Author: Rach @ Anxious Nachos

Educational publisher, writer and cat mama.

Book review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Title: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication date: 8 October 2019

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Dark academia

Page extent: 459 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

Content warnings for gore, murder, self-harm, blood, child rape, sexual assault, suicide, drugs and drug use.

Let me preface this review by saying this was my very first Leigh Bardugo book and I cannot believe how long it has taken me to read one of her books? I’ve heard so much about this author and so I went in expecting something outstanding. I enjoyed Ninth House. It’s full of the delicious vibe associated with dark academia, has an edge of horror but also the cosiness of a murder mystery at times. However, I do think this book suffered due to the fact I read it immediately after finishing The Space Between Worlds.

Although a sci-fi, The Space Between Worlds also uses speculative fiction as a device to explore trauma, survival and privilege. And The Space Between Worlds does it so fucking well. Expertly so. And so whilst I see Bardugo’s attempts to tackle issues of class and privilege, I don’t think she managed quite as well as Johnson. I think on any other day, I probably wouldn’t have noticed quite as large a disparity, but purely due to the fact I had literally just read a book that did this particular thing so particularly well, Ninth House suffered in comparison to it.

Ninth House follows Alex Stern, a young woman who can see Grays (ghosts). After she awakens in hospital after a horrific crime, she is offered a position at Yale University, to join Lethe, one of Nine magical secret societies. Lethe are the shepherds, the guardians of magic who prevent the other societies from doing harm. It’s told in two POVs, Alex in the present, investigating a murder on campus, and Darlington, Alex’s tutor from Lethe, whose POV is in the past following Alex when she first joined Yale.

Ninth House is many things: dark academia, murder mystery, horror. I think Bardugo does a great job of combining these elements to make a transfixing atmosphere. I found the history of the secret societies absolutely fascinating, and some of the best parts of this novel fell in these more magical scenes, where Alex and Darlington were interacting with the secret societies in their rituals. From the blood magic to the prognostication, as gorey as they were at times, I was so enthralled by them. During some of the more mundane sections of the plot outside of the secret societies, and particularly nearer the end of the novel, I did feel it began to drag a little. Nearer the end it also felt a little repetitive in the constant cycle of: Alex almost dies, but she doesn’t. Then she almost dies again, but she doesn’t. How many times can someone crack their skull and still not die?!

I did love Alex as a character. I’m on a roll of books with impressively written, exceedingly morally grey, complex female characters, from Priory to The Space Between Worlds to this! I need more characters like this in my life. I loved Alex’s progression from the start of the novel where she’s hiding who she really is as she tries to fit into Yale, but over the course of the book the darkness and violence and anger in her is slowly revealed, please give me more of this vibe in SFF!!! Darlington was also an absolute gem and as I’m sure many others also feel, I wish we’d seen more of him! He felt like such a kind character, full of naive dreams about goodness and being a knight to protect others. I can’t wait for the second novel in this series to get more of him and more of his lightness playing off of Alex’s dark badassness.

Bardugo uses Yale and the secret societies as a way to comment on power and privilege and the way men have used these both to enforce their will on others, as well as to tackle the very current topic of university rape culture. I don’t think Bardugo does this badly, not at all. But I was missing that little extra spark of magic that The Space Between Worlds had. Ninth House tries to explore trauma, some of which is did well: I thought the way it explored how victims are often not believed through the use of perpetrators that no one can see was well done. This was explored both in flashbacks and in the present, when a police officer threatens to expose a video that shows Alex being attacked (by a ghost that no one can see) to discredit her. But I think outside of this example, Ninth House could have gone much further than just a few flashbacks exploring Alex’s past life. And as I said above, I think Ninth House did suffer a bit purely because I read these two books directly after each other and thus could really clearly see the differences in the handling of social commentary and trauma.

All in all, I’m glad I finally read my first Bardugo! Although I had a few issues, I did enjoy this book, the vibe was everything I love about dark academia and the secret societies and the ritualistic magic system were fascinating! I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel.

#5OnMyTBR: Summer reads

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook and you can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. It occurs every Monday when we post about 5 books on our TBR. Thank you E. for the awesome graphic for these posts as well!

Hi everyone,

We’re onto week 2 of the new lockdown in Melbourne and I’ve decided to start a new hobby to try keep me more upbeat in the current situation: candle making! I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of my candle kit. I bought some black dye as well so I can make goth candles and I can’t wait!

This week’s #5OnMyTBR theme is summer reads, which may be more difficult for me because it’s the middle of a rather cold winter here and thus I have forgotten what sunshine and vitamin D feels like. But more importantly: despite the fact I work in publishing, I still wouldn’t even be able to tell you what a summer read is. Something that’s relaxing and pleasurable to read on a beach? But that’s different for everyone, I cry! So for this, I tried to pick books on my TBR that feel lighthearted, warm, and easy to read, and thus the perfect book to curl up with under the sun!

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Wen

This YA novel is literally set across a summer, so surely that counts for this theme! It follows teen Ever Wong whose parents send her to Taiwan for the summer to study Mandarin. However the program she’s been sent to is less late night study and more late night clubbing as over-achieving kids let loose.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall

This book sounds the lightest of the stack of SFF I have on my TBR, gifted to me by my lovely cat for mother’s day (yes, pets give gifts in this household). It is a Sherlock Holmes retelling with a female, pansexual sorceress Holmes and a trans Watson, and it’s full of sharks, gods, vampires and pirates! Aka: FUN.

Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

Donuts = summer. I don’t make the rules…. Please Don’t Hug Me is a #LoveOzYA contemporary with ownvoices autism rep, written entirely in letters from Erin, a teen on the edge of adulthood struggling to accept herself, to her brother.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard

Novellas feel like such as summer read because they’re usually quick and easy to get into and therefore make for a relaxing read on the beach! In the Vanisher’s Palace is one I’ve been meaning to read for so long but I finally picked up a copy. It’s a dark f/f Beauty and the Beast retelling if the beast were a dragon!

Ravensong by T.J Klune

I read Wolfsong in the Australian summer last year next to a pool in the sunshine and therefore it only makes sense that I put the second one in this series onto this summer reads list! I got about halfway through this and then got distracted by other books and never went back to it. But Ravensong is book 2 in Klune’s Green Creek series, which follows a pack of werewolves and their run ins with local witches. Whilst the first book followed Ox, Ravensong follows Ox’s friend and father figure Gordo.

That’s it for this week! I’m pretty sure that everyone else’s lists will be much more summery than mine because I tend to go for more intense, heavy duty fantasy books than light summer reads. But now I’ll go back to dreaming about sunshine whilst shivering on my couch because Australia has terrible building insulation!

My most anticipated books still to come in 2020

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Hi everyone,

This was both so fun and so difficult to write because today I’m talking all about my most anticipated books still to come in 2020. And I have so many. Initially I was going to keep to just 10 books as I did in my favourite books of the year so far list, but I just couldn’t do it. And you’ll see why when I tell you about these books because they all sound equally awesome!

I’m going to be looking at my 15 most anticipated books releasing in the second half of 2020, so July – December. To help me out with narrowing it down, I decided to not include any books which I have received an ARC for since technically I’m no longer anticipating them. This really helped me narrow the list down, but I do want to shout out the books that would’ve made this list had I not got an ARC:

As you can see, that is quite a few books and thus if I had included them in my list below, I would have failed even more badly to narrow this down. So without further ado, here are my 15 most anticipated books releasing in the rest of 2020!

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Release date: July 21

This is a horror novel everyone has been screaming about how scary it is and thus I am so incredibly excited to read this even if it terrifies me. The Year of the Witching is a feminist horror fantasy novel about a woman living in a Handmaid’s Tale esque, cult-like society and what happens when she discovers her mother consorted with witches.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Release date: August 4

I’ve only read Emezi’s young adult novel, Pet, so far, but I loved it so much and I’m hoping to get to their adult novel Freshwater very soon as well. Their third book, The Death of Vivek Oji, promises to be every bit as lyrical and powerful as Pet. It follows the life of Vivek Oji and their relationships with friends and family before their death.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Release date: August 25

It’s so close!!!!! 40 days if we’re being exact but who’s counting… Darius the Great Deserves Better is the sequel to one of my favourite books, Darius the Great is Not Okay. Darius is back in the US, now has a boyfriend and an internship at his favourite teashop, but something still seems to be missing.

Transcendant Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Release date: September 1

Another of the few literary fiction novels that made it onto this list, Transcendent Kingdom follows a Ghanian family in Alabama, specifically Gifty, a young neuroscience student who is researching addiction and depression as she attempts to find answers for her brother’s overdose and suicidal mother. But as she explores the hard sciences, Gifty also reaches back to her childhood faith for answers.

Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez

Release date: September 15

Not only does this have one of my favourite covers on this list, it also has one of the most exciting pitches! Crosshairs is set in a near future dystopian world where anyone “other” is rounded up into camps. So a group of queer allies, lead by a queer Black performer, team up against the regime.

Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall

Release date: September 15

Any contemporary that makes it onto this list is surely going to be incredible, because it takes a lot for this fantasy lover to be this excited over contemporary books. Who I Was With Her follows closeted bi girl, Corinne, after her girlfriend dies and she has to learn to deal with her grief without anyone knowing, except the one person she really shouldn’t be leaning on for support: her dead girlfriend’s ex.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Release date: September 15

Having just read Ninth House, I am here for more secret societies at university, and in Legendborn this is combined with a society descended from King Arthur! But also it’s like super super queer too. Legendborn follows Bree as she attends a residential camp for bright high school students at the local university. But on her first night on campus, she witnesses a demon attack and ends up embrolied with a secret society who claim to be descendants of King Arthur working to prevent a magical war.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

Release date: September 15

The Secret History but make it queer?! I haven’t even read The Secret History and I know this is the vibe I need in my life. These Violent Delights follow Paul and Julian who meet at university in the 70s and whose obsession with each other leads to a shocking act of violence.

The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis

Release date: September 22

Bisexual vampires is all I need to say for this one, right? Set in a Prague where monsters exist, this book follows a vampire hunter and his relationship with a widowed noblewoman (and secret vampire).

The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J Hackwith

Release date: October 6

If you read my post all about my favourite reads of 2020 so far, you would have seen the first of this series there, The Library of the Unwritten which has to be one of the most fun fantasies I’ve ever read. The Archive of the Forgotten continues the story of Claire, Brevity and Hero as books begin to leak a strange ink that could alter the afterlife forever.

Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

Release date: October 13

Chaos lesbian alert! Beyond the Ruby Veil is a dark YA fantasy about Emanuela, a girl who accidentally kills the only person who can create water in her town and now has to find a way to make water herself before the entire town dies of thirst.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth

Release date: October 20

This is the adult debut from the author who wrote The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which I admit I haven’t actually read, but Plain Bad Heroines just sounds so amazing this book made it onto my most anticipated list! This is described as a horror comedy set at a girls boarding school in New England which closed after a series of terrible murders. But now the doors are reopening as a Hollywood cast prepares to create a film about what happened. But soon it isn’t clear where Hollywood ends and the curse of the boarding schools begins…Insert ominous drum roll.

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

Release date: November 3

Moving into literary fiction realms again, The Thirty Names of Night follows three generations of Syrian Americans and a mysterious bird that ties them all together. This is ownvoices trans and Syrian-American rep, and explores the history of queer and trans communities in the Syrian community and promises to be an entrancing read.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Release date: November 17

If you haven’t seen Chloe Gong’s hilarious videos marketing this book, first of all where have you been?! And second of all, go check out her Twitter because she is hilarious. These Violent Delights is a Romeo & Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, yes we’re really getting a book that sounds THAT AWESOME in 2020.

The Burning God by R.F Kuang

Release date: November 26

The finale to R.F Kuang’s Poppy War series is almost here and it promises to be as destroying as the first two in this series! I’m not going to say too much about this one to avoid any spoilers for those still reading The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, but suffice to say, I am ecstatically excited to find out what happens to Rin, Nezha and Kitay.

And that’s my 15 most anticipated releases for the rest of 2020! What’s your most anticipated release still to come? Let me know in the comments below.

Book review: The Extraordinaries by T.J Klune

Rach @ Anxious Nachos2 Comments

Title: The Extraordinaries by T.J Klune

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publication date: 14 July 2020

Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy

Page extent: 405 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. TJ Klune’s YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.

Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right?

After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick’s best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Well I’m extraordinarily in love with this book. It was everything I wanted it to be and more, which, of course it was because T.J Klune is an absolute genius and I will read everything he writes from now till ever. This had me laughing out loud on one page and sobbing the next. It is a brilliantly fun take on the superhero genre, has wonderfully open and honest portrayals of grief, discusses ADHD so personally it reverberates on every page, has an absolutelyfuckingadorable romance, a killer friendship group, lots of funny fandom anecdotes that brought back so much nostalgia, and a tender and warm message about being extraordinary when you’re ordinary.

The Extraordinaries is set in a world where superheros exist (though here they’re called Extraordinaries). In Nova City, Shadow Star protects the city from the evil villain PyroStorm. In this city is Nick, Shadow Star’s greatest fan and fanfic author of the most popular fanfic about the Extraordinaries. When he runs into Shadow Star in an alley, Nick decides he wants to become an Extraordinary himself and so begins his plan to turn himself into a superhero, much to the consternation of his friends.

I don’t quite know where to start with reviewing this book because I loved everything so much. It was warm and cosy and so funny, I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much at a book. Nick is just a brilliant and adorable character. He’s open and honest about his ADHD in such a relatable and funny way (and I just want to shout out that this is own voices ADHD rep too!) Nick is just an absolute precious gem, his complete blindness when it comes to his feelings for Seth is adorable, his realisation journey is so cute. Seth is quite possibly even more adorable than Nick, with his bowties (bowties are cool), cravats and a big secret he can’t possibly tell Nick. Alongside Gibby, Jazz and Owen, this is a friendship group that sounds like it must be some of the most fun. They’re all so hilarious in their own ways, so brilliantly, openly queer and pretty much everything I want in a rag tag team of misfits. Gibby is a butch lesbian who won’t take shit from anyone and has the most deadpan ringers; Jazz is sweet and kind and then she turns around and knocks you out of the park with a revelation; Owen is flirty and arrogant and popular (and his dad is the richest man in the city), but he can be so vulnerable at times when Nick gets through his walls.

Alongside the hilarity of these characters, there are several moments that had me almost sobbing. The book deals openly with grief, Nick having lost his mum fairly recently and Seth having lost both his parents when young. With his Dad’s job as a policeman, Nick is filled with anxiety about losing his Dad as well, and there are scenes so raw and gutrenching I thought it would tear me apart. I’m very glad I was in a different room from my partner when reading this because he always thinks it’s funny how emotionally invested I get in books!

I loved the sass towards the superhero genre as well. It flowed throughout the book, from the ridiculous villain speeches, to the need for capes. I also very much appreciated the fandom and fanfic references and excerpts throughout, this felt so nostalgic. I was completely brought back to my teenage days sneaking around writing fanfic, right down to the tags they used on Nick’s fanfic excerpts, it was all so reminiscent.

Everything about this book was just brilliant. T.J Klune astounds me with every book I read, I don’t think there’s another author out there who can quite make me laugh and cry as much as he does. It’s a fun, fresh, fandom enthusiastic take on the superhero genre with the most adorable romance. I read the majority of this book (the last 70%) in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down. I sincerely hope we get more books in this series as soon as possible because I will follow these characters for years!

#5 on my TBR: Pastel covers

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook and you can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. It occurs every Monday when we post about 5 books on our TBR. Thank you E. for the awesome graphic for these posts as well!

Hi everyone,

After a very busy Pride month, I am back joining in with the bookish meme #5 on my TBR! And what a week to return: this week’s theme is another cover colour theme and these are my absolute favourite to do because I love looking at pretty covers for hours. This week the theme is pastels! So here’s 5 books with pastel covers I’m hoping to read in the near future.

By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery

First up is the gorgeous By Any Means Necessary, a book recommended to me by LGBTQReads for my June subscription! On Torrey’s first day as a college freshman, he gets a call that his uncle’s bee farm is foreclosing and he must decide whether to save the farm or escape his neighbourhood. As well as being a reflection of class, culture and gentrification, this book also has a BEE FARM and as I love bees, I am so keen to get to this asap.

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

I have been meaning to read this book for so long, it’s been on my TBR for a year and I still haven’t got to it: I am the worst. The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling is all about exploring family, culture and mental illness as Anna’s mother’s depression worsens.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

This cover is half pastel, that counts right? Yaa Gyasi is the author of Homegoing which has seen a ton of praise and I’m so ashamed to say I still haven’t read. Her second novel is about a Ghanian family in Alabama. It follows Gifty, who is studying neuroscience and researching depression and addiction. She’s trying to find an answer to the suffering in her family: her brother overdosed on heroin, and her mother is suicidal. But as she delves into the hard sciences for an answer, she also looks to her childhood faith.

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour

We have a new Nina Lacour book coming later this year and I’m rather excited, especially when the cover looks that good. Watch Over Me is another Lacour book diving deep into lonliness, as Mila ages out of the foster care system and is offered a job on a farm where she and the other residents learn to overcome their past trauma.

The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller

My only middle grade on the list, this is a genre I really haven’t explored at all. But The Republic of Birds looks really fun and the cover is so stunningly detailed I need to read it. This is a fantasy inspired by Russian folklore about a girl who can use magic to see into maps and has to travel to the Republic of Birds after her sister is kidnapped by the bird army.

That’s it for this week. Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you thought of them in the comments!

My top 10 books read in 2020 so far

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Hi everyone,

We’re halfway through the year, I’m 55 books down and I thought I’d have a closer look at my favourite books of the year so far. As usual, I struggled immensely to actually narrow down this list to just 10 books. I feel like I have so many others I loved just as much as the ones on this list. Alas. I stuck to my 10 book limit for pretty much the first time ever so clearly my decision making is improving in 2020. Although to make life easier for myself, I decided to not feature any of the three incredible sequels I read this year (so apologies to The Kingdom of Copper, The Dragon Republic and Jade War, you were all fucking amazing but this saves me three spots on this list!)

So without further ado, in no particular order, here’s my top 10 favourite books of 2020 so far! To no one’s shock, it is a sea of fantasy…

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If you read my mid year freakout book tag post, it’ll be no surprise to see this book here as I said this book, along with Felix Ever After, are my favourite books of the year. Mexican Gothic just absolutely blew me away. I went in having just read one of Moreno-Garcia’s other novels (Untamed Shore) which I wasn’t the biggest fan of so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. And then I just about died at how creepy and suspenseful this book is. This gothic horror is just so fucked up and I love everything about it. Set high in the mountains of Mexico at a musty manor called High Place, Noemí has come to figure out why her cousin, Catalina, thinks her husband is trying to kill her. Noemí is an absolutely wonderful character, I fell in love with her confident and sassy voice from the very first page and was drawn into this tense and horrifying world at High Place that I couldn’t stop thinking about for weeks! You can read my full review here.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

The one and only contemporary in a sea of fantasy, sci fi and horror, Felix Ever After must surely be something special to have made it here. Felix Ever After follows Felix, a queer Black trans demiboy as he decides to catfish his bully to get revenge. What really makes Felix Ever After special is the deep and meaningful exploration of gender that Felix goes through. I didn’t realise going in that there would be such a focus on questioning your identity and exploring the fluidity of gender, and this part of the story was just so incredibly powerful and validating. It’s a dark story at times, with Felix bullied using his deadname and old photos of him before he transitioned, but I loved that Felix Ever After confronted the transphobia and other hate not just from outsiders but also from those within the queer community. This book was just so so special and validating and I hope it reaches everyone who needs this book. You can read my full review here.

The Unspoken Name by A.K Larkwood

I want to sing and dance my praises for The Unspoken Name forever. I wanted to reread this book from the second I finished the last page. This book is such an expansive and impressive world full of necromancy, powerful gods, wizards, portal magic, flying ships, lesbian orcs, it has so much to take in and yet Larkwood was able to combine so many different elements into one incredible fantasy book. The Unspoken Name follows Csorwe, an orc priestess, as she’s due to be sacrificed to her god. But instead of dying for her god, Csorwe runs away with a wizard who trains her to be his sword. She is sent out to find an artifact for the wizard that claims to hold incredible magical knowledge and is drawn into a mammoth adventure to hunt down this artifact. This book has such an imaginative and immersive world but the characters were what really shone. This book is definitely a more slowburn, character driven fantasy but I think that’s why I loved it so much. You can read my full review here.

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J Hackwith

The Library of the Unwritten is probably the fantasy that stands out the most among this list, and that’s because it has a completely different vibe and attitude to every other book on this list: this book is just pure fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book as I hadn’t heard too many people talking about it, but I expected something similar to the dark, gritty, heavy on the social commentary SFF seen on the rest of this list. But this book was so so different to that. Instead, this was filled with so much fun and humour and joy, so much sass and snark. It resulted in one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of my life because I was just so in love and so happy reading this book. It follows Claire, the librarian in Hell’s Library, a library where all unwritten manuscripts are housed. But when a character escapes from a book, Claire has to track them down and ends up in the middle of a war between heaven and hell. It’s the book about a pansexual librarian, angels and demons that you’ve always dreamed of! You can read my full review here.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea was everything I dreamed of and more, and of Morgenstern’s two books, this one is my favourite. It is a love letter to books and stories and reading with the most beautiful, flowing, poetic prose. It follows Zachary who reads a book and is surprised to see it’s about him. But pages have been ripped out so he doesn’t know how his story ends so he begins a quest to track down the origins of this book and ends up walking through a door to a magical library. This book was just so special, I was utterly entranced as I read it. It is so full of love for mythology and fantasy and storytelling, and that moment when you start to realise how the paths of all the different characters connect together is just one of the most satisfying moments possible. You can read my full review here.

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

This book is my most recent read and it is spectacular! It doesn’t release until August 4 so I beg you all to go pre-order this one because it is breathtaking. The Space Between Worlds is a science fiction novel set in a world where the multiverse exists and can be travelled to. But there’s a catch: you can only travel to another universe if the parallel you is dead. That makes Cara very important, because of the 372 universes that can be reached, the other Cara is only left alive on 8 of them. Cara’s job is to travel to the other multiverses to get information on their world. But when one of the other Cara’s is killed in mysterious circumstances, she is drawn into a dangerous secret that could endanger the whole multiverse. The worldbuilding in The Space Between Worlds is exceptional – Johnson manages to subtly challenge and confront issues from climate change to gun violence in the way she builds this world. But what I found most powerful was the stark depiction of trauma that Cara has gone through and the way she learns across the book how to use her history and her pain to change the world. I’ll have a full review for this one coming on the day it releases so check back for my full thoughts in August!

The Extraordinaries by T.J Klune

It took me so long to decide which Klune book to feature on this post, The Extraordinaries or The House in the Cerulean Sea. But in the end, I chose this one, because I had the most fun reading this, I laughed so much (and then I sobbed so much, because duh, it’s a Klune book). The Extraordinaries follows Nick, an ordinary teen with ADHD who is obsessed with the real life superheros (Extraordinaries) PyroStorm and Shadow Star. After an accidental run in with Shadow Star, Nick decides he’s going to do whatever it takes to become extraordinary himself. I really don’t know how Klune does it, everything he writes has me in absolute stitches of laughter and then I’m just sobbing. This book is so full of joy and heart and is all about learning to see yourself as extraordinary even if you aren’t a superhero. I’ll have a full review coming next week when this book releases!

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Historical fiction sapphics are just killing it right now, and this is my favourite one I’ve read so far this year. The Mercies is inspired by the real life Vardø storm in the 1600s, a storm which wiped out all the men in a small fishing village in Norway. With the men dead, the women of the town are left to fend for themselves, growing independent and fighting for power amongst themselves, until a new commissioner is appointed to bring the town back in line, a witchhunter from Scotland. This commissioner is a terrifying figure and one who will manipulate these women against each other to tear the town apart. This book had such a gothic feel to it, which I absolutely loved. The setting is so haunting and icy and is the perfect mirror to these women turning on each other and destroying their friends. Alongside this witch hunt, we see a beautiful friendship and romance blossom between Maren, a villager, and Ursa, the new commissioner’s wife. Their relationship was so soft and so delicate and touching, and created such a warmth in this dark novel. You can read my full review here.

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K. Villoso

All hail the Bitch Queen. This book has the accolade of being my first read of 2020 and it’s still sitting strong as one of my favourite books of the year! This epic fantasy is an absolute whirlwind of action and a dark and ruthless show of politics, following Talyien, the Bitch Queen, as she chases her long lost husband across the sea to bring him back to the country to prevent war. Talyien is one of the most fantastic characters in fantasy, so complex and morally grey, but so bloody stubborn and strong, she is somehow able to keep fighting despite everything that happens to her (which is a lot). It blows my mind that more people aren’t talking about this book, it somehow has under 1000 ratings on Goodreads so what are you all doing, please go out and read this brilliant fantasy! Sadly, I don’t have a full review for this one as I read whilst I was still on holiday and resting but just know that it’s brilliant and has one of the best female characters in fantasy.

The City We Became by N.K Jemisin

I am unsurprised to see a N.K Jemisin book on this list because she’s one of my favourite authors and as soon as I knew she had a new book coming, I knew I would love it. The City We Became is this incredibly imaginative and creative novel where cities have souls. Six individuals in New York wake up one day with the soul of their boroughs inside them. They must find each other and fight against an evil from another world that threatens to destroy the entire city. The City We Became revolves around New York, and as someone who is not American and has only ever spent 5 days in New York, I was completely enthralled by this city Jemisin writes about. But Jemisin also manages to parallel this inventive world with social commentary on our current environment, and showcases the insidious way racism can destroy the world. This book is just phenomenal! You can read my full review here.

And that’s my favourite 10 reads of 2020 so far! Are any of these books favourites of you as well? What are your favourite books of 2020?

Book review: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Rach @ Anxious Nachos2 Comments

Title: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Publisher: Flatiron books

Publication date: 7 July 2020

Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy

Page extent: 336 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: A captivating and utterly original fairy tale about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, and who discovers what power might lie in such a curse…

There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it’s not just a story.

As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn’t afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison.

Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming…human or demon. Princess or monster.

Fairytale retelling? Check. Descent to villainy? Check. Sapphic slowburn romance? Check. Monster girlfriend? Double check. Girl, Serpent, Thorn was every bit as magical as I wanted it to be. It has such a wonderful fairytale vibe to it, with picturesque forests and carved out mountains, and I want nothing more than to read f/f villain monster romances forever.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is inspired by Persian mythology and tells the story of Soruya, a girl poisonous to the touch. To protect her family’s reputation, she has been hidden away, alone and untouched, for all her life. When a young man begins to see who she is beyond her poisonous skin, she vows to rid herself of her curse, no matter the cost.

One of my favourite parts of this story was discovering all the mythology. Bashardoust goes into a detailed authors note at the end of the book to speak about her inspiration, but throughout the book, I just loved getting to see more of the mythology of Persia. From the creation stories, inspired by Zoroastrian beliefs, to the divs, demons who want to destroy the world, the world is magical. I would’ve loved to hear even more about the creation story and the origins of the divs, but that’s probably because I came to this book after The Unspoken Name, a large fantasy book that has intricately detailed religion and hence am dying to read some more books like that.

I found Soruya’s character particularly well written. There’s something so familiar about her. I think we have all felt that edge of resentment, have felt the awful emotions and thoughts it evokes in you, and so I found her incredibly relatable and understandable. Her actions made so much sense. And that made it very easy to root for her (whether you want her to be good or evil!) My favourite character however was Parvaneh. I have a thing for wings okay. I just loved her energy! She seems at times so mischievious (trying to work up Soruya’s anger), but also so full of regrets for her past. Her relationship development with Soruya is brilliant – I loved how both are so hesitant and yet so passionate at the same time. Both have been trapped by their circumstances, but together they’re able to explore freedom and just, this is the f/f content we need and we deserve!!! Bear in mind this is VERY slowburn. For the first 50% of the novel I was literally that John Travolta gif going WHERE IS THE F/F I WAS PROMISED.

The only real issue I had with this book was the enemy. I found their reveal abundantly obvious from literally their first moment on page and so I spent half of the novel going are we seriously meant to belief this?! I wish it had been so much less obvious because if it had been a shock, that would have been one of the most epic plot twists off all time. Sadly, because of this, I did feel a bit meh about the first half of the novel because I was dying to just get the reveal over with already. But after it happens, everything picks up and the story starts speeding forward with lots of drama and action and plenty of naive, foolish plans from Soruya.

Most of all, I loved the change in Soruya and her growth from a girl terrified of hurting someone with her poison, to someone who embraces her differences and learns to see their power. Sapphic goddess win. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a wonderful YA fantasy, and seriously, I hope Bashardoust writes more monster girlfriends in future, cause this shit is good.

Mid Year Freakout book tag!

Rach @ Anxious Nachos8 Comments

Hi everyone,

It’s time for one of my favourite posts of the year: the mid year freakout book tag! Where we talk about our reading so far, our favourites and our….not so favourites, as well as what we’re looking forward to for the rest of the year. Thank you so much to Laura @ The Book Corps for tagging me!

1. Best book you read so far in 2020

So obviously I couldn’t choose just one (duh) so I have two very different books that I couldn’t choose between because they are just too different.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This book released 6 days ago and I still haven’t got my delivery notification which is making me really sad. I just want to see how beautiful this cover is in person! Mexican Gothic is a fucked up gothic horror that just about killed me. It follows Noemí after she recieves a letter from her cousin saying her husband is trying to kill her. Noemí travels to the distant High Place, an old, musty mansion in the mountains to find out what’s going on. And trust me, there is some fucked up shit going on.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

I read this book last month and it absolutely blew me away. I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t realise it would be quite this incredible. The way Felix Ever After talks about questioning your identity, the way it validated everything I feel was just amazing. Felix Ever After is a YA contemporary following trans demiboy Felix when he decides to catfish his bully for revenge.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2020

I haven’t read many sequels so far this year, but the three I did read were all so so epic and amazing and continued some of my favourite adult fantasy series: Jade War by Fonda Lee, The Kingdom of Copper by S.A Chakraborty and The Dragon Republic by R.F Kuang. But if I had to choose my favourite of these, I think The Dragon Republic wins! That book absolutely blew me away and killed me in all the best ways. The Poppy War was so epic and then this was just as epic and possibly even a little more so?!?! Either way, I’m absolutely dying to read the last book in each of these trilogies.

3. New releases you haven’t read yet but want to

Ummmmmmmm SO MANY. I feel like I’m very behind on new releases because I keep getting distracted by books from the library so I think I might need to stop getting library books for the next few months so I can just focus on my physical TBR. Here are a few new releases I’m most excited to read!

4. Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year

I’ll have a post coming in a few weeks with my top 10 releases for the second half of the year (if I ever manage to actually narrow it down to 10 books). But if I had to pick just one….

Believe me, no one is more shocked than me that I didn’t pick an adult fantasy.

5. Biggest disappointment

I’ve had several books this year that have really disappointed me, but I chose these four as these were the ones I was most excited for and thus the disappointment was greatest. These are all queer YA fantasies that everyone seemed to rave about. This might be more down to me on the outs with YA fantasy rather than these books, but as epic and brilliant as I think the concepts behind each of these books were (they all sounded so amazing?!), I thought the writing was really bad in all of these.

6. Biggest surprise

The Library of the Unwritten is definitely my biggest surprise of the year. I hadn’t heard much about this book before I picked it up at the library, so I went in thinking I’d probably get a decent adult fantasy but nothing hugely special. And fuck me, I was so wrong. This book is incredible?! Not only did it have the first on page pansexual rep I’ve ever read (and the fact it was a fierce librarian from hell was so validating), it’s also one of the most fun filled fantasies I’ve ever read. It was so full of snark and sass and made for one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I’ve had all year.

7. Favourite new author

I’ve found several authors this year whose books absolutely blew me away and I’m going to be following everything they write: A.K Larkwood (of The Unspoken Name) and A.J Hackwith (of The Library of the Unwritten) are two who come straight to mind. But I think for this question I have to say the author whose first book I read at the end of December last year, and 6 months later I’ve now read several others and have many more lined up: T.J Klune! I read Wolfsong in December, and have followed it up with his Tor releases this year The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries, but I have many more of his backlist to make my way through!

8. Newest fictional crush

I mean it’s not exactly ‘new’, but since I read The Dragon Republic this year, I’m counting it! Rin from R.F Kuang’s The Poppy War series is just such an incredible, badass, morally grey mess and I love her.

9. Newest favourite character

Okay so I when I started writing this post, I wasn’t going to mention any books coming out in the later half of this year so I could focus on ones I actually read in the first half of the year, but then I reached this question and I’m sorry but I can’t help it so you’re getting a book releasing in August that I finished about 8 hours ago because THIS BOOK. My newest favourite character is Cara from The Space Between Worlds. God, I don’t even know how to put into words how amazing she is, and how she completely wrecked me. This scifi better fucking get the praise it deserves when it releases because it is so bloody good.

10. A book that made you cry

I mean, technically this is also a book that releases in the second half of the year, but at least I actually read this one in the first half. I don’t think Klune fans will be at all surprised to see one of his books for this question. Klune writes in a way that literally has me laughing on one page and then sobbing the next and The Extraordinaries was no different. It’s a book about a boy who wants to be a superhero and will do anything to make himself extraordinary.

11. A book that made you happy

And to prove exactly what I just said, here’s another Klune book in the section that made me happy! You could honestly just switch these two books back and forth, because they are both so happy and joyful but also made me sob. The House in the Cerulean Sea really exemplifies the found family trope and follows Linus, a caseworker for magical youth, who is sent to audit a faraway orphanage where very powerful magical children stay.

12. The most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is absolutely gorgeous. Not only does it have that intricately detailed cover, but I also snagged a special edition of this book with stunning endpapers and sprayed edges and it is just so beautiful.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

So, so, so many. The ones I’ve chosen to highlight here are ones I’m either:

a) particularly excited for but know it’s going to be highly painful and thus am scared to read (The Empire of Gold)

b) books that I’ve had on my TBR for aaaaages but have finally picked up a copy of (The Secret History and Empire of Sand)

c) books that have been on my physical TBR for over a year (my bad, I’m so sorry The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling & The Candle in the Flame, but this is your year!)

And that’s my year so far! I’m hope you’re having a good reading year. Anyone who wants to do this tag, consider yourself tagged!

July TBR and Pop Culture Readathon!

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Hi everyone,

We are halfway through the longest year in existence. After a terrible reading month in June, I decided to do a couple of things to whizz up my reading this month.

  1. I asked my partner to look through all the books on my TBR and pick 5 for me to read this month. This was so much fun: he enjoyed himself, less decision fatigue for me, it’s a win win! So much so, we decided do this again in a couple of months because it was great.
  2. Secondly, I decided to join in with the Pop Culture readathon! This readathon looks pretty much the most fun ever. This round is looking at 90s films, there’s bingo boards and lots and lots of nostalgic prompts to get me enthusiastic about reading.

So today I’m going to take you through my fucking excellent TBR for this month. Because seriously, looking at my bingo board with all the covers laid out, I am so excited to get started!

Let’s make my Not A Reader partner pick books for me to read based on their covers

Since he’s an absolute legend, he even wrote me a mini essay on his process, narrowing it down to a top 10, and why he picked the final five!

Method

Look at all unread books, pick a rough set based on their covers. From that set, thin the herd again based on covers, down to 10. (I did also base it on general first impressions as opposed to covers alone.) Finally, read the blurbs of the final 10 and make the choice from there!

The top 10

Docile by K.M Sparza: This one I cheated a little with. I didn’t base it on the cover, I based it on the fact that I know the plot synopsis for this book and it sounds really interesting. I’m into post-apocalyptic-the-future-is-shit stories.

Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen: Very yellow (I imagine you also like it because it’s yellow). I like the art style of the people, as well as the yellow and the boldness of the title.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall: The ship caught my eye at first, but the more I look at the cover, the more I find. The people on the deck, the mermaid in the water, the big face below the surface, the face in the sky to the top left of the ship (in that order).

Let’s Call it a Doomsday by Katie Henry – Very yellow, again. The weirdness of the can caught my eye, as well as the yellow. On top of that, as I said, I’m into doomsday-ish stuff so it ticks all the boxes for first impressions.

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim: Dumplings. I really think that’s all I was going for here? We both love dumplings, what could be better?

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: I really like the deep purple background of the cover. On top of that, the cards give me board games vibes. Finally, the “hot ex” on the cover has the dark, unstable look that I have a bit of a penchant for.

Slay by Brittney Morris: Again, the purple colours got me. I really like the spot gloss for its visual and also for the fact that it’s clearly meant to hint at some kinda techy/cybery/computery thing and that’s my jam.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley: The gold and the lime green go really well on top of the black. I also really like the ‘lil octopus and the fact that the shape of the watch is cut out. This was a purely visual one.

The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska: Again, shiny gold and black cover got me. The first thing I thought of when I saw the phases of the moon was that they were planets and that therefore this was a space-y book. However, from looking at it now, and reconsidering the title, I reckon it’s instead a nautical theme. Still a good cover though.

The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke: I like spy stuff. The phrase “nuclear arms race” drew me in and now I’m looking again, the combination of magic and the cold war setting (I’m assuming?) sounds really interesting.

And the winners were….

Docile by K.M Sparza: This sounds super dark and really interesting. I enjoy stories about dark possible futures that are perhaps not so far off our current trajectory.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall: Pirates are good fun and I know you like pirates. I’m hoping for you that there are lots of people dressed in naval outfits.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: AS I SUSPECTED from the cover, the hot ex is very my type given that she’s also a witch. The idea of a real witch catering to Wiccans and tourists who’ve come for witch-trial history is amusing and who can resist a “deadly Blood Witch”.

Slay by Brittney Morris: This one sounds awesome. It’s a hidden video game world that starts to crash into reality when someone gets murdered – then people try to destroy the video game world! And the MC is a software developer! Very cool.

The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska: The regular demand of a sacrifice to the sea makes for a dark, dystopian world where people are willing to kill “for the greater good”. That’s always a good starting point for me. Then there’s the MC getting involved with the queen to save her BF and then falling in love with the queen! Good fun.

Pop Culture Readathon

So if you haven’t heard about this readathon, I totally encourage you to look at their twitter (@PopCReadathon), they have a ton of info and it’s all SO COOL.

To summarise, this round is based on 90s films. There are four bingo boards created, with a prompt in each square linked to a 90s film. The boards are all themed around: Teen Dreams, Thrill Rides, Family Affairs and The Adult Table. You can try to get bingo (four in a row) on any board, all boards, try complete the boards, pretty much whatever you like! So obviously I chose the Thrill Rides board because it has the biconic film The Mummy, aka one of my favourite ever films.

So I took the five books Gavin picked for me and matched them to prompts on my Thrill Ride bingo board. I then also picked a book for all the other prompts because it got me this pretty image (even though I know there’s no chance I’ll read them all!) So here’s my final TBR for the month! There’s a few I have where the link between the prompt is perhaps a little tenuous, or based on guesswork from me, but I’m so excited to read all these books! I think this one of my most exciting TBRs in several months.

Prompts

Nancy Downs – book with a power hungry character: Docile by K.M Sparza

Jurassic Park – book set on an island/coast/body of water: The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

“What’s your favourite scary movie?” – read a book by one of your favourite authors: The Lightning-Struck Heart by T.J Klune

The Faculty – read a dark academia book: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

I Know What You Did Last Summer – read a 2019 release: These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

“Everybody’s a suspect” – read a mystery or thriller: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – chosen one trope: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot

Calling the Corners – read a book with one of the four elements: The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska

“It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus” – read a book that includes magic: Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

“Light as a feather, stiff as a board” – book with a creepy or haunted feel: Silver in the Woods by Emily Tesh

Candyman – book with supernatural creatures: The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang

Scream 2 – read a book in your second favourite genre: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Sidney Prescott – book with a badass main character: Slay by Brittney Morris

The Mummy – book with the undead: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

Blair Witch Project – book with a black or white cover: Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

Practical Magic – book that involves a curse: The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke

So that’s my TBR for this month! Is anyone else doing the Pop Culture readathon (or any other readathons!) this month?

Book review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

Title: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Publisher: Del Rey

Publication date: 30 June 2020

Genre: Adult | Horror | Gothic

Page extent: 352 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic artistocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . .

From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico—“fans of classic novels like Jane Eyre and Rebecca are in for a suspenseful treat” (PopSugar).

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind. 

Mexican Gothic is the kind of book that will haunt you for years to come. It’s the kind of book that will make you yearn for a feeling like that again. It is dark, it is twisted and it is so entralling and bewitching that it is hard to put into words. It’s the book I will spend all year thrusting desperately into people’s hands while screaming READ IT. It’s a book I wish I could read for the first time again, because the horror and shock and awe was captivating.

So what’s it all about? Noemí receives a frantic and odd letter from her cousin, Catalina, full of frantic pleas to help her as she thinks her husband is trying to poison her. In a bid to find out exactly what the fuck is going on Noemí travels to High Place, the mysterious mansion where Catalina now lives with her husband and his odd, dysfunctional family. In this damp and mould covered house, Noemí is met with fierce disapproval and downright hatred from all except one, Francis, who she enlists in her attempts to work out what’s going on.

And boy, it’s a fucking ride. This book is so delightfully twisted and creepy. At first glance, this evokes the feelings of classic gothic novels: the fog, the house, the wilderness encroaching on the humanity and living. But Moreno-Garcia has brought an entirely modern twist to the genre, blending elements of the supernatural with science and academia, creating a book that is both a love story to classic gothic and embraces modern dark academia. In daylight, it is a gothic mystery, but at night, through Noemí’s disturbing and dark dreams, we see the other side of this novel. Moreno-Garcia’s language is stunningly horrific and distburbing – at many points it makes you sick to the stomach, and you dare not turn your eyes away from the page so desperate to see what the everloving fuck is happening.

And let’s talk about Noemí herself! Some books you read just the first few pages and know it’s going to be bloody excellent. Mexican Gothic was one of those for me. And it’s usually down to the ease and strength of the character voice. Noemí really shone in this novel. Her voice was so clear and immediately engrossing: she is both capable and independent, flirty and kind. And we see this strong, capable woman descend into horrors across the book and it is the strength of Noemí’s voice at the start which makes me care so much for her and be so passionate and mad as this house destroys such a wonderful character.

The other characters we meet are:

  • Virgil: the new husband to Noemí’s cousin, cold and calculating and cruel, with a vicious grasp on Noemí, able to spark deep rage and passion in her
  • Florence: an Aunt who runs the household, even more unfeeling than Virgil, strict beyond measure and deeply unkind
  • Howard: the patriarch of the family, slowly dying and around whom all revolve in this household
  • Catalina: Noemí’s cousin who frantically wrote a letter to save herself, and seems constantly seesawing between peaceful and well, and utterly mad
  • Francis: the one individual in the house who dares to be kind to Noemí, sweet and unsure but ruled with an iron fist by Howard, Florence, and Virgil.

These characters revolve around each other in an uneasy fashion, lies around every corner and horrors hiding in the dark, mould invested mansion of High Place. Mexican Gothic is a twisted, fucked up book that will surprise you at every turn. It combines all my favourite elements of gothic suspense but brings the genre into the modern age with glimpses of horror and dark academia. It is the book I am going to gift to pretty much everyone I know because I adored this so much. It gave me disturbing dreams, my heart raced as I read, and I never wanted to stop reading it.