Elatsoe

I loved it, it was pretty fun and interesting, learned a lot about the Lipan Apache people, and found the setting to be unique. it was a fantasy paranormal mystery, how cool is that? set in a world where the magical and paranormal are pretty normal, and it had no romance which for a YA book it's very rare, so I loved it even more! Elatsoe (Ellie) was so cool, I liked her! 

So many great elements here (Lipan Apache culture and history, a well realized magical world, a platonic central friendship, close family relationships and history) but it definitely needed to be edited and marketed for MG because this is not a YA book. Elly reads like she's 12 and the action is very Zoinks/Jinkies/Get ‘Em, Scoob. The dialogue is also sometimes very awkward and weirdly inserted to make plot points - like another character saying Elly is asexual - the only mention of that and a weird way to introduce a pretty major identifier for a character. Elly and Jay are also supposed to be long term best friends that, at times in the dialogue, appear to know very little about each other? The art also contributes to the childlike feel of the book. A ProjectLit selection that I'm not quite sure how to sell to teens.