a healer. When a bus crash kills her classmates, including her boyfriend Maks, she knows she has to do something. With the help of her sisters (and against the wishes of the bruja council), she performs a dangerous ritual to heal him, which of course goes horribly wrong (because why would she learn from her sister's mistakes from the first book, even though she was a victim of them?) and turns not only Maks, but everyone that died in the crash into casimuertos, something very close to zombies. The casimuertos have moments of clarity, but when their hunger kicks in, they become beasts who only want to kill and feed on humans. Now, I can kind of understand Lula, she just wants her boyfriend to live, and doesn't bother to think about the consequences. But she seemed a little slow on dealing with the damage she had done, especially considering the body count her actions caused. I may have perceived the time passing incorrectly, though, because the book starts to drag around the middle. When it does pick up, we get a wrap up that stops the casimuerto invasion, but left me unsatisfied. Lula spent so much time trying to decide what to do that the ending got rushed, and I feel like she should've got some sort of punishment, considering the far reaching effects of her actions.

❝ My aunt Maria Azul told me beauty was power. My mother told me beauty was a gift. If they're right then what am I now? All I know is I left fragments of myself in Los Lagos and I don't know how to get them back. ❞

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

I was so excited when I first saw this book, even before I saw the blurb. Labyrinth Lost was one of my favorite reads of the year so far and when I saw Bruja Born I knew that this was a book I had to get my hands on. Bruja Born shifts the focus from Alex (the protagonist in Labyrinth Lost) to her older sister Lula. This was a plus for me because while I could definitely use some more Alex, I was really curious about the rest of her family members. Alex's adventure in the first book didn't really leave room to get to know her family super well so I loved that we got to read a different point of view in Bruja Born.

Although, I will say that I was a little worried about Lula's character at first. Her first chapters brought up the idea of beauty more than a few times. She was kind of vain and selfish in that she guilted Alex into using her powers to hide her facial scars. I didn't enjoy that side of Lula, the one that was manipulative and kind of petulant towards Alex. I could understand her having some issues after the ordeal she went through in Labyrinth Lost but it was frustrating to see her not being the loving, protective, and sassy Lula from the first book.

Not to say that her character stays that way; Lula's character grows quite a bit from beginning to end. She becomes more comfortable taking charge and speaking her mind. She is more forgiving and willing to look forward. More importantly, she learns to love herself as she is and is able to let go of the past.

And since we can't talk about Lula without talking about Maks... I was really looking forward to getting to know Maks better in this book. Their relationship was established in the first book but we didn't get to really know them as a couple. And in this book... well, it doesn't really happen either sadly. Lula brings up memories from before she went to Los Lagos which helps us get a better idea of how Maks was in the relationship, but we don't really get to see them in the relationship.

Since it says it in the synopsis, it's not really a spoiler--I was sad that we only got to spend a short time with Maks since he dies. Even though he comes back later, he's changed and he isn't himself anymore so for me it was like getting to know a different character. And the new Maks was... well, I'll let you read and find out for yourself. Let's just leave it at him being the opposite of what I thought he'd be.

❝ Healing is the purest magic there is and it's part of my life force. When I look at Maks, I see the parts of me that used to be whole, and maybe it's desperate, maybe it's wrong, but I can't let him go. ❞

And because the synopsis already talks about this a bit as well: I loved that this book extended the magical world to include not only witches but their version of zombies (casimuertos). I thought casimuertos were a really interesting concept, not only with how they worked (consuming hearts) but how they were created and tied to the world (I'd say more but I'd hate to give away too much).

Another element I appreciated the author expanding on was the Knights of Lavant and the Thorne Hill Alliance. We heard mention of the hunters/Knights of Lavant in the first book a few times, and I think the Thorne Hill Alliance might have been brought up once or twice, but we didn't get to know anything else about them! The hunters/knights seemed like these bad guys you tell stories about to young brujas to keep them in line, but in this book they became real. I liked that we didn't just get to know them as some shadows, but that we were actually introduced to individuals in this book. They also introduced more supernatural beings through them in passing which I'm hoping we'll get to see more of in the future.

One of the biggest negatives of this book for me, however, was that the plot didn't seem as clear as in the first book and the pacing also seemed a little slow. In Labyrinth Lost, we knew that Alex was trying to get her family back and was going to the tree. Her journey was pretty straightforward and I could measure her progress with their traveling. But in Bruja Born? It wasn't clear right away what Lula was meant to do about Maks and the other casimuertos. And even when we were told what she was looking for it didn't feel like she was putting any effort into finding it until the very end of the book. And without her taking measured steps to obtain the object she was looking for it felt like the book was at a standstill plot-wise most of the time.

But! I loved the ending for the Bruja Born. It was shocking and left me with so many questions about the next book. It also answered a big question that had been gnawing at me since Labyrinth Lost: what happened to Alex's father? Yes, you get to find out finally! It seems like every book features one of the Mortiz sisters having a big epic lapse in judgment and making a terrible decision that affects everyone around them so I'm secretly waiting to see if the next book will be Rose's turn to mess up haha. I'm really looking forward to continuing this series and I think overall this was a pretty good follow up to the series!

Bruja Born was released on June 5th, go check it out!

4.2-star

This Brooklyn Brujas Series is getting better and better!

If you are a Cassandra Claire fan your should definitely give it a try! It was such a joy to red!

Expect...

- Awesome #OwnVoices Latin rep
- Fun easy flowing writing
- Smart, sassy and witty YA female MCs
- Magic in New York! ! the mix of the fantasy and real world in NY was SO GOOD! Great urban fantasy grunge settings.
- Latin culture.. Brujeria [witchcraft in Spanish]! and FOOD so much food! The Latin american mythology/beliefs are are so well represented! ! The book of Deos is AH-MAZING! And YES! A map of Lagos exists now [I had wished for that in my review of book 1]
- An awesome fantasy world with all kind supernaturals [vampires, werewolves, mermaids!] with so much potential! I can see so many sequels and spin-offs branching out from here!
- A unique take on zombies :) "Casi Muertos!" YES!
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!

I saw where it was going, but still good and did have some twists. Lula is still dealing with issues from what happened in book one with Alex and the return of their father. One the way to the last soccer game of the season with her boyfriend Maks, the bus is in a horrible accident that forces Lula to make terrible decisions with her magic. Looking forward to Rose's story next!

I did not finish this book. The main character is not as compelling as her sister was in Labyrinth Lost, and I can't bring myself to case about her or her feelings.

I found the first book from a "if you like this read this" recommendation, and I'm so glad I purchased it. I greatly enjoyed Labyrinth Lost; so of course I have to see what happens in the second book.
The story is from the first person view of Lula, the eldest sister. Had the story been done from Alex's perspective it would have been her story once again. This was Lula's story, and only she could tell it best with her thoughts and emotions behind the words. This book was a bit more darker than the first book, but just as engrossing in the story as we Lula across Brooklyn and discover that's there's more to being a Bruja than cantos and rituals. And that there's more than just Bruja's living in the world too.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book, I had no idea it was a sequel which means it is a great stand alone book as well. I fell in love with all the characters. I definitely recommend this book!

I enjoyed Labyrinth Lost when I read it last year, even though I thought it was a touch too predictable for my tastes. But this year’s follow-up Bruja Born is such a delight! It follows another one of the sisters, Lula Mortiz, six months after everything that happens in Labyrinth Lost and as she’s dealing with her trauma (physical and emotional). When she’s in a major accident that nearly kills her and the boy she loves, she decides to save him - only to open up an entirely new set of horrors when the balance between life and death is broken. It’s up to Lula and her family to figure out how to set things right before the world as they know it ends. Now, while I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is an all-time new favorite, I’m glad I read Bruja Born. It was really fun, and I could definitely see it lending itself well to a visual medium with all the action and detail Cordova wove into it. I also loved getting to know even more about the world of brujas and brujos, particularly the lore that was touched upon in this story. And I really enjoyed seeing the sisters together (along with a few other familiar faces) as they tried to right their wrongs! It was an entertaining read for sure, and it definitely left me eager to discover what happens next for this family. If you want a quick-paced fantasy to read (I actually see this being a fun beach read), definitely pick up a copy for yourself!

This was a really enjoyable second book in the Brooklyn Brujas series. I really enjoyed seeing all of the characters again and I found this to be an improvement on Córdova's writing style. I liked how this book dealt with a wide variety of deep topics, including family, love, and responsibility.

As with Labyrinth Lost, Zoraida Córdova shares with her readers a beautifully re-imaged, magical Brooklyn. In Bruja Born, we follow Alex's older sister, Lula Mortiz. Lula, unlike Alex (the protagonist in Labyrinth Lost), has a specific sort of magical/witch ability, and that is her ability to heal. Lula's mother is a healer as well, and Lula has always identified as a healer bruja (witch) and as someone whose external beauty draws the eyes of those around her. After the events of Labyrinth Lost, Lula goes through many changes in her day-to-day life and relationships. As if these alterations weren't enough, Lula and her fellow classmates are in a deadly bus accident on the way to a game. Lula and her sisters (Rosie and Alex) perform a canto to heal her love (Maks) and there are many unexpected consequences. I really enjoyed this second book in the Brooklyn Bruja series. Córdova is able to create a magical setting while maintaining interactions between the Mortiz family that feel real. I'm not familiar with bruja/brujo culture outside of this series, but I enjoy the Brooklyn Bruja series very much and hope to read more Fantasy/Magical YA that incorporates latinx culture. I eagerly await book 3!

For more see my video review: https://youtu.be/5odLwFGVD9E.

Bruja Born was an urban fantasy with a glorified "fuck, I woke the dead, what do I do?" story line. There wasn't much more to it, really. I've never seen that one. How original. The thing is, I strongly disliked Lula in the first book, I really don't know what I expected from a sequel in which she gets the lead role. Lula is whiny, entitled, spoiled oldest child who's used to getting whatever she wants, and once she doesn't, she guilt-trips her sisters into helping her resurrect her boyfriend. Great going. Her character is supposed to develop and realize her shortcomings as the plot progresses or something, I guess, and I do kind of see it but it was too little, too late. If you are just getting into YA fantasy you might enjoy Bruja Born but if you are well-versed in the genre you'll find it painfully predictable. It's your call to make, in the end, but I, with the highest probability, would not recommend.

I loved Labyrinth Lost and was excited to get a copy of this! This did not disappoint! It was different from the first book but still so good. I really appreciate sequels that take the best parts of a book and are able to continue them but in their own unique way. This story while it builds on the previous novel, does a nice job of being a stand alone book. The characters are compelling and you get completely sucked into the world that Cordova has created for her characters. I felt like this was darker and more traumatic than the first novel which wasn't a turn off for me (in fact I really appreciated it!) but may be overwhelming to other readers. This was a solid 4 star read for me and I'm excited for the next installment!