BOOK REVIEW: Dark and Deepest Red, by Anna-Marie McLemore ~ If only it was solely Historical Fantasy… *SPOILER FREE*
~ Dark and Deepest Red, by Anna-Marie McLemore
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Hello awesome people and happy Saturday everyone.
In the aftermath of a quite depressing Valentine’s Day, I’m here to share with you my thoughts and feelings about the latest McLemore book, and the conclusion to which I came regarding her novels.
Like I said at the title of this post, this review will remain spoiler free, but if you haven’t read Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Red Shoes, you may be slightly spoiled.
With that being said, first, let’s go and see what this book is all about.
“Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves.
Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fever’s history better than anyone: Emil, whose family was blamed for the fever five hundred years ago. But there’s more to what happened in 1518 than even Emil knows, and discovering the truth may decide whether Rosella survives the red shoes.
With McLemore’s signature lush prose, Dark and Deepest Red pairs the forbidding magic of a fairy tale with a modern story of passion and betrayal.”
Truth be told, I didn’t feel neither the passion, nor the betrayal in the modern part of the story. And although the blurb seemed very intriguing, if I wasn’t listening to the audiobook, I might have DNFed this particular novel.
The thing is that, when you write a novel of multiple POVs, you need to give some time to the readers to get to know the different characters. In this book, the chapters were five minutes long, or at least the majority of them were, and the moment I started connecting with one of the three main characters, the POV changed again. This is exactly the same thing that happened when I was reading Blanca & Roja, only this time, I started getting annoyed by the constant change of POVs.
I believe I would have enjoyed this book more if it focused solely on Lala’s story; a Romani girl people blamed for for the dancing fever and who wanted to simply live her own life the way she wanted to. Or again, I would’ve liked it more if it focused solely on Rosella and Emil’s story and how both of them tried to find their true selves, while honouring their heritage and family, too.
My point is, dearies, that, this book was just… ok. The writing style was once again beautiful and the descriptions were so very vivid, but the story itself, it just lacked the spark I hoped it would have.
I know that it tried to demonstrate that people don’t actually change, no matter how many years pass, for hate holds their hearts really tight, and that history tends to repeat itself, simply because people are afraid of the things they don’t understand and it just feels easier to blame someone else instead of themselves.
“Those who go looking for demons always find them,” Tante says. “Even in angels.”
All in all, I ended up giving this book 3 stars (actual rating: 2.5, to be honest), because the only thing that I actually enjoyed was the writing style, but none of the main characters truly stuck with me. Unfortunately, I think that I will have forgotten everything there is about this book by the end of the month.
Still, don’t let this review discourage you. There are so many more of McLemore’s books you’ll probably love, and if you have already read Dark and Deepest Red, I look forward to reading your comments, thoughts and feelings about it in the comment section down below.
Thank you all for stopping by once again. It means the world to me and I want you to know that I most definitely don’t take your presence here for granted.
Have a wonderful weekend, awesome nerds, whatever you choose to do.
Till next time… Toodles! 
