I’m honestly unsure how to start this review. I’ll start by saying that I am extremely grateful for the opportunity provided by NetGalley, Random House - Ballantine, and Lilliam Rivera to read this book ahead of publication.

I’m struggling to try to find things that I liked about this book outside of the cover. The synopsis provided on NG was very interesting. I had the same thought as another reviewer that this was going to be the gothic horror sister to The Devil Wears Prada. ‘Twas not, in my honest opinion. It wasn’t even close. None of the characters were really likable, Samara the least of all. I did end up not entirely disliking Delores. I think she could have benefitted from better writing. Spoiler alert: that’s how I feel about this whole book.

I have never had more of a negative reaction to a leading character than Samara. I really wanted to like her. I did, I promise. But she was so... I don’t even know. Underwhelming doesn’t even begin to really describe it. I found it interesting that she was classed as the good girl out of her friend group, not including her drinking habits, but then flipped a 180 and was honestly the most insufferable version of herself. I think her character had potential, but she quickly became a try-hard, and I hate when authors default to that characterization. There are so many ways to present a female character as strong, independent, and attention grabbing without doing what was done with Samara.

This girl literally did not know when or how to stop talking, which kind of tracks for a journalist, I guess. I feel like they’re either quiet and attentive or they just bulldoze over everything and everyone, and can we guess which category I’m putting Samara in?

I also find it interesting that I disliked the character I was inherently supposed to like more than one of the kind-of villains. Regardless of Antonio’s villain status, he felt like he was written as one. Whether that was intentional by Rivera or not, who knows, I don’t. I haven’t seen any other reviews touch on Antonio much, honestly. Antonio was not a captivating character either by any means, but I strongly disliked the almost immediate tone change that came from him at the slightest wrongdoing from Samara. It’s so overwhelmingly high school, it was almost nauseating. Which honestly just turns right back into my intense dislike for how Samara acts and strives to be so far up Antonio’s ass she can see through his mouth when he speaks. Everything she does screams ‘I wasn’t given enough attention as a child and now I’m making it everyone’s problem’, and I don’t want to read any more FMC’s with this character build.

I wouldn’t really call Brandon a love interest, either. Samara is so unreliable in how she feels about him, that I feel like he shouldn’t have even been a focal point. I get the callbacks to her cousin through him, but Brandon felt like an afterthought. Almost like Abuela Lola’s story was created and there needed to be some other tie-in to the current timeline of the book. Did I like Brandon? No, I didn’t. Was his character done basic justice by being fully developed? Also no.

I didn’t like the references to modern day social media at all. I don’t see the point in name dropping apps or referencing real life trends, when they’re going to be severely outdated within two years (maybe even less time than that, with how quickly trends die and are forgotten). That’s just a blanket statement for any book ever put in a “modern” timeline. But when TikTok was mentioned, I wanted to throw my phone. I can say with a surprising level of certainty that this book was probably written with TikTok and virality in mind. Some of the word choices scream ‘an older millennial wrote this’ and not in a good way. I could not tell you the last time I heard someone say “like a boss” unironically, and reading it from the perspective of someone younger than me made me feel extremely old and, once again, like throwing my phone.

Also, I couldn’t not see the girl from The Ring every time I read the FMC’s name. I think that might have been the scariest thing about this book. Well... Actually, I think the scariest thing about this book was the amount of plot points that had their respective foundations laid and were quickly abandoned. The pacing was odd, like really odd. I probably could have skimmed the first 20 chapters and been fine with having read only the prologue and the last 20 chapters. I did skim the last five chapters though because I was so tired of waiting for something interesting to happen, that when it finally started getting interesting the book had, ironically enough, lost every single ounce of my interest.

My initial reaction after reading the little blurb about the author was ‘maybe stick to middle grade’. Which... in hindsight sounds very mean, but there wasn’t anything in this book outside of the triggering events and the sex/sex talk and drinking that was “adult” material. Everything felt extremely juvenile, and there were zero points where I was intrigued by what I was reading. While reading, I was left increasingly more confused after each chapter because nothing was really happening and the chapters themselves felt like incomplete thoughts.

Horror and thriller/mystery are my favorite genres, and this feels like a caricature of it. And I get the underlying tones and topics that the author was going for with this book, but it’s just so far off that I’m just baffled by everything. I wouldn’t even go as far to say that this is a supernatural thriller, because it feels like a mockery of one at this point. It feels like a fever dream. It’s been two days since I finished reading the book and I still can’t really tie down my thoughts on it. I’ll probably end up going back in and elaborating on this review after a little while, but I need to get it off my desk right now.

Giving this a 2/5 purely because NG and Goodreads don’t have the same rating system as Storygraph, unfortunately. To be completely honest, my gut wants me to give this a 1-star review. I’m not going to do that because while I definitively did not like the book, I can’t say that I disliked it enough to give it that low of a rating. It’s a solid 2.6. The ideas for a good book were there, and a default 1-star for writing a book.

Realistically, I can’t see myself recommending this book to anyone that I know, because they’ll more or less have the same issues with the book as I did. I think that this book could benefit from scrapping at least 10 chapters in the beginning and re-working it.

I would also strongly urge the author/publisher to include a trigger list in the beginning of the book. The triggering material is so abrupt, I would be, and am, genuinely concerned for anyone reading this, not knowing that SA/violent SA is who unfortunately experienced it. I’m pretty desensitized to a lot of stuff, but I was kind of taken aback by the carelessness in which these topics were brought up. It feels like they were used mainly for the shock factor aspect of horror. Which is a cheap trick and honestly, kind of disappointing considering the severity of battling them in the real world.

Thank you again to NetGalley, RH - Ballantine, and Lilliam Rivera for the opportunity to read Tiny Threads ahead of publishing. I look forward to receiving more opportunities in the future.

Great premise, but I had such a hard time connecting with the writing style. Also, the pacing was very slow in the beginning and the ending felt too rushed.

Samara needed to branch out after the death of a family member. There are things she doesn't want to remember. She needed to take control of her life. She moves across the country to a town rich with family history. She takes her dream job, but is it a dream or a nightmare? This book had me on edge for the majority of it. I was so engulfed in the story. The plot was so intriguing. I couldn't figure out what was happening and why. Several things are revealed. The author did an amazing job telling the story. The character development was incredible. There are triggers so proceed with caution. I definitely recommend this book.

I have basic Spanish-speaking skills, but I needed to have Google Translate open for a couple of passages to really understand the text. I'm sure that a reader with no Spanish-speaking ability could infer enough to make it through this novel, but I wanted to have a better understanding of what the narrator was experiencing. Overall, it was an okay read. The author uses great imagery to paint the scene. The first couple of paragraphs I thought, "Wow, she can write!" I did feel like there was a bit of a pacing issue. About 30% in I really wanted to stop reading because I didn't feel it was going anywhere. It finally picked up about 40% through. Lots of suspense and intrigue, though I finished with more questions than answers.

First of all, thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine/Del Rey for letting me read an eARC of Tiny Threads. Tiny Threads was a fantastic read that was rich with character development and atmosphere as you deal with the inner workings of main character Samara as she traverses the fashion world. Samara delicately treads a fine line as she attempts to perform the tasks assigned to her while maintaining her own identity. The book slowly heads into darker territory as its true villian is revealed and does an amazing job building it up to it. If you love slow-burning mysteries and atmospheric horror-esque stories, this novel is an easy recommendation.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I was a bit surprised as were a lot of reviewers that there weren't trigger warnings for s.a, torture, and HEAVY alcoholism. Cos, that starts right out the gate.

Overall, the story itself was great. The theme delves into the lives of the workers who are often abused by a system that generally oppresses all of us into consumption. It touches on race, and the settling of the West (California) while mixing in a delicious amount of horror elements that I think were perfectly paced.

My main issue here is the first half of the book. The book starts with a bang and then after all that, It takes forever to get to the meat of it all. Which, is fine because you do need world-building, but it does so by going into the most monotonous path possible. I get it, Samara is a needy person, she has to be liked by everyone, but how much of this do we need, now much of her trying so hard with the women in seamstress' row do we need?

Samara was a character I struggled to connect with, and that's fine, because to me characters are like people, and I'm just an observer, especially since the author is describing the fashion world, a world full of shallow characters. So if that was the intent, to have it from a "watcher" POV, then yeah, great! But if it was about having the reader connect to her, that needed a bit more work. The author also did a great job of constantly showing us Samara's alcoholism. It got annoying but annoying in the sense that "wow this woman is just a full-blown mess", and is she a reliable narrator?

Overall, I give this book a 3.5 mainly because of the pacing of the first half of the book and I also found that it could do with more editing, idk some parts I found a bit clumsy, but that could have just been me. I will say this though, I couldn't put it down because the story of Vernon and the women were very interesting to me and I wanted to see how it ended and what the mystery was.

Pretty good for a first adult offering from the author, can't wait to see more!

I enjoyed reading this book. Lilliam Rivera captured the essence of community, status, womanhood, and addiction. Tiny Threads was Devil Wears Prada meets horror. My only gripe with this book was the abrupt ending (I want to know what happens next!) and recurrent themes of assault and substance abuse without warning. Overall, 3/5.

Published on Goodreads February 23, 2024.

Equal parts terrifying and empowering. I couldn't put it down! The way that Rivera weaves together multiple stories across generations, especially utilizing the supernatural, results in a very powerful book. I was skeptical at first of how the supernatural element described in the synopsis would play out, because I'm usually somehow who prefers strict realism, but this was done really, really well. I definitely enjoyed this one and while it's not quite 5 stars for me, it will stick with me for sure.

In the beginning, I loved the main character Samara. She was witty, cool, and trying to make her way in the world. Yet, as the story went on, I kept feeling like something was missing. Not only did Samara become chaotic, but the story did too. I started to feel sorry for her rather than root for her. The supporting characters were just meh, I wanted more depth from them. In the end, the story does surprise you, but overall this book was not for me.

Samara lives for fashion and she needs to get out of Jersey so she is thrilled to get her dream job working with legendary designer Antonio Mota in his flagship house in the newly minted, up-and-coming area of Vernon, California, outside L.A. The job is stressful and Antonio is a lot to handle but Samara is sure she can succeed. She also meets Brandon, an investor in Antonio’s fashion line.

As Antonio’s big show approaches pressure on Samara ratchets up and she begins to hallucinate and hear voices. Is it just the stress or are things not what they seem in the House of Mota?

I’m totally here for the mix of fashion and horror and would love to see more! Samara’s identity as a Latina woman is portrayed well and I thought the fashion house seemed like what I would expect (given that I have no knowledge and no reason to believe expect anything.) I really liked this, but can imagine that some might not enjoy it as much…different tastes!

This was a creepy and dark Tale that went a little further into addiction and substance abuse then I realized it would, and as that is not normally a topic I seek out, I did find it to be a darker and heavier read than I was prepared for. Still, the creepy factor is very high, and I enjoyed the way things played out. It did feel as though it all wrapped up rather quickly, given the slow and eerie build, but I enjoyed it on the whole. It definitely makes a statement...

I’m very shocked by the lack of content warnings for this book. If you’re triggered by graphic depictions or descriptions of sexual abuse and assault do not read this book. I was severely unprepared due to the blatant lack of trigger or content warnings and as such my reading experience wasn’t a pleasant one. This book is marketed as a “suspenseful supernatural thriller” when in reality it is a commentary on social structure, racism, rape culture, politics, and sexual assault. Had I known that it was this sort of book I wouldn’t have picked it up. The only mention of anything “supernatural” was perhaps a handful of pages at best. I don’t recommend it if you’re actually looking for a creepy supernatural thriller as that’s not what this book is AT ALL!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THIS BOOK. NEVER.

Moving across the country after a traumatic event, Samara lands her dream job in California working for long-time fashion designer Antonio Mota. Under intense pressure to be the golden child and finish working on the upcoming dual fashion show meant to re-launch Antonio into stardom, Samara's dream starts to become a living nightmare. Forever blanketed by the grotesque smells of the nearby factory, Samara starts to unravel as she learns the ugly truths of the fashion house and the history of her new idyllic town.

This novel put such a fun spin on psychological horror and gothics. It has the beautiful magical realism and gothic nature of Silvia Moreno Garcia mixed with endlessly entertaining and extremely unsettling horror elements a la Agustina Bazterrica or Melissa Broder. This novel stands all on it's own, however. A fashion house set next to a slaughterhouse served as the perfect setting for the blend of high fashion and horror. Preparing for a mega fashion show, the vibes are hectic and chaotic and it all lends to this feeling of impending doom which certainly comes to a head.

Genuinely, I loved everything about this book and I KNOW the girlies are going to eat it up when it comes out.

This is the sort of book that just can’t lose in today’s market. A mostly young, tragically hip (literally), almost all-minority cast with gender politics heavily threaded through. The only thing its missing is a heavy queer angle on top of it.
So, yeah, how much social commentary do you like in your genre fiction? If your answer is “oodles”, you’ve picked the right book. Though to be fair, Tiny Threads does a very credible job of passing for a scary story for a significant portion of its page count.
Anyway, in the The Devil Wears Antonio Mora aka Tiny Threads, a young woman makes the trek all the way from Jersey to sunny Cali to work for a famous designer. It is supposed to be her dream job, her dream life, etc…until it all turns into a nightmare.
The question is this, is she hallucinating terrors because of all the drinking she’s doing because of work stress or is she in real danger?
Read and find out. It’s a quick and entertaining read, compelling enough even if you don’t particularly care for the characters. The real star of the show here is, of course, that gorgeous cover, but the fun itself is fun enough. Thanks Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Tiny Threads.

The beautiful, brooding cover and intriguing premise drew me in so I was excited my request was approved.

Tiny Threads reminds me of old school movies with a supernatural theme where the main character is haunted by a ghost because they have similar traumatic backgrounds and/or histories.

Samara has left behind her home and family to pursue her ambitious. She's scored a high profile marketing position with a legendary designer named Antonio Mota.

But, soon after arriving in sunny Cali, a vast difference from her Jersey roots, she discovers her dream job may be a nightmare.

She can't sleep, haunted by strange noises and seeing things that only she can see.

Is she losing her mind or is there a more powerful force at work here?

What is it and what does it want with Samara?

The author touches on many themes in her narrative; sexual violence and predation, elitism, sexism, just to name a few, and readers should be aware of these triggers.

Yet, none of these themes are fully fleshed out; for example, Samara meets the head of the company accused of poisoning its staff and customers and her entanglement with the heir of the company, Brandon, is creepy and tenuous yet the author never delves into these topics.

It doesn't help that Samara is an unlikable and forgettable character.

I understand she's 'run' away from home to escape her past trauma, yet her personality is weak, unmemorable.

At times I forget how she got the job with Mota anyway, based on an well written essay, which I found hard to believe Samara was capable of because she doesn't strike me as particularly intelligent or talented.

She's desperate to be liked, especially by Mota, self medicates with alcohol (another trigger to be aware of), and bed hops with no thought to her safety.

I'm all for sowing your oats but not at the expense of your self esteem and self worth.

I think the story would have read better if it had been written as a straight forward supernatural thriller and character development had been devoted to Samara and her family.

Also, if Samara's haunting had led her to investigate the reasons behind why this was happening, her initiative would have made her a stronger character; she takes action instead of experiencing these strange occurrences and just keep drinking and letting her mental health spiral out of control as a result.

Lackluster characters and a narrative unsure of its purpose made it hard to love this, much less like.

I was so excited for the premise of this story - like a gothic Devil Wears Prada, but with supernatural horror!! Alas, that is not what this was. Instead, we see the main character, Samara, escaping some sort of trauma, fleeing across the country to a new, stressful job and self-medicating like crazy.

Because of this, what should have been creepy horrific scenes were overshadowed by me wondering if she was suffering a psychotic break, so high that she was hallucinating, or really seeing ghosts. It was neither scary nor thrilling.

That was also partially due to the pacing. It took way too long to get into the “meat” of the story. Fully half of the book is Samara going to work, getting triggered by her caricature of a boss, putting vodka in her coffee, going home, drinking way too much, and having visions. It was repetitive and it was hard to stay interested. Then, as the fashion show gets closer, I feel like the pacing picks up and suddenly, we have a thriller! I wish the rest of the book could have had that urgency.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting premise. I really liked the story and
It was a nice quick read and the “supernatural suspense” was all there!!

“Tiny Threads” is an interesting psychological horror that follows Samara, who leaves her past life behind and moves to Vernon to work for a famous fashion designer. Shortly after starting her new job, she begins to have haunting visions that make her unravel and question her sanity.

I enjoyed the concept of this book but feel that it could be better if it dug deeper into the other characters and concepts that were touched on. The book felt slow since most chapters felt similar to each other with the events that unfolded.

This book contains the following subjects; trigger warnings for: sexual assault, drug use, and excessive alcohol use.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝐼’𝑚 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐹𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑜𝑛 & 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓. 𝐼 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝐼’𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑎’𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛.

In a strange way, this book kind of reminded me of a day-old pastry. As I was reading it, I didn't mind the writing or the storyline (in fact, I got through most of it in one sitting), but upon finishing it, I was left wanting more. More specifically, I saw the potential that it had and was disappointed that the book had ended before expanding on what it had built up. Another issue was the sheer number of topics/themes that the book tried to address. While I appreciated how the author addressed the intersectionality of many societal issues (e.g. racism, classism, sexism), the book didn't delve deeply into any of these topics. A good 2/3 of the book was focused on racism and classism, but it ended with a statement on sexism, which felt a little thrown in at the end. If the book had been longer, or if there had been more discussion about sexism integrated earlier, I think the story would have felt more cohesive. Nevertheless, I appreciated the vision of the book and the message that it had for the reader; I only wish it had been conveyed a little better.


Thank you to Net Galley and Random House-Ballantine for this ARC!