I really enjoyed stepping into the world of fashion from a different perspective than usual. Samara's views on fashion and how she recognized everyone who worked under the main designer was nice since they all work to make the designer's visions come to life.

I liked the air of mystery surrounding the town and how little hints of what happened in the past are sprinkled throughout the book.

Samara was an interesting and frustrating main character. I understood her need to make a change and make this job work no matter what. However, her absolute refusal to deal with anything and trying to do everything at her job herself even though she had a team of people was really frustrating. Especially when it was clearly affecting her, her job, and those around her. I get wanting to ignore things for a small amount of time, but she started to make me frustrated as the book went on.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and thought it was a good read.

Samara was a difficult character to connect to for me mostly because she needed everyone to like her, she wanted to be the center of attention receiving "gold stars" with every complement, and that's my least favorite type of person. I understand that is a part of fashion industry culture and key to the novel but her anxiety about being liked didn't endear me to her until the very end.

Overall, Tiny Threads was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to those who enjoy psychological horror.

(2.5 ⭐ read)

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for allowing me to read this before release and congratulations to the author for putting their work out in the world!

First, I'll say this book just wasn't for me personally. For such a short book the first 50% was very slow. The first half of the book we follow Samara as she starts her new job writing for a big fashion mogel in California. Samara was not a very likeable character. As soon as she starts the job she expects everyone to fall head over heels in love with her and gets upset when people don't pay attention to her.

The writing was a bit repetitive and once things picked up towards the second half of the book I felt like the horror scenes happened too sudden without any sense of suspense or build up. The ending had some satisfying parts, but it also had some loose ends that would have been nice to tie up.

All in all I thought this was okay, but I'm unsure if I would recommend to others.

TW: Rape, alcohol abuse, addiction, drugs

Our main character Samara moves from New Jersey to a small town about an hour from Los Angeles, California to work for a (crazy) fashion designer who's trying to reinvent himself with a fashion show in 2 months. Her grandmother passed recently and something happened that Samara isn't coping with (besides the loss). Each night, she gets woken up at 2 AM by weeping/groaning noises outside but nothing's there. Then she starts to see things that aren't there. To deal with the mounting pressures, the crazy designer, and the maybe-haunting she starts to drink and take caffeine pills, and things continue to spiral.

The author does a great job with the story's atmosphere. Something is definitely wrong with the city of Vernon but we're not sure what. Likewise, there's an unreliable narrator - is she actually hearing these noises or experiences things or is she just having a psychotic break? It added an interesting element but also took away from the story, since I wasn't sure if all the creepy stuff happening was just because Samara was having a mental breakdown.

I struggled with Samara as a character. She was doing the best that she could with race and family pressures plus the "I don't want to think about what happened" trauma from her grandmother dying - which the author did a great job of illustrating - but when her response to everything was drinking, I wanted to send her to rehab and therapy. This book reminded me a bit of watching <u>Requiem for a Dream</u>. It keeps getting worse the longer you watch/read.

The pacing was slow, especially for the first half or so. Samara goes to work, tries to impressive the white people while trying to connect with the Latin seamstresses, drinks heavily, experiences something creepy, doesn't sleep, and <repeat>. It got very monotonous.

The resolution felt overly preachy about how hard it is to be a Latina and a woman. I'm a white woman so I might be completely off base with this comment but I was repeatedly telling the book "yes, we get it" in the last couple of chapters.

The book had various Spanish sentences and phrases throughout. Samara says she doesn't speak Spanish but her family does. The author generally gave context clues to figure out what people were saying but I imagine for a non-Spanish speaker, that will be a bit of a challenge. I found it strange that Samara understands full sentences of Spanish and can speak specific full sentences, but then doesn't know that "poco" means "a little" (but she knows "sin" = "without"). It was a very minor detail that no bearing on the story, but every time she was speaking Spanish or understanding what her family was saying, I kept coming back to not knowing "poco" when I know so many people who know 3-5 Spanish words and one is "poco". Again, no bearing on the story, just something that weirdly bothered me.

It was a creative idea but the execution was lacking.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this advance review copy

**Thank you so much Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine | Del Ray for the earc! All words and thoughts in this review are my own honest opinion!**
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph
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2.9 (rounded up to 3) out of 5 stars.

Uhm- I’ve got thoughts. I’ve got a jumble of words in mind for this read that I don’t really know how to untie. I’ll try my best to be coherent, but I have very little yet so much at the same time to say about this read…
Let’s dive in?

I understand the sort of message that Lilliam Rivera was trying to convey here. I kind of hate that the only fashion world reference I knew to help set the scene was ‘Ugly Betty’ because it seriously kicked some of that seriousness out of ‘Tiny Threads’ too, and there was already only so much to work with. I think for me it was the pacing that affected this a lot.
At the beginning, it felt like Rivera was trying to take things easy to help set the scene and let readers get a feel for what was to come, but then realized she was nearing a word cap and rushed all the important plot points back to back before the end. It just felt… messy. There was too much stitched together to fill in gaps left by other ideas, but then more gap arose. I think if the book was a little longer, more time could’ve been given to weave the timeline that Rivera started with.
Something else that bugged me was the way these plot points were intersecting. Once everything is connected, earlier details start to make some more sense, but there were too many stories being told for it to run linearly. I almost wonder if back and forth flashbacks/two time period POVs could’ve helped achieve the ending that ‘Tiny Threads’ came around to? I’m not sure. It just felt like there were too many ideas being used to help elevate the plot and not much was done to help smoothen the bumps in the road.

I have to agree with others in that the love interest isn’t really a love interest. He’s in for a few scenes, but not terribly much as- a love interest. I’m saying that word a lot, it’s losing its meaning. I feel like more could’ve been done to either ascertain that idea that he is a love interest beyond a few awkward meetings, or a different title could’ve been lended to him instead. This personally didn’t bug me all too much, but I figured it’s something worth noting as others found issue with it.

‘Tiny Threads’ attempts to lay down a *strong* and impactful message within its story. It strives to capture attention with its eeriness and by showing the true horrors that lay deeper behind glimmering facades and money-cushioned lives. I just think that the air could’ve been a bit more dramatic, a little less rushed, and a lot sharper. I haven’t read any of Rivera’s previous works, but as one of her firsts in the adult-fiction world, I believe this to be a good starter with which she can only grow from!

I love thrillers and I love insider looks at the fashion world, so I expected to love Tiny Threads. However, a few things put me off. The first was the frequent presence of violence, both literally and as a creative theme. The second was that I found the plot meandering and uninteresting. There was nothing to compel to read long enough for things to pick up. Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

At first I was really excited about this book because the prologue had me intrigued. But everything after that was just uninteresting. Even when things started trying to get spooky they just didn’t grab at me. It could be the writing, which I found to be immature and underwhelming. The fashion references were all heavy handed obvious drops to big names that screamed five minutes of google instead of research. When the Big Reveal finally comes, it feels wholly disconnected from the events of the rest of the book. Overall I found this book to be some of the worst descriptors I can think of: unmemorable and dull.

It was her dream job, but it seems to be turning into a brutal nightmare. Jersey girl Samara, freelance writer and second gen Cuban, wrote an article on Vernon, calling it the edgy new successor to LA. Tony Mota saw the article and decided to hire her for a refresh of his designer career-so she left her bedroom in the noisy family house and flew to California, determined to make good. But she immediately found problems with her West Coast move...her studio apartment, which she rented for its quiet location, was making weird sucking sounds at 2 am, every morning. Tony M. didn't like anything that she pitched him and his big show was only one month away. Her nostrils were assailed with the "Vernon Perfume", a noxious odor coming from the slaughterhouse next door to the dressmaking complex. The model that she hired to wear Tony M's newest design seems to haunt her like a sorrowful ghost wherever she goes, whether she is drunk or painfully sober.
This book hooks readers in immediately and skillfully plays them like a fish on the line. Who can Samara trust? What can she do to stop this evil? Is she losing her mind? And more importantly, why is it happening to her?
Rivera obviously is very familiar with the garment trade and skillfully describes the mad preparation that goes into planning and executing the final fashion show. When she adds the progressing element of horror to the mix, the beautiful fabric of the novel is bound to get frayed. Be sure and remember to keep your scissors handy!

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera was not what I expected but despite this I have to say that I throughly enjoyed it. My initial thought before reading the book was that this would be more about clothes, glamour, and drama. The story did involve these elements but also so much more. The characters were very layered and complicated. My favorite character was not the main character but rather Delores. She was a tough nut to crack but she proved to be the most loving and protective character of them all. The supernatural angle was odd but it certainly added to the story in a good way. I will not share more specifics as to not give away too much and spoil the read. This was certainly a great read with a surprising ending. I had no idea up until the end.

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera is a masterful blend of isolation and suspense that had me hooked from start to finish. Samara lands a job with a fashion designer in a burgeoning California city. The position initially appears to be a dream come true, especially with the opportunity to work alongside Latina seamstresses, which she hopes will help her feel connected to her grandmother's past as a seamstress in the same city. However, the city’s slaughterhouses emit a nauseating stench, eerie voices disturb her sleep, and the looming pressure of an upcoming fashion show escalates her anxiety.
I devoured this book during my flights a couple of weeks ago, and it kept me riveted the entire time. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed this story and my time with this book. It made my flights go by quicker that's for sure! Beyond its horror and thriller elements, the story delves into themes of alienation. As the only Latina woman in a prominent position, Samara's struggle to gain acceptance from the Latina seamstresses she admires adds a poignant layer to the narrative. If you're looking for a quick, engrossing read, this book is for you.
Thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I didn’t care for this book or the writing style but it looks like I’m in the minority. Not every book is for every reader.

A haunting and irresistible tale of beauty, fashion, secrets, and shadows. The writing is vivid and the story will linger.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I think this bit off a little more than it could chew in 250 pages. Attempted to address topics of racism, identity, gentrification, abuse, and trauma. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the story telling or writing was up to the challenge. I often felt like I was reading a book intended for a younger audience due to lack of complexity and depth in the topics explored.

I almost never prefer multiple POV, but I think this would have been more interesting had other characters been given more voice. Samara was probably the least interesting character, yet the only POV. Piedad, Rosa, Delores - all would have been a welcome shift from watching Samara put booze in her coffee on repeat. Zzzz.

There's also a random thread in this, that I feel like I can't talk about, but it's in the first few pages and the last few pages, and almost nowhere in between. If that topic is meant to be a main theme, it should be better integrated throughout, not just at the beginning and end.

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera was such a good thriller! It was a true page turner and I couldn’t put it down. This book felt very different from anything else I’ve read lately. It’s very entertaining and a it freaked me out a little bit but it was fun!

Tiny Threads had an intriguing premise, combining fashion industry drama with supernatural horror. The initial set-up was compelling, weaving together themes of racism, the dark side of ambition, and the lingering effects of trauma. However, the slow pacing and Samara's self-destructive behavior ultimately made it difficult to stay engaged with the story.

A good psychological thriller. A lot of character development for the fmc and it took up a lot of the beginning of the book. However once it picks up it does get better.

When up-and-coming journalist Samara finally lands a job at an illustrious fashion house, everything seems to be falling into place. Her boss loves her, her coworkers admire her, and her new home in California lets her leave the ghosts that haunted her on the other side of the country. So what if she can’t escape the smell of freshly gutted pigs, the army of rats (or something that sounds like rats…) in her walls, or the creeping suspicion that something is very wrong in her new town?

“The Samara before her is disappearing, a shell of her former self, but at least the diluted version is worthy of recognition from others.”

Samara’s slow descent into madness was thrilling to read. I truly felt dread as her world began to crumble into chaos around her and as she let herself succumb to it, struggling to maintain her reputation and her sanity. As other reviewers have noted, this is a dark parallel to The Devil Wears Prada, one with actual devils lurking in its pages. I would definitely recommend this to fans of glittery horror and the aesthetics of Neon Demon and Brand New Cherry Flavor. This book also has very somber roots, dealing with the more realistic horrors of racism and sexual assault. In the author’s own words, “Truth can always be found in the horrific.”

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This supernatural-tinged thriller was a page-turner for me. I loved the setting, the characters, the fabulous connection of past and present. I am not a fashionista and really only know about the industry through novels like "The Devil Wears Prada" but I still loved all the details.

This makes me want to read Lilliam Rivera's previous novels and anything she writes in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review. Tiny Threads was a quick read for me however i did need to google translate a few things because I do not speak spanish. Another thing is I believe it should of had a trigger warning.

Samara is leaving her home state of New Jersey in order to establish herself as a young professional, but she is also running away from something or someone it seems. Her abuela Lola recently passed away; she was really close to her and she misses her lots it seems.
Tiny Threads is a Latin horror story set in Vernon, California, the town Samara settles in as a new employee of famous designer Antonio's company. Things turn quickly into all kinds of weird as Samara does her best to get ready for Antonio's big fashion show. Lilian Rivera has turned Vernon into this really mysterious town full of ghosts and awful smells propagating from the slaughterhouse, visions that look awfully real, and art that gives you chills. Samara's drinking problem makes us question the authenticity of those paranormal episodes. I really enjoyed my time spent in this spooky town.