Blog Tour: Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is my book tour stop for Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo.

This is NOT a review for this book. My review for this book is located on my Goodreads, and the review will be linked in this post.

This post is merely focused on the creative content I was tasked with doing when I was approved for this tour. And that creative content is a playlist! 

Let's get into the post!

I am honored to be hosting a spot on the Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo Blog Tour hosted by Hear Our Voices Book Tours. Check out my post below!

About The Book:

Title: Cruzita and the Mariacheros

Author: Ashley Granillo

Pub. Date: April 2, 2024

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books

Formats:  Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 248

Find it: Goodreads

A family recipe for a bittersweet summer. Flavored with music and sprinkled with new experiences.

Cruzita is going to be a pop star. All she has to do is win a singing contest at her favorite theme park and get famous. But she can't go to the theme park this summer. Instead, she has to help out at her family's bakery, which has been struggling ever since Tío Chuy died. Cruzita's great-uncle poured his heart into the bakery--the family legacy--and now that he's gone, nothing is the same.

When Cruzita's not rolling uneven tortillas or trying to salvage rock-hard conchas, she has to take mariachi lessons, even though she doesn't know how to play her great-grandpa's violin and she's not fluent in Spanish. At first, she's convinced her whole summer will be a disaster. But as she discovers the heart and soul of mariachi music, she realizes that there's more than one way to be a star--and more than one way to carry on a legacy.

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I posted my review on my Goodreads here (opens in new window). Here I'm posting my creative content for my blog, which is in the form of a playlist 🙂 I chose 30 songs, the playlist is about an hour and a half long. There were too many songs to choose from.

This novel technically has a playlist at the end for Cruzita. However, because I don't want to cheat my way through my creative content, I will not be using any of the songs listed, the only thing that might overlap is artists. But I did utilize different songs. 

Playlist Song Listing:

Son De La Negra - Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitán

No Me Queda Más - Selena

Como La Flor - Selena

Tearin' up My Heart (Radio Edit) - *NSYNC

We Belong Together - Ritchie Valens

Yo...El Aventurero - Pedro Fernández

En Tu Pelo - Javier Solís

Por Mujeres Como Tú - Pepe Aguilar

Cuándo sale la luna - Pedro Infante

Esclavo y Amo - Javier Solís

Nube Viajera - Alejandro Fernandez

Coplas do dos tipos de cuidado - Jorge Negrete

Media Vuelta - Javier Solís

El Rey - José Alfredo Jiménez

La Venia Bendita - Marco Antonio Solís

Cielo Rojo - Miguel Aceves Mejia

Ebrio De Amor - Ezequiel Peña

Hermoso Cariño - Vicente Fernández

Dime Cómo Quieres - Christian Nodal, Ángela Aguilar

Qué Mal Te Ves Sin Mí - Espinoza Paz

La Gran Señora - Jenni Rivera

Me Gustas Mucho - Rocío Dúrcal

La Media Vuelta - Luis Miguel

Tu Retirada - Cristian Castro

Un Puño De Tierra - Antonio Aguilar

Me Sacaron Del Tenampa - Cornelio Reyna

Como Tú Decides - Joan Sebastian

Sin Fortuna - Gerardo Reyes

De Los Besos Que Te Di - Christian Nodal

Esta Noche Voy a Verla - Juan Gabriel

About the Author:

Ashley Granillo is a Mexican American author. She has many degrees, including a BA and MA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction and an MFA in Fiction and a minor in Screenwriting from UCR Palm Desert's Low Residency program. Ashley got her start as a writer from the young age of 5. She was a member of Telfair Elementary's Student Author Project. This project paired kindergartners with fifth grade students, where they mentored, wrote, illustrated, and promoted their book collaboration.

Many of the themes Ashley writes about are inspired about her home, family, her love for animals, and music. Cruzita and the Mariacheros (Lerner 2024), is a testament to home, family, and music, as well as her Mexican American heritage. In her short story, "Besitos," which appears in the Latine/x Anthology, Where Monsters Lurk & Magic Hides, she explores the various ways in which young adults experience love.

While she grew up in a predominantly Latinx and Hispanic community, Ashley was one of the few kids in her neighborhood who only spoke one language. She was never taught about her family's heritage or traditions--aside from making delicious tortillas. She came to discover one tradition, Dia de los Muertos, after reading Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree in fourth grade.

The power of books, how they exchanged cultural knowledge and emotion, made Ashley realize how important her stories would become one day. As she continues to grow, so does the topics she writes about.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it!

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

Blog Tour: Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is my book tour stop for Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest.

This is NOT a review for this book. My review for this book is located on my Goodreads, and the review will be linked in this post.

This post is merely focused on the creative content I was tasked with doing when I was approved for this tour. And that creative content is a playlist! 

Let's get into the post!

I am honored to be hosting a spot on the Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest Blog Tour hosted by Hear Our Voices Book Tours. Check out my post below!

About The Book:

Title: Where You See Yourself

Author: Claire Forrest

Pub. Date: May 2, 2023

Publisher: Scholastic Inc

Formats:  Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 320

Find it: Goodreads

Where You See Yourself combines an unforgettable coming-of-age tale, a swoon-worthy romance, and much-needed disability representation in this story about a girl who's determined to follow her dreams.

By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year, it feels like she’s already been thinking about college applications for an eternity—after all, finding a college that will be the perfect fit and be accessible enough for Effie to navigate in her wheelchair presents a ton of considerations that her friends don’t have to worry about.

What Effie hasn’t told anyone is that she already knows exactly what school she has her heart set on: a college in NYC with a major in Mass Media & Society that will set her up perfectly for her dream job in digital media. She’s never been to New York, but paging through the brochure, she can picture the person she’ll be there, far from the Minneapolis neighborhood where she's lived her entire life. When she finds out that Wilder (her longtime crush) is applying there too, it seems like one more sign from the universe that it’s the right place for her.

But it turns out that the universe is full of surprises. As Effie navigates her way through a year of admissions visits, senior class traditions, internal and external ableism, and a lot of firsts--and lasts--she starts to learn that sometimes growing up means being open to a world of possibilities you never even dreamed of. And maybe being more than just friends with Wilder is one of those dreams...

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I posted my review on my Goodreads here (opens in new window). Here I'm posting my creative content for my blog, which is in the form of a playlist 🙂 I chose 15 songs, the playlist is just under an hour duration.

Some of these songs are on this list because they are directly mentioned in this book. Others are there because they reminded me of Effie, the main character. And others are there because they reminded me of certain scenes and plot points in the novel. 

Playlist Song Listing:

Empire State Of Mind - JAY-Z, Alicia Keys

Welcome To New York - Taylor Swift

I Knew You Were Trouble. - Taylor Swift

Into You - Ariana Grande

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyonce

California Girls - The Beach Boys

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

(I've Had) The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes

Firework - Katy Perry

Brave - Sara Bareilles

Scars To Your Beautiful - Alessia Cara

Fight Song - Rachel Platten

Last Night - Morgan Wallen

Everything's Gonna Be Alright - David Lee Murphy, Kenny Chesney

Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

About the Author:

Claire Forrest is a novelist and essayist who holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Where You See Yourself is based on her lived experience as a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. As an undergraduate at Grinnell College, she was a consultant for the Disability Services and Admissions offices, working directly to address the concerns of incoming college students with disabilities and their families. 

She lives in Minneapolis, where when she’s not writing, she spends her time swimming and planning where to travel next. Find out more about her on Instagram and Twitter at @claire4est.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it!

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

ARC Review: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (mostly spoiler-free review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood.

I won an ARC of this book through Goodreads earlier this year. I decided to upload this post on this book's release date. The release date was originally November 19, however it was moved up to October 19. 

I was surprised to find this book advertised everywhere on Goodreads a few weeks ago. Supposedly, it is the most anticipated gothic YA novel of 2021. 

With all the introductory stuff aside, let's get into the review!

Within These Wicked Walls is a gothic YA fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre. I've heard mixed reviews on that front. The only hint I could tell that this was a Jane Eyre retelling was that the love interest's surname is Rochester, naturally referencing the famous Mr. Rochester.

I've never read Jane Eyre, however upon researching Edward Rochester, I have found some parallels and differences between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls. Based on what the main plot of these two books is, I'd say it's more Jane Eyre inspired or more of a Jane Eyre homage, perhaps even a reimagining, but as I have not read Jane Eyre, I cannot fully say. I will discuss these parallels and differences in the spoiler section toward the end of this review.

The synopsis reads as follows:

Andromeda is a debtera--an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn't an option. Evil may roam the castle's halls, but so does a burning desire.

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I found Magnus to be an interesting and refreshing love interest. He was very sensitive, which isn't usually a trait of a male love interest in most of the books I've read despite how true it can be in some cases. Most YA male love interests tend to be tough and sometimes even jerks. They tend to be rough around the edges. It was nice to read a love interest who didn't act like that. I like novelty and get bored with a lot of repetition. This was definitely unique and different. I've never read a story like this.

Andromeda was very intriguing as well. She was a strong, brave character that didn't get on my nerves.

The romance aspect felt a bit insta-lovey, but it wasn't so bad that it got on my nerves. The romance itself was cute and interesting. I appreciated that the love interest wasn't rude to the main character, which is a recurring (albeit annoying) theme in Young Adult literature.

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Personally, I think the cover could've been a bit better, but it's still very nice. I'm just not sure it fully fits the gothic horror vibe it's going for. I do, however, love the colors. I just think it could've appeared more gothic than it does. It just doesn't seem dark enough. 

It should’ve been a bit darker. Perhaps purple or something. It doesn’t look like most gothic fantasy covers I have seen. It’s too light of a color to fully make sense.

Just to be sure, I asked my mother and sister what they thought the genre of the book was based on the cover. Neither of them know the plot of the book, but they’ve read a lot. My sister guessed historical fiction. My mother guessed dystopian. Because this is a gothic fantasy romance novel, this cover didn’t convey the genre as well as it could’ve.

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The writing is surprisingly very good for a debut author. The characters are also very good and are very layered. It isn't a perfect book, however it's also not my typical read. I don't read a lot of gothic books, so this was a bit out of my usual comfort zone, but I was very intrigued. Every chapter left me wanting more. 

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💥🔥SPOILER ALERT🔥💥
Anything below this is a spoiler
You have been warned

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These are the parallels between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls.

1. Both main characters (Andromeda and Jane respectively) are orphaned as children 
2. Both main characters are religious young women
3. Both main characters are about 19 when they fall in love with their employers
4. Richard Mason (Jane Eyre) and Esjay (Within These Wicked Walls) seem similar in that both still care for their sisters (who were both romantically involved with Mr. Rochester and Magnus, respectively)
5. Both castles in Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls are named Thornfield
6. Magnus, much like Mr. Rochester, is the main character's employer. While both are employed for different reasons, they consequently both end up the main character's boss
7. Magnus and Mr. Rochester are both interested in the main characters of each book almost immediately.
8. In both books, the main character saves the love interest (Magnus and Mr. Rochester, respectively) due to something involving their rooms (Mr. Rochester's bed was on fire and Magnus' bedroom was filling up with water and blood)
9. In both books, the main character believes their love interest is engaged and is devastated upon finding this out (however I'd say this was handled way better in Within These Wicked Walls than Jane Eyre upon my research as Mr. Rochester flirted with Blanche to make Jane jealous while Magnus had already been engaged to Kelela prior, though he didn't truly love her)
10. At the end of both books, the main house of the main character's employer is set on fire (in one [Jane Eyre] it seems to have been purposeful, while in the other [Within These Wicked Walls] it seemed to be nothing more than an accident)
11. After the fire mentioned above, both couples (Jane and Mr. Rochester and Magnus and Andromeda, respectively) move into an old house
12. Kelela (Within These Wicked Walls) and Blanche (Jane Eyre) are elitist/snobbish and are rude to the main characters (though I'd say Blanche was worse than Kelela due to the mercenary stuff with her mother)
13. Both Jane and Andi believe themselves to be plain
14. Both books have a character named Edward (Edward Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Edward, the horse keeper (Within These Wicked Walls), respectively)

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These are the differences between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls

1. Jane Eyre begins with Jane's childhood while Within These Wicked Walls skips Andi's childhood and starts upon her being employed at Thornfield
2. Jane Eyre has a boarding school while Within These Wicked Walls does not
3. Mr. Rochester has been married before while Magnus is only engaged and has never been married
4. Within These Wicked Walls takes place in Ethiopia (a country in East Africa) while Jane Eyre takes place in England.

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The only weird thing about this book was that Saba was Magnus's mom and had previously loved and seemed to be in a relationship with Jember, Andi's adopted father. That was the only aspect of the novel that felt a bit weird to me as Magnus and Andromeda were in a romantic relationship. Other than that, I don't really have any complaints.

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✔👍SPOILERS OVER👍✔

Overall, this was a really enjoyable book. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It was a different type of read for me, but it was very enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys gothic fantasy mixed with a bit of romance. 

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌