#the hacienda

[alternatecorruption]

Honestly Gothic Novels set in the SouthWest are my new favorite obsession. Cowboys fighting vampires? Sign me the fuck up. Mysterious going’s on at a Mexican ranch with a fleabag style romance between a Spanish exorcist and the lady of the house? I’m fucking there. Resident Evil type of storyline with a Indigenous Mexican woman? God I love it here.

[dazaiconfused]

Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke with Shaun Ryder at The Haçienda on the night of the club's 8th birthday party, Manchester, 21st May 1990

[phaedraismyusername]

It's September and we're in a heatwave so instead of choosing violence here's some oppressive summer gothics to match the abysmal autumn vibes

The criteria - they have to be hot and humid, they have to be gothic in nature, dark in content, and they have to at least flirt with the paranormal

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

This follows Andrew as he moves to a college across the country to step into his dead best friend Eddie's old life as he desperately tries to prove that he must've been murdered. Haunted, both figuratively and literally, angry and grieving, Andrew sets off on a path that leads him to question everything he ever thought he knew about himself and their history together as he fights to accept who he is, who Eddie was, and maybe tries to learn how to live without him. Fast-paced, dark, and super gay.

Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy

After the death of her little sister, teenager Nif and her family move to rural Wales for the summer in an attempt to escape their grief. Set in the 1970s during a heatwave the isolation and oppressive weather quickly start to take their toll. With an emotionally absent mother, a father with a wandering eye and a needy younger brother, Nif becomes convinced she's stumbled across her own kind of magic, before catching the attention of the strange boy across the street. Think Shirley Jackson, definitely not YA.

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

Now, this is YA. We follow 17 year old Grey as she returns back to her tiny hometown in the Louisiana Bayou for the summer 6 months after her best friends mysterious disappearance. In a town that claims to be the 'psychic capitol of the world', someone must know something, right? Full of secrets, lies, and a boy who steps out of the forest with storm-bright eyes, this was a quick and twisty atmospheric read.

The Hacienda by Isabel Canas

When political upheaval gets her father executed and his family is left in shame and destitution, Beatriz decides she'll do whatever it takes to find security in her life again. When a handsome Don proposes, Beatriz jumps at the chance to accept and move out to his countryside estate with big plans for the future, but it doesn't take long before she's spending her nights terrorised by a mysterious entity inside her new home, forcing her to seek help from the strangest of places. The imagery is creepy, the tone is tense, there's a hot priest, what more do you want?

Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell

Probably the darkest book on this list, and definitely the oldest. When a young girl is brutally murdered within sight of her home, it starts a chain of events that will see a family destroyed, secrets and lies exposed, and a vengeful creature that looks almost human to rise from the river as the town that surrounds it starts to crumble. The people are unlikeable, the book is old, the content is Dark - you've been warned.

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Also YA but this time for the bisexuals. Shady Grove can call ghosts from the grave with her music, just like her daddy could, but everyone knows that only trouble comes from playing for the dead. When her brother is accused of murder, Shady decides to embrace her birthright and use any power she can to clear his name. It's sweet, it's sad, it's lyrical, and there's a little bi love triangle sprinkled in to sweeten the sorrows. It's also a debut!

[aphantomslibrary]

🎃👻 The Hacienda 👻🎃

Listen, I adore Isabel Cañas. And this book? Absolutely stunning. The setting of a haunted hacienda, mixed with complex interpersonal relationships and a twisty dark plot made this a horror that nestled its way into the very corners of my skull. The vibes were simply immaculate; Cañas expertly wove a world around the hacienda in the story that felt disconnected from the outside, which amplified the plot tenfold. Beatriz as a character was a lot of fun to experience. So very human, she was relatable, a bit annoying now and again, and absolutely someone I wanted to root for. Beatriz felt like a younger sibling while reading; someone you wanted to protect, and were absolutely terrified for when you couldn’t. By far one of my favorite characters to date. And don’t even get me started on Andrés. No, really. We will be here for eternity (which is fine for me, because I’m a ghost in a library. Not fine for you though, I presume…). He was such a complex character and I loved the way he played into the plot. I felt there was a good balance between character and plot, but I did find myself wanting a bit more information on certain plot elements that became integral to the climax. Overall, a fantastic ghost story, especially for Halloween. 4.5/5 👻

[animezinglife]

When the Tumblr fandom for a book is either tiny, nonexistent, or completely inactive:

[edwardslovelyelizabeth]

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

“It is said that mortal life is empty without the love of God. That the ache of loneliness's wounds is assuaged by obedience to Him, for in serving God we encounter perfect love and are made whole. 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 loneliness, because God has never tasted companionship as mortals do: clinging to one another in darkness so complete and sharp it scrapes flesh from bone, trusting one another even as the Devil's breath blooms hot on their napes.”

[guardian-angle22]

"God knows nothing of loneliness, because God has never tasted companionship as mortals do: clinging to one another in darkness so complete and sharp it scrapes flesh from bone, trusting one another even as the Devil's breath blooms hot on their napes.” - Isabel Cañas | The Hacienda

[xoxomissm]

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

a review

As soon as the sun sets on Hacienda San Isidro, the trapped souls in the walls come to life to get revenge on the unfortunate souls who walk its halls. Those who know how it became that way find ways to protect themselves inside the haunted house or decide to avoid it altogether, but they are always dubious when asked to speak about it. The walls are always listening.

Along with Don Rodolfo Solórzano’s proposal of status via marriage to Beatriz, he offers her the opportunity to escape a home life where Beatriz is constantly begrudged for her complexion and parentage to a place where she and her mother can be comfortable again. The new Doña excitedly, but unknowingly, moves into the hacienda after she accepts Rodolfo’s proposal against her mother's wishes. 

When Doña Beatriz arrives at San Isidro, she seeks to reclaim the house as her own to replace the home and land her family lost when her father was betrayed and assassinated in the overthrow of the Mexican government following the Mexican War of Independence. She must quickly adjust her expectations when her politician husband returns to Mexico City very shortly after they are married and Beatriz’s mother refuses to return her letters. She is left feeling alone in a house that seems to be speaking to her through a voice that only she is tormented by.  

In country society, as Beatriz distinguishes, she is repeatedly compared to the last Doña of San Isidro, Rodolfo’s first wife who suffered the apparent misfortune of dying of mysterious circumstances. When she attempts to recruit allies to confirm the evil spirit of the house she is always immediately deflected to more polite conversation. Even though Rodolfo’s sister, Doña Juana Solórzano refuses to be in the house at night and the head of the household, constantly burns copal incense, the only person willing to confirm that Doña Beatriz is indeed being haunted by the hacienda is Padre Andrés, the local priest who has recently returned under contentious circumstances after joining the priesthood. Padre Andrés agrees to return to Hacienda San Isidro where he grew up visiting his family under the guise of offering mass to all the workers on the hacienda to help Beatriz. With the disreputable priest and his cousin, Paloma, as her only allies Beatriz works tirelessly to restore the hacienda.

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas is a gothic thriller that takes place in the chilling Hacienda San Isidro. Beatriz is determined to defeat the evil spirits haunting her new home so that she can be reunited in a place her mother will be comfortable. Doña Beatriz relies on Padre Andrés' power as a witch to free the hacienda that he once considered a second home. of the demons haunting the home the new Doña was promised.

I enjoyed the main character’s sass and resolve as she fought tirelessly against the formidable cursed souls of Hacienda San Isidro, which was beautifully described throughout the story. The author also engages with the themes of colorism, colonialism, and the Casta system by employing Beatriz as a bold and ambitious woman, aware of her dark complexion, intent on surviving the curse that is San Isidro to raise her family’s station.  

If you liked Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, let’s be friends, please! I think you’ll like this one, let me know. This was one of my favorites read in 2023.

-xoxo, miss m

[elfilibusterismo]

"I could rationalize this decision away. It was easy, too easy. She was a lost soul who sought help and I gave it, thus was my vocation. I could repeat that sentence like a litany, like a prayer, a meditation of pious deceit, but it still would not change the truth. I was giving in to temptation. Every decision I made that kept me close to her, that offered the opportunity to be close enough to touch her hand or smell her hair, was a sin. I wanted it all the same."

— Isabel Cañas, The Hacienda

[zippocreed501]

24 Hour Party People (2002)

directed by Michael Winterbottom

[beganavagabond007]

"Reading had been my constant companion, my path to escape the confines of my life."

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

[bekah-reading]

125

4/5

(Nov read)

I fucking finally got around to reading this! Like seriously, I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet until now.

I loved this book, I felt like I was coming home when I started this. Gothic novels always feel cozy and like home to me when I open and get into them. I absolutely loved the backdrop of this. While I am unfamiliar on the time period and the struggles they had, I absolutely love the fact that it seems like the Latinx authors have picked up the gothic genre and are making it their own.

The writing style was amazing, and I did end up having to keep my phone on me while reading since Isabel Canas uses phrases and words I don’t know; some in Spanish sometimes- and I had to look it up. I loved the characters, and while I expected a bit more, the shortcomings I think are more based on the proverbial pedestal I had placed this book on. This was 4 stars, since there were a few scenes that I didn’t like.

Absolutely, definitely agree and recommend people to read this.

[provokedgoalie]

THE WAY THE BOOK ENDED!! I WANNA KNOW WHAT BEATRIZ WROTE TO ANDRÉS

[holymountain29]

[aphantomslibrary]

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

Isabel Cañas, The Hacienda

[sideshrimp]

my basket vs my sisters