Welcome to Litsy!

It's that time of year again!! #CanadaReads2023! This is the shortlist.

@NataliePatalie

Joining in #12daysofchristmas hosted by @Andrew65
Listing my favourite books of the year over 12 days from my annual fiction and non-fiction reads.
#12booksofChristmas

Mexican Gothic crossed over into November for #AuthorAMonth hosted by @Soubhiville
Moreno-Garcia is a prolific young author and I will definitely be reading more of her books this year.

Mini book haul 😍

By far onw of my favorite revamps on Gothic literature. And one of the most exciting things I've read in years. 💚

I‘m a little late to the party on this one!

I liked the unique take on the haunted house trope... sort of gave me Annihilation vibes.

We‘re getting into ‘reading by the fireplace‘ season around here 😊❄️🔥📖

A strange gothic tale- kind of a combination of Rosemary‘s Baby, Yellow Wallpaper and the Ruins. Noemi is a brave heroine but what a strange group of people and the property- creepy haunted house!

This was a great #audiobook but honestly it might not have held my interest as text. I do love a scary house is trying to eat you story so definitely giving it a pick. I've said this before but this author is all over the place genre wise.

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I wanted to like this more than I did. I am always down for a creepy family and fungus-ridden house, but she lost my attention a bit in the middle. I‘ll consider it a win after bailing on two of her other books. #AuthorAMonth

Naomí‘s cousin Catalina quickly married a mysterious Englishman living in Mexico. After she moves to his estate, the family receives wild, feverish letters that concern them. Plucky young Naomí is sent to investigate.

This was creepy and weird. Two great qualities in fiction.

Well, that was a bit…weird! It‘s a soft pick, as I‘m not a huge fan of gothic books anyway, but this was odd in that it is set in Mexico but in a traditional English country house, so didn‘t feel Mexican at all. It‘s all a bit odd to me but I kinda liked it!

As @Laughterhp commented on her recent post, I also have no idea what a #socialhorror book is, but this was classed as such so I‘m taking it! This is my last book for #pop22 - yay!

Oct '22 - I didn't read many books this month, but there were no duds. Quality over quantity, I'm into it. 🙃

How to Keep House While Drowning - 5⭐️, neurodivergent-friendly, super helpful for self-compassion and protips
Mexican Gothic - 5⭐️, badass protagonist, great creepy atmosphere
Briarley - 4⭐️, sweet m/m Beauty & the Beast retelling, WWII, dragon
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy - 4⭐️, predictable but fun, magic, fighting patriarchy

Repost for @Soubhiville

It‘s November, time to pull out our Silvia Moreno-Garcia books for #AuthorAMonth. What are you planning to read?

#AuthorAMonth is a no-pressure, no-commitment Litsy challenge. The goal is to celebrate the works of a particular author each month. Authors were chosen through polls by Litsy participants. Read as many as you like, skip months when needed, it's entirely up to you!

Creepy. A great Halloween read. Atmospheric and intense.

PLEASE LOOK UP CONTENT WARNINGS!

I had hoped this would be a Gothic tale in the context of Mexican culture, but it's still very English. It does deal with colonialism though.

I rooted for Noemí from the start to the finish and would love to see this same character in a totally different story, from a totally different genre, hopefully having a much better time of it. Maybe a cozy mystery where she's a Miss-Fisher-esque private investigator? ✨️

Here's my list for #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks

Hoping to get to #AuthorAMonth #TBRDeckofCards (from Oct!) #Roll100 (for Oct and Nov) and finally finish my #Booked2022 that have been hanging out there awhile.

First (and hopefully only) bail of the year. This book has more mushrooms than the Super Mario universe. Mushrooms are now my least favorite pizza topping. Thank you Mexican Gothic.

@Saknicole gifted our mom the tagged book in her birthday weekend. She has been getting back into reading recently!

20% in. So far the only scary thing that has happened in this book is that there was a library filled with books covered in mildew.

I‘m really hoping I can get to these next month for some spooky entertainment.

#spookyreads #mexicangothic #silviamorenogarcia #roseblood #aghoward #phantomoftheopera #phantomoftheoperaretelling

Just realized I never reviewed this one. Just in time for spooky season, I may revisit it on audio. Certainly not for everyone and the end left me with mixed feelings, but ultimately I loved it and couldn‘t stop thinking about it! Weird, brooding, mysterious, and creepy. A young woman from Mexico City high society finds herself in a hallucinogenic fever dream inside a dilapidated mansion on a foggy, misty hill inhabited by a cruel, violent family.

Here‘s my review for a book I just finished reading.

Here‘s my reading progress for a book I‘m currently reading.

📩February 22nd, 2022
It lacked... something.
Don't get me wrong: the magical realism like Isabel Allende is good, the story is good, but I think that maybe it was the heroine herself that was a bit too unbearable. Some passages were not explored deeply enough, as well.
It was overall good, but not exceptional for the hype I had!

Here‘s my reading progress for a book I just started. I listened to the first 3 chapters while playing Cookie Jam Blast and Cafeland on my phone and I‘m enjoying this book so far. I‘m interested to find out what happens next.

#audiogaming

#HauntedHollowSwap #HHS #HHS22

1. An owl!
2. Mexican Gothic comes to mind. I still have a LOT of creepy books I‘ve yet to read though.
3. For slasher movies I yell at the characters for doing dumb stuff lol. For other creepy/scary movies I may close my eyes briefly.
4. Thriller, Monster Mash, and Somebody‘s Watching Me
5. Hocus Pocus, Halloween franchise, Scream, Carrie (new), The Nightmare Before Christmas, magical movies and bad seed movies.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#Alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

One of my favourite reads from last year!

This was a wild gothic historical trippy deep feeling ride! Don‘t read if you don‘t like artsy historical. This book was magical to me. What a great movie it would be.

Just started reading this! I'm in chapter 10 and I'm liking it so far.

I was hoping for a little more horror, but there is definitely a gothic feel to the book. Good thriller-mystery!

Honestly not sure what to say about the ending. Who else has read it and what did you think? I was all in until the end.

Has been on my shelf for ages, finally getting to it.

Just WOW! This book was both parts fascinating and terrifying. It was exactly what was looking for and I definitely need more novels like this. I can see how this book wouldn't be for everyone, but holy cow, everyone should at least give it a try. This bizarre, twisted tale of a dysfunctional family, romance, murder, and ghosts will certainly take you on a different ride than what you were expecting.

#creepy #mystery #mustread #gothic #horror

Creepy 😱

This is as just not my cup of tea. If you like horror romance, it‘s probably good. Just not the type of fantasy I enjoy.

The pacing was a little off. I didn‘t mind the slow build up at the beginning because that is very very much the norm for #gothic stories, but the ending felt a bit rushed. I liked all the tropes & I‘d totally watch an adaptation. 🍄🍄🍄🍄#20in4 6:55 in

4 ⭐️s
I actually quite liked this. At first I thought the MC was going to scrape at my nerves, but honestly I ended up liking her quite a bit. I enjoyed the slight spin on the “damsel in distress” trope. I‘ll admit I started having some suspicions about what was happening towards the beginning, but the unique twists kept me guessing in the end. Much more of a calm “horror” story than I usually go for, more “campfire creepy” than all out horror.

I had wanted to read this for ages, finally got the book and glad to have read it. It's was certainly not what I was expecting but definitely very entertaining. I do want to try her other books now.

Boring.

Wow, what a great book. I would love to see this turn into a miniseries on Netflix. My favorite part was how graphic it was. I was thoroughly creeped out!

This book kept my attention. I found myself thinking about and counting down when I could pick it up again. I was truly sad when it was finished!

Hopefully I can crack this at work today but not holding out much hope.

Picked this up this morning instead of my scheduled May TBR books. Can‘t put it down. Already SO GOOD. Thanks needed a slower morning today to try and reset/heal. Falling head first into another time/place/family is wonderful.

This book definitely lived up to its name. Like others have said, I saw what was coming a mile away. I like Noemi and would love to know what happens after the end. All in all, a dark read with a good take on an old plot.

Thank you @peanutnine for this awesome #speculativespringswap #sss package! I‘ve heard so many good things about this book and look forward to sampling the teas! And the book weight! How do I not already have one of these?! Should make my life easier for reading while eating/petting my cat/during my semi-monthly IV infusion medication treatments, as well as for cookbooks in the kitchen.

Thanks @Avanders for hosting!

This was intriguing to read, but also disturbing.

This had really dark atmosphere, I love gothic books and this was mysterious from the first pages. I loved how secrets started to reveal themselves.

It was quite easy to guess what was happening and this could have been a bit more realistic but I still enjoyed.

#Pantone2022 #SpringHorror #ThingsInCommon #aestheticallymatched #TheSupernaturalYear (Lost shoe)

⭐️⭐️⭐️
The short review is: it was incredibly well written. And I hated it.
The longer review: the first 2/3 of this book is a pretty faithful, more modern Gothic tale, and then it takes a turn decidedly into horror.
Moreno-Garcia is amazing at crafting setting & mood, and I was unsettled the whole time I was reading her work.
It‘s difficult to explain: I never enjoyed what I was reading & yet I couldn‘t put it down.

Creepy, dark and a little unsettling!

“The parties at the Tuñóns‘ house always ended unquestionably late, and since the hosts enjoyed costume parties in particular, it was not unusual to see Chinas Poblanas with their folkloric skirts and ribbons in their hair arrive in the company of a harlequin or a cowboy.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

“You could spend a lifetime peering in forests and jungles and never see one tenth of nature's secrets.“