Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan, published by Little, Brown and Company
Awesome book! I'll admit it took a few chapters to get me hooked, I was having a hard time connecting with the characters and their personalities. I persevered and boy am I glad I did! Twists, turns and drama! Great setting and descriptions. The plot was excellent. The ending surprised me with who the culprit was.
I liked how there were Spanish phrases and words throughout the novel, it added to the story and characters. I didn't look up what everything meant, I just went with it. It gave the book a nice authentic and cultural feel.
This is a new author for me and I will definitely read more of her books!

This is a new author for me. It took a while for the story to get going and by the time it finally did, I was a bit bored. Maybe I missed something but nothing hooked me in. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for access to this title. I am auto-approved by this publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

Tagline: A gripping retelling of Persephone and Demeter in the Mexicali borderlands.

That tagline was enough to say "I am going to read it."



Our protagonist, Malamar "Mal" Veracruz loves her daughters, Griselda and Amaranta. She is fiercely protective of them, and rightly so, given that years ago, her sister Elena disappeared. As we learn, Elena is not the only woman in the community who has gone missing and it has created a cloud over the community and in Mal's own family. When Amaranta goes missing, Mal's fierceness explodes, determining that her daughter's case is being investigated.

I did find that it took some time before I became invested in the story. In the early chapters, Mal is having visions and I found it confusing to follow that and balance it with all the family drama that was leaking out on the page. Once I hit the 30% mark, the storyline seemed to pick up and I felt confident I would stick with it. I did, but, it took me several days to finish the book. However, I must argue that it is an important story that Jennifer Givhan is telling and she has created some complex characters here.

So I give it a 3 star because I feel the story being told is an important one.








#SaltBones #NetGalley.
Expected Publication Date: 22/07/25
Goodreads Review Date 26/02/25

Mal and her family live near the Salton Sea in southern California. It was once a thriving Mexican community, and now it is a wasteland because of unethical farming practices and global warming. Mal and her family's lives are in upheaval because Mal's younger daughter has disappeared in the same mysterious way Mal's younger sister disappeared some 25 years ago. The clock is ticking to find Amaranta, but everyone in the community, in Mal's family, and Mal herself have secrets. Secrets that get in the way of Mal finding her daughter before it is too late.

This story is steeped in Mexican folklore and the supernatural, particularly La Siguanaba, and the Salton Sea can very well be characterized as an important character in this story. Mal has visions of La Siguanaba, and at first it was unclear to me whether Mal was just nuts, or if she was actually having these horrific visions. Jennifer Givhan does an excellent job of creating a creepy atmosphere, and she kept me guessing as to who kidnapped Amaranta as well as Amarnata's aunt, Elena. There is a lot of Spanish in the story. Some is translated, and some I could figure out from context clues and from knowing some Latin. However, there were passages for which I was at a loss.

This is a complex mystery with a vividly drawn protagonist. The ancillary characters were less complete. I did enjoy the story, but it was confusing several times, because the narrative changed characters very abruptly and without warning. No spoilers, but there are some wild plot twists.

An absolutely enthralling story. I got lost in the pages of this one. The writing is excellent, and it pulled me in to the rich characters, culture and setting. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I love retellings especially hades and Persephone stories. I also loved that it was in an indigenous context. I have liked everything this author has written so far. Also this cover is beautiful.

For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is a mesmerizing blend of horror, folklore, and psychological suspense, set in the sun-scorched borderlands of Southern California.

Once a thriving oasis, the Salton Sea has decayed into a toxic wasteland, its once-promising shores abandoned by all but the desperate and the forgotten. As the waters turned poisonous, so did the town’s fate—young women began to vanish without a trace. Whispers of an ominous, horse-headed woman haunt the community, a figure ripped from nightmares and old legends.

Malamar Veracruz knows this anguish firsthand. Twenty years ago, her sister Elena disappeared in the dead of night, and the pain has never left her. Now, when Mal’s own daughter vanishes, the past and present collide in terrifying ways. Plagued by visions of the horse-headed woman, Mal is forced to confront the horrors lurking in the desert and the secrets her town has long tried to bury.

Told through the gripping perspectives of Mal and her daughters, Salt Bones is an eerie, pulse-pounding exploration of family trauma, cultural mythology, and violence. Givhan intertwines the legend of La Siguanaba—a vengeful spirit who punishes men and lures the unsuspecting—into a story that is both hauntingly supernatural and all too real.

With its twisting narrative, immersive setting, and razor-sharp social commentary, Salt Bones is a novel that lingers long after the final page. Dark, and unsettling, this is a must-read for anyone who loves horror.
#SaltBones #JenniferGivhan #LatinxHorror #FolkloreThriller #SaltonSea #AtriaBooks#littlebrownandcompany #jennifergivhan #saltbones

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is a hard to put down thriller about a family who lives on the edge of the Salton Sea in California. At one time, it was a Garden of Eden where people grew food and enjoyed their lives by the sea. Then the sea became hazardous over time and a bit poisonous, the air around it also. People started moving away from the water. Life became more difficult.

It was then that young women started disappearing. There were rumors about a horse headed woman who took them, she was made of nightmares. Families were ruined by their daughters and sisters never returning, just disappearing without a trace.

Mal’s sister Elena was one of those who disappeared one night when they were in high school and Mal never recovered from that. Twenty years later, she started having dreams, visions, nightmares about the horse headed woman and they became quite realistic. Shortly after that, her daughter went missing. It was all too much for Mal and she was going to get to the bottom of it because she was not going to have the same thing happen to her daughter that happened to her sister and other women.

The story is gripping and suspenseful. It is full of unexpected twists. It is a timely rumination about the time we live in, and the treatment of women and ethnic minorities. Bring your Spanish dictionary so you can get all the details, it is well worth it.

Givhan's prose is poetic and rich, the setting is a full sensory experience. I would highly recommend for fans of generational family stories! Ultimately I struggled a great deal with keeping the family (and their nicknames) and the timelines straight, and it pulled me out of the immersive experience I was hoping for. I used that family tree a lot, for me it was absolutely necessary!

Oh my goodness, this is such a good read! At the confluence of traditional Latina myth and folklore with the realties of a small community beset by the disappearance of local girls, the author takes you on an emotional, harrowing journey into the depths of one such family’s anguish as they search for one of their own. History repeats itself as this is not the first time the Veracruz family has dealt with this matter.

This is an emotional roller coaster ride of hidden secrets, mixed emotions, and heart wrenching truths that all cumulates in a spectacular ending. I had to catch my breath on this one!

Highly recommended!

Jennifer Givhan's *Salt Bones* is an engaging blend of magical realism, horror, and family drama set around the eerie Salton Sea. It follows Malamar Veracruz and her daughters as they deal with a missing girl in their community, pushing Mal to confront her own sister Elena's mysterious disappearance. With strange visions of a horse-headed woman, the story blurs the lines between reality and myth.

Givhan vividly captures the heat and decay of the setting, making the characters’ struggles feel real. Each family member shares their perspective, exploring themes of family, identity, and past trauma, while incorporating rich Latina and Indigenous cultural elements.

What makes *Salt Bones* special is how it balances personal grief and supernatural elements without losing its emotional core—it's all about love and survival. Fans of magical realism and character-driven mysteries will enjoy this book, which leaves a lasting impression. Perfect for readers who love Isabel Allende and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

I really enjoyed this book, a mix of folklore, suspense and mystery. Set near the Salton Sea in California, a new location for me, the setting is as gritty as the characters. The plot is very twisty with a surprise ending. I love the folklore story of la Siguanaba and how the author blended the into the story of 3 missing women. Lots of family drama, secrets, betrayals and painful pasts. There is a lot of Spanish dialogue, so if you don't speak Spanish, you might want a translator open to fully understand what is being said.

I would add a horror/supernatural tag to this book first and foremost! This was a great thriller. It had just the right amount of twists and turns and fake leads so you didn’t get bored, but not enough that you’d lose the plot. I would not have guessed this was a retelling of Persephone/Demeter which is what drew me to this book initially. All in all a great and thrilling supernatural read!

If you’re in the mood for the next great thriller, check out Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan. It was an engaging read.

I enjoyed this book. The only issue I had was that sometimes the switch over between points of view was not very well defined, and I got a little confused at times.