You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
paisleypetty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death
lovelymisanthrope's review
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have had this book on my shelf for a few months now. I had heard great things, but I was waiting to be in the mood for something "magical", and boy was I blown away!
"The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina" follows a family who has all come back together because their grandmother is about to pass away. Their grandmother has always told them that all of her "magic" would be explained when she was about to pass. What the family uncovers is decades worth of secrets, and a deal made with someone that their grandmother never kept her word with.
The entire time I read this story, I kept thinking about the movie Encanto, and it made me love this book even more! This story has magic, family, and a little bit of mystery. I did not know where the story would ultimately end up, but I was very happy with the ending. I really enjoyed the jumping back and forth in the timeline so we could see how Orquídea Montoya ended up with this gift (or curse) and how this magic was interfering with her family in the present day.
I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!
"The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina" follows a family who has all come back together because their grandmother is about to pass away. Their grandmother has always told them that all of her "magic" would be explained when she was about to pass. What the family uncovers is decades worth of secrets, and a deal made with someone that their grandmother never kept her word with.
The entire time I read this story, I kept thinking about the movie Encanto, and it made me love this book even more! This story has magic, family, and a little bit of mystery. I did not know where the story would ultimately end up, but I was very happy with the ending. I really enjoyed the jumping back and forth in the timeline so we could see how Orquídea Montoya ended up with this gift (or curse) and how this magic was interfering with her family in the present day.
I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
althebookworm's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
archaicgambit's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The people giving this book bellow 3 stars seem to largely not understand magical realism. I think if you are excited to start the genre and understand what you’re getting into you’ll have a great time.
I loved the big cast and the interweaving stories, the vivid language and imagery.
There are a surprising amount of typos but this is a 2021 release so I think some books got the short end of the stick in all that chaos.
I loved the big cast and the interweaving stories, the vivid language and imagery.
There are a surprising amount of typos but this is a 2021 release so I think some books got the short end of the stick in all that chaos.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Racism
stephbakerbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love a good family drama, and this book had all those elements plus magic so I definitely enjoyed it! It was also really good on audio, though I will say there are a lot of characters and I did get them confused sometimes. I would have loved a family tree, but not sure if the print book has one—does anyone know?
So as I said, there are a lot of characters, but I would say Marimar is the main character and she gets the most development and attention. I liked that we got different perspectives throughout though, from different family members. They all get some nice development and complexity, though I would've liked to learn a bit more about some of the other family members (there were just so many, some of them I still didn't know by the end).
We also have a dual timeline, with the present-day events unfolding as we slowly learn about Orquídea's past. I will say that probably for the first half of the book, the past timeline is much more interesting than the present. The present gets interesting but it takes a while to get there. Events do get crazy and the magic in this story is really intriguing, though there's not a lot of world building; you just have to accept the magic for what it is.
Anyways, I really enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend if you like magical realism mixed with a family drama spread across generations.
Thanks to Libro.fm, Simon and Schuster Audio, and the author for my ALC!
So as I said, there are a lot of characters, but I would say Marimar is the main character and she gets the most development and attention. I liked that we got different perspectives throughout though, from different family members. They all get some nice development and complexity, though I would've liked to learn a bit more about some of the other family members (there were just so many, some of them I still didn't know by the end).
We also have a dual timeline, with the present-day events unfolding as we slowly learn about Orquídea's past. I will say that probably for the first half of the book, the past timeline is much more interesting than the present. The present gets interesting but it takes a while to get there. Events do get crazy and the magic in this story is really intriguing, though there's not a lot of world building; you just have to accept the magic for what it is.
Anyways, I really enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend if you like magical realism mixed with a family drama spread across generations.
Thanks to Libro.fm, Simon and Schuster Audio, and the author for my ALC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Infidelity
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
leannanecdote's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
haylzno's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Fantastic audiobook - LOVED the narration.
The magic was lovely and simple and almost intimate.
The magic was lovely and simple and almost intimate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death of parent
tigger89's review
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a split narrative, with one plot thread following Orquidea Montoya through her childhood and into adulthood, and the other following her grandchildren in the wake of her...passing, for lack of a better verb. I often found myself bothered by the shift in narrative, but in a good way; I wanted to know what happened next, and by the time I reached the end of the chapter that had stolen me away I felt the exact same way about the other narrative.
As far as the central mystery goes, most of the plot threads resolved to my satisfaction. Provided you can accept some of the magical things that just are, the elements of tension and mystery are mostly explained in the end. The two questions I was left with werewho/what was responsible for the illness that took Rhinnanon's parents(Bolivar? the Buenasuertes? Mike's fault for not believing Tatinelly?), and why was Rey's rose losing petals? It didn't seem to signify any loss of faith or motivation, and if it was mentioned again after the final confrontation(where it was losing petals as he expended power), I missed it. Maybe I'm just not thinking about it hard enough, but everything else seemed to be spelled out pretty well so the omissions there stood out to me.
While this book had plenty of feelings and occasionally even brought tears to my eyes, I have to mention that it's funny. Rey's wisecracking was the perfect balance to the occasional seriousness of the narrative, and he wasn't the only one, though he was by far the most prolific.
I would not recommend listening to this in an audio format unless you're very good with names. While most of them don't matter much anymore once the cousins travel to Equador, the first part of the book involves a very large family gathering, and I had one finger back on the family tree at the front of the book so that I could jog my memory for who was who.
For those wondering about the LGBTQ content, it's not a major focus. Rey is gay, and I found him to be well-rounded. He's depicted in three different relationships over the course of the book. Ultimately,they seem to be far less important to him than the main plot, all apparently fizzle, and he doesn't get an explicit happily-ever-after. I didn't hate it, but if you're looking for something that's queer-focused this probably isn't it.
As far as the central mystery goes, most of the plot threads resolved to my satisfaction. Provided you can accept some of the magical things that just are, the elements of tension and mystery are mostly explained in the end. The two questions I was left with were
While this book had plenty of feelings and occasionally even brought tears to my eyes, I have to mention that it's funny. Rey's wisecracking was the perfect balance to the occasional seriousness of the narrative, and he wasn't the only one, though he was by far the most prolific.
I would not recommend listening to this in an audio format unless you're very good with names. While most of them don't matter much anymore once the cousins travel to Equador, the first part of the book involves a very large family gathering, and I had one finger back on the family tree at the front of the book so that I could jog my memory for who was who.
For those wondering about the LGBTQ content, it's not a major focus. Rey is gay, and I found him to be well-rounded. He's depicted in three different relationships over the course of the book. Ultimately,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror
ukponge's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Abandonment
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
emturnspages's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent