Lightning in Her Hands

Today Raquel Vasquez Gilliland releases her second Wild Magic novel, Lightning in Her Hands. This book follows middle sister Teal, a volatile woman whose gift is changing the weather according to her moods. But she was four when her mother abandoned the family, taking a piece of Teal’s magic with her; Teal has never had full control of her gift since. She wants to find her missing mother and recover the piece of herself that she lost. To help with that, her (former) best friend Carter wants her to marry him so he can get his inheritance, and the money that he gives to Teal will be enough to cover a private investigator. But as Teal mends her relationships with Carter, her two sisters, and potentially her missing mom, she’s also healing a part of herself.

Tropes & Narrative Devices:

• (Former) best friends to lovers
• Marriage of convenience
• First-person POV (Teal only)

What I Liked:

• Teal is a vivid character! She has so much personality, so many nuances, and so much more to her than I’d realized in the first book. I loved getting the whole story through her perspective, with her ups and downs, her snark, her powerful emotions. The whole novel is immensely immersive, and a big part of that is Teal’s voice and character.
• Discussions of mental health. Teal is Bipolar, and we get the full range of her emotions here. I love seeing how other characters work to understand her and help her through these, as well as how Teal manages her depressions and manias.
• Discussions of abuse. Teal was previously in a relationship with an abusive man: verbally, emotionally, and physically. She’s also well versed enough to recognize abuse from other characters. It can be painful to read about what she went through and how it still affects her, but I also loved seeing her overcome those traumas and find a sense of security and confidence throughout this book.
• Sister relationships and family dynamics. As troubled as the sisterly bonds were in the first book, it was so nice to see Teal working on “making it up to” her two sisters and reforge the close connection they’d once had. I also enjoyed seeing the other family dynamics with her grandmother, Amá Sonya, and her great-aunt, Nadia.
• Romance with Carter! He’s such a wonderful character, even if his actions and motivations are unclear early on. He’s so caring and understanding and a great balance to Teal.
• Latine culture. Teal’s family is Mexican American and Carter’s is Cuban American. I liked seeing their Latine culture front and center, but also some criticisms of it: internalized sexism, intergenerational trauma, and so on.
• Hilarious yet emotional. This book is the perfect marriage of funny and snarky (Teal’s a riot) with emotional and deep themes. I loved getting both parts, and neither ever took away from the other.
• Meta romance tropes! Teal regularly asks for life advice on Reddit, and her younger sister Sky is all about their Aunt Nadia’s romance books. From both, Teal is continuously accused of living out a romance novel, from the marriage of convenience to “only one bed” to “get it out of our systems.” It’s so funny and true.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Nothing, this was great!

Final Thoughts

I could go on and on about how much I loved Lightning in Her Hands. Teal is one of my favorite characters I’ve read, and I loved all the nuances of her personality and past, the family dynamics, the weather magic, and her romance with Carter. It’s ideal to read Witch of Wild Things first, but Teal’s story absolutely stands on its own here. I can’t wait to read Sky’s story next; Nadia foretold it, so I know it will come!

Special thanks to the publicists at Berkley, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Lightning in Her Hands here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Lightning in Her Hands by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Series	Wild Magic (#2)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Romance; Fantasy
Setting	Virginia
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	October 15, 2024
Publisher	Berkley

Official Summary

Gifted—or cursed—with the power to influence the weather, one woman must embrace her wild heart in the next electric romance from the author of Witch of Wild Things.

Teal Flores is desperate for two things—control over her gift of weather, and a date to her ex’s wedding. The first isn’t possible until she finds her long-lost mother, but the second has a very handsome last-ditch solution: Carter Velasquez.

Carter needs Teal too. His chance at receiving an inheritance is dependent on him being married by age thirty (blame his traditional Cuban grandmother), so who better to pose as his wife than Teal? But fake marriage and cohabitation prove tricky when mutual attraction charges the atmosphere—quite literally for Teal, whose volatile emotions cause lightning strikes.

Together, Teal and Carter embark on a quest to find her mother and the answers she’s searching for. But along the way, they’ll discover something even better: a love that can weather any storm.