A refreshing take within the fairytale genre featuring interesting characters and a compelling story. The different shifts in character from chapter to chapter keeps things fresh and allow us to enjoy the story from alternative perspectives and see things in new light. 

Anna-Maria McLemore has done a great job with this novel and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her work in future.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I should just stop trying to read books with magical realism because I hardly ever like them.  Things are never explained to my liking and I just find it really hard to get immersed in this type of world.  I thought this book might be different because I love the story of Snow White and Rose Red but it wasn't.

This is my first time I have read anything by Anna-Marie McLemore.  I really enjoyed her writing style, it won’t be for everyone though.  I do own another book by Anna-Marie McLemore that I hope to get to in 2019.

The Del Cisne girls are not only sisters but they’re best friends and rivals.  Blanca and Roja are polar opposites: how they act and how they look.  Blanca has blonde hair, light, obedient and graceful.  Roja has red hair, dark, and manipulative.

I liked all four of the main characters; Blanca, Roja, Yearling, and Page.  I loved both the romantic relationships and the friendships too. I really like Yearlings and Pages grandmothers. There are LGBT characters and relationships.

Quotes I liked and loved:

“it is about the sudden understanding that you owe something other than what you were and that what you are is more beautiful than what you once thought you had to be”

“Because that power, that anger in you, that is the best thing you have”

“So Claim it. Pick yourself up and use it.”

“There wasn’t anything like pity in the October air, chilled and smelling like wood and ash.”

“it meant birch tree, or birch forest.  It was a name whose meaning held how our family had come from hills wooded with those straight-trunked, pale-barked trees.”

“I existed as whatever part of the woods would have me, rocks or crows or fallen leaves”

“They just let me live in them for as long as they could take the dead-weight of my heart.”

“even if there is no retracing your path, no unbreaking what has been broken, the heart of you, the heart of everything, can still knit back together.”

I really enjoyed this book, I devoured this book. I absolutely would recommend this to you or anyone. The writing might not be for everyone but I loved her writing style. I gave it a 4/5 stars I will definitely be buying it once I get the chance.

I received this as an earc from NetGalley, I’m thankful being approved to read this.

Amazing, of course. Only McLemore can write stories so beautiful, haunting, and full of magic. Diversity is not only present in her books, but it feels authentic and celebrated. This is another of her books that I am sure to consider a must-have for any modern YA collection.

I received an egalley of this title in exchange for an unbiased review.

Anna-Marie McLemore masterfully weaves magic and culture in a compelling story! So happy to add this diverse read to my classroom bookshelf!

Anna-Marie McLemore’s Blanca & Roja is a twist on an old tale: two sisters challenge the story they’ve been told, and the roles they’ve been given.

Blanca & Roja is a twist on the classic fairytale, Snow White and Rose Red, and shares the tale of a family under a curse. Unto each generation will be born two sisters, and at their coming of age, one of them will be turned into a swan. Blanca is the older, gentler, sweet sister, and Roja is a bit rougher around the edges. The girls must work through a curse that tries to pit them against one another, reaching through the thorns to hold on to their love for each other.

We featured this book on the October 19th episode of the YA Cafe Podcast. We have discussed McLemore’s work on the show before – her story Glamor appeared in the Radical Element anthology discussed in episode 6 and we were obsessed! Her story Love Spell appeared in the Toil & Trouble anthology discussed in episode 28.

Check out the episode for the following highlights: 

Spoiler-Free

*3:54 Does this book fit into the magical realism genre? We have feelings.

*7:33 We chat about this book’s vague sense of time and place, and how that influenced the story.

*9:43 This book has a very unique voice on gender identity – how the author’s personal life may have shaped that.

*11:50 Colorism and ‘passing’, in this story and the author’s other works.

Spoiler-Informed

*19:48 The recurring theme of “light vs. dark”.

*23:09 We dig deeper into the other two narrative voices, Page & Yearling/Barclay.

*26:15 The Mary’s vs. The Mary Magdalene’s, how the characters in this book subvert fairy tale norms.

This book is seriously gorgeous, which is no surprise for the Anna-Marie. I went into this book with unbelievably high expectations, and it surpassed all of them. I fell in love with every single word of this exquisite novel. Once again, I want to live in these words and Anna-Marie's world she has created. It's so original and beautiful.

I adored the 4 main characters deeply and honestly was excited about all of their POVs. I maybe cared a bit more about Roja and Yearling - those precious bbs try to be so tough but are actually lovable cinnamon rolls. I understood Blanca and Roja's layered relationship with each other and was invested in it. Maybe Yearling and Page's relationship could have been fleshed out more... I kind of wanted more "show me don't tell me" as to why they were so very close. Like... SO close.

On another note, this was surprisingly quick to read for one of her books. Usually it takes me a while to read her books not only because I want to soak every sentence in, but also because it's dense magical realism that you have to read carefully. And usually her plots have such slow burns. This one wasn't like that though. In Blanca & Roja, the story starts from the very beginning and just keeps having things happen. But it still manages to take time to develop the familial relationships, atmosphere, and history wonderfully.

What more can I say? The story is so very original, it has amazing representation (no surprise there, either), and I really could relate to parts of it. Especially the idea of being a fair-skinned member of a Hispanic family and feeling like a let down.

Side note: the author's note was the thing that made me cry the most, so please don't skip over that if you choose to read this book!

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book.

I didn't know much about this book besides the synopsis so I didn't have any preconceived ideas when I started to read it. I also knew little to nothing about Snow White and Rose Red and Swan Lake which inspired this book. I found the story interesting, it kept me compelled to read more. It was more than the relationship between the sisters and in turn, their relationship with those around them. It was definitely a lesson in believing you are more than what others tell you, you are. It was fast paced, and while told from different perspectives, it still flowed well and provided interesting and compelling viewpoints. It is a book that would recommend to anyone who loves the original fairy tales and those who love fantasy and/or stories of the strengths of love between sisters.

It is difficult to summarize this book without giving too much away so give how the author explains it, which is very accurate and makes it enticing to read.  I highly recommend to anyone who loves stories about sisters and all types of romance/ love stories.  

"Blanca and Roja are the latest in the long line of del Cisne girls - a Latinx family who are always cursed to have two daughters, one who survives and one who is taken by the swans. No matter what they do, one sister is always taken. And Roja has always known it will be her. How can it not be? With her fiery red hair and darker skin, she looks like the wicked girl, the witch, the fairy tale villain from all the stories.

Roja and fair-haired Blanca try to prevent either one meeting their fate. As they attempt to fight the curse (and the swans), another story takes place. A cygnet and a bear who the sisters take in and care for turn out to be two missing local boys.

The bear, Yearling, is a rich white boy from an abusive family, and the cygnet, Page, is a trans boy from a family of apple farmers. Two romances develop slowly through evocative description, with Blanca and Page's romance being especially sensual and exciting. The romantic themes move alongside family drama, magical prophecy and a desperate fight to avoid destiny."

I thought this book was good but not great -- it was trying to do too many things all at once, and the prose, while beautiful, was sometimes a little overwrought (although at the same time, it was the sort of overdramatic feeling that actually fits a teenage narrator, so maybe it's a feature, not a bug). It's really hard to pull off having four POV characters, and in order to fit in them all, the reader gets kind of short-changed on seeing backstory instead of being told it happened. We got a fair amount of Blanca and Roja pre-crisis, which I appreciated -- it gives the book a solid grounding in how the relationship between the sisters is being changed by what's going on -- but then way less about Page and Yearling, which... if you're going to run into the woods and turn into a baby swan because you can't stand the thought of your bro turning into a bear in the woods by himself, I'd like more than one scene establishing how your friendship got That Close, you know? Your mileage may vary, though. I also have very mixed feelings about Blanca & Roja as an adaptation of Snow White and Rose Red, which is one of my favorite fairy tales (largely because of the Patricia Wrede adaptation, which manages to stick weirdly close to the details of the fairy tale's plot despite being set in Elizabethan England with fairies and witches). I wanna see more about the animal transformations! If Yearling's going to be a bear, make him being a bear a bigger plot point! Give me more bonding between the sisters and their suitors in animal form! 

That said, there were a number of things about the book that I liked without reservation: Lynn and Tess's relationship, the way Yearling's disability was referenced consistently and not just when it was convenient for the plot, the depiction of Roja's crippling period cramps. Overall, a solid YA novel, just not one that I loved or see myself wanting to reread.

McLemore's new release, BLANCA & ROJA, is a fantastic and fantastical novel of magical realism. The author employs lyrical and gorgeous writing, complex characters, and representation that addressees different identities to craft a moving retelling mash-up of delight that pulls from two fairy tales and one ballet. I'm so glad I discovered her writing in the ALL OUT anthology. My only qualms (minor, at best) were that the writing style became a bit repetitive at times in the latter half of the book and that the magical aspects of the world were sometimes ill-defined. 

4.5 stars - my best read of 2018 so far

I love the way McLemore crafts the language of her books. She gives great messages about going beyond being just one thing. I love how she always represents diverse characters, and this book is no exception. Definitely a great read for lovers of fairy tales and magical realism.

I heard many rave reviews for Anna-Marie’s new release on social media, so I was definitely interested in reading it and seeing what all the buzz was about.

This book is meant to be a reimagining of Snow-White and Rose-Red, which I haven’t even heard of until now. I hear it’s a beautiful story, though. It’s about two sisters that are born into a family where, with each generation of girls, one is turned into a swan when they turn fifteen. To Blanca and Roja, this is just a challenge to defy the swans and for sisters to protect each other.

Plot/Setting
To some, this story may be confusing as hell. I won’t lie. Some it it did confuse me, but the beauty of the entire book alone surpassed that confusion and just had me hooked. The vivid setting was beautiful in my head, but it was more so the words. The words just flowed and the descriptions and metaphors just captured me. As I was reading through the pages and this story about sisters ultimately doing anything for each other, I was just captivated. I don’t know how else to put it but in that way. It’s just beauty page after page.

Characters
We have four characters: Blanca, Roja, Page and Yearling. 
Blanca is definitely the “leader” of the two sisters. She is meant to be the beautiful one, but she has a strong heart for her sister. She’s the one that would go in her sister’s place, even if that includes betrayal. I liked her character a lot, especially with Page. Page is a transboy, who uses the he/she/him/her pronoun. He’ll be referenced by either pronoun, but Anna-Marie made it easy to know who she was talking about. Page is hiding from her family because she is afraid that they won’t accept who Page really is and wants to be. Page and Blanca grow close and it’s honestly just a beautiful thing to read. I loved the way Anna-Marie shaped their relationship and it’s something totally different that I haven’t really read before, but I loved it. 
Roja is what you might consider the “ugly duckling”. She is so much more different from her sister and that is what makes her Roja. She doesn’t want to be taken away by the swans, but it’s difficult for her to figure out exactly how to defy them without Blanca’s help. She definitely has a strong will, but I think it is Blanca that unintentionally helps her find that will she needs in the end. It’s also Yearling, who is meant to be a bear in the woods. His real name is Barclay, but when he is a part of the woods, he is Yearling. He has a horrible home life and is abused constantly by his cousin, which causes him to run away after he uncovers family secrets. Surprisingly, he finds the solace he needs with these two sisters that have been the subject of horrible rumors for years. 
These four characters are all driven together and it’s something so unlikely that would happen. But, it all becomes something beautiful. All of them are trying to uncover who they are while also coming together. Everything just fits and becomes something incredibly beautiful that has really touched my heart.

This book was so amazing and so beautiful. The reviews lived up to my expectations and so much more. Anna-Marie knows how to knit her words together with her ideas and plots and settings. I just regret that I didn’t read this sooner. Everyone needs to read this book.

*This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The plot of this book follows two sisters, Blanca and Roja Del Cisne. One of the sisters is destined to turn into a swan by the time the younger sister reaches her 15th birthday. These sisters are determined to change their fate, despite the fact that they have been told all there lives to be prepared to lose each other. The story is told from four perspectives, including Blanca and Roja, as well as two more main characters.
This is so beautiful. Like, soooo beautiful. I'm already a fan of Anna-Marie McLemore's writing style from reading Wild Beauty, so I could already anticipate the general tone and writing style of this book. This kind of writing is not for everybody. It's not very direct and it's fluffy; meaning she uses a lot of pretty words to describe something that she could describe in only a few. For me, her writing is an experience along with the plot. If you just want a straight forward plot with concrete descriptions, this might not be for you. There are points where I was confused as to what was happening because she didn't actually directly say what happened. This wasn't something that I could speed read, I really had to take my time to take in her work. 
I would recommend this to people who enjoyed Wild Beauty or who like young adult contemporary with aspects of magical realism. I'm not sure if this is considered young adult fantasy, but I would personally say that this leans more contemporary with magical realism and a bit of fantasy sprinkled in.

I have never been one for magical realism but dang if Anna-Marie McLemore can’t get me to read allllll the magical realism.

I can’t properly write a review for McLemore’s books. There is no way in this world that I can do her words justice because she writes so beautiful I am both in awe and extremely jealous of her ability. (And I’ve seen her write in person. She’s magical, I swear).

This story is so beautiful told with bright and vivid characters with complex motivations and thoughts. Blanca and Roja both deal with social stigmas in different ways and it’s so carefully and thoughtfully done. Not to mention how well she develops Page’s character.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the description of food, because it’s all traditional latinx food and they make your mouth water. (There’s also a scene where one of the character says that when she doesn’t know what to do with someone, she offers them food and if that’s not the most latinx thing I don’t know).

Overall, this book was beautifully written and wonderful.

Blanca & Roja is one of the best retellings I've read...in a long time. McLemore imagines Snow White and Rose-Red through a queer, Latinx lense and addresses issues such as colorism, sexism, queer and trans phobias, and ableism. No one crafts a world quite like McLemore, and her words craft a story of self-discovery, love, sacrifice and family. Beautiful.

~ARC~ provided by NetGalley~

This book started off really promising for me. It had a fairy-tale/folklore type thing going on, which I really liked - it was different. Then it started dragging and things just didn't pick up for me and unfortunately I just couldn't continue. It seems others have found this very enjoyable, so don't count it out!

I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I would just like to start off by saying that Anna-Marie McLemore's writing is absolutely magic. Her descriptive language just had the words jumping off the page for me, and just wove this amazing story. 

I would first like to start off by saying the things I loved about this book.
I absolutely loved the writing, and found that it really elevated the book experience for me. I also enjoyed the relationships, they were both well-written and had me happy sighing. 

However, a gripe that I had with the book was the shaky plot and the unstable worldbuilding. 
I felt like there was not one real, clear plot and at some points (especially towards the end), it got a bit convoluted. There seemed to be one main overarching plot, and then an attempt at a slide plot that was poorly executed. I also felt like the worldbuilding was very unclear as I couldn't really understand the magic of the world and it took me a very long time to figure out what time period it was as the author didn't make it very clear.

I loved this beautifully written story. It was almost poetic in its beauty. I have not read literature like this in years and it was truly a reawakening for me in my love for reading.

Rating: 4.5 stars 

I'm struggling to rate this book, because on a personal level I'm feeling a solid 4 stars, but from a more objective standpoint, I think YA readers (especially fans of magical realism) will absolutely love this book. Either way, I expected beautiful things out of this story, and that's exactly what I got. 

I've dabbled in magical realism a bit, but Blanca y Roja is easily the most enchanting, luscious book I've read in the genre yet. If you love Laini Taylor or any books with lyrical, descriptive writing, you should definitely add Anna-Marie McLemore to your TBR!

Blanca y Roja is a loose retelling of Swan Lake (but really, it's a retelling of the Latinx fairy tale Snow-White and Rose-Red), that surrounds two sisters and their struggle to remain united when one is cursed to turn into a swan. I absolutely loved how this book focuses so strongly on sisterhood, it keeps that focus throughout the story and portrays the ups-and-downs of their relationship perfectly. 

Both Blanca and Roja are incredibly well-developed characters, and personally I was able to relate to Roja in a big way. Her firecracker personality mixed with self-doubt, insecurity, and fearlessness reminded me of a lot of teenage girls I know. Blanca, who supposedly is the soft, demure sister that works to please everyone, is much more of an enigma than at first glance. Her intelligence and determination end up playing a huge role throughout the course of the story.

"I was a girl who would never exist in a fairy tale, not just because of the brown of my body but because of my heart, neither pure enough to be good nor cruel enough to be evil. I was a girl lost in the deep, narrow space between the two forms girls were allowed to take."


This book is told through four POVs, and I find myself rarely saying this, but it totally worked. There wasn't one POV I found myself dreading to read, or a lag in certain chapters before we got back to the action. I think the alternation between perspectives made the story way more intriguing and heartfelt, I got to know the four protagonists intimately, which made turning the last page way harder on my soul.

The only thing about this book that I didn't care for was the pacing, and I think that's more a personal preference of mine when it comes to the genre than a flaw in the storytelling. Overall, this is just a slow book. Not in a bad sense, but just in the way that you're meant to mull over each sentence in your head like you savor wine. It's not as much about the action or the plot than the way the world is painted through descriptions and imagery, so if you're in the mood for an action-packed adventure, this really isn't it. At times the description got to be a lot for me, I'd feel my eyes glazing over and my mind skimming past sentences that I don't usually skip when I read. I would never change the way this book is written, simply because the writing is a masterpiece of talent, but I'll just give a general PSA that you should make sure you're in the right mood when you pick this up.

That being said, all the woodland-y and forest-y descriptions made Blanca y Roja absolutely perfect for the fall season! The ideal way to read this book would be sitting on a cabin porch on the top of a mountain, a chilly breeze blowing past with a warm cup of tea and a soft blanket. Actually, that might be the ideal way to read any book.

But if I had to pick my number one favorite element of this book, I'd have to say (and this might be breaking some important code of law when it comes to reading books about sisterhood *hides in shame*) the boys.

Damn if Anna-Marie didn't grab my heart with her sweet, soft, breakable boys that would do anything for the del Cisne sisters. Both Yearling and Page stole my breath away when I first met them, but I can't lie that Yearling is probably on my list of top 10 YA book boyfriends. But while I'd usually take this part of my review to squeal and fangirl over hot dudes, I actually want to talk about the fact that the author took these side characters and did ridiculously amazing things with them.

While Blanca and Roja's characters primarily illustrate the danger of certain stereotypes and the false narratives they create within ourselves, McLemore used Yearling and Page to highlight just as important issues when it comes to having a disability, surviving abuse, and being transgender/identifying as non-binary.

I think this author clearly has a gift when it comes to telling amazing, beautiful stories that make really fricken important comments on current issues and effortlessly incorporate diverse characters the way that all books should be doing. This book is the first - the FIRST - I have ever read that openly and frequently talked about periods and period pain. As someone that suffers from extreme cramps and pain on a monthly basis, I can't tell you how much I wanted to sob when I read about Roja dealing with the same thing. I'd never actively thought about how weird it is that YA books don't usually discuss the details of periods (what it's like to track it, wear a pad, manage pain, etc.) but considering how big of a life event it is to go through for literally billions of people, I should be seeing it in YA all over the place!

But that's just one small important detail of many that get highlighted in this book. I can't speak for any of the representation, but I will say that you'd have to slap me over the forehead with a brick to try and convince me that Anna-Marie didn't do her homework. At the very least, this book spent the most page time I've ever seen discussing the details of being Latina, of being non-binary, of using strategies to adapt when you have a disability, or of breaking the harmful ideas we all subscribe to without even realizing it. Though the writing is beautiful and the characters stole my heart, I have to say without a doubt that this is my favorite part of the novel.

Overall, if you love: complicated girls with deep hearts; complicated boys with very very cute personalities; viscous swans that might kill you or transform you into one of them (take your pick); nature, trees, bears, that kind of thing; or stories about friendship, sisterhood, love, and sacrifice - meet your favorite fall read of 2018. 

Thanks to Macmillan Children's for providing me with a digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!