Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Gótico

I blasted through this in like 2 days LOLOL I was so hooked. I looooved Noemí as a main character, I loved that she's a girl who knows what she wants and just wants to have fun. I liked that she could be sassy when she wanted but also knew when to tone it back, and I thought that her strong-willed, curious personality lended itself well to a mystery novel.

I wasn't expecting the romance, but it was soft and sweet and I loved watching her go from her usual flirtiness to wanting to be more careful and honest. The only part I didn't like was

how passive Francis was during the scene where Virgil and Francis' mom force her to kiss Howard Doyle as part of getting her to "join the family"

. It made me feel icky to read that bit, and I felt like Francis was let off a little too easily by the narrative for that. Otherwise, I really liked the parallels that were drawn between Francis' situation and the fairytales that Noemí was familiar with through Catalina (there was one part where Noemí explicitly drew the connection of her being like a prince to save the princess that I thought was cute).

I honestly had no idea where this book was going to take the whole haunted house and weird, offputting family trope, but it definitely wasn't anywhere close to what I expected. I loved the idea of basing horror in

mushrooms and fungus

, and while the truth about the Doyle family was horrible and disgusting, it worked well with the theme of

eugenics and racism

in a way that didn't feel gratuitous or shocking just for shock's sake.

I don't usually look at book reviews or content warnings in advance of reading so I didn't expect the sexual assault scenes, but they weren't graphic and were very clearly intended as part of the horror (which, they succeeded at!!! I was extremely creeped out!!!) I also thought part of the horror was in Virgil attempting to turn Noemí against herself by pointing to her sexual desires as evidence that she "really wants it". Those scenes were more difficult for me to stomach than the general mushroom grossness but, at least personally, they didn't feel shocking for shock's sake either.

Content Warnings

noxa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

kcarney86's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

heather_harrison's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Gothic and creepy - a fun and easy read for the spooky season.

Content Warnings

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

ninahuynh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

What a story! I liked the character development within Noemí. She was already a tough person, and in the face of the Doyle's manipulation, she stayed true to her values and protection of Catalina. This would be a great film or show. All the imagery.

I was suspicious of Francis for most of the book, but pleasantly glad that he was not Virgil or Howard Jr.

Content Warnings

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's rare that a horror novel actually manages to gross me out, but man oh man did this manage it. It also managed to evoke such visceral anger in me that I had to put the book down and walk it off. The characters were well crafted, the atmosphere was unnerving, and the plot gave me all the gothic vibes I was looking for.

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