This was a super unsettling premise, pairing elements of the stepford wives with get out. I loved that this was a queer twist on these types of tropes, but still addressed other societal issues as well!

A queer reimagining of "The Stepford Wives." This book is a fun horror psychological thriller. It starts slow but quickly picks up as we get to know the neighborhood. I loved the commentary on academic spaces, the nuclear family, race, etc. This will be a go-to recommendation for thrillers from now on.

a bit slow to get into but i do feel like this was necessary so that we were introduced to the characters and environment, i don’t usually read this genre but was intrigued and pleasantly surprised, definitely was disturbed/ grossed out at some parts, ending was kind of confusing, still left me with a few questions but overall a fun and unique book

thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read the eARC.
**4.5 stars on storygraph**

i just knew from the synopsis that i was going to love this book and i did. i was a little worried about the suburban aspect, but it actually blended well with the storyline. it really benefited the horror aspect and it made the tone seem uneasy which i enjoyed.

there were a few comedic moments which i liked and didn’t expect from a horror book. it was funny at times and it didn’t take away from the uneasiness of the book.

i found sol really relatable in terms of how other people see her and her habit to really focus on something for an extended amount of time.

as for alice, there were times where i was questioning whether she even cared for her wife and her worries, but i realized what the issue was and began to enjoy her more. in the end, i really liked alice.

though i did really enjoy this read and it was very close to five stars, the ending had me a little confused. i think it could’ve been explained a little better with an extra chapter before the final chapter to really tie everything up and provide more information.

The title and cover kind of threw me off, I didn’t have high expectations for this but I was interested because of the summary/pitch. There are a lot of characters. I think the overall moral of the story kept me going, I liked the strictly horror plot.

So, I’m not going to lie – it was the title and cover that got me first. Next was the description of The Other Black Girl meets Midsommar. And finally? Gated Community Horror! I love that stuff.

And I loved this book!

Sol is so prickly and uncomfortable and awkward and I loved reading her. And while Alice was sometimes a little frustrating, I still liked her and wanted the best for her.

The reason behind our Horrible HOA was clever and creepy.

Readers should note that while racism and homophobia do play a part in the story, they aren’t the point of the plot. This is lovely genre horror that is not about Black or Gay pain. It’s just about horror!

I enjoyed every page of this one and would love to read the author again in the future!

• ARC via Publisher

Sol and Alice are a queer couple who move into a beautiful gated community. Everything seems fine…for the first day. And then things start to feel a little off. Sol starts to hear voices and see unnatural things. The residents are more than a little strange and seem to be moving almost in sync with each other.

The longer they stay in the community, the more freaked out Sol becomes, while Alice seems to become more entrenched.

The community gets increasingly annoyed with Sol’s nonconformity…and the community always gets what it wants.


This is good, creepy fun. It’s a bit Stepford Wives meets Get Out. There’s a lot of racism, sexism and homophobia here, and it upsets me that people go through stuff like this all the time, even today. I enjoyed the book, but I do think the ending needs some polishing…it wrapped up a bit quickly and just didn’t seem realistic. It might just be me, but I was wanting more explanation. Your mileage may vary. All in all, though, I think Tirado is a talented author and one to watch.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC. All opinions are mine.

4 stars

I loved this book. I loved how dark and creepy it was. It’s a bit of a genre bender and it is so wonderfully written.
The only downfall is that there were a lot of characters and some just didn’t really need to be included. It can become hard to remember who is who when there is this many.

ARC for review. To be published September 3, 2024.

Sol Reyes has had a very bad year. First, several workplace incidents at her university lab, the a plagiarism allegation. She’s put on probation at her employer, Yale. Her father is a homophobe and she’s drinking too much. However, her wife, Alice Song, thinks that things will get better if they move into the gated community of Maneless Grove.

Once they move in Sol thinks it’s a little too friendly. The Homeowners Association is very pushy, their contract is incredibly strict and Sol notices a lot of microaggressions from the neighbors. Alice doesn’t seem to notice these things.

Things keep getting stranger and Alice continues to dismiss Sol’s fears. Then Sol finds a journal from a former resident who went missing a few years before and she starts to learn some truths about the neighborhood.

This was not a bad book by any stretch, but I couldn’t help but compare it to Nicola Yoon’s ONE OF OUR KIND which will be out in June, as both deal with Black people moving into sinister housing developments. And while I LOVE that as a setup, here there were some things that didn’t seem to square up with the narrative, and there were so many characters introduce I sometimes forgot who was who when they came up again. So, I liked it, and I kept turning the pages, liked that both people in the couple were non-white and that that fact causes some discord, at times, in the story, but I wanted to like it even more.