In our When Your Beauty Is The Beast anthology:
Sisterly love, animal shapeshifters, and plant curses—what could be better?
“Shadow of the Cinchona Grove” is a Latinx-inspired Beauty and the Beast retelling that takes place in a South America garden. Here’s the description:
Rosa is a Verdora, a gardener who can speak to plants. When she finds her best friend Manuel, a jaguar shapeshifter, threatening her sister Hortensia, she realizes something is wrong with him—something connected to a strange, dying rosebush that refuses to communicate with her. Though it may cost Rosa her coveted job at the gobernador’s garden, she is determined to unravel the mystery—because if she doesn’t, she will lose Manuel forever.
“Shadow of the Cinchona Grove” is set in a world of nature magic, where those with animales magia (animal magic) are a higher class than those with verdores magia (plant magic). It’s a world I plan to explore again in a sequel about Hortensia, Rosa’s sister. Perhaps I will eventually write an entire novel about this alluring jungle!
Now for a bit more about me:
Cassandra Hamm is a psychology nerd, jigsaw puzzler, and hopeless romantic who is usually lost in another world. She fell in love with Latin America during a college missions trip to Bolivia and can’t stop writing Latinx-inspired stories. Her work also appears in other anthologies, including Stories that Sing, Bingeworthy, and Sensational from Havok Publishing; Warriors Against the Storm; and Faces to the Sun. She is often found reading fairy tale retellings, especially if they’re middle grade, and her favorite fairy tale is either Rapunzel or the Snow Queen. She can be found on Instagram at @cassandrahammwrites, where she hosts writing prompt contests and fangirls over books, and at https://cassandrahamm.com.
I’m incredibly grateful to Ye Olde Dragon Books for giving my work a chance. It’s an honor to be a part of this incredible anthology.
