Did we all have one of those best friends? The kind that captivated us when we were young, but slowly the veil was lifted and reality set in. Then, years later, you reunite. Is the new dynamic just growing up or…something else?

In Nicky Gonzalez’s “Mayra,” the narrator, Ingrid, is invited to a mysterious house in the Florida Everglades to reunite with her best friend from school, the titular character. They’ve drifted apart over the years, each blaming the other for changing. Reunited by Mayra’s boyfriend, Benji, the two women alternately bond and fight about the past and how they’ve changed. Slowly, Ingrid realizes there is something else going on in the house, not just their shifting relationship dynamics. Why is this strange window in this room? How come Ingrid seems to get turned around so easily in the surrounding swamp? Why is Benji doing THAT? The mysteries compound until Ingrid learns a terrible truth.

I would peg this is a great horror beach read. It’s gripping and pleasantly atmospheric in waves. There’s the nostalgia of the two women reminiscing about growing up in a Cuban community near Miami. Good food is described in detail. Then, the creepy elements start to…creep in. We follow Ingrid, the first-person narrator, as she explores and discovers. We are pulled down into the truth with her, and it’s hard to get out.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to Gothic horror fans who like a contemporary spin on a classic. I’m looking forward to what else Nicky Gonzalez has to offer. I received this title from NetGalley.

I want to deeply thank Random House Publishing for reaching out to offer this book in exchange for an honest review, I am very grateful!

With a heavy heart, because I take no pleasure in writing a less than pleasant review, I regret to inform those of you reading this, that Mayra, was just "not it". Truly it felt all over the place, repetitive, and overall it was a drag trying to keep going. I love a good supernatural mind-bending plot, but this just fell flat for me. With that said, everything in life is subjective. What I may like, you might not, and vice versa. Every book is worth a try!

1/5

Holly Collins

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.

Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a surreal, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we’ll go to earn love and acceptance—even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.

Nicky Gonzalez’s debut novel, Mayra, does an incredible job detailing adolescent friendship and how it can look different in adulthood. What the book doesn’t do well is present a gothic style story. We follow Ingrid who is reuniting with her best friend from high school, Mayra, for the first time in ages. Their previous reconnections have been awkward and Ingrid is hoping this random invitation to spend the weekend with Mayra with weave them back together.

Gonzalez moves Ingrid and Mayra forward while detailing their past. I connected with the friendship she built; having a risky best friend who can push boundaries with you and how easily two friends can become symbiotic. But as you grow into adulthood, are your memories accurate? Does the other person’s memories feel the same as yours or was the friendship not as impactful for them as it was for you? Ingrid is figuring that all out while learning who adult Mayra has become. I think that can resonate with a lot of women.

Their reconnection takes place in an isolated home among the Everglades with Mayra’s boyfriend, Benji. Gonzalez makes the house more of a character than Benji but both are not fleshed out enough. It wasn’t till the last few pages that he showed any spark of life. She also introduces diary entries from a previous tenet that I didn’t feel added anything special to the plot. I started wondering more than half way through if the women’s friendship could evolve and if something mysterious would kick the plot into gear. It wasn’t until the last quarter of the book when the plot started to accelerate but it missed the mark for me. I wanted more intrigue and mystery, not a crazy fever dream that left me empty.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.2 stars
As someone who grew up in south Florida and found the premise of book absolutely juicy. The book caught my eye immediately and knew I had to read it. (I mean, look at that cover, who wouldn’t ignore this book? My gosh!)

However, after picking up the book I struggled to get into it. Often putting it down again and again after boredom, waiting/wanting for something to happen. A lot of the times the descriptive writing about the surrounding felt like a bunch of fluff, to try and make the page count higher. Which might have been intentional to make you feel a little crazy yourself , but still, I didn’t enjoy it.

Closer to 90% the book finally picks up and you’re excited to finally get somewhere. But then left disappointed when you realize suddenly the book is over. Which sucks because the ending was actually really good, but felt rushed.

In terms of the characters, they were alright. Can’t say I loved them or overly hated any of them. Just didn’t get attached to anyone, which I think makes the impact of the book fall short.

Overall, can’t say I would recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Well, well, well. If it isn't another novel about the seemingly universal girlhood experience of having a friend who feels so intrinsically linked that you simultaneously can't see where the two of you end or begin while also being able to see the other person and compare yourself to them non-stop.

'Mayra' is a strange little book. Ingrid, a woman who still lives in her hometown and feels inferior because of how stagnant her life seems, gets a call from her old friend, Mayra. Mayra who left their hometown to move up north and start an entirely new life at her fancy college. Mayra who seemed to come back from college different each time she visited their hometown. Mayra who Ingrid simultaneously idolized, envied, and vilified over their years apart.

Mayra invites Ingrid to a house down in the swamplands of Florida. The secluded setting is incredibly unsettling and used to great effect. The house is expansive in a way that seems to defy logic. The girls reunite on the front porch before Mayra informs Ingrid that her boyfriend, Benji, is asleep upstairs. The house is his. Suddenly, the reunion feels less like two former best friends on equal ground as adults and more like an ambush.

The things I thought this book did really well:
-I loved the complicated and fraught past between Ingrid and Mayra. Their friendship was incredibly toxic and yet it makes sense that Ingrid put a ton of baggage onto Mayra without reason. The outgoing, pretty, smart friend who secretly applies to Cornell and gets in is an easy scapegoat for the typical teenage feelings of jealousy and inadequacy. Ingrid feels self-conscious in all aspects of her life. The anger she feels toward Mayra forgetting her roots and assimilating into her new life in New York is palpable and occasionally makes Ingrid lash out. Mayra, on the other hand, sees herself in a completely different light and tells Mayra that her perspective isn't correct. She didn't want to leave their hometown because she felt better than everyone but because she never felt that she belonged anywhere. The festering feelings between the two build to a nice crescendo.
-The setting was sublime. The muggy, suffocating Florida heat. The sounds of nature all around them. The house which is its own thing, taking and giving things to the girls as they explore. The feeling of the days lazily passing and not being able to account for how you've passed them while knowing that you've been busy. The slurred and blurry momentum of a summer vacation when you're young where the days feel infinite but time passes regardless. Parts of this novel felt like wading in molasses in the best way.

Things I felt this book could've done differently:
-I truly don't understand the magic system of the house. Benji, in all of his cobweb eating creepiness, being an immortal being made sense because the vibes were always off. What I don't really understand is why the house existed at all. The door with the voices behind it was spooky, but what did the house want with everyone's memories? Why was it so intent on draining them? What did Benji get out of the whole thing? I feel like if there had been a concrete reason, it would've made a more compelling ending.
Mayra choosing to stay in the house, stay in the soupy swamp that is slowly leeching away at her past and present, is a great choice narratively. Ingrid feels stuck staying in her hometown while Mayra went off and explored. But now Mayra is burnt out and exhausted. She feels that she's failed and rather than try again, to start fresh once again, she's content to let the house eat her whole.
That would have been so much more impactful if there was a clear motive behind why the house needs people to stay.
-The Elizabeth diary was an interesting look into the past of the house. I really enjoyed reading those entries and the final one was chilling. However, I feel like that story could have been incorporated a bit more. Lizzie was just another victim of the Paul/Benji/entity and why? Do they seek out people who want to see the world, who feel stuck where they are, because they're easier to manipulate into staying? Who knows? Not me.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I flew through it because I was desperate to find out what was going on. Unfortunately, I never really found out. Regardless, the vibes were nice and creepy. Especially because I'm binging Yellowjackets at the moment, so all of the female friendship/cannibal and consumption of one another imagery really resonated.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC.

I rated this as a 3.75 on Fable. This book felt really odd to me, in a good and bad way. I thought the beginning of the book was kind of slow since the main character was very reluctant to enter the adventure. I think that the rest of the book explains that reluctance and that her actions are balanced with what follows. I liked the journey of letting go of many anxieties that the MC, Ingrid, had in the beginning and how she eventually found herself and began to understand more of her relationship with her best friend, Mayra. The ending of the book felt very rushed and more unexplained, especially in the supernatural entity that was trapping them inside. It felt like there was a build-up of suspicious actions, but in the end, it was a very odd reveal of what was keeping them in the house.
Plot aside, the language in this book was incredible! I loved the imagery that I found throughout and how well I could picture things, even with an eventually unreliable narrator. There were times that I was confused since time was shown to flow differently in their little corner of Florida, but the next scene would be so enticing I would move on and forget. Like most of what the characters experience in this book.
I could also spend a while sitting and trying to dissect the various themes in the book, from female friendships to the desire to forget your past, but I think that doing so would take away from my feelings at the end of the novel overall.

This was weird but very interesting. The author did a very good job at making this very atmospheric swamp/marshlands in the middle of nowhere setting and I felt like I was there. It was very easy to picture in my head and it was like I was watching a movie. And it would be cool to watch as a movie - however i feel this book could have been more....

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez is a gothic story set in the backdrop of Florida’s swamplands. We follow Mayra and Ingrid, two former friends who reconnect after Mayra reaches out to Ingrid and invites her to come visit her. Mayra's boyfriend, Benji, lives with her and he is definitely an odd one. As the story progresses, we get deeper into their dynamic, culminating in a bit of a horrific climax. This story was both suspenseful and eerie. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC. You can check this one out when it publishes July 22, 2025.

Not going to lie; this was a weird little book. I like weird, though. I like something mind-bending, but there needs to be some sort of explanation in the end for why the things happening are happening. This book did not fit the bill in this regard. I thought that the supernatural/surreal stuff was interesting, but the way it was written into the story didn't work; it felt rather shoehorned into the very end and one is supposed to take that stuff at face value, but why? Why, on everything?

Speaking of things one is supposed to take at face value: Mayra. I know I was supposed to believe Mayra wasn't the same person as she was as a teenager, but her character in the present isn't really explained enough to make this actually believable. And the flashbacks, while informative at first, became repetitive and didn't do much to show how she'd ended up like her present self. I think it would have been interesting to see at least some of the book from her point of view, given she's supposed to be this interesting, edgy character who literally forms the title of this book.

The main character, Ingrid has an interesting point of view at first, but I grew to dislike it more as the book went on. I very much appreciate when characters, especially main characters, grow through the course of the story, but this didn't really happen here. It honestly became incredibly annoying how passive a person she was, in both the past and present (and this is also true of the girl who wrote the diary). Maybe that was a way of speaking to the book's themes of identity and toxic female friendships, but there had to have been a way to execute this without Ingrid just letting crap happen to her.

In short, this book had potential. I like the supernatural, and I like to explore works on the female experience. And I'm willing to try a lot of things, but if it doesn't have a strong plot and characterization, it's just going to fall short of where it needs to be. Such is this book.

I’m sad to say this book overpromised and underdelivered for me. I went into it looking from maybe southern gothic and instead for more of a toxic teenager female friendship. Which the friendship ended up being the best part imo. I was really into the first 60% and found it quite fast paced and enjoyable.

The ending felt rushed and put together at the last minute. The story often jumped around quickly in some parts and dragged on in others. The letters from the diary were a snooze and didn’t need to be sooo long.

Overall it was a weird and fun little read but I wish the ending was better developed and executed.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an early ARC and for reaching out to me to read Mayra.

In the best way possible, this book was weirrrrrd.
Former best friends Ingrid and Mayra reconnect in an isolated house in the Everglades. Throughout the novel Ingrid recounts her memories of their adolescent relationship while trying to navigate their strained adult relationship. Both begin to have unexplainable and odd experiences at the house, and that is a journey in itself.

I really enjoyed this book, the debut novel from Nicky Gonzalez. I found the characters and flashbacks reminiscent of my own teenage years. But overall, I just really liked how incredibly strange this story is. The writing was well structured and thought out, which made whispering “one more chapter” to myself an easy decision. I look forward to following Nicky Gonzalez’s writing career.

Mayra was an interesting little book about friendships, how they shape us, and what we'll do for them. I had a bit of trouble with the writing style and connecting with the characters.

I gave it the old college try and found I could not make it past 40%.

The premise seemed very intriguing. Gothic and twisty novels are typically my jam but by 40% this story had barely been developed. The writing wasn’t poor or anything. I just didn’t find myself caring enough to continue.

I’ll be on the lookout for more works from this author because I think this had potential.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The longer I read this, the more I was like "wait...huh???" which is exactly what I want when I read gothic books LOL.

Mayra slowly got creepier and creepier, and the sense of dread you feel when reading it builds so well. The backdrop of the humid Florida swamp, while at first glance seems unusual for a gothic book, fit the story perfectly. The lonely haunted house being surrounded by all the life found in the Everglades was such a perfect setting for Ingrid and Mayra's story.

Also I don't know if it was just me, but MAN this book is so homoerotic??? I was waiting the entire time for Ingrid and Mayra to kiss lol. There's just something about all of the resentment, longing, and jealousy that the two friends experienced that made me think something was gonna happen.

4/5 stars, such a good read and would recommend it to anyone looking for an unusual story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!!!

I’ve always wondered why more books don’t take place in South Florida. This is the kind of place where anything can happen—a region pulsing with infinite stories, shaped by beauty, tension, and intense contradictions. I was very excited to see that not only does this novel take place right here, but that the author is also local!

As a native to South Florida and a resident of Miami, there’s something deeply satisfying about reading a gothic novel set in my own backyard. These stories are so often rooted in crumbling New England mansions or windswept European estates—but why not here? Why not Miami, with its overly manicured suburbs, inequality, and the looming swamps just beyond the sprawl? Seems a perfect recipe.

I devoured this book in a single day. Mayra reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. There’s that same obsession, that same loss of identity and questioning of reality. The house also reminded me a lot of Manderly--I'd really like to know if that was the inspiration. As I was reading, I imagined that Mayra and Ingrid’s relationship was a type of Rebecca and M friendship, had they met under different circumstances, of course. It's the type of friendship that is familiar to a lot to women: the kind of best-friendship built on shared secrets, power games, and a quiet, simmering resentment.

I really enjoyed Ingrid's voice guiding us throughout the novel. The ending was rather stark and it felt rushed--that's my one complaint. But highly recommend this book!

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez was an okay read for me. The novel delves into the complexities of a toxic friendship between Ingrid and Mayra, set against the eerie backdrop of a secluded house in the Florida Everglades. While the atmospheric setting was vividly portrayed, I found the narrative's shift into surreal, fever-dream sequences towards the end to be somewhat disorienting. The exploration of the intense and, at times, unhealthy dynamics of female friendships was compelling, but the story's progression left me wanting more coherence. Overall, while I appreciated certain elements, the book didn't fully resonate with me.

This book was… odd. It’s said to be gothic horror, and while there was a gothic vibe, I didn’t get horror at all. It was more… what is going on? vibe.

Ingrid is a 20-something (I think) living in her hometown and working as an assistant at a real estate company. Her estranged former best friend, Mayra, calls her up one day and invites her out to a house in the swamplands of Florida. While there, she meets Benji, Mayra’s boyfriend who is cute but all too eager to please and wait on the girls hand and foot. The house is odd and Benji spends all his time fixing and cleaning it.

As her stay at the house gets longer and longer, and her memories start to fade, Ingrid tries to figure out what is going on with the house and how to get her and Mayra out.

I liked the premise of this book a lot. I just felt it could have been more. I usually get good visualization of descriptions provided in books, but I found it hard to visualize the house and the rooms within. There could have been more horror elements within the house/rooms to make things scarier. There were many times near the end where I had to backtrack because I was lost on what was happening. I feel like with a bit of tweaking, this could be really good.

I was fortunate to receive an advance ebook of Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez in exchange for my honest review.

Mayra begins with the narrator, Ingrid, reminiscing as she heads to the Everglades for a weekend away with her childhood friend Mayra. The girls have drifted apart, and on her drive, Ingrid explores memories and her longstanding fixation on their friendship. The nature of their relationship, its power dynamics, and the question of who pulled away from whom unfold in new dimensions as Mayra begins to share her perspective. At the same time, the mansion in the swamp, owned by Mayra's boyfriend Benji, who takes hosting a little too seriously, seems to unfold in new dimensions as well. Ingrid discovers a fiftyish year-old diary belonging to a former inhabitant of the strange house, portraying a diminutive young woman who conforms to what will appeal to a man who can take her away from her mundane hotel clerk life. The unclear but definitely creepy fate of the diarist seems to foreshadow that of Ingrid as she experiences uncanny changes to time and space afoot in Benji's property. The question manifests: how can we exist at all, in memory and in the present, when we define ourselves in relation to others?

I read this novel in under 3 days, unable to stop unless necessary. At first, I felt a bit jarred by the transitions in the storyline, but after processing it for a week or so, I am thoroughly wowed. No notes. Readers may not like some of the unexplained elements, but will get a lot out of it if they are open to metaphor and the unique power of speculative fiction to relate reality back to us the way it feels rather than precisely is. I also think the Cuban-American narrator's voice is a key layer of the identity issue that needs to be recognized to appreciate how subtly Gonzalez has compacted a hall of mirrors into a short modern Gothic story. Also: it's extremely funny at times. I will definitely pick up whatever Nicky Gonzalez puts out next.

I really liked this. Mayra is a gothic horror novel set in the Everglades. On the surface, the story is about a toxic/obsessive friendship between two young girls who grew up in Hialeah, outside of Miami. Ingrid is our MC, and it's made clear that she is a little obsessed with her friend Mayra, who left Hialeah for college in the northeast and never looked back. They are now in their mid 20s and mostly estranged. Still, when Mayra reaches out and invites Ingrid to come spend the weekend with her at a house she rented deep in the Everglades, Ingrid decides to go, the old pull of her obsession with Mayra still strong.

A lot of the story is flashbacks to their younger years, which helps flesh out their history and friendship. Ingrid is a bit in awe of Mayra, and worships her too much for the friendship to ever be equal. Ingrid is not the most likable character, but then neither is Mayra. They are both flawed, which makes this all the more interesting.

Once Ingrid arrives at the house, things are not what she expected. Mayra's boyfriend Benji is also there - turns out its his house. None of this was made clear to Ingrid before she arrived, and the tension and frustration that ensues eventually becomes something much more sinister.

I've seen a lot of reviews annoyed that the present-day scenes of the book feel "like a fever dream." I think that's exactly what works. This is a horror story after all. I loved the atmosphere created, the tension and weirdness.

There is one mistake early on in the novel - a literal editing mistake. I would hope that would be fixed by the time it is published.

Overall, I thought it was pretty brilliant. I was even reminded at times of a short story by Shirley Jackson called A Visit. That's high praise. I look forward to more by this debut novelist.