Thank you to Berkley for the complimentary copy of “Lightning in Her Hands”. All opinions are my own.

While this may be a great book for some, this read was just okay for me. I picked this one up because I was looking for witchy reads. While this satisfied that itch, this book has heavy emotional themes. I was expecting the parental abandonment because of the themes in the original book, but there were a lot of flashback scenes related to a previous abusive relationship.

I wished the book had focused a bit more on the fake marriage, which felt glossed over. The scenes between Carter and Teal had such excellent chemistry, yet the original conflict of the inheritance was quickly resolved near the end as if it was an afterthought.

If you’re looking for an emotional magical realism novel with a dash of romance, or you fell in love with “The Witch of Wild Things”, still give it a shot, as this may be more your cup of tea than mine!

This one hits all of the feels with its blend of second chance, friends to lovers, and fake marriage tropes going on. Then add in the witchy wiles and it becomes a wonderful romance that is witty, spicy, and a bit wild too!

There are so many things to love about this book. For me, much of it was that the main character and her sisters all have very unique gifts. Another thing I love is that while the sisters are together quite a bit, this story focuses more on the relationship between Teal and Carter. Thank goodness! There have been many similar books I have read that put most of the conversations and focus on family stuff and the romance is secondary.

The author is gifted at spinning a tale that is believable yet offers the fantasy aspects we are looking for. The plot is unique and interesting. It is a tough story to put down because Gilliland writes in such an addictive manner.

I love the connection between the two main characters. We get all of the spice and heat, plus the added bonus they were besties in the past which means a special bond and connection.

Lightning in Her Hands is a great choice for a trope-filled romance with a fantasy and paranormal romance twist.

'Lightning in Her Hands' by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland is a swoon-worthy romantasy about Teal Flores, who can control the weather but struggles to control her emotions. Teal agrees to a fake marriage with her best friend, Carter Velasquez, who needs a wife to receive his family’s inheritance. What starts as a convenient arrangement soon turns into real love that has been blossoming since childhood. As their feelings grow, so does the power of Teal’s gift—her emotions literally cause lightning to strike.

While the romance is sweet and exciting, the story is also about Teal's personal journey of healing from a former emotionally abusive relationship and her own mother wound. She and her sisters search for the mother who abandoned them, and Teal must face her mother to reclaim a part of her soul that was stolen. Throughout the story, Teal learns to believe in herself and embrace her own power.

This book is a heartwarming mix of romance and self-discovery. It’s about love, family, and finding your own strength, making it a great read for anyone who enjoys magical stories with strong emotional depth. Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!

Raquel Vasquez Gilliland's writing is so beautiful. This is only the second book I've read by her, and I am coming to expect great things every time I open up her work.

This was Teal's story. She had been best friends with Carter since childhood, when he started tagging along on all her adventures. At some point, they had a falling out and stopped talking to each other-- probably when she kissed him (it was so good it literally scared her) and then proceeded to start dating someone else the next day. Teal is ready to fix the things she has messed up in her life, including her relationship with Carter. She asks him to attend the wedding of her ex-- the one she quickly moved onto after kissing Carter-- with her, and he agrees on the condition that she helps him out by marrying him so he can gain access to his inheritance.

Teal is such a complicated person, and we knew this from Sage's book. So much of this story was about working through her demons-- healthy ways to deal with her bipolar disorder, repairing her relationship with her sisters in other ways than by giving them gifts, finding her mother to regain the part of her magic that had been literally stolen from her as a child. It was all really beautiful and healing. The romance between her and Carter definitely felt secondary. But I LOVED having more Sky throughout the book and cannot wait to get her story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

I love this series that is as much about sisterhood as it is romance! In the second installment, we get Teal's story as she finds herself in a marriage of convenience with her ex-best friend, but she is also rekindling her relationship with her two sisters and finally facing up to the fact that her magic may not be whole. It's a story of redemption and familial love but also a very fun romance -- I love a marriage of convenience!

This is a fluffy book with a fake marriage trope and a whole family of witches.

I started with the second book of the series and with Teal as the main character. Teal has just been fired from her job as a fitness instructor and needs a date to her ex-boyfriend's wedding. Why wouldn't she ask her best friend who has been in love with her all their lives? And why wouldn't he make his condition on attending the wedding be that she pretend to marry him so he could collect his inheritance?

Teal has magic, just like her sisters. Sage, her older sister, has an affinity for plants and her younger sister Sky has an affinity for animals. The weather and Teal are connected but Teal has no control over her power. The weather responds to her emotions, not her wishes, and Teal has worked on breath control and yoga to try to keep from raining out her friends when she is feeling blue. Teal is also bipolar but I'm not sure she felt especially that way to me. She seemed to have a pretty good reason for her intense feelings.

Anyway, there's also a missing mom and mother issues that all three sisters need to resolve. Although Teal's fake husband Carter wants his inheritance, he's done quite well for himself so far on his own and owns a gorgeous house that Teal lives in with him. There's a fold out couch if they want it as an extra bed, but despite the occasional emotional obstacle being thrown in their way there is never any doubt what is going to happen with these two. Carter spends all his time rescuing Teal and she's never sure how he feels about her, you know how it goes.

This book was a nice way to pass an evening- it was cosy and comforting in its predictability and I enjoyed reading a romance written by a Latina author who put her heritage into her book. There are farmers' markets with handmade candles, a heroine who is really into purses (if that is your thing you'll enjoy it), shopping, food, mean grandmas who get their comeuppance.

I loved Witch of Wild Things last year and was so looking forward to reading Teal's story.

Teal is such an incredibly complex character - she can be hard to like in some ways, but not in ways that ever stopped me from rooting for her. She has a lot of trauma to wade through and is dealing with Bipolar disorder so although she makes some decisions and says some things that I don't love, I do understand why she does those things. It really fits with her personality and all that she deals with. She has a long way to come through this book but she really does work on herself.

I absolutely adored sweet Carter who also had some work to do - he needs to learn to stand up to his grandmother which he has never had to do before. I love a marriage of convenience and think it was done well here - you can tell that the characters absolutely care for each other even when they don't know how to show it or how to be honest about how they're feeling. Carter really sees through Teal a lot of the time in a way that no one else in her life does.

I do think the ending was wrapped up pretty quickly and I do think there should have been content warnings at the beginning of the book.

Thank you to @berkleyromance for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was drawn to this by the mix of Latina protags and witchery, and the author really delivered. I love the vivid writing and the crackling emotional pacing! The romance did include one of my least-liked tropes--Grand Misunderstanding Because They Don't Talk it Out--especially as these two have been besties for years. But the sisters, the relatives, and everything else drew me in and kept me reading. I really like this author, and am eager for Sage's story.

"If I don’t watch myself, I might do something unthinkable. Like fall in love with my husband."

Lightning in Her Hands is the perfect storm of "Encanto Vibes", Gilmore Girls (but Latine), and The Enchanted Hacienda. Raquel Vasquez Gilliland is a poet, so of course her prose is raw, vulnerable, and lyrical. I also loved how she included a bipolar representation within this book! I have a few friends who walk with this mental illness, and I believe she did a wonderful job painting the struggles that those with bipolar work through within their relationships and daily lives. Teal was the sister I felt I would not be able to connect with, due to her chip on her shoulder, but Raquel made her character growth and arc so organic and endearing. I was rooting for her by the end.

My only complaint is the relationship between Teal and Carter...It didn't feel as in-depth as the rest of the story did. I know it wasn't the main focus, rather the story is more centered on the sisters, but it felt a bit forced. It took away from the whole story for me...
I still cannot wait to read Sky's story! She is definitely my favorite.

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkley, for an ARC of Lightning in Her Hands!
Pub Date: October 15, 2024

DNF.

Couldn't care less about these characters. Interesting premise but forgettable characters.
Very fun telenovella vibes with all the crazy drama and the magical realism but otherwise the writing and characters didnt work for me.

This is the second book in a series - the first book, "Witch of Wild Things," I had not read, and you do not need to read to understand the story. There will be spoilers for the first book, so keep that in mind.

Teal is the second of three sisters, all three of whom have magic, but Teal's magic is broken. Her mother stole a piece from her when she abandoned all three children when Teal was 5, and Teal hasn't been able to control her magic the way her sisters can. This year, Teal wants to learn to control her magic, be a less selfish person, and mend the relationship with her best friend Carter. When Carter "fake proposes," she says yes in the hopes that it will mend things between them.

As a romance, the tropes are spot on - fake marriage, best friend to lovers, one bed... Carter and Teal repair their misunderstandings and sparks start to fly.

What I didn't love - Carter is rather one-dimensional. Although Teal does call him out on some misogynist behavior, and he does apologize and promise to do better, he also seems rather clueless.

Underneath the romance and the magic is a real story of trauma, neglect, and abuse. I was a little surprised these weren't given a trigger warning at the beginning of the book. Possible SPOILER......

I also wasn't satisfied with the way the trauma was wrapped up quickly and neatly - an almost insta-healing of a lifetime of hurt. Yes, Teal is doing a lot of work on herself throughout the book, but the actual confrontation and moment of healing felt anticlimactic.

What I did like... the magical elements were well thought out. Teal's anger issues were deftly handled. Well written book. I would recommend to fans of magical realism, or those that like a little magic with their romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had really enjoyed reading Witch of Wild Things earlier this year, and Teal was a character I really wanted to know more about! So receiving this ARC to read was so great. I really loved this, and I greatly enjoyed the journey that the characters went on! Teal had a lot to figure out, and having the mystery of where her mother went was something that kept me turning pages! I will definitely add this to the recommendations list.

This was a great follow-up to Witch of Wild Things. I enjoyed the continuing storyline, with updates on several of the characters that we met in the first book. While I struggled a bit to connect with Teal as a protagonist, overall I found her story to be engaging and well-written. I think I almost liked Carter more than Teal, and the push-pull of their mutual attraction was definitely on the steamier side.

Once again, the magic was portrayed in an intriguing and satisfying way. Without giving away anything, I enjoyed how the sisters were able to work together to resolve the issues with Teal’s magic and have her feeling more whole and in-control by the end of the book.

I continue to highly recommend this series, and I am personally looking forward to the next book (Sky, please!).

Lightning in their Hands by new to me author R.V. Gilliland is book 2 in the Witch of Wild Things series, published by Berkley Publishing.
An intriguing read, witty and fun with wonderful characters I greatly enjoyed readingf the book.
Blurb: Teal Flores is desperate for two things—control over her gift of weather, and a date to her ex’s wedding. The first isn’t possible until she finds her long-lost mother, but the second has a very handsome last-ditch solution: Carter Velasquez.
Carter needs Teal too. His chance at receiving an inheritance is dependent on him being married by age thirty, so who better to pose as his wife than Teal? But fake marriage and cohabitation prove tricky when mutual attraction charges the atmosphere—quite literally for Teal, whose volatile emotions cause lightning strikes.
Together, Teal and Carter embark on a quest to find her mother and the answers she’s searching for. But along the way, they’ll discover something even better: a love that can weather any storm.

I got to say that I was a bit hesitant in reading this book because I didn’t like the Teal character from the previous book. I went into it with low expectations. And this book did exceed my expectations and more. It’s always the books with low expectations that get to me.

Teal may be a difficult character to understand, but there is more to her than expected. You have to read more of her book to fully understand her. She never had parents to guide her or be there for her, so she had to figure things out by herself. And it doesn’t help that her sister died when she was younger. She has a lot of trauma issues to deal with. 

Thankfully, Teal is more than willing to deal with her issues and repair whatever relationships she truly cares for: her sisters and former best friend. She has a lot of things to discuss with them.

I loved loved loved Witch of Wild Things and I was so excited for Teal's story. And she delivered more than I could even dream. My fave type of main characters are misunderstood mean girls, and Teal is right there. Her power stolen from her, unable to control her emotions, and a second chance? Incredible. RVG writes such fun, whimsical characters that make me feel so excited and emotional when I'm reading.

I LOVED The WItch of Wild Things, and was really hopeful that we'd get the other Flores sistes' stories, so I was obviously overjoyed when Lightening in Her Hands was announced. Of the three sisters, Teal is the one I related to the least, but Gilliland made her so real and raw that I had no problem getting caught up in her story. A character with so much hurt and anger can sometimes (understandably) lead to a heavy story, but Gilliland handled it deftly, and with grace. This series is such a great OwnVoices addition to the magical romance genre and I can't wait to read Sky's book next.

This was a very fun romance with some magic added to it which is a major bonus for me. The book written by Raquel Vasquez Gilliand had captured me in the first couple of pages and had me staying up late as I was very engaged.

There is some talk about abuse, if that is something you like to be aware of.

Thank you for the ARC NetGalley.

Lightning in Her Hands by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland was such a good read. I'm glad that we were able to go back into the world created in Witch of Wild Things. I loved this story and I couldn't put it down. The writing is basically perfect. The romance was swoony and the character development was fantastic. The characters feels so vibrant and real and that is truly a talent that this author has. I was transported and enjoyed my time while reading it.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC of this title. After reading Raquel Vasquez Gilliland's first book in this series, Witch of Wild Things, so much of it stuck with me that I was excited to read the next one which is Teal's story. Lightning in Her Hands did not disappoint, in fact, it was really hard to put the book down once I had started it. Gilliland's character are fresh and raw and funny and flawed. The magical elements of her stories are grounded in real life situations and characters so they feel completely natural in the setting.

Teal was the only one of her sisters to be there the moment her mother left them behind. It wasn't until many years later that Teal realized her mother had taken something from her that night, something that would cause her to always feel unlovable, unworthy, and out of control. It's not really a surprise that she ended up in a horribly violent relationship that only made her lack of belief in herself worse. But finally she is free of that situation and has vowed to try to make things up to her sisters and her best friend, Carter. When she agrees to a fake marriage with Carter to both help him and get enough money to show her sisters that she is there for them, she has no idea how much of her true self gets unlocked in the process.

Gilliland draws the lines between past trauma and self-love elegantly, showing that it is both generational and within our reach to heal. Teal's is not an easy story to read. And yet, it makes clear the resilience within us. With the support of those we love, we can learn to love ourselves.

Also, the spicy scenes with Teal and Carter are very hot. Love a fake marriage, single bed trope especially when making fun of the fake marriage, single bed trope!