picked this book up because I enjoyed Labyrinth Lost by this author. That was a YA book and this is her first adult novel.

I’m a huge fan of stories with magical houses and gardens. I was hooked as soon as I read the description. Orquidea has had many husbands and children. Now she is gathering all of her descendants in time for her to die. She does this by writing letters that are magical delivered – sometimes by birds. (Life goals)

A major theme in this story is the things that go unsaid in families. Orquidea’s background is almost entirely unknown to her grandchildren. They ask questions but she says that she physically is unable to answer. The stranger things get in this gathering the more the family just looks away rather than forcing the truth out into the open. And things do get strange. Magical gifts are passed out. Ghosts visit. Then Orquidea transforms instead of dying. The family really doesn’t know what to do with any of this so most of them go about their business.

The story picks up seven years later when some of the family have used their gifts well and others haven’t figured them out yet. They are forced back together by a dark force that is hunting them. Now finding out about Orquidea’s past may be necessary to save them all.

I like the absurdity and suspension of disbelief that is required to read magical realism. You suddenly have a flower growing out of your head? Cool. There is a rooster running around who is at least 50 years old, has died a few times (but got better), and occasionally lays eggs? Nothing to see here.

I feel like magical realism always leaves me with a few more questions than answers. That's not a bad thing. If you like magical realism, you'll probably love this book.

Oh if I could read this one again just to experience it the first time! If Allende and Hoffman got together and conjured up the most perfect magical book of family, love, sadness, hope, beauty and just everything that makes a book sit in your soul and take root, this would be it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I simply LOVED this.

Always love the magical realism of Zoraida Cordova and this was no exception. I didn't get as connected to the characters as in her Brooklyn Brujas series but absolutely loved this family and skipping through their history to tease our the story!

I so, so wanted to enjoy this one but I found it overall "okay" for me. I think my issue was the writing. I found the style hard to get into and the characters hard to understand.

Thank you for the e-arc!

Finally something gave me same extraordinary literature taste of dreamy magical realism with old time Marguez, Cortaza , Allende vibes!

I’m rounding up my 4.5 to 5 blazing family curse, Ecuador roots, ring master, debt, cousins against the world stars!

I liked to get lost in the fairy tal-ish chapters, tragicomic family attractions, luring magic, bunch of interesting characters!

Four Rivers where the place where Orquidea Montoya’s house appeared from nowhere. The town already lost its water sources,its magic faded till she decides to move to the place. In the deep valley where the four rivers had once intersected she built her house in 1960.( let’s stay not built because it’s truly appeared as if from the ether!)

She’s five foot one, brown skinned, black haired, giving you penetrating looks with her blackest eyes: such an intimidating woman, originally coming from Guayaquil, Ecuador who was born during the time when planets converged to create singularly worst luck to a person could ask for.

She has carried that cosmic fate for years which was never her fault! But now two husbands and twenty years later she made it to the states, didn’t she? And she found a loophole where she could get rid of her worst luck which was the reason how she got debt by dealing with the wrongest person!!!!

Of course as soon as the Montoya family arrived in the town, they brought their own ghost stories with them as great material of town’s gossipers. They didn’t want them in their town but Sheriff Palladino already met Orquidea and got charmed by her presence.

So the place welcomed six children, five grandchildren and as well as deaths of four husbands and one daughter.

Now she’s sick, before turning into something she needs to talk to her family. She already suffered so much after being in debt of some mysterious creature for 48 freaking years and now she has to pay what she has to protect her loved ones. She sends them letters to summon them to their family house.

Marimar has conflict feelings to get grandma Orquidea: for years she resented her for being throwing away from the childhood house and she blamed on her for the death of her mother who has drowned in the lake.

Now she’s living in NY with her cousin Rey who is accountant intern and who recently lost his mother. Both of them have hard time to fit in the city, losing their unique voices, living their shells.

Their other cousin Tatinelly seems like having a better life in Oregon, carrying her first baby. But as soon as they got the unstamped envelope their grandma sent, they find their ways at the family house located at Four Rivers for collecting their inheritance as a final wish of Orquidea.

But instead of inheritance and answers to their questions they wanted to get for years, she just passes away, leaving them with more questions. As the same day she dies, Tatinelly gives birth to her daughter Rhiannon.

Seven years later, Marimar, Rey and Tatinelly’s daughter finds themselves granted with different kinds of magical gifts and a dangerous hidden figure starts threatening their family members which bring them together to fight against it to save their loved ones!

In the meantime we move back to past for learning more about Orquidea’s past and finding more about the decision she’s made which ruined her entire family’s lives.

This book is pure magic, bringing back old time Latin authors’ that perfect magical realism stories back with lovely, deeply layered, honest characterization! It’s definitely one of my favorite fantasy reads of the year!

Ms. Cordova creates pure magic with her lyrical words and dreamy chapters!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

#NetGalley # TheInheritanceofOrquídeaDivina

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Zoraida Cordova's The Inheritance of Orquidea Divine is a fantastic #ownvoices fantasy novel about a family who returns to their "roots" in Ecuador. Supporting #ownvoices authors is crucial, and there aren't nearly enough PoC protagonists in the YA fantasy genre. I was overjoyed to be able to review this new book after previously reading the author's other works.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divine by Zoraida Cordova is a wonderful #ownvoices fantasy book about a family that travels back to their "roots" in Ecuador. I think it's so important to support #ownvoices authors, and there just aren't enough PoC protagonists in the YA fantasy genre. As someone who had read the author's other books previously, I was so happy that I was able to review this new book ahead of its release date. Thank you again to the publisher for this opportunity!

This book made me think of what The Inheritance Games would be like if it had fantasy elements. The story revolves around four grandchildren who travel to Ecuador at the behest of their mysterious family matriarch, Orquidea Divina, who claims she is dying and wants to give them their inheritance. The chapters alternate perspectives between these grandchildren in the present and Orquidea in the past. One highlight of this book is the characterization. The author describes each character perfectly and brings them to life. I found my rooting for them on their journeys and couldn't stop reading until I found out how their stories end.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1 when Orquidea is introduced:

"Once they realized they had a new permanent neighbor, the people of Four Rivers decided to start paying attention again to who came and went.
Who exactly were these Montoyas? Where did they come from? Why don’t they come to mass? And who, in God’s grasshopper-green earth, painted their shutters such a dark color?
Orquídea’s favorite color was the blue of twilight—just light enough that the sky no longer appeared black, but before pinks and purples bled into it. She thought that color captured the moment the world held its breath, and she’d been holding hers for a long time. That was the blue that accented the shutters and the large front door. A few months after her arrival, on her first venture into town to buy a car, she learned that all the ranch style houses were painted in tame, watery pastels."

Overall, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divine is an interesting combination of a realistic family history and Ecuadorian fantasy that will appeal to fans of Isabel Allende and Silvia Garcia-Moreno. Although this book is stunningly original, if I had to compare it to another book I've read previously, I would say that it reminded me of Garcia Moreno's bestselling novel, Gods of Jade and Shadow. Whether you're intrigued by the excerpt above, a fan of Zoraida Cordova already, or just a regular reader in the fantasy genre, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!

I loved this book. I loved the language, the magic, the family, all of it, every single page. I was taken by the beauty in the world that was portrayed as well as the words on the pages themselves. Orquídea has not had an easy life and she is often not an easy woman to love, but in their own way which is often tinged with anger her family loves her. So when they are called home because she is dying they don’t know what to think. When they get there the world they know will never be the same. With a journey from enchanted middle America to Guayaquil Ecuador this books is full of the beauty of the earth and the sky, even a shooting star on earth. I LOVE. everything Zoraida Cordova writes but this book stuck out. Maybe it is because of the authors own connection to Ecuador and the same stories that made her love for them shine through the page.

For fans of Wild Beauty, Like Water for Chocolate,—you’ll love this. Magic and family. Joy and sorry. A resurrecting chicken. It’s a darn good book.

I LOVED this book.

I found myself thinking of the story like a river; sometimes it flowed from the present with Orquidea's descendents, and sometimes it twisted back to tell the story of Orquidea herself. Throughout the book the story flowed with slower and faster currents. It always kept me engaged, but when it slowed down I wasn't bored at all because I was enjoying everything that was happening in the moment. When it picked up in pace it was exciting and natural.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. And a sincere thank you to Zoraida Córdova for this beautiful story.

I read this book in a single setting, because I just couldn't put it down. Everything about it was just a true delight. Cordova's writing is easy to read but doesn't feel overly simplistic. She pulls you in to the world and the family with such ease and conviction. It's clear that she's writing in a true magical realism tradition, and there was just the right amount of magic woven throughout the book. The characters are truly unforgettable, and I was rooting for them every step of the way. Just perfectly paced as it raced towards its inevitable and still somehow surprising conclusion. I loved every word.

What an incredible lovely, and challenging book. Fans of Allende will respond to the magical realism found within this text, Cordova offers a lush and beautiful novel of family, culture and how we utilize spirit and ancient wisdom to connect with our ancestors and powers. Read this immediately.