Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I'm so excited to read this. Review to come!

All opinions are my own.

“Lobizona” is a novel that reads more like magical realism than a fantasy novel. We follow Manuela and her mother, who is hiding in an apartment in Miami because they are in the country illegally. Manuela runs away and enters a world of werewolves and witches, where she tries to discover the truth about her father, who she has never met.

The beginning of this book reads like a hard-hitting contemporary about immigration. Garber’s writing was lyrical, and considering the world over the past couple of years, I thought it was very fitting. However, about thirty percent into the book the author lost her beautiful prose and relied on typical writing tropes that many YA books suffer from. Too much description with the character’s eyes, conveying feelings and actions through eyes. I was reminded so often about each character’s eye color anytime they came back onto the page. That to me, they were known as ‘sapphire blue boy’ or ‘yellow-eyed girl.’

The characters themselves were sorely underdeveloped. Considering all that Manuela has gone through in the beginning of the novel it really bothered me that the second she entered into this magical world she stopped thinking about her grandmother who she lives with or her mom. She turned into a completely different character.

The fantastical world that the book was set in was also underdeveloped. There was barely any world-building and a novel that is juggling both witches and werewolves. For me to enjoy, the book needs to have a stable world where the story takes place. I will believe anything in a fantasy novel if I can understand the world it’s set in. The idea of the book is really interesting. But, the execution itself leaves a lot to be desired.