Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my Jaguar Sun tour post, along with the chance to win a Kindle!!

Jaguar Sun by Martha Bourke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maya Delaney is a 16 year old girl living with her dad since her mother ran off when she was a little kid. Thankfully, Maya is close with her maternal grandmother, who helps her keep in touch with her Mayan roots. Which, as it turns out, comes in really handy when Maya discovers a secret about herself that really rocks her world.

It is SOOOOO hard to talk about this book without giving away main plot points! But I’m going to try.

First of all, I am so very very glad that someone has done a story involving ancient Mayan mythology. Greeks and Romans are great and all, but this is such a fresh topic! And I am very impressed by Ms. Bourke’s knowledge of the topic. She obviously put in a lot of research while writing this book, and it definitely shows. My Latin roots thank you 🙂

The characters: Maya is very likable, in a sweetly dorky way. She laughs at her own jokes and makes frequent asides in her own head. The twins are just hilarious. Lyssa is a firecracker and Damian is so smart. Even though he is a gay character, I’m glad the author didn’t OVERTLY try to insert his sexuality into every aspect of his being. Sometimes I feel authors do that with gay characters, and it takes a lot away from the story. Matt seemed sweet enough but I didn’t really get too good of a feel for him in this book. Maybe in the next one.

The plot: Mmm, definitely a couple of delicious twists in there! I was in awe when Maya finally found out the whole truth about herself and was able to make full use of her abilities. At every turn, I was like, “Dang, she can do that, too? AWESOME.”

The action towards the end was also well written and fast paced, and really left me wanting more! There were plenty of LOL moments for me in the story too…but I can’t divulge them without spoiling. Just know the book will make you at least smile.

The only quibbles I had with the story are minor, but added all up they led me to this 4 star review. At first, Maya seems to take everything that is happening to her way too much in stride. If it was me, I’d have been far less accepting! Also, the relationship with Matt. She goes from one day being about to break up with him, to the next knowing he’s her soul mate. Even with the mystical reasons surrounding it, it was a little hard for me to buy. The final thing that threw me off happened towards the end, and again it had something to do with Matt and Maya’s relationship and the lack of believability for me.

Overall, I thought this was a great read and I am very excited for the next chapter in Maya’s life! Great job, Ms. Bourke.

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