Family, Fun, and Foreboding Fill Every Page

Wow- where to begin singing the praises of this middle-grade book. Abuela was a television celebrity who still has a big following, including famous clients, and they all know that Mrs. Jimemez is a powerful medium who can summon spirits and perhaps soothe your soul. There are also touches of history in this debut novel with references to American mediums such as Miss Cleo(who died as recently as 2016) and Mina Crandom who had convinced famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that her seances were the real thing but stirred up antagonism of Houdini. However, what really makes this book special is Paloma, age 12, whose first-person narration gently pulls the reader right into the magical realism of her discovery that she has inherited her grandmother's abilities.

However, this does not exempt Paloma from some everyday problems. The worst is that Paloma's mother is moving her from Miami to California. It is bad enough to be leaving your familiar group of friends in middle school, but is Mother also trying to break the spirit-world connection? This group of characters combines modern people with education: Uncle Esteban teaches at University of Miami and neighborhood gal pal Jasmin has an older sister in college. Between the family dynamics and the obsidian mirror with spirit-powered chat, readers are going to love the fact that this is not only a debut book but a debut series.