Title: The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina
Author: Zoraida Cordova
Pub. Date: September 7th 2021
Genre: YA Fantasy/Magical Realism
Format: Hardcover BOTM
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 336 pages
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The Montoya family is used to the oddities that come with having Orquidea Divina for a Matriarch. They’ve stopped asking if the fantastical stories she told them were true…how she managed to make a barren land fruitful? or how the pantry never seems to run low? One by one her grown adult children and grandchildren get summoned to their childhood home in Four Rivers for what appears to be her funeral. Orquidea wishes to dine with them and give them their inheritance however when they arrive, they find she has already begun her transformation. She is literally transforming into a large tree with roots when her family arrives with a lot of questions and frustrations. They want answers but Orquidea has never been a woman of many words and will make them all work for the answers they seek. She gives Marimar, Rey and Tatinelly’s small child Rhiannon special gifts that they don’t quite understand. In order to get answers they need to dig deep into Orquideas past which means they must travel to Ecuador. It’s through this journey that they get to know Orquidea, a woman that didn’t speak much and came across as cold but was filled with magic and mystery.
╰☆☆ “тнє ѕριяιтѕ αтє αи∂ αтє. тнє ℓινιиg нυяяιє∂ тσ тєℓℓ тнєιя ѕтσяιєѕ, тнєιя α¢¢σмρℓιѕнмєитѕ, тнєιя ωιиѕ, тнєιя ρяσgєиу. мαятιи ναиιѕнє∂ fσя α мσмєит, тнєи яєтυяиє∂ αи∂ тнє ѕσυи∂ѕ σf σяqυί∂єαѕ fανσяιтє ѕσиgѕ fιℓℓє∂ тнє нσυѕє, ωнι¢н нα∂ вєєи ємρту αи∂ ѕιℓєит fσя тσσ ℓσиg” ☆☆╮
This story was EVERYTHING and so much more than what I thought we were going to get! I’ve always loved Magical Realism (I’m lookin’ at you Anna Marie-McLemore) and know that some readers have a hard time suspending their disbelief with this style of writing, however here is a story that makes it easy for you. Each of her descendants ALSO have a hard time digesting what they’re seeing but they kinda have to because they’re being hunted and killed off one by one. Cordova takes you by the hand as you travel to Ecuador with this tale of roots, the ties that bind us, and finding where you belong. I wanted to know so badly what transpired in Orquedias past to make her flee the country she was born in. Other than The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, I’m not really a fan of circus themed settings so I was a bit hesitant to learn from early readers that we’d be visiting one in this story. Atmospheric and tantalizing, my eyes couldn’t absorb it all in fast enough and those last 100 pages flew right by! This was beautifully written and heartfelt, really no surprise to me when the tears started flowing and the page tabs were growing. This is hands down a 6 star read and going on my favorites list for 2021! ❤
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