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Mar 24, 2021
4/5 “To the boys who get called girls,the girls who get called boys, and those who live outside these words. To those called names and those searching for names of their own. To those who live on the edges, and in the spaces in between. I wish for you every light in the sky.” When the Moon Was Ours is an example of how every one of Anna-Marie McLemore’s works is not just a fairytale, but the perfect little ode to different types of love. The novel follows Miel and Sam, who have been inseparable friends from the time they were little, when Miel supposedly fell out of a water tower at age five and appeared within their town, and have been known for the moons Sam paints and hangs in trees and houses and the roses that grow out of Miel’s wrist, and therefore are considered oddities within the town. Though within their town is the four Bonner sisters, who are rumoured to be witches and are after the roses that grow out of Miel’s wrist, as they have heard that with the scent of them they can make anyone fall in love with said person with the rose, and are willing to cross any lines in order to get their hands on these roses, even revealing Miel’s secrets. Along with that, the novel follows as Sam comes to terms with his gender identity. Personally, I would recommend this book looking for a book that has people like them as they usually do not, or people looking for a good, flowery tale that isn’t a child’s story. The book reads much like a fairytale that you have grown into now that you are older and understand more, but also a fairytale for those who weren’t always written fairytales about, or they were not shared. Anna-Marie McLemore does a wonderful job of entailing the relationship between Miel and Sam, and how deeply they trust each other and their romantic feelings for one another stemming from their deep friendship with each other and not thinking each other as oddities. It also does a wonderful job to show Miel being supportive of Sam, as he questions himself, and a wonderful work of Sam exploring himself and his feelings more as many books do not do, and the YA genre could sorely use more of. Anna-Marie McLemore’s writing style flows seamlessly with the magical atmosphere of the novel, and makes every word on the page easy to read and understand as the reader reads about the lives of Miel and Sam and their run in with the Bonner sisters, along with keeping a fair pace, to let the characters grow and have us learn about themselves along with them, giving us time to be happy . In all, When the Moon Was Ours is a beautiful, flowery tale for anyone looking for a soft, easy book to read with lovable, relatable characters and a beautiful, magical setting while still being set within the real world.