Dark and Deepest Red: Anna-Marie McLemore

We meet again!

Every once in a while, I pick up a book that I’m truly not sure of and end up loving right away. On the other hand, sometimes I end up picking up a book I was sure I’d vibe with from the start, and it’s either a slow build into happiness or I can’t finish it. (I know, the dreaded DNF) this book was in the latter half, though I’m happy to say that I stuck with it and in time I was pretty enthralled with everything that happened. Here we go :)

Brief Synopsis:

Welcome to Briar Meadow, where each year, a glimmer settles over the area and makes people do the unthinkable. Women that watch their calories meticulously find themselves downing food, those that had fallen out with no hope of reconciling are bonding over a late-night conversation, and even weirder occurrences rise, and then leave, and the people of the town accept that this is how it will be.

Rosella’s family makes shoes. They make absolutely beautiful shoes. But they know that they still have to be careful, the color of their skin proving as much to them as anything else. One year, during the glimmer, Rosella finds herself growing close once again to Emil, a boy that she was really good friends with when they were children and ended up growing apart from as they aged and hormones and reputations came into play.

This year, the glimmer makes beautiful shoes appear to nearly all of the females in the area, who don them happily and just wait for the magic to occur. They don’t imagine that the magic could be dangerous magic instead of anything wonderful and helpful, until the night that Rosella’s feet start dancing of their own accord. When she realizes that she can’t get the shoes off, no matter how she tries, she knows that she’s in a lot of trouble.

Emil’s ancestors have dealt with something like this before. His ancestor Lala lived in a village long ago when the women began dancing and did not stop until it killed them. They danced on broken bones, in the heat, with abandon, and absolutely nothing that anyone tried could stop them.

Lala and the village could not understand where this affliction came from, which was very dangerous for Lala, her aunt and her beloved, Alifair. If there was no answer forthcoming and the deaths continued, surely Lala and her family would be blamed and witchcraft would be the reason. Such was the fate for their family, and even in present day, Emil is still feeling such a wrath. The book continues to switch between Lala’s time and Rosella and Emil’s.

When Emil first catches Rosella dancing under the influence of the shoes, they lie to each other about it. The second time, he has to save her life once again. Rosella tells her family and urges them to keep it quiet while she seeks help from Emil. She’s enraged when Emil tells her the story of his family, frustrated that he kept it from her and let her blame herself and feel that she had brought shame onto her family.

Lala finds herself finally fed up with the villagers and their hatred, deciding to use it to her advantage instead of run from it for another moment. Through some quick thinking, Lala ensures that her family heritage isn’t ended with her. She uses her brain to save herself and those that she loves while also taking more than just her immediate family to something better than the judge-y little village they’ve all know for so long.

As for Briar Meadow, the glimmer, Rosella and Emil? Emil realizes that there is a big reason that he’s able to let things go, and it’s by not being afraid anymore. It’s by acknowledging his past and not hiding who he is anymore. He tells Rosella that, quite possibly, if she tries that herself, she can be free of the poisoned shoes. The moral of the story ends up being a really great one about accepting oneself for exactly who they are and for not caring about prejudices of all kinds.

However – MAJOR spoiler alert here – they don’t actually say what started the affliction of the never-ending dancing in the first place, which really frustrated me. I thought that would be revealed.

My Rating:

While I wasn’t sure that I would before, I’m going to give this a 7.5/10. I’m frustrated with that bit at the very end that I mentioned before, and it was a book that was a really slow start and took me a while to get into it.

Favorite Quote(s):

“It is as though, all her life, she was held together with a little bit of the stars, and now that part of her has been spooled away. It has been drawn back into the sky. And now what remains of her is crumbling to ash.”

“Her kiss would never have made them both a world in which he could be hers.”

“But the truth was that, in that moment, every memory I had of us lived in the heat between my body and his.”

A book I Read With Similar Vibes:

There was this one that I read; I can’t remember if it was just simply called Beast? But it was about two young people discovering each other and it has a trans character, which this also has and is a take on a classic. Reminded me a lot of each other.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) and/or my Storygraph (bookishmamabish) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3