A review by amobrien
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Magnolia is dealing with grief from her grandmother's death and struggling to keep her house on her income from working at the gas station, so when a mysterious man comes into her work and offers her a "modeling" job, she accepts it. While the job is lucrative, it isn't exactly what she was expecting, and Magnolia finds that her problems are not going away with her new wealth. While the story is well-written, it's also filled to the brim with trauma, which made it a difficult read (though that is the point). I don't think this is a read for everyone, and I don't even think it was necessarily a read for me, but I think people interested in dark southern gothic literature would enjoy this, especially because it covers really interesting topics like race, class, and grief.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.
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