Cemetery Boys is the story of a latinx trans teen who, in an attempt to solve the mystery of his missing cousin and prove himself a true brujo to his family, accidentally summons the spirit of a snarky bad boy.

Wow....I don’t want to seem dramatic, but to me this was a perfect book. I was immediately hooked from the first page. Aiden has crafted such fantastic characters...I truly felt like I knew and loved them. This story handles so much: tradition, gender roles, culture, family, identity...and it was all done masterfully. It’s truly impressive to me that this a debut. I cried at least 6 times reading this, often from joy and sometimes from sadness just because I felt so deeply for these characters. Once I started I could not put it down. I loved all of the characters and the world so deeply. There was a not a boring part to this book. While I did guess what was going on with the mystery part as it developed, that did not take away my enjoyment. In my opinion everything about the plot was cohesive and well done. The real standout to me though was the characters....I feel like I adopted a new family in reading about them. I love Julian with my entire heart! He was so well rounded and REAL. While he was my favorite, I felt that each of the characters was strong and well-developed. Even if they were not on the page much, Aiden still found a way to make them alive and real.


I cannot say enough good things about this book. It was truly fantastic and I loved it so much. I can’t wait for it to come out and to read a physical copy and spend more time with these characters! Aiden is a auto-read author for me now.

All I can say is that Aiden Thomas owns my soul now. That’s it. That’s the review.

I would give this book more stars if I could. It is literal perfection in every way. Every character feels like a real person - the kind of person you’ve definitely met, if not been close to or lived as. The easy familiarity, the jokes, the phrasing- it all comes off as so natural and realistic. And it’s not just the dialogue- every mannerism, quirk, and little detail of body language is spot on. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with characters that felt so comfortably human.

Thomas’ skill writing realistic characters feels so necessary for the places this story takes us. So many issues are tackled in this novel yet they are all handled beautifully. Everything from grief and guilt, to gender identity and sexuality, to abuse and finding a sense of belonging, to dealing with the expectations of tradition, culture, and family. Writing out the laundry list makes it feel impossible that all of these are handled so seamlessly and tactfully throughout the story, and yet here I am.

I cannot wait to recommend this story to everyone. This absolutely captivating tale of a gay trans boy finding who he is in life while navigating a large Latinx family of powerful brujx. This perfect package full of mystery, romance, adventure, and more heart than I knew what to do with.

For some people this will merely be an outstanding read full of action and heartfelt moments. But for so many this will also be an empowering, validating, and life-changing read. This gift Aiden Thomas has blessed us with cannot be overstated.

Don’t miss out on this book!!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing debut!! I look forward to much more from Aiden Thomas in the future!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Favourite Pages Book Club for my advanced copy of this book. Look for an extended review on my blog (Books, Tea, Healthy Me) coming soon!!

4.5

Yadriel is 16 and all he wants is for his brujx community to accept him for who he is - a boy and a real brujo. But he's not allowed to go through his quinces so he and his cousin Maritza decide to take matters into their own hands, but Yadriel ends up with way more than he bargained for. Like a dead boy named Julian. I'm 100% recommending this fast-paced, own voices coming-of-age fantasy-adventure book!

Cemetery Boys takes place in East LA where Yadriel lives with the rest of his brujx community. I loved this story so much! Most of the characters are Latinx (a diverse range of Latinx characters, too) and there are multiple queer characters. Yadriel is a trans boy yearning for acceptance from his family and community who love him, but have yet to fully embrace him as who he is. In his attempt to prove himself (ah, and this concept itself gets questioned by another character!), he ends up going on an adventure of sorts, gets in a little over his head (or maybe a lot), and grows and gains in various ways.

I love any story that takes place in SoCal (trying to pass off spectral activity as the Santa Ana winds seems very much like something that would happen here) and I love a story where queer characters get a good story that doesn't end in tragedy. I'm not saying all the things that happened because that would be too spoilery, but I will say that I was totally happy with the ending! One of the really great things about this book is the super vibrant characters. It was so easy to picture these characters, they felt so real. The main characters were lovable and I also liked how it was very believable that these were teenagers (as in, the author writes teenagers well).

There is honestly so much that's good about this. There are parts that are touching, parts that made me tear up, parts that made me laugh, and parts that filled my heart. I really liked the growth shown in this book - both for the main characters and for the family and community. I liked how there were things throughout this book that show what it means to have boundaries, to be respectful to others in an interpersonal sense, to have strong relationships. There was also a good amount of what it's like to deal with big feelings. There's loss and love and being 16. Like, really, there was just so much in here woven throughout the story.

This is a good book to rec for teens/high schoolers!

Cemetery Boys is well-written, with twists and turns, enjoyable characters, and excitement and adventure galore. Readers will root for Yadriel and laugh with Maritza, and it’s easy to get sucked into the story and lose track of time. Speaking of time, that’s my biggest issue with the book. I felt like the plot pacing was uneven at times, and I also found the story often predictable. I think many readers will overlook this, though, and enjoy the adventure and relationships in the story.

This book blended the best parts of paranormal, romance, and the teenage coming-of-age. So beautifully plotted and written with characters that stole my heart, if there was a way to get this book in the hands of readers across the world—instead of, I don't know, certain others—I would do it in a heartbeat.

The first two chapters took me a while to get into (maybe I just wasn't in the right head space) but I'm glad I pushed through because the rest of the book went by in one very late night. Yadriel's character was beautifully written, showing teenage angst without making you annoyed with him. Yadriel and Julian both learn and grow from each other throughout the well-plotted story. Maritza's self-confidence and ride-or-die relationship with Yadriel keep the story from being too focused on the romance and show another side of Yadriel.

Hello all! I know it's been quite a while since I've uploaded any reviews, but I've really been wanting to get back in for a bit. And Cemetery Boys really made me want to get my act together and start reviewing aha. It's been a bit since I've fallen in love with a book so fast and this one truly gave me All the Emotions.

Cemetery Boys revolves around main character, Yadriel, a young Trans boy who's growing up in LA. One night, he and his best friend/cousin, Maritza, are doing a sacred ritual to finally confirm Yadriel's rightful place as a "real" brujo when all goes to shit. One of his family members Miguel is killed and he and his family just can't find him. Which leads to Yadriel and Maritza finding a random ghost boy, Julian Diaz, who was also recently killed and whose body is missing as well. These three team up to find out what really happened to Miguel and now Julian, which leads them down a path they never truly expected.

The ghost boy that Yadriel and Maritza found has got to be my favorite character. Julian is so funny and edgy and is such a great character overall. He is a gay Latino who has lost his parents and he lives with his brother. He's not the best with school and would much rather kick it with his little family that he was put together filled with other outcasts from the school they go to. He seems like such a douchey character at first but he's the sweetest and I really didn't expect to like him so much.

"No, none of them deserved Julian Diaz."

Yadriel is such a great main character and most of the time I don't usually like main characters. He struggles a lot with being seen as a man by his family and that comes with his family not recognizing that he's a brujo. He has such a drive to be a brujo and really no one is going to get in his way. I would definitely say he's found himself a good support system in Martiza and meeting Julian really helps him out a lot. But Yadriel definitely knows who he is and isn't ashamed of that. Aiden really pushes for Yadriels family to see him for what he truly is. This book tackles the mental toll it takes with being misgendered constantly and the struggles of growing up Trans. I really love Yadriel and hope to see more of him in other books.

I really really loved this so much. Which I will probably have said at least 10 times by the time I'm done with this review. One thing that stuck out to me so much was just how genuine everything felt. Whether that be the family relationships, friendships and the huge found family chunk of the story, to the magic and history and culture.

This book is filled with beautiful Latinx culture, history, and mythology. I didn't know I was in much need of a queer book about my people and culture. It was so great to read a book that is so relatable on almost nearly every level. This is an Ownvoices novel, as the author is a Trans Latino, and you could tell that the author put so much of his heart and soul into the story and Yadriel. Cemetery Boys is unapologetically queer and I loved it.

There is also a huge emphasis on Dia de Muertos in this book as well which was amazing. The family takes this very seriously as they're all brujx and the magic system in here was great as well. Everything meshed and flowed together so well that I seriously don't have a single complaint at all. The pacing is wonderful, the friendships, the magic, and the family dynamics were all so *chefs kiss.*

I would definitely say this book is an emotional roller coaster. It's filled with laughter and fun and at times sadness, a lot of sadness. I shed a lot of tears during the last 20% and wasn't expecting for the ending to hit me as hard as it did. The ending does wrap the story up very well though and while I don't think a sequel will happen, one can only hope. Growing up as a Queer Latino this book is everything I needed and I can't wait for everyone to be able to read this once it comes out September 1st!

Thank you for all for reading and don't forget to get your copy when this releases on September 1st!

*Thank you MacMillan and Swoon Reads for providing me with an e-ARC*

This was a great read! Both main and side characters were well-developed, and I really liked the growth of Yadriel and Julian's relationship. The use of culture and magic, the way they combined and informed each other, was great (although I did wonder at the construction of such a gender-divided magic system and wished that more discussion in regards to how nonbinary individuals might fit into it; see also Molly Ostertag's Witch Boy) and I especially liked how so many different Latinx cultures were included. I did sometimes find that the writing didn't quite flow or was a little simplistic, especially toward the beginning, but overall a very enjoyable story that even seems to have room for a sequel.

5 shining stars

What an amazing debut novel for this author and what an ending. I just finished this book and I ended up finishing up my box of tissues. I loved the strong representation of being gay, trans, and Latinx in this story and how Yadriel struggled with how much he loved his family but how much they didn't understand him, with the exception of his best friend and cousin, Maritza, and his mother, who passed away. The conflict between his identity and the traditions of their culture and religion were written about very touchingly and the building of bridges that occurred had me bawling. Julian himself was broken by the death of his father, but he loved his chosen family fiercely and protectively and my heart broke for him as he fought with his brother. There was also the mystery of Julian and Miguel's deaths and although I predicted what was behind that, I didn't feel like it negatively impacted the story. In fact, I very much enjoyed how the author weaved all the threads together and used it to bridge the gap between growth and traditions. And the beautiful descriptions of The Day of the Dead and amazing food were so beautifully and achingly described that I yearned to be a part of it. I loved everything about this book, and very much look forward to the author's next novel!

Thanks to #AidenThomas, #NetGalley, and #MacmillanChildrensPublishingGroup for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Cemetery Boys is an amazing YA debut by Aiden Thomas. I loved the characters, the world, and the story. I can't wait to see what Aiden Thomas writes next.
Yadriel is trying to prove to his family that he is a brujo. However, his family has trouble accepting him as trans. One night, he attempts to prove to his family by performing a ritual that only a brujo can. When he accidentally summons the wrong spirit, he must find a way to make things right. With the help of his cousin Maritza, and the spirit, Julian, they try to solve the mystery of what is happening to the kids in town.
This book is perfect for readers who loved Bruja Born and The Both Die at the End.

I really disliked this book, and I'll get to why in a second, but let's start with the part of it that was great, which was the trans representation. I think trans boys are going to read this book and feel seen. There's a lot about how it feels to be misgendered, called by one's dead name, and there's even talk of the bindings. This aspect of the book was super well done and important. The romance is pretty cute, and I liked the romantic interest (Julian).

BUT.

This book is next-level sexist. And it starts with the main character and worldbuilding. In terms of the worldbuilding, boys get cool knives and the ability to do ghostly magic, and girls have to carry around rosaries (necklaces) and have healing powers. The lineage is patriarchal - only men can lead the aquelarre (aka coven). Because ladies can't be leaders, amiright? Now, while I understand this likely somewhat based on actual mythology, I've read plenty of books based in Latinx mythology that were not so insanely gendered and insulting to women (I list a few below). That said, I probably could've ignored the worldbuilding aspect if women weren't also consistently treated like second class citizens throughout the book. For example, right at the beginning, a character is murdered, and the men all go out to find his murderer, ordering the women to stay home and cook. Because ladies belong in the kitchen, amiright? And Yadriel only bats an eye because he is forced to stay home with the women when he is a boy. Which, to be clear, is also extremely wrong, but it never occurs to him that the women should not be treated like lesser people. He only cares when HE is treated like a woman, aka lesser human, and is so directly affected. This behavior persists throughout the book. The sexism was really weird because the book otherwise goes out of it's way to be conscientious. It was baffling. There are also some plot and character issues, but those pale next to the sexism.

There are other, better, queer Latinx fantasies out there. If you're looking for some cool insight into the mythology, try J. C. Cervantes' The Storm Runner or Zoraida Cordova's Brooklyn Brujas series instead. If you want a queer fantasy, I'd recommend pretty much anything by Anna-Marie McLemore or The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected on Water by Zen Cho (not Latinx, but so so good). 1 star. I did not like it and will not be recommending it.

Yadriel has one mission, to prove to his traditional Latinx family that he is a brujo. The only way he can do that is with the help of his cousin Maritza and a restless ghost he did not intend to invoke. The Cemetery Boys is a captivating adventure through the Latinx culture and rituals. This coming of age book dives deep onto what it means to be apart of a community that is divided by gender and how these traditions need to evolve. Thomas is captivating writing and will have the reader absorbed in the clarity of detail provided to build the colorful and rich world of the brujx in Cemetery Boys. The central plot surrounds the disappearance of a missing brujo but Thomas weaves in deeper and complex themes of homelessness, transgender identity, and tradition to make the story a mosaic masterpiece. Readers will have a rich understanding of Dia De Muertos and have an appreciation for the celebration. The only shortcoming is the lack of action in the book that is supposed to be uncovering a brujo and young adult disappearances. Instead of Yadeil tracking down the culprit to find his missing cousin, the love story between Yadiel and Julian takes over most of the book. I appreciated the organic way the two boys found each other and the love that grows but it seemed to overshadow everything else. This included the ties between Yadiel and his family as well as his original goal. Overall, the story is fast-paced, clear, and visually stunning.

I loved this book so much!

I really experienced so many different emotions while reading this book, and most of them were just some form of happiness. Happiness for Yadriel, whenever something good happened to him, and happiness for myself, because I was blessed with this ARC.

It’s difficult to put my feelings for this book into words. My feelings toward it fall under my own special category of “I loved it for so many reasons but most of those are personal”. In other words, this book had a lot of things that I personally love, but I’m not sure they are things other people would love as well.

First of all, the characters! I loved the characters. As a character-based reader, these bright characters really made the whole experience for me. I loved how the interacted with each other, and I loved how different they were from each other. As a Latina, I also appreciated the Latinx representation in this book. Many Latinx books feel stiff and stereotypical, but this one was bright and lively, and it made me proud to know a lot about Yadriel’s culture already. I could tell this was personal to the author, and I really appreciated that.

Another thing I admire about the writing is the amount of times I related to the events in this book, or the times I really believed what the characters were doing. There were times when Yadriel did something and I felt in my soul that I related so much, that I would also do the same thing if I was in his situation. And there were times when Yadriel’s Lita did something frustrating, and I believed it because I have an abuelita and she would 100% do the same thing.

Something I noticed and liked, but also recognized that not everyone would feel the same way about, was the fact that these characters were sometimes a bit too exaggerated. At times, it was just characteristic, but other times, their actions were a bit too fast-paced or their dialogue was a bit too loud. (For example, if a character yelled about something in all caps, italics, and with an exclamation point, rather than just italics.)

There were a few scenes which were kind of messy, in a way which made the dialogue flow a little bit difficult to follow, but I think that’s common when it comes to debut books. (Although, I think this is technically Thomas’ second book.) But this was easy to overlook and understand.

Overall, I give this book somewhere between 4 and 4.5 stars out of 5.

This book has heart, it has pain, it has love, and it has growth. I adore these characters so much. Sweet cinnamon roll Yads, fierce and ferocious Maritza, and the brightest star, Jules. The culture in this book was so eloquently and powerfully written. I could smell the feasts and feel the LA air. Aiden Thomas is an author to behold. I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan/Swoon Reads for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

Cemetery Boys is a great choice for fans of YA fantasy/paranormal romance. In their debut novel, Aiden Thomas crafts compelling, distinctive characters and deftly balances dark, supernatural elements with humor. The plot is engaging and fast-paced, and Thomas brings the culture and traditions of the brujx vividly to life. My major complaint was with the writing, especially at the sentence level. There are too many clumsy, awkward sentences, and the book is rife with grammatical errors, particularly dangling modifiers that obscure the intended meaning. I’m hoping this book will get another editorial pass before publication, because it deserves to be fully polished. Cemetery Boys provides rich, vital trans and Latinx representation, and I think it will appeal to its target audience.

As soon as I saw this book a few months ago on twitter, I knew that I had to read it. That cover? Witches? A trans main character? Sign me up.

From the beginning, my heart went out to Yadriel. With the magic system in this book, it is very gender driven and the brujo and bruja have different powers and roles. Yadriel has not been allowed to take on the role of a brujo because not everyone has accepted his identity as a boy. To prove his powers, Yadriel accidentally summons the spirit of a cute boy from school and they set off on an adventure to find out what happened to him and Yadriel's missing cousin. I loved how Yadriel and Julian's chemistry slowly built throughout this book as they opened up to each other more and more leading up to October 31st. The mystery was great and I didn't know what any of the answers were until leading up right to the reveal.

My only complaint with this book is the pacing seemed a little off. They would be in school all day, set out to complete a task, and then it'd be nighttime and they'd spent the entire afternoon having one conversation with someone. They also spent an entire day running tasks and only did two or three things and it was suddenly midnight. Other than the pacing, though, this book was fantastic!

This book is so atmospheric and the perfect book to read this fall. It's so witchy and I loved the Latinx culture and how there were so many different cultures within the Latinx community that came together in this book. The side characters were fabulous and I loved Maritza, her dogs, and Luca, so I ended up giving this one 4.5 stars. You HAVE to pick this book up when it comes out! As always, please make sure you look up own voices reviews as well!

Review posted on Goodreads (August 9th, 2020)
Review Linked.

5/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group (Swoon Reads) for sending me this E-ARC for an honest review!

I had a feeling from the moment I heard about this book that I would absolutely love it, and I was right. This book was absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with Aiden Thomas' writing from the very first page. This book is so important in so many different ways. It is emotional, action packed, has an AMAZING romance and has deep, complex, and lovable characters. Yadriel is such an incredible character that I fell absolutely in love with. His character is so strong and inspiring. I thought that the world that Thomas created was beautiful and intricate. I was never bored while reading this book and I could not stop reading. I didn't want the story to end!

I really recommend picking up this beautiful story and reading it! This is a book that everyone should read!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

I had so much fun reading this book. It was really well set up, with twists I didn't see coming but that were not out of nowhere - a more perceptive reader may have been able to predict them! I think a second read of this book would really show the way the plot was laid out. I loved Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza, and even the side characters stood out and had unique personalities. The romance was really sweet. I was drawn into this story right from the start, and it didn't let me go until I was done.

So I am so thankful to Netgalley & the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
First off there were a whole bunch of things I loved about this book. First we get Yadriel who is an amazing character. He has such a sweetness to him that I adore and you really want all the best for him. Julian too is a great character. One thing I felt is I liked the characters more individually than I did together. One of my issues was the romance just didn't work for me completely. There isn't one thing I could put my finger on. But I loved them each on their own and felt it worked really well. Not to say the romance want cute, it was. I like insta romances but I felt that this one kind of fell a bit flat compared to all the other moving parts in this book. I suppose I wanted more of it? Just a minor thing I would have liked.
I think the world building is stunning! There is so much to love about it. I really enjoyed getting to know the different aspects of the world and how magic was explained. I loved those portions and I love how culture was worked in through the book. It all felt very cohesive and just...I loved it. I loved every minute of when we were getting Yadrial being a brujo I loved how he dealt with the issues of culture and being trans. It all worked so well within the novel and was done brilliantly. This is one of the best parts of the book!
I think my main issues were the pacing and writing. The pacing is where I struggled intensely because I felt there were portions I just didn't love. The pacing felt a little less cohesive than I would have liked, and it made some sections a bit awkward for my personal tastes. And while the writing is good, I did think it could have been a bit better. Those are both me things though! In the long run I think the writing was good, and that while I didn’t like portions of the pacing it didn’t take away that much from the book. Which is why it is a solid 4 star rating from me!
The plot of this book (and the bad guy) was pretty obvious, but that really didn’t bother me at all. It’s not a bad thing to have guessed the plot and it didn’t take away from the overall enjoyable reading experience. The plot was well done and I think it tied in well with many of the issues presented in the book. We have both action plot and character plot pushing the story forward.
Overall, I felt that this was an excellent book and one that I will definitely being recommending to everyone! I think this is going to be one of those enduring books that people will want to continually go back to and enjoy immensely.
Also be sure to check out some of the #OwnVoices reviews as well – they’ll have insight into the culture as well as the trans experience that I don’t have!