This book is getting a lot of buzz, and for good reason. After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-married cousin, Noemi heads to a small town in the Mexican countryside and to the isolated mansion where her cousin lives with her husband's family. The family mansion is built next to an abandoned silver mine where many workers died from illnesses. Noemi can sense something is strange when she arrives, but what she discovers is more than she could have ever anticipated.

This book is creepy, gory, and wonderfully horrific. It won't be for people who dislike horror. I loved the atmospheric settings and I could imagine being with Noemi in the gothic mansion. I think a lot of people will be captivated with this engrossing story.

This book just didn't work for me; I felt like I was reading literally-translated Spanish and couldn't quite get myself to care about the uuuuultra-fresa characters. Three stars because I recognize it's just not for me.

MEXICAN GOTHIC was a creepy Gothic story with a unique setting and fun heroine. I really loved how Moreno-Garcia took very common Gothic tropes, like the isolated mansion, the mysterious and perhaps evil family, and the plucky girl who cracks the facade wide open. And by having it take place in 1950s Mexico gave the story the opportunity to touch upon colonialism, racism, and misogyny that Gothic tales may not always touch upon otherwise. I don't want to give too much away, but I like seeing Noemí slowly discover the dark secret that the Doyle family has, and seeing how Imperialism compounds that threat even more. The romance between Noemí and one of the Doyle family members, Francis, was something that I WANTED to like, but it didn't quite get there as the messy socio-political issues regarding this family's intentions and the racism involved kind of undercut it. That said, I felt like Francis, and a few other of the Doyle family members, were actually pretty well explored and didn't feel like two dimensional villains.

Overall, a really fun and spooky Gothic story it was. If you love the genre, definitely give MEXICAN GOTHIC a spin!

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a book that absolutely drips with Gothic atmosphere! Highly recommended to those who love a good, dark story. The characters are well-developed, especially the protagonist, a young Mexican socialite who is dispatched by her wealthy father to check up on a family member who recently married into an English family. There are shades of fairy tales and classic, Gothic stories throughout this book. Highly recommended!

Full of decaying glamour, dark secrets and a good amount of gnarly blood and guts, Mexican Gothic more than met the already high expectations I had for it.

I’ve been a big fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia since picking up Gods of Jade and Shadow last year. One of the best things about her as an author is that she’s sort of genre-fluid (a term I just made up). Gods was a Mexican/indigenous fantasy taking place in the 1920s, Untamed Shore was a noir set in Mexico in the 70s, and now we have Mexican Gothic, a Gothic horror novel from the 1950s that’s set in....you guessed it, Mexico.

Honestly reading the first third or so of this book, I was nervous I wouldn’t love it. Moreno-Garcia is so gifted in writing locations and time periods, but the beginning was a lot of Noemí just walking around an old, moldy house. Obviously this just ended up being a set-up for the absolutely insane stuff that happens later in the novel, but if you’re reading Mexican Gothic right now and it feels a little slow, then keep going! I promise it will start to pick up and the tension will only increase.

It’s a little bit mystery, mixed with some horror and supernatural elements. There’s
historical context, plus it’s totally dripping in gothic tone. I loved it, and I’m so grateful to have gotten to review an early copy. Mexican Gothic is equal parts menacing and suspenseful, with plenty of bite—check it out when it’s released later this month!

For fans of gothic suspense novels, this is a must-read. The characters, the setting, the twisted patriarchal system that rules the countryside estate called High Place -- all these factors collude to create a classic gothic suspense tale set on a mist-shrouded mountain in 1950s Mexico. Heroine Noemí Taboada must visit High Place in order to learn the circumstances that have led her favorite cousin Catalina to write an alarming letter to Noemí's father. Catalina has married into the once-powerful Doyle family, the Anglophile owners and longtime inhabitants of High Place. A socialite used to bending wills to get her way, Noemí finds herself stifled by the odd Doyles as well as by the crumbling estate itself. 
[I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I loved this new twist on the classic gothic trope of woman stranded in a spooky house! What a story! A real page-turner. A must read for any fan of the genre.

A Gothic Classic. This tale is complete with old women who mix potions and a daring debutant. Noemi is a bit spoiled and fearless and use to getting her way. Not yet ready to marry she toys with the young men around her social circle. Forced to return home early from a social event, she assumes the summons from her father concerns her choice of escort. She is surprised to learn her father need her to go to a remote village to check on her cousin, who much to the family’s dismay met and married a young man and now is asking for help from the family. Noemi travel to the remote house found high on a hill in a once thriving silver mining town. The Doyle’s are a family transplanted from England to run the silver mine. The owners were brothers who were brutal . The mining operation was subject to two outbreaks of a mysterious disease the ultimately ended the mines operation and the Doyle’s fortunes. Upon arrival Noemi finds the hounded run by Florence a sisters-in-law who has strict rules in maintaining the house. She finds that her cousin is at times unresponsive and at other times a spark of her old self. As the days unfold she enlists a second opinion of her cousins illness only to have this opinion tossed aside and her efforts called into question by her cousins husband Virgil Doyle. All through this story you feel a heaviness descending on Noemi as she tries to navigate a way to free her cousin. Unbeknownst to her she like her cousin are being drugged and their resistance is softening. A truly chilling revelation comes through a series of conversations Noemi has with Howard Doyle the patriarch of the family. It seems the young play a very necessary role in his tenure in the house. The reason no one ever leaves will have you breathing heavy and leaving the lights lit. Happy reading

Starts out as a wonderfully creepy gothic suspense novel and then veers off into way out there crazy horror. Disappointed and not expecting that. There’s a difference between suspense and horror and I wish it were noted more clearly in the book summary as to which this is. I loved the beginning of the story and the whole fungus premise but would have preferred a more realistic, medical explanation of its effect. It just got too wacky for me. Still, it is a well written book with great characters and atmosphere. Readers who enjoy the horror genre will probably love this.

Thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia follows Noemi Taboada, who travels to the Mexican countryside to save her cousin from a mysterious situation with her new husband. This book is atmospheric, moody, and just the right amount of mysterious for me. I'm not a big horror or sci-fi reader, so this was perfect for me. I enjoyed the mystery, the characters and the creepy-house setting.

I also read Untamed Shore by this author and really enjoyed it, so I'll be on the look out for her other books.

Mexican Gothic is about a girl named Noemi going to check on her cousin after a mysterious letter is sent to her family.

To me, a good mystery is built on good tension, compelling writing, good characters, a unique ending, and a good atmosphere.

The tension was a little inconsistent for me. The book starts off good and ends well, but ten chapters in this middle seem to repeat the same thing: Noemi demands information, she gets nowhere, and she goes about her day.

I found the writing compelling and I wanted to keep reading more. The only thing that took me out of the story was the use of modern language in 1950s Mexico.

I found the characters easy to follow and understand their motives. I just wish there was more depth to a few of them, or more background given to them. Some characters happened to have stereotypical arcs, where you can see the moustache twirling villain. That being said, they were interesting characters that I do want to know more about.

I enjoyed that the big mystery or premise of this book was something unique and not overdone. I didn't find anything to be predictable. If anything, there could have been more done with this premise that made this book even better. I would definitely be okay with a book being written about the life of Howard Doyle.

I found the atmosphere fitting for the story and it made me want to read more. It did remind me of Rebecca by Daphne duMarier, actually. I'd like to see Silvia Moreno-Garcia do more work with intense atmospheres like this.

4/5

A very spooky and atmospheric book with beautifully written scenery and descriptions of Mexico. Dynamic and believable characters. A must read.

20% in and I'm just kinda bored... I need to feel a little more like something is happening. This one was highly anticipated for me but it's just not grabbing me.

This is an extremely timely novel. With the release of AMERICAN DIRT books by the LATIN-X community were heightened to a higher stage. MEXICAN GOTHIC stands in its own light and is a story that with both lure and fascinate.

People horror done in the best fashion. Horrible mentalities lead to horrors and tragedies. There were times where obvious actions could have been taken and the end result reached earlier, but I enjoyed my read regardless.

One of my most highly anticipated June releases and I was able to get an early copy! Color me stoked. If you read Gods of Jade and Shadow last year, you'll know that Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a master at weaving fantasy. That plus her use of Mexico as a setting makes her stories completely compelling to me.
However, this one fell a little flat for me. May I had way to high expectations, maybe I just wasn't in the right mind set, regardless this one just didn't cut it for me.
Things I did love though include the amount of history used to convey the area where the story takes place, High Place. The unlikely romance between the younger Doyle cousin and Noemi. Noemi being far too outspoken for her time and wanting to continue her education. Noemi never leaving her cousin behind and ultimately being the heroine even though she is a socialite. Basically I loved the character of Noemi.
Francis Doyle was another character I really grew fond of. He's quiet but intelligent and knows that his family is corrupt. The friendship that blossoms between Francis and Noemi is also a high point for me.
I also really enjoyed the theory of immortality that is present within the book but ultimately I think the fantasy genre took over the book and made it less horror and less mystery than I would have liked.
The imaginary is outstanding and while I loved the vivid descriptions and the unique take, I found myself losing track of the story because of my focus on the descriptions instead. I found myself comparing this book to The Tenth Girl and The Women in the Mirror and both of those were ★★★ reads for me, hence why I've decided to round down from 3.5 this time around.
I still think a lot of folks will enjoy this book. Especially if you like gothic stories and settings. The Gothic genre is really just not for me, I'm finding out.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Mexican Gothic. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to netgalley and Del Rey Books for my advanced copy.

This was a great read. Dark, moody, creepy. Just grotesque enough. Once again Silvia Moreno-Garcia's writing entrances the reader. The author truly knows how to build a world with words.

Noemi was a fun guide in this read. Great choice for a main character. The supporting folks were like something out of an old Twilight Zone episode.

5/5 for a distracting pandemic read

This book gave me chills. It’s so exciting and interesting, and I was wholly sucked in, I needed to know what was going to happen next!

Mexican Gothic. As the title indicates, Silvia Moreno-Garcia takes the classic gothic literature tropes and transplants them to a 1950s Mexico setting, all the while retaining many of this genres very English trappings.
After receiving a distressing letter from her recently married cousin, Noemí leaves the parties and nightlife of Mexico City for a remote villa and High Place, a sprawling estate tucked away in the mountains and hidden in fog. Her cousin, Catalina, was recently wed to a British man and mining magnate, Virgil Doyle, whose family owns High Place and once operated the now-defunct silver mine the home overlooks. She suspects Virgil of poisoning Catalina, but the secrets she uncovers about High Place and the Doyle family are far worse than she could have possibly imagined.

Moreno-Garcia checks off all the usual staples of gothic horror in eloquent fashion, all the while subverting them in marvelous ways. Yes, we get the gloomy, secluded British castle with secrets of its own, but in a wonderful reversal of roles the virginal maiden, brown-skinned Noemí, is also the hero, a welcome feminist spin fully appropriate for the times. She’s a woman with agency and ambitions, and is not a wilting flower constantly in need of a man’s saving. This is particularly important given there’s not many noble men in High Place at all, let alone ones that actually want to save her. Trapped in High Place and unwilling to abandon Catalina to this family’s depravities, Noemí is certainly outnumbered by the awful, predatory males of the Doyle family, and the few redeemable and decent men she encounters are themselves victims, either directly or by circumstance.

The author does a fantastic job keeping us guessing about the motivations of the Doyle clan, slowly filling in their history. We learn of the roles they've played in shaping this villa alongside Noemí, who quickly learns of the family’s fascination with eugenics, and slowly unravels the violent past surrounding the Doyle’s mine and the family’s own internal conflicts. Moreno-Garcia subtly explores aspects of British imperialism and white supremacy via the Doyle’s mine and the treatment of their Mexican laborers, as well as toxic masculinity and misogyny. Even the dirt the manor is built upon is imported from England, and the fact that High Place is rotting from the inside -- and its interior filled with rotten, evil people -- makes for a wonderful metaphor regarding racism and classism. Mexican Gothic is a slow-burn potboiler, but the plot provides plenty of grisly fodder and emerging threats to keep readers fully engaged.

It’s the book climax that really helps put this book over the top, though, and Moreno-Garcia lets her talents as a horror writer shine as she fully turns her attention to the supernatural elements underpinning this work. To say that it’s absolutely glorious and wholly satisfying undersells it, but it is a magnificent, violent, and moving set piece, and I loved the ways she tied everything together in the end.

Mexican Gothic is a vital and necessary #OwnVoices update for gothic horror literature, and it sets a high bar for Moreno-Garcia’s contemporaries and their works to follow. If you loved Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson’s Monster, She Wrote and are in need of a prime example of present-day gothic horror done right, then you owe it to yourself to read Mexican Gothic immediately.

I fell in love with Silvia Moreno-Garcia earlier this year when I finally read Gods of Jade and Shadow. I am a regular reader of fantasy and magical realism, so that book was a 100% win for me. But, equal to the plot and characters was the beautiful prose. When I saw Mexican Gothic was set to come out this summer I jumped on it even though it is very much outside my genre comfort zone. I am not a horror reader and even joked that to get through this one I would have to read it during the day only. I don't know if I am a horror convert after this, but much to my delight I loved this book! I couldn't stop reading this one late into the night and again was pulled in by vivid characters, setting, and stunning writing.

Noemi is asked to travel from Mexico City to visit her cousin Catalina after the family receives a cryptic and concerning letter from her. Catalina is recently married and has moved into her English husband's ancestral home. When Noemi arrives she discovers a creepy, ramshackle house high in the hills away from the town. She is immediately concerned after meeting the strange and strict members of the family and seeing that Catalina is nearly catatonic. She befriends Francis, the youngest member of the household and the most normal and begins to investigate the strange goings-on in the house. What she uncovers is disturbing and she begins to wonder if she will ever be able to leave the house.

This book is deliciously creepy with a plot that keeps you turning the page for more. I highly recommend this book if you love horror, dark fantasy, historical fiction with a twist, or all of the above. And the cherry on top is the absolutely gorgeous cover art! Do yourself a favor and read this book... but, maybe leave the lights on ;)

Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine (Del Rey) gifted me this egalley in exchange for.a fair and honest review.