Flesh & Bone & Water: Young Love in Rio

I saw Flesh & Bone & Water on a featured table at one of my favorite local bookshops, Decatur's Little Shop of Stories, and instantly knew I had to buy it. I'm a total sucker for a beautiful cover. The color blocking and pieces fitting together to form a female head made me think of The Mothers by Brit Bennett mixed up with some South American spice. I know, I know - don't judge a book by the cover. But with the volume of books released every week, it's hard to ignore that some are just prettier than the others. This is one of those.

Luiza Sauma drew me into the story from the first page because of her incredible ability to describe Brazil, the setting of this complicated love story. She perfectly places Portuguese words within the English writing, adding to the romance, and makes you feel like you're with Andre and Luana swimming in the Amazon River or sweating in the Rio de Janiero heat. I wanted to travel to Brazil before, but Sauma moved it a couple spots higher on my list.

Andre grows up privileged with a wealthy family in Rio in the 1980's. The Cabrel family has two empregadas, Rita and her daughter Luana, that prepare every meal, clean the home, and live with the family to serve all their needs. Luana is beautiful and captivating, mysterious in her quiet nature and intentional with her every word. Andre quickly finds himself falling for Luana in a classic tale of forbidden teenage love. Flash forward more than twenty years, and Andre is a doctor in London, separated from his wife Esther, having dreams of Luana when he receives a letter from his first love with no return address. As the letters continue to arrive, we learn more about the woman Andre could never truly get over, and the relationship that changed his life forever. 

Sauma doesn't let this story fall into a February cliche and throws in a twist that I never saw coming.  While the ending wasn't everything I had hoped for, the setting and writing still made this book really enjoyable for me. I'm aiming to fill this month with as many love stories as I can, and this one was a solid choice to kick off this Valentines month.