House of Monstrous Women

I loved this one, it's got the eerie gothic relatives house like Mexican Gothic, but it also has the best physical house descriptions I've read - so claustrophobic and haunting. The setting of the Philippines with political power struggles going on in the background was excellent, this would be a good read to pair with Some People Need Killing. The breaking of generational curses was a strong theme here too, and by the time the actual game begins, there's a lot at stake.

House of Monstrous Women is one of those books to which I was drawn partly because of its Gothic undertones, but also because it's set in the Philippines just before the return of democracy and government reforms aided by the People Power Revolution. Having lost her family to political machinations, Josephine was just trying to protect her family home the best way she could so when the invitation came from one of her friends, one that could potentially help secure her future, she just couldn't resist.

One of the best things about this book was the descriptions about the Philippines, something I really appreciated. I enjoyed the family dynamics, the power plays, and learning more about the political system at the time through the show more characters and their motivations. While not necessarily a central motivation for these characters, it definitely shaped their lives and their actions and had a powerful influence on the choices they made. What I often find interesting in situations like these is how some people throw themselves into the midst of everything that is happening while others shut themselves off completely and pretend that nothing is occurring, so we have this dichonomy happening in this book which reflect human nature.

The gothic aspect to this novel was definitely atmospheric and haunting and visiting that house would give me the creeps for sure, I did find the actual story to be somewhat slow. I don't typically tend to mind when horror books are slow at the beginning as long as the tension is there and this was not necessarily the case as I felt pulled out from the book for various reasons. Then the tension would build again, then nothing. However, by about the sixty percent mark, it finally picked up and took off, and I thought the later part of the book was the most interesting. I did like how the horror elements were combined with local folklore. Plus, the many themes running through this book include things like inherited trauma, women's rights and liberties, family, loyalty, trust, betrayal, and friendship.

Verdict
House of Monstrous Women had a very atmospheric setting and I really enjoyed this author's writing style. I did feel like the tension was a bit erratic and if you are going to have the tension build up slowly, it needs to be more consistent so the reader doesn't get thrown out of the story. I like how the political situation was woven around local folklore and enjoyed learning about both of these. Unfortunately, I didn't quite connect with the characters and I really did wish the author had spent more time exploring the game element as that was the most interesting. If you like slow burn horror, this book may be just the thing you are looking for. show less

I had a hard time with this review because I still don't know how I feel about this book, and I couldn't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. After giving it some more thought, I decided it's a good thing, because isn't that what you want from a book? To stick with you and have you thinking about it days later?

This story combines a lot of my loves - mythology (Filipino, which is a treat), horror, gothic historical fiction, and a really unique premise - and I was excited to see where it was going to take me. Well, it definitely took me places! It started out slow, which I didn't mind because we got a lot of good backstory that way, and when it did pick up the pace, it didn't slow down. There were a lot of mystery, supernatural, show more and suspense elements to it, and it grabbed you and kept you reading until the end. My problem definitely wasn't with the writing, it was with the characters. I just didn't connect with any of them. I didn't find them to be very likeable, and that made it hard to root for anybody. When the story got really freaky, it was interesting, but I would like to have felt a pull towards one or two characters, which I think would have made it even better. The descriptions of the setting were phenomenally done, and the use of the Filipino mythology was, as I mentioned above, a real treat.

All in all, I didn't really connect with this story as much as I would have liked, but it was well written, with a unique premise, and I can see how people would, so I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5 rating, rounded up to 4 out of 5.

4/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and Daphne Fama for the opportunity to read and review House of Monstrous Women. show less

A horror novel of a young woman who is trying to save her brother, Alejandro, and protect during the political upheaval in the Philippines in the 1980s. Several references to Aquino and Marcos in this novel, but the real subject is the horror that parasites are infecting people and taking over.
It starts with an invitation to her former friend's home, but the game she is invited to play is all about survival. Josephine realizes that her brother has been infected and her former friend Hiraya's family are witches who spew curses.
Will friendship and love win out in this game of survival? Will Josephine be able to break the curse?
Interesting that it was set in the time of the country's governmental change toward peace. While not a fan of show more horror, this had some redeeming qualities. show less

This was a pretty intense book and definitely deserves to be called horror. It started slow for me and made me very antsy b/c I could see that it was gonna get wild and I wanted to know what would happen. I ended up reading the last chapter b/c I couldn’t take it anymore. Instead of ruining the book for me, it got me more engaged and made me want to go back to where I left off and finish it to see how the story evolved. Definitely did not see the twists and turns that were coming, but I was happy with the ending. I feel that it ended well for a horror book. You can’t ask for happily ever after with this genre, so you can only hope for a peaceful resolution. I feel that the author ended it well and carried the storyline quite nicely. show more I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my opinion. show less