The Mirror Season

Written by Anna-Marie McLemore

Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

Graciela Cristales's whole world changes after she and a boy she barely knows are assaulted at the same party. She loses her gift for making enchanted pan dulce. Neighborhood trees vanish overnight, while mirrored glass appears, bringing reckless magic with it. And Ciela is haunted by what happened to her and what happened to the boy whose name she never learned.

But when the boy, Lock, shows up at Ciela’s school, he has no memory of that night and no clue that a single piece of mirrored glass is tearing his life apart. Ciela decides to help him, which means hiding the truth about that night. Because Ciela knows who assaulted her—and him. And she knows that their survival depends on no one finding out what really happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705039380

Anna-Marie McLemore

Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) is the author of The Weight of Feathers, Wild Beauty, Blanca & Roja, Dark and Deepest Red, Lakelore, Venom & Vow (co-authored with Elliott McLemore), and National Book Award longlist selections When the Moon Was Ours, The Mirror Season, and Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix. They have received the Michael L. Printz Award, the Stonewall Honor, the Otherwise Award, three Northern California Book Awards, and an Américas Honor.

Reviews for The Mirror Season

[DieOrWrite · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a powerful story. The writing is so gorgeous and the emotion so raw. I also really appreciate that the mc and the love interest didn't use their romance to "fix" their trauma, instead they need to deal it each on their own but they're still there for each other

[Jay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's a good story with good characters, but the literary devices are very repetitive and the narrator doesn't seem to speak Spanish which, for me, effected the way the story read.

[Chloe Sykes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Review copied from my goodreads, itsnotcloe.

4.5 / 5 ☆

"On the perfect white of Victoria’s car interior, I write NO.
I write it hard, crushing down the bullet top of the lipstick. It smears into
the upholstery."

cws: sexual assault, blackmail, date rape drugs

What a beautiful novel. This was my first book by Anna-Marie McLemore, and as I don't read magical realism, this was also my first magical realism book in a long time. I will admit, it was hard for me to understand at first, but as I progressed through the novel the magic set into place for me, and I came to realise what an essential part of the storytelling process it was. The way Ciela speaks of her culture, her family, and her skin, can only be described as beautiful– if beautiful can even describe it. Despite what has happened to her, Ciela's desire to gain her love for life back makes this book so much more magical. The way Ciela talks about the pastelería and pan dulce made me wish with my entire heart that I could meet her in real life. I want nothing more than to walk into the pastelería and have La Bruja de los Pasteles tell me exactly what I need to heal my heart after reading this book.

I also want to commend Anna-Marie McLemore for the Queer rep in this book. Too often, authors, even Queer ones, shy away from using the term Lesbian, or even any identifying label. They don't do that. Ciela and Jess are openly Queer girls, and take pride in their labels of pan and lesbian. As a fellow Queer survivor, this was so important for me to see.

The reason I give this book 4.5 stars instead of 5 is simply because of how hard it was to read. This is a beautiful story, but it is also incredibly painful. Towards the middle of the book, when the plot twisted, I found it very hard for me to continue. But I was so invested in the story of Ciela and Lock, that I kept reading. I am glad I did.

However sad this book may be, it is also full of life and I recommend anyone who believes they can handle the themes, to pick it up and never put it down.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

diverse teen fiction (magical realism/sexual assault with Latinx main character) - author is a fantastic storyteller and also queer (they discovered they were also nonbinary while writing this book).

This author is so talented; I always love their stories. This one, loosely based on real events, is extra powerful--if you have ever been to a party where something very bad happened to you, this can certainly trigger your trauma, but even if you have never been so unfortunate, this will still affect you strongly.