Me on Waiting on Wednesday (367)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Bruja Born
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Release Date: June 5, 2018
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

From Goodreads:

Three sisters. One spell. Countless dead.

Lula Mortiz feels like an outsider. Her sister's newfound Encantrix powers have wounded her in ways that Lula's bruja healing powers can't fix, and she longs for the comfort her family once brought her. Thank the Deos for Maks, her sweet, steady boyfriend who sees the beauty within her and brings light to her life.

Then a bus crash turns Lula's world upside down. Her classmates are all dead, including Maks. But Lula was born to heal, to fix. She can bring Maks back, even if it means seeking help from her sisters and defying Death herself. But magic that defies the laws of the deos is dangerous. Unpredictable. And when the dust settles, Maks isn't the only one who's been brought back...

Oooooooo. I love the sound of this, just like with Labyrinth Lost. It sounds deep and dangerous and magical and very much steeped in a culture rich in history and meaning. This sounds like it's going to be a massive punch to the heart.

Me on Wild Beauty

Title: Wild Beauty
Author: AnnaMarie McLemore
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan imprint)

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They've also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens. The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he's even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

Wild Beauty is magical, a story of flowers, family, and despair. It's the story of an inescapable curse and the young women who so desperately want to break it, the story of the strange boy they find in their gardens. The story of the land that is La Pradera and all the secrets it holds.

Estrella and her cousins are the youngest Nomeolvides girls, the latest in a family of women who live and work the grounds of La Pradera. Women who make flowers appear when they slip their hands into the ground. Women who can love so hard their lovers will vanish. Estrella and her cousins know who they are, who came before them, and they try so hard to keep their loves small and secret. To keep it unspoken. But secrets never last.

From the depths of the gardens comes Fel, a young man with a missing past. A young man that, presumably, was once loved by a Nomeolvides woman and captured by the garden. But why was he returned? Where did he come from? What's hiding in his lost memories? As time goes on in the house full of Nomeolvides women, the worried cousins and the curious mothers and the compassionate grandmothers, Fel wonders what this place is, why he was brought there. Why they ask questions about things he doesn't want to talk about.

This melancholy, heart-wrenching creature of a book. It's so layered, so complicated. It's a story about family, about the ways we love and hate and protect. It's a story of immigration, of those who leave their homes, those without names or papers or anything official, and somehow find a place that will keep them without asking questions. It's a story about consequences, about mistakes made and lived with, about aches and pains and regrets. It's a story about love, about what it does to us, what it gives and what it takes, what it pulls from our hearts. Like previous Anna-Marie McLemore books, this is gorgeously written and imagined, lush with description, emotion, and sorrow. Rich with impossible magic. A must-read.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on A History of Glitter and Blood

Title: A History of Glitter and Blood
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Release Date: August 18, 2015
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Sixteen-year-old Beckan and her friends are the only fairies brave enough to stay in Ferrum when war breaks out. Now there is tension between the immortal fairies, the subterranean gnomes, and the mysterious tightropers who arrived to liberate the fairies. But when Beckan's clan is forced to venture into the gnome underworld to survive, they find themselves tentatively forming unlikely friendships and making sacrifices they couldn't have imagined. As danger mounts, Beckan finds herself caught between her loyalty to her friends, her desire for peace, and a love she never expected.

A History of Glitter and Blood is at times magical and gruesome, a story of what war leaves behind, of what war makes us do in order to survive. A story of family and friendship, of the ways we bind ourselves together.

Beckan, Josha, Scrap, Cricket. When the war starts, they're the only ones to stay in Ferrum. Why would they leave their home? But staying behind means surviving bombs. Staying behind means joining together. Staying behind means heading underground for work. It's not easy for any of them. In no way is anything any of them goes through easy. It's harsh, painful, distasteful. But it's what they do in order to survive. And when they're not working? They pretend as hard as they can, they laugh and love and look forward to the day when the war will be over. But when it ends, how it ends, is it what they expected would happen?

The narrator is unreliable. The story is told in a mixture of fictional prose and journal accounts, of what the narrator knows and witnessed and what the narrator imagines happened when they weren't in the room. It's an intriguing way to tell the story. It gives it authenticity, makes it sound real. Makes every cut and bite and fever dream feel that much more real. Like this war actually happened.

This book highlights all the parts of war, uncovers the secrets often left unspoken by survivors. What happens to those who stay, what decisions they are forces to make. What pieces of themselves they're forced to give up. If after reading this you're filled with all kinds of uncomfortable feelings, if you're all squicked out inside, then the book did its job. It's not a happy book, it's not meant to cheer you up. This book is all harsh reality and the day-in day-out of those living with war every single day, the stories you never hear about on the news. The stories you should hear about.

This is fairy tale, but one without the usual magic. The fairies do have glitter, but it's to keep the gnomes from eating too much of their limbs and bodies. This is a messy book about war, politics, racism, family, and love. It's a slap in the face and a punch in the gut. This won't be for everyone, but if you find yourself interested, read it for the characters. Read it for Beckan, for Scrap, for Josha and Cricket. Read it to learn what their lives become, to learn who they become. Read it to learn what war does to them, does to us.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Valor

Title: Valor
Editors: Isabelle Melançon & Megan Lavey-Heaton
Artists & Writers: Isabelle Melançon, Megan Lavey-Heaton, Jayd Aït-Kaci, Elena "Yamino" Barbarich, Ash Barnes, Morgan Beem, Cory Brown, Ran Brown, Meaghan Carter, Nicole Chartrand, Kadi Fedoruk, Tim Ferarra, Sara Goetter, Emily Hann, Megan Kearney, Michelle "Misha" Krivanek, Justin Lanjil, Angelica Maria Lopez, Laura Neubert, Alexandra Singer, Katie Shanahan, Steven "Shaggy" Shanahan, Annie Stohl, Joanne Webster

Valor is a comic anthology of re-imaged fairy tales showcasing the talent of some of the top creators in the field of digital comics. The purpose of this book is to pay homage to the strength, resourcefulness, and cunning of female heroines in fairy tales. Some of these are recreations of time-honored tales. Others are brand new stories, designed to be passed to future generations.

Valor is fun, adventurous, different, wonderful. All the positive adjectives I can think of. Bright, colourful, expressive artwork combined with rich storytelling. Each story is anchored by a heroine who fights monsters, stands up for herself in dangerous times, or rescues loved ones. Because there are 23 stories, comic and prose, it's a bit hard for me to review each one. All are anchored by heroines going off on quests, taking matters into their own hands. There are white, black, Asian, and even metal heroines. There are straight and gay heroines. They can and do rely on others for support, but these are their stories. Their adventures. Their time to kick butt and take names, if the situation calls for it. As always with anthologies, there are some stories I liked more than others.

There's Prunella by Isabella Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton, where Prunella's scowl is captured perfectly, where she toils away for a witch that cursed her, where she keeps on working for the witch because she pays well. Prunella is grouchy and stubborn but fiercely loyal.

There's Bride of the Rose Beast by Michelle Krivanek, the story of Kari, forced to marry a monster made from a queen's greediness, and the plan to keep the monster from devouring her on their wedding night.

There's Crane Wife by Alex Singer and Jayd Aït-Kaci (text by Ariana Maher), with soft, gorgeous artwork accompanying a heartbreaking story about an injured crane lost in a snow storm and the gift she gave to the hunter who saved her.

There's The Flower in the Gravel by Angelica Maria Lopez, bright with colour, about an abandoned tower of treasure guarded by a dragon and a young girl who doesn't believe in any of that foolish talk. Instead, she races headfirst into a tower filled with dangerous traps to find the greatest treasure of all.

There's Lady Tilda and the Dragon by Sara Goetter, a wordless, emotional tale of Lady Tilda and the dragon she meets in a dark, creepy cave. The artwork is sweet and expressive. I loved how the characters and the setting told the story, making words useless. The ending always leaves me teary-eyed.

And there's Winter's Gift by Joanne Webster and Isabelle Melançon (letters by Megan Lavey-Heaton), about a rabbit travelling through the seasons, using her clever mind and clever wit to outsmart three of them on her journey to the fourth to ask for the rabbits' gift. Bunny never says no, just talks her way around and out of traps, showing that those who look weak aren't necessarily weak.

If you ever get a chance to read this, read it. It's fun and smart, filled with strong and clever female characters who take matters into their own hands.

(I received an e-book copy of this anthology after backing the project on Kickstarter.)

Me on Beastkeeper

Title: Beastkeeper
Author: Cat Hellisen
Release Date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. Books for Young Readers (Macmillan imprint)

Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She's grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn't know that it's magic her parents are running from. When Sarah's mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn't even know were still alive. Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast... unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

Beastkeeper is sweet, magical, and mysterious. Secrets and curses abound, their power continuous and their reach overwhelming. This is the story of one young girl discovering the shadows in her family's past and working fast before they envelop her as they did her parents and grandparents so many years ago.

Sarah's voice is a charming one. She's a clever and lonely girl, observant and on her own after years of never staying in one place long enough to make any lasting friends. But she's happy with her parents, until her mother leaves in the middle of the night. Until her father begins to change. Until she's taken to her grandparents. Then she's lost, scrambling to understand what's happened and what went wrong. There's a hidden strength in Sarah. There's a time or two when she gives up, but there's also a time or two when she doesn't, when it hurts so much to carry on but she refuses to quit.

The secrets parents keep from their children. The shadows they run from with their children. The harm they do to their children. Sarah doesn't understand why her mother left, why her father left her with, essentially, strangers. She doesn't understand because they never told her the truth, thinking instead they could run from it, that she would be safe from it. Parents can care for and protect their children, yes, please do this, but keeping those very important things from them is never good. Children know when something is wrong and they will call adults out on it. They will see through it, see through you, and start to wonder if they're no longer safe with you.

Curses and choices and consequences, they're such inescapable things. We run from them, hide from them, try and trick them and sneak around them. But they're always there, waiting to continue the circle that never ends. Until someone comes along and makes the most difficult decision to end it all.

I can see where the retelling is, where the bits and pieces of the story of Beauty and the Beast are, but the author twists it and makes it something new. Almost like a retelling and a brand new fairy tale at the same time. This book is sweet and fun but also serious and dangerous, and filled with magic.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)