Forgotten Sisters is hauntingly beautiful in all the best ways. It's like Pelayo took a pinch of ghost story, a dash of crime novel, and a sprinkle of dark fairy tale, and mixed it all together into this genre-bending masterpiece. Her writing is so hypnotic, it's like being put under a spell - you can practically feel the chill of the Chicago River seeping into your bones.
One thing I loved most about this book is how authentic it feels. Pelayo really knows Chicago, and it shines in this story. The city isn't just a backdrop; it's a living entity, with a dark history that Pelayo brings to life in a way that's both unsettling and captivating.
This is a slow-burn kind of horror that creeps up, letting the dread build until you're pulled under water. Forgotten Sisters is the kind of story that sticks with you long after you turn the last page, haunting your thoughts and making you question the bonds of sisterhood, the weight of grief, and what it truly means to be forgotten.

Forgotten Sisters was a different style of book for me. It surprised me in good ways and pushed me beyond my reading comfort zone. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good horror story and for anyone wanting to step out of the traditional genre.

#ForgottenSisters #CynthiaPelayo #NetGalley

The book started out pretty good. My biggest struggle was that I am someone who love to finish at least 1 full chapter or more at a time. Which was difficult since the chapter were so long. I also thought the book was pretty predictable with the sister being a ghost in guessed that pretty much right away. Overall the book was ok but I wouldn’t buy it or read it again.

This book was a bit off for me. The actual story was good, but there was a lot of historical information interspersed with the story. It was a bit too much for me.
I like the supernatural ghosty aspects mixed in with the thriller storyline.
I'd give it a 3.5 stars. Will round up to 4 on Goodreads.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

This book is about a pair of grieving sisters living in a possessed house near the Chicago River that so happens to be the dumping ground of an active Serial Killer that hunts for young men leaving bars alone. There also two dogs named Clover and Thistle. Don’t worry no harm comes to the dogs.

Cynthia builds the walls to the house that Anna and Jennie live in by explaining the price that was paid to have the home that has a backyard on Chicago River. A price they never wanted to pay and each day they continue living with the invisible wound of grief.

Anna lives her days remodeling the home, being a Dog Mom, and hosting a podcast about Chicago History. Jennie, spends her days in her room, watching news coverage about the drowned young men discovered in the Chicago River, and going for night walks never explaining to Anna where she has been. They live in this bubble of routine and pain. The sisters are trying to move on from the past and the pain but the house will not let them forget or leave. When two Detectives investigating the potential serial killer of the Chicago River. However, according to the Chief of Police there isn’t a serial killer and it is just a very odd coincidence that young men in their 20’s are found drowned in the Chicago River.

Anna researches for her Podcast about the early days of Chicago, the Immigrants that worked the industrial factories that feed the masses while polluting the Chicago River. Sharing the history of locations of tragedy, pain, and death. Allowing the victims to be spoken about in the modern time. Anna records her podcast with her dogs at her feet (don’t worry the dogs survive) and through her podcast a seed of love is planted in Anna’s heart giving her hope. Hope that love is real and give Anna hope that love can heal the grieving heart and leave the house.

The House is a third character, the house is alive, and the house does not like change. The House doesn’t like when one of sisters leaves for too long. The House doesn’t like when there are visitors entering the threshold. The detectives visit the Craftsman asking questions about the missing men and the house doesn’t want the dripping sound to be found. The House is holding the sisters as prisoners of their grief. When the house starts to make rooms flood like lakes, it is time to go and surrender. Give your trust to the mermaid and not the woman in the green dress.

In this story you follow two sisters who live in a haunted house in Chicago at a time where men are disappearing and drowning in a lake nearby. Simultaneously you follow two detectives trying to solve these deaths.
I was really impressed how Cynthia was able to deliver both a stream of consciousness story and a very literal story at the same time. It was pretty trippy in a sense that I felt like I was in a house of mirrors at times and pulled into reality with detective scenes and didn’t know what was real and what was fantasy. Cynthia’s writing in this book submerged me into a dark atmospheric dimension full of Chicago history.
For the fantasy potion of this book I loved all the little hints of the little mermaid and for the detective portion (my favorite) it was apparent how much research Cynthia did. From the body decomposition to the latin community history in Chicago, it was all in great detail.

Interviewing Cynthia confirmed what I felt when I was reading her book.. that it was indeed a personal piece of work for her. That should tell you how impactful her story telling is.
Here are some historical events that inspired this book:
- S.S Eastland Disaster & the immigrants aboard
- Jennie & Anna Evenhuis, the real sisters
- The Smiley face serial killer

This book is more than just a fiction/horror novel. The messages are those that stick with you:
Why do forget about the dead so quickly? Can we truly understand someone’s suffering if we have not suffered ourselves?

Loved this folk horror take taking place along the Chicago River.

Lots of Chicago history and ghost tales. I’ve lived near Chicago for many years and appreciated all the native touches to the story.

Poor Anna and Jennie, sisters doomed to carry out a sad existence, living only for each other in their family home along the Chicago River. Anna wants out, she wants love. But how can she leave Jennie who is tied in stranglehold to the house they share.

Sad, melancholic. Grief horror but with touches of beauty. For fans of folk horror, female rage, and generational trauma.

The Chicago River is calling…

Anna (23 years old) & Jennie (26) are sisters that live in a historic home along the water. This house is a time capsule, an entity of its own with feelings & moods that it makes known to its occupants. Anna throws herself into the podcast she produces on some of Chicago’s darkest pieces of history to distract herself; Jennie prefers to say cryptic things & hides in her room a lot. But everything starts to change when Anna connects with one of her listeners, & detectives begin asking questions about the recent uptick of bodies found in the river…

This genre-defying story was so many different things: a little bit police procedural, a whole lot of history & lore, some horror with the more disturbing details about all the Chicago River has been, the magic of mermaids, & a tale of two sisters that focuses on all things time, memory, hope, loneliness, & the ache for love. I really enjoyed the focus on the water: its spiritual significance & the way that water is life but can also be death, & the intriguing/unsettling thought that we don’t always know what’s beneath the surface.

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While I loved the Gothic tone, the prose, and the imagery, this novel felt overwritten, rushed, and convoluted. There was too much going on writing-wise. The voices dragged, pacing was slow, and things were flat-out confusing at times. I love odd books and wish it was less of a rough read so I could have enjoyed it. The ending was interesting but not enough that I'd recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

This novel is part haunted house/vengeful ghost story and part crime novel with some part fairy tale fantasy elements. The various narrators and genres didn't always feel balanced but that added to the sense of delusion, illusion, and mystery that the overlapping stories of the pairs of sisters evoke. Anna and Jennie are sisters saddened by the loss of their parents to a car accident while Anna and Jennie were sisters who died in a tragic accident back in 1915. The story is centered around the Chicago River, where young men mysteriously disappear, with detectives Kowalski and Rodriguez convinced a serial killer is responsible. Throw in a strange woman, Ursula, who is either a killer in a white van or the sea witch of legend. It's creepy, convoluted, and poignant.

Gosh. I so wanted to like this one, and while I'm thankful to the publisher, author, and Netgalley, this one wasn't for me.

Overall I enjoyed this horror-fantasy novel. It was beautifully written, although sometimes the dialogue would take you out of the story as people don't generally converse with each other this way in daily life.

Well, that was a page turner. Although there were times where I felt the story was a bit repetitive with some of the characters pondering, it worked in the sense that it made you feel crazy, trapped in the minds and confused thoughts of her characters. I loved the mood, the setting, the history and the characters.
I had a lot of speculation about the outcome as well, all the while wondering how to solve the who’s and why’s but was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the haunting feeling I had throughout. I loved it.

I don't think I've ever read a book quite like Forgotten Sisters, which is an intriguing blend of haunted house horror, crime noir, urban fairy tale, magical realism, and dark historical fiction. It reads like Catriona Ward meets We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but it did leave me feeling a bit perplexed and wishing for a more focused narrative.

At its heart, Forgotten Sisters is about two insular sisters named Anna and Jennie, who are haunted in more ways than one, and what happens when bodies start washing up in the Chicago River that flows behind the historic Craftsman bungalow they've lived in all their lives (and almost never leave).

This is my first experience with Cynthia Pelayo's writing, and it's clear she has a distinctive style. Her prose reads like a fever dream which entranced and confused me in equal measure and kept me off-balance for the entire book. With characters that behave and speak in strange, dated ways, the book has a decidedly gothic tone and reads like something out of time, so it's all the more startling when the modern world intrudes in the narrative, with mentions of murders and detectives and podcasts. I don't know if I've ever read a book that combines supernatural fairy tale elements with a hard-nosed police procedural, but that's exactly what Pelayo does in Forgotten Sisters. Her storytelling is so strange, so bold, so hypnotic.

Forgotten Sisters delves into Chicago's dark history, which was probably my favorite thing about it. This is an intensely atmospheric and descriptive book, and it's clear Pelayo has a lot of love for the city of Chicago. But despite that, Forgotten Sisters wasn't an entirely enjoyable reading experience for me overall. There is a lot going on in the narrative, but at the same time there isn't really much of a plot to speak of. Structurally, the book just meanders along until it reaches an intriguing, but in my opinion not fully supported, conclusion. Anna's romantic relationship feels rushed and lacks nuance and depth, and all of the various genre elements become a bit muddled after a while.

That said, I am definitely interested in reading more of Pelayo's work, because I think her writing is my vibe.

s is the first book I’ve read by Cynthia Pelayo and it will surely not be my last. This book was an
intriguing mystery full of suspense and paranormal aspects. It’s set in Old Chicago which is the perfect gothic setting and makes it epically dynamic.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys gothic fiction/ magical realism and are fans of Sarah Penner!

DNF at 44%

While I really enjoyed the few chapters I got to involving the bodies in the river and the investigation, I found myself bogged down by the Anna and Jennie chapters.

Although this book wasn't for me, I do want to give the author another chance and check out her backlist.

This was my first time reading a book by Cynthia Pelayo. When I first started Forgotten Sisters I thought it was a book that I was going to really enjoy because it had a gothic vibe or feel to it. It’s a combination of several genres. It’s part horror/ghost story and part suspense/thriller with some fairytale mixed in. It’s about 2 sisters, Anna and Jennie, who live in a historic bungalow on the banks of the Chicago River. These sisters have experienced a tragic loss of both parents and are living in an almost depressed and hermit type existence. The story picks up when bodies of male victims are found either washed up on the banks or seen floating in the river. There are 2 police detectives that are trying to solve these crimes. Or were they really accidental drownings? This was the part of the story that I enjoyed most. I felt that all the talk about the girls grandmother and the reference to The Little Mermaid was all a bit confusing. There were parts that seemed to drag on and went into too much detail which didn’t hold my interest or attention. This book was very different from anything I’ve ever read before and I don’t feel it was a good pick for me. I felt lost through much of it. I’d like to thank both Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the chance to read an arc and give my honest opinion. Although the book wasn’t to my liking, I’m sure that there will be many readers that will really enjoy it. I’m giving it a 3 star rating because I know the author put a lot of thought and work into it.

Ahhh can't explain my feelings. Its a good read and on the other hand i feel like few pages are filled with unnecessary details. I like straight forward plot without extra details so i skip pages but still a good story line packed with a little element of horror in it.

I have mixed feelings about this one!
There were many shining moments but there were also parts that dragged. It was packed with Chicago history - while interesting, it bogged down the plot significantly. The writing focused on a lot of irrelevant details when I would have preferred it to stay on track with the mystery/crime procedural sections which I found most interesting. I do love history, especially that relating to maritime events, so I didn’t hate those sections per se, but it didn’t really work in the story imo. Some of the elements also felt repetitive, but I understood what the author was trying to accomplish by doing so. If you love ghost tales and Chicago history, this might be worthwhile for you!