It feels so great to start the year with a chilling and incredible fantasy murder mystery! Seven Faceless Saints is a new release that should be on every fantasy fan who loves a good murder mystery twist's TBR.
Through TBR Beyond Tours, I had the amazing opportunity to read this book and also chat with the author. Read on below to find out what M.K. Lobb had to say about her inspiration for world-building, how she efficiently crafts complex characters, and her motivations as a writer.
ALSO, don't forget to check out other cool posts in this Tour! TOUR SCHEDULEhttps://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2022/12/10/tour-schedule-seven-faceless-saints-seven-faceless-saints-1-by-m-k-lobb/.
Table of Contents
Book Info
Publishing date- 13 February 2023
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Age range: 13+
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Content Warnings: Immigration, class differences, discrimination, separation from family by an international border
Rep: Immigrant, Mexican, Mexican-American
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound
Synopsis
From the author of the award-winning debut novel INDIVISIBLE comes an affecting, timely, and thought-provoking story about going after your dreams, making tough choices, and learning that change gives as much as it takes. Every morning, sixteen-year-old Sol wakes up at the break of dawn in her hometown of Tijuana, Mexico, and makes the trip across the border to go to school in the United States. Though the commute is exhausting, this is the best way to achieve her dream of becoming the first person in her family to go to college. When her family’s restaurant starts struggling, Sol must find a part-time job in San Diego to help her dad put food on the table and pay the bills. But her complicated school and work schedules on the US side of the border mean moving in with her best friend and leaving her family behind. With her life divided by an international border, Sol must come to terms with the loneliness she hides, the pressure she feels to succeed for her family, and the fact that the future she once dreamt of is starting to seem unattainable. Mostly, she’ll have to grapple with a secret she’s kept even from herself: that maybe she’s relieved to have escaped her difficult home life, and a part of her may never want to return.
My Review
Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman- This book is such an unassuming yet powerful story. There is quiet resilience and patience in our main character, Soledad. She is someone who is so patient and hard-working and responsible, and even though she’s not the oldest sibling, she gives firstborn daughter.
This book gives the readers a very close look at the effects financial difficulties can have on a family. How difficult it is to be in a situation where you have to face a devastating personal loss and yet keep working hard to just make ends meet.
Soledad, or as we refer to her “Sol”’s, family lives in Tijuana, a town right at the Mexican-American border. Since she was the only one who was technically born as a US citizen in her family, she had been able to get a better education in the US.
At present, because her family is struggling financially, she has to get a part-time job in the US so she can help them out.
She also has to temporarily move in with her best friend’s family. We explore how that separation from her family after losing her mother is so painful for her. But at the same time, it provides her with this much-needed emotional distance she needed from the pervasive sadness and negativity that had started to take root in her household.
Her life working a late-night job, no matter how much freedom she has now, is physically exhausting and mentally taxing. That feeling of tiredness seeps through the pages to your hands, as if you’re going through this time with her.
sibling relationship <3
She has a younger brother who is in middle school, and she acts almost like a mother figure to him. Both of them are really close, and seeing their relationship get through this distance where she is not able to protect him and be there for him as much is heartbreaking. It's one of the most heart-touching, adorable bonds that I’ve read about in a while.
There is also a subplot about a fellow Mexican-American student who has to face a trial because he got into a fight in school, which adds more weight to the precarious position of non-white students in America who are a hairsbreadth of error away from deportation. It’s such a good book for a YA audience because it is immensely relatable and inspiring.
The feeling that you take away after reading this is of so much strength and hope and love.
I think it hits all the beats. It talks about important thematic issues, it focuses on character development and her relationship with the side characters. It is so well-rounded.
It also shows us how even though we focus on how difficult and exhausting life has become for Sol, it acknowledges that there are people in more difficult situations than her too.
I think this book is a lesson in empathy and hope.
About the Author
Daniel Aleman is the award-winning author of Indivisible. He was born and raised in Mexico City. A graduate of McGill University, he is passionate about books, coffee, and dogs.
After spending time in Montreal and the New York City area, he now lives in Toronto, where he is on a never-ending search for the best tacos in the city.
His second novel, Brighter Than the Sun, will be published on March 21, 2023, by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
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