Review: Wild Beauty
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
A family of women cursed in love. For all the men they love will disappear. So the latest generation of Nomeolvides girls vow never to love any boys. Instead they all turn their love and affection towards their neighbour, Bay Briar. Fearing that their love for her will harm her, the girls offer up their most loved possessions to La Pradera, the garden their family tends. A garden they can never leave. When Estrella buries one of her beloved wooden horses she is surprised to find a boy sprout from that very spot the next morning. None of the Nomeolvides women know who the boy is, but they all believe him to be one of their lost loves, returned to them. The boy has no memory of his life before, only the name Fel. When Bay disappears the girls know the curse has taken affect and outside forces threaten the lives of the Nomeolvides women in their garden. Fel and Estrella become closer, tending to the garden they love and trying to save their family and La Predera, their not-so-secret garden.
Wild Beauty was an utterly exquisite book. It was gorgeously written and had me despairing of ever being a writer myself, after reading McLemore’s prose. Although some readers may not appreciate the flowery similes and metaphors I am sure they will stay for the characters. A book where Latina girls in love with other girls is important to the story but not all there is to it. I loved the book so much I wanted to hoard it to myself, but I knew that my sister, who recently came out to the family, would appreciate reading about girls loving other girls in a romantic, beautiful garden.
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