Anna-Marie McLemore

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/when-the-moon-was-ours-by-anna-marie-mclemore/

I really liked this book, and once again kudos to the Tiptree Award (as it then was) for spotting something that others had passed by. It’s set in a world very close to ours, where the protagonists are a Latina girl and an Italian-Pakistani boy in love, but there’s a lot of magic going on (she grows flowers out of her arms; he has a well-hidden secret) and the four red-haired neighbour girls may be witches. show more It’s an intense exploration of body dysmorphia and the experience of being trans, in a well-realised small town, where the grownups have back-stories too. One of the best novels I have read so far this year, and strongly recommended. show less

So deliciously twisted and, at the same time, sadly real. I wasn't expecting much from this but it blew me away. I've been watching the 2025 season of Dancing With The Stars and it features two women from "MomTok". I was kind of repulsed by the whole idea of that before, but reading this really put into perspective how ghoulish that whole corner of the Internet is. I feel for their children.

McLemore (contributor: Color Outside the Lines, 2019, etc.) weaves another magic spell in this haunting retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Red Shoes.”

In their most ambitious novel yet, they interconnect the present-day trials of Mexican American Rosella and Romani American Emil with those of Lavinia, a young Romani woman in 16th-century Strasbourg, who is revealed to be Emil’s ancestor. Emil and Rosella became friends as children when they realized their darker skin color show more and families’ religious practices set them apart from the rest of their friends. Now teens, the two are drawn to each other during their town’s “glimmer,” an annual weeklong occurrence in which magical things happen. This year, the red shoes created by Rosella’s family cause people to pursue their romantic passions. However, Rosella is cursed with uncontrollable dancing, very similar to the plague of dancing that swept through Strasbourg in 1518, when the townspeople blamed Lavinia and the White trans boy she loved for their affliction. McLemore’s lush sentence-level writing is masterly, painting vivid pictures of Lavinia’s world. The past timeline is especially compelling, and readers will eagerly return to it. The author spins a tale of first love, misfits forging their own places in the world, and the inherent prejudices of people who fear what they don’t understand.

This novel will leave an indelible mark on readers’ hearts. (Magical realism. 14-adult)

-Kirkus Review show less

In the aftermath of an assault at a party, the lives of two teens intertwine as they struggle to find healing, lost magic, and ways to move forward.

Like her bisabuela before her, Ciela Cristales speaks “the language of flour and sugar.” In her family’s pastelería, she is La Bruja de los Pasteles, who can sense exactly which pastry someone wants before they know themselves, which flavors will give them courage or help open their heart to love. Although her abuela warned her that such show more gifts could be lost, she did not know this was true until a shard of glass buries itself deep in her heart along with the sharp, mirrored truth of what happened to her and a boy she’d just met at a party she wishes she could forget. McLemore reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” or “La Reina de las Nieves,” in the weaving of an aching, vivid narrative about two young adults, a White boy and a queer, Mexican American girl, who are grappling with trauma from sexual assault. The poetic and vulnerable prose illuminates the need for more open conversation about sexuality, consent, and abuse without the limits of the gender binary. Balancing raw honesty and hope, McLemore does not shy away from depicting discomfort and injustice, but they also surround Ciela with a loving and affirming community of characters crafted with tender detail in this contemporary novel brushed with fairy tale.

Piercing magic. (author's note) (Magical realism. 14-18)

-Kirkus Review show less