I read this book because it was a horror book about a creepy house out in the swamps of Florida, but what I actually got was a book about a female friendship with a tiny dash of horror near the end. I was bored for a good portion of this book and the ending wasn't worth the payoff.

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez is a dreamy gothic set in the swampy Everglades of Florida.
A book about friendship, memory and hauntings.

Childhood friends Ingrid and Mayra reconnect after years, is a house in the Everglades owned by Mayra’s boyfriend’s family. What is supposed to be a just a long weekend getaway for Ingrid turns into a time warped long vacation where leaving seems impossible once Ingrid finds a journal that belongs to one the house’s older guests.

I loved the setting. An old house with surprises in every corner- yes please! Overall, I enjoyed this book but I did feel like there were some plot lines that didn’t make sense.

Mayra took me a while to get through—not because it wasn’t well written, but because I struggled to understand what the book was trying to be. At times, it felt like a quiet meditation on childhood friendship, exploring how people drift apart yet remain inexplicably tethered by shared memories. At other times, it seemed to be building toward a haunting, even supernatural, tale—one involving a house that refuses to let go of its inhabitants.

The shift between these threads made the pacing feel uneven. Much of the book moves slowly, with the more eerie or suspenseful elements not really coming into focus until the last 15% or so. I found myself wishing that some of the creepier, more unsettling moments had been introduced earlier to help build a consistent tone and keep the momentum going.

That said, Mayra still offers a compelling, atmospheric read, especially for those who enjoy stories that straddle the line between memory and mystery. With a few more fast-paced or emotionally heightened sections, it could have packed even more of a punch.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy of the book.

Remember that toxic friendship from your youth that sticks to your ribs? This book will wake up all the feelings about it. Gorgeous writing and a "what the heck is going on" plot (in a good way.) I wish the ending were a wee bit more flushed out, but all in all it was worth the journey to the swamps of Florida.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Sometimes, as a reader, you'll encounter stories that just aren't for you, and for me, this is one of those times.

I wanted to love Mayra. It had the makings of a thrill ride that I could go back to again and again. The writing was top-notch, and the basic premise (holding onto disloyal, fairweather friends) is something that resonates with just about everyone.

Mayra starts off very strong, and captures your attention in a subtle yet assertive way. I found myself overidentifying with Ingrid multiple times, and openly (and sometimes audibly) questioned why she was enthralled by Mayra. It was so obvious that she didn't care about Ingrid at any point in their friendship, and yet, Ingrid is so insecure and desperate to be accepted by others that she tolerates the disrespect.

The South Florida setting was laid out perfectly. I am a huge fan of immersive, atmospheric books, and Nicky Gonzalez will definitely have you sweating in the stifling Florida heat and humidity in Mayra. Her attention to worldbuilding and bringing the reader into the story should be applauded, because balancing the two really is an artform. I've enjoyed many books that didn't stick the landing in quite the same way, but Mayra was one of the rare ones that put me in the middle of the action.

Unfortunately, that's where the good vibes end for me. I struggled to pay attention to the story once Ingrid got on the road, and despite multiple attempts to jump back in, I just couldn't do it. It's hard to pinpoint what it was exactly, but I think the main thing that happened is the story's tone changed in small ways, and I couldn't adjust to it.

Mayra is the perfect read for anyone who loves a good thriller, and stories that focus on complicated and/or dysfunctional relationships.

Three days of desperately wanting to like this book
have been largely unsuccessful. While it’s possible
I will pick it up and try again in a month or two, I make
no promises.
I loved that the story seemed to be about two women
who have a super close and special long term friendship,
As the story trudges on to the conclusion I think I may
have figured out an underlying theme but it came
too late and was not fleshed out.
As a benign story of friendships and their
complexities, there were some parts that gave me hope.
My hope is that I missed the point, while others were
in on a secret.
My thanks to Random House via NetGalley for
the book,for review purposes.

This book reminded me of Brutes by Dizz Tate in it’s humid Florida locale and also in it’s dreamy, disorienting story. Ingrid goes to meet her old friend Mayra at an isolated home in the everglades, surrounded by swamp and lizards and bad vibes, with no cell reception. This is largely about a toxic teenage friendship with aspects of magical realism and an ending that veers into a fever dream. This is a real vibey book as opposed to plot-heavy and the vibes are dark and gauzy and dread-filled. The writing of place is great in this, I could feel the humidity and torpor of the everglades. Overall, though, this wasn’t really my bag and I can’t really express why. I’ve read depictions of toxic female friendships that hit harder for me than this one and I found myself a little bored, even though this is a short book. I do think fans of quiet horror and of a little bit of delirium in their books should give this one a go if it looks interesting.

What happened here? This is such a short book but there's so much atmosphere. Mayra invites her old friend Ingrid for a visit and mysterious things happen as they are catching up. Mayra has a boyfriend there but the main thing is the dynamic between Mayra and Ingrid. There is a lot of tension and Ingrid seems jealous but there's more going on. Very creepy and dreamlike.

Delightfully surreal—a slippery, humid fever dream—and the sense of place is so fully realized it’s almost destabilizing. Really gorgeous work, I highly recommend.

Oooh MAYRA had me up at 3am reading and I’ll never (or, immediately) forgive Nicky Gonzalez for that! A lot of reviews say this book is “weird,” which I guess I understand, but really it was just perfectly unsettling and eerie and haunting and I LOVED it. I loved Ingrid, our protagonist, for all of her relatability and the strength and sense of self that surprised her. Mayra was lovable-hateable and yet I know we have ALL had a friend like her. And Benji? Truly creepy. I loved the threads of self-discovery, memory, place and identity, and relational identities that wove through the narrative. The queer rep was also *chef’s kiss*!

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for sharing this e-arc!

A young woman meets her friend at a secluded home and starts to forget things. I really enjoyed this book until the very end. I felt it was anti-climatic and just ended suddenly. But it’s very possible that it just went over my head. I wish the end had been a little different because I loved the character development.

Mayra is more unsettling than I thought it would be and I loved every minute! Toxic friendships? Check? Eerie moments that will seep under your skin? Check. And an ending that will make you say "WTF"? Check check check! I really liked this one!

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Mayra, by Nicky Gonzalez, from Random House Publishing Group-Random House | Random House/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Never have I ever wanted to write a spoiler-filled Book Report as much as this time.

But I won’t. Mostly.

Instead, I’ll say that all the elements were in this book to make it a great swamp gothic novel, but somehow the quilt pattern got a little wonky in the blocking stage. Somebody needed to sit Nicky Gonzalez down and say, essentially, girlfriend? There is such a thing as leaving _too_ much to the imagination. Help a reader out, will ya?

Also, I’m a big fan of Spanglish, used to speak more of it back when, but it did get a little frustrating to have to look up so many phrases every five pages or so. Especially because some of them were profane, and we all know that Our Techno Overlords don’t want us learning to swear in anything other than English. Duck, they’ll barely permit that. [rolls eyes so hard they get stuck in the back of head]

OK, spoiler alert! Spoiler Alert! SPOILER ALERT!!

Scroll down if you want to read more…..







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OK, surely this is far enough that you can’t have accidentally stumbled on the next part, you had to actually want to be here.

The Actual Spoilers
Does anybody else think that this book could be summed up thusly?

“Hungry Everglades swamp area seeks long-term relationship. Consumes a male human, constructs a house out of his memories, spits out male human back into house. Male human goes out and seeks new human, this one female. House /swamp consumes female, adds to itself based on her memories. Lather, rinse, repeat over about 100 years, until the house decides the latest procured female should be its new caretaker. New female procures new female, who was her bestie back in Hialeah in the day. Lesbian overtones/undertones/shadow studies/occasional 8mm film. Much faerie-type food and drink consumed. Many surreal dreams both in house and forest/swamp. Old journal read/partly understood. House consumes original caretaker, which causes female bestie to wake up and smell the coffee, so to speak. She breaks away from the sway of her teenage love and goes back out into the real world. The House remains…..with its new caretaker…..”

DESCRIPTION
An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands.

“A mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel.”—Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon

It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers—with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.

Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

I was hooked on the premise of toxic female friendship and creeping gothic horror in a very strange house. I was not expecting Gonzalez’s absolutely riveting prose drawing me from page to page, the deftly-painted characters throughout the women’s past, or the lush description of setting in both Hialeah and the Everglades. I couldn’t sleep before I finished the book, and even then I couldn’t stop thinking about how memory makes us who we are.

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez was very atmospheric and spooky, but I felt once it really kicked in, it was almost over. That said, it was an enjoyable read...I just wish there was a little more to it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was almost a dnf for me. Mayra and Ingrid, along with the remote house in the Everglades, all had potential. However most of the book was a rambling series of childhood recollections, drinking to oblivion and weirdness. Ingrid seemed to be on a hallucinogenic journey for most of the story; Alice falling down the rabbit hole. The last 10% of the book was interesting.

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was interesting, the setting really sang for this title, and the characters and suspense really kept the plot at full throttle. I enjoyed!

3.5 stars. well that was a weird ride. First off the setting was the best part, it felt like I was watching a movie. The rest was so chaotic, I need more time to think it over.

I found myself fully immersed in the world of Mayra. It is at once a story of friendship and of possession. The author describes the relationships with such affection and candidness I completely related with the characters. The way the scene is set, and the care with which she builds out the main characters and their experiences made this a delight to read even as i chomped at the bit for the supernatural twist which I thoroughly enjoyed once it arrived. If anything I wish that part had been drawn out more, because I adored it. this was an immersive and fast read for sure.