Published by: Feiwel & Friends on October 3rd, 2017
Genre: Magical Realism
Pages: 340
Format: ARC
Source: Gifted
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Synopsis: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.
Review:
Is "holy wow" a phrase I can use without sounding weird, because that's the only way to describe how I feel after reading this book. Full disclosure: It took me a really long time to get through this book, but I'm going to attribute that to my health being in the crapper. When I finally picked it back up in June, I found myself captivated by the writing and the story that the writing told.
In magical realism, it generally takes me a lot longer to get into the book, but 9 times out of 10, it's totally worth it and I end up really enjoying or even loving the book. Thankfully, this was one of those 9 out of 10 times and it also made me realize I need to read ALL of McLemore's books ASAP.
Normally, writing like what was in the book bugs me because it just seems too flowery and I hate flowery writing. In this case, it worked and somehow made the book and its contents more magical. From learning about the secrets of LaPradera to witnessing two separate romances, both of which I enjoyed (which is rare) to learning the mysteries of Fel and how he fit into everything.
One of the biggest hooks for me in books, is the inclusion of family and this book had that. From the five cousins to their mothers and grandmothers etc. And this family was very close knit, which is another huge plus for me. They had all experienced loss of some sort. Whether it was loss of a lover or loss of family.
I loved the bisexual representation in this one. It was so well done and there was so much of it. More than I usually see in even a contemporary and definitely more than I see in magical realism. Ugh, it was beautiful.
Learning about the history of the Nomeolvides women was totally fascinating and I found myself hooked on that, far more than I expected to be.
Final thoughts: If it hadn't taken me so long to get through this book, I'd be giving it a full 5 stars. I definitely need to read the rest of McLemore's books and so should everyone else.
I adored this book, and McLemore's beautiful prose was of the big draws for me. I also like magical realism. It's only second to contemporary for me, and the magical elements were used really well in this story.
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