—3.75 stars —

A beautifully written tale, powerful and intense, and really important in terms of identity and representation.

When the Moon was Ours tells the story from two perspectives: Miel’s, and Sam’s, who are best friends. Miel has roses growing out of her wrists, and rumor say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. As for Sam, he is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, but also for how little anyone knows about his life, before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

There is a lot of representation in this book: Miel is Latina, Sam is trans and Pakistani. There is also a side lesbian character and a side trans character.

It was such an honest and beautiful representation of what it means to not be the person your body reflects, how to find yourself and to make peace with it. The way it was shown was incredibly touching and beautiful and felt so real. And on that particular point, the author’s note was truly beautiful (this story is very personal for Anna-Marie McLemore) and brought me to tears, as did the book a couple of times.

The prose is absolutely beautiful and compelling. It was off-putting at first, and I had trouble understanding everything that was happening. But you can deny the beauty of it and as you read the story, you get used to it. The writing also really helps creating this peculiar, creepy but unique atmosphere ; an atmosphere almost ethereal. I kept imagining a soft, soothing voice narrating the story. In my opinion, it’s a book that you need to read slowly, to really immerse and get the full experience of the words, the symbolism, see and feel how everything weaves to create something enchanting.

I’m not the biggest fan of magical realism. I’m starting to delve a little bit more into this world but I do admit that it’s not my favorite thing. Nonetheless, it works perfectly here, and someone who loves magical realism will probably loved this more than me.

I would have loved to see the relationship between Sam and Miel before what we got. In the story, we jump from them meeting each other when they were young, to them being best friends and in high school. I feel like the sudden gap, and the writing, prevented me from connecting easily with them at first. But I did ended up really liking them. Also, the lack of communication at times between the characters was annoying, but it was better once resolved.

Unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a disappointment, especially when it comes to the Bonner sisters and their ‘redemption’/‘reformation’. I didn’t feel any sympathy for them, at all. I didn't really understand what was happening with them, and I thought Chloe

would have a much more important role, as I felt her departure was such a pivotal point for the characters.

Overall, it was a solid read. Even if I had trouble with the writing, or the magical realism, and that at times, the plot was a bit messy for me, I did enjoy reading this book.

TW: torture, blackmail, abusive parents, mention of death of a parent & misgendering of trans characters

—————————————

◆ #MagicalReadathon2019 // #OWLsReadathon ◆
My pick for the Herbology class - plant on the cover

◆ buddy read with the Dragons & Tea book club.