Welcome to Litsy!

The writing in this book was just stunning!!

A retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Red Shoes combined with The Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasbourg. It goes back and forth in time and is told from multiple POVs. McLemore weaves a compelling story that not only melds historical events with magical realism, but also tackles colorism, xenophobia, and queerphobia. If you've read any of their earlier work the lyrical style will feel familiar. If this is your first, you're in for a treat.

Ending the day as I started it.

My book buddy has joined me once more for some balcony reading! 😸💕📚 #catsoflitsy #littenkitten #roxas

Books for #readyoursign
1. Dark and Deepest Red
2. A Few Figs From Thistles - Edna St Vincent Millay
3. Letter to My Daughter - Maya Angelou (April 4)
4. Flaubert‘s Parrot - Julian Barnes 🦜 (1984)

A happy and sad book

#GoodReads2020Challenge

This story matches the beautiful cover. A story that spans a family lifetime of cursed red shoes. The storyline went along effortlessly to a satisfying end. 4 stars.

#read #easterextravaganza #newbooks #books #reading

A bit belated on the review. While beautifully written and on an interesting subject, this book did not hold my attention and I didn‘t find myself excited to pick it up and read more. It might have had to do with how this book deals with a pandemic (though it was not anything like Covid), and I just can‘t with any type of plague/pandemic thing right now.

Ugh. This line is way more topical than it ought to be, especially since I live in NYC ☹️

I picked this one because of the cover, which is beautiful, and my recent appreciation for retellings. Part fairytale retelling, part history of persecution, the story weaves beautifully between 16th century France and modern day from three different POV, connected by their Romani heritage and their abilities to hide in plain site.

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

"My mother told me once that being an Oliva meant measuring our lives in lengths of red thread."

Lunch and some reading at Plaza Platos y Copas en Mayagüez.

I‘ll always & forever adore Anna-Marie McLemore, & I loved the experience of reading their newest book. Their skill w/magical realism, lush prose, & brilliant characters is again on full display & this was a real page-turner. BUT...I feel like McLemore is losing a bit of the singular sense of their writing; this felt a bit too reminiscent of their other books, not wholly unique. I still adored it! But hope to see them branch out a bit soon. 4/5 ⭐️

“Powerful men may count you as lowly as an animal, Lavinia,” he says, “but remember that the Lord counts men hating you as a sign of that which is holy within you.”

*Exotic.* The word such men use when they want to make dark-eyed women into their mistresses, or rare pale deer into their pets. A word that carries both their thrill and the sense that they are entitled to all that interests them.

Lala cannot help it; she turns over her hands on her lap, her fingers still blue-green from the woad dye.

Richest blue from those yellow and green plants. Perfect black from the oak galls. To Strasbourg‘s finest merchants, such color must seem a kind of alchemy. Magic in fine blue and ink black.

And in the hands of two women, it will be called witchcraft.

There‘s only so far you can get if you‘re always looking back.

I don‘t often read books on release day but you bet your ass I‘ll do so with anything by Anna-Marie McLemore! I don‘t think they‘re on Instagram but please go check out their Twitter thread today about how writing this book helped them realize they‘re non-binary. It‘s so beautiful and moving...just like I‘m sure this book will be. Okay, enough typing, time to read! #nowreading

This cover screams READ ME!. IT's dark but light, spooky, but thrilling, dangerous but sweet. Can not wait to taste the story inside.

Out January 14, 2020
#Coverlove #YAedition