I have a lot of a mixed emotions about We Came to Welcome You. I think there was a lot of promise in the plot, characters, and mystery, but I do feel like ultimately it failed to live up to its own expectations.

I feel like our main character Sol, who struggles with alcohol abuse and her own mental health, is set up to be an unreliable narrator. After all—did she really see her neighbor trip on their stairs because the entire step disappeared or is she just paranoid? Is she seeing figures and shadows in her and her wife's home or was it just a drunken haze? However—I found her more whiny than anything else. I also struggled with her and Alice's relationship—it just felt...very forced and hard to believe.

The actual heart of the horror was interesting—I just wanted it to be explored a bit more. I thought it was a really cool concept but ultimately, the ending felt incredibly rushed and kind of out of place. There were just a few chapters missing or another bridge that needed to be crossed for the readers to deliver the impact Vincent Tirado wanted.

Overall, it wasn't a bad novel. But, it didn't quite live up to what it could have been.

This was an interesting read and appreciated the diversity of the characters within the supernatural genre. The book did a nice job of weaving the past with the present to better understand the basic the characters.
What I took away from the book is that if you can't beat them, join them. I believe the circumstance allowed for the main character to have the latitude to be who they wanted to be within the parameters of the neighborhood. A suspense filled read!

4/5 Stars!

This book has a rather slow start, a very interesting middle, and an ending that will leave you scratching your head! I, in particular, am not a great fan of the ending, I feel like it was a little rushed and did not make too much sense with the Sol we have seen for the majority of the book. However, the middle part of the book is so worth it and finding all of the clues and backstories made this experience rather fun and could keep my attention for a while!

Anyways, definitely recommend for anyone who loves to see the clues all come together at the end of a mystery novel!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I read Tirado's debut Burn Down, Rise Up a few years ago and enjoyed it, so I was really excited when I saw that they were releasing an adult horror this year.

We Came to Welcome You follows Sol Reyes, an Afro-Latina butch lesbian who is going through it. A series of incidents at her university lab result in her being placed on probation, and in her downtown she's been making weekly visits to her homophobic father and drinking a lot. But at least she's got her lovely wife, Alice, and their new home in a beautiful gated community, right? Right?

This is a psychological suburban horror that features some truly creepy children, an eerie trees, and an overbearing HOA. Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read and has a lot to say about assimilation and intersectionality and microaggressions, though the ending was a bit abrupt and I'm not sure how memorable it will be long term.

Sol and her wife Alice have finally purchased their first home. Located in a gated community called Maneless Grove, it’s a house that Alice picked out alone with the help of a co-worker and friend who lives nearby. Sol doesn’t mind. It’s been a tough year for her. Between dealing with her mean-spirited, homophobic father and facing a suspension at work that could end her career, she’s adopted a drinking problem to help manage the stress. It’s caused some tension with Alice, but hopefully the move into their new house in Maneless Grove will be a positive, fresh start.

But from the second their moving truck unloads their belongings, she starts to notice weird (see also: creepy) things about the neighborhood and their house. From the strange, pushy members of the Homeowners Association to the other overly friendly neighbors to the zombie-like children, the community has a “Stepford Wives” meets “Children of the Corn” vibe. Their new house isn’t any better. The electricity keeps cutting off and the walls seem to put out heat, making the house unbearably hot inside. But that’s mild compared to the humming in the basement, the root wiggling up through the air vent in the bedroom, the eyeball… and more.

But when Sol takes her fears to Alice, Alice doesn’t want to hear them. Alice doesn’t want to hear about evil lurking around them for fear of summoning it. She doesn’t want to hear complaints about Maneless Grove either, which she chalks up to Sol’s aversion to social interaction, as well as her drinking.

Sinister, chilling, and extremely engrossing, “We Came to Welcome You” by Vincent Tirado makes the hairs on the back of your neck prickle and your blood run cold. It starts out creepy and moves into transfixing as the story progresses. The neighbors feel evil. The house feels haunted. There’s never anything in the book to scare you out of your wits, though. It’ll just make you grab a blanket and wrap it around you a little tighter than normal.

You can also feel the strain in Sol and Alice’s marriage growing the longer they live in Maneless Grove. Sol is from the Dominican Republic. Alice is from South Korea. Along with everything else going on, Sol notices the racism in the community. Even though there is a widowed Black woman living there, as well as a gay couple, Sol recognizes the stereotypical comments and microaggressions from her neighbors. Alice does too, but just like the creepy things happening inside their home, she waves it off. Determined to fit into the community, she’s willing to tone down her identity. She sees it as investing in the neighborly spirit.

“We Came to Welcome You” is a slower-paced book that takes the time to immerse you into the neighborhood and totally creep you out. It isn’t as nightmare-inducing scary as you might expect a horror story to be, but that’s not to say it isn’t scary. The book is an allegory for systemic racism in the United States. From symbols, such as the white-barked Aspen trees in front of every house except Sol’s, to the outright racism she experiences, “We Came to Welcome You” disguises bigotry and racism in the U.S.A. as a horror story — and it (terrifyingly) works well. Intelligently written and as creepy as Halloween night, “We Came to Welcome You” is worth the read this Halloween season.

This book kept me on the edge of my figurative seat up until the very end. Unfortunately, the end didn’t deliver for me and there were many alternate endings I built up in my mind that would’ve been so much more satisfying. Beautiful cover and great narration of a less than perfect story!

Absolutely loved this book! It gave vibes of The Wicker Man, Rosemary's Baby, Midsommer...the ending left me wanting more!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

Sol Reyes is struggling. After an incident at the lab she works for at the university she was put on leave. She also is handling it poorly and with alcohol which puts a strain on her and her wife, Alice’s relationship. The two have dreamed of owning a home so when Alice’s colleague gets them a spot in her fancy neighborhood Sol and Alice move into the very nice community where every house and every street looks exactly the same. Their house is different though, it’s more run down and instead of one of the white birch trees there’s an old gnarled ugly one growing out of the foundation. When the members of the Homeowners Association come to welcome the couple to the neighborhood they seem scared of the house. They also are very strange, actually everyone seems very strange, especially the children. And in my normal fashion I’ll leave a summary there because I personally think the less you know about a horror book the more enjoyment you get out of it!

Firstly, this thoroughly creeped me out. The atmosphere was amazing. I wanted a creepy house, scary neighbors and I got a creepy house and scary neighbors. There were multiple scenes that gave me goosebumps and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! The roots in her hands and feet really gave me heebie-jeebies.

Secondly I am a white queer woman, not a queer woman of color so I can’t speak on any of the hardships brought on by race that were described. But if everyday life is anything like the main character described is close to accurate, I can’t even imagine. That being said, it is told all from Sol’s point of view and it was exhausting. Some things were very heavy handed in their delivery and I prefer some other poc author’s way of writing on those sorts of topics. (Kosoko Jackson, Octavia Butler, NK Jemisin, RF Kuang, Cole McCade are a few examples) Unfortunately Sol’s inner monologue kind of made a large impact on my enjoyment.

The last large thing I want to touch on is the ending. I still don’t know how I feel. On one hand it’s realistic and fitting. On the other hand, it’s immensely depressing. I think that actually works in the book's favor. A divisive ending on difficult topics really makes the reader think.

3.5 stars. I thoroughly for the most part enjoyed this book. The other “neighbor” and the voices were creepy as hell. The very beginning was fast paced and sucked me in quick. However as the novel progressed I did struggle with pacing issues. Also i felt there was plot holes and the ending i did not care for.

I really enjoyed this book! Tirado has written several books i enjoyed but this one is my favorite by far. I love suburban horror and this one was the perfect example of how well this genre can be done. Tirado is very quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.

This was sooo creepy and I really enjoyed it. I definitely wasn’t expecting that to be what was happening. I love when books actually give you that creepy feeling like when you’re watching a movie. I could picture all the scenes in my head.
I think this should be made into a movie. I highly recommend this one.
I received this as an ARC for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a fun, creepy in the 'what's going on' way kind of book. It definitely kept me guessing throughout. I feel like the ending could've been stronger, but the story as a whole was entertaining and timely.

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

Picture your dream home. Now picture your Pleasantville, Stepford wife type neighbors and something doesn’t feel quite right. At least to Sol

Sol and her wife Alice move into what should be there dream home with nice neighbors but are they too nice? Sol slowly starts to unravel as new things start to happen. Is it really happening or is it all in her head? I do like the representation in this novel, our main married couple as part of the lgbtqia+ community but I feel like I’ve read this story before. The character who is just home too much (from a forced leave of absence) and all that free time leaves her spiraling and overthinking. And no one believing her. Things unravel a little too predictably. Where I found the story a little messy, was when the story was trying to mix the growing delusional paranoias and what was going on with her on the side, like her career, therapy- now and then those moments would pop and Sol would seem to care for a brief moment and all was forgotten again. It never fully felt like those different aspects of the story really mashed together.

I enjoyed the interwoven past reflects of Sol’s history; it was good development from the author to give Sol a reason for her paranoia. Some graphic details and moderate body horror made this a creepy horror story. It takes a little bit to get into the rhythm of the story, making it hard to put down. I do wish the pacing was more consistent, cause when you hit a lull, you really hit a lull. And I didn’t really like the ending

After accusations of plagiarism, Sol Reyes has been placed on probation by her university. Between the stress at work and dutifully visiting her homophobic father, Sol begins to rely on a nightly glass of wine, which quickly turns into an all day affair, day after day. Her wife, Alice Song is thrilled that they were able to buy a house in the beautiful, gated community of Maneless Grove.

There’s something wrong with the neighbors, though. They are too nice. Sol is put off by the pushy homeowners association and their insistence that the couple join, but Alice chalks it up to them just being a tight-knight community. Sol begins to suspect their motives are sinister when a series of weird occurrences take place, but Alice is more worried about Sol’s drinking. As things get weirder, Sol will have to find out what’s really going on. Or is it just the product of her drinking?

This is my second novel by Tirado, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the dark humor and the commentary on HOAs and modern “community” assimilation, and the American dream (or lack thereof in modern society). Definitely check it out, and I also recommend Burn Down, Rise Up. I just learned there are two other books I’ll need to check out as well.

Sol and her wife Alice have finally found their perfect home, but there is only one problem - it comes with the HOA from hell. Immediately, Sol can tell something isn’t quite right in their new gated community, but Alice isn’t as convinced that there is something not quite right about the residents of Maneless Grove.

I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I thought the premise was super interesting and the comparisons to The Other Black Girl and Midsommar were accurate. Immediately when Sol and Alice move in I was hit with the feeling of dread. The author did a great job of creating a tense environment that had you wanting to keep reading. There were some truly unsettling and legitimately scary moments that really stuck with me, especially Sol’s moment of sleep paralysis. Sol was a complex and compelling main character who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself and who she is. I loved being in her head. There were some pacing issues, which often made this book seem longer than it was, and the ending seemed to wrap up quite quickly. I was left with some questions and just wanted more.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for a review copy. I will definitely read from this author again.

This one is dripping with dread and paranoia, and I loved every second of it. When Sol and her wife move into the suburban neighborhood of their dreams, they are beyond grateful. Unfortunately for them, Maneless Grove is hiding some sinister secrets that they will learn all too quickly.

The characters in this one were all horrible except for Sol, who was tolerable at best. Normally this would turn me off from a book but I loved how flawed everyone was and watching them navigate their tumultuous relationships. This also put some believability into things as I already had opinions about Sol’s wife, Alice, before she even started treating Sol poorly.

I find this kind of suburban horror and dread to just really get to me for some reason. I always wonder how my husband would react in a situation where I just said “NOPE! Vibes are off. We have to get the hell out of here.” I’d like to believe that he would drop everything and run with me, but would his rational brain stop him?

We Came To Welcome You stressed me out (but in the best way,) and you should check it out if you like horror & drama and hate HOAs!

**Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC of this dreadful title!!**

I appreciate the ARC and the opportunity to read this book. The premise was so interesting! It started out slow but interesting as well. But it never really picked up and just felt a bit repetitive at times.

The beginning of this book had me hooked! I loved the social commentary and discussions of racism and homophobia throughout the book. The main character was so rich and full, something I love to see in horror. There were many great creepy and/or unsettling scenes in this story that made it a very fun read. Some pieces of the story felt unresolved for me or at least did not develop as fully as I’d hoped. I wanted to know more about the motivations behind the creation of the community and felt there could have been more here. The ending felt rushed to me. I was hoping for more of a climax , but maybe that means a sequel of what is to come?!

I loved this storyline. It was so good and held my attention the whole time. I was really at the edge of my seat throughout this book. I would highly recommend reading this book. Thank you Netgalley for this arc.

This was a very well written book and I was hooked throughout! The characters were descriptive and interesting, and it was easy to follow their story. I was really invested into Sol's experience, but the ending really ruined it for me! I felt like it was too quick of an ending and didn't match what she was going through. Super disappointing ending in an otherwise great book!