Last week the final book of the Middlemist trilogy by Claire Legrand A Rose of Blood and Binding came out and I was lucky enough to get to see Claire on her book tour! I went dressed in a closet cosplay of Mara, the middle sister who is the protagonist of the third book and my friend Sam did the same as Farrin, the oldest sister who is the protagonist of book two. It was a delight get to be there to hear Claire talk with Shannon Span who also just had her book, A Stage Set for Villains come out recently!
One of my favorite moments of the discussion, was when Claire was asked about writing “unlikable women” which to be clear is a term that is often given to her characters and she despises. Often because unlikeable is given so much more to women than men who might be broody, or just misunderstood, but when it is a woman who is unlikable we automatically come into looking at them with a certain lens. Her comment is that when we talk about unlikeable women we often mean that a character holds up a a mirror to the parts of ourselves we see in ourselves and dislike.
“I set out to write characters that are very real, and I don’t file off their edges.”
Woof. Talk about being called out.
This has been a series that I knew I would love from Claire’s very first pitch of it as Romantasy Bridgerton meets ACOTAR… which at this point isn’t as accurate but in 2021 when she was letting us all know it was coming it was a heck of a pitch. Tied together that each book was for a different sister and each one based off a different ballet? I felt like my soul was going to leave my body. I was so lucky that book one A Crown of Ivy and Glass came out and I was able to go see Claire on tour, I wasn’t able to see her for book two, but to be able to end the series by catching her on tour again? It feels like the perfect ending to the trilogy.
So in honor of the series being finished, I want to take you on a journey with these three sisters and the strong, layered, and flawed humans that they are. I’m rereading and catching up on the series and I’m bringing you along with me over the next few weeks. Plus this means I’m finally getting out book reviews on the first two which… should have happened earlier and apparently never did.
I hope that you enjoy these books! If you’ve read them who is your favorite sister? If you haven’t, I hope you’ll join me over the next few weeks.
You ready? Okay let’s go.
my way by Starlight 
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