Anna-Marie McLemore

The biggest lie of all is the story you think you already know. The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan. But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts.

Blanca & Roja

priya

4.5 stars

The writing is beautiful, ethereal and you will get fully immersed in these sisters’ world if you just let McLemore work her magic. Sure, there are plot holes, but I don’t want to think about any of them. All the way through, I just wanted the best for Blanca, Roja, Yearling and Page. These four characters (and their perspectives) are so precious, so pure and incredibly lovable, despite all their rivalries and backstabbing (to be honest). They are so unique, but realistic. They are so brave, but fragile. They are so beautiful, but flawed and that’s what makes McLemore’s novel worth reading.

You will experience and thrilling blend of normalcy and modernity with fantasy and tradition. And it works! It’s very rare that I feel for all POVs in a book to this extent, which really goes to show how amazing McLemore’s writing is.

Maria

мне, конечно, совсем не понравилось, но я в принципе могу понять, почему эта книжка могла понравиться кому-то (кто не я). маклемор has their way with words ([она] недавно came out as non-binary, так что теперь [её] местоимение - they), и в принципе вот эта сказочная, точнее даже магически-реалистская интонация поначалу затягивает и создает настроение

но потом становится слишком очевидно, что истории нет. то, что можно описать двумя-тремя фразами, размазывается почти на 500 страниц. особенно под конец становится очевидно, что вот есть в книге 4 POV-персонажа, и сейчас мы каждый эпизод будем видеть глазами каждого из них по очереди, да-да, одна и та же хрень описывается 4 раза, просто поверх события накладывается 4 набора эмоций

не думаю, что продолжу знакомство с этим автором, несмотря на очевидное умение писать, что-то у меня нет времени на подобные мемуары камня в лесу

Sophie Elaina 

Now I understand the hype around McLemore’s writing, this was the most uniquely whimsical story I’ve read in a while. It was almost like a fairytale itself. And the messages threaded underneath it all were so important and done in subtle ways that I think would be perfect for teens struggling with who they are. It was beautiful and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I don't know how to rate this! 
I feel like 4 stars is too low for this beauty and it's really not 5 stars.
Anna-Marie McLemore's writing is really beautiful. 
It just needed a little bit more for me to give it five stars.
The cast is really diverse. The story is beautiful. I think I need to reread it physicaly to fully enjoy the story.

Leelynn Brady

Thank you so much to the Latinx Book Club for having this as their August read. I absolutely loved it and felt like this magical story needed to be told.

My review will be posting on my blog later tonight. Sometimes Leelynn Reads

Celia Adams

I love fairytale retellings, and I think this was a super interesting way of both combining the Snow-White and Rose-Red and Swan Lake stories as well as resetting a story in a Latinx community. Despite being a modern setting, it definitely felt like a fantasy

Riley

We love the indomitable will of teenage girls.

This book is amazing.

Rep: queer, disabled, impaired vision, chronic pain, bilingualism, POC.

Erin 

Anna-Marie McLemore has stars in her eyes and starlight in her soul. She's such a wonderful storyteller, and I love being taken away on a journey within her books. Blanca & Roja is no different. A combination of Snow White and Rose Red with Swan Lake, she lyrically intertwines the narratives of the two stories into something fresh and new, and adds in her own details to make something truly magical. There was not one moment when I did not feel like I was within the pages of the story. It's familiar, except there's a tiny whisper in the back of your mind that says yes, but what if there was more? While I haven't had an extensive history with magical realism, I am happy to stumble into the genre if Anna-Marie will guide my way. I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

 Bruna Acioly Leão

Blanca y Roja is a retelling of the fairy tale of Snow White and Rose Red, told through Anna-Marie McLemore's beautiful writing and reflects on the experiences of marginalized people through the lens of this fantastical and cruel universe. 

The book tells the story of these two sisters, who are so different from each other, but who love each other so much, they are each willing to do anything to protect one another from the terrible fate that one of them is destined to. For in the Del Cisne family, there is a curse that determines that there will always be two sisters, and that the swans will always take one for their own. Everyone expects that Roja, the sister who carries thorns in her heart, the one with brown skin and her so red is almost black will be the one to be taken, and so Blanca, the fair-skinned, blonde-haired and soft-spoken sister is determined to become so close to Roja, that the swans can't tell them apart and decide which one to take. 

I feel like the duality between the two sisters represented so well the conflict that can sometimes be to be from a marginalized community, particularly the Latinx community and to be white-passing within those communities. It also represents the conflict of femininity, because the world expects women to be soft like Blanca, and when they are rough around the edges like Roja, they reject her. The painfulness of womanhood is even expressed in how much Roja suffers every time she gets her period, and it is a great parallel with the other ways in which she suffers for being female.

The other two characters we follow are Yearling and Page, the boys who have been turned into other things by the woods and whom the sisters take in, both to help them and maybe to help themselves escape the swan curse. The two boys have been friends for a long time, and when Yearling got lost in the forest, Page followed him. Yearling comes from an abusive and complicated family, who holds much money and power ; he has been hurt and lost the sight in one eye, and now has to adapt to a new way of navigating the world. Page is a transgender boy who uses mixed pronouns who is avoiding his family for fear of them not understanding him.

All of those characters were so well-fleshed out and meant so much to me and I am so happy to see those identities represented so well on the page. I should say I relate to both Blanca and Roja for at different points in my life I have been each of them, and I relate to their identities a lot. Another thing I need to highlight is how Anna-Marie McLemore's writing style is so beautiful and luxurious and really makes you feel transported into this magical world that she has woven within our own. 

I need to mention, as well, that I read this on audio, which was narrated by four different narrators, one to each character and all of the narrations are to die for, and if you are at all inclined to do so, I urge you to pick up this book on the audio format.

Giulia 

Non sapevo fosse un retelling XD cioè, con tutto il parlare di favole che si fa probabilmente avrei dovuto arrivarci ma non ci ho dato molto peso... va beh, tanto non la conoscevo XD

Mi è piaciuta molto la storia, i personaggi ed il fatto che a ognuno viene data la possibilità di esprimere il suo lato della storia. Un tocco in più che molti autori sacrificano e che per me rappresenta sempre qualcosa che ricerco ;). Lo stile dell'autrice è perfetto per i retelling: magico, non troppo complicato, come se fosse una fiaba. Sicuramente leggerò anche gli altri suoi libri che ho in ebook per vedere se c'è differenza o se è sempre così. 

Una cosa che però mi ha lasciata un pò "meh" è stata la parte finale. Troppo veloce per i miei gusti, avrei preferito che fosse approfondita leggermente meglio.

Blanca & Roja

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