Anna-Marie McLemore

The author of the National Book Award long-listed "When the Moon Was Ours" delivers a spellbinding romance about a lush garden and two lovers who fall under its spell.

Wild Beauty

kelsey

5✰

i don't know how to describe this book it's unique but all i can say is it's full of flowers and magic. and cousins loving each other like sisters.

the main relationship is one of the cutest out there. i can believe anna-marie has me in a choke hold with another het couple.

fel could not remember the awful things he had done, the sins that had made god strip his memories from him, giving them back only in small pieces. but this girl. she had led him through these gardens. she had given him back everything good. she made him more than the things he had done that were written onto his back. her heart had a stronger pull than all of it.

“McLemore’s second novel is such a lush surprising fable, you half expect birds to fly out of the pages... McLemore uses the supernatural to remind us that the body’s need to speak its truth is primal and profound, and that the connection between two people is no more anyone’s business than why the dish ran away with the spoon.” -Jeff Giles, New York Times Book Review, on When the Moon was Ours Love grows such strange things. Anna-Marie McLemore's debut novel The Weight of Feathers garnered fabulous reviews and was a finalist for the prestigious YALSA Morris Award, and her second novel, When the Moon was Ours, was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Now, in Wild Beauty, McLemore introduces a spellbinding setting and two characters who are drawn together by fate—and pulled apart by reality. 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.

chloe rae

*maybe a 4.5?*

This book completely took me by surprise. That was just so LOVELY.
This book had so many beautiful aspects to it. This is my first read from this author and her writing was absolutely stunning. It didn’t feel forced or contrived; it was flowery in the perfect sense of the word (see what I did there?). The characters were all beautiful and full of life and I feel like she just handled them with such love. I loved these characters and I loved they way they loved each other. There’s no other way to describe it besides beautiful. 
This is such a wonderful book for bi-sexual representation. The way sexuality was handled and discussed in this book was just so refreshing and kind of felt a little revolutionary to me. I’ve never read about a bi-sexual woman in a book before, much less a whole bunch of women and humans that identify that way and describe it so perfectly. There’s also a gender fluid character and it was just really wonderful to read about.
This book was also packed with some amazing women characters. Sometimes, I will admit, I thought there were too many cousins and mothers and aunts. I mean, 5 cousins? Why not 3?! It was just a lot to remember and I feel like some of the cousins were more fleshed out than others. Towards the end I felt I knew some of them really well and I wanted to know ALL of them really well. 
But ok let’s talk about the CULTURE of this book because it was just so rich and luscious and prevalent and WONDERFUL. Not only was it so interesting to read about, it was IMPORTANT to read about. This whole book was just full of diversity and it was done in such a stellar way. 
This book is about family and love and the beauty we can find in ourselves and others and the magic of this world. I went into this not really knowing anything about it and I just really really enjoyed it. The perfect spring read!

roro

I wanted my first actual review to be this book...

So, when I first started the book I was just really taken back by how beautiful and descriptive it was. It's like every sentence was packed with so much detail. I think she's a wonderful author and I love the representation within this book. I love the characters and plotline and just her writing style in general. I can't wait to read her other books. Honestly just one word to some up this entire book is "beautiful".

Frida Kahlo

Jamieson

“Love grew such strange things.”


Oh this was SO beautiful! I definitely liked it more than When the Moon Was Ours and I liked that book too. This is about five cousins who live in a garden and can create flowers out their hands, which they use to decorate the garden. Their family has lived on the lands for generations - but their family is cursed. When one of them falls in love, their lover disappears. When the five cousins realise they are all in love with the same girl, Bay, they beg the garden to save her from disappearing, which leads to the appearance of a strange boy out the earth. 

Anna-Marie McLemore has such beautiful writing and it was on display here again! Magical realism is something I can't always get into but I like hers. This book also had an actual plot which When the Moon Was Ours didn't as much. I really liked the themes discussed, and how she wove together imagery and symbolism to build her themes. Finally, this book is just stunning - visually, and also throughout, because the writing is so lush and transportive. 

I listened to this on audiobook which I recommend!

Extended review to come

Izza

3.5 stars | I enjoyed it, but it could have been so much more.

wow!!! (((((i always start my “reviews” off the same way i know it’s annoying i’m sorry)))))

i really enjoyed this! admittedly, it did have a slow start for me and i didn’t really connect with the story until the beginning-middle part of the book, but once i did i thoroughly enjoyed wild beauty.
this book made me feel very peaceful... it (obviously) has a lot of flower imagery which makes everything so wonderful and pleasant to read. the characters were a delight! (especially fel—i love him sm.) 

family seems to be a big theme of wild beauty and i admired that. 

the lgbt rep took me by surprise—i kind of assumed this would be a straight-only book (idk why) but the gay, lesbian & bi rep was a wonderful surprise! 

and lastly, the writing! there were many quotes from wild beauty that i really really loved. here are my favorites:

”He was a man, and a rich one, and these together made him believe the planets and moons orbited around the single point of his desires.”

“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. And the way it happened depended less on what was under their lovers' clothes and more on what was wrapped inside their spirits.”

“Everyone’s broken. The only difference is how.”

“Love grew such strange things.” 

“Her cousins were life and enchantment. But she was all malice and knives.”

Lauren Tabor

While this was a beautifully written book and had wonderful imagery I found that I didn’t really care for the story. I wanted to love this, but I just didn’t.

courtney garrison

Wild beauty is such a beautiful well-written book. The cover drew me to it and bloggers were saying such amazing things about it, I had to give it a shot. I do admit the beginning is slow and it was hard not to want to put the book down, but I kept reading and I’m glad I did. The second half of the book picked up and boy it was a load of feels. There are so many characters and amazing things that happen in the second half.

You have the Nomeolvide women who can make flowers. It is a gift they have had for centuries, but it also has a curse. If the Nomeolvide women fall deeply in love, their lover vanishes into thin air and never returns. Some of the women have even gone to such lengths as to turn their lovers away and make them leave to protect them. Their ancestors and others who do not live at La Pradera with them have also been chased out of town, murdered, and called witches.

Estrella (Who you follow most of the story) is one of 5 cousins in La Pradera. She Buried a green wooden horse in the ground and out came a boy. The women have no clue where he came from or what happened to him. They all assume he is one of their victims and vanished decades ago, but he has no memory of who he is or where he came from. As he tries to piece his memory back together to remember, the girls start uncovering a bigger secret at hand. You also see the girls struggle with keeping secrets from each other and Bay Briar.

You have a bunch of diversity in this novel. You have at least 6 latina bi-sexual characters. I can not speak for the rep. I finished this book in a few days and fell in love with the characters. Anna’s writing is so beautiful, she is also very descriptive so you can always get a mental image of where the girls are and the color of the flowers and scenery. I found myself so intrigued by page 100, that I could not put the book down. I highly recommend checking it out.

Alexa Jade

Charlotte Rayfield

This is a beautiful book that I never wanted to end, with wonderful captivating writing and a truly magical tale.

laura

I would give this book 3.5 stars as a a review*
I loved the writing of this book. It was so lovely and it captured me from page one. It is very detailed thought and at points i got lost in the details. I thought the world building was crafted so well and I could not see the twists and turns in the story coming. I felt like the pacing was much slower then I wanted it to be but the characters kept me engaged and overall i really enjoyed it. I hope to read more by this author soon!

Faith Collins

"No one does magical realism quite like McLemore, and this third novel, laced with slow-burning suspense, folklore, romance, and spun together with exquisite, luxuriant prose, proves it.,,, Sheer magic: fierce, bright, and blazing with possibility."— Booklist (starred) Love grows such strange things. Anna-Marie McLemore's debut novel The Weight of Feathers garnered fabulous reviews and was a finalist for the prestigious YALSA Morris Award, and her second novel, When the Moon was Ours, was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Now, in Wild Beauty, McLemore introduces a spellbinding setting and two characters who are drawn together by fate—and pulled apart by reality. 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.

A Novel

Laura Springall

Woooooow wowowowowowow WOW. Amazing. Truly spectacular. I literally don’t even have words for how stunning this book is. McLemore easily just became one of my top 5 favourite authors just for their writing style alone. I really don’t have words to write a proper review on this, but just trust me and read it

Luisina Rivoira

Maybe around 3.5? I don't know, I have a lot of mixed feelings. The writing alone deserves 5 stars.

This book is fantastically gorgeous beyond belief. And not just the cover (although obviously the cover).

This story that touches on a curse, a family, girls loving girls, and a threat against their home will touch your heart.



  
    "The world outside these gardens held two kinds of death, the vengeance of La Pradera, and the knives of a world that did not want them."
  



McLemore weaves a fantastical story about five girls persecuted for the flowers that spring from their fingertips and a boy who does not remember his past. The themes of love - both familial love and the love a woman can have for a man or woman - run deeply throughout the story, meaning it will tug firmly on your heart strings. 

The storyline is medium-paced, but you won't feel as though the story drags out. The whimsical (but certainly not too much!) writing style and the gorgeously woven setting will keep you enthralled every single page.



  
    "Even in its first faint traces, love could alter a landscape. It wrote unimagined stories and made the most beautiful, forbidding places."
  



Estrella, the main character, is strong-willed, loyal almost to a fault, gentle and rich. She tumbles with the loyalty she has for the land that has granted her and her family sanction, but also with the prison it has resulted in. Her character development was just really well done, as she better understands both love and the story behind her situation.

The other girls are also closely-bound to their family ties and each present a gentleness and a richness in their own way. I honestly can not fault any of these characters.

Fel as well follows an arc of discovering himself, his past, his family, and where he stands in his new world. His character development in particular is wonderfully done.

While this is a YA with plenty of romance, not a single bit of it feels tropey or forced.



  
    "As though their daughters loving men and women meant they wanted all of them in the world. There was no way to tell their mothers the truth and make them believe it, that hearts that loved boys and girls were no more reckless or easily won than any other heart. They loved who they loved. They broke how they broke."
  



Wild Beauty is a story about girls who love both boys and girls. This absolutely turned my bisexual heart into a big warm fuzzy mess. I felt so incredibly validated in my sexuality while reading this book.

I personally cannot speak for the accuracy of Latino representation in this story, however the themes of family and generational ties, Latin America folklore, privilege and discrimination feels rich and raw.

McLemore is also an #OwnVoice writer for both queer and Latino fiction.

Even more than that, this story touches on a tale of child immigrants and how naivety grown from privilege can cause irreparable damage.

Make sure to check out some other #OwnVoice reviews of this book, like Destiny @Howling Libraries and Sonia @Latinx in Kid Lit.

Overall this book is just too gorgeous for words - from it's cover to the story woven inside. Absolutely check it out if you love a book with serious atmosphere and fantastic queer representation!



Review featured on bec&bones | More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin' | There is no friend as loyal as a book. (E. Hemingway)

Geneviève Rouleau

Having recently experienced a miscarriage, I was looking to read a book with a happy ending. I just had no motivation to do much, and I couldn't get into any story. So when this book was recommended to me by a friend, I HAD to read it. Especially since it had been sitting on my shelves for a year 😂 

First off, if I had realised this was the story of a mysterious, magical family, so full of cultural diversity, I would've read it MUCH sooner (me and synopsis' don't do well together ahaha). This beauty gave me a bit of The Wicked Deep vibes, but even better. And there was so much LGBTQ+ rep, yasssss🙌 also, the writing style is sooo beautiful, flowery, and poetic. It's definitely not a fast paced story, but I absolutely loved it. The characters were so entrancing, and I loved their family bond. I WANNA JOIN THEM PLEASE. And live in their beautiful, surreal gardens. And the ending.. I knew it would be a happy one. But it surpassed my expectations and I might've teared up a little bit. I'm so glad I finally read this book! And the title could not be more appropriate 💛

Manon van Heumen

I immensely enjoyed this book. At first I was hesitant, because I struggled with When The Moon Was Ours, but McLemore managed to capture my attention with this one from the very first page. Very curious to see what she comes up with next!

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | ...that hearts that loved boys and girls were no more reckless or easily won than any other heart. They loved who they loved. They broke how they broke. And the way it happened depended less on what was under their lovers’ clothes and more on what was wrapped inside their spirits. What secret halls and trapdoors their souls held, and what each one hid and guarded.

Review also found here. 

This is my first experience with McLemore's writing but it will certainly not be my last. You know when you pick up a book and the writing is just so special, so artful, you want to just live in it? That's the best way to describe the way that Anna-Marie McLemore wields a pen.

Wild Beauty is one of the most wonderfully crafted YA reads in recent memory--it is descriptive, poetic, romantic and utterly whimsical in the way that not many authors are able to accomplish. When I say that there is something special about Anna-Marie McLemore's writing, I have no doubt that words could describe it otherwise but for me the first word that comes to mind about her writing is special.

Because not only is her prose magical and coherent, it is its own life. Wild Beauty is so much more than a story because McLemore breathes everything into it, the pages are practically sizzling with an energy that cannot be ignored. I have never read something quite like Wild Beauty and I find myself unable to forget it. Fans of Maggie Stiefvater will devour her work if they haven't already.

Onto the actual story: Wild Beauty is stunning. It had its patches where it took me a while to get into the story or caught up with but I find that is really common when it comes to this sort of writing. This isn't at all something that effects the way it is told because at the end of the day, the entire story is perfect just the way it is.

I loved learning about the family at the center of everything, the home that they keep and the gardens they grow in La Pradera, and one boy's mysterious and sudden appearance. Beyond the whimsical prose, the Nomeolvides women are impossible to forget and very, very fantastic characters. If there was one novel that had the perfect set of characters this year, Wild Beauty was the one where it is it at. 

Intriguing women? Diversity? Secrets? Love? Loss? A mysterious curse that plagues the lovers of one families women? 

Honestly, how are you not picking this up now? 

What I loved most about Wild Beauty was the exploration of life and love. There's an unexpected quality to McLemore's landscape of characters and the way that their stories unfold, that makes Wild Beauty so brilliant. An instant classic of sorts. Estrella and Fel's journey, in particular, is this magnetic element to it that slowly but surely captivates its audience and keeps them watching. 

Overall, the title says it all! Wild Beauty is one wild beauty that will keep readers flipping the pages and longing to get lost in the words only for a moment longer. Magical, unforgettable and entirely unique.

Emma

Lush story full of rich characters. I loved reading about all the Nomeolvides women. What a phenomenal story about family and love.

In Wild Beauty, acclaimed YA author Anna-Marie McLemore introduces a spellbinding setting and two characters who are drawn together by fate—and pulled apart by reality. 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. Anna-Marie McLemore's debut novel The Weight of Feathers garnered fabulous reviews and was a finalist for the prestigious YALSA Morris Award, and her second novel, When the Moon was Ours, was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Praise for Wild Beauty: “No one does magical realism quite like McLemore, and this third novel, laced with slow-burning suspense, folklore, romance, and spun together with exquisite, luxuriant prose, proves it. . . . Sheer magic: fierce, bright, and blazing with possibility.” —Booklist, starred review "A solid, must-have addition to McLemore’s growing body of work, this fantastical tale will delight her fans and entice a new audience." —School Library Journal, starred review

Wild Beauty

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