Celebrating The Day of the Dead as #SpooktasticReads concludes!

We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder and #SpooktasticReads with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the months of May and October. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I have had an appreciation for the holiday “The Day of the Dead” for a very long time – especially as after I learnt about how the festival is celebrated and the joyfulness of remembrance of family whose passed on into the next world – it just filled me with a lot of warmth and comfort. Plus, the fact, that these celebrations take place at the cemetery and where the local communities come together just added to the beauty behind the heritage and cultural legacies therein.

My first encounter with “Cemetery Boys” was reading about my fellow book bloggers’ reactions to having read it at time of release. Whereas I was able to help garnish a bit more focus on it as well when I interviewed Aiden Thomas. This year, I was finally able to start my journey into the novel whilst offering a #25MinutePreview of the audiobook. Whilst I also learnt having visited the author’s feeds on #bookstagram that they are well on their way to writing the sequel!

I knew I wanted to carry-on with Cemetery Boys – but what if there were other stories out there, I had missed knowing about which also feature The Day of the Dead?

This started a bit of a deep dive into the hidden niches of genre and interest which led me to uncovering one novel and author who perked my interest to seek out! There were a few others – I won’t lie – but those stories felt like they were darker explorations of the holiday and/or were written in a way that wouldn’t suit me well as a reader. Sometimes the stories I find I am motivated to read in Fantasy realms are not well suited due to their darker natures and/or the stories are inclusive of bookish turnoffs which leave them on the shelf for others to find rather than taking that journey into them myself.

This is how I came to find Anna Meriano and her delightful series – I happen to lean hard into Middle Grade and Young Adult stories when it comes to Fantasy. I find such JOY in reading these kinds of stories and so, finding A Dash of Trouble focuses on the same kind of story as Cemetery Boys – in respect that it features brujas as the other features brujos felt wickedly brilliant to me!

The audiobook I discovered during #SpooktasticReads:

A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

I previously showcased “Cemetery Boys” on my Cosy Fantasy #25MinutePreview!

I have decided to make my #25PagePreview a duology feature – meaning, when I am sampling books in print, the original tagline of a #25PagePreview will apply. However, as I’ve been moving more into audiobooks over the years since (2016) when I first learnt about them and delved into seeking out narrators and narrated stories – I’ve decided it is time to make a proper declaration about splitting this feature into two equally beautiful parts. Thereby, the following are the thoughts and musings I had whilst I listened to the first twenty-five minutes instead to keep within the concept of my feature even though that might be past a traditional twenty-five pages of a printed copy.

A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

(Book One: Love, Sugar, Magic series)

Site | @annamisboring Insta | Pub’d by Harper Audio

(*) available via my library’s Hoopla

Leo(nora) is our spunky protagonist – who is feeling left out from the family business. She doesn’t know exactly what is involved with the bakery, but she knows that she’s ready to become a part of it. At eleven years old – she’s done with being ‘left behind’ when her sisters get to be a more active part of the family’s affairs. She wants to assert herself and be a more vocal participant of what is going on with her family but whenever she tries to use her voice – she’s either silenced before words can escape her lips or told exactly what she can’t do rather than have a moment to defend her opinions. I could feel her frustration quite immediately – yet, understood that there could be other factors at play keeping her protected, too.

Her family is quite large and boisterous – which sounds brilliant on one hand and more than a bit chaotic on the other! I oft wondered what it would be like to be part of a larger family and one that had more siblings than I could imagine possible – as my own family was close-knit but quite small in comparison. She had a best friend she hadn’t seen in the past year – as her mother had died and Leo knew it might take time to heal from that kind of loss. Whilst they were reunited on the bus ride to school, Leo started to pull together an idea to sort out what was going on with her family and why she was not included in their plans.

Her idea was fuelled by the presence of an un-opened bakery which she could see from the bus route to school – enabling her to become a bit more bold than usual and sort out a way to sneak away from school. Her best friend agreed to cover for her and as she made her way to the family bakery, she was quite sure no one would pay any mind to child her age dressed as a witch standing outside of it. Especially considering what day of the year it was and the holiday everyone was preparing to celebrate.

My time with this novel was so enchanting and yet, it left me on pins awaiting to hear what ‘comes next’ and how Leo’s family is going to react to finding her at the bakery rather than at school! I dearly want to find out more about their business and how it operates as much as how they have an impact on their local community. I know it involves magical bakes – but it’s the hows and whys which leave your imagination hungry for the details!

About the narrator Kyla Garcia: I loved how Garcia amplified the family atmosphere of this family – not only giving unique voices to each of the sisters and making a distinctive impression on behalf of the mother and father whenever they were in-scene but for firmly giving us a voice for Leo, too! She presented a full cast of voices and characters, and it gave such a strong first impression as soon as her voice entered my earphones! I was so happy to have alighted in this charmingly chatty family and felt as if I was the unexpected visitor during one of their more active seasons at the bakery!

Verdict? Ooh! I cannot wait to continue onwards into this story! It is a sweet delight of joy to listen to and that has a heap to do with the narrator! The writing is awesome as well because of how well anchoured you feel in Leo’s young life and how much anticipation you feel to see her sort out her family’s business which you know involves magic but what particular kind of magic is not yet known! I felt this will be an excellent read next to ‘Cemetery Boys’ as they both approach the subject of brujos and brujas from different angles of interest.

And, what about you?

Which stories which celebrate this holiday do you enjoy reading?

Any you’d think I’d enjoy too?

We’ll be sharing our #SpooktasticReads prompts via #bookstagram as well as celebrating the ‘spookier side of Fantasy’ on our book blogs. Join your hosts: Imyril, Lisa, Jorie, Annemieke and Ari as we sort how to rock out our Autumnal event as we chase after Halloween!

Spooktastic Reads is Wyrd and Wonder’s autumnal ghost, 13 days to share the thrills of dark fantasy, paranormal romance, ghost stories, urban legends, all things Gothic and even a side of horror for those who dare. – as revealled by Annemieke

Last year, I compiled a bit of a back-history of #SpooktasticReads on Jorie Loves A Story which you can happily re-visit by reading this lovely post! We look forward to sharing this journey with you via Discord, BlueSky and Instagram socially whilst we’ll be looking out for your posts on your blogs if you choose to explore this side of Wyrd And Wonder with us, too. If you’re into pre-planning and sharing what you’re going to be doing in October, be sure to tag us socially and/or share links in our comments via our blogs so we can visit with you and see what you’ll be doing, too!

To get a bit of an inkling of what to expect from me this year, kindly visit my previous #SpooktasticReads posts. Remember: I originally created this as a personal readathon and concentration of certain kinds of stories before I pitched it to become a part of Wyrd And Wonder wherein it took on a new life of its own over the years to become what it is today. I am very proud of its history and humble origins as much as I am wicked happy it developed into a lovely addition to our Wyrd And Wonder community.

{SOURCES: #SpooktasticReads banner created by Imyril. (Art credit: Vera Petruk). Banner and badges are used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #25MinutePreview graphic, The Day of the Dead graphic, #SpooktasticReads badge and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2024.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• #SpooktasticReads 2024