It’s the end of the 80s in Mexico City and fifteen-year-old Meche is an awkward kid who is rough around the edges. Lucky for her she has two best friends, Sebastian and Daniela, and crates of vinyl records to keep her from becoming completely jaded. Her parents’ marriage has been falling apart for ages and she can’t quite put into words what she’s feeling for Sebastian.
The three friends navigate the intricacies of their families, their relationships with each other, and their futures with a touch of magic that can only be found in music.

Fast forward to 2009 and Meche has returned for her estranged father’s funeral. Now she has to cope with her mother and the memories of 1988 that explain to readers how her relationships fell apart.

This is an unusual and powerful coming-of-age story that has touches of magical realism/urban fantasy. I identified with this story on several levels because at 15 I had a couple close friends and it felt like it was us against the world. I remember using music as a secret code to explain all the things I hadn’t figured out how to say yet. Music made me brave; I gave it power and in turn it felt like it gave me power.

Full of nostalgia, plenty of 80s music pop culture, and the all-too common story of heartbreak due to failed communication; Signal to Noise delivers an authentic look at being a teenager and includes some lovely symbolism that was easy for me to relate to and appreciate.

I recommend this book to readers who appreciate YA with hints of magic realism.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Signal to Noise is a reprint of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 2009 debut. It unfortunately comes across as exactly what it is- a rough first book with some moments that speak to the amazing things the author will write later on.

The characters are pretty terrible people. This didn’t bother me at first because I still felt some love for Meche, Sebos, and Daniela and understood their faults as part of being a teenager. Unfortunately, none of them developed. In the 2009 timeline, Meche and Sebastian are if anything more horrible and knowing that they wouldn’t grow made following them in both timelines frustrating. Her 2009 dynamic with Sebastian also made me all kinds of uncomfortable. Daniela gets a little moment of growth but on the whole is treated as a doormat by both her friends and the story. (It did bring me some joy seeing her doing the best of the three in 2009)

Meche’s relationship with her father felt underdeveloped, like a beat was missing. The significance of her father’s death was told rather than shown and it never quite made sense why he was so important. Meche’s nana seemed just as thematically relevant and wasn’t given nearly as much attention.

The book also felt fan-fiction-y, which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but in this case was. The constant name dropping of songs and artists didn’t always feel integrated and often the sudden perspective jumping mid chapter felt lazy and jarring. I think there’s a much shorter and much stronger story inside this one, but it never peaks all the way out.

I liked the overall mood and tone. All the protagonists felt like teenagers (which is awesome). The setting was interesting when the story leaned into specificities of time and place. There were some strong moments, especially in Meche and her grandma’s relationship as well as Sebastian’s with his older brother.

If you’re looking for a split timeline story about family relationships, protagonists who’ve done terrible things for understandable reasons, and covens, I recommend Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert. If you want a better Moreno-Garcia read, I’d recommend Mexican Gothic (of course) or The Beautiful Ones. Signal to Noise is one you can skip.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Having previously read and loved Mexican Gothic, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this seemingly more light-hearted concept but i wasn’t disappointed! It was a great coming-of-age story woven through with music and magic, adolescent vengeance, and of course, unrequited love. A fun read.

I cannot believe that this is a debut novel. It is as beautiful as it is devastatingly sad. And it is as magical as it is haunting. I loved reading this and at the same time, all of my heartstrings were pulled on. A massive success.

DNF at 65%. I kept pushing and pushing, but I simply have zero interest in picking up the book anymore. For me, there was just nothing really appealing about it. I was intrigued by the magic and the music, but the magic was so bleh. And the characters were SO dislikable. I also wish we had explored Mexico City more. I was excited about the setting, but at no point did I feel or see it in my head. It felt like it could have taken place anywhere. Anyway, I Googled the end and I'm glad to be skipping the rest. I don't think I would have enjoyed it. That said, VERY excited to read her other works. I heard they're fantastic!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review. I really do appreciate it!

Man, I’ve held off reviewing this one because I just… don’t have a lot to say? It’s fine? The kids are obnoxious but realistic little weirdos? The ending isn’t super satisfying? Whatever. It’s decent.

This was not a bad book, it just wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with the story and I had very little sympathy for the characters. I also felt like it had a lot of telling - especially with Daniele - and that bothered me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for the review copy of Signal To Noise!
Signal To Noise is the debut novel of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. In many ways especially in matters of her writing style, the beginning of the book reminded me of her short story collection which I read before Signal To Noise, This Strange Way Of Dying. This story is essentially about Meche and her friends, Daniela and Sebastien, finding out they can cast spells by using vinyl records, in Mexico in the 1988’s. They realise they can conjure up what they want by using the right kinds of Vinyls and change their lives. Needless to say at this point but music plays an important part in the story and the tons of references to different songs and artists absolutely added to my enjoyment of the book as I started listening to the music while reading.

Simultaneously the story follows Meche in 2009, when she returns to Mexico for her father’s funeral, finally having to confront her past. Because magic might have changed their lives just a little bit too much in 1989. As always with Silvia’s books, and again with Signal To Noise, the story lingered that tiny bit longer which made it even better.

DNF @ 50%

This book should have been a slam dunk for me (music, magic, outcasts) and it just wasn't. I had a hard time staying interested in the story and I can't figure out why. This was my first book by this author, and while I don't usually go back to an author if I DNF the first book I read by them, I also know that this is an earlier book in her writing career and I've nothing but good things about her more recent efforts. I will go back to Moreno-Garcia as I feel like my issue with this book was me, not the author or writing (at least I think so)

Rating: 2.5
I don't know if this author is for me. It seems like the general consensus is that this is one of her worst books though, so maybe I should read more by her. The writing wasn't bad. I didn't really see the point in the 2009 parts. The main character sounded the same in 2009 and 1989, there was no character development and she deserved a worse ending.

I’m happy to read almost anything Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes. I hadn’t heard much about Signal to Noise, but since her rerelease of The Beautiful Ones was one of my favorite books of last year, I was interested in this one. We follow the dual timelines of our main character Meche from the 80s and the mid-2000s. In this storytelling, we can see how much has changed for her, and how family relationships and friendships have been fractured. She has a brain for numbers and is obsessed with music, and it’s through these passions that she begins to believe magic can be found. While this wasn’t my favorite Moreno-Garcia, and our main character was very unsympathetic, I found myself engaged throughout. The fact that this was Moreno-Garcia’s debut speaks to her caliber as an author. I’m eager to read the last few books I have on her backlist and all her future books.

Signal To Noise is Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel that's being re-edited and which comes out on September 13th. Set in two different timelines, the late 1980s and 2009, the main character Meche learns how to do spells through music and also deals with the death of her father in the present. That is all you need to know before entering this magical world of music and teenage friendships. In my opinion, this is a very original idea and I also liked the execution.

Meche liked a lot of music in Spanish and I thought it was so fun to find music that I recognise from my own life experiences.

As for the characters, I really did not like Meche at all. She was selfish, rude and so mean to her friends. Honestly, how did they even put up with her? In the present, Meche is not that much different from her teenage-self. I think her friends were likeable enough though. Sebos was very nice to Meche even though she was super mean to him, and I would've liked it if Daniela had stood up for herself even once, she was too nice.

Beautiful and evocative story about three teenager misfits who discover they can perform magic through playing certain records in Mexico in the 1980's.. Meche and Sebastian in particular were unsaparable, but when we jump 20 years to the present, they are completely estranged, and part of the mystery is what passed between them to break them up so suddenly. Feeled with nostalgia and music the story also explores Meche's family as she goes back in the present to her father's funeral.
With the success of Starnger Things, i think this book begs to be adapted to the screen. I've also gained some new playlists based on artists and songs mentioned in the story which was very nice.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book, it was a pleasure and I've discovered a new favorite author.

Enjoyed this debut by one of my favorite authors. This is one's a little different from Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other books, but they're all different from each other anyway. This one has a lot of music, magic, and teenage angst!

Signal to Noise has a unique premise, but it ended up being quite boring. As a music lover, the idea of music being magic really intrigued me, and I enjoyed the focus on music in the novel, but the actual plot fell a bit flat for me. The book bounces back and forth in time between the present in which Meche, the main character, is returning to Mexico City for the first time in 20 years for her father's funeral, and 1988/89 in which Meche is a 15 year old outcast learning how to cast spells with music with her two best friends. The majority of time is actually spent in the past, giving this more of a young adult novel vibe, but at the same time it does not seem to have enough plot to truly appeal to teenagers.
Family and friendship dynamics are the true theme of the novel, the magic is really just a vessel to explore the various relationships in the novel, so if this novel is presented in that way, I think it will find a more appreciative audience, than it will among fantasy readers.
Music lovers may want to put together a soundtrack of songs to play while reading this; I wish I would have had this while I was reading.

SIGNAL TO NOISE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia weaves music, magic, youth, and memory in a hypnotic, beautifully wrought story. The characters are memorable, situations relatable, all of the things that made me forget I was reading a novel, plunging me deep into a world I have never known but which felt familiar with Moreno-Garcia's deft storytelling. I received a copy of this novel and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

This book was not for me. The writing style didn’t work for me, with a lot of it feeling stilted. I also felt that the characters were mostly one-dimensional, and the one who wasn’t was a self-righteous bully with a victim complex. Had this been told from her perspective and not third-person, it might have made for an interesting unreliable narrator story, but alas. Additionally, the story didn’t really seem to know what it wanted to be, thus making the plot a bit murky. Overall it was a complete miss, which breaks my heart, as Moreno-Garcia is an auto-buy author for me.

I loved this so much! I love when Silvia Moreno Garcia writes about music, this really gave me High Fidelity vibes, but with magic.

Just like all of her work there is so much depth in the story, even in her debut, you really see the early markings of what makes her writing so great. The jumping back and forth in time was perfectly used in this book, I was so attached to the story in each timeline as more was revealed, truly compulsively readable. Magic, nostalgia, morally grey characters, teen angst, adults trying to come to terms with their past choices, so much love for music, and magic!

I definitely recommend picking this up, especially if you loved Velvet was the Night, but even as an entry to her work if you've never read anything by her before. It's truly a gem!

I'm so glad this debut novel got a re-release or I may not have picked it up right away. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an e-ARC of this book. I can't wait to add the physical copy to my collection for re-reading.

I wanted to like this book, I loved all the other work by this author but this one just wasn’t it for me. I had a hard time connecting with characters and story line

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

It's 2009 and Meche is returning to Mexico City after the death of her father to close that chapter of her life. Told in alternating timelines between then and the 1980s, we get an understanding of Meche, her friends, her family, and her magic.

Honestly, the cover of this book is beautiful. The author is well known, which drew me to the book. I was interested in where the story would go, but it didn't really go anywhere. We learn more about the characters, and there is a bit of resolution at the end, but getting there is so slow. If you're into slow, descriptive literature, this is definitely for you! However, that is not the case for me. I can appreciate it, but I won't be raving about it.

CW: bullying, violence, death of a parent