I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria MesaPublished by HarperCollins on September 13, 2022
Genres: Cultural Heritage, fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Urban
Pages: 400
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Bookshop
Boardwalk Empire meets The Vanishing Half with a touch of earth magic in this sexy and action-packed historical fantasy set in the luminous Golden Twenties from debut author Desideria Mesa, where a part-time reporter and club owner takes on crooked city councilmen, mysterious and deadly mobsters, and society’s deeply rooted sexism and racism, all while keeping her true identity and magical abilities hidden—inspired by an ancient Mexican folktale.
Yo soy quien soy. I am who I am.
Luna—or depending on who’s asking, Rose—is the white-passing daughter of an immigrant mother who has seen what happens to people from her culture. This world is prejudicial, and she must hide her identity in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. Using her cunning powers, Rose negotiates with dangerous criminals as she climbs up Kansas City’s bootlegging ladder. Luna, however, runs the risk of losing everything if the crooked city councilmen and ruthless mobsters discover her ties to an immigrant boxcar community that secretly houses witches. Last thing she wants is to put her entire family in danger.
But this bruja with ever-growing magical abilities can never resist a good fight. With her new identity, Rose, an unabashed flapper, defies societal expectations all the while struggling to keep her true self and witchcraft in check. However, the harder she tries to avoid scrutiny, the more her efforts eventually capture unwanted attention. Soon, she finds herself surrounded by greed and every brand of bigotry—from local gangsters who want a piece of the action and businessmen who hate her diverse staff to the Ku Klux Klan and Al Capone. Will her earth magic be enough to save her friends and family? As much as she hates to admit it, she may need to learn to have faith in others—and learning to trust may prove to be her biggest ambition yet.
I really enjoyed this book, even though it made me seethe with rage. You see, Rose is a woman in a world where women have no agency. She’s trying to own and run a business, and is interacting with men who see women as objects for them to use and nothing more. It’s infuriating.
And Luna, is a person of color in a world in which people who are less than lily-white aren’t really considered people at all. Her family ekes out space in an unwanted portion of the city that they are well aware they’ll be pushed out of as soon as some white person wants it. Worse, Luna’s brother is furious at her perceived “privileges” because she can pass for white. It is a tenuous, anxiety-ridden passing, in which she is afraid constantly and can’t even acknowledge her own family, and he doesn’t understand the intersectionality of being both a woman and a person of color. But sure. It’s passing.
Did I mention that Rose and Luna are the same person? It’s enough to tip anyone over the edge into madness.
Here are the facts: Luna is determined to open her own Jazz club in the middle of Prohibition and she knows she’s going to have to align with mobsters and other shady characters to do that. But she needs to do it without having any of those shady men decide that she’s going to give up more than she’s willing to. Because Luna also has a secret: she’s a witch whose only magic is that she can use her charms to sway men to her cause. Unfortunately, it’s a double-edge sword because once she’s enthralled them, they’re hard to get rid of.
tl;dr is: This book is a good story that was worth reading. It also pissed me the hell off. Which was maybe the author’s point. If so, she’s certainly made it.
