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abinthebooks
*4.5 (might be a better review coming idk this sucks)
The writing in here sucked, the characters were weak, but everyone told me this book will be worth it when you get past the 75% mark. When everything comes together and you get the plot twist you will never guess. And when I tell you those people were right, they were exceptionally right.
How do I even put my feelings about this book into words??? I don’t even know how I actually feel about We Were Liars. I really was bored the first 50% of this, but when everything came together and the plot twist at the end, oh my God was it worth it.
This is going to be all over the place. I felt so many things reading this. Boredom, confusion, intrigue, more confusion, a slow realization, shock, and sadness. I cried. I haven’t cried reading a book since February when I read Wuthering Heights (off topic, but Wuthering Heights is referenced in here and I squealed) and this just brought out so much emotion in me.
This review sucks ass already but wow. Wow is all I have to say. This was weird and trippy and it’s one of the books you need to read if you love unreliable narrators. I’m great (at least self proclaimed greatness) at guessing plot twists but I would have never guessed the ending for this.
Bottom line, this book mind fucked me (in a good way) and gave me that unreliable narrator trope I’ve always wanted to read. The mystery in here is so small yet so big, and I’m glad Booktok finally got me to read this. Read it, that’s all.
Sorry this review sucks, I just haven’t wrote a nice review for a book in so long and I can’t coherently put together a review right now. (But yay I might be out of my reading slump!)
The writing in here sucked, the characters were weak, but everyone told me this book will be worth it when you get past the 75% mark. When everything comes together and you get the plot twist you will never guess. And when I tell you those people were right, they were exceptionally right.
How do I even put my feelings about this book into words??? I don’t even know how I actually feel about We Were Liars. I really was bored the first 50% of this, but when everything came together and the plot twist at the end, oh my God was it worth it.
This is going to be all over the place. I felt so many things reading this. Boredom, confusion, intrigue, more confusion, a slow realization, shock, and sadness. I cried. I haven’t cried reading a book since February when I read Wuthering Heights (off topic, but Wuthering Heights is referenced in here and I squealed) and this just brought out so much emotion in me.
This review sucks ass already but wow. Wow is all I have to say. This was weird and trippy and it’s one of the books you need to read if you love unreliable narrators. I’m great (at least self proclaimed greatness) at guessing plot twists but I would have never guessed the ending for this.
Bottom line, this book mind fucked me (in a good way) and gave me that unreliable narrator trope I’ve always wanted to read. The mystery in here is so small yet so big, and I’m glad Booktok finally got me to read this. Read it, that’s all.
Sorry this review sucks, I just haven’t wrote a nice review for a book in so long and I can’t coherently put together a review right now. (But yay I might be out of my reading slump!)
Update: I cannot stop thinking about this book, I loved it so much. I’m going to have to give it 5 stars. I just cannot explain my love for this book, it deserves way more than a 4.5, I cannot get it out of my head.
*
”It wasn't made for love, the house.”
“Any place is made for love,” she protested.
“Not this place and not us. You look back two, three generations, as far as you can. You won't find love. We are incapable of such a thing.”
What the fuck. This is probably one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read in my entire life, but in the absolute best way possible. I’ve said many times on here how much I love gothic books, and weird shit. But I really think this one takes the cake for some of the most atmospheric gothic and weirdest shit I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Mexican Gothic is not only a gothic horror story, but it also touches on topics such as colonialism, white supremacy, race, and eugenics. Set in early 1950s Mexico, a woman named Noemí gets a strange letter from her newly wedded cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims that there are people in the walls of her new home and her husband is poisoning her. Her letter is a plea for help. Noemí’s father, worried of scandal and of Catalina’s mental state, forces Noemí to travel to Catalina’s new home and check on her. Noemí arrives to find a moldy, crumbling mansion, and an oddly intense family. Catalina acts just as strangely as she did in her letter, and the family gets weirder by the day. Upon further stay in the crumbling manor, Noemí starts having visions, and the house might even be haunted.
Mexican Gothic is a fucked up, spooky story with some gross, slow burn fungal horror, and very descriptive, gothic imagery. I was very pleased with the strange style of writing in the book, and the slowbuild horror elements. Noemí is also a very smart and fearless heroine, which made her very fun to follow. I quite enjoyed watching her girlboss her way through this book, and the patriarch’s of her cousins new family.
I also quite enjoyed the romance elements in this story, which was not something I was expecting to find in here at all. I didn’t really like Noemí’s love interest, Francis at first, but I really think the romance came to be quite nice as the story went on. Noemí and Francis didn’t have the most chemistry ever, but I still found them interesting enough to root for. Francis was also a nice character to follow as the story went on, I did end up liking him, and he did end up being a sweet love interest for Noemí.
I really did love everything about this book but one thing. I really didn’t like nor appreciate the very firm fixation on rape and sexual assault/abuse in this story. Our heroine, Noemí does get assaulted more than once by men in the house she’s staying at (not by her love interest), and she’s even mind-raped into allowing these things happen to her. Noemí feels completely disgusted after all of these encounters, and these men also have a history of violence towards women/rape and sexual assault. It just made me wildly uncomfortable to read, and I really don’t think it added much overall to the story or the plot. So I just can’t really find it in myself to give Mexican Gothic 5 stars for that reason.
However, I think the reveal was very satisfying, as was the conclusion of the story. I’ve never read anything like Mexican Gothic before. While it’s bones are semi-similar to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and the fungal horror reminiscent of The Last of Us (literally my favorite video game/one of my fave shows ever!!!), it really is it’s own thing. And I really did love every minute of it (besides the sexual assault…). This was definitely up my alley, and I’m so excited to read more from Silvia Monroe-Garcia! If you guys have any more book recommendations like this, please let me know in the comments. I’m definitely in a gothic horror mood right now!
*
Gothic Reading Playlist
*
”It wasn't made for love, the house.”
“Any place is made for love,” she protested.
“Not this place and not us. You look back two, three generations, as far as you can. You won't find love. We are incapable of such a thing.”
What the fuck. This is probably one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read in my entire life, but in the absolute best way possible. I’ve said many times on here how much I love gothic books, and weird shit. But I really think this one takes the cake for some of the most atmospheric gothic and weirdest shit I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Mexican Gothic is not only a gothic horror story, but it also touches on topics such as colonialism, white supremacy, race, and eugenics. Set in early 1950s Mexico, a woman named Noemí gets a strange letter from her newly wedded cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims that there are people in the walls of her new home and her husband is poisoning her. Her letter is a plea for help. Noemí’s father, worried of scandal and of Catalina’s mental state, forces Noemí to travel to Catalina’s new home and check on her. Noemí arrives to find a moldy, crumbling mansion, and an oddly intense family. Catalina acts just as strangely as she did in her letter, and the family gets weirder by the day. Upon further stay in the crumbling manor, Noemí starts having visions, and the house might even be haunted.
Mexican Gothic is a fucked up, spooky story with some gross, slow burn fungal horror, and very descriptive, gothic imagery. I was very pleased with the strange style of writing in the book, and the slowbuild horror elements. Noemí is also a very smart and fearless heroine, which made her very fun to follow. I quite enjoyed watching her girlboss her way through this book, and the patriarch’s of her cousins new family.
I also quite enjoyed the romance elements in this story, which was not something I was expecting to find in here at all. I didn’t really like Noemí’s love interest, Francis at first, but I really think the romance came to be quite nice as the story went on. Noemí and Francis didn’t have the most chemistry ever, but I still found them interesting enough to root for. Francis was also a nice character to follow as the story went on, I did end up liking him, and he did end up being a sweet love interest for Noemí.
I really did love everything about this book but one thing. I really didn’t like nor appreciate the very firm fixation on rape and sexual assault/abuse in this story. Our heroine, Noemí does get assaulted more than once by men in the house she’s staying at (not by her love interest), and she’s even mind-raped into allowing these things happen to her. Noemí feels completely disgusted after all of these encounters, and these men also have a history of violence towards women/rape and sexual assault. It just made me wildly uncomfortable to read, and I really don’t think it added much overall to the story or the plot. So I just can’t really find it in myself to give Mexican Gothic 5 stars for that reason.
However, I think the reveal was very satisfying, as was the conclusion of the story. I’ve never read anything like Mexican Gothic before. While it’s bones are semi-similar to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and the fungal horror reminiscent of The Last of Us (literally my favorite video game/one of my fave shows ever!!!), it really is it’s own thing. And I really did love every minute of it (besides the sexual assault…). This was definitely up my alley, and I’m so excited to read more from Silvia Monroe-Garcia! If you guys have any more book recommendations like this, please let me know in the comments. I’m definitely in a gothic horror mood right now!
*
Gothic Reading Playlist
DNF at 11%
Look, I know I’m not even 20% into this one, but I can tell this isn’t going to be for me already. The magic system and world building is next to nonexistent, and the FMC has a romance with a different man than the romance is supposed to be with? I hate when that happens so this is gonna be a no from me. I was really excited for this one, especially since it’s supposed to have dragons, but I just know I’ll rate it low so I’m just going to DNF and find something else to read.
Give me some fantasy romance recs if you have any though, I’m definitely in that mood rn.
Look, I know I’m not even 20% into this one, but I can tell this isn’t going to be for me already. The magic system and world building is next to nonexistent, and the FMC has a romance with a different man than the romance is supposed to be with? I hate when that happens so this is gonna be a no from me. I was really excited for this one, especially since it’s supposed to have dragons, but I just know I’ll rate it low so I’m just going to DNF and find something else to read.
Give me some fantasy romance recs if you have any though, I’m definitely in that mood rn.
TRIGGER WARNINGS AT THE END, SPOILERS
So I wake up this morning with a throat so sore, I can’t even swallow. That means I’m not going to school. So I open Goodreads and I scroll, and I see someone give this book a glowing review. My mind takes me back to April 2020 when I bought the audiobook of this, and DNF’ed shortly after. I open Audible, and scroll through my audiobooks to see this book, which I was about 30% maybe 40% into. My brain says, “yes, let’s listen.” So now, here I am about 6 hours later, my mind blown into a thousand pieces by this book.
This was amazing. One of the best books I’ve read all year in fact! This book almost reminded me of the feeling Truly Devious gave me, back when I read it last April. I was shocked by all the twists. The suspects always added and deduced, and the case change so frequently my guesses were always changing.
There was only one thing I was absolutely sure of in the end, and that was a pretty minor thing. Overall, this was so great. I loved Pippa, her friends, and of course Ravi (idk how to spell names as i listened to this on audio, sorry!) Who was like a human golden retriever.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
Drugs, violence, murder, death, references to sexual assault/rape, references to suicide, addiction, drug dealing, death threats, and of course, men being trash.
* * *
FIRST DNF MAY 20, 2019
Gonna DNF this until I feel in the mood for it again
So I wake up this morning with a throat so sore, I can’t even swallow. That means I’m not going to school. So I open Goodreads and I scroll, and I see someone give this book a glowing review. My mind takes me back to April 2020 when I bought the audiobook of this, and DNF’ed shortly after. I open Audible, and scroll through my audiobooks to see this book, which I was about 30% maybe 40% into. My brain says, “yes, let’s listen.” So now, here I am about 6 hours later, my mind blown into a thousand pieces by this book.
This was amazing. One of the best books I’ve read all year in fact! This book almost reminded me of the feeling Truly Devious gave me, back when I read it last April. I was shocked by all the twists. The suspects always added and deduced, and the case change so frequently my guesses were always changing.
There was only one thing I was absolutely sure of in the end, and that was a pretty minor thing. Overall, this was so great. I loved Pippa, her friends, and of course Ravi (idk how to spell names as i listened to this on audio, sorry!) Who was like a human golden retriever.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
Drugs, violence, murder, death, references to sexual assault/rape, references to suicide, addiction, drug dealing, death threats, and of course, men being trash.
* * *
FIRST DNF MAY 20, 2019
Gonna DNF this until I feel in the mood for it again
DNF at 25%
My first DNF of 2020. That sucks to say really. It wasn’t that I hated ‘Truthwitch’ it just was a bad written novel, and here is why.
• Truthwitch is a YA fantasy novel following the ‘sisters’ Safiya’ (Safi) and ‘Isuelt’ as they run away from people throughout their continent/empire, while still making time for romance?
• One of the main reasons I have given this book one star is because of the world building. Or the lack of it. Their is only a segment in the book that talks about a 20 year agreement of some sort (which I couldn’t care enough about to remember) and that their are 3 empires. THAT’S IT. That’s bad world building. A lot of others say the world building gets better throughout the books, but you need to give your reader a basic understanding of the world. Me not understanding the world set me out of the story.
• Their isn’t really a plot either. I started the audiobook last night (because I was sorting my bookshelves and I wanted something to listen to) but I found myself seeing NO plot. All we have is two girls running away from guards for reasons totally unknown to us and falling in love with pirate princes? I just couldn’t find myself to see a plot.
• Plus we have a romance that we can see from 10 miles away. From the moment we met princeling, I KNEW he would Safi’s love interest and one true love. It was bound to happen and their was literally no build up. Many people I heard were calling this a “hate to love romance”. Bitch I think tf not! It’s a instalove to ultra instalove romance! Their is no tension, no hate, and no questioning the other person. You can’t tell me that’s a hate to love romance. I’ve read plenty in my time, and hate to love is when two characters actually have a mutual hatred (or strong dislike) for the other and their is big tension. The ‘hate to love’ was poorly portrayed, and not put together.
• The characters also have NO personality, and nothing special or interesting enough about them for me to care a single bit. Our ‘special one’ Safi is a Truthwitch. But she had no interesting qualities, and nothing remotely interesting to make me like her. Iseult is the exact same way (except she’s not a witch). Also our main love interest (who’s name I forgot because I could give 0 shits) is all ‘my sister is evil, my family is evil, but I’m good’ trope thing. God give me a damn break.
• And the fact that people would kill Safi if they knew her secret...yet somehow everyone knows? Plot holes. It doesn’t make sense to me. Their running from some guy that can’t be killed (and he has red eyes), yet somehow everyone else just magically knows Safi is a Truthwitch. It doesn’t make any sense.
Overall this wasn’t a good book. It has poor world building, boring characters, a bad hate to love romance, uninteresting and nonexistent plot, and plot holes.
-Another trash review from yours truly , the rat
-it’s the year of the rat after all
My first DNF of 2020. That sucks to say really. It wasn’t that I hated ‘Truthwitch’ it just was a bad written novel, and here is why.
• Truthwitch is a YA fantasy novel following the ‘sisters’ Safiya’ (Safi) and ‘Isuelt’ as they run away from people throughout their continent/empire, while still making time for romance?
• One of the main reasons I have given this book one star is because of the world building. Or the lack of it. Their is only a segment in the book that talks about a 20 year agreement of some sort (which I couldn’t care enough about to remember) and that their are 3 empires. THAT’S IT. That’s bad world building. A lot of others say the world building gets better throughout the books, but you need to give your reader a basic understanding of the world. Me not understanding the world set me out of the story.
• Their isn’t really a plot either. I started the audiobook last night (because I was sorting my bookshelves and I wanted something to listen to) but I found myself seeing NO plot. All we have is two girls running away from guards for reasons totally unknown to us and falling in love with pirate princes? I just couldn’t find myself to see a plot.
• Plus we have a romance that we can see from 10 miles away. From the moment we met princeling, I KNEW he would Safi’s love interest and one true love. It was bound to happen and their was literally no build up. Many people I heard were calling this a “hate to love romance”. Bitch I think tf not! It’s a instalove to ultra instalove romance! Their is no tension, no hate, and no questioning the other person. You can’t tell me that’s a hate to love romance. I’ve read plenty in my time, and hate to love is when two characters actually have a mutual hatred (or strong dislike) for the other and their is big tension. The ‘hate to love’ was poorly portrayed, and not put together.
• The characters also have NO personality, and nothing special or interesting enough about them for me to care a single bit. Our ‘special one’ Safi is a Truthwitch. But she had no interesting qualities, and nothing remotely interesting to make me like her. Iseult is the exact same way (except she’s not a witch). Also our main love interest (who’s name I forgot because I could give 0 shits) is all ‘my sister is evil, my family is evil, but I’m good’ trope thing. God give me a damn break.
• And the fact that people would kill Safi if they knew her secret...yet somehow everyone knows? Plot holes. It doesn’t make sense to me. Their running from some guy that can’t be killed (and he has red eyes), yet somehow everyone else just magically knows Safi is a Truthwitch. It doesn’t make any sense.
Overall this wasn’t a good book. It has poor world building, boring characters, a bad hate to love romance, uninteresting and nonexistent plot, and plot holes.
-Another trash review from yours truly , the rat
-it’s the year of the rat after all
I wish I liked this more than I did ): I’m really disappointed- Review to Come
