Signal to Noise follows Meche and her two friends as they discover magic and begin to harness it to bend the rules to their own will. The story alternates from 1988 when they were teens using magic, to 2009, twenty years after an abrupt end to their friendship, when Meche returns home to Mexico City for her fathers funeral.

I’ve read some of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s other works and really enjoyed them, and while I thought this was good, I was a bit disappointed by it. I could definitely feel in the story and writing that this was her first novel. The writing was not bad by any means but coming from her later works, I could see how much she had developed since writing this. The future pov didn’t add much to the story in my opinion, and honestly I think could’ve been cut out completely, as well as the romance between Meche and Sebastián. The two characters lacked the chemistry that I think they were supposed to have. In the end when they revealed that they had been in love with each other the entire time, I did not buy it at all. While I was reading this I found that not much happened for a majority of the book, it is almost 400 pages yet it doesn’t get very interesting until the last hundred pages. When it does finally get a bit interesting at the climax of the story, it ends. It ends fairly abruptly, leaving it feel almost unfinished. The climax felt like it should’ve just been the beginning of the action but was actually the end, which was quite disappointing.

Still, there is a lot about the book that I can appreciate. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is excellent at capturing an atmosphere, and the 80s Mexico City setting was very cool. The scenes that followed the characters wandering the city were great and I really wish there were more of them. The characters, particularly Meche, had so much personality and the parts where they were all hanging out and just being teenagers were very enjoyable. They made dumb choices with dumb motivations, and were occasionally mean to each other, but it felt like real dumb teenagers. Lastly, the magic and how it was harnessed was so unique and fit the setting of the story so well and I thought it was well done.

Overall, I didn’t love this book and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to everyone, but I think it is still worth checking out for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I also think the story of teenagers using magic in the late 80s could be appealing to fans of Stranger Things or The Craft, so if that’s you, maybe give it a try. I gave this a 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Like all of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books, this is a deep and complex novel. It's intricately plotted. It takes place in the 80s, It is part coming-of-age story mixed with romance, morally gray characters and supernatural magic, It's about a fifteen girl who can cast magic spells using vinyl records in 1988 and who is returning to Mexico City two decades later as a grown woman for her father’s funeral. It's an interesting concept. A great book!

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

I first fell in love with the writing of Silvia Moreno Garcia in 2015 when I read Signal To Noise. Since then, she has blown up in much deserved popularity (The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Velvet Was the Night, Mexican Gothic). Rebelion books has reissued her debut novel and I am recommending it here !

In Signal To Noise we meet Meche (Mercedes) and her two outcast friends living in Mexico City and attending private school in the 1980's. When Meche discovers her power to cast spells via vinyl records, the fun begins! There is a bit of YA unrequited and mismatched love, a bit of revenge and of course supernatural flavors. As many debuts, there is a bit more of the "tell" than the "show" but this novel still spoke to me. Much like the mixed tapes of the 80's there truly wasn't a lot of international literature available to a willing reader and I ate up the descriptions of Mexico City. If you are a Sylvia Moreno- Garcia fan , Mexico City fan, or just love YA love stories with a twist, then Signal to Noise is for you!
#SilviaMorenoGarcia #SignalToNoise #RebellionPublishing

~Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review~
A whimsical coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old girl growing up in Mexico City as she discovers love, friendship, and, above all, magic. The banter in this story was AMAZING, especially between our main character, Meche, and her best-friend Sebastian. I loved that the duel timelines of this narrative gave the reader a sneak peek into Meche's future and that the changing of POVs (despite how many there were) gave the reader a new and necessary perspective into Meche's story. While I wish the magic that Meche and her friends discovered was better explained and utilized throughout the story, I can't deny how magnetic this story and its characters were, so much so that I devoured this book in a day! This was a great introduction to Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I can't wait to explore more of her works!

I have not read all of the works of Silvia Moreno- Garcia, but those that I have read have been favorites of mine. (Certain Dark Things, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Velvet Was the Night). Even though her books are NEVER the same, each of the three books that I have read so far has ended up being a favorite of mine. Now, with Signal to Noise, I can count that as FOUR favorites. This book was absolutely fantastic. Told in two timelines of 1988 and 2009, Signal to Noise is the story of Meche, a fifteen girl who learned to cast magic spells using vinyl records in 1988 and who is returning to Mexico City two decades later as a grown woman for her father’s funeral. During this return trip, Meche is forced to confront her broken friendships with Daniela and Sebastian, both of whom meant a great deal to her in 1988, but with whom she had a falling out in 1989.

This novel has music, magic, love, friendship, family, and a bit of nostalgia. Basically, there is a little bit of everything that I love in a book. I could not love this one more!

Personal rating:
4.25🌟, rounded to 4🌟


Favourite quote:
“The only problem is I don't stitch spells anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I hurt people, once.”
“Did they deserve to be hurt?”
Grandmother touched Meche's chin. “Don't they always, when you're a girl?”


This is surprisingly good? I'll be honest, when I first started the story, I was already slightly irritated because the formatting went to crap when I opened the PDF file on my Kindle. Not blaming anyone, just an unfortunate thing is what it is.

Still, despite that, I found myself very much enjoying the story. Even when Meche's being a music snob, I barely minded her endless music references, which is wild to me 😌

Plus, we were only given glimpses of the dad but he still managed to make my heart ache?? My feelings remain to be quite complicated when it comes to that sad, miserable man, which I'm sure is exactly what Meche (and maybe even her mom) feels towards him. Kudos to the author for succeeding in making me feel this way.

I do feel the ending is slightly too easy for my liking, though, which ended up impacting my enjoyment of the entire story. Reminds me all over again that endings do affect you quite a lot, seeing as they serve as stories' conclusions and all.

I still had a great time overall, can't wait to read more from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. She's on the fast track to becoming my new favourite author 💖

I love Silvia Moreno-García's writing, and it was no different in Signal to Noise. Everything felt so lyrical, so perfectly described, that it's like you're inside the story watching as everything unfolds. I did have an issue with it but let's start with what I loved first.

The Good
- While the summary does talk about magic, the book doesn't focus on that aspect as much. Since the timeline is divided in the past & the present, I think the present showed that sometimes mundane things can have magic of their own and I liked that.
- Daniela is an absolute sweetheart and she deserves the world
- Sebastián is so cool and he also deserves better
-With all of the songs mentioned in the book a playlist can easily be created and they're all bops
- Like I said before, SMG is something else when it comes to writing. I haven't read a book of hers that I didn't like

The Bad
- Meche, that's it.

It's hard when the only bad thing in a book is the main character, but Meche was just plain awful. Look, I love unhinged and unlikeable women in stories, yet there was something about Meche that I just couldn't stand. It felt like everyone grew up except her. She held a grudge against her friends over something that they truly saved her from because it was dangerous, and she held on to that anger for years. It's hard to love a character when they don't evolve in any shape or form. She sort of got better near the end but I couldn't root for her.

I'm still giving it four stars because the story is really good and it was easy to get past Meche's tantrums when the story offered other POVs.

This is a republished edition of her debut book and it is a work of music, magic, and love that shines. Set across dual timelines in Mexico City it is a fantasy, a love story and ax coming of age story rolled into a single beautiful book.

The characters are complex, flawed and totally relatable. The story is a tribute to great musicians and songwriters and of course Mexico in all it’s complex, strange and wondrous beauty.

There are no major occurrences or plot twists, but once again she delivers a story that is powerful in its own right.

An incredible read, well written with a captivating storyline, well developed characters and nostalgia aplenty. I really loved it,

Childhood friends to lovers. Second chance romance. Found family. Flashback scenes. Magic, music, and morally grey main characters. I love this book so much.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia did it again. She makes me fall in love with her stories every time I open one of her books, and even though this one is a bit different from what I have read from her before, it was no exception. The story is filled with music, magic and love. Sometimes these interwine and this mix creates and transforms everything we will be reading. Meche was such a complex character, I could relate to her on ocasions, and there were moments where I just wished I could talk her out of many things. The story does not have major plot-twists or great/grandiose revelations but it does not mean that it won't make you feel things, and that is very powerful.

This story, with its many layers of significance, deeply felt emotions, and real life characters felt so relatable to me that I felt spoken to in a soul level.

One of my favorites by an author that writes profound books.

Really fun book about adolescent love in every frustrating aspect of it. This novel is filled with magic, love,. and friendship like no other.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's stories have yet to disappoint me! I love how effortlessly she is able to include Mexican culture into everything she writes. I did find the main character is this pretty stubborn but other than that, I loved the friendships, the magic, and the music elements.

Moreno- Garcia blows my mind with how her books are all so different from eachother but are always absolutely fantastic, this is my fifth book by her and she hasn't let me down yet!
Signal to Noise is a nostalgic coming-of-age story focusing on three friends who discover the power of magic through music. Ringleader Meche is overbearing and prickly but that makes her softer moments even more tender and I especially felt that in her relationship with her grandmother. Infact for someone that could come across as wholly unlikeable I really felt for Meche, both in the 80s and as an adult. I liked how this story could have just been about magic but was balanced beautifully by exploring friendship families and growing up.

Thank you Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review

Io amo Silvia Moreno Garcia, e mi piace il suo muoversi fra diversi generi sempre con un occhio alla tradizione e uno all'innovazione. Mi intrigava l'idea di una magia realizzata attraverso la musica, anche se non avevo idea di come l'avrebbe sviluppata: e la storia alla fine è quella eterna degli adolescenti, delle loro famiglie, delle loro amicizie, dei loro desideri - e di come non vedano che tutto ha un costo, che sia magia o meno. Intelligente, credibile (anche e soprattutto nel mettere in scena una protagonista profondamente antipatica - e che no, dopo vent'anni non è migliorata...), si fa leggere come sempre con vero piacere.

I recently fell in love with Silvia Moreno-Garcia and her writing after completing Velvet Was The Night and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and when I saw the rerelease of Signal To Noise I jumped to read it. Overall Garcia’s strengths show: deep characters, strong world building but I did not love this book like I did her others.

While the characters were deep, I never cared for them and I even disliked them especially Mercedes and Sebastian. I know they are teenagers throughout the book but they felt like brats. I did feel sympathy over Mercedes parents but the rest of the book, even as an adult, she felt cold, angry and bitter. That was the problem because I never wanted them to succeed, I wanted them to change.

Overall Signal To Noise was not in my favorite books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia but I do look forward to reading her other books!

Silvia is my favorite forever, I would read literally anything she pens. I love this witchy story of misfits figuring out friendship, love, and sorcery. I love her main characters. They’re never sugar sweet and so refreshing. Also the music on this book? 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

It's hard to know how to classify Signal to Noise, so in the end I have settled on "Fiction/Magical Realism". One thing I enjoy about reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia's works is that every one of them is different, and with each new book you don't know quite what to expect. Signal to Noise is her earliest work, but one I am only getting to off the back of reading several more recent tales. It has a quiet start, initially seeming mostly to be a drama about family and friendship and wounds from the past, before the magical realism elements start to come in, making you wonder if the events that took place were real or just imagination. Interestingly, I read this shortly after watching the musical K-drama The Sound of Magic, and that series featured a few similar ideas. The theme of music running through Signal to Noise is a delight and ties everything together so well. By the quarter mark I was fully immersed in the action and keen to see how the story would progress, and my interest held until the finale--an ending which I found satisfying. If you liked any of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other books, you will certainly like this one, and if you are new to her writing, Signal to Noise would be a decent place to start. It gets 4.5 stars from me.

(My review will go live on my blog at the link provided below on 30 August, closer to release date for the title. At that time I will also share on Goodreads and across social media.)

I introduced Silvia Moreno Garcia's books to my students recently and they fell in love. This new title - a reprint of SMG's first ever title - is the ultimate slice of nostalgia pie.