Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Hacienda

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. Most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book.I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

premise:

historical fictional romance & supernatural horror & suspense set after the Mexican War for Independence
Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca is a great way to describe this! In the beginning, I initially thoguht Bluebeard too because I was very suspicious of the husband! I'd also add Haunting of Hill House to this mix!
rotating first-person POV of Beatriz Hernández Valenzuela and Andres (some POVs told in flashbacks)
themes of colonialism, social status, the syncretism of Catholicism and indigenous practices
In the aftermath of the war, Beatriz's father is executed and she accepts a marriage proposal from Don Rodolfo Solórzano, whose first wife's demise is the source of many rumors
Once Beatriz moves to the remote location of Hacienda San Isidro, and Rodolfo goes back to the capital for work, she begins having visions, hearing voices, and having accidents! She feels desperately unsafe and as if she is being watched
Juana, Rodolfo's sister, refuses to enter San Isidro at night, yet pokes fun at Beatriz's fears
Padre Andrés, a young priest and witch, comes at her behest to bless the house and perform an exorcism on it, and seems to be the only one who believes her about her experience at San Isidro
cw: murder, death, war, sexual assault, racism, abortion

thoughts:
Wow. I am unwell. This was breathtakingly written, and Isabel has immediately become an auto-buy author for me, just with this book! I am so, so, so, so impressed! (I am obviously *so* eloquent too hahaha).

This haunted house was everything I want when I think of one - it was creepy, and it was maliciously and ferociously intent on her demise! I had to remind myself to breathe during multiple scenes, because I would quickly tense up in my fear and dread for Beatriz. Isabel's writing of the setting was atmospheric,

I love the way that horror always has so many layers of what is actually scary. What I mean is that yes, there's a clear horror in a haunted house conspiring to kill you. However, the way society treats Beatriz, -both because of the caste system that was still prominent during this time period (and she wasn't "light-skinned"), and because of the rumored scandalous history of San Isidro- is a horror much more subtle, and much more nefarious because it hides behind acceptable societal landscapes of the time.

To be haunted, whether by *real* or mental/emotional demons, and for no one to believe you? OOF. That's a fear we can all relate to, (I think)! That's something that horror, when well and properly done, illustrates so well - the despair and desperation one feels when they come to the realization that no one is coming to save them, because at the very core of it, no one believes their pain, or believes that the things causing them pain are actually real or in the wrong In a macro-way, I think of the ways people brush off systems of oppression, like capitalism or white supremacy, and how harmful it is for our wellbeing when our experiences are dismissed or minimized. It's why being believed, or feeling seen/heard is so powerful. When you endure constant skepticism or perpetually feel the need to prove yourself, that wave of relief that comes with someone actually being in your corner is priceless.

It's why I loved Beatriz and Andres' slow-burn, quiet romance! They provided a space for the other to be brave, and affirmed the others' experiences. Andres was a fantastic character; he held complicated feelings towards how his practices intersected and differed, and I appreciated this illustration of how colonialism left cultures feeling fragmented or muddled up. He was reverent of his beliefs, and tried especially hard to stay away from Beatriz (she was a married woman! the horror! the scandal!). However, San Isidro really gave him no choice but to fight back, alongside Beatriz' side.

I was aching for what Beatriz endured at San Isidro, yet the ending left room for a sprinkle of hope.

quotations that stood out to me:

“But if God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if He is three in one in the Trinity, then God knows nothing of loneliness. God knows nothing of standing with his back to a gray morning, of dropping to his knees in the dust.”

“When a man makes a promise, he makes it on his honor. When a witch makes a promise, they feel it in their bones.”

“Words can damn or bless in equal measure, and are never to be used lightly.”

“Our relationship was founded on one thing, and one thing only. My world was a dark, windowless room, and he was a door.”

“Should is an oddly powerful word. Shame and anger have a way of flying to it like coins to a lodestone.”

"She was a prophet in a land that had been stripped of its gods: a healer of the sick, a beacon in the night. She reached into steel-dark clouds to control the storms of the rainy season, seizing lightning as her reins and bending them to her will to turn harvests into gold. She called the voices to heel and banished them. I was not her."

“My eyes filled with tears. How scornful I had been of Mamá insisting I should marry for love. How convinced I was that I was right to be practical, to sacrifice a loving partnership like she and Papá had for an estate in the country and financial security”

“Fate had been unkind to me, but sometimes, its pettiness worked in my favor.”

“There is no draft more bitter than that of helplessness”

“Hacienda San Isidro—my home—was poisoned. It was hurting. Rot like this would spread beyond the house’s walls, leeching life from the earth, blighting the fields, lacing the homes of the village with affliction. It was a sickness. It must be contained, then eradicated.”

“Of course he did not question. Men do not trouble themselves with women's bodies, save when they can be of use to serve or to sate them.”

“Someone had died in this house. I needed help. And no one at Hacienda San Isidro was going to give it to me.”

“The Hacienda is a story about the terrible things people will do to cling to power. A story about resilience and resistance in the face of a world that would strip you of power. A story about a young mestiza woman’s battle of wills with a house and all it represents, a house haunted by both the supernatural and its colonial history.”