Lotería by Cynthia Pelayo is an expanded edition of an earlier release, now with 54 short stories that is very much like playing the lottery. They span genres and themes, time and locations; some are familiar bits of folklore with a twist, like La Llorona or the Loch Ness monster,  others are modern noir.

Like any collection, there are some stand-outs, such as El Diablito which shows to what lengths people will go to protect the children of their family or La Araña, which was just effectively creepy.   This is definitely a book I'll keep on hand to revisit and dip into as the mood strikes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

It was hard to read because there were so many grammatical errors and also the formatting was completely off. I would love to try again when these issues are taken care of.

Loteria is a set of short stories, woven with Mexican folklores and mythologies into real life. small pages, small tales- but the impression they made while reading it, that's not so small! grotesque and eerily fantastic, these stories aren't just horror stories, they are the modern representation of an age old culture, its traditions and the dark roots which brought together a community- through worship, and thorough fear.

as someone who likes folklore and mythology, this book gave me more than i could ever wish for. every story took me to a specific attribute, crawling under my skin and laughing as i shrugged in its delirium. For me, they weren't stories, they were history- traces of a civilization. i enjoyed every bit of it, sucked in the darkest of the pages, it even came in my dreams, and i will read it again, and again, and again.

Like most short story collections, this one had a few misses. I will say it has way more hits though. I loved the concept with each of the 54 stories is tied to a Lotería card and based on Latin American myths, folklore, or superstitions, many with a creepy or paranormal twist. Some stories were super short, which didn’t leave much of an impact & others slightly longer that truly gave me the creeps. There’s a great mix of ghosts, monsters, murderers, and more, and I really enjoyed the cultural depth throughout. It’s the kind of book you can pick up and read a few stories at a time, and it would be perfect for spooky season!

Thanks NetGalley and Sterling Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square and Co for the free ARC n exchange for my honest opinion. Unfortunately I found the short stories too short...there wasn't enough time for character development or even to feel as though a story had started before it was over. From some of the writing I can tell Pelayo can write characters well, it just seems as though there weren't stories that lasted long enough for that to happen.

Wow wow wow! Not sure what else I can say! I grew up playing Loteria with my family and was so excited when I was approved to read this book. This is a collection of short stories each one told to a card of the deck of loteria. These were short and sweet but haunting at the same time!

(Actual: 3.25⭐) Gaaahhh.... I wish I loved this book more than I just enjoyed it! I absolutely devoured this book so quickly as I was super intrigued by the premise and concept of using one of the 54 cards in Loteria as the basis for each short story. That being said, I do wish the execution for this collection was handled a bit better. While I, like I said earlier, did enjoy this book, some stories felt too short and definitely could have been expanded on/left a lot to be desired. Overall I think this is a good, fast read (especially if you do like short stories &/or are looking for something more unique in general), but I would caution others to temper their expectations just a tad because even though I did love many of the tales featured here, there were also just a handful of too many subpar ones I wasn't able to ignore and sometimes took me out of the experience..

Unfortunately, I DNF'ed this title. I got through The Umbrella and just didn't care anymore. I think the premise of the book is brilliant! I love the idea of the short story collection lining up with the cards from the game. And the inspiration behind the stories I did read was really cool. I am here for all modern monster/fairy tale/mythos retellings. However, I think the stories suffer from brevity. The last lines feel like the author wanted them to pack a punch, to get that gasp of surprise from the reader but, because the story is so short those endings don't hit like they should. El Diablito could have been SO GOOD if it was just a little more drawn out.