3.5 / 5⭐️

In comparison to the first book in this series, this was significantly less spooky. I loved the first book because it scared me so much. This didn’t draw me in the same way, although I will say that the spooky cover immediately drew me in and the hospital scene spooked me in the ways I was anticipating.

I was really hoping to see more of the original trio together, but this story took a unique turn. The friendships from the first book have suffered as a consequence of the earlier events and this book follows Paola as she tries to both convince herself she doesn’t mind that they’ve drifted apart and bring them all back together. I LOVED Pao and Dante in the first book and was a little bit disappointed that they had such a rocky relationship this time around. I am SO curious to see how the Dante situation is handled in the next book (as well as new family developments in the Santiago household)

Overall, I felt that this was a solid middle of a series book!

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares is the second book in the Paola Santiago series.

This book takes place six months after the ending of the first book. Paola is barely speaking to her friends anymore, and her mother has a new boyfriend. Paola feels alone. When she starts having nightmares again, this time of a forest, Paola is shocked to discover the dreams are connected to her estranged father. Paola soon learns of her friend Dante’s grandmother falling ill, and the answers once again point to her father. Paola decides she must go find her father.

This sequel is super fast and addicting. I look forward to Paola’s next adventure!

Right off the block I'm giving this book a solid four stars. I didn't have to worry about diversity at all and that was a bit of relief. I loved the voices of the characters and Paola is a fiery child with a big personality.

She reminds me of my younger sibling and is a bright and strong protagonist. When it comes to the other characters they're vivid as well. None outshine Paola however and I love that. There are instances in other books where the side characters overshadow the main character and that's not the case here.

I didn't read the first book and didn't know this was the second in a series. That said, I had no problems catching up on what happened in the first story. The author explained it so well in such a creative way as Paola was going through the story. None of it felt forced, there were no info dumps and it was great.

I will absolutely recommend this to young readers. It's something I know my young family members would like.

Plus, the chancla being a club made me laugh so hard that I snorted. I told a family member about it and he started laughing and telling me about his cousin when they were both younger and the chancla featured heavily.

A chancla club was absolutely hysterical and amazing.

What's stopping me from giving this book five stars is one event. This is where it gets into spoiler territory.

A note: The author used the word handicapped instead of disabled. She made a point of saying the kids were activists then goes and uses a word the disabled community has been asking people not use it for decades. As a disabled reader who will recommend this to disabled young readers, I'll have to warn them.

That words is not acceptable.

past this point is the rest of the review. It can be found on my blog theworldsbetweenpages.wordpress.com

I received an electronic ARC from Disney Publishing Worldwide through NetGalley.
Book 2 picks up a few months after the first one ended. Pao has had a difficult time with friends and family since book one. Dante has pulled away and Emmy has found a supportive community and Pao has backed off so she can bloom. Her mom is dating someone and moving quicker than Paola can keep up. Then Dante's Abuela collapses and the new quest begins. Pao's dreams keep pulling her to a forest to find her dad. She's sure he will have answers to save Abuela and answer her questions too. The journey is as conflict filled as readers expect until the ending when her actions save not only Abuela but her dad too. They even save her and the rest of her friends with one exception. Pao and Emma are reconnected and ready to figure out how to save their friend.
Mejia writes with energy and vibrancy that will pull middle grade readers in to be part of the action. They weave the mythology into the reality of life and introduce readers to more characters from Mexican lore. The ending leaves open Dante's story to set up the third book. Looking forward to learning more about Mexican mythology and further growth for Paola.

This is a fantastic sequel to Paola Santiago and the River of Tears. In the first book, Paola is trying to save a missing classmate and gets pulled into a story about La Llorona; here, her quest requires her to save both her father and her best friend Dante's abuela, who has fallen into a coma after trying to help Paola at the start of her journey.

While the River of Tears existed in liminal spaces, tracing out the lives that are lived between one place and another, the Forest of Nightmares delves harder into what family means and all the different ways that family is formed. Paola's search for her father takes her deep into an understanding of her mother, who her mother has been, and who she herself can become.

One thing I really enjoyed about the Forest of Nightmares is that Paola as a character was not reset to who she had been at the beginning of River of Tears; this is a problem I see all too often in second books. Seeing Paola continue to be the girl who reaches for science for the answers, but now be slightly more willing to embrace the concept of supernatural options creates a well rounded character who is capable of adventures on a much bigger scale. And both the physical and emotional scopes of this book feel bigger than they did in River of Tears. Paola and Dante have to road trip all the way up to Oregon to try and find Paola's dad and solve the mystery that's happening around them.

I also appreciated the tension that exists now between Paola and Dante. At the end of River of Tears, their relationship was edging tentatively towards a romantic one, but that has wildly changed in Forest of Nightmares, and the frustration between the two of them is a major plot element in the story as it progresses.

Also, Tehlor Kay Mejia gets huge compliments from me about the way Emma, Paola's other best friend in River of Tears, is characterized here. First, Emma is queer, but we never get unnecessary information about her relationships or other justifications for her identity; it's simply stated that she's queer, and then the story moves forward. She has also clearly been burying her nose deep in books about white privilege and social justice (to Paola's occasional amusement) and she is more than delighted to acknowledge and weaponize her privilege in order to protect Paola and Dante on their mission. An adult reader might find her approach overzealous, but to me, she was exactly the kind of pre-teen who has just figured out inequality and is completely committed to fixing it, and doesn't yet understand moderation or subtlety. She's very much the kind of kid I'd like to see more white kids become, and while obviously the point of the Rick Riordan Presents series is always to present mythology and identities to kids who don't often see themselves in print, I think there could be some benefit to showing an example of a white girl who has woken up and is trying to do something to help, a kid that a white parent can point to and say "This is who you need to be."

You could read Forest of Nightmares without reading River of Tears, in that Mejia does a great job of recapping necessary events, but you would miss on the best flavors the book has to offer, so I strongly recommend reading the first book first.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Following the events of the first book, Paola is barely speaking to her two best friends, Emma and Dante, and her nightmares have returned. After Dante's grandmother falls ill, Paola needs to go on another adventure to find the man she thinks can help them: her father.

I enjoyed the first book, and while the author brings in some of those same elements, the book overall is a little weaker than the first. Part of that is not having La Llorona to play off of, as that legend was such a fun element to the first book. I really enjoyed the characters and the way Mexican folklore is injected into the story. I'm looking forward to the next book, and middle-grade readers will love this new adventure.


Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing for providing an ARC.

I'm in love with this series and this author. Mejia's two Santiago books have been so very fulfilling; they're extremely intelligent and well-written. They absolute do not hold back with social issues (first book had me legit crying multiple times by showing how PoC are treated). They're inclusive. They're creative AF. And as always, I love the exposure to another culture. I also appreciated how the author approached non-Spanish speaking readers by having the main badass Pao also not speak much of the language, and thus was as in the dark as said readers.

I do, however, have one complaint with the second installment, and that was how rushed the ending felt. Like someone altered the deadline or restricted the number of pages. It didn't necessarily ruin the experience, but it also left me a little .__. That said, I still recommend this series and I will excitedly read it to its completion (and buy the box set).

Of all the RRP books, Tehlor Kay Mejia's is easily in the top five, if not three, for myself.

Thank you to Rick Riordan Presents, Disney-Hyperion Books, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This sequel takes place six months after the events of River of Tears and Paola, Dante, and Emma haven’t recovered from their trauma. Emma has recently come out as lesbian and is spending a lot of time with the school’s LGBTQ club. Dante has become more distant and Paola is having nightmares again, this time about her father who left when she was little. Her mom has a new boyfriend and doesn’t seem to have the time Paola craves. When Dante’s abuela collapses and fantasmas attack the hospital, Pao, reluctant Dante, and Naomi from Los Niños de la Luz search for Paola’s father in Oregon for a way to save Señora Mata. They encounter more legendary monsters and are in way over their heads. Wil they be able to overcome their bickering to fight together?
I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced sequel. Tehlor Kay Mejia has briefly recapped the events of the first book which was a great reminder for me! There are several twists in this book which makes it even more exciting. It is beneficial to read the first book before this one but not a necessity. I would definitely recommend this for grades 4 and up.
#PaolaSantiagoAndTheForestOfNightmares #RickRiordanPresents #NetGalley

A wonderful follow up to a great book of whimsical magic, great characters and a whole lot of teenage mischief. I absolutely adore this world and these characters.

In the six months since her terrifying fight against La Llorona, Paola’s life has gotten markedly worse. Her friend Emma has a whole new group of buddies, her mom has a really annoying new boyfriend, and her own boyfriend (?) Dante keeps pushing her away. But when Dante’s abuela falls into a definitely supernatural coma, everyone has to get over their weirdness for another epic quest. This time, they need to track down Pao’s father, who she hadn’t seen in years until she started having creepy dreams about him. A nicely spooky adventure with some solid lessons about friendship and becoming your own best self.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>When I saw that there was a sequel to <em>Paola Santiago and the River of Tears</em> coming out, I couldn't request it fast enough. Pao and her friends had exciting, fun adventures, and I was excited to rejoin them.</p>
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<p>As often happens, the sequel goes to a somewhat darker, more grown-up place. In many cases when people discuss a fantasy novel and say "darker," they mean that the fantasy tropes are more horror-tinged, scarier, but the first volume of this series was pretty dark for a kids' fantasy--the titles are giving you accurate information that the fluffy bunny content here is fairly minimal. But for me, the thing that gets darker and more mature is not actually the fantasy element, which is pretty consistent. It's the friendship element: Paola's relationships with her best friends have grown rather fraught, and all is not well between them in ways that are more complicated than the spats of the first book.</p>
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<p>Which makes me squirm. And this is very much a middle book: if you're looking for clear resolution and absolute redemption, this is not the book for it. If, on the other hand, you're looking for lots of growth and characters figuring out interesting things and the author getting to play with a larger scope than she started with--plenty of Arizona desert, now heading into California and up to Oregon, with the legends to accompany--this may be your jam. It was mine.</p>
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This was a fantastic continuation in the series about Paola. Mejia has done a great job of continuing the growth of our hero while weaving in the lore and myths. We get answers to some of the questions that we were left with within the first book, while still hinting at more to come.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, and our character's growth felt realistic to their age group. While not as good as the first book, I wouldn’t say this book suffered from sequel syndrome. Paola was just as loveable as always. The lore in the book was well told, and I can walk away feeling like I learned something from this book.

Full review September 24th, 2021.

Things have changed since Paola's adventure and battle against La Llorona. She is still trying to understand everything that happened and while she is processing she finds herself set apart from her best friends, Dante and Emma. For Emma, Paola has felt like she was holding her friend back when Emma finds a place she truly belongs. Not wanting to ruin her friend's happiness, she takes a step back. Not realizing that her being away from Emma was hurting Emma just as much. As for Dante, the tension between them is one that she has no idea how to decipher. Yet she learns that Dante is horribly mad at her because the adventure they had has only made things worse on his abuela and he doesn't know where to place his anger except toward his best friend. Then there is the fact that her mom has a boyfriend and Paola's nightmares are back and worse than ever. But everything changes when Dante's abuela falls mysteriously ill and the only way to save her is to face the nightmares and monsters once more. Including finding Paola's father who she hasn't seen since she was very young. Everything is connected. Can Paola find a way to save her friend's abuela and save her relationships with her best friends? This was a nice sequel to the last book! But poor Paola faces so many harsh things. Her heart was constantly breaking between things changing with her mom and with Dante. But the only thing she could do was to keep her chin up and keep fighting. Loved the twists and turns of this story and with an ending like that, it looks like there is definitely another book on the way. Can't wait!


I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The eponymous Paola and her besties Dante Mata and Emma Lockwood, now 13, still haven’t recovered from the supernatural terrors that nearly took them all. But Paola feels that the lesbian Emma seems more interested in her new political friends, and Dante gets ever-more distant.

Things come to a head when the supernatural that they thought had been defeated invades the hospital where Dante’s grandmother, Señora Mata, lies conscious. Paola realizes that it’s up to her to set things right and save the old lady and find out why the supernatural can’t leave her alone.

Again, author Tehlor Kay Mejia weaves Mexican-American folktales and legends (La Llorona, el Chupacabra, elves and visionary dreams) into a suspenseful tale of the importance of family and friends. While not quite as outstanding as the first book, Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, readers will thoroughly enjoy the sequel, which ends with a cliffhanger. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Rick Riordan Presents in exchange for an honest review.

Another hit for Rick Riordan Presents! I love reading these series of books, introducing the wide world to folk tales from different cultures.

In this second entry in the Paola series, Paola is confused. Confused about why Dante seems to be avoiding her. Confused about how best to help Emma as she figures out who she is as a gay teen. Confused about why she keeps dreaming about her long-lost father, and a weird path through a forbidding forest.

When Dante's grandmother falls ill and the cause seems to be mystical rather than physical, Paola decides to follow the directive from her dreams to find her father. She fights all new creatures, becomes closer to some friends, while (hopefully temporarily) losing others, and journeys into Washington state to find answers.

I really enjoyed this book, and think that children of all ages will love learning about Mexican folk tales and culture. The book also demonstrates how friendships change, and how easy it is to make a few wrong decisions and upset a friend.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advance copy!

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares was a wonderful way to revisit characters I fell in love with in the first book. Right off the bat I loved the way the characters were still dealing with the aftermath of their experiences in River of Tears. The trauma and worry that plagued Paola after her experiences in book one really shoed Mejia’s ability to write a well rounded and complex character. I love when a second books reflects on the plot of the first book and then continues to build and expand on the characters and their world. Forest of Nightmares is a prefect example of how to do this well.

Everything I liked about the first book was here - sarcasm, humor, heart, and friendship. It felt familiar but not repetitive. The new adventures mirrored the first books just enough to feel that warm fuzzy rush of catching up with old friends. I can’t recommend this series enough. It’s such a wonderfully fresh and interesting addition to middle grades literature and I can’t wait to see what happens to Paola and her friends next.

I loved the second book in the series! There was a lot more adventure and I loved how Paola worked with her friends and family to help everyone. She's such a brave character and I love reading about her and her friends as they encounter obstacles and work through them. This book is perfect for readers ages 10-13.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I really enjoyed this book it was fast paced and it kept my attention the entire time. I did not read the first book, and while I kind of felt that I was missing something, it wasnt overly noticable.

I loved the first Paola Santiago book so much! I was thrilled to be able to read the second one. I was not disappointed! This is such a fun middle grade series. I love that I get to explore different cultures while reading a total awesome book. I love how important family was in this story. I also love how aware this book was. Emma totally recognizes her privilege but really tries to use it for good. I love how this book touches upon the reality of social issues without being pushy or preaching. I absolutely love Paola. She's such a fun main character. Overall, I just adored this book so much! Would be a great fall read for it's spooky vibes!

3.7/5 stars
While I enjoyed this installment, it wasn't as good as the first. I feel like there was a good moral in the first about discrimination and minorities, while this one lost that and just focused on the mission and drama between main characters. I also feel like the first was a great standalone, but making a series doesn't quite connect. It felt like someone else was writing it, because the first one had good conflict, but the resolution was well planned, and the friendships were the strength that made the book so good. The second book had Paola literally not talking to either of her best friends for different reasons, and it just felt awkward.