I’m sort of obsessed with everything Anna-Marie McLemore writes and when I got the invite to be part of the blog tour for Wild Beauty, I couldn’t respond fast enough.
Before we get to my top 5 reasons to read Wild Beauty, let’s check out the book.
Title: Wild Beauty
Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Pages: 320
Pub Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Find it: Fierce Reads | Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | GoodreadsLove 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.
Sounds good, right?
My Top 5 Reasons to Read Wild Beauty
1. The characters — Estrella and her family are delightful and maybe a little devious and so much fun to read about.
2. The imagery — Anna-Marie’s words are lyrical and lovely and I want to roll around in the worlds she creates.
3. The world building — I guess this could technically be part of the above reason, but I feel like it deserves it’s own number. La Pradera is lush and so vivid, I sort of want to start looking for it.
4. #ownvoices — Anna-Marie writes queer Latina girls and their culture in the perfect way that she can.
5. It’s Anna-Marie — She has quickly become a favorite author and I’ll buy anything that has her name on it. I suggest you do the same.
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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.
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Huge thanks to Macmillan for the invite! Now, have you read any of Anna-Marie’s books? Which one is your favorite?
I can’t wait to get my hands on this book! It sounds so good and I love good characters like you said Wild Beauty has so I can’t wait to pick it up! Awesome review :)
This cover is so gorgeous. Sigh. Yay for liking it. <3 Thank you for sharing about this book Stacee :D I'm unsure, but curious even so.
I need this book yesterday. :) I’ve only read When the Moon Was Ours, which was so. Exquisitely. Lovely.
I didn’t know this was Own Voices. Thanks for the heads up. :)