Like southern Six Feet Under meets Mexican Gothic.
Descriptive, Slightly disturbing, unique, dark and bizarre set in a world that I could never quite understand.

Maybe it is too full of new life blooming for me to read a Southern Gothic horror.

HOUSE OF COTTON by Monica Brashear and read by Jeanette Illidge has a wonderfully bizarre premise of a woman down on her luck who takes a job modeling for a funeral home.

I honestly had to DNF this one right now. I think the main premise is a fantastically strange one that still appeals to me, but there is so much detailed, graphic depictions of sexual encounters that it just wasn't worth pursuing for me. I made it to 31% and after stopping and starting multiple times, I am giving up.

To be fair, the narrator did a beautiful job with the reading, imparting all the emotion of the difficult financial stresses and the hesitancy of taking this odd job.

I don't often share books that don't connect with me at this level due to the realization that this story just wasn't written for me. It does not mean it won't have value for someone else.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for letting me give this one a try. It my issues don't bother you, and this sounds interesting, give it a try! It is out today!

✨Review✨ House of Cotton - Monica Brashears
 
Genre: Mystery Thriller, Adult Fiction
TW: Death, Rape (off & on page), Body Horror
Rating: ⭐️[1/5]
Review written by: J
Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the Audio of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Magnolia is a broke nineteenth year old who works night shifts at a gas station. One night a stranger named Cotton walks in the gas station and offers her a modeling job at his family’s funeral home. After her grandmother passing and her predatory landlord breathing down her neck for rent, Magnolia doesn’t question the job and decides to accept it.

The story is quite unique. It was intriguing and a bit bland all at the same time and at times I was unsure where the story was was going. I found myself constantly rewinding the audio because some points were thrown out of nowhere with zero continuous development which made the story very confusing for me and led me to question “why” every other chapter with no actual answer.

Also, the plot had potential but I feel like the story was vague overall. The author gave just enough details but for the most part she left it to the readers imagination for them to interpret it as they wish. And even though I enjoyed this mystery, I needed more from other aspects like character development, the reasoning behind some of Magnolia’s actions, as well as the ending.

Lastly, I believe this is the type of book that you either like it or you don’t which is what makes it a perfect for book clubs because you can discuss so much about it.

This is truly a captivating read. It is my first toe dip into Black goth and I was completely submerged into the world of Magnolia. It is truly a stunningly beautiful debut and I am looking forward to more from this author. A huge thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Magnolia is nineteen, broke and basically an orphan when her grandma dies. She finds herself left with a predatory landlord who tries to take advantage of her at every turn. Oh, and she can still see her dead decaying grandma. One day she gets the opportunity of her life, she only has to dress up as dead people for families. As the requests get stranger and stranger, Magnolia wonders if its all worth it.
The narrator of this one knocked it out of the park! The voice was just perfect for the character and really brought the story to life.

This was such a fun gothic horror! I loved the grandma and Magnolia’s relationship with her even after death. As with most books in this genre I did find this one incredibly slow. I still enjoy them though because they are so atmospheric. This book was very creative and imaginative, and I enjoyed. I only wish that we would have had fewer graphic hookups and maybe a few more into the thoughts of some choices made. This book is tragic, but its also uplifting in how Magnolia handles the hand she has been dealt.

If you’re looking for a sobering gothic horror, then I hope you check this one out April 4th!

Thank you to the publisher MacMillian Audio, @Macmillianaudio, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first gothic genre read and Brashears has set the the bar high! It was equal parts spooky and comforting, like that one relative.

Ok, by now you know I'm going to open with the cover. I really like the anatomical heart with the beauty of the bee and butterfly. It is all very well put together. The narrator did a fantastic job with the story, the emotions, and each character.

This was an interesting book, it was really well written. There is so much going on in the story and lots of thematic elements. Magnolia is a 19-year-old young woman who just lost her grandmother, who raised her. Her mother is an unreliable addict, father died. It is a life full of trauma and tragedy for Miss Magnolia. Magnolia wants to be separate from her mother but instead of being addicted to drugs, she seems to get her high from sex, and rejection during sex? Seeking out strangers when she is feeling a need to do a quicky in the bushes. There is something to that, but we don't really explore that.

There are just so many themes in this book that it's hard to pin down what we are to take away from it. We have Cotton and Cotton is a weird, weird man with many depravities of his own. We don't really know why just that they are there. Then there is Mama Brown who is haunting Magnolia due to something that Magnolia did, all while being mutilated as a corpse.

The book ended, and I had no idea what happened. There was no real growth for any single character in the story, no one really learned much about themselves or the situations they were involved in. The plot, I don 't really know 100% what that was. I think there could have been a sweet story with Cigarette Sammy but, we didn't really explore that very much. My rating here has bounced between a 2 and 3. I'm not sure what I would really want to rate it. The writing is beautiful, but the story is just all over the place.

This book was just want I needed. This book had all the dark and gothic vibes I needed. This plot was superb and it made me want more. I needed this story to be longer, I cant wait to see what the author else brings into the world.

I'm not sure if this book painted a picture of what it meant to be a poor woman in the God-fearing south. It was a portrayal of one woman with a wild story that I ended up enjoying a lot though. I loved the smooth narration and how well it fit with the gothic vibe of the book. Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one!

TW: sexual manipulation, necrophilia

This is a weird one.

At it's core, the premise is of a young black woman being taken advantage of, running from that and then continuing to be taken advantage of by others. At the surface level, there were a lot of suggestions of necrophilia and shallow character development.

I liked the speculative portions of this a lot, especially since it allowed us to understand Magnolia a little more. I think that's what I really wanted more of in this. I felt like the main character, despite going through some insane shit, remained the same person from the beginning to end. The end itself felt very rushed and I wasn't entirely sure why Magnolia made the choices she did.

House of Cotton reminded me of Lakewood, another horror-adjacent story I read recently about the abuse black women face. In that one, the lack of agency the character had felt more intentional, since in House of Cotton, we do see Magnolia take action.

I'm interested in seeing what else Monica Brashears comes out with, because I enjoyed a lot of the language used in this.

Magnolia is a nineteen years old stuck in a dead end job at a gas station who is hopelessly broke. Between the death of her grandmother and the ever looming presence of her predatory landlord, Magnolia is desperate for an out. Then one day she finds it in the form of a stranger offering her a modelling job.

Right off the bat, I'll say this: Plot is vague and feels more like a character study. This is perfect for a “no plots, only vibes” read if you’re down for an unsettling atmosphere. It's an interesting read that will keep you engaged with it's bizarre set up. The writing and the description of things was notably good as well.

I think the only real issue I had were the lack of character development throughout. These folks are pretty static despite the everything that happens. There are also some MAJORLY triggering stuff that is very openly talked about, so please check warnings before reading.

Overall, I have a great time listening, even if I can’t exactly explain to you what happened throughout the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance reader copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the e-ARC.

In her debut novel Brashears decides to take on the patriarchy, white supremacy, the commodification of black and brown bodies, grief, and trauma (generational and personal) all in a pretty tight narrative, and she does a solid job. I’m not sure I fully enjoyed listening to this novel, but it did make me think and take stock, which are signs of important storytelling.

I’ve seen the term fairy tale thrown around about this book, I think haunting is a more apt description. We follow 19-year-old Magnolia as she tries to navigate her life. Brashears does a good job of slowly pealing back layers of experience and past traumas in Magnolia’s life and how she desperately tries to take power back for herself. One of the most powerful characters in this book is the grandmother’s ghost, slowly rotting away as she attempts to help Magnolia protect herself.

Read your content warnings, because this character has lived through a lot, and this book follows her through a time where she has not started to heal, she is still in survival mode. Much of where she finds herself and how she interacts with the world around her will be triggering, however, this is important. Often narratives seem to focus so heavily on either the trauma as it happens and the immediate reactions to it, or after enough time has passed that the character at least thinks they’ve handled their past. Here we are dropped right in the middle of a woman trying to figure out how to survive, wanting to be loved, deep in PTSD from recent traumas, and aching from a life that has not been kind. Magnolia isn’t always likable, but she is relatable, because she keeps looking for a way out. Out of her controlling relationships, out of her fear, out of her pain, out of her trauma. She slips from time to time, but she keeps getting back up eventually.

Our library will purchase the book but not the audio. Beautiful story. Narrator was well suited. Would love to get the audio, too, but know that the audio audience this will appeal to uses Libby (not physical checkout). Hopefully our state library makes the audio purchase for Libby next week.

This novel is haunting, and cringeworthy in the best way. Magnolia is so young, so beset with problems that she handles the best she can. I loved the haunting elements, the insidious creeping horror, and social commentary was slyly included in such a seamless way.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an audiobook version of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

An extraordinary contemporary Southern gothic, Magnolia has just been dealt another blow in her short 19 years of life. Her grandmother has died, leaving her effectively orphaned. Her creepy landlord is skulking about, a looming threat and her mother is goodness knows where. One night, while working at her dead-end job at the local gas station, a mysterious man called Cotton walks in and offers his card for a "modeling" job at his family's funeral home. (IKR?!) Anyway, Magnolia accepts and as her savings grow, so do her problems. Cotton and his Aunt Eden's demands grow increasingly odd, and Magnolia figures out there's more at play than just her rent money.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this e-audio arc.*

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this free audio copy for my honest review of House of Cotton.

House of Cotton is the story of a young black girl, Magnolia, living in the south. She is broke and working a night shift in a gas station. Her grandmother, Momma Brown, passes away. Her mother and her boyfriend split up leaving her mother to live on the streets. Magnolia gets offered a job as a ‘model’ for a funeral home.

This author has demonstrated a talent for prose that I haven’t read in some time but this is definitely not the genre for me.
In this novel the author wrote about speaking with the dead and conjuring up the spirit of her Momma Brown, rape from Magnolia’s mother’s boyfriend, morbid acts in a funeral home and a lot of porn.
The bizarre events with Magnolia being hired to pose as different dead characters at a funeral home was something I could not imagine and it made me wonder if this actually happens somewhere. The porn was beyond the pale. This is not what it means to be a poor black girl in the south. Pretty stereo-typical to think that if you’re black and poor then you’re a hooker with a grandmother that was a hooker and a mother that is a hooker and drug addict.
Since I was given an audiobook to review I give the reader more stars than the plot of this story, sorry to say.

I feel like i spent the better part of this book with absolutely no idea what was going on, like i could explain to you this story, but would you believe it? This was almost fever dream level.

The writing was about the same at some points. I’m really not sure What i expected for this one, but it was not this level,

It was really just nothing special for me. We’re thrown into a random story with even more random events. All very fever dream.

I almost never rate a book less than 4 stars and most of the time I give 5 but I can't. I can't even finish this book. The narrator is amazing and I wish I could give her alone 5 stars.

This book is not for me. It isn't for me and I wish I had read reviews before requesting it.

I appreciate the opportunity.

I'm not going to lie, this was an instant cover request for me. But once I started listening, I could not stop. This was bad and snowballed into an alarming cautionary tale about sex, race, and madness. I can't wait to for this release to drop, I know so many will love this and it's gothic elements!

House of Cotton was dark and haunting but also filled with poetry and light. While trying to find her own way in life, Magnolia repeats the sins of her mother and her grandmother while also making her own blunders. She finds herself in situations that should move her closer to money and security, but these instead debase her. Magnolia’s ability to mentally escape gives hope to her story. Parts of this book reminded me of Jesmyn Ward, but other parts were very different. But, I think if you like Ward’s novels, you will also enjoy this one.