Thank you, @netgalley, and @rebellionpublishing, for the eARC in return for an honest review.

“Love dies in different ways. For most, it is a slow, agonizing death.”

My Thoughts:
A story about three best friends in Mexico City, who felt like outcasts in school and has challenges at home. Found magic and hoping it will make their lives easier or better.

This is actually a reprint of the author’s debut novel but my first book from her. She did a great job on the character development: their friendship, struggles with each other, family and school life which made them relatable. The magic part seemed random and unrealistic but it worked within the story. I love their progression within the two timelines. It’s also about forgiveness, coming of age, and love.

Trigger warning: death, bullying, divorce, inappropriate behavior by teacher.

Just fantastic! I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Silvia Moreno Garcia and I knew this one would be no different. ‘Signal to Noise’ is about friendships, family, love (new and old) and grief. Told from multiple perspectives twenty years apart, the characters are rich and layered. Most of all they are flawed in such real, human ways. This is Silvia Moreno Garcia’s first novel rereleased and it is not to be missed! Her writing has such a specific style, I really enjoyed reading this first novel and seeing how her style began and flourished.

The author has posted a Spotify playlist of the music in the story and it’s a must listen. Music is such a huge part of our characters lives, especially Meche, it really puts you in the setting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia never fails to surprise me with her writing. It's so different from anything else I've read and it's always enjoyable. I really enjoyed reading this because it's so different from her other works. Her descriptions of Mexico City feels so authentic and real.

Silvia-Moreno's Signal to Noise is a book that can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers and I cannot wait to recommend it to everyone I know.

So, at this point, after reading at least 4 different books from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I can safely say that she is absolutely one of my favorites authors right now. Each book/narrative she presents us is unique in its form, text, and story. I knew from the moment I saw Signal to Noise that I’d love it… and I did.

This is a story about friends, family and how being a teenager sucks. And how, sometimes (just sometimes) being an adult is rewarding ‘cause even thought is difficult, it allows us to repair stupid past mistakes.

What I wasn’t expecting is that this book would have its very own playlist. I mean, music, magic and a great narrative putting all together. How could this go bad, right? I'd recommend for anyone who wants a good, fun, light reading and yet is searching to connect with the characters - all of them well written, to say the bare minimum.

I can’t wait for my next Silvia reading.

I honestly think I might be in the minority here- but Silvia Moreno Garcia is just not the author for me and her writing is really difficult for me to read. This book is about two teenage girls in Mexico city in the 1980's, Mercedes (Meche) discovers she can perform magical spells using records. Using this, the girls try to take it upon themselves to make their lives better.

To me, this felt very elementary in terms of the writing- and that's unfortunate because with a location like Mexico City I was truly expecting a phenomenal description for the setting and it just fell flat. This concept had so much potential, but the writing just left way too much up tot he imagination and included so much unnecessary filler words- I ended up skimming. Hoping the next by this author is good for me.

Love Silvia Moreno-Garcia so much - amazing to read her debut and compare it to her more recent works. In hindsight, you can tell it's a debut, but it's still a fantastic read. Full of music, magic and love, you'll love it if you've enjoyed any of her other books.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's first book was recently released again this week! A good read to add for Hispanic Heritage Month or if you're wanting a bit of Magic for the season.

🇲🇽✨🎶🇲🇽

I really enjoyed this title, I've been making my way through all of Moreno-Garcia's books. Like her others, her debut book really sets up the atmosphere and setting really vividly. I can see every environment she describes, and her characters are just as real to me.

I honestly can't say that Meche is a likeable protagonist, she's volatile, complicated, and very flawed. Especially as her growing magical powers begin to create more problems than they solve.

She's downright mean at points to her friends, but I understand her. I have someone close to me who is so much like her I just wanted to reach out to Meche.

This is an example of my own complicated family relationships, but I honestly ached for Vicente and Natalia, they are so many people I know. So many family members, their traumas are universal, as is the effect it has on their daughter Meche.

The last sentence was one of my favorite, I've ever read:
"Deep down they know one fine morning they’ll run away together to a place where the sun shines at midnight."

Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

Quite a few days late but, A big thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for approving me of a copy of an e-arc of this book!
Such an interesting book! Would definitely re-read again and again!

Moreno-Gracia strikes again cause she can do nothing wrong! I liked all of her books I’ve read and this one of course didn’t disappoint.
I recommend it!

Thank you Rebellion, Solaris and NetGalley for this eArc in an exchange for an honest review.

The more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia Books i read the bigger of a fan I become. This one brings a fun new side of Moreno-Garcia. Her prose is still beautiful, without a doubt, but this book definitely has its own spot among her works.

This is a story of family, a story of broken friendships, hope for better, hardship of following one owns path, staying through to oneself. We follow Mercedes, as she navigates her teenage years, school, friends, family on a brink of collapse. She finds comfort in music and discovers can he cast spells using music. Teenagers and power, what can go wrong?

I wish we got more of her Nana, and he magic journey! But other than that, loved this, read it in a breath!

I am already a fan of Silvia Moreno Garcia so couldn’t wait to read Signal to Noise and it did not disappoint!
The story follows Meche and her friends Sebastian and Daniela who through music discover magic. It is an unusual and nostalgic coming of age story full of adolescent angst and love. I couldn’t put it down! The characters are complex, evolved and flawed .. teenage Meche was very relatable! I particularly liked the flip between past and present with Meche back in her hometown around the friends she has had no contact with for years as well as the emotional journey that takes her on.
Overall it was a brilliant story and the linking of magic with music was perfect.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for the magical read. I will also be posting my review on Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon.

I somewhat like the premise but the fantasy side is quite meh. The novel speaks loud of the Mexican culture but I get a little part of it in this book. It is just used as an aspect of the character's characterization. I do hope the author explored more of this culture rather than just an aspect.

I do like the citation of the classic songs but I am hoping for a more "fantasy" side.

What I love about Silvia Moreno-Garcia is that every single one of her books is completely different from the next, so it is always a surprise to see what she comes up with next.

Signal to Noise is a classic romance with the friends to lovers trope and is sprinkled with magical realism in the form of powerful music.

Although I enjoyed the storyline and the time periods involved, switching between the 1980s and 2009, I felt the magical elements in this debut novel were lacking the spark that exists in her other works. I had trouble understanding where the power of certain songs and records lied and thought there could have been greater depth of explanation regarding that and Meche’s familial witchcraft background.

Overall, it was a quick read and a cute fantasy lite romance. Knowing that it was her debut novel makes a lot of sense and I am glad to have seen her growth as a writer in later novels. Despite this one falling flatter than expected for me, Moreno-Garcia remains one of my current favorite authors.

Thank you to NetGalley, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Solaris for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I shouldn't be surprised that SMG's debut is a five-star read.  I do understand how many of the crew consider this book to be their favorite.  This novel has dual timelines, 1988 and 2009, and follows Meche in Mexico City.  Fifteen year old Meche and her two friends, Sebastian and Daniela, are social outcasts who find themselves thrown together by lack of other options.  Later, thirty-six year old Meche is back in her hometown for her father's funeral and has to confront what happened 20 years before.  Magic was involved.  Things went very wrong.  Maybe Meche should have listened to her grandmother's warning.  Maybe not.

Ultimately this novel involves coming-of-age and making bad choices and having to live with the consequences.  I loved how the story unfolded.  I spent most of the time trying to figure things out only to have an ending that felt surprising and yet inevitable.  I love when that happens.

Meche is a hard character to sympathize with because she is selfish, prickly, and thoughtless.  Sebastian is slightly better because he is thoughtful and caring but he is a pushover.  I loved Daniela and thought she was the most compelling character.  She is a dreamer and not smart but understood what friendship should mean.  Ultimately this novel shows how many teenagers can feel fraught with emotion and filled with the wish to just fit in.  The passing of time can add perspective and clarity to choices of the past.  The only minor quibble is that Meche really didn't seem to ever improve or truly reflect on her bad choices.  She remained as stubborn as ever.

Music is almost another character in the novel.  I am not musically-oriented but can imagine that for those that are, this book could be even more magical.  Highly recommended.  I love this author's work so much.  Arrrr!

1988 coming-of-age story with a band of misfits set in Mexico City with a dual timeline twenty years later? And magical realism? So much yes. The story begins in the present timeline with Meche back to Mexico City for the first time in 20 years for her father’s funeral. All the reader knows is she had a huge falling out with her closest friends and father. The timelines toggle back and forth throughout the book until we find out what finally happened all those years ago towards the end. I felt the dual timelines was well-executed. It took me about 20% to really get into the book but after I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down. I did have a few qualms with the book and it definitely read like a debut novel for a multitude of reasons but I cannot deny that I enjoyed it.

In all honesty, the main character Meche was probably the most unlikable protagonist I’ve read in a long time and there was never a point in the book where I was rooting for her. She was a brat in both timelines and did not deserve Sebastian or Daniela at all. Sebastian and Daniela though were great characters. All three of them read as real teenagers in the past timeline but their characters didn’t have a terrible amount of growth in the present timeline so I feel that could’ve been better. The magic isn’t very well explained but it gave me The Craft vibes and I didn’t mind it. It felt like SMG was using magic as a tool to progress the plot and it definitely could’ve been done better but the fact that the magic was fueled by music was pretty great. I’m a huge fan of Mexican rock and love jazz (my study music) so I really connected with this book, but I don’t think you need to know the music references to enjoy this one. If you like second chance romance, coming of age stories, dual timelines, and magical realism, I definitely recommend this one.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is EVERYTHING TO ME. I love her stories and her narrative and the way her books drag me through the pages, and I forget to live while I'm reading them. This was another case. Signal to Noise is very realistic in the way it talks about teens and the struggle to exist within so many emotions, crushes, fear, worries. The time jump puts us in a different scenario, following a much more mature and ever meaner main character. I loved it! It is so good to read characters following morally gray personalities. Loved it to the end.

3.25/5

I want to thank Solaris, Rebellion Publishing and Net Galley for allowing me to get an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

As a quick note this is actually a reprint of Signal to Noise which was originally published in 2015.

I loved the very first chapter, setting the scene with Mexico City as the backdrop and the way the city is described while they drive is so realistic it reminded me of being there. We start with Meche (Mercedes) as a grown woman but we then flashback to 1988 when she is 15 years old. There’s a lot of flashbacks written throughout. We also read narrative perspectives from Sebastian, Vicente and Dolores. I didn’t find Meche to be a likable character. Dolores on the other hand was pretty great. Vincent was pretty depressing to read, and I kinda sided with Sebastian quite a bit while reading his perspective.

The primary mode of casting magic in this book is by playing vinyl records. The music genres covered in this book vary from jazz to 80s Latin pop to classic rock. A really neat thing the publisher did was create a playlist on Spotify with the songs mentioned throughout the book which I recommend checking out! It helps set the scene for some of the moments casting spells.

Ultimately I think one of the big issues I had with this was that the ending felt just a tiny bit unsatisfactory. This story felt like it was trying to resolve a romantic plot line, an family drama storyline and a revenge storyline without enough pages to fully resolve things in a way that would’ve been cleaner.

To be entirely honest, my opinion is influenced by the fact that I had just finished another witch themed book just before, and this book just didn’t quite do it for me in the same way the other one did for me.

Would recommend for those who are fans of
- Second chance trope
- High school sweethearts trope
- 80s/Jazz music
- Non-linear timeline

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was incredible! I am at a lose for words that can adequately convey how much I loved this book. Silvia is an incredible author because she creates amazing and complex characters who are flawed and yet lovable. Throughout the book I felt for all of them and adored the way in which the past and present were brought together in this book. The way in which music was used as a form of magic was wonderful and a form of truth as music is magical.
Silvia has become one of my favorite authors and is an auto buy author for me now. I adore how all of her books are so different and how she creates wonderful stories with amazing characters.

Moreno’s debut Signal to Noise was first released in 2015. This stunning new addition is out on September 13th and I can’t wait to add it to my shelves!

Set in 1980s Mexico, in a time before iTunes or Spotify playlists, you said “I love you” with a mixtape. 15 year old Meche discovers how to cast spells using music, and along with her two friends Sebastian and Daniela, they attempt to piece together their broken families and find love. Fast forward to 20 years later and Meche returns home for her estranged father’s funeral. Childhood memories come flooding back…what really happened and is there any magic left?

I adore Moreno-Garcia’s work; I’m always recommending her books which are so varied in terms of the genres and stories but always so beautifully written. As her debut novel, I can see that her love of writing about her home country, the supernatural and music has been a constant feature in her writing.

She captures the essence of what it is to be a teen- crushes, angst and worries. Each of the characters’ development in the story is handled so beautifully by the author. The protagonist Meche is a deeply “unlikeable” character- she’s so mean to her friends who stand by her through thick and thin. Even as an adult, her attitude to her home and former friends hasn’t changed much. The author isn’t afraid to give us these unlikeable characters in her books which I love!

Jumping from the 1980s to early 2000s the author also explores the aftermath of the fracturing of teen friendships and relationships, something that as adults we can all identify in some way with. Add magic on top of these themes, and Moreno-Garcia has created another memorable story.

A beautifully written story of self-discovery and growth. The new cover art is just perfection!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. Signal to Noise will be released on September 13th.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I’m so glad this book is getting a reprint and new cover and I’m so glad I managed to get an arc, otherwise I don’t know when I would’ve gotten around to reading this.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an absolutely phenomenal author. Having read several of her works by now, I can confidently say she can’t write anything I wouldn’t like. Her talent and creativity is insane, and even with her books that I like less, I’m still blown away by them. Signal to Noise has become a top- three read of hers for me.

Magic coming from music! Magic coming from knitting! Magic that can be harnessed in so many ways! The concept alone was amazing. I love stories told in split timelines, and this book does this particularly well. The tension builds and builds in both timelines, with a very satisfying conclusion. Every character was unique and fleshed out and so very complex; I loved that Meche was an “unlikeable” female character. She’s not a particularly good person, but she’s someone you root for nonetheless.

All in all, this is an excellent book that helped pull me out of an awful reading slump and SMG can really do no wrong.