I’m so happy to be able to support TBR & Beyond Tours – which you definitely should be doing as well if you aren’t already – and I appreciate them allowing me to be part of this book tour! It’s also been such a long time since I’ve done an original book tag for a book tour – or a book in general – so I’m excited to give this a try again. I hope y’all enjoy it and try it out as well. Be sure to click on the banner above for the rest of the tour schedule for both the blog tour and the bookstagram tour. There’s amazing tour hosts on here as usual so be sure to support!

Tia Lugo has a deadly secret.

Tia Lugo considers herself an ordinary thirteen-year-old girl. She just wants to enjoy the end of summer, which means hanging out with her best friend and neighbor, Julius, and ignoring her Puerto Rican grandmother’s embarrassing reliance on creepy candles, weird-smelling herb bundles, and eerie statues—all available for sale at the nearby botánica. But when Tia witnesses a murder late one night from her bedroom window, everything changes in an instant.

Now, Tia is terrified to tell anyone what she’s seen. What if the killer comes after her too? He knows where she lives. Even worse, Tia believes he’s sending her secret messages, reminding her to stay quiet. Desperate to keep herself and her family safe, Tia turns to the last place she ever thought she’d go: her grandmother’s favorite shopping spot, the botánica.

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Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours, Netgalley, and Jolly Fish Press for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I think it’s fitting that Vigilante starts with this specific Albert Einstein quote even before the chapter officially starts:

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

We are in a world that is afraid to speak up because we are afraid of the repercussions. Or we are afraid to speak up because things can be turned against us even when we are trying to stand up for what’s right. It could be something so simple as making sure a fellow classmate isn’t bullying another student – not saying bullying is simple or small – or standing up against a corrupt government. Or even just telling law enforcement officials the truth of a crime you witnessed, which is similar to what is happening with Tia Lugo right now.

It’s not every day when a thirteen year old is a witness to a murder in their neighborhood. It’s also not a normal circumstance where the same thirteen year old person is in fear of their life because the murderer may be terrorizing them in order to hide the truth of what happened. Unfortunately, this is what Tia Lugo is dealing with, and somehow she will need to find a way to rely on the one resource that she didn’t think she would need to turn to: the help of her grandmother and the botánica that she isn’t too fond of being around.

This definitely flowed like a murder mystery novel, and from the moment that Tia witnessed the murder, I was already concerned about her safety. So was she, and I felt super bad for her having to deal with that! I really enjoyed her friendship with Julius from what we were able to witness, and I loved seeing the familial dynamics that we saw during this time. I think Gram was my favorite character, as grandmas usually are most times!

This was a great mystery, and I actually would have never thought to do a middle grade mystery like this! Super intense from the very beginning and I was in for a wild ride the entire time.

THE RULES

• Thank the person that tagged you and link to their post.
• Link to the original creator: Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads! Please note that she used the artwork/graphics if you end up using them.
• Answer the questions to the best of your ability. No wrong answers here!
• Tag some people you think would would have fun doing this tag.
• Copy-paste the rules and prompts.

So I really feel like I had a hard time speaking about this one because I wasn’t sure how I really felt about it. I wasn’t the only one actually, by the time I started trying to have a book discussion with the group that read this book together. A lot of us felt like… well we didn’t feel anything towards the book at all. For me, not having any feeling or opinion on the characters, plot, or even just various elements of the book make it very, very, very difficult for me to have much to say about it. I don’t even think I had the words to write a review for it, which is a shame since I’m sure this book could use more reviews. I mean, lots of books could use more reviews you know? Especially if they aren’t super popular on social media and whatnot.

So I don’t really want to talk about which specific narrator I can’t seem to listen to – since I don’t think it’s about the person themselves – but it’s the type of narrator that I have a hard time listening to. For me, it’s a narrator that sounds super monotone, one that doesn’t really put that personal individual touch to all of the characters that they voice, or even just the regular narration in general. I think I’m phrasing it correctly, but basically even if a book is told in third person, I need those parts to have some sort of emotion. I don’t want to listen to a book that’s going to make me sleep, when it’s supposed to keep me engaged!

Oh gosh there are SO MANY of the same books that I see on social media, that I’m pretty sure you already know what I’m probably talking about. So I’ll just say “the usual” and see if you know what I mean by that lol.

And there we go! I went with a super short tag this time around because, well because it was a short MG book that was just really quick to get through and I needed a quick tag to get through also. I hope y’all are having a wonderful Saturday or Sunday where you are, and have a great rest of the weekend!