This was my first Silvia Moreno-Garcia novel, and I'm so glad I started with The Seventh Veil of Salome, because now I know what to expect as I work my way through her backlist: excellence.

The story was well-crafted and effective, pulling together Old Hollywood glamor and heartbreak with modern snark and reflection. I found the characters to be dynamic and alive, Vera, Jay, Nancy, and even Vera's family were all interesting people with their own wants, dreams, and plans, and while I never paid much attention to the story of Salome in the Bible, I adored the story Moreno-Garcia crafted for her here. I even bought the love story between Jay and Vera, which is, at times, difficult for me to stick with when love stories are secondary to larger, more multifaceted plots, which made it sting all the more when Jay couldn't overcome his past in time to secure a future with Vera.

Vera goes from being an unknown receptionist at her family business in Mexico to suddenly being cast as the lead in a huge Hollywood film, putting to task all the skills she'd learned throughout her life to aid and assist her more white-presenting, seemingly "better" younger sister who chose love over having the career Vera's mother wanted for her. This results in Vera's mother being overbearing and cruel. Her fast ascend from nobody to star leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of Nancy, who is a mediocre white woman desperately grasping whatever she can reach to keep herself from fading into nothingness. Her hatred and careless evilness make her a fascinating and fun villain, especially when we get to see her knocked down a few pegs, but I was overall unsatisfied with how her story ended, which is what kept this from being a full five-star read for me. But know that if Nancy had the ending I felt she deserved, this would have been a perfect read to me!

4.75 ⭐️s

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

I was so torn on the star rating of this book. It’s honestly more than 4 stars for me but didn’t quite meet that 5 star mark. 4.75/5???? I know that’s a weird number. For me the narration by so many different characters made it difficult to connect with or care for any of the main characters (Vera, Jay, Nancy, Salome).
I spent quite a bit of time writing down who all the extra people were and who they connected to just in case it popped back up and I needed to know their name later.
The story itself is told wonderfully by Silvia Morena-Garcia. She diverges from her usual genre and ventures into a more historical fiction in this book. Old Hollywood and the pressures on women and minorities is described wonderfully. I found myself drawn deeply into the story once I had the characters down and stayed up reading way past dawn.
Go into this knowing that you really only need to keep up with the main players. (Vera, Jay, Nancy, Benny, Salome, Herod, Herodias, Agrippa, Jokanaan). Most of the other viewpoints are just to tell you the thinking of the time or something about one of the main characters. I think you’ll enjoy the book much more that way!
I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .

Haunting! One of Garcia’s best works. The characterization is clear, and the perspective shifts keep the story moving at a good pace.

SMG is fantastic when it comes to historical fiction and making a story stay true to the time period while also feeling so modern at the same time! the multiple POVs really added to the story and lets you feel even more invested in the characters, i'm such a sucker for multiple POVs! this was definitely one of SMG's best so far and i can't wait to see which time period she gets to writing next.

*4.5 stars rounded up*

What if the person you love doesn’t fit in your life plan?

Vera Larios was plucked from her job as receptionist in her father’s dental practice in Mexico & transplanted to L.A., where 1950’s Hollywood is producing a much-anticipated new movie & she is cast in the starring role: Salome. Vera’s story is told in conjunction with Salome’s, & many people give outside perspectives on the events in a documentary style; the woman who desperately wanted the role of Salome, a struggling actress named Nancy, is also featured in this epic, & she is given a bit part in the movie. Readers can feel her frustration & desperation growing, with an intensity that builds right up until the end…

The way the author immerses us in the historical Hollywood setting (complete with racism, homophobia, & anti-communist fervor) while also progressing through Salome’s struggle is expertly crafted. The three women at the heart of this saga wrestled with their ambitions & their hearts, & this could be keenly felt - the writer didn’t shy away from making these women whole & imperfect beings. The emphasis on music was a beautiful addition, & I really liked that there was a playlist at the end of the book. This is the third book I’ve read from this author & I am looking forward to enjoying more in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley & Del Ray for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my favorite authors, and despite how diversely she writes, she never misses. Her latest novel, The Seventh Veil of Salome, is one of her few works that isn’t speculative fiction. Instead, this a historical fiction novel set in 1950s Hollywood, about two women vying for the same leading role in a film about Salome, as well as the story of Salome herself. There is so much tension building between Vera and Nancy in the 1950s, while Salome faces hard choices in terms of love and power.

Tropes & Narrative Devices:
- Mix of third-person and first-person POVs: Three main characters (Vera; Nancy; Salome) are in third-person; other minor characters give brief first-person accounts
- Unlikable character
- Dual timeline

What I Liked:
- There are three main characters here: Vera, the unknown Mexican woman cast as the lead in the film about Salome; Nancy, the bitter actress who still hasn’t had her big break; and Salome herself, grappling with hard decisions in the Roman Empire.
- Vera is a captivating character who is so talented and smart. Sadly, she faces unfair scrutiny from her mother, sexism and racism in her career, and a lack of support for what she really wants to do.
- Nancy is an unlikable character: bitter, entitled, selfish, violent. She’s fun to read, but not someone I’d want to know in real life!
- The love story between Vera and Jay. I like these two together, even if they have a complicated road ahead of them.
- Discussions of music. Vera and Jay love music, from opera to jazz. I enjoyed their deeper analyses of music and their passion for creating music of their own.
- The random first-person people: It feels like they’re being interviewed, decades after the fact, about what went down in 1950s Hollywood—like an oral history. It gives this novel a fresh perspective and a faster pace. Although the main story is all in the third person, and we never get to hear directly from our three protagonists, I enjoyed getting these outsiders’ glimpses into what they thought about everything.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
- The ending was too sudden and fast! It was well done, with rapidly shifting and brief scenes, but I wanted a bit more.

Final Thoughts
The Seventh Veil of Salome is a book that will appeal to fans of historical fiction and Old Hollywood. The main characters are women fighting for more and facing unfair scrutiny, restrictions, and prejudices. It’s an engrossing novel, especially with all the extra perspectives thrown in. The book ends rather suddenly, perhaps allowing the reader to imagine an ending as they will… much like how the secondary characters fill in their own blanks.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Man I loved this book. Silvia Moreno-Garcia will forever by one of my favorite authors. I devoured this book. Read it/listened to the audiobook all in one day. I think this is my second favorite book by her now after Mexican Gothic. I highly recommend the audiobook because it had a whole cast and it added so much to the reading experience.

Gorgeous, atmospheric, and told in the same sense as watching interviews, which I enjoyed. I loved getting multiple POVs and figuring out how people felt about an unknown actress getting the lead part as Salome and her own feelings about getting thrown into the shark infested waters of the movie business. Parts of the book also told Salome’s story as well, which was also intriguing and fascinating.

I can feel the author’s love for old film in a lot of her books and I just loved the drama of this one. I definitely recommend this!

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my must-read authors because her writing is incredible, though I tend to lean more toward her horror stories. The Seventh Veil of Salome is different, more historical fiction with a focus on cinema/film.

The story is set in 1950s Hollywood and revolves around three women: Vera, a Mexican actress cast as Salome; Nancy, a jealous extra who feels she deserved the lead; and Salome herself, drawn from the Biblical account. Their stories intertwined and you cannot helped but feel for Vera immediately. The book is full of the atmospheric detail I love in Silvia’s work (LOVE), though I was initially confused by the shifts in perspective. Still, once I got into it, everything made sense, and the story really drew me in. While I prefer her horror tales, there’s no denying Silvia Moreno-Garcia is amazing.

This multi-timeline historical novel tells the story of three women struggling for success. Salome, of biblical fame, is trying to survive the manipulative men around her. Her uncle murdered her father and married her mother to become tetrarch, her cousin believes that if Salome allied with him they'd be unstoppable, and she believes herself in love with a prophet doomed by her mother and uncle.

And more than a thousand years later, another Salome, fledgling movie star Vera Larios, is struggling to make a career for herself in the glamorous days of old Hollywood. But racism, sexism, and other people's jealousy makes it very difficult.

The lyrical prose and multiple points of view kept this book very engaging. It was easy to become invested in these strong, yet simultaneously tragic, women.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, from the writing to the format to the setting and the characters. Highly recommend for any reader!

Perfect pick if you love old Hollywood or want to read a book similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Leave it to SMG to write a devastatingly tragic and beautiful story that will rip out your guts in the end.

The Seventh Veil of Salome follows the story of three women:
1. Vera Larios: a receptionist working at her father's dentistry in Mexico and who becomes the lead actress in a big-budget movie about Salome.
2. Nancy Hartley: an actress and extra on the set who's been eyeing the role of Salome, and becomes increasingly unhinged and jealous of Vera for her role.
3. Salome: a princess doomed to make a difficult choice between her heart and her ambition.

SMG weaves such an intricate and poignant story with the lives of these women. She flushes so much from these characters, from things like Vera's battle with the racist film industry, Nancy's desperation to see herself on the big screen, and the political intrigue in Salome's court. So much seems to go on but SMG really connects these storylines so well that it feels like you're just watching the movie play out.

I was completely immersed in the worlds that SMG created and the way in which she decided to tell their stories. It shifts from the POVs of Vera, Nancy and Salome, while also including an interview style monologue from people who interact with Nancy and Vera during their time in Hollywood. Also the last 90% of this book almost killed me because I was so stressed reading it alksjflkjds.

The story is glamourous, romantic, and so insanely tragic. I highly highly highlyyyyy recommend picking this up if you have the chance!

The Seventh Veil of Salome
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Del Ray/Random House
Pages: 336
Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Scoville Spice Scale: 🌶

This Good Morning America Book Club Pick is captivating, well researched, and creative. Silvia blends 1950s Hollywood Glamour juxtaposed with a story of Salome, the girl alluded to in the Bible in relation to John the Baptist. The Hollywood portion details a newcomer to the acting scene who trip rope walks her way through a cast that includes a leech and a jealous, jilted background actress.

This book kept me on my toes as it does has multiple Points of View. Vera, a 21 year old ingenue, is whisked away from her job as a receptionist in her father's dental practice in Mexico to Hollywood to play the lead in the film of The Seventh Veil of Salome. Meanwhile, Nancy coveted the role. Along the way Jay comes into the story and is involved with both women. I was fascinated by the bitter rivalry between Nancy and Vera (unbeknownst, for the most part, to Vera). Nancy's desperation drives her to madness and exposes the racism prevalent towards Hispanic people. Meanwhile, Salome, a 21 year old girl living her Uncle/Stepfather's home while Jokanaan preaches about his coming Lord and the sins of Salome's mother and Uncle/Stepfather.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia wove this tapestry of a story together in such a unique way that compeled you to keep tiring the pages. Vera and Salome's passion, love, and drive captivated me especially interactions with men who wanted something from them and navigating tricky situations.

Make sure you read Silvia's note after the conclusion.

Thank you to @NetGalley and #delray books for this gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an awesome book! Silvia Moreno-Garcia weaves the story of Salome with the world of 1950s Hollywood and creates a wonderful look at film, music, culture, bigotry, love, violence, despair, and sacrifice.

Vera has been cast as Salome, a part Nancy covets, and meets Jay. Vera struggles with the studio system and the prejudice of white Hollywood. Meanwhile, the story of Salome plays out- but is it the story from antiquity or the movie being filmed...or both?

The book is written from multiple points of view and this stylization creates an interesting tapestry that illuminates the magic of movies and the power of story. And the power of music. There's a playlist curated by the author on Spotify and I can't wait to dig into it.

There is so much to love in the book. I found myself racing for the end and yet also not wanting it to finish.

The way I absolutely ate this up? First off, I love a Hollywood drama. Second, this was soooooo easy to read?! I absolutely flew through this story. This is the first book i've read from Silvia Moreno-Garcia and you better believe I am on my way to the bookstore to pick up her other works. I also feel like this book was the perfect length and it didn't feel like it was drawn out or shoved with filler to make it longer. This was a delight to read but only the ending nearly knocked the wind out of me. Also don't go into this thinking its going to be overtly-in-your-face-bibilical, it's a spectacular read. PLEASE pick this up.
4.5 stars rounded (:

Ugh what is it about Hollywood in this time period that always gets me. I cannot explain it but I cannot stop it. Every time I come across one, there’s a wave of magicality about a book.

Akin to the structuring of a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, we jumped between two female POVs, the movie scene and interviews discussing the past. I adore a structure line this and Moreno-Garcia knocked this one out of the park.

4.25

Hands down, this is my favorite book by this author. It has everything I love: salacious ancient history, scandals in old time Hollywood, and a unique narrative. I appreciate how the author married the story of Salome to the story of the Hollywood film in the studio system era.

What can I say aside from another amazing novel by the incredibly talented Silvia Moreno Garcia! In The Seventh Veil of Salome we follow three women Nancy, Vera Larios, and Salome herself. Nancy is determined to get the lead role of Salome in Hollywoods newest motion picture fil The Seventh Veil of Salome but when it goes to Vera it leads Nancy down a dark path. Vera Larios a young Mexican woman who is discovered and brought to Hollywood to pay the role of a lifetime. As she discovers the inner working of Hollywood you see her realize that it is as magical as it seems from the outside looking in, in another time we hear Salome’s story from Salpome herself. You see the events that lead her down her path. Silvia does an amazing job weaving all three storylines into one culminating moment. I think both Vera and Nancy are representatives of who Salome (or at least the Salome Hollywood is interested in) was. There is a little bit of everything in this. There is romance and a twist at the end I half saw coming but it was still impactful. Silvia is a master of her craft. She can write any genre and do so in new and innovating ways. I loved this book! 4.5⭐️

3.75 stars. A young Mexican woman is cast to play a part in a 1950’s Hollywood movie regarding the legend of Salomé. She is faced with prejudice and develops an enemy of a bitchy, unpleasant, would-be starlet who felt the part should be hers. Juxtaposed is the historical story of the biblical Salomé who danced for her Uncle Herod and demanded the head of John the Baptist as her reward. The women all end up entangled in the death of a man they loved. None of the supernatural horror elements as in earlier books by this author, but rather for those who enjoy stories about early Hollywood intrigue, historical fiction, and romance.

One of my favorite reads of the year!
A historical drama that will have you diving beyond the glitz and glamour of classic Hollywood films.

Centering around three women in two different timelines: Salome in the Biblical times, Vera and Nancy in 1950’s Hollywood during the adaptation of the historical epic film titled “The Seventh Veil of Salome”.

I had a bit of a hard time following the division of the timelines at the start, but eventually everything flows together. By the end? You are grotesquely hooked and the different POVs merge seamlessly to create a jaw-dropping, tight-gripping climax.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

And thank you, Silvia Moreno-García, for a new favorite book to recommend to my friends.