Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez is a gothic story set in the backdrop of Florida’s swamplands. We follow Mayra and Ingrid, two former friends who reconnect after Mayra reaches out to Ingrid and invites her to come visit her. Mayra's boyfriend, Benji, lives with her and he is definitely an odd one. As the story progresses, we get deeper into their dynamic, culminating in a bit of a horrific climax. This story was both suspenseful and eerie. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC. You can check this one out when it publishes July 22, 2025.

Not going to lie; this was a weird little book. I like weird, though. I like something mind-bending, but there needs to be some sort of explanation in the end for why the things happening are happening. This book did not fit the bill in this regard. I thought that the supernatural/surreal stuff was interesting, but the way it was written into the story didn't work; it felt rather shoehorned into the very end and one is supposed to take that stuff at face value, but why? Why, on everything?

Speaking of things one is supposed to take at face value: Mayra. I know I was supposed to believe Mayra wasn't the same person as she was as a teenager, but her character in the present isn't really explained enough to make this actually believable. And the flashbacks, while informative at first, became repetitive and didn't do much to show how she'd ended up like her present self. I think it would have been interesting to see at least some of the book from her point of view, given she's supposed to be this interesting, edgy character who literally forms the title of this book.

The main character, Ingrid has an interesting point of view at first, but I grew to dislike it more as the book went on. I very much appreciate when characters, especially main characters, grow through the course of the story, but this didn't really happen here. It honestly became incredibly annoying how passive a person she was, in both the past and present (and this is also true of the girl who wrote the diary). Maybe that was a way of speaking to the book's themes of identity and toxic female friendships, but there had to have been a way to execute this without Ingrid just letting crap happen to her.

In short, this book had potential. I like the supernatural, and I like to explore works on the female experience. And I'm willing to try a lot of things, but if it doesn't have a strong plot and characterization, it's just going to fall short of where it needs to be. Such is this book.

I’m sad to say this book overpromised and underdelivered for me. I went into it looking from maybe southern gothic and instead for more of a toxic teenager female friendship. Which the friendship ended up being the best part imo. I was really into the first 60% and found it quite fast paced and enjoyable.

The ending felt rushed and put together at the last minute. The story often jumped around quickly in some parts and dragged on in others. The letters from the diary were a snooze and didn’t need to be sooo long.

Overall it was a weird and fun little read but I wish the ending was better developed and executed.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an early ARC and for reaching out to me to read Mayra.

In the best way possible, this book was weirrrrrd.
Former best friends Ingrid and Mayra reconnect in an isolated house in the Everglades. Throughout the novel Ingrid recounts her memories of their adolescent relationship while trying to navigate their strained adult relationship. Both begin to have unexplainable and odd experiences at the house, and that is a journey in itself.

I really enjoyed this book, the debut novel from Nicky Gonzalez. I found the characters and flashbacks reminiscent of my own teenage years. But overall, I just really liked how incredibly strange this story is. The writing was well structured and thought out, which made whispering “one more chapter” to myself an easy decision. I look forward to following Nicky Gonzalez’s writing career.

Mayra was an interesting little book about friendships, how they shape us, and what we'll do for them. I had a bit of trouble with the writing style and connecting with the characters.

I gave it the old college try and found I could not make it past 40%.

The premise seemed very intriguing. Gothic and twisty novels are typically my jam but by 40% this story had barely been developed. The writing wasn’t poor or anything. I just didn’t find myself caring enough to continue.

I’ll be on the lookout for more works from this author because I think this had potential.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The longer I read this, the more I was like "wait...huh???" which is exactly what I want when I read gothic books LOL.

Mayra slowly got creepier and creepier, and the sense of dread you feel when reading it builds so well. The backdrop of the humid Florida swamp, while at first glance seems unusual for a gothic book, fit the story perfectly. The lonely haunted house being surrounded by all the life found in the Everglades was such a perfect setting for Ingrid and Mayra's story.

Also I don't know if it was just me, but MAN this book is so homoerotic??? I was waiting the entire time for Ingrid and Mayra to kiss lol. There's just something about all of the resentment, longing, and jealousy that the two friends experienced that made me think something was gonna happen.

4/5 stars, such a good read and would recommend it to anyone looking for an unusual story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!!!

I’ve always wondered why more books don’t take place in South Florida. This is the kind of place where anything can happen—a region pulsing with infinite stories, shaped by beauty, tension, and intense contradictions. I was very excited to see that not only does this novel take place right here, but that the author is also local!

As a native to South Florida and a resident of Miami, there’s something deeply satisfying about reading a gothic novel set in my own backyard. These stories are so often rooted in crumbling New England mansions or windswept European estates—but why not here? Why not Miami, with its overly manicured suburbs, inequality, and the looming swamps just beyond the sprawl? Seems a perfect recipe.

I devoured this book in a single day. Mayra reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. There’s that same obsession, that same loss of identity and questioning of reality. The house also reminded me a lot of Manderly--I'd really like to know if that was the inspiration. As I was reading, I imagined that Mayra and Ingrid’s relationship was a type of Rebecca and M friendship, had they met under different circumstances, of course. It's the type of friendship that is familiar to a lot to women: the kind of best-friendship built on shared secrets, power games, and a quiet, simmering resentment.

I really enjoyed Ingrid's voice guiding us throughout the novel. The ending was rather stark and it felt rushed--that's my one complaint. But highly recommend this book!

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez was an okay read for me. The novel delves into the complexities of a toxic friendship between Ingrid and Mayra, set against the eerie backdrop of a secluded house in the Florida Everglades. While the atmospheric setting was vividly portrayed, I found the narrative's shift into surreal, fever-dream sequences towards the end to be somewhat disorienting. The exploration of the intense and, at times, unhealthy dynamics of female friendships was compelling, but the story's progression left me wanting more coherence. Overall, while I appreciated certain elements, the book didn't fully resonate with me.

This book was… odd. It’s said to be gothic horror, and while there was a gothic vibe, I didn’t get horror at all. It was more… what is going on? vibe.

Ingrid is a 20-something (I think) living in her hometown and working as an assistant at a real estate company. Her estranged former best friend, Mayra, calls her up one day and invites her out to a house in the swamplands of Florida. While there, she meets Benji, Mayra’s boyfriend who is cute but all too eager to please and wait on the girls hand and foot. The house is odd and Benji spends all his time fixing and cleaning it.

As her stay at the house gets longer and longer, and her memories start to fade, Ingrid tries to figure out what is going on with the house and how to get her and Mayra out.

I liked the premise of this book a lot. I just felt it could have been more. I usually get good visualization of descriptions provided in books, but I found it hard to visualize the house and the rooms within. There could have been more horror elements within the house/rooms to make things scarier. There were many times near the end where I had to backtrack because I was lost on what was happening. I feel like with a bit of tweaking, this could be really good.

I was fortunate to receive an advance ebook of Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez in exchange for my honest review.

Mayra begins with the narrator, Ingrid, reminiscing as she heads to the Everglades for a weekend away with her childhood friend Mayra. The girls have drifted apart, and on her drive, Ingrid explores memories and her longstanding fixation on their friendship. The nature of their relationship, its power dynamics, and the question of who pulled away from whom unfold in new dimensions as Mayra begins to share her perspective. At the same time, the mansion in the swamp, owned by Mayra's boyfriend Benji, who takes hosting a little too seriously, seems to unfold in new dimensions as well. Ingrid discovers a fiftyish year-old diary belonging to a former inhabitant of the strange house, portraying a diminutive young woman who conforms to what will appeal to a man who can take her away from her mundane hotel clerk life. The unclear but definitely creepy fate of the diarist seems to foreshadow that of Ingrid as she experiences uncanny changes to time and space afoot in Benji's property. The question manifests: how can we exist at all, in memory and in the present, when we define ourselves in relation to others?

I read this novel in under 3 days, unable to stop unless necessary. At first, I felt a bit jarred by the transitions in the storyline, but after processing it for a week or so, I am thoroughly wowed. No notes. Readers may not like some of the unexplained elements, but will get a lot out of it if they are open to metaphor and the unique power of speculative fiction to relate reality back to us the way it feels rather than precisely is. I also think the Cuban-American narrator's voice is a key layer of the identity issue that needs to be recognized to appreciate how subtly Gonzalez has compacted a hall of mirrors into a short modern Gothic story. Also: it's extremely funny at times. I will definitely pick up whatever Nicky Gonzalez puts out next.

I really liked this. Mayra is a gothic horror novel set in the Everglades. On the surface, the story is about a toxic/obsessive friendship between two young girls who grew up in Hialeah, outside of Miami. Ingrid is our MC, and it's made clear that she is a little obsessed with her friend Mayra, who left Hialeah for college in the northeast and never looked back. They are now in their mid 20s and mostly estranged. Still, when Mayra reaches out and invites Ingrid to come spend the weekend with her at a house she rented deep in the Everglades, Ingrid decides to go, the old pull of her obsession with Mayra still strong.

A lot of the story is flashbacks to their younger years, which helps flesh out their history and friendship. Ingrid is a bit in awe of Mayra, and worships her too much for the friendship to ever be equal. Ingrid is not the most likable character, but then neither is Mayra. They are both flawed, which makes this all the more interesting.

Once Ingrid arrives at the house, things are not what she expected. Mayra's boyfriend Benji is also there - turns out its his house. None of this was made clear to Ingrid before she arrived, and the tension and frustration that ensues eventually becomes something much more sinister.

I've seen a lot of reviews annoyed that the present-day scenes of the book feel "like a fever dream." I think that's exactly what works. This is a horror story after all. I loved the atmosphere created, the tension and weirdness.

There is one mistake early on in the novel - a literal editing mistake. I would hope that would be fixed by the time it is published.

Overall, I thought it was pretty brilliant. I was even reminded at times of a short story by Shirley Jackson called A Visit. That's high praise. I look forward to more by this debut novelist.

One of the stronger debuts I’ve read. For fans of Sarah Gailey’s JUST LIKE HOME. Mayra reaches out to old friend Ingrid after many years and the women reconnect at a vacation rental in the Florida Everglades. Time starts to slip and the setting closes in. A claustrophobic, character-driven nightmare.

i received this as a widget, but it is sadly not my cup of tea. i dnf’d after giving horror a try but i did not connect with the story of the writing style- this is purely personal preference!!

i thought this book was fine! it had a great premise, but it felt overall rushed. i saw this book marketed as a horror, but tbh i wouldn’t classify it as such. the only true “horror” aspect in my opinion is with the climax at the end, but even that was rushed and could have been fleshed out more to be more horror-like.

if you like fast paced books with weird main characters, this book is definitely for you

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is such an impressive, original debut novel!! I don’t know what I was expecting going into this to be honest. I was just drawn in instantly by the cover and further by the description of the book. Everything about it is the perfect setup, an old toxic friendship, a house deep in the woods of the Florida swamplands, and a surprise creepy boyfriend. I could relate to the all consuming childhood friendship and have to admit I would also be tempted to drive out to a remote location on a whim to experience that intoxicated feeling of deep connection again. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly dreamlike and harder to follow. This is the point. It’s what made this book so unique to me! The ending was not cut and dry either, bringing up many contradictory feelings. At first I gave this book 4 stars but as I thought about it more, the impact it had on me brings this to an easy 5 star read. I’ll be one of the first to read Nicky Gonzalez’s next work of art. I’m impatiently waiting!!!

This novel is all vibes, not much in terms of plot. I kept waiting for something momentous to happen but it never came. I like reading about estranged friendships and this story definitely delivered that. Also I like that the story takes place in the Florida Everglades. It gave this book an eerie and unsettling feel. The writing style wasn’t my favorite though. The dialogue and descriptions felt a little hokey and awkward from time to time. Parts of the prose felt young adult to me, I don’t know if that was intentional since the protagonists are childhood friends. Maya is an interesting little book, but lacked depth and failed to impress me at its conclusion.

Mayra is the kind of book that sinks its teeth into you—not with plot twists or action, but with its thick, humid atmosphere and eerie sense of unease. Nicky Gonzalez’s writing is lush and hypnotic, and the Everglades setting feels alive, pulsing with heat, danger, and something just beneath the surface. The novel nails the strange, heady pull of old friendships, especially the ones tinged with longing and rivalry.

That said, the story moves like it’s wading through knee-deep swamp water. There’s a lot of mood, a lot of tension, and a lot of introspection, but not much actually happens. The sense of time stretching and warping is intentional, but it sometimes makes the reading experience feel stagnant rather than immersive.

An interesting study in female friendships this take on the Southern Gothic had enough twists and cliffhangers to keep me reading. If you liked Wide Sargasso Sea more than Wuthering Heights this book might be for you.

Ingrid gets a call from her former friend Mayra, inviting her to a house in the Florida Everglades for a long weekend, taking the change to reconnect Ingrid follows the strange directions to a mysterious house in the middle of nowhere. The house, much like a Venus Flytrap, lures them in and soon the days begin to blur together.

Ingrid discovers a mysterious journal by another woman lured to the house and begins to piece together clues that all is not as it seems.

Part supernatural thriller, part character driven study this book is very here for the vibes. I enjoyed reading it, I found it hard to put down but I was ultimately a little disappointed in the ending. I rarely think books could be longer (usually my critiques say make it shorter) but I wish there had been an epilogue or some sort of glimpse into what happens to Ingrid and Mayra after the events of the book take place.

What a strange and wonderfully eccentric little book! The first two thirds unfold as a quiet, slice of life story about two friends, who after drifting apart after college, rekindle their friendship. With subtle tensions simmering beneath the surface, I was unsure where this story was going. Then, in the final third, the novel takes a sharp turn into bizarre speculative fiction, but the transition is handled masterfully. Both sides of this shapeshifting story are equally compelling, making for a truly unique reading experience. It’s beautifully written, and if you enjoy quirky, quick reads with an unexpected twist, this one is definitely worth picking up.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Nicky Gonzalez for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.