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hannah_and_her_stories's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Abortion
larareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, and War
writingcaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
It is indeed Rebecca meets Mexican Gothic, although not as good as either, still a pretty solid horror book that kept wanting more.
Beatriz lost her father to politics and power changes, relegated with her mother to be a “servant” in her aunts house she jumps at the chance of marrying, even though the groom is involved in the same group that got her father killed, still she knows she will have her hacienda to rule over and finally the financial independence she wishes for. However, the house has other plans, and as soon as she arrives she feel the hatred and the malice of it.
Thankfully, the hacienda and farmlands are also the home base of the new padre Andrés, returned two years before Beatriz, he is now called again to his land to help the girl in need, and he is more than meets the eye, he has in him the heritage of the old witches.
This was such a great coming of age, romance, horror story, it kept glued to the pages to know what would happen next. It’s predictable from the start, at least it was for me, and struggles with very repetitive sentiments and sentences, still for a debut I found it quite good and entertaining.
No, I didn’t get scared, I never do, and no it’s not super gruesome although there’re a lot of grim, gory moments even, and a lot a lot of tense ones.
If the premises appeal to you I definitely recommend you to give it a try now that Spooky Season is coming 🎃👻🔪
Graphic: Racism and Blood
Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Abortion, Colonisation, and War
allisonz6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, and Abortion
Minor: Alcoholism
thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and War
hunkydory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
markieh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
It never felt slow to me. It's been a long time since I stayed up all night to finish a book because I wanted to, and not because I had nothing else to do during ADHD insomnia.
Beatriz thinks she has made a practical choice to keep herself comfortable. That she can settle for contentment if it means safety and stability, but from the minute she enters the hacienda at San Isidro, something is wrong. It starts to slowly unfold. Maybe she imagined that. Maybe it was the wind. Maybe that was a cat, but we along with Beatriz know something is wrong.
The author did a great job mixing the prejudices of the time period with the horror element, adding to the tension when she's dismissed by the local priest.
Actually my only complaint about the book is that I wish Padres Andres had a better back story revelation. I feel like we missed a very key piece of who he was and had to sort of put it together in pieces, and not in a fun discovery way. At first I thought it had been a typo or something.
Still, this book was everything. A haunted house murder mystery with some forbidden love against the backdrop of a post war uneasy peace and racial divide. I can't wait for the next one.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Violence, Abortion, and War
alisonvh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
5.0
“When a man makes a promise, he makes it on his honor. When a witch makes a promise, they feel it in their bones.”
Ever come across a book that you just know you are going to love, but somehow it takes you ages to pick it up anyway? This is exactly what happened with The Hacienda for me. The blurb gave me Mexican Gothic vibes, which had me immediately intrigued. It is being compared to the classic Rebecca as well, which I confess I still have to read myself... But I'm definitely going to remedy that after finishing The Hacienda. Why? Let's just say that this debut blew me away completely, and I loved every single minute with this historical fiction/gothic horror/paranormal read. The pace in The Hacienda is actually quite a lot slower than I would usually like, but somehow it really worked for this story. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that the writing itself is fantastic; I fell in love with the way this story was written from the very beginning, and the gothic vibe is done is a sublime way. The building up of the tension, the uncertainty about what is really going on, the doubts about if the main character is just imagining things or something a lot more sinister (and supernatural) is going on... It was just all done in such a natural way, and the result was glorious. Add the historical fiction aspect with the 19th century Mexican setting, the religious aspect and the political/cultural issues, even the slowburn romance, and I couldn't give this debut anything less than the full 5 stars it deserved. Guess who will be reading a vampire book in the future even though she is usually allergic to any stories about vampires?
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
enf87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Racism, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Rape