This was a fun read and I loved the main characters. The pacing worked well and the front cover is fantastic (and fully drew me in to request an eARC!)

A gothic take on magic with elements of foreshadowing that I loved!
The unravelling of the main characters lives was well done and believable.
There was physical ill health and trauma representation, which I liked. Although, the MMC was obsessed with his looks/scars and this made him unlikable initially. The FMC was badass and great!
Interesting content in terms of film making and historic occult vibes.
Pacing started off slow and built and built - I would say it took me about 30% of the book to become invested.
Some of the scenes read like an old horror/thriller and these parts were 5⭐️ - the opening paragraph was all the stars!!

SPOILERS AHEAD!! I loveeed this! This was a really fun horror and a real love letter to Horror Film/filmmaking.
It did start a little slow and I didn’t find myself rooting for the romance at all so I wasn’t totally bowled over by the very end but I did love the final showdown with Ewers. Once the spell had taken hold and things started going wrong for Abel and Tristán, the story shot off and I was hooked. Can’t wait to read more of Silvia Moreno Garcia’s work!

I only read one book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia before Silver Nitrate and that was Mexican Gothic. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy, nevertheless, I though that I might have a better luck with Silver Nitrate and I actually did.
at the beginning i still had doubts, because i couldn't really relate to either Montserrat or Tristán and found them unlikeable, while questioning how they managed to remain friends throughout the years. it also took me a while to get into the story and i felt that it dragged a bit at first, but i think it picked up in the second half of the story. i liked how the author woven various different cultures and beliefs of different characters into one book, adding contrasting views and more layers to the story itself. i think Ewers was a great villain and i hated him with passion because of all the bad things he has done without any remorse.

i don't usually read horror and for the longest time i tried to avoid it, but for some time now, i wanted to change my habits and try something new. i think Silver Nitrate served me as a nice launch to the genre, which makes me excited to find out what else it has to offer.

thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions!

When sound editor Monserrat and her soap-actor best friend, Tristán, become friends with an aging movie director, they are intrigued by his tales of a lost cursed film. Their investigations into the mystery take them into a world of dark magic presided over by a Nazi occultist, and meanwhile they find their long-term friendship developing into something more.

This book is a great choice for the horror-romance fans, blending the two genres seamlessly, but I personally preferred the romance elements of this story over the horror. While Moreno-Garcia can write some brilliantly creepy scenes, a lot of this story is told second-hand through Monserrat's investigations—interviews and reading old journals—and that left me feeling like I was never fully immersed. When the action did kick in, it felt a little unsatisfying. But it's an easy read and the love story between childhood friends Monserrat and Tristán did captivate me. I particularly appreciated the fact that the two leads are in their late thirties with a great deal of life experience and failed relationships behind them, making this a thoroughly grown-up romance. This would be perfect for a reader looking for an entertaining mystery with engaging characters and emotional depth.

Silver Nitrate will be published in July 2023. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

I don't like giving negative reviews but sadly Silver Nitrate didn't work for me. Although the premise sounded so interesting and I was excited to read this, I really struggled to get into the story. The first 40% was very slow and because of this, any initial interest I had quickly disappeared. The characters were quite boring and underdeveloped which made their motivations simplistic. I don't have to like the characters to enjoy a book but I have to at least care about what was happening and why, I just didn't in this. There was a lot of dialogue and a lot of back and forth, going to places, speaking to people. Moreno-Garcia is a talented writer and clearly put a lot effort into the research for this novel but I really struggled to stay engaged. I wanted to push through to finish it to give a proper review but honestly ended up skim reading the last 50%.

I would still recommend this book, her writing, and the overall execution, just wasn't for me.

A big thank you to Net Galley and Quercus Books for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adore Silvia Moreno-Garcia's writing, the characters in this book are well thought out and well fleshed out. The two protagonists have a brilliant dynamic and their relationship is complex.

The thriller and supernatural elements of the book are interesting in the way the magic works in the real world. Despite this, I did feel the book was slow with the plot taking a long time to develop and didn't keep me as interested as her other books, like Mexican Gothic.

A good book none the less, especially if you like more character led stories.

I very much enjoyed Mexican Gothic, and was really excited to read Silver Nitrate. I loved the premise; the idea of the old obscure films, with an addition of occult, a few curses, and Nazis for good measure. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is such a talented writer! You can literally feel her love for movies through the pages and I really enjoyed nods towards old films and cult directors.

I LOVED Montserrat and Tristán! They are brilliant characters, so vivid and real, and their relationship was just so good. I could read many more books about them! This story, however, and all the revelations, were soon lost on me. I found some of the big parts of the book, despite exceptional writing, somewhat overwritten. As soon as I got hooked, I also started losing interest. Montserrat and Tristán definitely carried it more than the plot did. Which is fine and they were great fun!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

what an excellent excellent excellent book. if you’re a fan of film but especially mexican or horror cinema… this is for you!!!

Thanks Netgalley for an ARC of this book.
However I got 4 pages in and just felt like it wasn’t for me. Nothing to do with the book itself as I definitely didn’t read enough to gauge an idea of the authors work, however I found the first few pages confusing, over descriptive and boring. They didn’t pull me in and due to the nature of the writing I was already confused from the first page.

Thank you for the ARC NetGalley.

I really love an occult horror mystery story. For me, this book really evoked the vibes that you get from the classic movies like 'The Omen' or 'The Ninth Gate', Netflix 'Archive 81', or drama podcast 'The Black Tapes'.

I found the setting of Mexico City in the 90s to be a refreshingly novel setting for this story and was invested in the ride from start to finish.

I enjoyed Montserrat and though she was an engaging main character and that she was a strong and assertive woman in a time when it was often challenging to be so. Tristán, alternatively, was often infuriating and vapid. I believe he was offered a redemption arc through the story to a degree but he was significantly less enjoyable to ride along with than Montserrat.

Still processing the end and waiting to come to a decision about my feelings about it. I suspect the ending may cause a lot of division in peoples ultimate reading experience. Ultimately it didn't diminish or change my enjoyment of the book as a whole

This review is posted on hoodreads.

It was my first book by this author so I was curious to see what I think about her writing. The story was okay but didn't quite stand out to me and I never really felt connected with the plot. But it wasn't a bad book just not my cup of tea. Liked the horror themes in this but wasn't as scary or intense as I had hoped.

First of all thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced readers copy

I was so excited to read this one as the author is one of my favourites and she did not let me down again
She has such a great way of weaving a creepy and interesting story and this was quite the page turner
Full of the occult and magic which is something that I absolutely love this is also based around film which was very interesting and I haven’t read a book like this before
The author is such a great storyteller while her characters are well fleshed out and she builds a great atmosphere. From around the halfway point this was such a page turner that I couldn’t put it down!
Really loved this and can’t wait for her next book!

A gripping celebration of Mexican film and horror, Silver Nitrate is a slowly unravelling mystery of runes, magic and persuasion that culiminates in an epic movie showdown.