DNF @ 30% It took a long time for this book to pick up… as in, it never really picked up. For an El Zorro inspired piece, you expect lots of action and sword fighting, and there was remarkably very little of that. I could forgive that if the characters and world building had been better, but alas, the magic system is confusing and doesn’t seem fleshed out enough (is Mamá the only one who can use magia or not?) and the world a little lackluster.

Side note—it’s continually mentioned that Loli is one of the only young women in town, and that Salvación is a woman that matches her description, and yet everyone is like “wow, wonder who Salvación could be???”

Lastly, the narration is extensively full of telling, not showing. I wish the author had given her YA readers more credit to understand the characters’ emotions and motivations without explicitly saying them, and not given us every little “stage direction” of how the characters moved.

All in all, an incredible premise that I don’t think was executed as well as it could have been.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. As I didn’t finish the book, I won’t be rating this book out of respect for the author.

Simple, repetitive storytelling with the same thoughts circling over and over in Lola’s thoughts which, while it might be in-character, is also tedious. I understand her worry and love for her mother, her frustration with the magic salt and healing people becoming her mother’s new calling … but it feels like every other paragraph wants to remind me of that as if I hadn’t just read it a dozen times already.

This book reads like it’s geared for an audience on the younger side of the YA scale. Lola’s first thoughts on meeting are Alejandro — a boy her age arriving with a large group of armed men who want to take over the village and the sal nega is to wonder if they could be friends. She’s shockingly innocent with very black and white thinking but little emotional reaction to … anything. Part of that is the writing style which leans heavily on telling, and repeating, and retelling; it doesn’t give much room for the Lola to do much more than monologue and infodump.

Oh, yes, and to remind me on almost every page that she is Salvación, again, in case I forgot it. The writing is fine, if simple and repetitive — have I mentioned it’s repetitive? — and the pace is brisk. It’s an easy read and well plotted, but I found it to be a frustrating reading experience. However, it’s nice to see a book using Spanish alongside English in a book that takes place during the United States acquisition of California. I appreciate the nods to the culture, the food, the folk tales and found that to be one of the better parts of the book.

I regret that I didn’t enjoy this book more, but I do think that I’m not the target audience. If I’d read this in middle school, I probably would have loved it. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

As soon as I heard that this book was coming out, it instantly become one of my most anticipated releases for 2025. I absolutely LOVE Zorro and this is a gender swapped YA reimaging of it. In this AU United States, magical salt is found rather than gold during the gold rush. The main character Lola and her family (parents and brother Victor) have moved to a mining town where Lola's mother (who has an affinity for magic) works as a healer using the magical salt. Lola takes on the Zorro identity (in this reimagining she uses the moniker of <i>La Salvación</i>) to protect the townspeople from threats to the salt mining operation.

I think?

I had three major problems with this book.

1) confusing world building
2) MAJOR suspension of disbelief required. Too much.
3) a disappointing heroine

With regards to the world building, I was definitely confused at first. The story just sort of takes off, beginning with Lola's mother healing a bunch of people with the magical salt. There is no explanation of what it is, why they moved there, or why Lola felt the need to have a vigilante alter ego. It was only from reading the back cover that I learned that this was AU and this magical salt was in place of the gold rush. A lot of the magical elements of the salt didn't make sense and there were also some loose ends. (Why did that guy never return for his heirloom pistols that supposedly meant so much to him and that he said he would come back for?)

As far as the suspension of disbelief goes, WOAH. We're talking Hannah Montana levels of suspension of disbelief. We are told repeatedly that there are three women in the town. THREE. The three women are:

Lola
Her mother
an old grandmotherly lady

In addition, everyone knows that La Salvación is a girl. But yet no one has any clue whatsoever that Lola could possibly be la Salvación??? There are literally 3 women in the town and they can't piece it together!

But wait! There's another clue to her identity!

La Salvacion relies on Victor for backup. Victor, otherwise known as Lola's brother. And you're telling me no one could figure this out??? It's like Miley putting a wig on and no one has any idea that she is Hannah Montana.

<img src="https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExczRlbm4yaWs2MHBmaGR0eDcyZDNtb2gxNG5rN3M4ZWsycmtteWdpZSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/fDqGThpuG6vS/giphy.gif" width="350" height="250" alt="description"/>

Was this intentional? Does everyone in the town actually know who she is and they pretend they don't? I'm not quite sure. But it was odd the way it overemphasized that there were only 3 women in the town and that everyone knows this vigilante is a woman but someone no one knew it was Lola.

And finally, the character of Lola herself was a bit of a disappointment to me. Or maybe it was the fact that we barely get to see her being her vigilante self. There were quite a few scenes where she had to be rescued or whatnot which really detracted.

I did enjoy the book overall, but my expectations were very high so I was let down a bit. I thought the beginning was interesting with Lola actually acting as a vigilante, and the story was overall engaging and pretty well written. It was a fast read that I completed in only a couple of sittings. If there had been more scenes with Lola acting Zorro-like, and less suspension of disbelief required, this probably would have been a 4 star read for me.

Rating: 2.25 out of 5

Thank you NetGalley for sharing this book.

I have to just start off and be blunt - I was disappointed by this read. I loved Antonio Banderas in Zorro and I thought I would be getting the same vibes here but I was completely wrong.

Focusing on Lola or Salvacion, it was an interesting and odd choice that her entire family knew who she was. I think the excitement factor was lost in that her parents knew that their teenage daughter was the vigilante. I know it’s fantasy but it doesn’t align with their characterization of wanting her to outwardly appear like a dainty girl.

I found her character to also be a bit of a paradox. She’s meant to be so sneaky that she gets out of her parent’s home and they don’t know it but if she’s such a stealthy vigilante, why was it so easy for Alejandro to spot her? Overall, I found her to be an annoying character and I think a heavy part of that is because her character lacked depth. We understood that she wanted more out of life but it was not followed up well. To add on, I think all of the characters were one-dimensional making this a hard read.

The crux of the story is about sal negra and sal roja but we never get a history of this magic, it’s purpose, or even the full extent of its abilities.

Firstly, I'd like to send a big thank you to the author, Sandra Proudman, St. Martin's Press (Wednesday Books) and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of Salvacion. I will share my review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble upon release. I was instantly won over by the Zorro-inspired cover and summary, because as a child, I was/am a huge Zorro fan. The main character, Lola de la Pena, is a young woman from a more privileged background who takes on the persona of Salvacion by night, a masked vigilante. I appreciated the historical setting and the overall cultural themes of the book, which kept me reading and wanting to find out how the bad guys would be held accountable. The world-building was fun and unique, using a dash of fantasy and magical realism with the addition of a magic system centered around salt (both black and red). There's a blooming young romance, some adventure, some thrills, and a coming of age story all women into the narrative. Of all the characters, I appreciated the relationship between the main character and her brother, Victor. In the end, I'm not sure I found the Zorro story I was hoping for, but I was entertained along the way. I would say that Salvacion could be read/appreciated by teens and young adults above age 13 or so. The violence is pretty mild, as well as the romantic tension. If you liked books like Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez, or We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia, you'd probably enjoy reading about this heroine's journey.

Major themes & tropes:

- hero's journey/masked vigilante
- slow-burn romance
- endearing sibling relationship
- coming of age/identity
- colonialism and rebellion
- magical realism
- culture and tradition

3.7 out of stars, rounding up!

I was SOLD on the fact this is a female version of Zorro but with magic. I was rooting for Loli all the way through.
I do wish Loli did have more dialogue with others rather battle herself with internal dialogue.
One thing I noticed was that others didn’t know she was Salvación but no one mentions other girls her age in town? Was she the only one?
Wouldn’t people assume it was her?

I personally LOVED that both English and Spanish was spoken throughout the book. As a Latina, this felt natural to me. I felt seen.

I can’t wait for others to read this gem.
And the epilogue feels like there could be a pt.2?
(Wishful thinking)

Thank you so much.
Goodreads (Brenda (jadore_2read))

A fun YA adventure inspired by the legend of Zorro - this time a teen girl looking to protect her young mining town and family from a dangerous man with dangerous magic.

While the summary pushes the romance aspect of this - the story is definitely focused on Lola's relationship with her family more than anything else. She has already shed her innocence and became the mysterious hero Salvacion in the beginning of the book, protecting the town and magical "sal negra" black salt that has the power to heal. Now she has to balance her family's idea for the future vs her own, all escalated when a bad man with a small army comes into town welding dangerous magic.

Lola is a great main character. She's strong, she's independent and opinionated - but also still a young girl. She doesn't always know when to go along with her parent's plans and when to fight back. She doubts her own abilities, wants to give up, and makes mistakes like a realistic young hero.

I especially enjoyed the relationship between her and Victor, her older brother. The book is clear with the fact that they are BOTH Salvacion together. They make plans, adjust to problems, and talk through everything together. Their trust and love is palpable, I loved seeing a strong sibling dynamic.

The romance with Alejandro is more of a subplot. Lola is attracted to him at the start, but is focused on her goal to protect her town first and foremost. Their relationship grows naturally and I still really enjoyed seeing them become close.

The world is great as well. The use of salt as magic feels unique, and I especially liked the commentary about how just because humans FOUND something powerful, doesn't mean they should actually use it. It's nice to see the acknowledgement of indigenous people and practices as well.

My biggest issue with this that keeps me from 4 and 5 stars is that there is a TON of telling, and not showing. Like mentioned previously, this starts with Lola already comfortable as Salvacion - she tells us over and over again that she's no longer the privileged society girl she was, but we never see that. She tells us how each of her relationships with her family has changed, but I just have to take her word for it. The bonds we DO see are strong and I enjoyed them, but didn't appreciate being repeatedly reminded that these were new developments.

Some of her parents views seem to turn on a dime as well. I didn't quite understand why her mother would be extremely protective and watch her at all times, then just give it up a few chapters later.

Overall I still highly recommend this thrilling YA adventure!

Well that was disappointing. I nearly gave it 2.5 stars, but I do admire the themes and messages, so 3 it is.
The writing style left a lot to be desired. It felt like an awful lot of telling and not showing, almost like we as the audience were not expected to be able to come to our own conclusions. It's not like there was a lot of lush descriptive imagery to grasp onto, either, despite how important the setting was to the story. The characters, too, felt flat and lackluster. It was hard for me to believe Loli was in love with Alejandro, because neither I nor Loli knew literally anything about him. I don't understand how she became so infatuated with him when there was nothing infatuating about him. And despite the high stakes of the novel, nothing felt that exciting. It was weird.
All that being said, I did enjoy the perspectives given, especially considering the time period this was set in. It was nice to read a Western that was self-aware of the colonialism and oppression that was so present.

HELLO is this a writer whose work i need to start getting into??? i absolutely devoured this, beginning to end! also as a hispanic reader this was too much fun ✨ i need proudman’s next book asap rocky

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Salvación had me hooked from the start. The rich setting of 19th-century Alta California felt so vivid, and I loved how the author blended history, magic, and action. Lola de La Peña is such a strong and inspiring character—watching her take on the role of Salvación to protect her people was both thrilling and emotional.

The story is fast-paced, full of action, and has just the right amount of romance. I also appreciated the deeper themes of colonialism and resistance, which made the book feel even more powerful. If you love stories about masked vigilantes, rebellion, and a heroine who refuses to back down, Salvación is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for accepting my offer of an ARC!
“I didn't think I was a warrior. But I did know that Salvación could be a hero.”
3.5/5
I really do love westerns. There is just something about the setting that I never really knew existed until recently. This story particularly, I enjoyed the characters, as well as that magic system with the salt. It was so different and unique. The setting was so immersive, I really felt I was there with the characters. The plot was very engaging as well. I was just drawn to the mystery behind the salt and motives of the characters. Though I did enjoy the book I felt as a whole, it didn’t stand out to me in terms of characters, though they were well written none of them stood out to me. Besides that I also left the pacing at times was too show.

The premise of the book enticed me especially the description of a masked female MC inspired by Zorro but the story did not deliver.

Pro's: The setting and the historical facts were spot on, the visual descriptions of place and characters , and the aspect of magic salt super interesting. I enjoyed the family dynamics (especially the sibling relationship) and the uses of magic salt as well as centering a strong confident Latinx MC.

Cons, for me, were too much introspection or inner monologue, so much so that it slowed everything down. I began to skim and would lose info and have to reread. A few words were contemporary which was another stopper. The pacing was uneven which also had me skimming parts. A couple of times the backstory came at the wrong time and slowed the tension.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this.

I've had this book on on my look-out list for a year. Now that I read 75% of it, I realized... it's not the Zorro-inspired tale I wanted. Sure, it has a strong female, family, injustice... but the story is lackluster and confusing.

Item one: The magic salt. The whole crux of the story rests on this magic salt that can heal someone. That's in a mountain... which her family mines. How did the salt get there? We don't know... but it's not given any sort of backstory in this 99.9% historical setting. That bugged me a lot, because to challenge the said salt... you have the RED salt that eats away at people. How is it the US government, or any one else has not figured out about said salt? You got people who speak to other people, hell - one of the plot points (a girl from a different town) finds out about the healing salt! Why is it this is the only magical thing here and we're supposed to accept it?

Item two: Our female lead is the only talked about female in this city, the only female that fits the bill of being Salvacion. Yet everyone is like 'WhO iS sHe?' Come on. The author doesn't try to flesh out the town / settlement, give her friends, enemies. She just does what she does and it's like the whole town knows but doesn't know? It's a very badly kept secret in my opinion.

Item three: Nothing really happens. At 75% in, the weakness of the group that comes in to befriend the female lead's father, they're so tame... lacking any sort of agency or fear for her town. Sure, they have access to the red salt, and soon the black, but I wanted Hernandez to be a better written foil

Item four: Alejandro was toted as swoony, mysterious 'is he bad or is he good' love interest. He doesn't show up a lot in the book.

The things I liked was the family scenes and the female lead's agency to protect her town. But the author didn't really give you a story that made you feel the Salvacion lead was Zorro. I was ready for a Zorro female, but I remember the Zorro show, and the countless films - old and new. We could have had a kick ass female lead, instead... we have ... this.

All in all: if you're walking into this expecting a female inspired Mask of Zorro this ain't it.

Lola de la Peña has a secret. Her family mines for the magical sal negra in the small town of Coloma. The sal negra allows her mother to heal the sick and injured, from the blind to those who have been shot. But Lola has another secret as well. She is La Salvación, the hero who protects Coloma and its magical salt. When outsiders arrive speaking of liberating Alta California from the Yankees Lola finds herself swept up into the fight of a lifetime, not just for Coloma or the sal negra, but for her own family and perhaps her life as well!

I was a huge Zorro fan growing up, so when I found Salvación was inspired by the show I immediately wanted to read it. While I think the world building was done well and the magical salt was actually pretty inspired, those were about the only things I enjoyed in the book. The pacing seems to stagnate in several parts, and Lola seems to fight her parents almost as much as she does Hernandez and his men. In fact, as I continued to read it seemed more like she became Salvación just to gain her mother’s love and approval.

The romance felt rather muted as well. Her feelings seemed more akin to attraction than actual romance. I will acknowledge that she was young and claimed to not be interested in boys, but then later on contradicts herself by saying that was all she was interested in back in her home town. Alejandro was a bit harder to read—since we only get to see through Lola’s POV—and tends to flip flop between his feelings for her and for Hernandez, who he acknowledges many times as being evil. Also it appeared as though he and Isabella had some sort of relationship as well, though she is never mentioned again.

One of the things I felt was done very well was Lola’s character arc. She matures very quickly once she realizes how dangerous Hernandez really is. She even stands up to her own parents over and over again, despite her love for them and how hard it must have been to do so. She refuses to back down even when nobody seems to believe her about Hernandez.

Overall it was a solid read and I did enjoy parts of it. However I would not continue the series if there would be another book.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow.....just.....wow.

Salvación by Sandra Proudman is a Latinx YA fantasy novel that takes heavy inspiration from El Zorro. Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. And when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust, but can’t help but fall in love with.

First of all, this book has all the things you want. Action. A real-feeling family dynamic. And don't even get me started on the cool magic system, because I will certainly nerd out over it. It's everything a reader ever really wants in a YA novel, beyond the typical enemies to lovers trope, which spoiler alert, this one kinda does.

The only part I didn't like about this book, was it's pacing. And I blame that on my general lack of knowledge of Latinx culture and the story of El Zorro. But at the same time, I felt like the story dragged in more places than necessary.

Overall, this is an amazing read for anyone wanting a little more action-packed and in need of a change of pace in the realm of fantasy.

I loved the concept of this book- a badass female Zorro protecting her town and family? Yes, yes, yes. The magic and the romance and the strong FMC made me want to love this book. However, I felt like there was a lot more telling than showing. There was a loooot of internal dialogue, making the story drag on, and I did have to force myself to finish it.

I really enjoyed this book and i can't wait to see where the author goes in the future with their writing.

Lola de La Peña is a fierce, unforgettable heroine, balancing societal expectations by day and vigilante justice by night as Salvación. The world-building is rich, infused with magic, history, and tension as Lola fights to protect her town from the deadly power of sal roja. The slow-burn connection between Lola and Alejandro adds a layer of complexity and emotional depth, perfectly complementing the battle against Hernández. A thrilling, passionate tale of love, resilience, and the fight for justice. A unputdownable read.