Stars: ★★★★★
Plot: ★★★★★
Readability: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★☆
Writing: ★★★★★
Recommend: ✓

For generations, the Nomeolvides women of La Pradera have decorated the grounds with rich, lush flowers. But beneath the beautiful facade of the garden, the lovers of these women have all vanished. For if the women love too deeply, La Pradera takes away their lovers, never to be seen again. After generations of vanishing, a new boy appears. With no memories of his previous life, the women take him in. As Estrella helps the boy, Fel, piece together his life, the women of La Pradera discover the dark secret behind the garden and Fel's past.

I absolutely love a magical realism romance and this delivered. All of the relationships in this book were perfect, in that they were flawed and had so many deeper levels in them.

This was revealed pretty early on, but

I wasn't that big of a fan of the fact that all five girls were in love with Bay. Now looking back at it, it seems like Dalia was the one truly in love, while the other girls only "loved" her because she was the only "safe" option and the only person they felt hey could direct their love towards

.

As for Estrella and Fel's relationship, I loved it. It was everything  I wanted out of a love story. It was a slow burn, had ups and downs, and you could tell they both cared deeply for each other.

As for the central plot surrounding La Pradera, I felt like for a large portion of the beginning of the book wasn't really focused on why Fel came from the earth. A lot of the action stemmed from the Bay and Reid. I know they

are related to the La Pradera plotline

, but it seems like the story of the garden was rushed in the end.

Despite the rush, I loved the ending. I'm glad that

everyone essentially got their happy endings

.

This book was relatively slow paced, which is pretty typical for magical realism books. Despite this, it had me hooked and after the first few chapters, I couldn't put the book down.

Like Dalia says, it does seems like all of the girls blend into one and act as one character. Sometimes it was confusing because I'd mix up two of the girls. At the end of the book, Dalia and Estrella are the only two who have differed themselves.

In fact, all of the Nomeolvides women blend together, except for Rosa (Estrella's mother).

I love that Rosa didn't regret the fact that she thought is was a mistake to name her daughter "Estrella," rather, she regretted revealing that to her daughter. It's these tidbits that make each character unique.

The writing style was really easy to read through. A great balance of descriptive/flowery and well paced. Not too complicated as well, especially with the hints of Spanish in it.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of romance or magical realism. Maybe one day I'll come back and reread this book, but I'm trying to broaden my horizons and read more (new) books so you never know.