Well that’s a bummer.
We love a good horror book, especially one involving a haunted house or malevolent presence. Unfortunately, you will see in the following post of The Hacienda book review why it didn’t work for us.
Keep reading to see our full review of The Hacienda by Isabel Canas to see what we liked and what fell short.
This is a book blog post featuring The Hacienda Book Review: Why It Didn’t Work For Us, with our full book review and discussion, plus book recommendations for other books we think you might enjoy.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which, if used for purchase, will result in a small commission, at no additional cost to the buyer.
Slowprose Review Format
Generally speaking, we don’t think of ourselves as “serious” reviewers, so our format may be a little different. Here is what to expect when you are reading Slowprose book reviews:
- Cover Review – doing the cliche of judging a book by its cover.
- Book Blurb – we share the book jacket or Goodreads blurb about the plot.
- Intrusive Thoughts – these are the general thoughts and feelings we have about the book while reading it.
- Book review – our overall review and star ranking of the book
- Book aesthetics – this is how gorgeous we thought the pages of the book were, or how easy/hard it was to read, or how good the narrator was if it is an audio book.
- Book recommendations – we talk about the author’s other books or other books that remind us of this book in some form or fashion. Basically, this is our catch-all to talk about anything else that we want to.
To see our full review system, including our method of assigning and weighting stars, go here.
COVER REVIEW – The Hacienda
The Hacienda by Isabel Canas gets 4 stars for this cover.
We love this cover! It is really gorgeous, extremely atmospheric, and gives a sense of foreboding. Perfect for a horror novel, yet also very artistic and beautiful.
It perfectly sets the scene for the Mexican gothic feel of the story and setting, and the title is easy to read and understand.
We like how the undercurrent of dread is not in your face, but is subtle. Intriguing for a horror book, and takes it outside of the norm for a horror cover.
After reading the book, my rating stayed the same. Fantastic cover.
BOOK BLURB – The Hacienda
Given our extreme irrational fear of ever being a spoiler of an epic plot twist, we will just share the book insert or book blurb found on Goodreads to provide the information in terms of the plot:
The Hacienda by Isabel Canas
Due to her father’s politics, Beatriz’s home was destroyed and her father murdered during the overthrow of the Mexican government,
When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding Rodolfo’s first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that her new husband and his estate in the countryside provides.
She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep in her new home.
The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move.
Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the main house at night, even though she is a family member? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?
Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally.
No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the sinister ghostly presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom padre andres feels a powerful, forbidden attraction.
But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.
Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
The Hacienda – Intrusive Thoughts
Absolutely love the gothic horror vibes I am getting right out of the gate.
We love a strong woman main character who doesn’t play a victim!
Moving a city girl out to the country.
High society, the Mexican version. Prejudice based on skin tone and social status classism are everywhere.
How can other people not feel it?
Ok, is that a vision? Or is it actually there?
Ohhhh, the house decides.
Love the creepy, supernatural elements.
Well. That was quite the night.
Ugh. This is horror. No need to build in a smoldering romance. They are trying to stay alive!
I feel like that was a missed opportunity to scare the reader.
He doesn’t feel anything?????
Ok, this is going off the rails and I am losing interest quickly.
Dang. Started strong but really lost its way.
Bummer.
THE HACIENDA BOOK REVIEW
Slowprose Star Rating – 3.0 Stars
I gave this 3 stars because it is not terrible, and it has some good qualities, but it let us down!
The good:
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. Good world building, description of the Mexican war and what happened to Beatriz Hernadez Valenzuela and her family. It sets up a good foundation without being boring.
I liked it even more when she got out to the house. The author did a good job of building tension. I felt uncomfortable when she described the way the house was making the main character feel. It literally had my hair standing up on the back of my neck.
The gothic vibes definitely went fully into horror, particularly for the overnight scene in the house with the priest. Super scary. A little hard to follow at times, but scary. I wonder if this would play really well via audiobook?
It was at about this point of the book that it lost its sharpness, for me.
The bad:
The story was strong enough in focusing on the story of the haunted house, the dangerous new husband, the family strife and the high society drama that she didn’t need to add anything else. Adding in the underpinning of the romance with the priest took away from the ghost story.
She also lost the strength in the scariness of the house. That was our favorite part!
But instead of focusing on the house and the terrible evil it was, the story and plot points unravelled so drastically that it just became kind of like a caricature of the original part of the story.
It lost the spine tingling element, and it was so disappointing!
We love thrillers or horror books with supernatural elements, but it really fell flat here. I ended up skimming through to the end.
While we can’t necessarily recommend it, we do see plenty of good reviews of The Hacienda, so definitely check it out to see what you think of it!
Slowprose Star Rating – 3.0 Stars
BOOK AESTHETICS – THE HACIENDA
I heard through word of mouth that this was a gothic horror story, but it is actually listed as a supernatural thriller. I can kind of see both descriptions working. It also is described as historical fiction, and there is some of that element as well.
One of the strongest things about this book how atmospheric it is. We literally made a note to say that “long sentences masterfully done.”
We appreciate how well written this book is, and we loved the gothic vibes. So if you like to read for *vibes* and are ok with the story being a little less tight than maybe it should be, this might be a perfect read for you.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
The Hacienda is the debut novel of Isabel Canas.
She recently released her second book called Vampires of El Norte where Vampires and vaqueros face of on the Texas-Mexico border. It is labeled as a “supernatural western.”
Other Book Recommendations
Of course, Stephen King is the master of the supernatural suspense novel or supernatural horror books. We are big time Constant Readers, so check out our post on his books here.
Besides King novels, here are a couple of supernatural thrillers/horror books that we LOVED – meaning seriously spooked us and had a great story with the scare – and highly recommend:
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary. Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.
West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter. Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In her search for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother's bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked into the historical mystery, she discovers that she’s not the only person looking for someone that they’ve lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.
You can find these and more in our storefront, Slowestuff Books From The Blog storefront.
The Hacienda Book Review: Why It Didn’t Work For Us
We hope you enjoyed The Hacienda Book Review. If you pick it up, let us know what you thought of it once you read or listened to it!
If you think of other supernatural thriller or horror books that you would recommend, please let us know what they are. We love to get book recs from fellow readers!
If you want more book posts, check out the Slowprose section of the blog where we have more book reviews, book lists, favorite authors and more. If you are looking for more great reads, check out our list of the best books we have read so far this year.
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Happy reading!
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