Guest Review: When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Title: When The Moon Was Ours

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Publisher: Thomas Dunne
Hardcover, 288 Pages
Published October 2016

Summary: To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and 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.

Today on the blog we have a guest review from Aimee over at Aimee Always! She was awesome enough to come by and review When The Moon Was Ours for us, and since neither of us have read this book before, we were super excited to learn more about it and now we'd definitely love to add this to our TBR as soon as possible!

But enough about us. It's time to get into Aimee's review!

The most accurate word to describe this book would be beautiful. The story is beautiful; the writing is beautiful; the characters are beautiful. This book is like the first blooms of flowers in the Spring: fresh, unexpected, and memorable. 

When the Moon Was Ours is mostly character-driven, and focuses on two very unique characters who you've never encountered before. Miel has roses coming out of her wrist, and Sam hangs moons on trees. But Miel and Sam are so much more than just their quirks. There are really intense and well-developed backstories behind each of them, as well as all the other side characters, which was awesome. And each of them come with so many IMPORTANT themes. There's some trans love here, as well as family loss, bullying, etc!

BUUUUT! Just because the book's focus is on character development doesn't mean it has a crappy story--because it definitely doesn't. It has a gorgeous plot with magical realism--meaning, the story is relatable, realistic, but with tinges of a VERY unique fantasy sub-plot. I actually found myself thinking, "How the heck did the author think this stuff up!?" a couple of times throughout my read. It was THAT different from anything else I've ever read before.

McLemore's personal touch in all of her novels is her gorgeous, flowery writing. To be honest, flowery writing almost always puts me off--I hate beating around the bush. Just tell it to me straight! But McLemore's writing is so easy to read, at the same time is just so fabulously sophisticated. It's the right balance between deep and casual. Perfect for a lazy-but-critical reader like me!

So. If you want to read something that's gloriously different, socially important, and just overall fantastic, PICK THIS BOOK UP. You won't regret it, I promise.

We'd like to once again thank Aimee for stopping by The Book Bratz today to post this guest review. Don't forget to check out her blog! 

** Psst! Interested in guest reviewing on The Book Bratz? Shoot us an email at thebookbratz@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter (@thebookbratz) and we'd love to have you!