Tag: magical realism

Review: Blue Willow by Ki Stephens

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Blue Willow rests on a bookshelf next to a pumpkin

Alexis:

I’m happy that I got to read a digital ARC of Blue Willow, a magical realism romance that arrives on December 5, 2025.

Synopsis:

Coming home was never part of the plan.

Leaving again might be even harder.

When Elsie Hart returns to Blue Willow for the first time in eight years, it’s only to settle her grandmother’s estate—not to rekindle old memories or untangle the magic she’s worked hard to forget. But the inn she once loved is more stubborn than it looks. So is the man who’s been keeping it alive.

Wells Rourke never wants to leave. He’s spent the last few years patching the inn back together with his own two hands and the quiet certainty that Elspeth Hart didn’t just pour her heart into the walls; she left something behind. Something that’s worth keeping alive.

Elsie wants a clean break and a fast sale. Wells wants her gone before she can rip apart what’s left. But the house has other plans. As winter deepens and long-dormant feelings surface, the two of them are drawn into a tug-of-war not just over the keys to the inn, but over the pieces of themselves they thought they’d long buried.

In a town where quiet magic lingers, some people—and some places—will never stop waiting for you to come home.

Review:

Blue Willow is steeped in winter imagery and winter vibes. The setting perfectly captures the cold yet coziness of many winter nights, and it made me look forward to the holidays.

And a magic inn? I’m a sucker for semi-sentient houses. The magic of the inn was cozy and present without being over the top, and I really enjoyed it. While I wish we almost got even more about the magical town itself, I really loved what we did learn about the setting (can you tell I’m a sucker for small town romances and a sprinkle of magic?).

The story is told in dual POVs and switches between Elsie and Wells. I enjoyed both of their perspectives, and the romance between them was sweet. I also appreciated how they’re both dealing with realistic situations and feelings. 

While I was reading this, my own grandma passed away. The theme of grief, as Elsie deals with the death of her grandma, ended up being very personal and poignant, so this book hit me a little harder than it would’ve otherwise. 

VERDICT: ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️/5

Thanks so much to author Ki Stephens for my ARC in exchange for a review!

Review: The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

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A hardcover copy stands on a bookshelf next to a tea tumbler and a candle.

Alexis:

If you’re looking for a magical realism story that blends an Ecuadorian version of Encanto with certain aspects of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, then this is the book for you!

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina is a family saga. It has two separate timelines. One timeline follows Orquídea, the grandmother and matriarch of the Montoya family, who immigrated to the United States. The other follows her grandchildren, specifically Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly. 

The first half is very slow moving, taking its time to introduce the setting, a small town called Four Rivers, and its characters. Córdova’s writing is beautiful and lush, and strange at times. Her voice is perfect for magical realism.

At its core, despite being a family saga, this book is a mystery. What happened to Orquídea when she was younger that made her so mysterious? Where did her magic come from? 

This is not a book to be binged. It’s a book to take in slowly. You have to take time to take everything in and appreciate the weird magical moments, like magical flowers growing from bodies, ghosts, a river monster, and an old zombie rooster named Gabo that keeps coming back to life. 

My main critique is that while I like slow-moving stories, it took me a while to get invested in the characters, and there was also a character death towards the end that I think could’ve been handled better.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina is both hilarious and tragic, and I especially enjoyed getting to know Marimar and Rey. If you like family sagas and magical realism, then I think you’ll like this one. 

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 /5 

Review: Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

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Alexis holds a hardcover copy of Wild Beauty in one hand while standing in front of a fence and a forest.

Alexis:

Happy Friday, everyone! This week felt like it flew by.

I’ve just been consuming books lately, so I’m a little backed up on book reviews. But it’s time to talk about Wild Beauty.

I’ve been meaning to read McLemore’s books for a while now; she’s known for her magical realism books and her lyrical writing. And one of the best aspects of this book is her lush, lyrical writing. I love the way she describes the flowers and the gardens of La Pradera. I love magical realism, and reading this book often felt like reading a dream.

The plot: The Nomeolvides women are not like other women. They can create flowers with only their hands—but they’re also cursed. They can’t leave their magical garden estate of La Pradera without getting sick. And on top of that, if they fall in love too deeply, their loves disappear into thin air. But then a boy named Fel appears at La Pradera one day. And Estrella, one of the Nomeolvides girls, tries to help him figure out who he is and where he came from. 

I liked the bixeual representation, and the collection of girls was fun to read about, even if they tended to blend together. I do wish I got to know Estrella’s character even more; Fel was definitely the standout character to me, and the only one who felt like he had a real backstory and motivation. 

As much as I enjoyed McLemore’s writing and imagery, this book was very, very slow moving. And I don’t mind slow-moving, character-driven books. However, oftentimes, this book didn’t read like a book. I’m not sure what it felt like most of the time; maybe a long-form narrative poem? 

Besides the chapters from Fel’s POV, this book has no plot until the last quarter or so. And what surprised me was that the plot was amazing. It was so interesting, and made so much sense in the context of the book, that I found myself a little annoyed. Why didn’t McLemore weave this plot in earlier instead of describing flowers or the girls dancing and conversing for the hundredth time? The ending was powerful, and the way the plot unraveled was wonderful. I just wish it was present in more of the book. 

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Review: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

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A paperback copy of Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is being held up in front of a stretch of toes in the sand on the beach.

Alexis:

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe follows two main characters: Anna Kate and Natalie. When Anna Kate’s grandmother passes away, she returns to her family’s hometown, a small Alabama town called Wicklow, to take over Granny Zee’s cafe. She’s only planning on staying for the summer, but she has some long-time family drama to unravel.

Meanwhile, Natalie returns to Wicklow with her young daughter after her husband dies in a tragic accident. While she’s working on gaining her independence, she has to live with her parents, and try to reconcile with her mother, who never got over Natalie’s brother’s death. 

I enjoyed this one! It was the perfect beach read. Webber’s writing flows well, and I found myself impressed by how well she handles such a large cast of characters. Wicklow is charming, and the people fun and quirky (think Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls). I especially enjoyed reading from Anna Kate’s POV as she bakes pies and learns about her family. The themes of grief, losing a family member, and reconnecting with family are resonant throughout the book.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is considered magical realism, but unlike some other magical realism books I’ve read, I would consider this one lightly magical realism; the cafe and pies are the only real elements. 

While I think Webber’s dialogue is overall written very well, there were definitely some melodramatic speeches that weren’t very realistic. I also wanted to get to know the two love interests better; I feel like their characters sputtered out too much by the end. And there was a weird tie in with a cat at the end that was strange and not entirely explained. Lastly, there was also a reference that Natalie was a part of the Daughters of the Confederacy (yikes!)

Other than that, I think if you’re looking for an easy, heartwarming book set in a charming Southern town with lots of descriptions of pie, then I’ll think you’ll enjoy this one.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐💫/5

Review: Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop

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Alexis:

I hate giving a book 2 stars, but this one just wasn’t doing it for me.

I liked the overall idea, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the food. 

However, the writing style was stiff and didn’t have any variety to it; it felt like every sentence was the same length. It was very much so “She said this. They did this.” 

I found the dialogue and characters to be the same. The dialogue sounded very unnatural, and it didn’t help that all of the characters talked the same way. There was no subtext to the dialogue; it was all, “I’m sorry Auntie. I didn’t mean it.” “That’s okay. I still love you, Vanessa.”

Besides that, there was a lot of name dropping. There’s a scene in the Louvre where Vanessa and her love interest dissect every piece of art. Vanessa constantly talks about how fancy her aunt is, and name drops designers left and right. At times, it felt overly elitist. 

The romance in the book was also pretty weird, including insta-love that just didn’t feel genuine to me. 

And finally, whenever the background characters heard one of Vanessa’s predictions, they always accepted them as truth. I found this odd. I’d be very weirded out if I heard a prediction about my life come out of a stranger’s mouth, and I expected there to be more conflict from this. 

I was hoping this book would be a nice, easy change of pace, but I just found it a little disappointing. 

VERDICT: ⭐⭐/5

Review: Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour

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Alexis:

Welcome to my last review of the year! As awful as this year has been, I managed to have a great reading year, and read a total of 51 books.

Nina Lacour’s writing is lovely. It flows well and holds so much emotion.

Watch Over Me follows Mila, a young woman who aged out of the foster care system and finds herself taking a teaching job on a remote farm.

Lacour handles the themes of this book—loneliness, past trauma, wanting to belong—with care. The flashback scenes were well done, and I enjoyed the gothic-like setting and the blurring of genres/reality with the inclusion of ghosts.

However, I never found myself fully invested in the characters. I felt bad for them, and all the trauma they’ve been through, but I felt like the secondary characters weren’t fully fleshed out, and despite knowing about Mila’s past, I never fully understood her character, either.

That being said, if you’re looking for a slow-burn, lyrical, and atmospheric book that focuses on grief, trauma, and loneliness (with a dash of magical realism) then give this a shot!

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Our Favorite Books of 2019

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Happy New Year’s Eve! And what a year it’s been! Anna’s highlights were starting work full time, getting married, and adopting her dog! Alexis started her MFA program, got a short story accepted for publication, and adopted her cat! 

Here are some of our favorite books of 2019:

Anna:

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Normal People by Sally Rooney

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

The Witch Elm by Tana French

In the Woods by Tana French

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab 

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

The Goldfinch by Donna Tart

 

Alexis:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 

The Wildlands by Abby Geni 

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

The Book of Dreams by Nina George

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister 

Grim Lovelies by Meghan Shepherd

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

Gods of Jade & Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Florida by Lauren Groff

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

 

Here’s to a great 2020!

 

Review: The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

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Alexis:

Despite the fact that the characters were a little too distant and one dimensional for my taste, this was still a five star read for me. Hoffman’s writing is haunting, beautiful, and lyrical. I love magical realism, and this book is a wonderful mix of magical realism, historical fiction, and folklore.

The book focuses on Lea at the beginning of WWII during the Nazi regime. Lea’s mother’s one goal is to keep her daughter safe, so she does the unthinkable: finds Ettie, the daughter of a rabbi, to create a golem, a powerful magical creature/person made from clay, who is to protect Lea at all costs.

This is a Holocaust story, and Hoffman doesn’t shy away from the horrors that the Jewish people of Europe faced. But I love the way Hoffman weaves small beauties into the story, especially with the relationship of Ava (the golem) with the heron. The heron was a beautiful symbol throughout the book. Out of all of the characters, I actually felt like I connected with Ava the most.

This is a survival story, so while I prefer to get into the heart and soul of the characters, the distant POV felt right with the atrocities the characters face in the story. Hoffman focuses on what it means to be human, and what it means to survive.

VERDICT: 5 stars

Review: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

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Alexis: While I didn’t enjoy The Little Paris Bookshop as much as The Book of Dreams by Nina George, I still really enjoyed reading it!

Summary: In Paris, a fifty-year-old man named Monsieur Perdu runs a bookstore on a barge, which floats on the Seine. He calls it the Literary Apothecary, because he treats books as medicines to cure people of their broken hearts. But Perdu is harboring twenty years of heartache, after the love of his life left him without any explanation, except for a letter, which Perdu hasn’t been able to bear to even read. Until one day, when he finally reads the letter, and decides to finally start living his life.

What I liked: I loved Perdu’s journey. While he physically journeys down the Seine in his bookshop, he emotionally breaks out of the depressed funk that he’s been stuck in for twenty years. His character arc was perfect.

I enjoyed George’s lyrical writing style, and how the book veers towards magical realism in some parts. For example, Perdu is always able to somehow read his customers and understand what book they need. 

The overall bookish feel of this book was wonderful, and you can really feel George’s love of books seep into Perdu’s character. 

The secondary characters are vibrant and oftentimes outlandish. I enjoyed reading about Perdu meeting them and finally creating connections with people after all his years of loneliness.

What I didn’t like: I really wasn’t a fan of Manon’s character. Her diary entries gave me a good glimpse into her character, and I figured out early on that I didn’t like her. She just seemed so immature and erratic, and sometimes the way she talked about Jean felt too manipulative. What I did enjoy about her diary entries were her descriptions of Jean, because it showed what Jean was like when he was young.

Overall, I loved reading about Perdu’s journey. This book is about love lost and love found, finding yourself, and the power of books. 

VERDICT: 4 starsZ

Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Alexis:

I read Gods of Jade and Shadow while I was on the beach yesterday. It’s currently storming, so I’m inside writing this review!

In Gods of Jade and Shadow, eighteen-year-old Casiopea Tun lives in Mexico in the 1920’s. But her town is small and traditional, and she lives in her grandfather’s house, where she is forced to serve him and his grandson, Martín. But one day, she opens a locked box in her grandfather’s room and unleashes the Mayan god of death: Hun-Kamé. Together, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé go on a journey to reclaim Hun-Kamé’s throne from his brother in Xibalba: The Underworld. 

In a lot of ways, this book defies genres. It’s a mix of Mayan mythology, magical realism, and historical fiction. I love all of the different elements thrown together; it makes for such a rich and interesting culture and setting. Moreno-Garcia crafts a dark and mythic world.

I love Casiopea’s character, and I enjoyed following her journey. She’s such a strong character who, even though she’s a little lost in the world, knows who she wants to be. She’s determined and strong-willed but caring and righteous, and I enjoyed getting to know her. 

I also enjoyed reading about the character of Hun-Kamé. I loved how the author described him and wrote him as a complex god who tried his best to figure out Casiopea as well as his brother. 

This is one of those books that’s full of memorable lines. 

“Dreams are for mortals.”

“Why?”
“Because they must die.” (121).

“Is that why you stare at stars?” he asked. “Are you searching for beauty or dreaming with your eyes wide open?” (122). 

“Words are seeds, Casiopea. With words you embroider narratives, and the narratives breed myths, and there’s power in the myth. Yes, the things you name have power.”

I loved the author’s descriptions, and I loved reading about Casiopea and Hun-Kamé’s journey.

VERDICT: 5 stars