I can't stop smiling, for real.

Thank you so much for Colored Pages Blog Tour and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gotta be honest, I signed up because ANNE-MARIE MCLEMORE!!! Like, everyone adores their stories and I wanted to meet them. But I wasn't expecting this story of loving yourself and accepting yourself just the way you are. And the wat we all have to fight back the horrible system we are in. Lore and Bastián were just so amazing, so cute I wanted to hug them all the time because of everything. I wish I could help them, for real. The world under the lake kind of scared me but I just loved its meaning and what it did, it was one of the most beautiful settings I had the pleasure to read about.
I really want to pick up more stories from the author now, this was a complete own voices novel and I'm so happy it will be out in the world soon so everyone can read it and feel the same way I did.

“So many of us are haunted by versions of ourselves we wish we could exile. But the pieces of our beings don’t pull apart that easily.”

✨Lakelore review ✨

Thank you to @coloredpagesblogtours @epicreads and @netgalley for this eARC of Lakelore!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Wow, this book was everything I needed right now ☺️ Lakelore follows two Latine non-binary teens that are pulled into a world below the lake. Bastián grew up visiting the world under the lake and the only other person who’s seen it is Lore seven years ago.

It’s a beautifully woven novel that uses magical realism in a wonderful way. This book tackles issues many teens face but especially brown queer kids. While reading this book I cried multiple times because it’s just so powerful and relatable. I have dyslexia so reading about Lore’s experiences really affected me. I love this book so much and think everyone should read it!!

CW: racism, bullying, queerphobia, transphobia

honestly one of the best reads for this year. i was blown away with how beautifully it was written. i couldn't recommend it more.

McLemore brings more personal elements of their life into their writing and, as always when they do this, the book hits harder for it. This book about teenagers navigating their neurodivergence and the toll it takes on them is a little sad, a little beautiful. It does not feel like a traditional novel, and I'm glad for it. YA is filled with authors writing by the book. We need more authors writing stories that fit into their own shapes as needed.

I've never read another bok quite like <i>Lakelore</i>. It is a very well written contemporary fantasy about two neurodivergent, non-binary teens connected by a lake's magic that respond's to each of them. At first I found it a little hard to get into, but then the magical realism exploded and my world got taken over by the power of this gem of a book.
**I recieved an ARC from NetGalley but all opinions are my own**

great book and had me on my seat. I enjoyed the characters and all that happened in the book. I enjoyed being in this world and seeing the growth of the characters. I enjoyed the drama of the story and I can't wait to read others books by this author.

This book was such a wonderful read. I absolutely loved the characters and their dynamics with one another as well as their familial and platonic relationships outside of the main relationship. I can see how meaningful this book will be for so many people as well, and I already am thinking of a whole list of people I want to gift this book to. Being seen in the literature you consume is so important and wonderful, and I can't help but thank this book for what it is about to do for so many queer, trans, brown, nonbinary and/or neurodivergent people. The writing was also lovely, and I was giggling and smiling over the friendship and romance SO much. A very slow and lyrical read, which may not be a writing style for everyone, but I didn't mind the slower pacing all that much by the end.

McLemore is once more cementing themself as one of my favorite authors. Their writing is so immersive and evocative, and so full of feeling that feels like a balm to my soul.

The moment Lakelore was announced, I knew I wanted to read it, and I’m so glad I was able to get my hands on it early. Lore and Bastián are such complex characters so full of heart, and I loved their friendship and closeness. Watching the two of them get to know each other and be vulnerable together is so lovely and soft. I love their journeys, learning to cope with their neurodivergence and find spaces where they could thrive, rather than forcing themselves into boxes of “normal.”

I don’t see any way McLemore could do wrong with their books. I feel seen and welcomed, and the writing absolutely draws me in. I found this hard to put down because it was so hard to let these characters go, and I know Lore and Bastián are going to be in my favorites for a long time to come. Strongly recommend this book for a lyrical story of two nonbinary teens learning how the bad and hard stuff is just as important, in a different way, than the good and joyous things.

I really liked this book and have already started recommending it to people I know who would appreciate it. I absolutely love Anna-Marie's writing style and loved that they wrote a dual perspective book! While I'm not trans or nonbinary, I 100% understood their struggles with mental health and navigating their brains. As a special educator, I sincerely appreciated Anna-Marie bringing the ADHD and dyslexia diagnoses to the page in a way that would help teens with these diagnoses or similar ones navigate their own journeys with them. I also appreciate how they brought the experience of being trans & nonbinary to the forefront as well, as I have so much more to learn about the spectrum of gender identity as an adult and someone who works to be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. I hope that this book makes it into the hands of so many teens and adults, it's an important book.

I adored the representation and characters in this book! Its clear the author loves these characters and wanted to send a message to all nonbinary and neurodivergent teens. As a neurodivergent, trans masc reader it made me feel very seen. Especially the scenes with Bastian as his T shots. I too have ADHD and struggled ALOT with learning how to do my own shots. I had a hard time remembering the steps, and then would get anxiety about messing up and hurting myself. I wish I had someone like Lore to help, and the scene with the orange was so cute. I also loved the writing style and imagery in this one

But I had a hard time with the plot, I had a hard time understanding how the world “under” the lake worked and what exactly was happening with said lake. After finishing I’m still confused about what the lake was and what it was doing

The strongest element in Lakelore has to be the characters. While there are certainly fantastical elements - hello lake - the characters, and their journeys, are the main focus. Bastián and Lore spring off the pages. They're both navigating their ADHD and dyslexia (respectively) while also still processing pieces of trauma from ableism. Each of them are convinced that the magical and alarming changes to the lake are their faults. In Lakelore, McLemore tells a story about accepting ourselves, all the things that people - and ourselves - think of as 'bad', as well as the good.

Review is for Colored Pages Book Tour on Bookstagram

I can’t believe I waited until 2022 to read my first Anna-Marie McLemore book! I really enjoyed every second of this book❣️❣️❣️

Lakelore is a wonderful young adult story about Lore and Bastian—and these two have my heart. Both Lore and Bastian are Mexican-American, nonbinary, and use they/them pronouns. Additionally, Lore and Bastian are neurodivergent and I really appreciated how nuanced and intentional the rep was of dyslexia and ADHD. Without spoiling too much of the book, we follow Lore and Bastian's friendship (which may or may turn into a love story 👀) blossom!! But also, there’s a really compelling magical realism element to the story—specifically with alebrijes, which are from Mexican folk art.

What I loved most about this book is the representation and how this book, I believe, will be relatable to nonbinary teens. It is a powerful queer story filled with love and care to nonbinary teens of color. I highly recommend this story!!

This book is so many wonderful things! I am absolutely ecstatic to see it out in the world and to add it to my library collection. The representation alone will sell this book. Two non-binary characters of color, both of whom are neurodivergent. Say no more! But the premise is also really intriguing too, and I loved the device that McLemore uses in having Bastian release his feelings into his alibrijes and the send them into the lake. That component of the fantasy was admittedly a bit confusing in a couple of spots, but I think the students that need this book will be able to read through and past small moments of confusion to the bigger story of these two kids finding each other and learning to be ok with themselves.

There is so much to love about this book and just from the first few pages I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. I love that in this book we get two Trans main characters and that they are both neurodivergent. Also, I loved that Bastian is a boy and non-binary, I wrote so like me?!!! because I rarely see that in books. I don't see many non-binary boys anywhere and it's so nice to see one in something I am reading.

I can't speak much about the neurodivergent representation since it isn't the same that I have experience with but I really enjoyed getting a chance to read two characters that have ADHD and are dyslexic. I liked getting a chance to see how their neurodivergence shapes how they interact with others and how they navigate their surroundings.

There are so many sentences in this book that I highlighted because they were just beautifully written or because they spoke to me. I related so much to each of the main characters in different ways and just loved the world under the sea. I really liked getting a chance to see how Bastian resorts to making alebrijes and where that all comes from.

In this book, you get to meet several characters through their interactions with Lore and Bastian. You mainly get to meet some of Bastian's friends, and both of their families. I loved all of the relationships in this story and really enjoyed getting to see how things change throughout the book.

I loved the relationship between Bastian and Lore and how it goes from friendship to much more but loved that Bastian made it clear that it didn't have to be more. I thought it was great to have Lore experience that and I liked that they talk about how boys feel entitled to someone but Bastian wasn't like that. I liked getting a chance to see how they just understand each other on a level that others just don't get.

I also really loved all of Bastian's friends and how they all support him but also are there for Lore when they need them. I loved getting a glimpse into each of these characters and seeing what they are like. I also really liked getting a chance to learn about Bastian and Lore's families and how they shaped them into who they are now.

This book is written in dual POV through the perspectives of Bastian and Lore which I really enjoyed. I liked getting to see the way they both navigated the world and also how they navigated relationships with others. I liked getting a chance to see them both have reasons for holding parts of themselves away from others and see what happens when those parts are revealed to each other.

4.4

This is a glorious piece of writing. The recognition of self through the other has never been rendered quite like this, with gentle hands and a youthful laugh. Lore and Bastian are both solid, distinct characters, but their bond itself feels like a third, shining character. There is so much tenderness and vulnerability in this book, and the level of connections and love throughout this whole story knocks the air out of my lungs.

The experience of being nonbinary feels more deeply written than I've ever seen. The dreamy descriptions set against these characters frankly discussing how their genders feel and who they are today and who the may be in the future, it mixes it together into this profoundly knowable thing. As a nonbinary person, I absolutely both resonated with the ways Lore and Bastian are portrayed, and loved the things like "gender forecasts" because those are realistically the exact conversations you find yourself having when you bond with another nonbinary person. It felt a bit like when you're interacting with media about a place you love and know well, and you can see that the creator truly knows and loves it as well, in the care and the little details. My identity is a location that hasn't quite been visited this way before.

I also thought the lessons at work here were great. The conversations about gender, of course, but also these character's neurodivergence and how it effects not just their lives but how they see other's perception of them. It feels organic, and so the expansion there, the gentle unfurling that turns into growth, also feels organic and traceable, and something you could maybe take into your own life.

The one thing that disappointed me in this excellent book, is that from the description I was expecting The World Under the Lake to be a setting throughout. Not getting to spend any real time there was unexpected and a bit unsatisfying after what I'd been hyping myself up for. But, that's clearly a personal obstacle.

I think this is a great book about nonbinary teens of color and the way it is not just to exist as layers of marginalization, but to see yourself reflected.

Once again my obligatory shout-out: Thanks NetGalley and Feiwel Friends for letting me read this book not only early but for free because I would have paid you for this honor.

Yes, this book is that good. I am 100% buying a copy of it for my shelves once it is released because I am going to reread it definitely more than once in my life. This book had all the things that I love, like the characters. Bastián and Lore are just so wonderfully vibrant. I don’t know either of them, but I feel like I could. They are also both so incredibly sure of who they are as nonbinary people. It was nice to read a book with two nonbinary main characters whose inner-conflict isn’t centered around dysphoria and transphobia. (Yes, those things are part of the book, but they aren’t the main thing.) The way they both wrestle with their different neurodivergencies was so interesting to read as well. I’ve neither dyslexia nor ADHD, so I don’t have an understanding of what it’s like for your brain to operate the way Lore and Bastián’s brains do. Anna-Marie McLemore has both, so they were able to speak bits of their own truth into this book. I will never truly understand what it means to be dyslexic or to have ADHD, but I understand better from having read Lore and Bastián’s story than if I hadn’t.

The characters aren’t all this book has going for it, either. The plot itself is fire. I mean, a magical world that’s under the lake that only two people can see (that these two people are aware of)? That in itself is the kind of thing I go gaga over. But then you add in the fact that the world under the lake is leaking into the world above it, and I am having heart palpitations out of excitement.

Honestly, I am just in love with this book. From its gorgeous cover design to its plot, from its characters to its pacing, there honestly isn’t anything more I could ask from this book.

4.5 stars rounded up

Anna-Marie McLemore can do achingly beautiful magical realism so well and Lakelore is the perfect example of that. This follows two trans and non-binary, neurodivergent teenagers and a magical lake. The lake becomes a metaphor for the pain and challenges they face being trans, brown, and having brains that work differently. It's a book about friendship, family, self-acceptance, love, art, and healing. I really loved it.

In the author's note, McLemore talks about writing their own experiences of being Latinx, non-binary, and having both dyslexia and ADHD. (In the book Lore has dyslexia and Bastien has ADHD) They use this wonderfully atmospheric, ethereal storytelling to unpack the often undiscussed experiences of living and coming of age at the intersection of different marginalized identities. It's emotionally impactful and beautifully written. If you've enjoyed their writing in the past this is well worth your time. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Content warnings include bullying, misgendering, homophobia, racism, ableism

Anna-Marie McLemore is particularly talented at writing contemporary stories that use magical elements as a metaphor for something in the characters’ lives. This is only the second book by them that I’ve read, but I can already tell how supremely skilled they are. Both of the main characters, Bastian and Lore, are neurodivergent (ADHD and dyslexia) and non-binary (using they/them pronouns). I could tell how close this book was to McLemore’s heart and the piece of their soul they gave us with it is so evident. With this book and with The Mirror Season (which I read last year). I think this book will make so many people feel so seen with how deep the discussions of ADHD, dyslexia, and being non-binary went. It is a book for people in those communities and I’m genuinely honored that McLemore shared it with us.

This is the second book I have read from this author (the first being The Mirror Season, which I enjoyed) and as always their writing is beautiful.

I loved the rep in this book. Both of our MCs are nonbinary and Lore has Dyslexia while Bastion has ADHD.

My brother is dyslexic so it was nice to get some more perspective on how things he might have (or continues) to felt/feel.

However, I had a hard time being invested in the storyline tbh, I kinda felt like I was almost in a haze while reading this. I normally really enjoy magical realism in books but I just couldn't wrap my mind around this whole world under the lake thing. I'm pretty sure it might be a metaphor for something but unfortunately I don't have the braincells to understand 😅.

I feel like a lot of readers are going to feel seen with this book and that's it going to be very popular in the book community as a whole.

Thank you to NetGalley and for this eArc. All opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars

There are so many stunning lines in Anna-Marie McLemore's Lakelore that I ended up making an unprecedented 12 highlights on my Kindle while reading it. McLemore's gorgeous language turns Lakelore into essentially one big extended metaphor—for being neurodivergent, for being trans and nonbinary, for living in a brown body, for attempting to accept yourself and fit into a world that doesn't know what to make of you.

A chance encounter at a magical local lake between Bastian and Lore starts the magical journey of our two protagonists. The lake hides Bastian's deepest secrets and worst days, in the form of the alebrijes, whimsical animals that combine colors and traits and parts to form magical creatures, that they craft out of paper mache with their brother Antonio on the days where their brain is fuzzy or anxious or mixed up. The brightly colored fabled animals come to life when Bastian releases them to the deeps of the lake, allowing them to breathe a little easier, to release the power that these disruptive thoughts have on Bastian. Lore has just escaped their hometown with their parents, hoping for a fresh start after an incident at their old school made them unsafe. Learning to manage and work with their dyslexia diagnosis, Lore is inadvertently drawn into the deep of the lake, too, when the real world suddenly becomes awash in the lake's vivid colors. Bastian and Lore work together to figure out the mysteries of the lake and why it keeps calling to the both of them.

The descriptions in this book are utterly gorgeous; I felt like I was right there in the world of the lake with Bastian and Lore as it washed over them. But magical lake aside, this book is really about finding your people and about expressing aloud all the things that go on inside your brain. This is no small feat, attempting to explain to someone who doesn't have ADHD or dyslexia what it is like to live with these life-long diagnoses, and then worry afterwards if they will still decide to like and accept you, but McLemore does so with such beauty and grace. Some of my favorites:

"Once you know the right thing, every minute you don't do it feels wrong."

"You can't separate everything hard from everything beautiful."

"We are still, and we are living currents. We are pulsars that appear as single points of blinking light..."

I have also never read anything that so aptly describes what it is like to grapple with your gender identity. From "gender forecasts" to Bastian's believable hesitancy in deciding whether or not to start HRT, Lore and Bastian's honesty with themselves and each other brings about such poignancy and empathy that I'd challenge anyone to read this and not walk away with a deeper understanding of what it means to be transgender.

My only quibble is the magic itself—I love magical realism, but I felt that the level of acceptance that these two had for the magic from the lake was a little too chill. They are much too reasonable and level-headed while figuring out what this massive, magical upheaval is in their lives. Then again, that is pretty typical of the genre—to accept that which is unbelievable as part of the ordinary and everyday.

This is a book for everyone—parents, teachers, students—who wants to know what it is like to be just a slightly crooked seam in the fabric of the world, but still be a part of its beautiful tapestry.