Wild Beauty

by Anna-Marie McLemore

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, hiding a terrible legacy, until mysterious Fel arrives and Estrella helps him explore his dangerous past.

• ISBN10: 1250180732
• ISBN13: 9781250180735
• Publish Date: 9 October 2018 (first published 3 October 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Square Fish
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

Sorry, just wasn't for me. If I'm being honest, it wasn't a book that was high on my priority list anyways. I mainly read it because I got it through Owlcrate and have been trying to read all the books I get (ha.). The language of the writing is much like the core of the book - it's flowery. While pretty, it honestly just became tiring and bogged down. I ended up skimming this book more than anything simply because the underlying plot was *just* enough to keep me interested. And because I was just bound and determined to finish the dang thing.

I like the the main concept of family connectedness (and it's benefits and pitfalls) but I didn't really love any of the main Nomeolvides girls. I liked them well enough, but never felt connected to any of them (I believe again mainly the too flowery language). Also, maybe it's just me but I did NOT get the obessession with Bay. Or the likelihood that ALL 5 OF THEM fell in love with her. Also, while not explicitly stated, it seems like she's kind of dragging along all the girls and I am not here for that. However, I do think this book handled a lot of diverse and social topics wonderfully and subtlely enough that it seemed essential and not like it was added for the sake of it.

I will say that Fel was the light that shone through this book for me. His story was what kept me interested. He's so sweet and gentle and he cooks for the women as his way of caring for them AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS! And the descriptions of food were to die for.

If you like flowery language, I think you'll find this book more enjoyable than I did (it was a BIG drawback for me because it felt overthetop). The author is certainly gifted with crafting language. While the story didn't wow me, it was interesting enough and I did enjoy the how/why behind the ultimate story. Fel is what made the book for me, but I know many will enjoy and relate to the family of the Nomeolvides girls. All in all, I do think this was more of a *me* problem than the book's problem, but it just wasn't for me.

[Bianca]

Even in its first faint traces, love could alter a landscape. It wrote unimagined stories and made the most beautiful, forbidding places. Love grew such strange things.

— A lushly written magical tale about a “cursed” family of women who love their lovers out of existence. It’s also an examination of gender identities, race, class, and how terrifying loving someone could be. WHAT A STUNNER.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Wild Beauty is one of those captivating books half-caught between fantasy and reality. The protagonists live in our world, speaking Spanish and praying to the Christian God, yet their lives play out in an enchanted garden of their own making. The women of the family are blessed with the ability to make flowers grow in any soil, any weather; they are cursed with the fact that anyone they love romantically eventually disappears. The mix of the two worlds is on some occasions jarring, but when the focus remains on the women’s lives, their hopes and fears and relationships with each other, the result is pure magic.

The book is told from the alternating points of view of Estrella, one of the youngest cousins living in the garden, and Fel, a boy Estrella dug up from the ground who initially cannot remember anything about his past. One can see the romance coming from a mile away, even as Estrella swears not to fall in love too hard, lest Fel disappear. However, their relationship was one of the least interesting facets of the book for me. Rather, I loved watching Estrella interact with the other women of her family and with the greedy man who comes to have legal ownership over the garden where her family lives. I loved watching Fel become part of the family and think hard about his past and the family he must have once had.

Estrella’s four cousins are all well-developed and become primary characters in their own rights. Their mothers and grandmothers are more sketches, groups in the background who seem to function as one rather than individuals. But perhaps it is not surprising that a YA book would forefront the young characters and push the older ones away. At any rate, I did enjoy reading about each of the cousins and learning their personalities and seeing how they acted as a family—sometimes fighting and bitter but always ready to have each other’s backs.

In terms of plot, I’m somewhat conflicted about the “big reveal” near the end of the story. It’s certainly not something I saw coming, in part because I’m not 100% convinced it makes a lot of sense. However, arguably part of the draw of the story is going with the flow and accepting that sometimes things don’t make sense; sometimes they just are. We can try to react to them, but we cannot necessarily change them or stop them.

Wild Beauty is ultimately a book to be savored and thought over. It’s about family and friendship and trying to make your own path while being beholden to others. It’s about beauty and sorrow and pain and what we do to live with ourselves and the world we have inherited. Some people might find it a bit of a slow read, but personally I thought it worthwhile.

[Chelsea]

I'm not sure what to think of Wild Beauty. There were a few things I loved and a few things I didn't like. Everything else fit into the 'meh' category. By the looks of things so far I'm going to have the unpopular opinion on this one.

- There were some good things about this book. For one, the writing was gorgeous. Sadly this time around, it fell under the category of pretty writing to make up for the boring nothing that was everything else.

- The biggest thing I struggled with in this book was that I didn't feel anything for any of the characters. I wasn't rooting for Fel as he tried to remember his past or even shipping any of the characters. Nothing. I just didn't care for any of them. A giant meteor could have fallen from the sky and killed everyone and I still wouldn't care. Maybe it was because I couldn't relate to them or maybe because the pretty words didn't make me like them. It could have be either but when I don't care about the characters it makes it hard to be invested in the story. Plus we didn't even know anything about them. The mothers and grandmothers were only known as just that and the cousins all felt like they were mushed into one person.

- Speaking of the characters, a giant hooray for including a diverse cast! It was actually really refreshing to read about realistic characters for once. Plus it was mostly all female characters which is always great in my opinion.

- The next big problem I had with Wild Beauty was the plot because nothing ever happened. In the beginning a strange boy appears which I great. That starts our story off. Then in the whole middle section nothing happened until the very end where they discover this big mystery that I didn't even realize was a mystery? It just felt like this book had no purpose. The plot just bounces around between Fel just hanging out and the Briars (specifically Bay, the most forgettable character ever). Nothing fits together nicely and we're never given enough details to know what's going on at any point. The ending sort of pulled everything together but by that point I was bored and not invested in the story AT ALL.

- Going along with the plot, the world-building was lacking. Maybe it was me, I was bored enough that my eyes started skipping over sections, but I honestly had no idea what this world was. It seemed to be our modern day world except there was no technology mentioned ever. And then it seemed like it was more historical until Fel's past was brought up which just made me confused again. I also never fully understood the magic in this world. If someone came up to me and asked me to explain it to them I would come up blank. I get that it was more of a pretty whimsical story but that just didn't work for me.

I think a lot of people will like this story. Its themes of love and family were great plus the diversity was awesome. If you're the kind of person that needs action or mystery or SOMETHING going on then maybe, like me, this isn't the book for you.

* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review *

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Lush and beautiful storytelling that kept me enchanted and enthralled from page 1.



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