This is a debut novel but then it's Sylvia Moreno Garcia so it's still one of the best novels I've read.

The book is missing the dark gothic atmosphere seen in her later works like Mexican Gothic and The Daughter Of Dr Moraou and even though it has YA elements a genre I normally don't read.

It has one of the most interesting magic systems I've read. Where spells can be cast depending on what songs you play. But not every record from the 80's has magic only the best songs do.

Any fan of her later works will love reading this book as well.

"Signal to Noise" is one of my current fav author's, Siliva Moreno-Garcia, debut novel. This review is for a new edition that is set to drop later this month. While this wasn't my favorite Moreno-Garcia novel, I still enjoyed it overall and can now better appreciate the author's progression (here I noted the seeds of the magic realism and fantasy that she has in her novels.)

The story is told in two timelines and revolves around high schooler Meche, and her two best friends, Sebastian and Daniela in Mexico City. The trio discover magic abilities and use it to target bullies, pervs, and otherwise, better their lives. The narrative then fast forwards two decades to reunite the trio in Mexico City when Meche returns for her estranger father's funeral.

As always, I enjoyed the premise of Moreno-Garcia's writing. But I did feel like this novel was trying to be too many things, part contemporary fantasy and part family drama with the relationship between Meche and her father. Because of that, the book felt underdeveloped or thinly developed as a whole. I don't feel like the novel did itself justice, when it should have picked a theme and fully leaned into that, which is how I feel Moreno-Garcia's later novels do more successfully.

But, overall I enjoyed the scenes in which the high schoolers get to explore their magical abilities as well as the cute romance that develops between Meche and Sebastian. A solid 3 stars on my end!

Thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I find it hard to put into words how I feel about this book, or how to rate it, but for the most part it was interesting and I enjoyed the premise and the characters, as well as the multiple pov's and the dual timeline narrative.

Meche is an interesting main character, one I can see did not translate well to many other reviewers. Personally, I loved her in all her selfish, contrarian glory. Angry girls are oft told they're hysterical, patronised and invalidated, but teenage girls tend to get a rubbish run of the peak puberty years and I loved watching her descend into her magic and give into her anger.

I also really enjoyed the exploration of her relationship with her father in the 2009 timeline as she navigated her complicated feelings towards him in the aftermath of his death, after 20 years of estrangement.

Sebastian was the roughest part of the book for me, I personally didn't like his and Meche's dynamic romantically, and towards the end of the 1989 timeline I lost patience for their games of deliberately hurting each other in cycles of teenage jealousy.

Overall, I did enjoy the book a lot, and would recommend it for anyone who wants a low magic setting, explorations of grief and tough love. I very much liked the author's style and lot of her other books sound amazing, so I'll definitely be picking them up in future.

In 1988, Mexico City, Meche and her friends find magic. The three of them use this magic to help themselves and their families. However, something changes. Betrayal or a misunderstanding?
Flash forward to 2009, Meche returns to Mexico City for her father’s funeral. She’s having a hard time dealing with her family when she runs into an old friend. A friend who used to cast magic spells with her. Reliving the memories, she thought she got rid of, Meche finds her old source of magic. But is there any magic left?
I went into this book blind. All I knew is that Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author. I loved Silvia’s others books, but this one just fell flat for me. It wasn’t bad, it just isn’t the book for me. It couldn’t hold my attention and I didn’t really care enough about the characters to try to pay attention.
However, I loved the magic system in the book. I love soft magic systems that don’t typically get explained. I thought the magic in the story was very creative and not overwhelming enough to take away from the plot, but it added to it.
I enjoyed the back and forth between 1988 and 2009. For me nostalgia was from the 2009 sections of the book. Meche using her IPod was a flash from the past. For others the nostalgia might be the record collection Meche has is 1988.
Overall, it wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me. But I was still able to enjoy aspects of it!

i couldn't read the whole thing because the format didn't work on my device. it kept moving forwards when i simply wanted to highlight something, and i could only get through the first twenty pages before giving up. a formatting disadvantage that is to be considered towards its final publication (i cannot speak for the content as i hardly had time to figure out what was going on. silvia moreno-garcia's writing was as good as always, though, which made it all the more frustrating).

2 stars

I really truly wanted to like this book but our main character, Meche is so unlikable and does some things that are very reprehensible without remorse or empathy that I just couldn't enjoy this, even with me liking the atmosphere and the music "Easter eggs".
I was expecting a character that would grow up with time but we only got a childish MC that never learned from her mistakes and had zero regrets about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Signal to Noise is a beautiful novel weaving love, music and literal sorcery. That third one threw me for a loop, and I absolutely adored it. I was immediately drawn into the atmosphere of where the story took place and felt like I knew each of the main characters intimately. Highly recommend.

I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia's ideas and in this one the ideas of music and magic were great. As always she was amazing at setting the atmosphere. While the teen characters weren't necessarily likable, they were realistic. This one is a reprint of her novel previously published in 2009 and it felt like you can tell that her writing style has evolved over the years.
Thank you Rebellion and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is a re-release and after reading _Velvet Was the Night_ I wanted to pick up this earlier book. The characters are very well drawn and it feels like I know what Mexico City in the 80s and now was like just from reading it, plus there's a lot of cool music references and good family and friend drama, and throw in a little bit of modern day magic.

2.5 stars. Signal To Noise drew my attention by the author (whose work I have loved) and the premise. Magical vinyl records?! Yes please!

Unfortunately, I really struggled to get sucked into the story. It felt very promising in the first few pages. But around the 20% mark I started considering DNFing. I just didn't care. The characters weren't coming to life for me. Since the book just isn't very long, I pushed on. And honestly, once I passed the 55% mark or so, I started finding myself sympathizing more for the characters. Once Meche really starts buckling under her stress, she really shone. At one point, Sebastian compares Meche to a cat who wants to cuddle and purr when she feels like it, but can unexpectedly claw and hiss. It was a very apt comparison and her character ended up being very interesting, though not thoroughly likable, as this developed. I wish the focus had been more on the adult half of Meche's life because I struggled to find anything to latch onto in the teen years, even with the magic.

A lot of what I love about Moreno-Garcia's writing is the ambience of the world she creates. This book fell very flat in that area for me. Being that this is her debut novel, I like being able to see how she's grown in the last few years. I still look forward to reading her newer books.

I was super excited to read this because Moreno-Garcia's MEXICAN GOTHIC as well as GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW, but it's clear that this is an earlier work. I liked the Mexican setting but the magic elements were confusing and insufficient. RTC.

It’s the end of the 80s in Mexico City and fifteen-year-old Meche is an awkward kid who is rough around the edges. Lucky for her she has two best friends, Sebastian and Daniela, and crates of vinyl records to keep her from becoming completely jaded. Her parents’ marriage has been falling apart for ages and she can’t quite put into words what she’s feeling for Sebastian.
The three friends navigate the intricacies of their families, their relationships with each other, and their futures with a touch of magic that can only be found in music.

Fast forward to 2009 and Meche has returned for her estranged father’s funeral. Now she has to cope with her mother and the memories of 1988 that explain to readers how her relationships fell apart.

This is an unusual and powerful coming-of-age story that has touches of magical realism/urban fantasy. I identified with this story on several levels because at 15 I had a couple close friends and it felt like it was us against the world. I remember using music as a secret code to explain all the things I hadn’t figured out how to say yet. Music made me brave; I gave it power and in turn it felt like it gave me power.

Full of nostalgia, plenty of 80s music pop culture, and the all-too common story of heartbreak due to failed communication; Signal to Noise delivers an authentic look at being a teenager and includes some lovely symbolism that was easy for me to relate to and appreciate.

I recommend this book to readers who appreciate YA with hints of magic realism.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Signal to Noise is a reprint of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 2009 debut. It unfortunately comes across as exactly what it is- a rough first book with some moments that speak to the amazing things the author will write later on.

The characters are pretty terrible people. This didn’t bother me at first because I still felt some love for Meche, Sebos, and Daniela and understood their faults as part of being a teenager. Unfortunately, none of them developed. In the 2009 timeline, Meche and Sebastian are if anything more horrible and knowing that they wouldn’t grow made following them in both timelines frustrating. Her 2009 dynamic with Sebastian also made me all kinds of uncomfortable. Daniela gets a little moment of growth but on the whole is treated as a doormat by both her friends and the story. (It did bring me some joy seeing her doing the best of the three in 2009)

Meche’s relationship with her father felt underdeveloped, like a beat was missing. The significance of her father’s death was told rather than shown and it never quite made sense why he was so important. Meche’s nana seemed just as thematically relevant and wasn’t given nearly as much attention.

The book also felt fan-fiction-y, which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but in this case was. The constant name dropping of songs and artists didn’t always feel integrated and often the sudden perspective jumping mid chapter felt lazy and jarring. I think there’s a much shorter and much stronger story inside this one, but it never peaks all the way out.

I liked the overall mood and tone. All the protagonists felt like teenagers (which is awesome). The setting was interesting when the story leaned into specificities of time and place. There were some strong moments, especially in Meche and her grandma’s relationship as well as Sebastian’s with his older brother.

If you’re looking for a split timeline story about family relationships, protagonists who’ve done terrible things for understandable reasons, and covens, I recommend Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert. If you want a better Moreno-Garcia read, I’d recommend Mexican Gothic (of course) or The Beautiful Ones. Signal to Noise is one you can skip.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Having previously read and loved Mexican Gothic, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this seemingly more light-hearted concept but i wasn’t disappointed! It was a great coming-of-age story woven through with music and magic, adolescent vengeance, and of course, unrequited love. A fun read.

I cannot believe that this is a debut novel. It is as beautiful as it is devastatingly sad. And it is as magical as it is haunting. I loved reading this and at the same time, all of my heartstrings were pulled on. A massive success.

DNF at 65%. I kept pushing and pushing, but I simply have zero interest in picking up the book anymore. For me, there was just nothing really appealing about it. I was intrigued by the magic and the music, but the magic was so bleh. And the characters were SO dislikable. I also wish we had explored Mexico City more. I was excited about the setting, but at no point did I feel or see it in my head. It felt like it could have taken place anywhere. Anyway, I Googled the end and I'm glad to be skipping the rest. I don't think I would have enjoyed it. That said, VERY excited to read her other works. I heard they're fantastic!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review. I really do appreciate it!

Man, I’ve held off reviewing this one because I just… don’t have a lot to say? It’s fine? The kids are obnoxious but realistic little weirdos? The ending isn’t super satisfying? Whatever. It’s decent.

This was not a bad book, it just wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with the story and I had very little sympathy for the characters. I also felt like it had a lot of telling - especially with Daniele - and that bothered me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for the review copy of Signal To Noise!
Signal To Noise is the debut novel of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. In many ways especially in matters of her writing style, the beginning of the book reminded me of her short story collection which I read before Signal To Noise, This Strange Way Of Dying. This story is essentially about Meche and her friends, Daniela and Sebastien, finding out they can cast spells by using vinyl records, in Mexico in the 1988’s. They realise they can conjure up what they want by using the right kinds of Vinyls and change their lives. Needless to say at this point but music plays an important part in the story and the tons of references to different songs and artists absolutely added to my enjoyment of the book as I started listening to the music while reading.

Simultaneously the story follows Meche in 2009, when she returns to Mexico for her father’s funeral, finally having to confront her past. Because magic might have changed their lives just a little bit too much in 1989. As always with Silvia’s books, and again with Signal To Noise, the story lingered that tiny bit longer which made it even better.

DNF @ 50%

This book should have been a slam dunk for me (music, magic, outcasts) and it just wasn't. I had a hard time staying interested in the story and I can't figure out why. This was my first book by this author, and while I don't usually go back to an author if I DNF the first book I read by them, I also know that this is an earlier book in her writing career and I've nothing but good things about her more recent efforts. I will go back to Moreno-Garcia as I feel like my issue with this book was me, not the author or writing (at least I think so)