Mexican Gothic

so disappointing. the cover and the character names might be only two good things in the book. I saw this on Tiktok multiple times and it got good reviews. Most of the reviews came from Latina girls so maybe there was a bit of bias on their part. but either way, the story is DULL. it's literally a drag up the hill to see nothing. at 40% I wanted to give up but I tried to push through to see if maybe past the half way mark it picks up, but nope. still a long drawn boring story that honestly doesn't make sense. the only thing I'm glad about is that I bought this book on sale for less than $5 and even that I wish I could get a half refund. The book is so slow and drawn out that you find your mind feeling heavy and tired when listening to this. honestly would never recommend

I wanted to like this. I love Gothic horror. I found the main character unengaging and unsympathetic despite everyone else in the book nearly being absolutely abhorrent or dull. the characters of interest were either underutilized or guaranteed for a likely gruesome death a is the way of the genre so you're steeled against investing too much emotion into them. WAY too much of the horror relied on the shock value of sexual horrors and it felt unearned within the narrative, those moments of sharp disgust. Some of my favorite tropes/concepts were used (the reveal of the... core of the mystery for example) but in ways that were deeply disatisfying to me. I also found a fair amount of the written dialogue stilted/unrealistic and only so much of that can be forgiven due to historical setting or the supernatural undercurrent impacting how people communicate.

Took one star off because of the gross and unnecessary sexual elements that clash with the gothic vibe of the book. It would have been the perfect gothic novel otherwise. The narrator was very good.