Overall: 4.25⭐️
Characters: 4.25👥
Plot: 4.00💥
World: 4.00🌎

This is the book I’ve been looking for over half my life. Growing up as a Latina, I always wanted more books with Latine characters specifically written by Latine authors. Today there are more Latine authors with wonderful stories but what makes this one stand out to me is how much I love the writing style.

The author includes plenty of Spanish words and phrases without needing to directly translate or explain every word. It really feels like a book written for latines who don’t want our culture over explained back to us. It flows naturally and is easy to understand for Spanish speakers and non-speakers alike. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator did a great job with clear pronunciation too.

This is a YA historical fantasy book about Lola and her family protecting their town in Alta California and the magical healing Sal Negra from anyone who tries to take it for their own gain. Lola, with her brother Victor’s help, has been working under the guise of Salvación to run bad men out of town. Her mother disapproves of her being a vigilante while ignoring the fact Victor is also out there with her. Lola’s father who taught her how to use a sword is quietly proud of her but not willing to go against his wife and openly encourage her.

Lola’s relationships with her mother, father, and Victor are very familiar and relatable to me. While they all love each other, like any family, they have clashing opinions and thoughts on how to best protect the town and the Sal Negra they mine there.

This book was a great blend of family bonds and a young girl coming of age against the backdrop of an old western with light fantasy elements. There’s horse chases, gun fights, vigilantes, villains, mystery and even some love. I definitely recommend giving this book a read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Listener Copy. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed it, but not enough to give it 4 stars (rounded up, so it gets four stars :p).

I was really excited about this book, and it did live up to the excitement in a couple of ways. Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t read a lot of historical fiction/fantasy Latinx books, and I love that Salvacion is a little more mainstream. It adds a flavor that books are missing, and I loved that.

On that note, I will highly recommend the audiobook to any non-Spanish speakers who want to read this book. I don’t speak Spanish. I didn’t even study it in high school, so my accent is atrocious. I loved the audiobook narrator because she helped me correct the pronunciation, at least in my head.

I really loved that although Lola wore the mask, both Victor and Lola were Salvacion together. I love the idea of Salvacion being bigger than one person, and being an idea and an ideal more than a physical being.

That said, there were a couple of things that rubbed me the wrong way.

The book is SLOW to start. I almost DNFed it, but I was lucky enough to get the audiobook, and the narrator pulled me through the slow spots. 10/10 for the narration.

After that… I don’t think Lola was a very compelling main character. She makes choices and plans that didn’t seem particularly well thought out. The bad guy wasn’t compelling, the love interest wasn’t interesting… I’m glad I read it, I’m glad I finished it, but I won’t be reading it again.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC and audioARC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book for what it was: a girl coming of age in a small town and grappling with how the world is changing around her. The message was respecting the land and protecting it from those who wish to destroy it because... well because they're evil and don't care if everything is destroyed all long as they are the last man standing? Even if that means the land is blighted?

I guess I'll chalk the one dimensional villain up to being corrupted by the cursed amulet he stole.

I highly recommend the audiobook because the narrator was top notch. I also enjoyed the siblings being Salvación together as YA and fiction in general doesn't have enough siblings working together and caring for each other.

However, if you, like me went in expecting Queen of Swords (2000 TV show with female Zorro) well, think again. It started out promising enough: the Mexican American War has been lost and Alta California is now American territory. Lola does acknowledge that Mexican land was stolen from the indigenous people (of whom we see one man referred to as "the indigenous man"). But her Papa promised they would leave once they finished exploiting the sal negra!

This I chalk up to Lola being young and naïve because she does with a twinge of guilt acknowledge her beloved small town has been growing and maybe they aren't so noble after all.

Don't exact any swashbucking here. Lola barely goes out as Salvación and she is not protecting the people as much as the land. The story was setting up a Yank invasion she is trying to protect her people from but that never materializes.

Also, it is not enemies to lovers. That would have been if Alejandro was Alexander the Yank, part of the arriving American army of victors, forcing Lola to choose between her land or her heart. (Instead, it's more like girl falls for the mob boss' right hand because he's a good guy forced into a bad situation.)

Given the set up, had the author chosen to continue in this direction, this could have been an exploration of what it means when borders shift after wars are lost and you find yourself in a land no longer yours. It could have even explored what it means to "own" land or be a nation. Yes, the Mexicans lost the land but as Lola says, they had stolen it too. So what does that mean for who is "allowed" to live on it?

Unfortunately, this book went down a less controversial path instead of Lola trying to keep the sal roja from killing the land and how she grows up and becomes a better person for it. And to me, that made the story a bit bland, even if the coming of age themes was well done.

So there was some language uses which I found distracting but chose to think of as "I am reading a modern translation of a story written in Spanish". The use of "indigenous" is great for modern times but not historically accurate, in fact I think she'd use the native people's name for themselves, which I would have loved to know. Also she kinda brushes off white salt as 'doing nothing' which is really weird for the daughter of a Mexican-of-Spanish-decent healer? The Romans knew salt was important for people, how does she not know? Especially since her mom makes her help her? Also I spent wayyyyy too much of this story wondering how they got there, and was kind of unsatisfied by "my mom had a vision quest or something and we followed her here to where other people were already living and then we made sure to share the mineral my mom was following was shared with everyone". Does that include the people they pushed out? Or only the Spanish speaking people-- or those who don't speak Spanish but wave a gun around (don't get me wrong, I wanted her to shoot and kill the blond guy. It was just weird that the Indigenous folks conveniently vanished until needed and only showed up well out of town.) I also wasn't sure what was dictating the "some day we will leave" date. It just seemed like they were was never any intention to leave until the plot got going, was it meant to show that they were in denial about how attached to the place the mom was? Or foreshadowing that the family had to be kind of broken, first?

Anyway, the relationship between the siblings was good, and the love interest was well done, too. So, it was a good read. I just had a distractingly high number of questions as I read it.

What’s absolutely wild about my experience with Sandra Proudman’s <i>Salvación</i> is that, despite the story being incredibly high-stakes through near every single page, I never actually <i>felt</i> it. For me, I think a lot of this came down to my own personal lack of connection to the characters—brought about by an introduction that was a bit of a drag and a general lack of understanding for what, specifically, brought about the main character’s motivation to become a vigilante in the first place. See, the high-stakes don’t actually begin at the onset of the novel, but rather arise later on as the exceptionally dark villain comes into play.

One thing that <i>Salvación</i> does brilliantly is the lore of the world. Magical salt, referred to as sal negra and sal roja, can either heal or rip a person apart. Presented as a stand-in for the craze of the goal rush, this sal negra and sal roja bring about a litany of desperate and/or greedy sorts whose ambitions inspire a great deal of problems and concerns for the people who live there. The world building is excellent, the power hunger of the villain, Damien Hernández, are both exciting and terrifying.

But even with all of that, I simply wasn’t able to feel a connection to Lola de Peña, her brother, or the boy, Alejandro, at the center of everything. It doesn’t help, either, that there are comparisons made to the Zorro stories and I never once felt like Lola was a reasonable or accurate representation of a gender bent retelling. Not only is it made clear that Salvación is not <i>just</i> Lola, but her brother, Victor, as well, but there is little endearing her to take on the mantle of a character who is exceedingly charismatic and driven when in mask and spends his days purposefully acting foppish in his real life. Lola needs to be saved so much that her role as this vigilante felt like a joke at best and forced at worst. It leaves me genuinely wondering whether it was Proudman’s intention to be inspired by the Zorro legends or if this was a push from the publisher for sales.

If the first, I’m left cringing. If the second, it was a mistake.

The narration overall was pretty good. I enjoyed the tenor and pacing—I just think the characters, themselves, were ones that I couldn’t connect with. Which is such a shame because I feel like this world was pretty exceptional and had so much potential.

4.25/5 stars

Do you ever just love a book because of the feelings you get from experiencing it? This book did that to me. While listening I felt so immersed in the story and the audiobook narrator brought so much to life with her voice that I couldn't help but love it. There was something so comforting about the spanglish in this novel. This was a beautiful coming of age story that explores what it means to be a hero/protector. 

I also enjoyed how this book began exploring how we view land, complex family dynamics, and how we manage complicated emotions and ideas. Salvación (Lola De La Peña) also explores what it means to fit in expected societal gender roles and what it means when you push back against those. 

Lola and her brother work together to protect the town of Coloma from those who would threaten it,  they are fiercely protective of the place and the magic it holds. When new travelers come to town they have to work together to protect their home. This was a beautiful story that brings up complex questions and allows you to sit with those thoughts long after you finish. 

I highly recommend you pick this up if you enjoyed Zorro, strong female characters, coming of age stories, and stories about families. Thank you to the publisher for providing an ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story so much! I have never seen “El Zorro” but after reading this, I might just go watch it later. I was hooked from the beginning and I’m glad that I never stopped reading. The narrator did an amazing job at bringing these characters to life. There was a lot of topic I could relate to, the biggest one would be how moms are always closer to their sons and dads are closer to their daughters. The concept of Sal negra and Sal roja is spectacular and so unique! I love that even the concept of “everything needs to be balanced” was brought in. This book would have gotten 5 stars if it would have had a bit more action and romance instead of the repetitive self doubt with herself and parents. I wanted more of Salvacion in action, instead of hearing about it. Alejandro and Lola needed more banter and connection. The dad caught me off guard but his stubbornness was completely accurate. I just found it hard to understand the shift from the beginning of the parent’s relationship to the end. The ending was satisfying in the fact that I can see it play out like a movie type ending. I was left with a lot of questions at the end, I hope that there is another book planned!

I definitely recommend this book! It sounds like there might be a second book and I cannot wait !


Thank you to Sandra Proudman, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this audiobook.

Lola de La Peña and her family temporarily live in Coloma, a small town in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, where her mother uses sal negra to heal the people of the town. By day, Lola pretends to be the proper young lady her mother expects, but by night, with the help of her brother Victor, she acts as the town vigilante Salvacion. After a woman shows up on the brink of death and tells Salvacion about the dangerous sal roja, and then mysteriously disappears, Lola will have to find a way to save her town while convincing her family that the newly-arrived Hernandez isn't who he seems to be.

I was super excited to pick this one up as it was toted as a female version of Zorro. While I enjoyed the writing style and the overall storytelling in the book, there were a couple of things that didn't really work for me.

First was the inability of anyone to figure out the identity of Salvacion. Coloma is a mining town full of men and apparently only three women - Lola, her mother, and an elderly woman who collects herbs and runs a general store. Meanwhile, everyone knows that Salvacion is a young woman. So who else do they think it is besides Lola?

Second, the magic of sal negra and sal roja have clearly been known by someone since Hernandez has been searching for them for 20+ years. It seems like there would be more people (or maybe even the US government) searching for them before now. The people of Coloma haven't exactly kept the healing that Lola's mother does a secret, and with Salvacion running people out of town, someone should have put two and two together sooner.

I listened to this one on audio, narrated by Victoria Villarreal. The narrator did an excellent job bringing the story to life, and it was easy for someone like me who doesn't speak fluent Spanish to pick up the Spanish words that were spoken throughout the story.

Read if you like:
YA FMC
Latin American rep
Vigilante
Healing magic
Good vs. evil
Strong family bonds

Encanto vibes but waaaay darker with a side of vigilante heroism. The book is a fantasy Western with a salt based magic system.

I love the depiction of familial relationships and how having a crush is described.

Read for the bold main character and stay for the emotional familial healing, redemption, and the many forms of love.

Genre: Western Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Topics: Magic, good vs evil
Spice: None
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers
Themes: Redemption, family relationships, discomfort with gender norms
Read for: Netgalley
Obtained from: Thanks to Macmillan Young Readers and Netgalley for the ALC

Salvación by Sandra Proudman is a YA magical Zorro inspired story with a female protagonist. This is not YA aimed at adults. The angst and family dynamics feel closer to middle grade. I was intrigued by the underage female Zorro setup and magical salts, but we are given so little about this magic. The world building could’ve been better developed. As a teacher and a parent, I have serious concerns when well meaning authority figures are treated as overbearing (or even villains) for enforcing reasonable rules. Almost every page mentions that her mother is colder towards her than her brother. We get it.

This was a good audiobook! I really enjoyed the narrator and I thought they did an amazing job at delivering all the emotions at the right time. I would definitely recommend this story as an audiobook, just brought it to life.

I first heard about Salvación from a fellow author friend that was really excited for the story, so I jumped on the audiobook! This coming of age historical fantasy takes place in Alta California shortly after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and inspired by El Zorro, and it takes advantage of those vibes with a solid setting, unique magic, and well developed characters.

Lola de La Peña was raised to be a proper Mexican lady, but her journey to Alta California has changed her to become a masked hero, Salvación, helping to protect her town from trouble. However, she soon finds herself in a situation that she might not be able to solve alone.

Lola was a great protagonist. She used to simply accept her role as a proper lady back home, even though she did unladylike things. However, the dangerous and deadly trip to Alta California ignited a sense of justice in her, and forces her to live two lives. The girl that helps her mother heal people during the day, and a masked hero at night, keeping the people of the town safe. It makes her think about the life she wants to live going forward and further complicates her daily activities.

Due to this being sold as a romantasy, I was led to believe that the romance was going to be the primary relationship, and while it is significant, Lola's relationship with the rest of her family takes priority, and those dynamics are well developed. I love how Salvación is a two person job with her brother, Victor, even though Lola is the only one dressing up, and the sibling relationship is my favorite. I love how complex Lola's relationship with her parents, ever changing throughout the story. Also, Lola's relationship with the love interest, Alejandro, is complicated, especially considering that Alejandro is a companion of the main antagonist, Hernandez, and Lola is playing secret identity and Alejandro is only interested in one of the identities. Hernandez himself is very terrifying and I got nervous when he showed up.

As mentioned earlier, this takes place in the late 1840's, likely 1848-1849 based on some context clues. The town of Coloma feels like a town in transition from being controlled by Mexico to the USA. I'm not super familiar with the era, but it does have an old west town feel to the area. I do like the fantastical elements of the healing sal negra (black salt) and the destructive sal roja (red salt), and while simple, the magic system is easy to follow and very effective.

The pacing was excellent: rather quick despite several chapters running nearly an hour long on the audiobook. The prose was descriptive and helped me sink into the setting without too much trouble. I could visualize myself into the story. It did feel like it could fit in as a spinoff of Zorro with the masked hero vibes and the action scenes being super intense at times. Fits with the stakes escalating throughout the story. The themes of self discovery, coming of age, embracing one self, and about how much we mere humans know about the Earth, were rather clear.

I believe this is a standalone, but I could easily see some follow up material following Lola or some other characters. Either way, the ending was satisfying, even if nothing further comes of this world or characters.

Victoria Villarreal did an outstanding job on the narration! The regular switches from English to Spanish and vice versa was flawless, and she was great with the range of each character.

Really enjoyed this story and highly recommend this one for those looking for a gender bender Zorro story with some fantasy, or someone interested in this time period or setting with some fantastical elements.

A female version of Zorro?? Love!!

I thought that the Spanglish throughout the novel was so fun and immersed me more into the story, especially when Lola or other characters were talking with one another. I also liked the idea of magical salt - I thought that was really fun!

Something I wish had happened towards the beginning of the novel was the explanation of where the salt came from or how they discovered it - aside from explaining that Lola’s mother felt pulled towards it and its healing properties.

Overall it was a really wonderful and fun book!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Unique story line, okay characters. I love this gender swapped Zorro style story and the main characters realization of how the real world is and anyone can act anyway. The relationship between her and her brother is strong and wonderful but the dialogue is a little to immature for me. The story line of balance and magic salt and being driven to this wild unknown area was well done. It was just characters interaction that threw me off. The romance attraction is a tad bit insta-love and the way it unfolds bugs me a bit. I do love how they recognize that they are young and not all powerful which is rather uncommon for ya books where they are the savior. The narrator did very well with the Spanish and English within the story. She made it immersive and I feel like I enjoyed the story more because I listened to her versus reading it. Overall this is a pretty well rounded story and would be q great teenage read.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners for the opportunity to listen to the story.

The cover grabbed me, taking me back to my earliest memories of Zorro. This novel has a fantastic set-up. Lola play acts as a proper young lady, and at night she transforms into Salvación, the protector of her town. Soon, outsiders threaten everything dear to her.

Sandra Proudman has great skill in characterization and relationship dynamics. In Salvación, the main character grapples with her role in her family and community, the expectations placed on young women, and  her independent, protective spirit. She's better suited to her secret vigilante life than to being demure, hampered by wide skirts and impractical shoes.

I enjoyed that the family isn't idealized. There are realistic fiction points, making the characters relatable to adults and younger readers. The partnership with her brother worked well in the story. 0rdinary heroism is shown in effective ways, through scenes of her mother's healing work and necessary tasks such as making tortillas. The place of herbal medicine and the healer's work shows an important, respected tradition that has survived despite the destructive acts of invaders. I liked the bit of magic and the way healing weaves into the plot. Vivid details of the setting and supporting characters brought the small town to life.

Considering the Zorro inspiration, the book was slower and quieter than I expected. There's a villain, a sense of menace, and high stakes. I would have liked more action, particularly from Lola in her role as Salvación. Although it wasn't the swashbuckling adventure I anticipated, Salvación succeeds on its own terms as a richly-textured feminist Latinx vision. The web of community and thoughtful exploration of a brave young woman resisting oppression on multiple levels make this a fresh take on an enduring legend. I enjoyed the journey and rounded up my rating to 4 stars for the exceptional performance by narrator Victoria Villarreal. Her voice work makes all the characters distinctive, and Lola comes fully to life. The intro music set the mood, and the production quality is excellent. I strongly suggest choosing the audio version for this book.

It's a wonderful coming of age novel with realistic young adult issues that addresses colonialism and restrictions on women. I'll be watching for more books by Sandra Proudman and more audiobooks narrated by Victoria Villarreal. Highly recommended for readers of historical fiction and YA fantasy.
I'll add review links aafter posting.

Historical Fiction

Salvación offers a reflective, character-driven story set in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War. It follows a 17-year-old girl navigating survival, identity, and legacy in California, where she masquerades as a justice-bringing angel.

There’s a lot to appreciate: the setting felt grounded, the stakes were clear, and the main character grows throughout the story in a believable way. Her moments of courage and conflict struck a good balance with her youth and inexperience. Unfortunately, many side characters—particularly her parents—lacked emotional depth, and one third-act conflict felt forced and underdeveloped. The narrative style, while introspective, often created emotional distance, making it hard to connect fully with the more dramatic moments.

Still, readers looking for slow-burning adventure with themes of identity, justice, and found strength may find value in this. The epilogue wraps up the story in a way that adds closure and weight to the protagonist’s journey.

I listened to the book and thought the narrator did a wonderful job voicing the main female character. Thank you for the chance to review.

Enjoyed thiis audiobook I thought this book was really good. fierce Feminist who always stands up for what is right. I love the female Zorro theme. I just wish it had more action. and I loved the plot

3.5⭐️ rounded up specifically because of the narrator for the audiobook. I don’t think I would have enjoyed and appreciated the book as much reading a print version.

Now for the objective and subjective review:

Subjectivity this wasn’t my favorite book. It’s definitely a true YA novel which there’s nothing wrong with that but it’s just not my favorite. There is a lot of coming of age and rebelling against traditional gender norms - she wants to wear pants, fight, shoot, etc. Perfectly good messaging for younger girls, but I’m 40, so not really my jam. And this whole topic is brought up again and again which wore on me a bit. Also the action was lacking for me for something pitched as a Zoro retelling.

Objectively it’s great. I would buy this for my nieces to read. It’s a young, strong girl who wants me protect her family and her land and do it however she needs to. The “romance” is super light and again very YA. I also expect most of a true YA audience don’t really know Zoro so aren’t expecting high action and can go in and just enjoy the story. The magic system is also easy to follow which makes it a great intro to fantasy for younger readers.

My audiobook ARC was glitching until I redownloaded it 8 times and I see now I should have seen that as a sign.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I cannot believe it ended up being one of my least favourites. It started out fine, and I was enjoying it, but there were so many little things that stacked up at the end to make me just want it to be over.

There is a strange trend with YA releasing in the last couple of years where the proof of the strong female main character is found in "just trust me, bro." The reader is told repeatedly how badass she is, how people fear her and how important she is ... but it's never shown on page. I do not know why Lola is the masked vigilante named Salvación, why she supposedly has this reputation of being the protector of this tiny town. She threatens one man (almost unsuccessfully, I'll add) who never comes back again, and that's it. The skills she is purported to have never come to life on page and that disappointed me the most, for a book pitched as Zorro-inspired. Something else that bothered me ... you know how Clark Kent just has to take off his glasses and he's unrecognizable? Yeah, the same seems to apply to Lola for some reason, and it baffled me so much. Especially because we meet three women total in the town, one of whom is Lola, the only young woman, but no one figures out who she is when she wears the mask and talks to them.

The world building was also quite weak. There is some kind of magical salt that heals people, but it is never explained. It's introduced in the first chapter and is just ... there. Her mother had some kind of connection to it that led her across the land to it, but again, never explained. Likewise, there is an opposite, evil salt that the villain uses, but it doesn't really make sense. There is an interesting thread of colonialism and who truly has the right to the land of Mexico, but it was casually referenced and thrown aside until convenient to the story.

The villain in general was pretty uninspiring. I still don't know what he was doing or what he wanted? Threatening everyone with evil salt to go fight in a war that was already happening? Everyone just caved to this man without question, but he had no depth to him. He truly felt like a lackluster caricature. Likewise, the love interest was quite dull. He just shows up and has no personality, but Lola is instantly magentized to him like horses apparently are.

It seems to have left itself open to allow for a sequel in future, but I have no interest in that, I'm afraid.

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed this book. This is a book, first and foremost, about colonization. The white people have colonized the land that the Spanish have colonized and the cycle continues. Magic, whole thought to be used for good, is taken from the land with little regard for the consequences. The set up for this book is incredibly solid and makes for a thoughtful read.

My real issue lies with the way the book is written. We are sort of thrown into the story and often times it feels like I’m reading a sequel. How did Lola create her alter ego? What was the catalyst for traveling to Coloma? While these things are told to us, the way it is presented makes it seem like this is information we should already know. Also, I really wished we had more time with Salvación and her adventures.

This book has a lot of potential and I can’t wait to see what comes next from this author!