I will read anything Anna-Marie McLemore writes; she just has such a beautiful way with words I fall head over heels in love with her stories every time. I loved her look at the complicated relationship between siblings - Blanca and Roja are each such wonderful, complex characters and I rooted for them both. My heart broke for them as they struggled with their family's curse. Wild Beauty is still my favorite of her works, but this one holds a special place in my heart. This was such a lovely fairytale.

One sentence plot summary: Blanca & Roja, a modern reimagining of the classic fairytale "Snow White and Rose Red," tells the story of a family, plagued by a generations old curse.



I haven't been reading a lot of fantasy lately, but boy and I'm happy I picked this up. I'm not even sure that I would classify it as fantasy: there are supernatural elements, but I would consider it more magical realism than fantasy. Either way, without splitting hairs, this was the most breathtaking book I've read in a long time.



For me, Roja drives this story.  She's hard not to fall in love with: she's complicated, insecure, gets most things a little bit wrong, and sees the worst in most people, but she's also introspective, a bit fearless, loyal, and sharp. She is the opposite of a fairy tale character (but small spoiler: not the opposite of Blanca, no matter how much she sees herself to be), neither villain nor heroine. Those things are kind of a given with any good novel and any developed character, but something about the way it drives this tale makes it a little more special.



This is a fairy tale. And a family drama. And a love story. A really, really pretty love story. It's at once full of passion, but also innocent. Most of all, though, I think this is the story of finding your place in the world. It tackles issues like gender and race without ever making them feel politicized or like anything more than a small part of who a character is. To me, though, the theme that really drives this novel was finding who you are outside your family. As you can probably tell from the title, Blanca & Roja, the two sisters who are under threat from the curse, are at the center of things and as much as it's a fairy tale and love story, it's a story of finding out who blanca is without Roja and vice versa. As  Roja reflects: without the glow iff her, no one ever saw me. Without her, there was no me. Snow-white on her own was still her own fairy tale, but Rose-Red, alone, was only half a story (McLemore).



I enjoyed reading Roja's struggles to find herself apart from Blanca and, even though this book switched between four perspectives (Blanca, Roja, Page, and Yearling), I couldn't help it feel it was more ROja's story than anyone else's. The others had beautifully written passages and were great characters, but part of me felt that they were less intertwined characters than people who contributed to the narrative of Roja's coming of age. Maybe that's unfair or reflects my own bias in ROja's favor, but there it is.



This was my favorite read of the year and, while it's only July, I can't see it getting much better. The writing was lyrical and poetic, the characters well developed, and who doesn't freaking love a fairy tale? 



5/5.



Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love everything Anna-Marie McLemore writes. Her style is so beautiful and lyrical; it's a treat to read her books. I've been eager to read this one since she announced it: a queer, Latina retelling of Snow White & Rose Red?? SIGN ME UPPP. I really loved this book, particularly the development of the various relationships (both romantic and not) between the characters.

Anna-Marie McLemore is one of my favorite authors. Her characters are always diverse, her writing is incredible, and she is the queen of magical realism. This book lived up to my expectations based on her other books. The setting was beautifully described, the characters were all multi-dimensional, the ending was satisfying, and the story was creative. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes magical realism, retellings, unconventional romance, and beautiful writing. I will definitely be ordering this for my library!

Anna-Marie McLemore has the most beautifully lyrical writing style of any author I've ever read.  Her stories have such a dreamlike quality that was only increased in this book with the fairy tale retelling.  I have purchased each of her titles for my library, and this title will be no exception.  I loved every page of it!

I don’t know why, but I never been a big fan of stories with multiple characters point of view. Even when it’s two people I’m always really hesitant about reading it because it's a hit or miss for me. When I heard about this book, I knew there was a chance that it would be told in first person by Blanca and Roja. I was prepared going into it to be that way, but since it was McLemore, I thought it would be fine. There are a couple other characters as well who tell the story through their eyes and I didn’t know what I had just signed up for.

It was fine. It didn’t bother me like it had in the past, but it wasn’t my favorite either. I’ve been a fan of McLemore’s writing for a while now and I didn’t want the multiple points of view to stop me from enjoying the story. The book itself sounded magical and I was excited to read it, but I wanted to know so much about Blanca and Roja that whenever it wasn’t their story, I just wanted to get through it. I feel like this book was so focused on the magic part of it, that it kind of lost a little bit of focus on everything else.

While I did enjoy the characters, I just wished it would have been written through one person's point of view or third. I just couldn’t get over the fact no matter how hard I tried. Overall, it was a good book and I really liked the idea, I just wanted a little more from it.