Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez was obtained directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before and I would not shy away from reading more in the future. Mayra is more of a human horror type novel than a horror novel. Old friends meet up and re-ignite past grievances, real or imagined. The writing style is good, it kept me entertained, at first, BUT I was expecting a horror novel and that was not what I got. If you like gothic style novels, or even an old friends type novel taking place in a swamp, this may be the book for you, or whoever you buy gifts for you.

5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advanced review copy of Mayra.

Wow! This one is hard to put into words. Mayra might be my favorite book of the year, and possibly a new all-time favorite.

Some readers may call it “slow” or say it’s “not horror,” but personally, I love books that straddle genres. I’d describe Mayra as gothic, literary fiction, steeped in atmosphere and psychological unease. I hope this helps set expectations for anyone picking it up and takes the pressure off it needing to be fast-paced or traditionally scary.

The novel follows Ingrid, who travels to a sprawling home deep in the Florida swamplands to reconnect with her estranged friend, Mayra, after years apart. From the moment Ingrid arrives at this winding? gigantic home, the atmosphere is eerie and ominous. The plot unravels in a bit of a fever-dream. This book is short, but it takes time to process. My hope is, readers will take their time with this novel.

Let me try to sum up what I loved:

First, the writing. I haven’t highlighted so many passages in a single book in ages. Here’s one example (not plot-related) that stopped me in my tracks:

“She wore a perfect minidress—teal satin gripped her waist and flowed from her hips—and I thought of asking where she got it, but I’d been a resident of my own mind long enough to know that it wasn’t her dress, but her skin, that I wanted to wear.”

Secondly, this is a perfect meditation on girlhood and early friendships. The author writes that in every relationship there’s a “shared mania,” and I love how the story explores that idea. The flashbacks, which I suspect some readers might criticize, were actually some of my favorite parts. They might not contribute directly to the horror or gothic atmosphere, but they made me feel like this story was written specifically for me.

Third, I genuinely loved the plot and the ending. It’s an eerie, layered story that left me with so much to think about and discuss. I have a feeling there’s even more meaning in the text waiting to unearthed (I’ll be re-reading).

Mayra is haunting, beautifully written, and deeply resonant. I can’t recommend it enough with the right expectation especially for readers drawn to gothic fiction and literary explorations of friendship, identity, and longing.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7565438788

⭐️⭐️.5 stars!!!

Mayra wasn’t a terrible read, but it didn’t quite live up to its horror label. The atmosphere never built the tension or fear you’d expect, and while there were glimpses of something darker beneath the surface, it never fully took shape. The characters felt underdeveloped, with backstories that stayed too vague to leave an emotional impact. At its core, the story is more about a toxic friendship between two girls than anything truly horrific.

The ending is open ended, offering no real clarity on Benji’s involvement in the strange things happening around the house, which left me feeling more unsatisfied than intrigued. I really thought things would pick up once Ingrid finds the journal, but It leans more toward dark drama than horror and while the concept had potential, it didn’t quite land for me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An eerie, swampy fever-dream. Following an impromptu invitation from her estranged childhood friend, Ingrid treks into the Everglades for a weekend getaway and a chance to reconnect with the person who played such a prominent role in her teen years. As Ingrid and Mayra reminisce, we are drawn into their toxic and complex relationship, filled with both longing and resentment. What starts as a brief escape from everyday life soon turns strange and unsettling.

Gonzalez writes lushly and crafts a creepy modern Gothic story of friendship, identity, and home. The Everglades setting is eerie and suffocating, juxtaposed with Ingrid's almost dreamy experience in the house - all tinged with unease. The story is heavily character-driven, with much of the focus on getting to know these characters and their relationship. The emotions are layered and compelling. That said, I found myself wanting a bit more plot, especially regarding the weird happenings in the house. The pacing was also quite slow, with crumbs dropped throughout, but things don't really come to a head until almost 90% through the book. The conclusion is satisfying, but after such a slow build, it felt a little rushed. Still, Mayra is a worthwhile, quietly unsettling read.

Thanks to Random House for the advance review copy.

This fever dream of a book is an atmospheric and unsettling character-driven novel set in the Florida Everglades. There is a heavy, almost suffocating tone to this slow-building gothic thriller. And yet, I wish there had been more depth to the story, and more show rather then tell to the unraveling. Ingrid is a fascinating unreliable narrator, and her yearning and nostalgia for her childhood friend drive this story forward. But I always felt a bit detached from her. Still, the writing is strong. From the mysterious house and fully-alive remote surroundings to Ingrid’s memories of her childhood and relationship with Mayra, the vivid descriptions leapt from the page straight into my imagination. This is where the novel’s most beautiful moments reside. Nicky Gonzalez can really capture the moment.

Overall, this is a fairly quick and compelling read. And one that I find myself returning to, and reflecting on still.

Overall, I mostly enjoyed this book, but certain parts just fell flat for me.

The setup is undeniably intriguing: a long-lost best friend, an eerie house in the Everglades, and the disorienting tension of past and present colliding. From the moment Ingrid begins her journey into the swamp to reconnect with Mayra, the novel builds a dreamy, unsettling atmosphere that had me curious about what was to come. The sense of place—humid, murky, and claustrophobic—is expertly drawn, and the early friendship between Ingrid and Mayra adds an emotional undercurrent that feels both authentic and haunting.

However, while the premise and mood are strong, the execution didn’t fully land for me. Some sections dragged, and the story’s surreal, dreamlike quality occasionally slipped into confusion rather than depth. The plot often felt like it was circling itself, and though the tension between the characters simmered, it rarely boiled over in a way that felt satisfying or earned.

Still, the book has something to say about identity, longing, and the intoxicating pull of people who once defined us. I appreciated those moments of emotional clarity, even if the narrative itself didn’t always keep me engaged. A compelling concept with a strong sense of atmosphere—but for me, the follow-through wasn’t quite as sharp.

Ooooooh, "Mayra" by Nicky Gonzalez is unexpectedly spooky! I went into this book completely blind; I had absolutely no idea what it was about and I think that is the best way to read it. It is definitely a slow burn and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen. This book is what I call 'literary horror' because the writing is gorgeous and the plot relies more on the tense and smoldering atmosphere created by the author's words than on outright, overt scary events. I felt unsettled the whole time I was reading and that feeling was difficult to shake, even after I finished the last page and closed the book.

"Mayra" is an exceptional debut and I look forward to reading more from Nicky Gonzales. Thank you NetGalley for introducing me to a talented new author and to the publisher and author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this book.

When Ingrid is invited to spend a weekend out in the Everglades with her one time best friend, she jumps at the chance despite every misgiving steeped in the heart break of collapsed friendships. The novel then stands with one foot in the dynamic between Mayra and Ingrid as they navigate their reconnection and every reason for that collapse once more, and one foot in the dream state of a sprawling house so isolated it is easy to forget there is a wider world.

Gonzalez captures the languid dream of the house and it's space in the Everglades so precisely. The novel sort of floats around you for the majority of the time. This is when it did the best for me. On the other hand the tides of Ingrid and Mayra navigating a new relationship and their previous loss, frustrated me perhaps more than it did them. It felt lived in but it also grated. Partially in the way of watching someone making their worst social choice of the year. It also acts as the grounding back to reality in the narration. Because it acted to ground the character and pull out of that otherwise dreamlike structure, it pulled me out of the rhythm of the book.

Mayra and Ingrid review their friendship in this atmospheric novel set at a house in the middle of the Everglades. Ingrid is disappointed that Mayra's boyfriend Benji will be there for their reunion but he owns the house and he doesn't seem like a bad guy. There's a journal that doesn't seem like it belongs in the story but wait for it. This has all the feels and its quite atmospheric what with the swamp and the creepy house. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Interesting read.

Immersive and atmospheric!

Mayra and Ingrid have not spoken in years but when Mayra invites Ingrid to spend a weekend at a house in the Everglades, Ingrid impulsively accepts. While Ingrid expects things to be awkward between them, she discovers that Mayra has hardly changed at all. But over this weekend, while trying to rekindle their friendship, their reunion is tainted by the unexpected presence of Mayra’s boyfriend, Benji, as well as the isolation of the swamp and the dangerous beasts lurking in the surrounding water.

This was an impressive debut and the spooky vibes would make this a great read for ‘spooky month’. Even though this book is very short, it did drag a bit for me in places.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on July 22, 2025

I featured Mayra in my July 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5JWYTfUVq4, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

There are places in the world where nature is so pervasive, so otherworldly, that reality as we know it begins to blur; where people you knew and experiences you’ve had begin to disappear, memories shift and a strange type of haunting seeps into your soul. Mayra is a tale within a tale, a reality that is, where one wasn’t.
This story is undeniably unique in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ meets ‘The Green Glass Door’, riddling, psychedelic and haunting twist. The characters are striated in a way that I haven’t seen in a long time, keeping you constantly questioning what’s real and what’s not. Once it all unfolds, you’ll be cheering for two different scenarios, both equally satisfying, as the characters seem to get what they truly desire.

Gonzalez does something really brilliant with the repetitive "in the green glass room" narrative device that creates this ominous, almost hypnotic atmosphere—you'll spend 80% of the book feeling like something terrible is about to happen even though everything seems relatively normal on the surface.

Ingrid is fascinatingly unreliable as a narrator, and the author has this gift for crafting metaphors that perfectly capture her internal dialogue (seriously, "like trying to unfry an egg" is going to stick with me).

When the chaos finally hits around the 80% mark, it's like the story transforms into a fever dream, and honestly, this is the first time I've read such a compelling exploration of toxic friendship rather than toxic romance.

I really liked the writing style of this book but I don't think this was necessarily a horror novel? It was a little creepy at times but most of the novel felt more lit fic than horror or thriller. The ending did try to make that push and was for sure a little creepy but I think the payoff would have been better if more of those elements were woven into the overall plot. But I loved the writing style and enjoyed all the characters!

This book had a great concept, I just wished that it had a bit more of a cosmic horror element to it when it came to the house and the time loop situation. I felt it could've been a bit more terrifying that way. It is a bit of a slow burn.

A fantastic literary debut, Mayra kept me intrigued from start to finish. I did not expect some of the twists this book had which kept me going. The characters had depth and I liked that we get to see their friendship. A great debut

I really enjoyed the swamp setting of this book, as well as the exploration of Mayra and Ingrid's relationship, but ultimately, I think this book fell a little flat for me. I really liked all of the past stories, when Mayra and Ingrid were kids together, and I liked their conversations together in the house as they share some very introspective thoughts, but the rest of the book confused me, in not a particularly fun way. The house aspects felt like they should have been more prominent, as with Lizzie's diary - by the time the diary was introduced, I struggled to really connect it with the rest of the story since the rest of the story had already happened.

The vibes were there, but the story wasn't - I felt like nothing was happening, and then by the time we reached the end, I felt like we were just being told what happened. Ingrid was losing her memories, so we were told, but I didn't really see that happen on the page. I felt like this could have been incredible, and I did really enjoy Gonzalez's writing style and her characterization, but something felt missing from this book.

Mayra and Ingrid... two best friends from who went their separate ways after Mayra decided to leave town for college. Now, several years later, Ingrid receives a phone call from Mayra to join her for a weekend getaway in the heart of the swamplands. A place so remote, Google Maps can't even find it. What could possibly go wrong?

This book was atmospheric and made you feel unsettled at times because as Ingrid begins to descend the reader is actively watching this play out. At times I would catch myself saying "hold up, that's not right" which is a different play on the usual unreliable narrator. Usually, the reader doesn't know the protagonist is unreliable until the end, but HERE?! you see her descend into an unreliable viewpoint and you feel bad.

It definitely felt slow at times. Regardless of that, I recommend this to anyone who likes a gothic-esque haunted house.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me a chance to read this novel ahead of its release.

This was a DNF for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and wasn't wowed enough to continue.

A creeping, unsettling, and character-driven novel examining memory and friendship. The setting is brilliantly eerie, the house a silent but ever present character all on its own. The relationship between Mayra and Ingrid was a reflection of young and often unhealthy friendships that many of us experience.

I wasn't sure how much I liked the latter half of this book - I mostly liked the descent into confusion and madness, but I found myself lost at times, unsure about what was happening and why. The pacing was a little off, and the characters strange. It's not a book for everyone but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.