Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 10/01/2025 *Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Grace Martínez cannot believe her luck when physicist Carl Sagan is the first person she sees after dying from a lightning strike. Unfortunately, her hero informs her that she will not remain deceased and “don’t fight the work,” forcefully returning her to her electrified body. Though disappointed not to receive more answers, Grace instead gains the horrifying ability to see and communicate with spiorads, spirits of those who have died but cannot move on. One even lives with her, another 16-year-old named Mohammad, whose death was deemed suicide (though Grace begins to suspect his death may have been something more sinister). Before her friends can help her solve this problem, she will have to convince them that she’s not just hallucinating, while also navigating her father’s closed-minded and controlling new wife and her own bookstore job, where she works for spirited, elderly Milagros. As Grace discovers who she can and cannot trust, not to mention that her guardian spirit is none other than the legendary La Llorona, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous investigation. Caustic and sharp-witted, Grace is an extremely compelling character with a strong, memorable voice. A little romance, a lot of mysteries, complex and nuanced characters, and a ghostly canine companion meld for an unputdownable ride with plenty of modern social commentary. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.