Blog Tour: Lobizona, by Romina Garber | We need more books like this

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Lobizona by Romina Garber
Series: Wolves of No World #1
Published by Wednesday Books ISBN: 1250239125
on August 4, 2020
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, Fantasy, Legends, Myths, Fables, Social Issues, Werewolves & Shifters, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Read it as: eARC
Source: Publisher
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis

Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.

Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.

Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past--a mysterious "Z" emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it's not just her U.S. residency that's illegal. . . .it's her entire existence.

There was one point in my life after a while of reading YA books, when I realized all these books centered around a specific kind of experience, the US, or even UK-centered experience. I justified thinking ‘oh well, I am reading books published in these countries after all, right?’

Well, no. Because I eventually learned about nationality being a very different thing from race and culture. The US specially has such a wealth of cultures in one place, and that IS its culture. So, why was I only being exposed to one thing?

For the longest time ever since then, I’d been waiting to read more fantasy books with latin american influences. Even if it wasn’t set here in a latin american country, I just wanted to see more of myself there. Little by little, I’ve seen this happen, and it makes me so happy.

So, today I’m overjoyed to tell you about this book, that has an argentinian protagonist. I grew up watching novelas from Argentine, like Floricienta, and even though I didn’t know much about their folklore, I definitely finished this book with a better insight about that.

Here are a few things I want to highlight about Lobizona:

Accurate latin family depiction

Most of the first Act of the book we spend getting to know Manu and her family; her mother, and Pearl -a woman who is not related by blood but she considers her grandma. They live quite cramped, and this is actually a recurring theme in the story, the feeling of being boxed in.

We’re offered a window into their lives and it’s just… it’s satisfying.

Too many times we get less than great latin family dynamics with barely a few token spanish words. Here Manu mainly communicates in spanish with the women, and it just WORKS.

I have a quote for you that I love. 

Do remember this is an eArc, so it might not be final!

There’s a difference between a charla and a conversación. The first is a chat, the second is a talk. Even though Ma said she wants to charlar, by her face and tone, I know she actually wants to have a conversación.

“Manuela, suficiente.”

The sharpness in her voice means this is the kind of conversación where she talks and I listen.

That is such a latin mama thing. The calling her ‘Ma’. They are tiny pieces of identity that might be small, but so, so significant.

 

Worldbuilding that flows and sucks you right in

Once the story really kicks off we’re taken to a richly imaginative world that I couldn’t stop reading about. I’d never thought werewolves would also be part of the latin american folklore, but it is a thing in Argentine, and that is absolutely awesome.

I don’t want to give away too much, but suffice it say, I have no complaints about the setting, and overall environment of this story. I really enjoyed reading about it and I look forward to reading even more!

 

The commentary on current issues

A huge part of this story is about immigration. I mean, it’s right in the title, and it delivers.

The story is unapologetic about showing us what is going on. From the moment when Manu’s mother is taken away by ICE. I had to pause for a moment because it was difficult to read that scene, knowing that it could be happening right at that moment to someone.

Discrimination and overall intolerance keep popping up in different ways and this is also part of why Lobizona is such an important book to have in your shelves. Because the story challenges these things.

The protagonist’s emotional journey

Another thing that I loved about Lobizona is how much the character GROWS. I was close to finishing the book, with Manu squaring off against a few people, and then for some reason I go back to almost the beginning of the book and it struck me just how much she has evolved. It’s not that she’s a completely different person. She’s the Manu she’s always been, or would have been, had she not been so afraid. 

We all stan good character development.

 

However, I do want to say I think the beginning was a bit too slow for me. Maybe it’s just me because I was a little tired the weekend I read it. But, fortunately things pick up fast after the first turning point in the story!

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Overall, this is an entertaining story that has the plus of showing us a lobizona latina ready to take on the world 🙂

¡No se lo van a querer perder!

 

 

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