Waiting On…When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Waiting On Wednesday is a regular feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which I highlight forthcoming titles which I’m particularly excited about and looking forward to. This weekly event is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

Title When the Moon Was Ours
Author Anna-Marie McLemore
Pages 288 Pages
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre & Keywords Magical Realism, LGBT
To Be Published October 4th 2016 by Thomas Dunne Books
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters

When The Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and magical realism, but also has central LGBT themes — a transgender boy, the best friend he’s falling in love with, and both of them deciding how they want to define themselves.

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.

Any reader who has been fortunate enough to read the wonder that is Anna-Marie McLemore’s The Weight Of Feathers should not be remotely surprised by my Waiting On Wednesday selection today. In a single novel McLemore created an incandescent masterpiece that explored a breathtaking love story and so much more, elegantly demonstrating her mesmerizing mastery of magical realism and forcefully underlining why she is one of the most promising voices on the young adult market today. From what I understand McLemore’s sophomore publication is a deeply personal one and I have no doubt the author will explore the central LGBT themes with her customary grace, sensitivity and kindness. While I don’t ordinarily make a big fuss about ARCs – they will eventually become a novel I can purchase, after all – I would do a great number of shameful things to hold this book in my hands right now. Anna-Marie McLemore is a force of nature and I can’t wait to see her take the world by storm.