Sunday 5 November 2017

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore - review




Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (3rd October 2017)



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 has become one of my favourite authors, and everything about her books really sets them apart. The writing is beautiful, the characters feel real and her plots are so stunningly original!

Like The Weight of Feathers and When the Moon was Ours, Wild Beauty is a delight for the senses and there's such close attention to detail. There's no other book where the setting and characters are so strongly evoked. On every page, it feels like I can smell the flowers and the delicious-sounding foods. These books usually make me hungry!

Anna-Marie McLemore writes complex, well-developed and diverse characters like no other author. Somehow, I felt like I knew all of the sisters and older generations of Nomeolvides women, even though it's such a large cast of characters.

The plot of this book is stunning, and I think I went through every emotion when I was reading it. It's such a unique idea and this meant I couldn't tell where the story was going at all.

For me, this a flawless book and I read it really slowly because I wanted it to last. While I wait for Anna-Marie McLemore's next book, I think I'll reread the others.  







If you liked the sound of this, try The Weight of Feathers and When the Moon was Ours. Follow the links to check out my reviews!

No comments:

Post a Comment