Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold

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Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalola

15 reviews

sassyshark's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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emfass's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

I am a HUGE fan of fairy tale/mythology retellings, so there was a good chance I was going to like this anyway. But I was introduced to so many tales I didn't know, PLUS I absolutely adored the way Babalola rewrote stories that are originally misogynistic and occasionally devastating to be hopeful and honor the love story at the center.

I read through the first half of the book rather quickly, trying to meet the deadline for the Bad Bitch Book Club meeting, but over the last few days I have savored the latter half, reading one or two stories a day, and that's my recommendation for anyone else picking this up. (I don't read a lot of short story collections, maybe that's the general approach??)

My favorite stories were:
Scheherazade
Nefertiti
Yaa
Naleli
Thisbe
Tiara
Orin

A few quotes from the introduction that floored me:

Love is the prism through which I view the world. I truly believe it binds and propels us. This isn’t a naive denial of the darkness that we know exists in the world; rather it is a refusal to allow the devastation, the horror, or the heartache to consume us. It is affirming the knowledge that there is light. Love is that light. Romance sweetens the casual bitterness we can encounter; it heightens the mundane and makes the terrestrial supernatural.

Love is tender, tentative, brutal, and bold. It’s messy and magic! It can be the most frightening thing in the world, purely because it feels like safety, and that safety is reliant on total trust in another, with whom we share our hearts, expose ourselves, and allow ourselves to be seen for exactly who we are. But when we allow ourselves to trust like this, there is a freedom that we can attain—a glory. This book is about being seen in all your iterations, in every dynamic, brightly and in color. It’s about the joy and hope that accompany the celebration of that phenomenon.

And from the final story, which is inspired by how her parents met and fell in love:

The eldest of their daughters is so inspired by the king and queen that it forms how she sees the world. She recognizes the mundane mystique of romantic love that is ubiquitous at a glance, but, when you look closer, you notice the tessellation of understanding, patience, friendship, and attraction. She sees both the miracle of the spark igniting and also the working, because it takes work, and for the work to work, you have to respect each other, like each other. She is fascinated by how much romantic love can soften a hard life, highlight the best of you, not condemn the worst of you. It is a gift she cherished witnessing with the king and queen, and so she made it her mission to capture a little of it and gift it to others: the hope of it all, the light of it all.

Time was constructed with love in mind. It is why the moments before a desired kiss stretch, why when your lips are finally introduced with another pair, it feels as if they have wanted to meet for some time, and why a day with your loved one can feel like an eternity on turbo-speed. Achingly, deliciously slow, but too fast, over too quick, melting between too-hot fingers. Time and love are intertwined, they are both measures of life, they are the two clocks. And, for love to operate as it should, it is imperative that the timing should be right. Just as it is in this story.

Lastly, I think this is one of the most gorgeous covers I have ever seen. 😍😍😍

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theres_claire's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This book made me so happy! These gorgeously written romantic myth retellings in small (short story) packages were the perfect balance of romance and empowerment.

The book takes romantic myths from around the world and retells them for a modern audience in a short story format.

What I loved:

Generally, with short story collections, I find that there are some stories I love and others that I'd likely skip over in a re-read, but that was absolutely not the case with this one. While there are definitely stories that stood out to me and my tastes, everything in there was beautifully written and engaging.
These myths are perfectly modernised, I didn't know all of the myths before starting this book, but the ones I did know I felt fit really well into these new settings and changes in the narrative.
This book is unapologetic about how romantic it is. Sometimes modern romances have a habit of scoffing at themselves, and at the ideas they represent, but this book never did that. I adored the focus in pretty much every story on the idea of being seen and understood.
Great length and pacing as well. Nothing felt rushed even though they were super quick short stories.
That last short story had me crying!

What You May Not Love:
I loved this book a lot but there are definitely elements I can see not everyone would enjoy!

Insta-love. There's lots of love at first sight in this one, which isn't usually my thing so I was surprised I enjoyed it so much, but the 'love at first sight' trope is super common in these myths so it makes sense for it to be so common in the stories. I also think it works because the stories are so short, it's not relying on you rooting for an insta-love scenario for over 400 pages of a novel. But, if you really can't stand insta-love you may not enjoy this one.

My only question remains...anthology TV series when?

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eloiseisreading's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious fast-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

5.0

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the_literarylinguist's review

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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