NetGalley Buddy Readers discussion

Goodreads Blurb
THE HOUSE IS ALWAYS HUNGRY…

After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor’s guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.

Beneath its gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents’ deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he’s been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.

As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra’s secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she’s chasing has already found her . . . and they’re closer than she ever realized.

Start Date
5 July

I have this one. I'd be down to read it at the beginning of July.

early July sounds good to me!

Perfect! How does July 5th sound to everyone? Do y'all want me to go through the book and figure out how we want to divide it up?

We basically do unstructured buddy reads, at our own pace, chiming in when we want or have something to say. It seems to work well for us. ☺️ July 5 sounds good.

Today's the day! I'm going to start reading this one tonight. Looking forward to seeing everyone's thoughts!

I read the first couple pages but I have another buddy read to finish first.

i’m trying finish Look in the Mirror then will dive into this one

Through the end of Chapter 10 (about 25% through) –
(view spoiler)[I’m really pleased with where this one is going so far. The atmosphere is strong and there’s a decent amount of unexplained and somewhat spooky things happening, though I will admit I’m a little surprised at how quickly the author jumped straight to the introduction of the shadow being without some more buildup first. I’m enjoying the protagonist, too, though I haven’t seen enough of the other characters yet to know how I feel about them. And what does that new reveal mean? I don’t it’s the case that she’s actually dead, there would be too many plot holes if that were the case. (hide spoiler)]

Will start tomorrow or Tuesday! Finally almost caught up :)

Just a few chapters in but I'm ready to get invested tonight!

Around 50% - (view spoiler)[ I’m not a fan of Felipe, he seems pretty manipulative and underhanded, and I don’t know how I feel about the “someone else made me do it” explanation, because he was being manipulative even before that kissing incident. Also, I’m not really excited about the romance – I guess I should have expected it since it’s a YA read, but alas. The atmosphere and inclusion of the spooky house/setting has kind of died off, which is disappointing as well. I’m still interested to see where this is going, but it’s taking some turns that aren’t my favorite. (hide spoiler)]

I can't wait to see what y'all think of it so far! Hope you're enjoying it this evening, Elyse, and congrats on getting caught up, Shruti!

Through end of chapter 22 (72% through) - (view spoiler)[And now I’m not really sure how I feel about where this is going. It’s gotten a bit weird in a way that I wasn’t expecting, what with the inter-dimensional species feeding a castle for an ancient being. I did enjoy getting some background info, but I felt like it was kind of more glossed over than it could’ve been. I’ll be interested to see how Bastion fits into all of it. (hide spoiler)]

I finally started this one on the train this morning and I’m invested. Wishing I could read instead of working today.

The End! (view spoiler)[Well then. I haven’t quite decided how I feel about this one. I really liked the beginning, didn’t like the middle as much, and wasn’t as interested in the buildup and resolution as I wanted to be. I really disliked the insta-love – being blood bonded within 13 days of meeting each other? Much too YA. I did like how the author chose to end it rather than it being a HEA, but I don’t think that was enough to really make this one work well for me. (hide spoiler)]

Looking forward to seeing what you all are thinking about it!

~25%

So far, this is (view spoiler)[ off to a really good start. I like the gothic castle vibes and the mysterious smoke figure. I like our feisty MC, but sometimes it seems like she's just being stubborn idk. (hide spoiler)]

~50%

I agree (view spoiler)[ Felipe is weird, I'm not a fan. The romance seems unnecessary and I thought he was a lot older? Maybe I misread. The trigger warnings at the beginning indicated a serious book, but I'm starting to think maybe this is actually more campy horror. (hide spoiler)]

I've gone rogue and I'm not reading anything I'm supposed to lol

Elyse (catching up since giving birth in Jan!) wrote: "I've gone rogue and I'm not reading anything I'm supposed to lol"

lollll with everything you have going on, you should be reading whatever the heck you feel like reading! :)

~75%

I think this one lost the plot. (view spoiler)[ Why do we have a species from another world all of a sudden? Did the horror movie scripts get mixed together? What is this? Hmmm... I think I might be losing interest here.

(hide spoiler)]

~100%

I... ergh. (view spoiler)[ What happened?! It started off so strong. Then I thought maybe we were getting campy horror. But then we got... I don't even know what that was. Not a fan of the instalove (in any genre lol). Not a fan of the weird interdimensional thing.

I agree A - the ending almost saved it but not quite.

Sigh.
(hide spoiler)]

my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Shruti morethanmylupus wrote: "my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Completely agree with your thoughts - this is going to be a two-star one for me as well, but I've gotten behind in review writing. Maybe one of these days we'll find a buddy read that's 4+ stars!

Shruti morethanmylupus wrote: "Elyse (catching up since giving birth in Jan!) wrote: "I've gone rogue and I'm not reading anything I'm supposed to lol"

lollll with everything you have going on, you should be reading whatever th..."

lol thanks Shruti! I'm now 25% through and I agree with your and A's observations at this point. Worried about what happens in the next 75% that deems it 2 stars! 😱

I finished. Also 2 stars. This was a MESS of a book. (view spoiler)[Garber made it seem like Sebastian was wayyyy older than Estela. And since he's a vampire, I guess he is. lol. But who the hell re-names someone? That was so frickin weird. "I think my name is Bastian." "Ok I'm going to call you Sebastian." ?! But hey, Bastien is my baby so...! lol (hide spoiler)] I haven't read Garber's sci fi Zodiac series but I own it (under Romina Russell) but I have read and did enjoy her Wolves of No World duology. This one though was just BAD.

Elyse (catching up since giving birth in Jan!) wrote: "I finished. Also 2 stars. This was a MESS of a book. [spoilers removed] I haven't read Garber's sci fi Zodiac series but I own it (under Romina Russell) but I have read and did enjoy her Wolves of ..."

You're absolutely right about that name thing and just how absurd that was. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one either, but welcome to the club!