Hello everyone! I’m back to my regularly scheduled reviews! I’m very excited about this one too. I always have a few books on my TBR pile that I look forward to more than others. Monstrilio has been circling around my little corner of the internet and I was immediately intrigued by the premise. Now, let’s not ramble on any longer and talk about Monstrilio.

Content Warning: Death of a Child, Grief and Mourning, Explicit Sexual Content, Some Harsh Language, Depictions Of Drug and Alcohol Use, Animal Death, Graphic Depictions of Injuries

Magos is shattered after the death of her young son, Santiago. In her grief, she cuts out a piece of his lung as a morbid keepsake. She believes she can bring Santiago back by feeding and nurturing the piece of the lung. Shockingly, it worked but not in the way that Magos had thought. The lung slowly turns into a grotesque little creature that she dubs Monstrilio. Magos does her best to contain this new creature but Monstrilio grows and evolves rapidly. His appetite poses a danger to Magos and those around her. Magos is forced to confront her grief and decide what to do with the creature who may or may not be her son.

I am so glad when the hype for a book pays off. Monstrilio is a beautiful yet terrifying novel about the complexity of grief. This book is so tender and so fierce in its depiction of love and what love can drive someone to do, for better or worse. What I wasn’t anticipating about this book (but absolutely loved) is its depiction of queer love and sexuality. We have these characters who have so much to hide because of what they have done but don’t ever hide from those aspects of themselves. While this novel is classified as a horror, it wasn’t truly “scary,” but it was gruesome at times. You have been warned if you are a little squeamish. It did give me the chills here and there. I did not want to put this book down at all. I know it’s early in the year but Monstrilio is already one of my all-time favorites so far. Put this one on the top of your TBR immediately. You won’t regret reading this truly amazing novel.