Cemetery Boys

[4.5 stars]

Loved this so so much!! The characters were great and I really enjoyed Yadriel and Julian's friendship and then romance. While the tone did feel a bit off at times, as Julian seemed waaay too chill about being literally dead, it was mostly fine. Yadriel's struggles with his family and them not really understanding his trans identity, but still loving him so much and him still loving them despite the difficulty hit pretty close to home and it was great to see a depiction of this sort of complicated family relationship with the trans main character.
(Also ahhh the pain when Julian misgenders Yadriel without realising it was so relatable ouch!)

My main problem with the book is near the ending, when it's revealed that Yadriel's uncle is evil and is the one who murdered Miguel and Julian. I feel like the story didn't benefit from this in any way, it just felt like a way to explain the mystery, and the fact that he became evil because of the way he was ostracised just left a sour taste in my mouth. However, that part of the story was quite brief so didn't bother me too much.

This book was honestly just a delight. Reading about Yadriel and Julian's shenanigans as they tried to solve the mysteries and see Julian's friends again (who were also all stellar characters) was just so fun! I really really enjoyed reading this book and it's definitely one of my favourites now.