Look, I’m aware it says “October” and we are CLEARLY in November, but here we are. So. I read a CRAP TON of both books and novellas at the end of October, but I want to focus mainly on the three books I read.

First up: Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro

Stars: 1 out of 5

I hated this book. I was so disappointed too. The book summary and the book contents are not at all the same. I wanted lore about La Malinche, I wanted deep, lush lore about the Aztecs and the Spanish Conquistadores. It was so promising in the beginning: I did love the history parts of the book, when Malinalli (her current name) is talking about her past. It seemed like we were going to get the vengeance alluded to in the summary of the book. Instead, we had cringe worth sex scenes, a mopey vampire and a rushed ending. The current events part of it all was just torturous to get through. The sex scenes especially were so cringe worthy, it’s actually painful to think about. Butter. BUTTER. I can’t even. I am so mad about this book because the premise sounded so cool, very different, and then I got…nonsense. Just…ugh. I kinda wish I DNF’d it but I didn’t want to miss something good happening. I just kept thinking surely it must get better!!! But nope. It didn’t. I even relayed it to my teen son and he was like “wtf??” When even he says that, you know it’s a problem haha. I also have to say, this was such a let down because I was truly expecting lush lore, gritty vengeance and dark fantasy and instead all I got was a mopey vampire and incomplete lore. Like be so for real. There were so many times I just wanted to stop and I definitely should have. Ugh.

Second up: Bochica by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro

Stars: 3 out of 5

According to Wikipedia, Bochica is the mythical figure in the religion of the Muisca, who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the Spanish invaded what is now Columbia. There is little known about Bochica, save for some written documentation whereas “Bochica was variously described by witnesses as a building which [Melchor] Pérez de Arteaga had destroyed — as the father of a ‘tiger’ — perhaps a puma or jaguar that had recently been attacking travellers of local roads, and as an ‘idol’. When asked who Bochica was, Ubaque replied that ‘he is a wind’ — (un viento) — and that he was in the site of the building that the Spanish had destroyed.” (wikipedia).

This book…not that AT ALL. This was a bit of a slow burn and mostly atmospheric. Lots of repetitive sentences and thoughts. I loved the idea of the journal entries, I kind of wish they had been utilized better. I also wish the folklore of the svetyba had been better used as well. The whole thing with the Madre at the school though? That whole sub-storyline was not needed, imo. I think for me, the biggest issue was that I figured out what was happening WAY too early and so the rest of the book was just me trying to see when the MC’s were going to figure it out. That was such a let down to me. I was so hopeful for this, especially since it was heavily compared to Mexican Gothic, which I loved. This ended up just being “meh” to me. Three stars though because the hallucinations and descriptions of the locations definitely helped the story, made it very visually appealing and interesting. Again, the only saving grace of this book was the vivid descriptions of the hallucinations and the atmosphere of the house. I think the haunted gothic house theme was underutilized and could have made this a much spookier and overall better book. I love myself a good Gothic Haunted House theme and this was just…not it. Like Immortal Pleasures, this one fell flat with lore usage and cultural richness.

Last up: Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Stars: 4 out of 5…and mostly confusion…

I’m not convinced I know what I just read. Was it horror? Absolutely? Was it a narrative on heteronormativity??? Absolutely. A thought masterpiece on religion and Anti-Semitism? Yup. Was it the weirdest and most bizarre thing I’ve ever read? Also yes, though to be fair, I read Tender is the Flesh, so the jury is out on that. This was wild from start to finish. I’m gonna need 3-5 business days to process this for sure. Hopefully I don’t see The Baroness anywhere in my dreams. I think I’d cry.

This was a GREAT presentation on how imagery can produce horrific results. I was convinced for a few days that I was going to sleep and see some of this crazy, fucked up shit in my dreams. I would have had to find a therapist STAT if that had happened. Also safe to say that the idea of being a film restorer is completely off my “jobs I’d like to try” list. *shudder* I’m SO ok with never doing that.

Needless to say, I ended my espooky season with a few bangs, some bigger than others. Then I went on to read a bunch of smutty novellas and started to get into the Christmas season, so here’s to jingling all the way soon! As usual, you can find all my other reviews (I did review those novellas) here, on my Goodreads profile. You can also check out all the books I have on my shelves, and maybe even recommend me one off my own TBR to read!