Horror and fashion are two of my favorite things, but despite being drawn in by the blurb, this one didn't quite come together for me. It was definitely horrifying but took too long for anything to happen - the first 40-50% is pretty repetitive and slow. It does pick up in the back half but I found it hard to stay invested.

Unfortunately, this book did not meet my expectations given the description. It also felt like it was taking way too long for something substantial to happen. Too much ground was covered in terms of the social commentary so it felt like what the author was saying was getting lost in the mix and was only surface level and not as impactful as it could have been. In similar stroke, the writing needed to go a lot deeper into Samara’s psyche and improve on painting a picture with the storytelling rather than summarizing the story. Since the book is in the fashion world, I expected deep-cut gems or references but only got drops on popular and accessible content.

A pretty tidy little story about the evils of colonization and the things (mostly) white men take from the brown people whose lands they take. The unreliable and, honestly, unlikeable main character made this a little tricky to get into. The rising action was pretty repetitive and the non-reveal about what led her to where she was at seemed pretty obvious so again, it didn't really make me feel a lot about it. There was a few plot holes and missing pieces that are fine to overlook, but also it would just be better knowing what happened and holding people accountable. Overall, it was an important story, told kinda well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This book was not my favorite. I felt like it was quite predictable and not so much horror driven as just gory. The parts I wanted expanded on weren't and other things were repeated and reexplained over and over.

Tiny Threads is a psychological horror novel set in a manufacturing town that's trying to reinvent itself. Samara has moved across the country for her dream job of working for the acclaimed designer, Antonio Mota. The more time Samara spends around Mota things start to unnerve her. His disposition in quick to change and she keeps feeling like someone is watching her. With the latest fashion show quickly approaching perhaps it's just nerves or maybe there is something more sinister at play.

I wanted to like Tiny Threads more than I did, sadly. I didn't mind the flashbacks Samara is presented with, but I did feel like it left everything in an anticlimactic setting. There are very few supernatural elements in this book, whereas I felt like there would be more based on the synopsis. This book is based on a lot of trauma so if you're easily triggered, this book may not be for you. Ultimately I wanted more from this book than I was given. The majority of the "action" of this novel it's presented until the third act, which was too late in my opinion. I would have DNF'd but I wanted to know how it ended. Luckily it isn't a long book, clocking in at just under 250 pages. Even at such a short length, there were times when it felt like a burden to pick up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

I didn’t know what to expect with this book but I really liked it. I liked the world Lillian Rivera created. I love books that take place in the fashion world and thought this one was really good. I thought the thriller aspect of it was really well done and I wanted to keep reading.

Social horror, but make it fashion. This was my horror novel for spooky season (not that I'll limit myself to one, or to only spooky season). I appreciated the social commentary, or rather that author Lilliam Rivera wove it in, and not with tiny threads but with bold strokes. "During dark times, scary tales provide me with a sense of comfort and control," writes Rivera in the Acknowledgements. "Factories have been poisoning brown communities for decades, while powerful men believe that their sexual predations are a right. Truth can always be found in the horrific." This novel succeeds in conveying this, within a truly haunting tone and setting, and from a truly haunted main character. 

[Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

This book made me follow Lillian Rivera on Insta. It's an unusual suspense thriller, set in a diverse background, that twisting and turning.

Tiny Threads Book Review
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book for me to review. All opinions are my very own.

From NetGalley:






Fashion-obsessed Samara finally has the life she’s always dreamed of: A high-powered job with legendary designer Antonio Mota. A new home in sunny California, far away from those drab Jersey winters. And an intriguing love interest, Brandon, a wealthy investor in Mota’s fashion line.



But it’s not long before Samara’s dream life begins to turn into a living nightmare as Mota’s big fashion show approaches and the pressure on her turns crushing. Perhaps that’s why she begins hearing voices in her room at night—and seeing strange things that can’t be explained away by stress or anxiety or the number of drinks she’s been consuming.

And it may not be just Samara imagining things as her psyche unravels, because she soon discovers hints that her new city—and the House of Mota—may be built on a foundation of secrets and lies. Now Samara must uncover what hideous truths lurk in the shadows of this illusory world of glamour and beauty before those shadows claim her.



My Take:







I was offered this book and because of the season, I decided to take it on. I am not a typical fan of psychological thrillers, but thought I would give it a try. Instead of horror type book, we meet Samara, who seems to be fighting some internal demons by taking on a new stressful job in a new location and self medicating herself so she doesn't have to deal.

So instead of the horror type story I was expecting, I kept thinking that Samara was just trying to overcome the demons in her life. I sat as an observer, not as an invested reader of the story.

I felt the book moved pretty slowly, too. I love fashion week and felt like that was going to drive the story a little more than it did. Descriptions of her boss, drinking on the job and then suddenly, the pace takes off and it becomes somewhat of a thriller. By the time this happens, I am no longer deeply invested in Samara or the resolution of her situation.





About the Author:




Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning author of children’s books including her latest Never Look Back, a retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice set in New York by Bloomsbury Publishing. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Elle, to name a few. Lilliam lives in Los Angeles.

✨ Review ✨ Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera; Narrated by Frankie Corzo

Thanks to Ballantine, Del Rey, PRHAudio and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book brings big Latino gothic vibes, with Samara, moving from the east coast to California to work in the iconic fashion house of Antonio Mota. Samara's hired as a brand consultant to help the house of Mota get back to its former glory as Mota planned consecutive shows in LA and in NYC fashion week.

Creepy things start happening to Samara, however, after she arrives, and its not clear if these are real or in her head or a product of the alcohol she's drinking. For a lot of the book Samara is grappling with issues of class and race (her grandmother used to be a seamstress at a factory nearby), alcoholism, and grief, and that makes this full of a lot of dark thoughts.

I appreciate a lot of what this book was trying to do and issues it raised around alcoholism, sexual assault, class privilege, and environmental harm done to the working class in factories. With that said though, the book moved a little slowly and doesn't shy away from graphic content (check out content warnings online if you're sensitive to issues mentioned above). When I found things to be dragging a bit, I switched to audio, and that helped with the pacing for me!

Overall, I enjoyed this one and thought the audio narration was really well done. The author's note in the arc I received mentioned that the author draws on her own experiences with alcohol in writing this book, and I think that provides important context as well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5)
Genre: horror,
Setting: Los Angeles
Length: 7 hours 17 minutes
Reminds me of: Rouge by Mona Awad meets V. Castro
Pub Date: September 24, 2024

Read this if you like:
⭕️ Latino gothic horror
⭕️ high beauty and fashion gone awry
⭕️ exposing power imbalances due to class and race in work environments

📖: Tiny Threads- a standalone

✍️ By: Lilliam Rivera-new to me author

📃 Page Count: 241 eBook

🗓️ Publication Date: 9-24-24 | Read 10-17-24

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group | Ballantine, and Lilliam Rivera for this ARC ❤️! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

🌎Setting: Vernon, CA

Genre: Adult Fic, Multicultural, Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Thriller

Tropes: supernatural, fashion industry, work politics

☝🏾POV: 3rd person, single

⚠️TW: SA, child abuse, excessive drinking and drug use, h has strange visions/hears voices, and racism.

💭Summary: Samara lands her dream job at Antonio Mota's fashion house after her beloved grandmother's death. She quickly moves away from her disapproving family in Jersey to California. Things are not quite what they seem in CA when Samara starts experiencing ominous encounters.

🚺 Heroine: Samara Martin-25, went from freelance journalist to Executive Director/Global Brand Voice of Mota House- The Saprophyte

🎭Side cast:

• Dolores Lara-1st seamstress to work with Antonio, religious, doesn't like Samara much.

• Lake Montoya- the receptionist at Mota's house.

• Brandon Hernandez-a wealthy investor in Mota's fashion line.

• Antonio Motas-65, renowned fashion designer.

• Dolores Sanz/Abuela Lola-Samara's recently deceased grandmother who worked @Celis factory as a seamstress.

• Olivia Celis-owned Celis Knitting Mills, close to Antonio. Her factory closed after claims of environmental crimes that the factory poisoned staff and the people of Vernon.

•Piedad-a ghost figure who appears to Samara trying to warn her

• Rosa-new at Mota, a seamstress looking to elevate her position

🤔My Thoughts: There were plenty of "Vernon perfume" descriptions as well as tracking Samara descent into alcoholism and drugs. Samara provided glimpses of a terrible past with her cousin Benjy that she can't think about or speak on yet. At times she's an unreliable narrator because she's popping pills like candy and even drinking on the job. She slept with Brandon while intoxicated and did it again when he cornered her. This had "Me Too" vibes especially with Rosa, and it was heart-breaking finally getting Samara, Abuela Lola, and Piedad's truths.

Range of emotions: 😬🤔🙄
🌶️: Spice 1/5
😭: Emotion 5/5
❤️: Couple 0/5
⭐️: Rating 3/5

The intentions of this book were extremely interesting and the imagery was amazing, but I felt like some things just fell flat. I wanted to be captivated by this story because the horror and creep factor were so good. However.... I just didn't love it as much as I thought.

There were so many elements that were scary and so many jump scares that I loved, but it just didn't come together and the ending was kind of meh.

Overall, I liked the book and want to know more of this author's works, but this story wasn't my favorite.

Tiny Threads is such an appropriate name for this book, for it is full of tiny threads that, unfortunately, remain loosely connected if connected at all. Samara moves to California to pursue her career as a fashion writer and uncovers bits of legendary designer Alexander Mota's past, bits of the history of the small town he is, or isn't from, and as the pressure builds, slowly spirals downward. The ending ramps up the supernatural aspects of the story and leaves too many loose ends for my taste. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was okay.
While it used an intriguing set up to explore important issues, in the end, it didn't land for me.
The narrator of the story is unreliable, due largely to her consumption of alcohol. The use of this throughout the story felt forced in some places, and led to confusion in others. I also found her character very difficult to connect to, as we didn't get to know much about her or her motivations.

The writing here just didn’t pull me in. The plot sounded great but I guess the execution just didn’t work for my reading preferences.

The Devil Wears Prada meets dark romance horror? Sign me up! Samara finally gets her dream job in the fashion world, working with high profile designer, Antonio Mota. Little does she realize, there's a dark and scary side to this world she's entered. I enjoyed the anecdotes of her grandmother's time as a seamstress and it helped to make Samara a more well rounded character. Overall, this book fell a little flat for me though. It was such a slow burn that I quickly lost interest and had to push myself to finish the book. This book may be great for other readers, just not for me. Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced copy.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera in exchange for an honest review. Tiny Threads was a really interesting book about heritage, history repeating and fashion. I'm not a big fashion person, but this book had a very intriguing story line and characters.

The nitty-gritty: Dark and weird, Tiny Threads explores racism and trauma in a glitzy fashion setting.

I loved the idea of “fashion meets horror,” but I have to confess Tiny Threads wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. There are plenty of positives for me, but I also had some issues that I’ll explain below. Still, as far as original ideas go, I have to give props to Lilliam Rivera for coming up with something different. The setting and the themes worked well together, and Rivera knows how to set up a creepy, chilling story.

Samara is a journalist who caught the attention of superstar fashion designer Antonio Mota when she wrote an article about his hometown of Vernon, California, an industrial neighborhood in Los Angeles where he runs his design business. He offers her a job working as his global brand executive director, an opportunity she just can’t pass up. Despite her close-knit Cuban family’s protestations, Samara leaves her familiar East Coast life behind and heads for Vernon, eager to prove her worth to Antonio. The timing is perfect: she’s been struggling with the death of her beloved Abuela Lola and needs the distraction of a new job to get out of her rut.

Right away, Samara seems to get off on the wrong foot. Antonio turns out to have a terrible temper and is hard to work with. Samara tries to befriend the seamstresses, who remind her of her Abuela, but they give her the cold shoulder. Everything at Mota’s is based on a hierarchy. Even though Antonio proclaims that they are “all one big happy family,” there’s clearly a divide between the creatives and the lower seamstresses and plant workers. 

Samara has two months until Antonio’s big comeback fashion show to prove herself, but then she starts hearing and seeing strange things. Every night at 2:00 a.m., she’s woken up by odd grunts and other animal noises. One night she sees a bleeding woman outside her window, who soon after disappears. Then there’s the horrible smell coming from the neighborhood slaughterhouse, a blight on Antonio’s efforts to rejuvenate the town of Vernon. As the day of the show gets closer, Samara’s grip on reality starts to crack. Long buried secrets, generational trauma and an unknown supernatural entity all threaten to derail Samara’s plans of success. 

My favorite thing about Tiny Threads was the atmospheric dread the reader feels from the very beginning. This is a very creepy, unsettling story, and because Samara is such an unreliable narrator, you’re never sure what’s real and what isn’t. Her apartment is within walking distance of work, and since she’s used to walking everywhere back home in New Jersey, she continues to do that in Los Angeles (not a good idea, actually!) On her walks she encounters weird things, like an artist who paints disemboweled women. I also loved the way the slaughterhouse is incorporated into the story (and don’t worry, no animals are slaughtered in this story!). Samara has dreams about pigs and hears pigs grunting every night in her apartment, and these unsettling events gave the story a sinister quality.

Rivera has some pointed commentary on crimes against women, especially rape, which is a theme that runs throughout the story. She also addresses racism in a big way, although it could have been done with a subtler touch. Samara is one of those characters who calls out the skin color of everyone she meets, which got old very quickly. I get it, she’s a woman of color who just scored an important job, but she’s also annoyed that there aren’t any other Latinas in positions like hers. She’s very aware of how her Abuela slaved away as a lowly seamstress, which is one reason she tries to befriend the seamstresses. She wants to raise up her fellow women of color, but she doesn’t go about it in the right way, unfortunately.

Which leads me to the characters. I can’t say I really liked any of them, especially Samara. And it’s a shame because I wanted to cheer her on. I don’t know about you, but when I start a new job I observe the work culture and try to fit in. Not Samara. She causes trouble by trying to upset the hierarchy, even after someone tells her to stop. She doesn’t follow rules. Worst of all, she starts drinking heavily and even starts taking her morning coffee with a dollop of whisky. It’s not long before you realize she’s ruining her chances of success and getting on everyone’s bad side, even Antonio’s. This is one of those stories, though, where the unlikable characters fit right in with the vibe. Each one is questionable in some way, which added to the overall feeling of dread. 

When Samara starts doing drugs in addition to heavy drinking, things really start to go off the rails. Is she actually seeing and hearing ghosts, or is her addiction to blame? The ending doesn’t really give readers all the answers they might want, but I did love the final bloody showdown. Tiny Threads might be the strangest book I’ve read this year, but it worked enough that’ll I’d love to check out more of Lilliam Rivera’s work.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I was lost with this story. It was hard to connect to this narrator idk if it was the author’s writing style but it was hard to focus.

Something is not quite right in the life and times of Samara. She completely uproots her life to follow the project of her dreams: working under legendary fashion designer Antonio Mota. But her dreams fade as each day becomes more and more strange and demanding…and in the end no one’s lives will ever be the same.
I am grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! Unfortunately I had to DNF at around 40%. This book is a slow burn and you must be patient for the story to weave itself together, and unfortunately I’ve just been too sick due to medical issues to keep up. This is definitely a book I will pick up again when I have my own copy and am not time constrained to complete it.