(2) YA This return to the dystopian world of We Set the Dark on Fire (rev. 7/19)--whose protagonist was Dani, one of two wives to rising politico Mateo--focuses on ­Carmen. Dani's co-wife and secret romantic partner, Carmen was revealed in the first installment to be a member of the resistance group La Voz. Now she has left Mateo's home for the group's compound. La Voz demands absolute ­devotion and any sacrifice necessary for its fight against an unjust government (as in the first installment, this society includes references to our own, particularly a walled border). Carmen is torn between the group and her desire to protect Dani, who's still at Mateo's side and whose complete loyalty to La Voz hasn't yet been proven. Her resulting decisions set off a fast-paced journey, complete with daring escapes, assassinations, and a few steamy (though not graphic) encounters, allowing its heroines to display impressive survival and fighting skills as well as deep emotions. Fans who've grown attached to Carmen and Dani will appreciate this duology-concluder's more extensive look into their lives and the inventive world in which they live.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(2) YA In the small town of Meteor, New Mexico, a social highlight of the year is the Miss Meteor pageant. Latinx sophomore Lita, who's being raised by a healer known as Bruja Lupe, feels out of place and believes she fell to Earth over fifty years ago with the meteor for which the town is named ("I don't remember the moment I turned from star-stuff thrown off a meteor into a girl...No one really remembers being born"). When Lita decides to enter the pageant to break the streak of tall, blonde, white winners, she knows she is a long shot to win the title, and she knows she will need her more practical former friend Chicky's help to get ready for the elaborate talent, swimsuit, and evening gown contests. Chicky hopes to help her family's diner by bringing home a cut of the prize money, so she agrees to participate, despite her estrangement from Lita. An underdog crew is born--Chicky and her sisters, Chicky's best friend Junior, and Cole, the trans brother of the odds-on favorite to win the pageant--and all grow to be themselves more comfortably as Lita learns pageant skills. The novel's chapters alternate between Chicky's realistic tale of struggling with openness about her sexuality and Lita's magical realism–tinged story about feeling as though she is made of stardust and will soon disappear. Occasionally, the chapters feel disjointed, as the two narrators' voices are so different. But readers will be drawn into this story of an unlikely beauty queen and an unusual town.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Dani is the new Primera (one wife of two who manages the husband's household and aids in his career) to a wealthy aspiring politician. But the identification papers that place Dani's origin on the advantageous side of the border wall are a forgery. Mejia's inventive dystopian world is full of clear references to our own. Frequent twists, questions of whom to trust, and a clandestine queer romance make for a page-turner.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019