There are many things going on in this book, but for the most part, it works. The main focus is on Glory and how she is adjusting to her new family. After the death of her mother, her father remarried a woman named Alice who has two children from a previous marriage. After their father unexpectedly drops them off to stay with their mother for a while, Glory finds herself being forced to share a room with her stereotypically evil stepsister. On the surface, Lillith is a bully and Glorieta will do anything to protect her friends from her. On top of the drama at home, Glory is also trying to come up with a plan to convince her Tia Diosonita to allow her mother to rest in the family camposanto in time for Los Dias de los Muerto. Days of the Dead allows us to stay close by her side as she tries to navigate this rough time in her life.

One of the biggest pet peeves when it comes to books and movies is the usage of overused and incorrect stereotypes, so I was a bit annoyed when a few characters were mostly defined by them. There is also a situation that takes place in the middle of the story that, while timely, came off as a forced attempt to make the book political. Outside of those complaints, I loved this book. The amount of growth that Glory goes through from page one to the end is amazing (but still believable) and the humor, (especially between Glory and Mateo) is hilarious.

Elliot is terrified of almost everything.

From the moment he was born, his life has been governed by acute fear. The only thing that keeps his terrors in check are the pills that he takes every day.

It's Christmas Eve, there's a snowstorm and Elliot's medication is almost gone. His mum nips out to collect his prescription. She'll only be 10 minutes - but when she doesn't come back, Elliot must face his fears and try to find her. She should only be 400 meters away. It might as well be 400 miles... (Goodreads)

Enslaved by intense fear and anxiety from birth, Elliot spends the majority of his time in his bedroom at home. The only thing that keeps “the beast” living inside him under control is his “anti-fear” pill, and due to a pharmacy mix up he has found himself with only enough to last him 24 hours. Thanks to the addition of a raging snowstorm and it being the day before Christmas Eve, his situation has become exceptionally more desperate and unfortunately for Elliot, things are only going to get worse.

Brooks does a wonderful job portraying Elliot’s fear. In particular, I appreciated how well done the scene involving him leaving the house on his own for the first time was.  The back and forth panic of “I’m going” and “No, I can’t” really hit home for me. As someone who prefers to have more details when a character is suffering from mental illness, I would have liked more information on what was going on with him though. Did he never get a proper diagnosis? It is not something that is super important to the story, just something extra that would have been nice.

I found myself mildly annoyed with how short each “chapter” was. It is the kind of story that goes back and forth between two main perspectives, but the way it was done felt a bit jolting to me. Just when you get used to one point of view and character mindset, it goes back to the other. It also felt like there were far too many unnecessary details. Pretty much everyone who shows up in the story has a first and last name and enough information to give you a little detail about them. We do not need this level of detail for each police officer or each person Elliot runs into. It comes off as filler to me.