Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a special, month-long series on Pop! Goes The Reader in which we celebrate the literary female role models whose stories have inspired and empowered us since time immemorial. From Harriet M. Welsch to Anne Shirley, Becky Bloomwood to Hermione Granger, Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a series created for women, by women as twenty authors answer the question: “Who’s your heroine?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!
About Isabel Ibañez
Isabel Ibañez was born in Boca Raton, Florida and is the proud daughter of two Bolivian immigrants. A true word nerd, she received her degree in creative writing and has been a Pitch Wars mentor for three years. Isabel is an avid movie goer and loves hosting family and friends around the dinner table. She currently lives in Winter Park, Florida with her husband, their adorable dog, and a serious collection of books.
I remember the exact moment I finished Uprooted. I’d devoured it in one sitting, of course, and immediately regretted my poor choice of a) staying up until 6ish in the morning, the exact moment my husband gets up to Seize! The! Day! and b) rushing through an incredible book, missing the subtle details that truly made it special.
On my first read, I found Agnieszka intriguing. By my fourth, I found her absolutely brilliant. If you haven’t read the story, Uprooted is about a peasant girl who’s plucked from her ordinary life in the valley and brought to the Dragon’s tower, where she’ll stay for ten long years, suffering through his short temper and truly inspiring grumpy outbursts. Surrounding the valley is a horrifying, but enchanted Wood that threatens the realm. It’s during her stint in the tower that our clumsy, unmagical peasant girl discovers that she is, actually, quite magical, but her power doesn’t look like anyone else’s.
She’s made fun of the way she says her spells, and for her inability to learn the simplest cantrips. Whereas the Dragon’s magic is full of rigid lines and exact measurements, Agnieszka’s is a guessing game of what goes where, half wild and certainly messy. Things don’t go well when she meets other wizards of the kingdom, in fact most don’t know what to do with her.
I love this about her. Here’s a character who had to teach herself something completely unknown and foreign to her, and ends up finding a new path forward, proving everyone wrong, perhaps even herself. She stands up to the people who want to keep her in a box, clearly defined and predictable.
Agnieszka taught me something truly magical: You don’t have to know everything right at the start, and it’s OK to learn as you go, bumbling along, but moving forward, despite what the critics might say. You can make your own path, because what works for someone else, may not work for you. That’s also OK. She knew she wasn’t an expert in magic, but she recognized that she had talent, and that’s more than enough to begin. And when the time came, she trusted herself, her messy spells and her innate gifts, and used everything all at once to defend her home. I believe when it matters, everything I’ve learned, however long it took, and however many tries, I’ll sit down and create something beautiful. That’s true for me, and it’s true for you.
Title Woven in Moonlight
Author Isabel Ibañez
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre Fantasy
Publication Date January 7th 2020 by Page Street Kids
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon ● The Book Depository
Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.
When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.
She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princesa, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge ― and her Condesa.
A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history.
One Response
I love this post so much. It made me want to read UPROOTED! I look forward to Isabel’s book as well. Thanks for sharing, Jen!
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