Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore - OPTIONAL

Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore, 375 pages.  Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), 2018.  $18.  

Content: Language: R (17 swears; 1 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.  

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Blanca and Roja are sisters and they live with a curse that has been handed down through their family for generations.  The curse requires that one sister gives her life over to a group of swans and the swans pick the sister.  Blanca is determined to thwart the curse, but as Roja’s sixteenth birthday passes it becomes clearer that the curse can’t be ignored.  Blanca and Roja also get caught up in the magic of the forest surrounding them and two boys whose lives seem to intermix with the girls’ lives.  

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and the beautiful cover.  I enjoyed the magical aspects of the story and the loyalty of the sisters. I was put off by the long explanations of Roja’s menstrual cycle and was unclear what that had to do with the curse.  Also, there is one boy who is physically abused multiple times and that was hard to read.  Interesting idea, but in the end it isn’t a book I would recommend to many readers.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson