The themes of social and familial estrangement and body image that grounded the earlier work remain strong. Virginia’s parents continue their toxic focus on body type, fitness and achievement. (This is, after all, the world of going to Harvard, country homes in Connecticut and yoga studios in your backyard — and of wondering if that pesky rape charge will be held against the family at the country club.) Classmates still make crude comments about “thick girls” and the “chubby chasers” who fall for them. Mackler captures the maddening thoughtlessness of it all as Virginia and Sebastian’s love blooms during secret dates at well-known New York City locations like the High Line and the Brooklyn Bridge.

For much of the novel, Virginia is still in mortal combat against her own insecurities and the tendency to see everyone — especially herself — through the lens of body type and beauty. And the male gaze, even from a decent guy like Sebastian, still holds power. But she is, in fact, expanding. She’s aspiring, now openly, to be a writer, standing up to her parents’ views and decisions , and replacing her list “How to Make Sure Skinny Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Who Have Boyfriends” with a more body-positive focus.

If Byron’s comeuppance might seem to fall a bit short, especially in the face of the #MeToo movement, Virginia’s struggle to access her voice and her agency does not. Readers will root for her as she figures out the conflicting terrain of loving family and loving yourself at the same time.

Forget your worries about the zombie apocalypse. It’s the casimuertos you should really fear.

In BRUJA BORN (Sourcebooks Fire, 352 pp., $17.99; ages 14 and up) the latest from Zoraida Córdova, Lula Mortiz, freshly returned from her banishment to the underworld realm of Los Lagos, leads an adventure against classmates who’ve become the bloodthirsty undead. Lula’s sweet and mere mortal boyfriend, Maks, dumps her, leaving her longing to find a way to restore things between them to how they’ve always been. But when a bus crash on the way to a soccer game kills the entire team — and leaves Maks in a coma — Lula, the lone survivor, makes a decision about how far she’s willing to go to keep him with her.

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With the help of her magical sisters, Alex and Rose, she decides to use her healing powers to bring Maks back. Unfortunately, Lady La Muerte, the goddess of death, wants him, too. And magic of this kind brings unexpected consequences not just for Maks, but for all the formerly dead students. The gods — and Lula’s parents — are not at all amused. It’s not long before Lula discovers the horrible choices involved in fixing things that her magic has made gravely wrong.

Córdova keeps the flame on high as Lula and her sisters strike risky deals and face demons in an effort undo their mistake. At times, the plot complications are tricky to follow — this is the second book in Cordova’s “Brooklyn Brujas” series — but the action is never less than satisfying, and, more, the fantasy is cleverly anchored to the very relatable details of the novel’s Latinx characters.

There are truth serums disguised as cafecitos, herbs with magical powers, prayer altars and characters hailing from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Argentina. Brooklyn and all its “haunts” are on full display, too: the N train, Coney Island, Prospect Park, Bay Ridge — nowhere is safe! In Córdova’s world, the Brooklyn we love is also a borough where particularly evil brujas run bakeries and where old brownstones serve as headquarters for the magical pros who keep order over all things mystical in the tristate area. Fantasy and zombie fans looking for flavor — organ-meat, in particular — will not leave disappointed.