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This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
The blurb for This Thing Between Us is somewhat misleading. After reading it, I went into this novel expecting to be a tale about this couple who buy a possibly evil home smart speaker only to discover that said home speaker is a mere speck in the story and that the events described in the…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, DEATH, graphic content, GRIEF, Gus Moreno, HORROR, latin america, latinx author, loneliness, male authors, MARRIAGE, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexico, My reviews, MYSTERY, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, SUPERNATURAL, This Thing Between Us, THRILLER, widows -
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You by Carribean Fragoza
An exceedingly underwhelming collection. The cover and title of Carribean Fragoza’s debut collection succeeded in making me want to read it. After reading the first three stories, however, I found myself feeling rather underwhelmed by Fragoza’s storytelling. I, later on, decided to give this collection another shot, hoping that I would find the other stories…
2 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Carribean Fragoza, collection of short stories, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Eat the Mouth That Feeds You, female authors, FOLKLORE, grotesque, HORROR, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexico, migration/immigration, motherhood, My reviews, paranoia, published in 2021, purply prose, read in 2021, reading, short stories, style over character, stylised prose, surreal -
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
DISCLAIMER: as I did not like Velvet Was the Night my review will be, alas, a negative one. If you are a fan of SMG or you happen to love this novel, congratulazioni. Please, don’t @ me just because I don’t feel the same way as you do, I get it, YMMV. If you are…
1970s, 2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, drama, female authors, latin america, latin american, latinx author, mexican, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexico, missing girls, missing persons, My reviews, MYSTERY, Noir, Not Like Other Girls, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, slow pacing, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, Velvet was the Night -
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“I’m thinking I could spend the rest of my life becoming an expert at forgetting.” Heartbreaking, moving, and ultimately uplifting Last Night I Sang to the Monster is my favourite novel by Sáenz. While this novel explores themes and issues that are recurrent in Sáenz’s oeuvre, Last Night I Sang to the Monster is much…
1st pov, 2000s, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, addiction, ALIENATION, America, American, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, coming of age, Contemporary, conversational style, dark, DEPRESSION, dialogue heavy, distressing reads, family, favourite authors, friendships, GRIEF, Last Night I Sang to the Monster, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, male authors, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, My reviews, New Mexico, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, reading, rehab, sexual assault/abuse/rape, trauma, YOUNG ADULT -
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
As riveting as watching paint dry. I wasn’t planning on reading this as I wasn’t all that enthused by Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow. But, as I don’t like to write off authors on the basis of just one book & earlier this week I was in the mood for a gothic-kind-of-read, well,…
1980s, 2.5 STARS, 20th century, 3rd pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, drama, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, haunted house, hauntings, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, illness, incest, latinx author, manor/big house, mexican, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexican Gothic, Mexico, My reviews, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, slow pacing -
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“A part of me wanted to run away from all the complications of being in love with Dante. Maybe Ari plus Dante equated love, but it also equated complicated. It also equated playing hide-and-seek with the world. But there was a difference between the art of running and the art of running away.” This one…
1980s, 1st pov, 3.5 STARS, America, American, arc, aristotle and dante, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World, Aristotle Mendoza, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, coming of age, dialogue heavy, drama, el paso, fathers & sons, favourite authors, friendships, gay, HIGH SCHOOL, HISTORICAL FICTION, latinx author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, m/m, male authors, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, mothers & sons, My reviews, netgalley, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, ROMANCE, social issues, texas, YOUNG ADULT -
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.” The first time I read this novel was back in 2013 and in the years since I have come to regard Benjamin Alire Sáenz as one of my favourite authors. His deceptively simple style captures with clarity the thoughts and feelings…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, America, American, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Aristotle Mendoza, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, coming of age, Dante Quintana, el paso, family, fathers & sons, first love, FRIENDS TO LOVERS, friendships, gay, HIGH SCHOOL, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, latinx author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, m/m, male authors, male friendships, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, published in 2012, queer, re-reads, read in 2013, read in 2021, Summer, summer reads, texas, YOUNG ADULT -
Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“No one had ever taught me how to love. And perhaps, in that department, I was uneducable.” Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club is heartbreakingly beautiful collection of short stories. These stories have Benjamin Alire Sáenz written all over them: Mexican-American boys and men struggling with their identity (not feeling Mexican or American…
1st pov, 4.5 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, America, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, collection of short stories, coming of age, Contemporary, DEATH, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, family, fathers & sons, gay, GRIEF, latin america, latin american, latinx author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m, male authors, mental health, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexico, published in 2012, queer, read in 2020, short stories, trauma
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