weird girl vibes

One Dark Window (The Shepherd King #1) by Rachel Gillig
★★★★☆
I enjoyed this one a lot. Mysterious girl with a horrible monster in her head??? That sometimes takes over her body??? Sign me THE FUCK up. Every action scene grabbed me by the collar and shook me delightfully. I had mixed feelings on the romantic subplot. I liked it more conceptually than its actual execution, I think.

Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King #2) by Rachel Gillig
★★★☆☆
First book was better, but this was still pretty good. Ravyn's plot was meh to me. I was excited to dip into Elm's perspective, but if I had mixed feelings about Elspeth/Ravyn, Elm/Ione was worse. I found their general dynamic occasionally intriguing, and I enjoyed Ione's character development, but as a romance, it just didn't do much for me.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
★☆☆☆☆
Truly terrible book. Not only is the "twist" at the end incredibly predictable (I guessed who the murderer was within the first what, 30 pages), not only is Kya's characterization clumsy at best (she had no one! no one! she had to survive all by herself always! sure that Black couple was always there for her, clothed her and guided her, kept money in her pocket and thus food in her belly, but let's consistently devalue their impact on her life and reduce them to convenient props because ??? why, Delia Owens??), but the "twist" undermines whatever point the novel seemed to be making.

Anonymous Rex (Anonymous Rex #1) by Eric Garcia
★☆☆☆☆
This parody of "hard-boiled" detective fiction was bizarre, which I could've jived with, only in this novel premised on dinosaurs who hide amongst human society in human suits, the motive behind all the murders managed to be the most unbelievable thing about it.

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir
★★★☆☆
I have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed the unabashed mix of juvenile and dark humor and adored Gideon's character, but the A-plot was unnecessarily convoluted and tried very hard to surprise you, to the point I had no interest in it. And if you aren't interested in the A-plot, you won't like the ending.

It's been months since I finished "Mexican Gothic" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and I'm STILL thinking about it. It sucks to be obsessed with a standalone novel published years ago because the fandom is basically on life support.

One of the best aspects of the novel, imo, is how much room it left for headcanons and speculations. I have a lot that revolve around Francis. He's my little potato I hold in one hand and ponder upon. (He knew about the transmigration, he never thought Virgil was going to be sacrificed, he lied about it to protect Noemí. I need to talk to someone about this.)

I also ship Noemí/Francis so bad u_u They have such an unusual dynamic that hits all the notes of a song I never knew I needed. I love that Moreno-Garcia attributed the "fainting damsel" role to a sopping Englishman and the "knight in shining armour" to a femme socialite. I find it weirdly endearing when Noemí thinks about how unattractive and sickly her beau is.

Anyway, if you want to talk about Mexican Gothic, I am so down. Gush about any aspect, I will avidly listen. Also, I write/read fanfiction, so if you would like to do a gift exchange or link Mexican Gothic fics to me, I'm HERE FOR IT!!

I'm religious about commenting on fics, so if you've considered writing Mexican Gothic fic (about ANYTHING, ANY character) but felt discouraged by the lack of activity in the fandom, know you will have one AVID reader in me.

<3 stargrey