Kat loves all things paranormal. In fact, she loves it so much that she hosts a podcast about all things paranormal with her best friend. When Kat gets a chance to investigate a paranormal sighting, she’s not about to blow her chance of experiencing a story first hand. It’s why she’s skipping out on spring break with her best friend and heading to Estrella Roja. It’s there that she meets Mari, who is in town for the first time since she was a kid, and it’s not to investigate the devil lights. Mari’s abuela has passed away, and her family is stand-offish and outright judgmental. It doesn’t help that there seems to be a family secret no one wants to let her in on, but why is it somehow connected to what Kat is uncovering?
I absolutely loved reading this! We follow Kat and Mari through their rotating perspectives as they both travel to Estrella Roja for very different reasons. Kat is following up on an anonymous tip, and Mari is back in town with her mom and sister after her abuela died. It’s interesting to see how their experiences in town differ while being similar. They’re both viewed as outsiders, and Mari is dealing with the silent anger about a big family secret. It’s also fun to see how they both team up and explore where the devil lights even though Mari doesn’t believe in anything supernatural.
One of the things I love about this story is how layered Mari’s family dynamics are. It’s clear there’s something going on that she and her little sister have been left out of. It’s also very clear that some of her family resents them for moving away even though the choice was never theirs. It was so interesting to see how secrets and family resentment are viewed by Mari and her sister. We see the body language of their family, the little meetings, barely minced words here and there. There’s a lot of visual storytelling through the artwork and I love that.
It’s also fun to see Kat go out on a limb and take off to a small town on her own. Even she notices it’s like she’s in a movie where she’s warned not to go to Estrella Roja. Then she’s constantly told she should leave town. Nothing good comes from that in a horror movie, but this isn’t a horror movie and Kat is on a mission. I also loved seeing how her best friend is kept in the story while off on her own spring break trip.
The paranormal plot is excellent and not what I was expecting at all, but I mean that in a good way. There’s some interesting twists and turns along with little hints here and there. The closer we get to the big reveal, we see how everything is so intertwined with Mari’s family. I also love that both Mari and Kat have such realistic responses to having their first paranormal sighting together. It’s absolutely hilarious while being realistic. Neither of them know what to do! All in all, this was an excellent read and I look forward to checking out more work from this author.
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