The closest thing to a Gothic novel I'd ever previously read was Northanger Abbey, which hardly counts, so Mexican Gothic seemed fresh and ingratiating (in the sense that it lured me in to the story). It begins as Cerulean does, with a protagonist taking a journey to a strange house. But in the case of Cerulean I found the journey mannered and annoying, and arrival at the house didn't continue the plot but put a pause in it, and I didn't find the children either credible or appealing. That's as far as I got. (This is vague, but I hardly remember much.)