Maria DeBlassie

This short novel is a mixture of magical realism, folktale, romance, and feminism. Set in small town New Mexico, it is about a woman who must overcome the curse of La Llorona, the weeping woman whose touch dooms her victims to lives of sorrow, usually at the hands of an abusive man. The author created a main character, Mercy, with a compelling and unique voice and used fairy tale tropes effectively to tell the story of a woman overcoming the cycles of abuse and poverty to craft her own life. The romance was also nicely done: Mercy does not need to be saved by a man but saves herself, then chooses a man to partner with. She always has agency. I both enjoyed and was inspired by this short novel and hope to read more of this author's works.… (altro)

Though very short, I feel like we were able to see a wide variety of things in this gothic horror tale. The way the author crafted this story makes dating shine in a more sinister, yet oddly relatable, light. At times, the dating game can seem like you're risking more than just your self-esteem, as was shown in this book, and it's easy to make the comparisons of sickness and rot - especially when it seems all the 'dead' are disguised as the 'living'. And yet, you get pulled back into the mix of finding love for some compelling reason you can't really fathom. I love how seamlessly this story weaves reality and metaphor and horror together with raw emotion and truth I feel really shines through to the reader. This wasn't my first time reading this author's works, and it certainly won't be the last, but if you're looking for a quick and slightly chilling read, you've found your book!… (altro)