I absolutely loved this book! Brilliant, creative, beautifully written! I can't stop talking about this one.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this gothic horror eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

This be fifth book I have read by the author and me fifth five star read.  I have said before that what I find amazing about all of the author's books is that they feel so different from each other.  The first was a vampire story with stunning vampire culture and history.  The second was a Mayan fairy-tale set during the Jazz age in Mexico.  The third was a romance with a hint of fantasy set in the Belle Époque era.  The fourth was a coming-of-age thriller set in Baja California in 1979.  This was a gothic horror set in 1950s Mexico.  I adored this book!

The story follows Noemí, a 20-something socialite whose night out partying is cut short when her father receives a strange message from a newly married cousin.  Noemí is sent on a mission, to find out what is going on with her cousin, not only because her father cares about family, but also to avoid a scandal.

To quote Matey Imyril's excellent teaser:

"Moreno-Garcia wears her inspirations proudly: cousin Catalina is an orphan, who grew up telling Noemí fairytales and reading the Brontës. Catalina is a hopeless romantic: of course she fell for the handsome Englishman with the tragic family history and a remote estate decaying in the mountains. Why yes, it does look an awful lot like he married her for her money. And now she thinks Virgil Doyle is trying to poison her, and Noemí’s father can’t decide if Catalina’s got psychological problems or a bad case of melodrama."

Sounds excellently gothic right?  Well of course strong-willed and independent Noemí is going to go and save the day.  Of course everything goes wrong and Noemí is in over her head from the moment she arrives at High Place estate.  And of course, Silvia Moreno-Garcia makes me love every delicious second and every shiver that runs up me spine.

The atmosphere of this novel is brilliant and wonderful.  The modern city girl goes to an estate where there is no electricity, no conversation allowed at dinner, and old-fashioned rules about proper decorum.  The house is falling apart and seems almost sinister.  The gothic elements are so nicely swirled with the more modern viewpoints that I kept second guessing many of the mysteries of the house and its inhabitants.  I didn't really love Noemí but she still didn't deserve the High Place.  And of course the ending was bittersweet but also kinda perfect.

I absolutely love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and can't wait for whatever she writes next.  Arrr!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a lovely addition to the Gothic Horror genre. Moreno-Garcia seamlessly weaves together a dark, haunting, atmospheric tale that kept me thoroughly engaged. The plot was exciting and kept me intrigued. While there was some romance, the main focus is on the mystery of the house and family, which I enjoyed. Overall a gripping, atmospheric horror story that I would recommend!
Trigger warnings for the book: rape, gaslighting.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia will be published on 30 June 2020.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia #MexicanGothic #SilviaMorenoGarcia #NetGalley #RandomHousePublishing

This book took me for a ride. Thrill! I got spooked too!
I kind of liked the plot, but since I am not into gruesome slaughtering that much - this took a lot of fun from my reading.
It was a great title, good book but a HORROR category for sure!

This novel is a true gothic tale! At times it got super spooky but it always maintained a level of suspense that added to the experience. There were some serious themes explored within these pages but it wasn't over the top. I did feel a little disappointed when the characters were speaking Spanish that it was just mentioned that they had switched languages but no Spanish was actually written out. I understand that it is meant to be accessible to all English speakers but it definitely took me out of the story and it felt forced and disingenuous. This did not ruin the novel for me as the story was very engaging.

Haunted house stories are great because you’re lured in with the promise of a lavish home and maybe some romance with polite homeowners, and then things go down into a trash bin faster and more strangely than expected. When Noemí received a strange letter from her cousin Catalina, she goes to High Place in an old mining town Pachuca. Eerie visions and awkward encounters unfold, spiraling into eldritch horror.

The atmosphere in this book is simply perfect. The descriptions are lush, and the reader feels the same amount of dread as Noemí as she uncovers unexpected secrets and peels back the many layers wrapped around Catalina’s illness. There is a perfect sense of time too. The book takes place in 1950s in Mexico, and the little details about pop culture really help put together that sense of setting, even if the plot beats are familiar to those who enjoy gothic haunted house tales.

Noemí is also the perfect protagonist for this story. She is a socialite and never loses that lively air around her, even as things get progressively worse around her. She has a very strong sense of self-preservation and empathy for those she interacts with. When she fights, she fights and I loved that tenacity about her.

A perfect gothic haunted house story that doesn’t take place in Victorian England.

The nitty-gritty: A creeping dread infuses this atmospheric Gothic tale of diabolical family secrets.

“The walls speak to me. They tell me secrets. Don’t listen to them, press your hands against your ears, Noemí. There are ghosts. They’re real. You’ll see them eventually.”

One of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s strengths is her ability to create an atmospheric story, and Mexican Gothic has atmosphere in spades. The title says it all: this is a story that is set in Mexico in the 1950s, about an old, creepy mansion and the strange family who lives there. The story practically drips with Gothic sensibility, and if you love stories like Wuthering Heights or Rebecca, then you’ll love this as well.

The story centers around Noemí Taboada, a young socialite from Mexico City whose carefree life is upended when she receives a strange letter from her cousin Catalina. Catalina, newly married to a man named Virgil Doyle, now lives in the remote town of El Triunfo in a decaying mansion called High House, named for its location high atop a forested mountain. Catalina begs Noemí for help, claiming that her husband is trying to poison her. The rambling letter doesn’t make much sense, but Noemí’s mother urges her to go, suggesting that Catalina might need psychiatric help.

Noemí reluctantly agrees, and is shocked to discover High House is a crumbling, run-down mansion with peeling paint and moldy wallpaper and barely any electricity at all. Even worse, she’s given a chilly reception by the matriarch of the house, a stern woman named Florence who doesn’t seem to want her there. Soon she meets the rest of the household, including a handful of silent house staff, the handsome but unsettling Virgil (Catalina’s new husband), a mild-mannered man named Francis, and the head of the house himself, Howard Doyle, who appears to be on his deathbed. Noemí is barely able to see Catalina at all, as Florence insists she’s ill and needs her rest. In fact, the entire household seems to be trying to keep them apart, and it isn’t long before Noemí realizes something strange is going on.

Noemí’s unease grows when she starts to have weird dreams of pulsing shapes in the wallpaper, hears a voice whispering in her ear, and even finds herself sleepwalking. When an herbalist in town tells her about a long ago tragedy and a family curse, Noemí knows she must do everything in her power to get herself and Catalina out, despite Catalina’s insistence that “no one ever leaves High House.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s imagery is simply amazing, and I could literally feel the moldering walls of High House closing in around me. The claustrophobic, Victorian atmosphere is almost cloying, it’s so vivid: the dark corners of the rooms lit only by a weak oil lamp, the mold spots on the old wallpaper, the fierce winter storms raging outside, and the weight of dark family secrets pressing down on poor Noemí and Catalina. I once made a reading list of books that revolve around fungi and mushrooms, and I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to add Mexican Gothic to that list! Yes, mushrooms play a big and extremely disturbing part in this story. I’ve come to realize that mushrooms in speculative fiction are never a good thing…And if you love little historic tidbits in your horror stories, how about the fact that some wallpapers used in Victorian houses contained traces of arsenic and were actually poisoning the air? Yeah, I loved that too.

I thought Noemí was a great character, even more so because of the 1950s time period she's been thrust into. She’s a rich, spoiled socialite who seems flighty, given that her life revolves around making sure her lipstick color matches her shoes and attending the best parties in Mexico City. But Noemí has some wonderful layers to her, despite her penchant for flirting. She has a burning desire to learn and wants to become an anthropologist, and she’s smart as a whip. And since it is the 1950s, her mother scoffs at this and is pushing her to get married. But Noemí is trying to buck tradition and the sexist stereotypes that women faced during that time period, and she does a fair job of it. And yes, there’s a hint of romance between her and Francis, but trust me, it’s only a hint. I also loved how protective and caring Noemí is for Catalina, who really is in over her head and needs help desperately.

And boy does this story go to some dark places! There are a couple of horrible characters who made me shudder, and the most loathsome one, in my opinion, is Virgil Doyle. Virgil is the worst kind of predator. He’s extremely good looking and charismatic, yet he has an underlying evil about him that can’t be ignored. There is one scene in particular where he tries to rape Noemí—or is it all just a dream? Sometimes it’s hard to tell with this book. Nevertheless, all the trigger warnings for Virgil, just saying! The last quarter of the story turns very weird when Noemí (along with the reader) finally connects all the dots, so expect some sudden bursts of violence near the end, which honestly didn’t seem out of place at all.

I really enjoyed this story, and although it’s not my favorite Moreno-Garcia (that honor still goes to Certain Dark Things), this is one of her best books, in my opinion.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

The author of the novels Gods of Jade and Shadow, Certain Dark Things, and Untamed Shore returns with an enchanting twist on a classic genre. 

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic is a must-read gothic novel that is perfectly suited on any bookshelf beside Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. 

"Open your eyes. "

Noemí Taboada is living her best life in Mexico City — attending cocktail parties, dating handsome men she discards after two dates, and flittering between her interests in history, theater, and anthropology — until her life is put on hold when a concerning letter arrives from her cousin Catalina. At her father’s request, Noemí ventures into the quiet Mexican countryside of El Triunfo to the foreboding mansion where Catalina lives with her husband’s family. The High Place is every bit the decaying mansion befitting of a gothic tale and its inhabitants are just as sinister as you might imagine. 

"He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me."

The story starts off slow, mirroring Noemí’s descent into the mystery surrounding Catalina’s illness. A mystery that is so tightly wound into the very fibers of the house and its inhabitants, that even Noemí is at risk of being ensnared.

The cast of characters feels like the perfect union of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The patriarch of the family, Harold Doyle, is a frail yet sinister old man who unnerves Noemí with his thinly-veiled colorism and interest in eugenics; his son Virgil Doyle, Catalina’s husband, is a charming blue-eyed man with his own sinister interests; Florence Doyle, the strict and cynical caretaker of High Place; and Francis Doyle, Florence’s son who is at odds with everything his family is and proves to be Noemí’s only ally. 

Once Noemí’s nightmares become a reality, Mexican Gothic reaches its stride — going full tilt into the horror genre. Moreno-Garcia’s descriptions of the twisted secrets of the Doyle family will leave any reader in a trance. The allusions to fairy tales, careful foreshadowing, and blink-and-you-miss-it (skim-and-you miss-it?) clues makes it a page-turner. 

Moreno-Garcia brings a vibrant twist to the gothic genre with ominous letters, mist-filled cemeteries, arranged marriages, and a savvy young woman faced with a terrifying mystery tied to a generational trauma. In Mexican Gothic the true horror is European colonialism and the sickness that festers beneath their feet. 

Your Money Geek thanks Del Rey Publishing & NetGallery for providing us with a free copy for review. Pick up your copy of Mexican Gothic today!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a fantastically eerie and suspenseful gothic horror. I'm so lucky to have been approved for this new standalone novel from this incredibly talented author. She's quickly becoming a favorite of mine and this might be her best yet. Gothic horror is one of my favorite genres, so I always jump at the chance to pick one up and this novel does it so well. I particularly enjoyed just how old-school it feels. The story is positively dripping with atmosphere and the characters feel all too real. Plus, it's legitimately terrifying and also a bit of a tearjerker. In short, it's kind of a roller coaster in the best way. The only thing that kept me from giving this a full five stars is that it's very slow to get started, but looking back the slow-burn of the building sense of unease and dread works very well for it in the long run. Overall, I highly recommend this if you enjoyed Rebecca, Jane Eyre, The Yellow Wall-Paper, and The Haunting of Hill House.

Mexican Gothic was one of those books where I didn't really know what to expect from it, but it still somehow managed to take me by surprise by how completely weird, creepy, and unpredictable it was--and I mean all of that in the best way possible! I read Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow and was really impressed by her beautiful prose and sort of dark fairy tale/folklore style of storytelling that is present in Mexican Gothic as well.

Noemi is not the typical character that you might expect in this book. She cares for her cousin, but at the same time she also cares about her own life and doesn't exactly want to be spending her time in the dank, dark, and secluded High Place where her cousin and her husband, as well as some of her cousin's husband's family members, currently live. Noemi is an outgoing woman who is always the life of the party and has a confidence about her that I can only dream to one day have. She initially visits to appease her father and then return home, but she soon realizes that there is more going on at High Place that she could have imagined and opts to stay to try to find out what is going on and to make sure that her cousin is safe. Noemi's intelligence is apparent from the very start of the book, but I really liked how over the course of the novel we really got to see her character progress and her intellectual side combine with her common sense side and sense of self-preservation to begin to get to the bottom of the strangeness of the High Place.

I think my favorite element of Mexican Gothic is Moreno-Garcia skill in creating an environment that is simultaneously horrid, creepy, and inhospitable, as well as being relentlessly compelling and one that I couldn't seem to get enough of. In most books with some creepy location as the main setting, there's usually some curious desire in the reader to see this place for yourself, but I have to say that I'm not sure I'd actually want to ever visit this place! I love how much Moreno-Garcia was able to bring this setting to life in a way that felt so real and tangible and that was able to create such genuine and strong feelings towards it from me. There are also some incredibly creepy and awful characters living at the High Place (some members of her cousin's husband's family), but I won't discuss them too much because you really need to experience them firsthand on your own. They all added so much to the general atmosphere and general unease about the book and I think Moreno-Garcia incorporated all of the characters and their personalities perfectly.

Mexican Gothic is a book that I would place within the realm of the horror genre as well as fantasy, as it is full of some truly chilling and grotesque scenes and images that stayed with me for a while after reading it--and that still come to mind when I think about reading this book. Once you figure out what's really going on and what constitutes everything going on, you'll probably find yourself having some major moments of shock and confusion--and definitely some feelings of being utterly disturbed--but it fits perfectly with the story and adds such an incredible extra layer of depth to the book that it's impossible to put down or forget.

I loved the creativity, uniqueness, and general madness that made up Mexican Gothic, and if weird and creepy is your thing, I think you might like it, too! I expected it to be a little dark, but not quite as dark as it ended up being and it was an incredibly wild ride that I enjoyed every second of. Overall, I've given Mexican Gothic five stars!

This novel called to me. I knew I had to get this gem in my fingers and enjoy every word laced across its pages wrapped in suspense layered with mood. All praise goes to Silvia Moreno Garcia for her strong sense of character development and a setting so realistic, you become transported in this piece, feeling the intensity of each character, you discover, as she utilizes the plot , as a mysterious architecture. Several times, goose bumps, presented itself, on my skin, as I plunged deeper into the novels soul, as if I heard an unexpected, slight creaking noise, of the house, settling at night. A must read to shake up the mainstream!!

A super smart, super eerie update on the gothic haunted house novel. Recommended for anyone who's ever felt uneasy about the racial politics of the traditional gothic genre, or ever gotten mad that Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester are considered romantic heroes.

Thank you to Netgalley for the digital ARC of this title.
This atmospheric tale begins with a cryptic letter from Noemí 's cousin, Catalina. Catalina left Mexico City to live with her husband in his ancestral home. Noemí is greatly disturbed by Catalina's letter and goes to visit her at her husband's countryside estate. Noemí is not prepared for the abnormality of the home and the bizarre, strict rules. This story is told in a true gothic pattern--all the elements are there; a creepy old house, spooky old men and women, townspeople that are leery of the mansion. There is even a long told back story that ends in many people being buried in a mass grave. Moreno-Garcia excels in capturing the atmosphere needed to place the reader right in the middle of this gothic story. This highly anticipated novel will not disappoint.
Review posted on Goodreads and Instagram.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia knocked it out of the park with this haunting tale set in 1950s Mexico surrounding a socialite (Noemí Taboada), a creepy house on a hill (High Place), and a wildly eccentric family (the Doyles). Noemí receives a pretty disturbing letter from her newly-wed cousin Catalina basically begging for someone to rescue her from what Catalina believes is certain doom. Noemí descends upon High Place, an eerie house in the Mexican countryside, and she is immediately struck by the outlandish nature of Catalina's husband and family as well as the perplexing illness that seems to have taken hold of Catalina. Noemí's only ally is the family's youngest son, Francis, who appears to want to help Noemí uncover the cause of her cousin's strange behavior. However, Francis seems to be hiding some secrets as well, so can he truly be trusted?

Now I am not usually one that dabbles in horror, so when things started to get creepy, I knew that whatever was happening would likely not end well. Moreno-Garcia does a phenomenal job at setting the stage for this gothic horror story and had me seriously spooked during several parts. The descriptive language jumped off the page and had me eager to figure out what was happening. I loved how the book keep me mesmerized until the very end! It also essentially reaffirmed my thoughts about creepy old mansions (there is always something afoot and you should keep your guard up). Overall, I would definitely recommend!

Dark, atmospheric, and a true gothic romance. I enjoyed this immensely and any fan of classic gothic novels (ladies in nightgowns running away from houses, suspicious marriages, secret family trees...) will not want to miss it.

Five our of five stars

I absolutely adored this book! Silvia really knows how to write a suspenseful and engaging novel that you just cannot put down. The novel was haunting, beautiful and different all at the same time. Silvia's take on a traditional gothic novel is incredible and I cannot wait to read more of her works!

More reminiscent of the themes and vibes of American Horror Story than Rebecca to which it’s being compared, this creepy, fever-dream of a book had me hooked from beginning to end. You’ve got this snarky, independent Mexican socialite sent to check on her cousin after they receive a concerning letter from her. Then one of the weirdest Addams meets Manson family-esque bunch of creepy in-laws lording over this decrepit mansion. Throw in some of the most chill-inducing, skeevy nightmares and a bunch of mushrooms and fungus and you’ve got this book.

The mystery of what was going on kept propelling the book forward. Are they just psychos? Is High Place haunted? What’s with all the family’s weird rules and obsession with eugenics? And what has Noemi’s cousin Catalina in such a weird state? While I was never completely floored by any of the reveals, I did really enjoy the path getting there. I didn’t fully connect with Noemi but she did have some one liners that had me cracking up (the Church of the Holy Incestuous Mushrooms in particular). I also appreciated the Mexican culture sprinkled throughout but that it was also just a really great story that happened to take place there.

I’ll for sure never eat another mushroom again, and someone better be making this into a movie ASAP! 4.3⭐️

Before I begin, can we all just take a moment to admire that beautiful cover? I’m not even a little sorry to admit that my desire to read Mexican Gothic was totally based on the cover. Unfortunately, it ended up being the only thing that really worked for me.

My lack of enjoyment of this book is mostly one me, though. I took “gothic” to mean a creepy and mysterious setting. Something along the lines of Jane Eyre (which is referenced in the synopsis). This is more “gothic horror”, though, which is definitely not my cup of tea. No matter how hard I try, I really struggle with being able to appreciate the horror genre, so keep that in mind with my review.

The story started out very slowly and I found it really hard to get through in the beginning. I was completely prepared to DNF it, but then I decided to give one more chapter a try and it started to pick up. I became mildly intrigued, but it never really hooked me. I found Neomi kind of shallow and spoiled and not very likable. She did grow on me as the story went on, though. I liked her growing friendship with Francis, who was the only other half-way likable character in the story.

I was hoping to experience a little more of Mexican culture than we got here, too. Despite taking place in Mexico, the story mostly takes place at the isolated house that was built in the English tradition. The Doyle family are also English and only one of them even speaks the language of the country they’ve immigrated to.

Lastly, the whole supernatural/horror part of the story just didn’t work for me. Again, this is probably more me and it might be fine for fans of the genre. I just rolled my eyes a bit and suffered through the explanations. I also found the climax of the story to be kind of predictable.

Overall, Mexican Gothic just wasn’t for me. I love that beautiful cover, but I was disappointed in the lack of Mexican culture and the whole horror plotline. I am, admittedly, not the right audience for this genre, though, so this might be worth the read for those that are.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 2 Stars

At first I was concerned this book was going to be too creepy for me because I do not like anything scary, but I'm very happy that it was not. It was just the perfect amount of dark and atmospheric without keeping me up at night. Books like this can have a tendency to feel slow, but I did not feel like this one fell into that trap at all. It was a great balance between keeping up the atmosphere and moving the story. I also really enjoyed the cultural references as a student of Spanish and Latin-American Studies, especially since a favorite poem of mine was mentioned! Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author in the future!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Noemi Taboada is a young Mexican socialite living outside 1950’s Mexico City. Her life is full of dates and parties, but she really just wants to go to university and make something meaningful of her life. Her father finally agrees with her plan in exchange for Noemi’s help. Noemi’s cousin has sent distressing letters from her new home in the Mexican countryside where she lives with her mysterious new husband. Noemi agrees to visit her cousin and make sure she is of sound mind. When Noemi arrives at High Place, a sinister, isolated old house near dilapidated silver mines, she receives quite a cold welcome from the family. The longer Noemi stays in the house, the more alarming things become: erratic behavior and vivid dreams included. Noemi refuses to leave the house until she can convince her cousin to leave with her, before it’s too late.

WOW this book scared the daylights out of me... and I don’t remember the last time that has happened! The imagery in this book is truly terrifying. The plot incorporates supernatural and human horrors, yielding a novel that will truly leave you on the edge of your seat. I LOVED IT! It reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper meets The Haunting of Hill House. I don’t want to say much more other than go read it once it comes out! You won’t be able to put it down. Thank you @delreybooks and @netgalley for my advanced reader’s copy. Mexican Gothic will be released on June 30th!