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Side By Side Book Reviews: MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Published by: Penguin Random House

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was sent in the July “Summertime Madness” Night Worms package. When the Night Worms review crew got their hands on it, a few of them decided to do side by side reviews with it. What follows are blurbs from the social media of some of our review team and brand reps as well as some of the photos we posted online. This one was mostly a hit with our team and we were happy to share it in the July package. 

“If you like light horror novels with a suspense build that includes gothic style writing, this is an amazing read. These are hit or miss for me and while the last part truly hit, the beginning left me wanting a bit. Regardless of my mixed feelings, the author is a writer I'm keeping my eye on and I most certainly will be looking into her backlist as this was only a stepping stone for me. Definitely give this one a go.” -@wherethereadergrows


Silvia Moreno-Garcia did a fantastic job with a gloomy and dreary setting that was totes atmospheric and loaded us up with so many fantastic Gothic tropes and themes: supernatural, damsels in distress, madness, isolation, nightmares, disease, framed narratives and confusion over reality, etc. She sprinkled in folklore, rumors, and local history so effortlessly!” -@findingmontauk1


In classic Gothic Horror fashion, this book is what readers generally refer to as a "slow burn" but I'm going to take it even a step further and add a caveat: It's a slow burn, yes, but there's enough drama to keep it moving. Slow burns usually demand readers adjust their urgency to stay in step with a slowed-down pace but it's my opinion that Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote this Gothic storyline at a lively pace and I was never found wanting; never a dull moment or lag.” -@mother.horror



MEXICAN GOTHIC is deliciously dark, atmospheric, and creepy. It’s gothic horror and classic fiction at its finest. This eerie, visceral tale, will send chills up the back of your neck. Moreno-Garcia does a stellar job building the tension slowly, page by page, until the fantastical, exhilarating ending. The use of Lovecraftian elements are genius and brilliantly done. The vivid and descriptive language made me swoon, and the grotesque, bloodcurdling surrealistic images filled my imagination with glee.” -@shereadswithcats



“...this book was amazing and definitely fit all my gothic story marks. Noemí is sent to High Place to check on her cousin to make sure she isn’t going crazy and needing care that her husband won’t give her. The setting of the house is eerie, dark, and dreary. It’s an old estate with no electricity, surrounded by fog all time. Man, doesn’t that sound like a gothic tale or what?! This book also had some bizarro horror in it .. ahh this story is crazy, fast-paced and addictive!” -@n0vel.id3a



This is definitely what one would call a slow burn, but it also serves the story well. I don't fully understand everything that happened in that final act, but I know it was visceral, mind-bending, and utterly memorable


I'm a big fan of gothic stories, and I loved all the traces of Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Daphne du Maurier, and, perhaps most heavily, Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper". Overall this is an incredible book, and takes a place among other favorite reads for the year!” -@reading.vicariously


"A mixed bag. But I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from checking it out, plenty of people seem to love it! There are definite Rebecca vibes, as well as The Haunting of Hill House, I just think they do it better.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️/5." @jobis89
"One million stars." @bookishmommy

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