Loss and rebirth!

Half Outlaw by Alex Temblador 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bikers, codes and belonging. Half Mexican Raqi grew up as the niece of a biker, having been given into the care of her uncle Dodge when she was four. Her mother had been Dodge’s sister. Not the most ideal of childhoods being around an addict but Raqi not only survived she went on to become a partner in a law firm.

Dodge has died and Raqi is called on to take a Grieving ride, not something she wants to do. The club’s leader Billy bribes her by promising the address of her Mexican grandfather at the end of the ride. Raqi has always felt sundered. Taken from a life she barely remembers into quite a different culture for anyone let alone a very young child.

The story is told with glimpses of Raqi’s past seamlessly segueing into the now. 

A fascinating tale that introduces magic realism and animism as Ravi’s heritage collides with desert spirituality as she struggles to know who she is and where she comes from, as she yearns to become whole.

Not my usual literary genre, but the change was interesting.

A Blackstone ARC via NetGalley. Many thanks to the author and publisher.