I Was Salvación, Whether I Wore The Mask Or Not.

I recently finished reading Salvación by Sandra Proudman.

~POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT~

  Rating: 3.25/5 stars

"Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. And when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust, but can’t help but fall in love with.”

As soon as I heard that this book was coming out, it instantly became one of my most anticipated releases for 2025. I enjoyed Zorro, and this is a gender-swapped YA reimaging of it. In this AU United States, magical salt is found rather than gold during the gold rush. The main character Lola, and her family (parents and brother Victor) have moved to a mining town where Lola's mother (who has an affinity for magic) works as a healer using the magical salt. Lola takes on the Zorro identity (in this reimagining she uses the moniker of La Salvación) to protect the townspeople from threats to the salt mining operation.

I think? I had three major problems with this book.

1) confusing world building

2) MAJOR suspension of disbelief required. Too much.

3) a disappointing heroine

With regards to the world building, I was definitely confused at first. The story just sort of takes off, beginning with Lola's mother healing a bunch of people with the magical salt. There is no explanation of what it is, why they moved there, or why Lola felt the need to have a vigilante alter ego. It was only from reading the back cover that I learned that this was AU and this magical salt was in place of the gold rush. A lot of the magical elements of the salt didn't make sense and there were also some loose ends. (Why did that guy never return for his heirloom pistols that supposedly meant so much to him and that he said he would come back for?)

As far as the suspension of disbelief goes, WOAH. We're talking Hannah Montana levels of suspension of disbelief. We are told repeatedly that there are three women in the town. THREE. The three women are: Lola, Her mother, and an old grandmotherly lady. In addition, everyone knows that La Salvación is a girl. But yet no one has any clue whatsoever that Lola could possibly be la Salvación??? There are literally 3 women in the town, and they can't piece it together! But wait! There's another clue to her identity! La Salvacion relies on Victor for backup. Victor, otherwise known as Lola's brother. And you're telling me no one could figure this out??? It's like Miley putting a wig on and no one has any idea that she is Hannah Montana. Was this intentional? Does everyone in the town actually know who she is, and they pretend they don't? I'm not quite sure. But it was odd the way it overemphasized that there were only 3 women in the town and that everyone knows this vigilante is a woman, but somehow no one knew it was Lola.

And finally, the character of Lola herself was a bit of a disappointment to me. Or maybe it was the fact that we barely get to see her being her vigilante self. There were quite a few scenes where she had to be rescued or whatnot, which really detracted.

I did enjoy the book overall, but my expectations were very high so I was let down a bit. I thought the beginning was interesting with Lola actually acting as a vigilante, and the story was overall engaging and pretty well written. It was a fast read that I completed in only a couple of sittings. If there had been more scenes with Lola acting Zorro-like, and less suspension of disbelief required, this probably would have been a 4 star read for me.

Check out Salvación, and discover what happens when you put on a mask.