Title: Wild Beauty Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan
Publication date: October 3rd 2017
Target Audience: Young Adult
Genres: Coming of Age, Diverse, Fantasy, LGBTQ, Magical Realism
Length: 320 Pages
Source: Publisher
Find It: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon|B&N|Book Depository
My Rating:
Love grows such strange things.
For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens.
The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.
Book Quotes
“Never underestimate what the ground under your feet knows, what it can do. What it can give you and what it can steal.”
“Everyone’s broken. The only difference is how.”
“Fel was everyone he had lost, and the land he had left behind. He was the almond trees ringing his grandmother’s village. He was the roan and silver grullo horses whose coloring had enthralled his brother. He was a cork oak, stripped bare every ten years.”
“There was no way to tell their mothers the truth and make them believe it, that hearts that loved both boys and girls were no more reckless or easily won than any other heart. They loved who they loved. They broke how they broke.”
My Thoughts
Oh My Goodness!
Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore was without a doubt one of the most gorgeous things I have read in a long time.
You all know that Magical Realism is my favorite sub-genre and that is part of what initially attracted me to Anna-Marie McLemorewas. This is the first time I have read her but I guarantee it will not be the last. I felt like I was lost for days (or just in a very pleasant daze/haze LOL) as I stepped into the amazingly lush and fantastical work of Wild Beauty.
This is Magical Realism at its finest. The reader is transported to a world where the fantastical is believable, where anything can happen and has happened. Where hopefully, preconceived notions can be left at the door and new worlds explored and embraced.
Set in the extraordinary estate of La Pradera with its magical gardens, Wild Beauty focuses on the generations of Nomeolvides (Forget-me-nots” in English) women who have carried with them through the ages what appears to be a curse, but is also a blessing. As with most things…there is a balance between the Light and the Dark.
Anna-Marie McLemore tells a beautiful tale that seamlessly weaves together issues like feminism, immigration and culture, sexual identity, etc. Watching the characters love and learn and grow isn’t an experience to be missed…and I dare each of you not to grow a little bit along with them.
Lyrical, whimsical, and beyond breathtaking – Wild Beauty stole my heart and a bet it will steal yours as well.
Lyrical, whimsical, and beyond breathtaking - Wild Beauty by @LaAnnaMarie stole my heart Click To TweetAbout Anna-Marie McLemore
Anna-Marie McLemore was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, raised in the same town as the world’s largest wisteria vine, and taught by her family to hear la llorona in the Santa Ana winds. Her debut novel THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS was a Junior Library Guild Selection, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults book, and a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut Award. Her second novel, WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS, was longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, and was a 2017 Stonewall Honor Book. Her third novel, WILD BEAUTY (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan) will be released on October 3, 2017.
I am pretty excited for this one. I love magical realism and this sounds perfect for me. Great review!
Grace @ Rebel Mommy Book Blog recently posted…Monthly Rewind ~ September 2017
Thanks Grace! This one was outstanding.
Love this and I love the simple but gorgeous cover! I haven’t read anything in this genre in an embarrassing long time. I think I will have to grab this one.
kindlemom1 recently posted…Blog Tour Book Review: Without Merit by Colleen Hoover
The cover is gorgeous!! And I really hope you love it as much as I did!
Yeah! So happy that you loved this one. I adore magical realism and it seems like it has been forever since I read a great one. I have this one and I can’t wait to dig in. The cover is absolutely stunning as well.
Heidi recently posted…Tell Me Something Tuesday #216: Favorite Horror
Hope you love it as much as I did Heidi!
I adore magical realism too and it has been a while since I read one
blodeuedd recently posted…TMST: Horror
This would be a great one to break your dry spell!
I’m curious about this one now.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Just Checking In
Glad I piqued your curiosity!
You know, I’m not sure if I’ve ever read anything that had magical realism. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one though – it sounds like a really beautiful book.
-Lauren
ShootingStarsMag recently posted…October 2017 Events In/Around Cincinnati, Ohio
This sounds good, but this is not my kind of story. Great review.
I haven’t read much magical realism, but you’ve made this one sound so beautiful!
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Recs: 10 Lesser-Known Books about Vampires
You know I adore magical realism, so I am going to step into the YA realm for this one. Thank for sharing it!
kimbacaffeinate recently posted…Caffeinated Halloween Reads & Listens
I confess that I didn’t know about this one but I love your enthousiasm for it! I’m curious now!
This has been on my radar since I first saw the cover and read the blurb. But I’ll be bumping it higher up the “want to read” list now. 🙂 Nice review!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm’s Hoard recently posted…Sunday Post – 10/01/2017
This one sounds great! I love the mix of magical realism and an author who does great at world building. Great review!!
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