WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT follows Ximena, who has grown up being the decoy of the Condesa. Ximena's people, the Illustrians, have been at war with the current king of their country, King Atoc, ever since he used the power of La Estrella to summon angry ghosts that killed many citizens. When King Atoc summons the Condesa to his citadel and orders her hand in marriage, Ximena goes in her place with the goal of learning where La Estrella is being hidden.

The world-building in WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT was one of my favorite things about the story. Neither the Illustrians and the Llacsans were faultless in how they had treated the other group over the course of Inkasisa's history. Each had a rich culture and traditions that made the book so much more interesting to read.

Ximena's struggle to untangle her opinions on Inkasisa's future after getting to know some Llacsans is one of the main plot arcs of the story and something that I found really interesting to read. She grows a lot as a character over the course of the story but the growth felt entirely realistic.

The pacing of the story was a little uneven but there are plenty of other good elements of WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT that still make this a fun read. My enjoyment was somewhat influenced by the fact that this ARC did not work on my Kindle so I had to read the entire thing on my phone, which wasn't the best reading experience.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did but at the end of the day it was just your typical run of the mill YA fantasy. Ximena is a decoy for the real condesa, Catalina, and is sent to wed the usurper king Atoc. Using this as a cover she plans to search for a gem that can guarantee success of her people by releasing a ghost army to wipe out the enemy, the Llacsans, a move that was used previously on her own people, the Illustrians. I didn't get much of a sense of this world as it all seemed to take place in the same area. There's mention of a castillo and a keep and talk of farmlands but most of the action seems to take place in the castillo, where Ximena, even though she's under constant watch by the king's guards, seems to sneak in and out at will. There's also a Zorro-like character thrown in for good measure. Characters display certain magical abilities. which really don't amount to much. In Ximena's case she can weave moonlight into tapestries and create secret messages and make woven animals come to life. I think this would have worked much better without the magical element, which just seemed weak and kind of pointless. I think YA readers will pick this up simply for the beautiful cover and may enjoy the story of Ximena working to bring together the Illustrians and Llacsans but there's not much substance there overall. It was supposedly based on Bolivian history and folklore but I didn't get anything out of that as there wasn't much storytelling or world-building. 3 Stars.

I received an early copy from the publisher for review!

Ximena Rojas is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the Illustrian princess Catalina. A Llacsan usurper, Atoc, has taken over the thrown by means of violence that killed Ximena’s parents and left Catalina as the last Illustrian royal. The Illustrians and the Llacsans have never known peace, and Ximena has no intention of changing that. Until, however, she’s taken by Llacsan guards to be Atoc’s wife. In enemy territory, Ximena learns the Llascan’s side of history and sees that not everything was as it seemed. Ximena must put aside her revenge if there is to ever be peace in her country. But that would require turning her back on Catalina, her Condesa and best friend. But this may be one sacrifice she has to make.

I really enjoyed this one! There were a lot of tropes I love in this book, such as a the decoy princess and concealed identities of other characters in the book. I thought the magic was really unique, and I loved seeing it. I really liked Ximena as a main character and seeing her character development. This book has it’s flaws, but I still enjoyed it so much and it was so fascinating to see a Bolivian-inspired fantasy world. Also, the food described always made me hungry.

I think what I enjoyed seeing the most was Ximena getting to learn the other side of the tensions between the Illustrians and Llacsans. The political system mirrored real life history, and it's always something I enjoy seeing in Fantasy.

The main issue I had with this book was the romance. I'm generally pretty picky with romances I like, especially in YA. To me there was no chemistry between Ximena and her love interest, and a few of the romantic moments between them felt off or misplaced to me. I felt like it could've been done better or not at all. Also, I wasn't exactly settled on the ending of this book if it's to be a standalone. There was one major issue that wasn't fully resolved. I hear there's going to be a companion novel to this story, so I'm thinking the issue I have in mind may be settled in that book.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to more books the author puts out in the future!

3.5 stars

Excellent fantasy with gorgeous world building.

Ximena , the decoy queen has to get married to the tyrant king. She has a lot of plans and hate when she goes into King's Castillo. Soon she discovers not everything is black and white.

I picked up the book because of the cover. I didn't even read the description or know that this was an ownvoice Latinx book before requesting. So I couldn't contain my excitement when I was approved and read the description.

I expected a lot more action and conversations , but Ximena wasn't much of a talker or a charmer. The plot and the pace picked up around 60 percent , and then it was so amazing.


The main theme of the book was exploring Human's characters , and doing it from the perspective of a person who is a decoy for the queen was a really great idea.

Woven in Moonlight has a great way of digging through identities and finding out people are more than just black and white. This is a more important read because it discusses more about the aftermath of a war which destroyed so many in either side. Atoc's tyranny has affected everyone.

Atoc is a great character who can be connected with any ambitious politician or some authority figure you hate. I've never read anyone like Atoc and I really loved the fact he was a relatable villain .

I loved the book , but it's not a five star . Mainly because of the drag of the plot in the first half , and , we rely for everything on Ximena's pov when she's basically a new person in the Castillo.

The world building was started out with great expectations whenever Ximena travelled or explored. But it's the kind of world that needs so much exploring and woven in Moonlight doesn't do justice. I'm really excited for the next book set in the same world , Written in Starlight.


I recommend this book for readers who are searching for

Political fantasy
Ownvoice fantasy books

I received this e-ARC from NetGalley and publisher. This review will go online closer to the publishing date.

4.75/5 stars!

Look, I'm just gonna say it. GO READ THIS BOOK! You will not be disappointed!

This was such a fantastically written political fantasy novel, and is deeply rooted in Bolivian politics. It also tackles many issues that people face even now in the world. The magic system is very unique. It's shown to the reader where we don't get all the answers, but there are many pieces that can easily fit together to get us to understand how it works. I find it to be a subtle magic system instead of in your face, and that's something I thought the book did well. It focused a lot on characters and the main political theme. I thought the author did a fantastic job weaving 2 different concepts and making them work in harmony.

Characters are absolutely AMAZING! Ximena is a powerhouse of a heroine. She's strong in her own way, and she doesn't let herself fall victim without doing her best to save others. She's incredibly smart, witty, cautious, and very aware of just how dangerous her position is. Rumi is another character that I liked right away from the start. he comes off as sarcastic, goading and very closed off from others. Over the course of the book he truly grows into a better version of himself. It's a gradual change that you almost don't notice until reflecting on the book. Ximena and Rumi are like 2 sides of the same coin, and their scenes together were always some of my favorite, no matter how brutal or heartwarming the scene was.

Honestly just go read this book! It's so SO good! I fell in love with this and I can't wait to see what else the author writes. If I had any issues, I just wish the beginning was a tad bit quicker in pace. It took a while to get to the main story and was filled with explanations, but it's such a nitpick that it doesn't hurt the book in any way.

ARC provided to be by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is one of my favorite covers this year.
And once you read the book you see how all these different elements work together.

This book has a very interesting premise, but there was just something about it that did not grab me.
I lost interest constantly and it took me a long time to get through it. 
I wanted to love this book and I really thought I would,

I can't even put my finger on what it was I didn't like about it, whether it is the writing style, the characters, or the actual story, there was just something.

Full disclosure, I received a digital ARC for this book and the file did not work on my kindle, so I had to read it on my phone, which is never an enjoyable experience, I would like this think this is not impacting my review, but when you can't relax with a book, it makes it difficult to get into it.

Beautifully written political fantasy inspired by real life events in Bolivia. The world was immersive. The magic system was very clever. The characters were engaging. I’m not sure the romance really worked but that could just be me since I am very picky about romantic sub plots. The pacing was a little uneven. Overall though this was a great YA fantasy with plenty of grit beneath the magical realism.

#WoveninMoonlight
#PageStreetPublishing
Thank you to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing Co. for the E-arc copy of Woven in Moonlight. I can't wait for this novel to be released. It is such a great young adult novel.

4.5 stars

I am so thankful to have a arc of this book. I found out about it a couple months ago when I saw my bookshelves lacked Latinx authors and being Latina myself I knew I needed to add more diverse reads.

This book immediately caught my eye and after reading the synopsis I knew this was going to be my most anticipated 2020 read, but I wanted to review it sooner.

This book is a Bolivian fantasy novel, food is mentioned so much that I crave all of it. The colors in this book are just so vibrant and the magic is just magical. Also nobody is safe in this book either which had me shook lol.

This fantasy novel brought up real life issues especially understanding colonizers and how it affected the natives. You get to understand both sides and you truly understand the mc motives and understanding that her enemies are not her enemies. That things can change and sometimes you have to out others needs before your own even if it ruins friendships.

I truly loved this story, the settings, and cant wait to read the second book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

This is another hard one for me to rate, because there are some really amazing parts in it. But there are also some not-so-great parts, and I'm going to cover those first. The pacing of this book felt really off. It felt like it went way too fast at some parts, rushing through things that should've been allowed more time to build. The rushing also weakened emotional impact. There is this scene early on that's done well, but as the story goes on it feels like the emotion's not there as strongly anymore. I can't explain without giving away spoilers, but for it being in first person, I didn't always feel the emotional response and conflict from our main character.

I hate always picking on the romance in YA, yet here we are again. This felt really rushed, too. It falls under the "enemies to lovers" trope, but I feel like some plot points were conveniently placed to let them make that progression a lot faster. I was buying them going from enemies to friends, but the lovers felt too rushed. They still don't know each other well and the first sign of her possibly not being on his side has him questioning her and not trusting her. Plus, I'm honestly just tired of having a romance subplot in every single YA I read lately. Is it really so hard to write a marketable YA novel without a romance in it?

Now let's talk world-building. I read that this is based on real Bolivian conflict. That's very cool and I love the mixture of Spanish and English words throughout the novel. What I don't really like is still not fully understanding what happened in this world. Rumi tells Ximena to read the history of his people, but she forgets the book in the dungeon and I don't think ever actually reads it. She just goes by what she sees and hears of the people around her. While it's good she's being more socially aware, it would've helped if she understood the history behind how and why all this happened. Especially as she's helping decide the future of the country. Artoc could've used more development, too. I don't know, maybe his character is based on a real person, but I feel like he was going to such an extreme when something more subtle would've been way more compelling. Have there be more of a gray area of the two rulers or something to really stamp in the message that they didn't understand each other's cultures/their past hurt was dictating how they treated each other in the present.

That said, those elements certainly are there. Both sides have a certain idea of how the other behaves and thinks, and the prejudice and hatred they have is clearly shown. They do progressively learn there is more to each other than what they believed, but maybe that's done a little too quickly? Sometimes it was hard to tell if this was Stockholm Syndrome or Ximena actually learning about the other side and vice versa. I was good but could've been better.

The magic was also really cool. Not entirely explained, but it didn't entirely need to be. I would advocate this to be a graphic novel just so I could see the designs of the tapestries Ximena creates as well as the animals. I would've liked more understanding of the religions, but I got a general idea of them.

Overall, it was creative, and I liked it taking Bolivian history and highlighting some of that culture and the language. I just wish the story took its time more and really dived into the ideas presented.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was very interesting. The plot was very interesting and I was focused the entire time and never got bored. Would highly recommend this book!

What a unique and captivating book. Danger lurks between the lines and intricate palace intrigue thrills me to the bones. Meticulous researched with painstaking details, the intimate writing pulls the reader in. The characters possess plausible motives. The world exudes beauty and brutality. The plot is at once suspenseful and enjoyable. I loved the read!