dnf pretty early on bc the wording was rubbing me the wrong way. “booty length braids” and “melanin poppin” coming from a latinx author just didn’t seem right. will likely try to pick this one up at a later time bc i am super interested in the plot!!

3.5/5
I loved the sci-fi/dystopian twist. One of the more spiritual parts was a little weird, but overall, I enjoyed the story. I loved the tie-ins from the past. I loved how each generation used their experiences to strengthen the next.

Thank you to NetGalley for this title. This title has been “pending” on NetGalley for some time, and as books go, you tend to forget, but I’m glad to be given the chance to read this YA novel. “The system is rigged.” (Well) That’s the impression I got after the 45% point. The story is about Yuiza, who has been accepted to Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, a prestigious female boarding school. She will be one of the few black and brown students accepted.

What I gathered (initially) is that the school was purposefully seeking out black and brown minorities whose families were experiencing some hardship (financial or otherwise). Before I got to the end, I thought the school was also intentionally seeking out these students to bury them further in debt (even though they all received scholarships). Let’s also point out that all the work-study students are black and brown people.

The school has the students working in various positions (i.e., custodians, cooks, cashiers, and tending the grounds). Oh, and let's not forget ...maintenance of the elevator system??!!!… How would a teenager know how to maintain this…WTF. Of course, the pay is less than a reasonable wage to send this money back to their families, thus burying them deeper into a system of control. (Where have we seen this) So …” the system is rigged.”

This is new-aged slavery for these ladies within a system in which you can never get ahead. How can you expect someone to win when you keep moving the finish line? I found this YA story compelling, and it’s hard not to align it with our current climate. We are constantly to be in service …to be of service.

As I got to the end, I realized something wasn’t right. The school's history has a deeper, darker secret it's been harboring over the years, and now the book title makes so much sense. It’s literal.

The story's conclusion fell flat for me with three alternative endings, leaving the reader to come up with their own conclusion. What I liked from the author are the questions at the end of the story, which has the reader going back to review this for cultural and social norms.

Overall, it’s a great story about friendship, trust, family, and the perseverance of our ancestors and how they survived their circumstances with little to no resources and provided for their families.

I accidentally submitted the wrong review for this book. I am about to start this books and will add my correct review soon.

Any time an author can embedded cultural tension or details into a horror story, the content is drastically elevated. The story all surrounds the racial identities of those characters involved in a horror focused plot. The reader grows in their our journey while also being terrified of the character journeys. It is a great mix of cultural development and sheer terror.

"Racism was the horror movie that broke all the rules. It wasn't confined to one place, one perpetrator. It wasn't confined to the dark. Victims weren't hidden in walls and basements. They were heaped in plain sight. Perpetrators claimed racism didn't exist even as they trampled over the bodies."

Oof. This book will leave you feeling raw and ready to fight.

We follow Yuiza who is a horror-film buff and creator who is sent off to a white-washed boarding school which is supposed to help her "be successful". However, Yuiza quickly experiences the disparities and blatant racism within the school. It is rampant and unabashed.

We follow Yuiza through the stages of grief of trying to get through, acceptance, anger, fighting back, and on and on.
We experience her and other BIPOC students' generational trauma and repression; their heart and their hope, their fight and their drive.
Most importantly we get to stand alongside them through their connectedness, their love and respect for each other, their passion and strength.

The message in this book is so important and so VERY real and prevalent today.

Really enjoyed this one! I should have read it so much sooner! But I don’t regret it. This maybe a new obsession! I love the characters, plot, etc.

I am a sucker for books at boarding schools, as you know, and here is another one, but it is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Like The Art Thieves, I can’t tell you very much, but I can share that Yuiza, one of the few students of color at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, knows something is wrong, but it is even worse than she can imagine. The story is full of trauma and gaslighting and mystery and questioning and definitely an analogy for our society. (You know this book got me because I kept having to tell my sister about what was happening because it was blowing my mind.)

I love a boarding school read. This book had lots of trauma, gaslighting, mystery, etc. and it was crazy. A little too much for me, but I can see this being very enjoyable for others as it was well written!

When Yuiza is given the chance to study at the elite boarding school Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, she doesn't want to in the slightest, but she goes anyway, since this is the opportunity her family has been sorely needing. It looks beautiful in the pictures, and she would be wrong to turn it down, so she goes, only to find it's not quite like how it's advertised. At least, not to the working-class, scholarship students. She must fight tooth and nail, work herself down to the bone, in order to simply survive, let alone discover the school's darker past, as visions from her mother's childhood reach out to her.
This one was terrifying in such a good way. Ramos does a great job making the reader feel Yuiza's exhaustion and isolation. The school is so insidious. Every little thing stacks up against Yuiza and their comrades. The side characters are also all really well-written. Any of them could have been the main character of their own story, and I would have read those too. My only complaint is: What on earth was that ending???

(Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.)

I’ll start by saying I love horror. And I love finding a book that has a fresh take on the genre. I was very excited to start reading “They Thought They Buried Us” by NoNieqa Ramos, because it promised that fresh take I’m always looking for.

While it delivered, it did so a little haphazardly.

The novel tells the story of Yuiza, who is admitted to an elite private boarding school. She doesn’t want to go, but family and friends convince her to see it as an opportunity. When Yuiza arrives at the school, she quickly realizes that something is off at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy.

The story feels like it moves too slowly in some places, too quickly in others. Characters that feel important are left as glossy snapshots while others are given rich development they don’t seem to merit.

The horror is horrifying, and involves generational trauma and curses with more than a dash of folklore. Ramos does an excellent job of weaving in elements of Hispanic culture: Yuiza’s family is from Puerto Rico, and that plays heavily into the plot. Hispanic representation in horror is lacking, so it’s really wonderful to see it here.

If you’re looking for a quick, scary YA read, this is for you. If you’re looking for something with a little more depth that is well-rounded, you might want to look elsewhere. All of that said, do I regret reading this? No. Would I read something else by Ramos? Yes.

As a fan of Jordan Peele's brilliant movie "Get Out" I was immediately on board for THEY THOUGHT THEY BURIED US by NoNieqa Ramos. I appreciate the point Romas is making with this novel. The idea of main character Yaiza as a filmmaker is very compelling and her full "obsession" with film is immediately established in the opening chapter. The use of the script format, at times, was very effective. Where the book fell short for me was the under-developed characters (especially the one-dimensional villains), the stilted dialogue and disjointed plot. It felt like this novel needed more time to develop.

It took me quite some time to write this review because I was not sure of my feelings about this book. It was a difficult one to get through. The writing style wasn't my favorite - it felt clunky and underdeveloped. There were also times when I felt certain characters, primarily Yuiza, was much younger than what she was presented to be. I wasn't a fan of her inner monologue either.
I did love the premise and promise of an academic atmosphere with hauntings and secrets. That's something that would immediately grasp me, however, this book was not one for me.
Thank you NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group, and NoNeiqa Ramos for this read.

This novel is a blend of satire, horror, and social commentary. In some ways that blend worked for me, in others, it did not.

The horror aspects of the novel worked well to illustrate the social issues the author was tackling in a way that made them understandable for readers. In some places, however, the satire elements pushed the story that began to feel campy in a way that didn't work for me. These same elements may have worked well in a visual medium (film), but were less successful in a novel.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC! A mix of horror and suspense, this is a great read for the start of spooky season!

Female director taking the lead in the horror movie industry? Yes please. Yuiza gets the opportunity of a lifetime; admitted to a prestigious school to further her talents. A little vague and chaotic background on her settings, and the reader is lead into the dark academic setting.

If I could describe this novel in one word, it would be chaotic. I liked the idea of giving the story bits of a screenplay format but not quite the execution of it. And really- a school that takes kids phones away and points of communication away from their parents? Not really believable for an elite academy- maybe more reform school. The redeeming moments of the novel are the conversations between Yuiza and her roommate Glorymar.

I know these arcs are not the final copy- but can we at least try to address the sentence errors and poor structuring before hitting NetGalley. Is it really doing the author any favors there?

Overall this book felt like a lot of ideas that weren’t really sure where to go with them. I liked the mom though. The back half of the story had more focus and direction but I’m not sure if people will want to stick with it to get there. The ambiguous ending also felt like a good choice.

This was a great haunting story about a girl who has second thoughts about the ‘private school’ she was admitted to. A great twist at the end really shows how intelligent Yuiza, the protagonist, really is. She is very observant on campus even through the pressure she is given from the first day. You really start to sympathize with her when you hear about her ridiculous work load. I really enjoyed this for an autumn read as it set up spooky season just right. As a first read by the author, I’ll be looking forward towards future releases! Definitely will recommend for others to add it to their tbr immediately.

This was just an okay book for me. I thought it sounded like it would be a fun, spooky sort of dark academia read. And it was, I guess. It just wasn't as fun as I would've liked. The movie formatting was fun at times, frustrating at others. I ended up skimming a lot of it. There were some interesting ideas here though and I did like the characters.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I am a scary book lover, and I set my expectations high for these books. In this book blew Every single expectation out of the water I was thoroughly creeped out during this book and that is very rare for me so glad I got to read this one and this is definitely one of my top read this year is perfect for spooky season

The stress this book put me through... WORTH IT. I think many people will enjoy this if you are into intense page turners. The character building was something I loved because it also went into their culture. Excellent for fans of horror, suspense, and mystery.