Book review

Thank you to NetGalley and Author Lorraine Avila for an advanced release copy for an exchange of my honest review/opinion of the book!

The Making of Yolanda la Bruia is a story about a Dominican Afro Latina girl named Yolanda Yo Alvarez who is raised by her grandmother,
Mama Tete, in the Bronx. She attends Julia De Burgos High and is entering her sophomore year. Mama Tete is a seasoned Bruja and is teaching and guiding Yo to become a Bruja. Yo begins to have disturbing visions of the new kid in schoolI and is conflicted with trusting her Bruja Diosas (sport guides) and herself. Should she report her vision to the school admin? If she does will they believe her? Are her visions gifts from her Bruja Diosas or is it just a figment of her imagination??

I absolutely adored this book! I loved the relationship with Yo and Mama Tete. The sense of home that Mama Tete provided for Yo was beyond the physical room and board. Mama Tete’a character felt like comfort. I enjoyed that Yo’s relationship with Mama Tete was respectful but held was for frustration and questioning.

The dynamic of Yo and her best friend Victoria was EVERYTHING to me! Often times in books best friend are portrayed as being perfect. Never getting in to disagreement. If disagreements do occur they tend to be an over drawn monumental issues. Victoria and Yo held each other down regardless of any disagreements that may occur between them. They would argue but it never felt like they were in some huge exaggerated fight. Instead it just felt like a true friendship where sometimes you disagree and don’t get along…and it doesn’t change the love.

Not only did this book hit you with a nod to religious/spiritual practices of Afro descendants it also touched on heavy hitting topic. Topics of racism, mental health, white supremacy, classism, COVID 19, and much more were handles with grace.

I look forward to reading future books by this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. Once I saw that Elizabeth Acevedo made a comment on this book, I wanted to read it. I like her style of writing and this was not too far from it as well. This was well writting speaking towards family customs and culture and it was interesting to see how they lived tied into her fathers' release from jail.

I want to Thank NetGalley and Levine Querido for giving me the opportunity to read this incredible book early in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Making of Yolanda la Bruja was such a good book. Our main character is Yolanda, a teenager living in the Bronx. She loves her family, enjoys school and is embracing her Bruja powers. Everything is ok until Ben Hill arrives at her high school. Yolanda and her friends are suspicious of him, until Yolanda starts having visions of his intentions. I like how we learn that Yolanda accepts her heritage, the respect she has for her ancestors, and how she learns to navigate her future by embracing her powers.

I will definitely be reading Lorraine's other books.

Trigger Warnings (real word concerns): classism, school shooting, death, gun, gun violence, racism, white supremacy, KKK mention, anti-Blackness, slavery, mental health, COVID-19

This strong, bold Dominican teen is faced with undue pressures stemming from her fathers prison release, an upcoming bruja, and a new school assignment that has her perplexed and wondered how to ensure safety. Talk about walking the tightrope. Love the language and exposure to a character with intersectional identities that embraces her true self .

Lorraine Avila, born and raised in the Bronx, is a first generation Dominican American. They spent a decade in the education system teaching K-12, which granted them a substantially unique perspective to contribute to their YA debut The Making of Yolanda la Bruja. Published by Levine Querido, it was released April 2023.

Yolanda Alvarez is a sophomore at Julia De Burgos High School in the Bronx. She’s finally starting to settle into a good routine in life. She’s got her best friend, Victory, and a burgeoning romance with the senior basketball star, Jose. She’s even got her Brave Spaces after school club to fall back on – where she and others are able to talk about the struggles they face on a daily basis just existing in the skin they are in. At home, she knows that her initiation into her family’s long bruja tradition is looming.

This balance is threatened when the son of a politician, Ben Hill, suddenly transfers into Julia De Burgos in the middle of the year. As one of the only white students at the school, and certainly the only person in the school from a rich family, a lot of eyes are on him. But there’s something about him that fails Yolanda’s vibe check. The deeper she gets into her initiation, the more visions she has of Ben threatening violence. When his actions outside of the visions start to confirm Yolanda’s suspicions, alarm bells ring out. What will Yolanda do? And how can she convince others that the content of her visions are real when the world doesn’t listen?

Avila has crafted a novel that the country, wrapped in a plague of gun violence, sorely needs. Their work takes an unflinching look at race, justice, education, and spirituality that no other book has so masterfully woven. In the character of Yolanda, the reader is taken on a journey that examines what spirituality can mean to a young person growing up with pressure from every angle. What would the ancestors want of someone in this new and changing world?

Avila’s book is a difficult read due to the subject matter, but a rewarding one for readers 12 and up. It rewards multiple read throughs as the reader matures and faces different challenges in their day-to-day life. The melding of traditional belief with modern problems is inspiring, and shows the readers ways to grow in an ever-evolving, but still vital tradition.

A very big thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book for an honest review, because it was amazing and eye-opening (no exaggeration). This book is like 'on my block' but deals with even more serious themes. The story is heart breaking, but beautiful to read. What I also really appreciated was all the different themes that were incorporated in the book, like racism, discrimination, changing in your puberty. I believe that for YA reading about these sort of things, will help them understand the world and their own lives better. I would say this has to become a must on every school's to read list.

Even tough full of representation and a powerful narrative,I did not enjoy this book too much. But i also know that its a very personal experience and highly recommend readers to give a try on this one. Hope you guys enjoys it !

If there's a single reason to read this book, it's the heart of it all.

The Making of Yolanda la Bruja is somewhat of a coming-of-age story that captures the challenges of intersectional identity in the modern age. The titular character is what one might expect of today's youth: extremely passionate and prideful, highly perceptive of social and political issues, deeply invested in determining what it is that defines someone as an *individual* versus a part of a family/community/etc.. Yolanda navigates the changes in her body/spirit and in her life, in a world that, at times, doesn't seem to change for the better. Despite this, she and her loved ones continue on. Slight spoilers may follow, but I'll do my best to avoid giving away the plot.

what worked:
- characterization: all of the characters felt alive. Getting a sense of Yolanda's personality and motivations happens almost instantaneously, and similar could be said about those who surround her. Not only was there so much forethought placed into the creation of the "main cast," but such effort was extended to even characters who only appeared for a single scene. It isn't difficult for readers to become immersed in the community that serves as an important focus in the story.
- the setting: jumping on the previous point, every environment felt alive. This may be in part due to Yolanda's (at times) hyper-awareness of her surroundings, but it felt all too easy to imagine what it was like to be in her shoes. At times, the descriptions can be so vivid that one can practically get a sense of every sight, every smell, every sound.
- "magical realism": despite the notion that a bulk of the book is grounded in cultural traditions that some might describe as "fantastical," it wasn't presented in a forceful/fantastical way. Deep contemplation over circumstances and choices to make, real consequences to actions— this book may be geared toward young adults, but there's nothing juvenile about the way it treats both themes and characters. I don't think the ending was necessarily "happy," or "perfect," but it was pragmatically satisfying. Hopeful.

what didn't work:
- slow start: neither the writing nor the content are inherently difficult to read, but the earlier pages come across like an unpaved, gravelly path. I think I understand. There are plenty of elements that I would expect many casual readers to find unfamiliar and/or confusing. It takes some time for the main story elements to really start up, possibly on account of what is spent to establish the world state.
- the dialogue: do people really say the letters of acronyms out loud, as though reading a text message? This occurs a good handful of times throughout, and each time was as immersion-breaking as the last. Writing dialogue that rings true to contemporary youth's speech patterns isn't necessarily the easiest, but this felt like something that could have gone smoother.
- transitions: time could be a little funny. There were small, rather erratic jumps of days/weeks, and the actual timeline of the story didn't fully occur to me until maybe three-fourths of the way through. This is odd to admit, given how the time ended up being a very important facet of the story as a whole.

This book was such a ride from start to finish, and one that I'm very grateful to have been on. It's always fascinating to read a well-crafted story about a young individual growing up, but even moreso when there are so many elements that hit the marks for representation. This will be a strong recommendation for anyone who is looking for a unique experience, for the mere fact that it was crafted with great care and attention, plus its unabashed approach toward showcasing the beauty of diverse communities.

My thanks to the author, the publisher (Levine Querido), and NetGalley, for providing the opportunity to read an eARC of this work.

This book was EXCELLENT. Combining the magical elements with a well-grounded and timely story that is great for adults and teens. You can feel the tension and concern of our MC as she has to figure out how to stop this coming violence without making herself seem crazy to everyone else. It touches on gun violence in a way that feels relevant and grounded without being too heavy handed and preachy. Great story.

The Making of Yolanda la Bruja is such an authentically good story! It was definitely giving me Elizabeth Acevedo vibes and realness. The character descriptions and development were beyond amazing, and they felt so relatable. On too of all of that, Lorraine Avila did such a great job of addressing such a major real-world concern, but presenting it in such an eloquent and passionate way. I would recommend this to anyone.

More specific rating: 3.5 ⭐️

Yolanda is your typical teenage girl living in the Bronx. She has boy problems, loves her family, and for the most part, enjoys school. Oh, and she's also learning how to embrace and channel her ancestral bruja powers.

Everything is going well for Yo until Ben Hill arrives at her high school. The son of an aspiring congressman, Yolanda and her friends are immediately suspicious of him. However, it's not until Yo starts having visions about Ben and his intentions that she starts to seriously worry. She must navigate her heritage, tradition, and living in the modern world to figure out what kind of person she's truly meant to be.

I overall liked the book, especially the back half. The beginning was a little slow and some of the "teen talk" took me out a little, but perhaps young folks would be into it (I'm old 💀). I really liked the themes of accepting ones heritage, respect for the ancestors, and navigating a way into the future. I was definitely rooting for Yolanda and hoping she would embrace her powers and intuitions.

The background information on her family's traditions and powers were super interesting, and I'm glad the author went into so much detail because it made the story very powerful. Yolanda is a perfectly imperfect protagonist that I was happy to cheer for.

Spoilers:

Overall a lot of deep themes in this YA novel. I was a little confused about the magic and spirituality for the first third of the book but got a lot more interested about halfway thru the book. When Yolanda predicted the gun violence too early I was def shocked! And was devastated by Mr. L getting shot!

I thought the end ref to Covid was maybe unnecessary but otherwise will recommend the book!

Sophomore Yolanda is a Dominican American social justice leader in her multi-ethnic Bronx school while learning to listen to the ancient spirits who guide her. When a white student enrolls she senses danger. Will she be able to help?

Thank you so much NetGalley and Levine Querido for providing me with this arc.

Wow! What an incredible book. I resonated so much with Yo and what she was going through. There were so many heavy issues of racism, gender, ableism and gun violence that were challenged and handled extremely well. The writer has these amazing prose throughout the book that beautifully capture the characters emotions and the depth of the situations they were out in. The diverse cast of characters in this book have dealt with so much trauma and this novel really hones down the message that our ancestors are here to guide us and they went through so much so that we can have a little bit more freedom to continue the fight. All the side characters also play such and important role and add so much to the story. I love that we got to see them hold each other accountable for their flaws and are there to support each other through each of their own personal journeys. This book has such amazing representation across the Black diaspora.

I will definitely be reading Lorraine other works!

Content warning: Racism, classism, gun violence, mental health

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this incredible book early! This is a story of justice and sovereignty and anger and faith, and I couldn’t put it down. It takes significant talent to take real systemic issues and translate them into a magical realist, fantasy world so that we, the readers, may better understand. But Avila does just that with Yolanda. Yolanda is an incredible character. She is a girl who was forced to grow up too fast and become strong too soon. But it is her strength, and the strength of her love for those around her, that helps her in the end. While the magic remains within the pages of this story, so much of it relates to the real-world experiences of girls, and people, just like Yolanda, and it is for this reason, that this book should have a place on everyone’s required reading list. Absolutely fantastic.

When I finished The Making of Yolanda La Bruja, I had to take a moment. A moment to sit with the work of Lorraine Avila and let the emotions flow through. It’s like drinking un chocolate con melted queso cheddar in the bottom, that reminds you of your roots. While stinging your tongue because it was too hot, to begin with, and you couldn’t wait to get the melted cheese.
Yolanda Alvarez is a young, bright, student at Julia De Burgos high school in the Bronx. She has her best friend, Victory by her side. Yolanda is celebrating a birthday and the signs that her initiation into her family’s bruja tradition is beginning soon. She feels it and the Bruja Diosas say so too! Everything seemed like it was going well. Yolanda balances living between her grandmother’s place and her mother’s while her dad is away for some time.

There is a new boy attending Julia De Burgos, and the energy is shifting. While Yolanda is awaiting for the Bruja Diosas to show themself to her, she starts dealing with the new kid’s bad energy. She starts having visions, a part of her “don”, her spiritual gift. Yolanda does not know what to do with these visions. Who can she share them with? Victory knows all about them and tries to get her to speak up. Will any adult at Julia De Burgos believe her?
How can Yolanda protect her community? She gets the help of her grandmother, a wise spiritual woman who is trying to guide Yolanda through the initiation process but the Gods that be won’t let her. This is Yolanda’s initiation after all.

The Making of Yolanda La Bruja is a book that tackles gun violence, the intersection of race, justice, and education. The care and protection Lorraine Avila put into discussing spirituality and the practice of Yolanda and her Grandmother was beautiful. This is something the book also discusses alongside the other important topics that affect the youth and adults alike in today’s climate.

The debut book from Lorraine Avila deftly handles displaying the Bronx of today without feeling heavy-handed
and also opens people's eyes to some of the spiritual practices found in Latine communities.

The Making of Yolanda la Bruja is told by the eponymous Yolanda, a 16-year-old sophomore that is strong and secure in her identity, yet still has moments of doubt as she deals with the off-putting new white student in her mainly black and brown high school, while also navigating growing into her spiritual gifts.

I love just how alive Avila does not shy away from making the characters flawed in very human ways, making them feel so alive. I found myself a few times muttering to myself as if these people were ones I knew in real life. The teenage characters feel and speak as if they were my younger cousins, making this story connect that much stronger with me. Being a Dominicana myself, I was also surprised to find how the magical spiritual side made me sad that this practice is not as common in the Latine community.

Some of the scene transitions felt jarring and slightly throw the pass off for me, though those did not take away from my enjoyment of the story.

Avila captures the way people, especially the students, talk and engage with each other as a community so perfectly and authentically. This is the biggest strength of the story that I feel will hook people in and drive home the emotional highs and lows for readers.

Thank you to Levine Querido for the e-ARC of this book.

This was such an amazing story. This has become an auto buy author for me. The word’s jumped off the page for me. She pulled me into story it left me wanting more

Thank you to the publishers at Levine Querido for the chance to read the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Yolanda Alvarez is a sophomore at Julia de Burgos High who’s also a brujita in training. As she grows more into her role as a Bruja from a long line of spiritual magic, a new student transfers to her school - one that disrupts the community in deeply tragic ways.

This book could have been trauma porn. It could have whittled all of its characters down to the horrific things that happen to them in this novel, in addition to the histories of suffering and oppression many of the cast of characters come from as immigrants, as Black women, as disabled folks, and so many other identities. But it never does. This book is much more interested in how much of a miracle it is that our youth are alive and have a chance to thrive, or that our ancestors and elders survived too much to only pass down pain. It holds so many contradictions - like in the passage where Yolanda is reminds herself that she still has work to do to unpack why her love interest coming to her defense in a physical altercation validated her, despite the fact that she’s her own person well before her relationship with a boy - and explores these nuanced deftly.

To say that I loved this book is an understatement. This book feels like the cafecito por la mañana with your bestie who you haven’t seen in a long, long time. It’s a joy to get to see black youth culture - especially a black Latinx experience - celebrated throughout the novel. It’s a warm hug tinged with pain, longing for a better world, and so much hope. It’s also one of the first novels I’ve read capture the weirdness and grief from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on young people. Special shout-out also to this novel for having some of the most tender explorations on Dominican masculinity, fatherhood, and its impact on our novel’s protagonist as a Black girl. (Truly, Junior Diaz who? Don’t know her.)

More over, The Making of Yolanda la Bruja is the book that I wish I could have handed to some incredible young people of color I’ve worked with over the years in the Bronx, but thank the Bruja Diosas we can start giving this book to our young people now. I can’t wait to see what more work we can expect from Lorraine Avila!

Wow! This was so good! This YA debut novel is excellent. In this book difficult issues of racism, gender,disablism, and gun violence are carefully handled.