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.

Thank you to Solaris for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

There was a moment last year where I was buying, reading and requesting all of the Silvia Moreno-Garcia books possible. One of the ebooks I purchased was this one. I hadn't read it and kept putting it off for others. Mostly because I was up the asses of The Beautiful Ones and Velvet Was The Night, I was apprehensive to pick up another SMG book because, well....what if it let me down?

Well, that fear has come true twice this year and I feel defeated. I truly didn't like this novel.

First off, Meche is unbearable. Both when she is a teenager and as an adult in her 30's. There was nothing in the way she acted that helped differentiate between these two moments in her life. I would only remember by the things she said: if she was going to school or to her father's apartment. She still thought of people and treated people the same. She was beyond selfish and insufferable. It really leaves me questioning why anyone was bothering to be in her life, especially as adults.

I am a child of my father, meaning holding a grudge is also in my DNA as it is with Meche. But by golly, even I was just annoyed with it. The reasoning for her to still hold a grudge is understandable.... as a teenager. As she got older, I would assume she would've reflected instead of just...being the same.

Second, the romance between Meche and Sebastian? Didn't like it, didn't feel it, didn't root for it. But again, Sebastian wasn't the best at making decisions in any point of his life, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Third, the slurs in this book are outrageous and the fatphobia from Meche was also so ugly. The way she thought of her best friend Daniela pissed me off. So you treat your best friend who is different from you like trash and basically bully her to do whatever you want to do, but your internal monologue of her is also terrible? Also, why couldn't the F slur be replaced by the word 'gay' for the reprint? I don't care how accurate it is for the time, it was so unbearably uncomfortable to read every single time.

Yes, I finished this book instead of DNFing it like I did The Daughter of Doctor Moreau because I was holding out hope. Because there was no way I would be disappointed by two SMG novels in one year. I played myself is what I did.

IF you love this book, I love that for you. But there is absolutely nothing you can say to me to make me think differently. I just want to forget I read these two books, to be honest.

⭐️ 2 STARS ⭐️

SIGNAL TO NOISE is a story about shattering relationships and attempts to piece them back together once you're older and have more distance. It's also a book about music, celebrating the world of vinyls and the power of good music and lyrics.

Like the author's other books, it's a slower paced novel to better draw out the relationships and layers of theme stacked atop one another. It works so well with her stories, really letting you sink your teeth into the characters and the situations they find themselves in (often because of their own bad decision.)

The bulk of the book is set in 1988/9, following three friends as love and priorities break them apart, the desire to get things others have. The voices of the teenagers were so well done, contrasting with Meche's voice as an adult 20 years later so you could immediately tell which timeline you were in (how weary is the narrator?)

It's also a bit of a mystery - what broke these friends apart? You know from the 2009 pages that they have broken up, long ago as teens, but the books starts off with them as a tight-knit group, and so there is an inexorable pull to keep going and find out how it all goes wrong.

This is the second "hard to classify" book I've recently. It felt like a split timeline historical/contemporary book about friendships/relationships souring and returning later to pick up the pieces. There are elements of magic, but many can be explained away as coincidence (possibly that means this could be considered magical realism?) The focus is really not on the fantastical, but instead on the relationships. As someone for whom expectations is a big part of reading, I say this only so you can be aware. I found it fascinating read, but had thought the magic would be more integrated and present in the story.

Another hit by Silvia Moreno-Garcia! This story sucks you right in and keeps you engaged throughout the entire book. If you are a fan of SMG, you will not be disappointed by this one!

Thankyou to Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc of Signal To Noise.

I had this on my netgalley for a while and picked it up just before the publication date. I honestly really enjoyed it, couldn't put it down! The writing was really beautiful and capturing.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is such a talented author and each book she writes is completely different. This is a reprint of her debut novel and I was really excited to see how this author started out.

This book did not disappoint! I loved the dual timelines and how they were woven together. It really gave depth to the story and the characters. I found teenage Meche and Sebastian to be typical, unlikable and awkward teens an and some of the misunderstanding they had seemed dramatic but completely realistic to a teen. The author really captured how insecure teens can been and how hard they fight for to fit in and be accepted by peers, friends, and family.

I loved the concept that music is magic and how this was explored throughout the story. It added a sense of whimsy to a character heavy and realistic story. Overall I loved this one and thought it was a really well written and developed story of growth and self discovery.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an insta-buy author for me and I was so happy to receive an e-ARC for one of her books! As always, I was drawn into the world she creates and couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
At times, and in comparison to her more recent publications, I can tell that this is one of her earlier works but I hardly cared, it was still incredible.
The characters and their surroundings came to vivid life and the story kept me hooked. I would recommend this, along with anything else written by Moreno-Garcia, to anyone and everyone.

I have to admit that the main reason I picked up this book was because of Silvia Moreno García. When I read Mexican Gothic I was impressed by the ease that the author has to get you in the atmosphere of her book, catch you and make you feel as if you were inside her story. And in Signal to Noise she manages to do it too.

However, this book is very different from the one I had already read by this author. Signal to Noise is a young adult that explores the teenage years and how they relate to who we are when we grow up. Although I personally am not much given to reading these types of novels, I enjoyed the feeling of realizing how much I would have adored this book when I was fifteen. The relationship Meche has with music, her friends and her outlook on life is something that would have certainly connected with my teenage self.

Add to this the fact that I am a spanish person, and so I have loved every reference to the music I grew up with. As well as the characters in the book, I listened to a lot of english music in my teenage years, but I also listened to Miguel Bosé, Silvio Rodriguez and other latinx and spanish musicians mentioned in the novel. It’s a very small detail, but for me it made a big difference in connecting with the characters.

Even so, there is a part of the novel that did not convince me too much. I consider that for an urban fantasy the magic system is very little developed and at some moments it left me a bit confused. There were times when I even felt that the story could work much better without magic, giving other motivations to the characters to move the plot forward. It’s sad because it’s a very unique and special magic system, but I think that it lost a lot of potential along the way. Perhaps for this very reason there have been times when I didn’t quite understand Meche’s motivations and the reasons why the protagonists acted in one way or another.

For my adult self it was a 7/10, but I’m sure for my teenage self it would have been an all time favorite, so I would recommend it for anyone that age.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read the book in exchange for an honest review.

Moreno-Garcia weaves together a beautiful, fantastical story about teenage and adult life and the magic that ties us all together. Being released thirteen years after its initial publication does not dampen this story - it's timeless and a true testament to the fact that Silvia Moreno-Garcia has always been here.

Sylvia Moreno-Garcia is an autobuy author for me and this one didn't disappoint. I love the setting of Mexico City. The dual timelines and the musicality of it all. Freaking adored it. I had the old print run on backorder my local indie and I'm so glad her books are being reprinted and are able to be better accessed by more people

Signal to Noise was Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel, originally published in 2009 and now reissued with a new cover. I wanted to read it after falling for Moreno-Garcia’s prose in her 2021 reissue, Certain Dead Things.

Set mainly in Mexico City, Signal to Noise revolves around Meche, told via two timelines: one following her as a fifteen-year-old in 1989, navigating high school with her friends Sebastián and Daniela; the second, in 2009, tracking her return to Mexico City after the death of her father, with whom she had a troubled relationship. Linking the two timelines is the magic that manifests when Meche plays certain songs coupled with her intention — initially, as a teen with vinyl LPs, then again as an adult with her iPod.

Meche, Sebastián, and Daniela were outcasts in high school — the misfit, the nerd, and the chronically ill, respectively. They formed a tight circle then, but even so it was troubled by the emotional ups and downs of these teenagers coming from the poorer side of the city, and their desires to improve their lives (and loves). Magic, through music, becomes their tool.

Returning to Mexico City some twenty years later, Meche is now an accomplished computer programmer currently residing in Norway. Hesitant to re-connect with her former friends, still holding memories and grudges, she is also unwilling to participate in the family’s prolonged funeral arrangements, knowing her father would not have wanted these. Instead, she sorts through his apartment, shifting through a life not lived well, whilst also dealing with her memories surfacing through the discovery of her father’s vinyl records and meticulously-kept journals.

This was an interesting read, but I struggled to connect with the characters — apart from Meche’s grandmother, from whom I wanted to hear more. Meche, Sebastián, and Daniela were all challenging to feel into, and felt a bit thin. The secondary characters were also under-developed, and I felt that the story as a whole would tighten up if Moreno-Garcia chose one plot to explore more fully, and the other as a sub-plot, rather than try and juggle them both. Certainly, it felt like it lacked the finesse of the author’s later books — which is good, because it shows how she has developed and improved as an author over the years in between.

The magical system was fascinating but, again, I wanted more. It was obviously rooted in the real world, being tied to music and the very physical objects of the vinyls in particular; but it felt very undefined and I wanted to know more about why only certain songs worked, and how. There was so much potential here but I feel it was missed somewhat.

Overall, it was an okay read but I much prefer Moreno-Garcia’s later works; however, it was good to see where she started out, and how far she’s since come.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Rebellion Publishing, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 67%

There it is, another DNF.
It's the seocnd time I DNF'd a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book which is particularly sad after I truly enjoyed Certain Dark Things last fall.
But that's the thing with SMG, she writes a lot of different books within many different genres and sub-genres. It shouldn't be surprising that not all of her books work for every person.

This one, I simply didn't care about.
While at first, at least the concept and the atmosphere of Mexico City (in both timelines) seemed enticing, the protagonist annoyed me right from the start. I've seen other reviews mentioning how Meche as a teen might be forgiving for her behavior, adult Meche is fankly childish, arrogant and frustrating.
It doesn't surprise that she's lonely as adult.
It's only surprising that she doesn't stay that way.

Another issue I had was the stereotypical "popular but awful" crush instead of falling in love with a genuinely kind person, Given, exactly that can also be criticised by an author, but here it just seemed "like something a teenagers do".
I didn't like that.

Overall, I couldn't warm up to these characters and eventually stopped to care at all.
In my opinion, that's a valid reason to stop reading a book, despite the book never being outrageously bad.

3/5

I was having a hard time with this until the last 25%. I didn't like Meche as a character - very unlikeable, but she was created that way. My issue was that I didn't particularly care about her or her antics for the longest time. She's kind of devoid of any emotion except severe *angst* - the 75% point is where you finally get an outburst of emotion and it really does spark something for the story.

I would have liked to see more of the trio building a connection in the modern day timeline, it felt like they were still so distanced and I think that's where I would've wanted more of that angst that Meche holds onto. Had the full book been like that final 25%, I think I would have loved it.

Side note: this book has a great selection of music!

I've been meaning to read more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work ever since my first successful experience reading Mexican Gothic back in 2020. I actually have more than one title lined up and waiting on my kindle, so I'm still not sure why I haven't done so already... Getting an ARC of the republished Signal To Noise was the perfect excuse to finally read one of her backlist titles sooner than later. It's true that I don't read a lot of YA anymore, but between the Mexico City setting and the promise of magic through music I simply couldn't resist adding this title to my shelves. And it definitely turned out to be an interesting read!

One of the things I loved was the late 1980s Mexico City setting. There were so many musical references as well as references to the 1980s in general, and it really set the tone for the chapters set in the past. The Mexican food mentions added a local flavor, and there was also some focus on what life was like in Mexico City back then. Would I have liked the story to have even more Mexican influence to truly feel like I was there? Yes. But as it is, the setting was still satisfying. The story itself is seemingly split in two... We have the past that feels like a YA coming of age story laced with magic and romance as well as the usual teenager problems; the present is more of an adult contemporary featuring grief over a lost parent as well as looking back at the past and broken friendships. I wasn't sure if the two were balanced all that well; I much preferred the storyline in the setting in the past myself and the present storyline was rather slow.

I still love the idea behind the magic and Meche being able to do magic through music. It was interesting to see her discover what she can do and then try to improve her skills... I do wish there would have been more focus on the magic though, because as it is it almost felt like an afterthought in points. Meche herself was also extremely unlikeable, and she lacked dept and development for me. It seems like she hasn't exactly evolved or learned from the past? The rest of the characters felt a bit cliche and underdeveloped as well, and the high school drama mainly seemed like something you would find in most typical YA stories focusing on that.

As a whole, there were things that worked for me including the setting, magic and writing style. Other elements didn't work as well for me personally, but I do still think Signal To Noise was a solid read in general.

Signal to Noise is Silvia Moreno Garcia's debut novel. It was originally published back in 2015. It is being re-printed this year in September.

Like all other SMG's books, Signal to Noise is set in Mexico. This time we follow Meche , first in 1988 as a teenage girl who doesn't fit in but has a deep love for music and later in 2009.

We have witchcraft, music, teenage anst and beautiful writing. What more can you ask for??
One of my favorite things about the book was curating a playlist with all the songs mentioned in the book. I am set for my next roadtrip.

As for the book itself I thoroughly enjoyed Meche as our MC, She is curious and strong and flawed.
As a debut novel is as strong as they come.

I am a huge Silvia Moreno-Garcia fan and I love all of her books that I've read so far, and I really enjoyed reading this one too.
There's something about her writing that just draws you in, she's fantastic at pacing a book and writing plot.

I liked the main character (to an extent), but I feel that some of the other characters were perhaps undeveloped. I would've liked the best friend to have had more of a role. I also didn't particularly enjoy the main relationship in the book, I wasn't rooting for them to be together.

Whilst I did have some issues with the characters, I devoured the book and couldn't put it down! I think it's definitely still worth a read, and I also highly recommend Mexican Gothic and (my personal favourite) Gods of Jade and Shadow by the same author.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This was my first book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia although I have been meaning to read her work for ages! Anyway I really enjoyed this and will definitely be getting more of her work. I loved how well this captured the conflicted feelings of teenage life, and especially that kind of anger and rage that can explode in unhealthy ways.

The pacing of the book was very good too, with the dual timelines building up tension and the reveals of what happened in the past unravelling steadily.

A very enjoyable and well-written novel

*I received a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher*

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is magic and the rerelease of her debut, Signal to Noise, is no exception. It reminds me of We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry, a bit of The Craft, and other high school discovery of magic stories. This is a coming-of-age book of friendship, growth, music, magic, and love. Would highly recommend to all types of readers.

This was classic late night impulse request, that I then realized was not at all my thing.

The premise and initial character development seem fantastic, but not at all something I’m interested in reading, so DNFed at 10% of the way through the book.

A reissue of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s first book, an unusual variation on a coming-of-age story that probes into friendship, grief and the fracturing of family. It alternates between timelines, opening in 2009 when Meche (Mercedes) returns to Mexico City for the first time in 18 years, here for her estranged father’s funeral. Returning stirs memories of the final months of 1988 and early 1989, the moments that undid everything important to her, severing her closest ties. Meche was a teenage misfit, the sort that’s the staple of teen movies, struggling academically and routinely bullied at school, her only friends are also outsiders, bookish, pseudo-punk Sebastián and good-natured Daniela whose chronic illness marks her out as ‘different’. The three are inseparable but they long to be part of the popular circle that dominates their school. Then a chance event unlocks Meche’s latent magical abilities, inextricably tied to the music she loves, and suddenly it seems that the three might have a chance to gain the power they desperately desire.

I’ve been wanting to try something by Moreno-Garcia for a while now but I’m not sure this was the best place to start. Like many debut novels it’s quite an uneven piece, with some strands that felt awkwardly spliced together – particularly the sections told from the perspective of Meche’s flailing dad who’s never fulfilled his early promise. But there were a number of promising, compensating aspects: the detail of everyday life in Mexico City in the 1980s; the intimate portrayal of friendship, betrayal and loss. And the story overall could be fairly compelling and entertaining. I also enjoyed the references to film, books and particularly the music of the era which run through the story – there are numerous, online playlists available inspired by Moreno-Garcia’s book that are worth exploring. So not destined to be a favourite but decent enough to make me want to explore Moreno-Garcia’s later work.