Carnival Fantástico

Montoya (A Cruel Thirst) blends political intrigue, carnival magic, and an aching second-chance romance into a briskly plotted dual-POV romantasy. Abandoned by her thieving parents as a child and on the run from her adoptive father, the feared Comandante Olivera, 18-year-old Esmeralda Montero works as La Paloma Blanca, Fortune Teller Extraordinaire at the traveling circus Carnival Fantástico. But with the carnival’s yearlong stay in the war-torn kingdom of Costa Mayor nearly complete, she’s desperate to persuade the ringmaster to hire her as a permanent act once it moves on; it’s the only way she can think of to escape Costa Mayor. Meanwhile, the comandante’s teenage son Ignacio follows a trail of cryptic letters that could help him uncover the truth about his father and the crimes the comandante allegedly committed against civilians. The notes lead Ignacio to Carnival Fantástico, where he encounters Esmeralda for the first time in three years via a reunion that ignites long-buried feelings. Under the guise of winning her back, Ignacio takes a job at the carnival, all the while secretly investigating the corruption of Costa Mayor’s militaristic regime. Fluid third-person chapters interspersed with wistful letters from the protagonists’ youth weave slow-burning romantic tension throughout an immersive, Latin American-inspired read. Ages 12–up. Agent: Larissa Melo Pienkowski, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Feb.)