We Came to Welcome You

A Novel of Suburban Horror

By: Vincent Tirado

Narrated by: iiKane

The Other Black Girl meets Midsommar in this spine-chilling, propulsive psychological adult debut from highly acclaimed author Vincent Tirado, in which a married couple moves into a gated “community” that slowly creeps into a pervasive dread akin to the social horror of Jordan Peele and Lovecraft County—We Came to Welcome You cleverly uses the uncanny to illuminate the cultish, shocking nature of systemic racism.

Where beauty lies, secrets are held…ugly ones.

Sol Reyes has had a rough year. After a series of workplace incidents at her university lab culminates in a plagiarism accusation, Sol is put on probation. Dutiful visits to her homophobic father aren’t helping her mental health, and she finds her nightly glass of wine becoming more of an all-day—and all-bottle—event. Her wife, Alice Song, is far more optimistic. After all, the two finally managed to buy a house in the beautiful, gated community of Maneless Grove.

However, the neighbors are a little too friendly in Sol’s opinion. She has no interest in the pushy Homeowners Association, their bizarrely detailed contract, or their never-ending microaggressions. But Alice simply attributes their pursuit to the community motto: “Invest in a neighborly spirit”…which only serves to irritate Sol more.

Suddenly, a number of strange occurrences—doors and stairs disappearing, roots growing inside the house—cause Sol to wonder if her social paranoia isn’t built on something more sinister. Yet Sol’s fears are dismissed as Alice embraces their new home and becomes increasingly worried instead about Sol’s drinking and manic behavior. When Sol finds a journal in the property from a resident that went missing a few years ago, she realizes why they were able to buy the house so easily…

Through Sol’s razor-sharp tongue and macabre sense of humor, Tirado explores the very real pressures to assimilate with one’s surroundings to “survive,” while also asking the question: Is it survival when you’re no longer your true self? Because in Maneless Grove, either you become a good neighbor—or you die.

It had good bones.

I really liked the premise of the story, however... don't waste your credit. The narration is just weird. Half human/half A.I. Finally the main character was way over the top with the victim mentality. It became more of the focus of the story. When wrapped up with the ending...it just made me think of the new social horror that was being spread.

A deeply troubling social paranormal horror.

I did love this novel, the horror was effective and enjoyable. I had more than a few moments of utter disgust at the body horror. All this being said the ending is one that’s leaving me scratching my head a bit. There are a few loose treads that get tied up in unsatisfying ways and a lot of lore that never gets explored. I’m not sure if the author intends to write more, if so I’d absolutely read any connected stories. But as a stand alone I do feel a bit like the ending betrays the core values of the main character.

A DNF Book for Me

I got about 6.5 hours into the book and decided it was one to put down. The main character manages to make herself the victim in every single scenario.

Every person in this book is deemed either racist or homophobic, and the main character doesn’t let you forget she’s a victim of both in every part.

The story itself is really good, but from what I read there was race or homophobia brought up so often and I don’t believe it had anything to do with the actual plot.
She literally decided she was never going to see a therapist again because upon the first 10-20 minutes in the first session the therapist didn’t know she was part black.

The AI type narration isn’t so bad, it’s definitely noticeable but doesn’t sound awful. The voices are nice and it comes out fairly smooth.

Overall, try it out but personally one of my very rare DNF books.

The Narration is awful.

I liked the book, would've been better reading it my self because the narration is so bad it ruins the overall effect. It's robotic and goes in and out of normal.

Preachy whining

The premise is really good but I struggled to get past the main character whining constantly. I don't think I've ever met a protagonist I disliked more. I have no desire to read anything else by this author now

Narrator was terrible

Story was pretty decent but it is so hard to immerse yourself in the story when the narration was so off-putting. Seems like a mix of real narration and AI. don't waste a credit.

Good story

This is a good story but the narrator sounds somewhat robotic, odd inflection….would recommend but this reading style diminishes the enjoyment

Interesting story, annoying narration

Narration was halting and made sentences hard to understand at times due to oddly emphasized words or phrases

AI & Confusing Story

This book started strong, but wow did it doe out. I appreciate the the queer representation, but the story didn't have much resolution and seemed to have but written by AI. The narrators are also AI and wow was it bad.

The terrible narrator. Had to be AI! Terrible to listen to

I love Stephen King and I felt like the author was going for his type of writing. Fail!