An important but hard book to read. Anna-Marie McLemore's writing is beautiful and their story really envelops you, as do their characters. A book that teens and readers of all ages will connect with, despite it's heavy material.

Anne-Marie Mclemore knows how to pull on my heart strings. Her use of magical realism is always on point, and this book was no different—even with the dark content that made it difficult to read. although it wouldn’t fit well in my 8th grade classroom, I know it would be perfect for high school libraries.

DNFed pretty early on
Unfortunately this one didn’t catch me but I’m still looking forward to checking out this authors other works!

Purchased for my high school library. My students love this author. I won’t see this book once it is in and processed. It will pass from hand to hand never making it into my return box, only to the checkout counter to switch people responsible for the copy.

Anna-Marie McLemore's is the definition of modern magical realism to me—grounded in character and community but laced with whimsical, fantastical elements. This latest was a healing, heartwarming joy—an honor to read it, as with all of their work.

This was beautiful writing but the subject matter was rough to get though. But I would pick up more of her books in the future.

We used this in our young adult literature course two semesters ago, and I forgot to write feedback! I loved the imagery of this book along with the beautiful metaphors. I continue to recommend this book every semester. There simply aren't many books like it, and it is a stunning story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

They always entice you with beautiful prose and magical realism - this one was no exception. My only disappointment was the heterosexual love story, which is unfair of me.

Anna-Marie McLemore never disappoints. She writes books that are relevant to teens and young adults, but she doesn't dumb them down. Her books are lush and literary with prose that plays with magical realism in a way that feels authentic and excited. This book propelled me forward as I waited to see how Ciela would cope with her trauma, whether she would realize she didn't have to carry her weight alone. I fell for her as a character as I read on, for her quiet but determined defiance, for her love and passion about her identity and body. This was a must-read.

This book!! What a heartfelt, genuine, heartbreaking story. I was hooked from the beginning. What drew me in was the cover, originally, and that it was queer. But I love Anna-Marie McLemore’s other books and feel that this is a MUST READ.

Wow I loved this.
The writing was so beautiful .
The magical realism elements were so well done.
The talk about dealing with sexual assault, consent, queer identity, and women’s bodies was perfect.
I really enjoyed reading about Latino culture and the Spanish terms sprinkled in the story, most of which were in reference to pastries!
The family relationships and friendships were great.
Finally, I thought it was smart that even though this is YA Anna-Marie McLemore didn’t shy away from sex and actually touches on the use of protection instead of ‘abstinence only.’

This is a hard-hitting book that I think a lot of people should read. It is so well written and put me through an emotional roller coaster.

Wow, this book. This was really hard to read at times but it was beautifully written.

This story is about Ciela and Lock, a boy and girl who are both sexually assaulted at the same party and the aftermath of it. Lock doesn’t remember what happened but Ciela remembers everything.

Since this covers such a heavy topic I wasn’t sure what to think going into it but it was written so well and with such care. There are graphic scenes describing the sexual assault so be aware of that.

There is also some magic sprinkled into this story which is a nice touch, especially as Ciela tries to find herself again after her assault.

Thank you to Fierce Reads and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a amazing book! I feel in love with this one. The story is spectacular, all the characters are super vivid. I recommend with my heart.

This was such a difficult book to read but so stunning and important. I have never read a book by this author before but now I am committed to read them all. This book had me sobbing and yelling at the room. So hard and beautiful and very needed.

Read this book if you want to be repeatedly kicked in the stomach and horrified by how terrible teenagers can be. It's about two teens, who are sexually assaulted at the same party by a group of teens who continued to torture them with this knowledge throughout the school year. The story is horrific and painful and visceral in it's description of the events and the fallout, especially the methods Ciela uses to survive this terrible event. The emotion and reactions feel authentic and necessary.

Clearly that's not my problem with this book. My problem is how heavy the author relies on the same magical realism metaphors throughout the book. By the halfway point, I was rolling my eyes whenever Ciela started listing all the different ways she could help people with pastries or described the meaning of things turning into shards of glass. It works early on, but it's used so frequently that it becomes meaningless.

I completely understand this book must have been a very difficult experience for the author and all those involved in its creation, but I can't get past how the writing could have been tightened up so that the impact of the story and the various reveals didn't get watered down by the repetitive nature of metaphors that started feeling like filler.

Note: I received an e-ARC of this book for review.

We read this as a potential nominee for our internal Printz Award group. It was not chosen as one of the ten finalists.

This book was honestly at times really hard to read. But it was so worth it to read in the end. It was heartbreaking, and beautiful, with really great writing. The author really does a great job in showcasing the emotions that fill a person after the trauma happens. The self doubt, the moments when they gaslight themselves, alongside the usual feelings of guilt and shame, and with the feelings of having no control over anything. I think my main critique of this book is that the author tends to over-write dialogue and moments in this story. I felt that things like someone sighing in a book or explaining simple things could have been shortened. While I totally feel it added a nice lyrical aspect to the writing, at times it felt like things were getting drawn out unnecessarily. Overall I highly recommend this book, and I think everyone should read it, but at the same time this book is very raw and can potentially trigger things in people so again take a peek at the trigger warnings at the top before reading.

This book has such beautiful and poetic prose. Everything about it was wonderful and it just made my heart ache.

A retelling of the snow queen that's a rollercoaster of emotions. This retelling takes you on a journey with survivors of trauma and sexual assault. The serious subject matter of the rape of two teens made this a difficult read at times but I'm glad I stuck with it.
I definitely recommend reading the authors note at the end.
Several trigger warnings should be noted sexual assault, homophobia, bullying, trauma.