A TOUCH OF MOONLIGHT

A Dominican American woman tries to navigate a career, romance, and self-love while living with a supernatural ancestral secret.

Larimar Cintrón is just like any other “totally average” 34-year-old. She loves ska music, and she’s gunning for a promotion at Beacon Foods, the corporate bakery chain where she works. Yet there’s one small factor that sets the Cintrón women apart from other residents of Roselle Park, New Jersey—on the full moon, they transform into ciguapas. Straight out of Dominican folklore, Larimar, her mother, and grandmother bear backward-facing feet, long, straight hair, and impossible speed. In order to maintain a “normal” life, Larimar opts for floor-length skirts and minimal dating, especially since her last boyfriend ran away screaming after witnessing her transformation. But when her best friend, Brynne, introduces Larimar to the gentle-hearted Army vet Raymond Antonio Concepción, Larimar immediately feels weak in the knees. Ray owns a local mom-and-pop bakery called Borrachitos, which is slightly problematic given that Larimar is supposed to be breaking ground on a new Beacon location across from his small business. As Larimar begins to fall for Ray, she concocts a lie about her job in order to find more time to save his bakery and still score her promotion. However, Larimar soon realizes that in more ways than one, she may never be able to fully reveal her true self. Santos’ second novel offers a unique spin on a Dominican myth, presenting a ciguapa as someone who longs for love and security rather than a “siren-like” creature who lures men to their deaths. Although the concept of a modern-day ciguapa is intriguing, Santos’ story lacks excitement and often spends too much time on mundane details such as descriptions of clothing, food orders, or Larimar’s visit to South Jersey Stone and Tile. Pages of cupcake recipes also feel unnecessary, and at times Larimar’s work troubles and the semisupernatural ciguapa storyline feel like two disconnected novels.

A promising novel that's hampered by banal details.