Backlist Review: Wild Beauty
Photo from Macmillan Publishers website
Wild Beauty
Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Release: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Imagine five cousins giving birth to one daughter each, then those cousins growing up to eventually give birth to one daughter each, and so on and so forth. Now imagine five grandmothers, five mothers, and five daughters all living together in a giant garden - created by the hands of the women themselves. Imagine these women supporting, nurturing, and caring for each other as they fall deeply in love with their soul mates. Now imagine the love surrounded with fear as a curse from the land takes these lovers from them once the love runs too deeply. Now you have Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore.
I’ve had this book on my “To-Read Pile” for awhile (a bit over a year to be exact) but I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it! Wild Beauty follows Estrella Nomeolvides as she navigates relationships with her four cousins, her mother and four aunts, and her grandmother and four great aunts. Each has the unique ability to grow flowers (this book has all sorts of magical realism ya’ll) and each is cursed by the land they cultivate - whenever they fall too deeply in love with a romantic partner, the land takes them away. Estrella’s life is upturned one day when a boy appears - Fel - with no memory of his past. Estrella and her relatives try to piece together Fel’s past while fighting the curse that no Nomeolvides has ever been able to escape.
I am incredibly biased when it comes to magical realism - I almost always love it. I am also incredibly biased when it comes to romance - I’m super picky about it. McLemore’s first book The Weight of Feathers (2015; a Romeo & Juliet story between some mermaid- and bird-like folk) intrigued me with their use of magical realism in such a way that I didn’t mind the romance, so I just had to pick up Wild Beauty eventually.
McLemore weaves their words in a way that makes a simple plot line seem very deep by connecting to characters while manifesting emotions into reality with magic. Estrella is upset? Starflowers bloom grow and bloom in rapid fire time. Estrella is calm and sentimental? She coaxes plants and flowers from the earth with tender care. McLemore is a master of showing without telling.
Overall I’d give Wild Beauty 4 out of 5 Awesome Austin Points (I did REALLY like this book but I reserve 5 stars for those books that I know I’ll read again and again; this one I’ll definitely be recommending to people but may not pick up again). The writing and imagery are beautiful in their simplicity but the emotional depth is phenomenal. Plus, who doesn’t love a good story with a curse in it?
