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Cemetery Boys (Cemetery Boys, #1)

Aiden Thomas

Start date: October 1, 2023

Finish date: October 31, 2023

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Aug 01, 2020 Dr. Andy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: queer-rep-gay, arc, queer-af, changed-my-life, queer-author, latine-x-rep, queer-side-character, read-2020, queer-rep-trans, rainbow-shelf

This book is vying with Felix Ever After for my favorite of 2020.

In Yadriel's traditional Latinx family, brujos are the ones who summon spirits and brujas are the healers. Yadriel knows he's a boy, but proving that to his family is something else entirely. When his cousin goes missing and is presumed dead, Yads is determined to summon him. Unfortunately, the first ghost he summons is his surly classmate Julian Diaz and not his cousin. With his other cousin, Maritza, and Julian in tow, they'll h ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 17, 2020 Priya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2020

Books, whether fiction or nonfiction, have been my most preferred way of learning. Of late in particular, I have made a conscious effort to go out of my comfort zone in terms of the genres I read and have discovered some really nice stories. A few pages into this book, I was convinced this was one such story.

Also, it educated me about many of the terms we hear often around us but may not fully understand. The protagonist, Yadriel, is a 16 yo who is transgender and gay. He belongs to the brujx co Books, whether fiction or nonfiction, have been my most preferred way of learning. Of late in particular, I have made a conscious effort to go out of my comfort zone in terms of the genres I read and have discovered some really nice stories. A few pages into this book, I was convinced this was one such story.

Also, it educated me about many of the terms we hear often around us but may not fully understand. The protagonist, Yadriel, is a 16 yo who is transgender and gay. He belongs to the brujx community that lives in and around a huge cemetery in East LA. The brujx worship Santa Muerte, the Lady of Death, who has over centuries, granted them the power to heal the injured and help the spirits of the dead transition to the afterlife.

Steeped in convention and tradition, they are not convinced that Yadriel can be a brujo(male) instead of a bruja(female) which was what he was born as. Though they try to adapt to his new reality and support him, navigating awkwardly through the changes that involves and apologizing for any mistakes, they simply cannot reconcile to letting him have his coming of age ceremony as they believe it will not work. Taking matters into his own hands, Yadriel, who loves his family and wants to carry on the tradition, conducts his coming of age ceremony in secret with the help of his staunchest supporter, cousin and friend, Maritza.

When he tries to summon the spirit of his newly dead cousin,Miguel, so that he can prove himself to his family by helping the spirit move on, he is shocked to come face to face instead with the spirit of Julian Diaz who is notorious around school and is definitely not ready to go quietly into the afterlife.

As Yadriel and Maritza try to figure out what happened to Julian and Miguel and find their missing bodies before the annual ritual of Dia de Muertos which the brujx community is preparing for, Julian and Yadriel help each other understand what family, love and non judgemental acceptance can feel like.
Full of legends about the culture and traditions of the brujx, this is a fascinating look at their food, customs, beliefs and a frank portrayal of what it feels like to be different from what the world thinks is 'normal'.

It shows the vulnerability and uncertainty of both Yadriel and Julian as well as the difficulty the family has in fully understanding something that's totally against everything they have known. What's wonderful is the very obvious love that binds Yadriel to his family despite all the frustration he feels towards them. He cares about what they think. The family members are bound by the shared rituals.
Maritza, my favourite character in the story, is fiercely loyal and so evolved for a teenager that you can't help but love her.

A very sensitive portrayal and a story that left me feeling happy, it definitely taught me something new.

One of those books tagged as YA that everyone should read! ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2025 Jenn rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbtq, paranormal-supernatural, ghostly-spirits, 3-star-reads, new-author-to-me, high-school-days, read-in-2025, fantasy, young-adult, instalove-alert

Closer to 3.5

This is one of those books that has been on my radar for awhile. The premise had me intrigued, trans latinx MC - yes please. There were so many things that had me excited to read this one. And honestly, it really was enjoyable. There were just a few things that kind of made me go, eh, and I couldn't really rate it up to 4.

What drew me to this story was the culture and the mystery. Yadriel's cousin goes missing while on assignment in the graveyard and no one can locate his body, but ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2020 Tbirdplanstoread rated it really liked it

Shelves: own-hard-back, z-2020-read

For a debut novel, this was pretty good. It struggled with some redundancy in the first half that was pretty frustrating to get through and I had already figured out what was going on before I reached the halfway mark, but the second half was a lot better and I ended up really enjoying the end.

I absolutely loved the characters, especially Julien. The story was amazing and I loved the concept and the love and acceptance between Julien and Yads was beautiful.

I would love to read another book with ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2021 Toshita rated it it was amazing

-Oh my god. So good. Such good use of tropes and so much yearning. I can totally see why Chaima was recommending this book to everyone!
-I called the twist but I'm not even mad about it because rest of the book was so good.
-Made me emotional but in a good way.
-Deserves the hype that it got/is getting. ...more

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Jan 10, 2022 Shelley rated it it was amazing

I really enjoyed this book!
I think it was a breath of fresh air to have cast a transgender boy as the powerful lead of this book.

Yadriel is determined to become a brujo even if his family doesn't agree. His father believes since he was born a girl he cannot be accepted by Lady Death as anything other than a bruja. But Yadriel and his friend Maritza perform the ceremony anyway and it works, and the spirit they summon is the school's bad boy Julian who doesn't even know he is dead.

As Yadriel help ...more

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Nov 25, 2021 Kylara Jensen rated it really liked it

Shelves: ghosts-psychics-etc, lgbtqaetc-characters

This book was one where I read in 2 sitting but the 2 sittings were 6 months apart.

I liked it but it was stressful because I didn't know if there would be a happy ending. ...more

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