Month: June 2024

Title: Vampires of El Norte

Author: Isabel Cañas

Genre: horror

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I had no idea this was also a romance book, which I’m not a fan of, but it worked amidst various vampire attacks, so don’t let that subgenre turn you off. I liked The Hacienda a lot and was excited to read another by this author.

Between Isabel Cañas and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, these two women are doing an outstanding job bringing Mexican stories to the world. In this book, Nena and Nestor are childhood loves, but Nena dies. Nine years go by, and Nestor realizes that Nena survived and now they are traveling together. There’s a bit of the trope where two characters make assumptions instead of communicating, which I despise, but it doesn’t last too long. The book isn’t all that scary, but is a good balance between horror and romance, without being too cheesy.

I definitely liked this book and am adding Cañas to my list of writers that I’ll be seeking out in the future. She’s two for two!

Title: Gone Tonight

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Genre: Thriller

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I’ve read An Anonymous Girl, which the author co-wrote, and I thought it was okay. But I’m always willing to read more from an author unless I just flat-out hated their other book. And this one started rough, but I’m glad I kept going because it ended up being better than it started out.

Ruth Sterling is showing early signs of dementia, and her daughter, Catherine, is about to leave home for the first time to take a new job. Ruth is really struggling with this fact for reasons she hasn’t been completely honest about. As Catherine starts to dig into her mother’s past, she begins to realize her mother has been keeping a lot of secrets about herself and Catherine’s history.

This book was good. I can’t say it’s one I’ll remember down the line because it’s like many other mystery books, but it kept me reading and I will recommend it to others who like the genre.

Title: Looking Glass Sound

Author: Catriona Ward

Genre: horror

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I LOVE Catriona Ward’s books. Little Eve, Sundial, and the absolutely amazing The Last House on Needless Street are all excellent books. It’s to the point that Ward is an auto-read for me. Any book of hers, I’ll be checking out. Because her books are so twisty in brilliant ways.

Wilder finally makes friends when he visits a vacation town, but their lives will be twisted together forever when tragedy strikes. Fast forward to college when Wilder is forced to revisit the trauma. And then again as a middle-aged man going back to this town to write his memoir. This plot sounds basic, but oh it’s not. Not even close. It’s a story within a story within a story, on and on. I can’t explain much due to spoilers, but you will never guess where the story goes next. Once again, Ward wrote a book that I could not put down and couldn’t wait to see the next twist.