I've patiently waited for the chance to read this book for months, and am so glad I didn't have to wait a moment longer! Alejandra's life appears ideal from the outside. A stay at home mom married to a successful husband, with three healthy children, and a large home in Philadelphia. Yet, Alejandra struggles every day to hold on to her sanity as she fights an inner dialogue that fills her mind with horrible thoughts and a wish for a different life. But what if these are more than just random thoughts? Why are things getting worse, and seemingly affecting her children too? The reader will journey along with Alejandra as she learns that this affliction isn't unique to her, and that sometimes we must unravel the past to save our future.
The Haunting of Alejandra does a beautiful job examining modern motherhood and marriage, and reminds us to heed the call of ancestral knowledge. This book is a must-read for anyone who roots for generational healing, breaking trauma cycles, and the continuous magic of mujeres. I only wish that we had even more detail into Alejandra's point of view. This book does not disappoint, but readers of longer, slow burning thrillers like River Woman, River Demon might feel that this book is a bit abrupt.
Basically, my only critique here is that I wanted more of this necessary story about a woman facing her inner demons and the healing that is possible for all of us.

Thank you to Net Galley and Del Ray, Penguin Random Randomhouse for the advance copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine as well as the author for this ARC. I truly appreciate it.
#NetGalley #RandomHouseBallantine #V.Castro #TheHauntingofAlejandra

Well, this won’t be the last book by this author that I read. Ms. Castro is a very talented writer. This book had a lot of great things going for it.
Alejandra begins as a very relatable figure for many of us. She is a stay-at-home mother of three kids ranging from nine to eighteen months. She’s married to a man who is way too concerned about his career and himself to notice how much his wife is struggling. Alejandra is experiencing severe depression and anxiety related to her life as a mother. She desperately needs a break, some support, and counseling. Alejandra has considered suicide more than once. She also seems to be being followed by a ghost. Finally, she reaches out to a local therapist as well as a spiritualist for help. Melanie, the therapist and curandera, is just the support system she needs for both her depression and her haunting.
This story is a definite slow burn. There were times I wasn’t sure I could stick. This story definitely could have used some editing. Alejandra, as much as I empathize, could have been portrayed as less whiny at times. There was a lot of repetition. I’m glad I stuck it out though because the pay out was good.
The cultural aspect of this book was the best part. I love the story of La Llorona. She’s terrifying because she’s such a sympathetic and desperate character. Alejandra believes that La Llorona is the ghost that she keeps seeing because it appears as a woman in white. Alejandra is hell bent on protecting her children from the ghost who is known to steal kids. If only it were that easy! Very, very fun! Also, I believe it’s important for the depression that many women experience surrounding motherhood and childbirth. It’s a very real problem. I love how the author was truthful about it while also making sure to clearly communicate how much she loved her kids and how they weren’t the cause of her troubles but that didn’t make her troubles any less real.
This book is great for lovers of ghosts and demons. It’s also good for horror-loving moms. It’s too slow in parts but, stick with it.

From the publisher:
Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. To her own adoptive mother, she is a daughter. But they cannot see who Alejandra has become: a woman struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her.

Nor can they see what Alejandra sees. In times of despair, a ghostly vision appears to her, the apparition of a crying woman in a ragged white gown.

When Alejandra visits a therapist, she begins exploring her family’s history, starting with the biological mother she never knew. As she goes deeper into the lives of the women in her family, she learns that heartbreak and tragedy are not the only things she has in common with her ancestors.

Because the crying woman was with them, too. She is La Llorona, the vengeful and murderous mother of Mexican legend. And she will not leave until Alejandra follows her mother, her grandmother, and all the women who came before her into the darkness.

But Alejandra has inherited more than just pain. She has inherited the strength and the courage of her foremothers—and she will have to summon everything they have given her to banish La Llorona forever.

My Thoughts:

This was a tough read at the beginning just from Alejandra's state of mind. She loves her kids and husband, but things are tough on her. She's crying in the shower. It's like she has some form of post partum psychosis. Her state of mind is part of what draws La Llorona.

Thankfully, Alejandra seeks professional help. I couldn't have continued to read the despair and depression she was feeling. In the process of therapy, she discovers that not only has she inherited La Llorona, but the strength of her ancestors. And she needs it all.

Alejandra is the most fleshed out character in the book, which makes sense. Her counselor, her biological mother, and some of her ancestors also have enough page time to give them depth. This is a women's tale.

While it is slow in places, overall, the book moves at a decent pace appropriate to the story. The horror is done well. Creepy in places and it's downright terrifying in others. It had me worried for the characters, especially Alejandra and her children.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's a good horror story - terrifying in parts, creepy in others. And the feeling of horror lasts on beyond the last page. The pacing is slow in parts, but overall it's appropriate. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed other books like Mexican Gothic.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my opinions.

I think this is one of those books that has a very specific audience- luckily for me, I am in that audience. I think the pacing is slow, but because the book deals so deeply with emotions and generational trauma, it makes sense to me that the author would take time to delve into those things and spend time with those feelings.

While it is most definitely horror, this book uses it as a heavy handed (but effective) metaphor for all sorts of evils and traumas experienced by women and women of color. As a results, the horror elements dim in comparison- and I think that's the point.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, for this arc.

This book has a magnificent cover and gives you so much to think about! Written by a Latinx author, The Haunting of Alejandra is a ghost story that mixes folkloric monsters with generational trauma. The Mexican mythical vengeful ghost of La Llorona plays a prominent part in this book.

In this story we follow Alejandra, a Latinx woman who has not been in touch with her roots, she was adopted when she was an infant, and her adoptive parents were very religious so she was never allowed to connect to her roots or anything related to her ancestry. She is married and a stay-at-home mom of two children who feels overwhelmed and everyday less attached to her judgmental husband.

She believes her demons and the visions she has with more and more frequency are symptoms of a illness. With the help of a therapist - and curandera - and also with the help of generations of women who have come before her and found a way forward, Alejandra needs to balance her emotional turmoil, her bad marriage, motherhood, depression with a curse that plagues her family.

This novel is so well-done and terrifying. It shows us the importance of connecting to our own roots. The more the protagonist connects to her roots more powerful she becomes to confront the ghost of La Llorona. It is a tale of female empowerment, a tale of a woman who gives so much of herself and who does not hesitate to do everything she can to find a way out, to end a cycle of generational pain and suffering.

A compelling and enjoyable novel with very rich imagery. I am kind of obsessed with V. Castro.

I would say the first 80% of this book was engaging but then stuttered at the end. Alejandra is married to a guy who believes her only job is to be a stay at home but she feels unfulfilled. Turns out La Llorona has ties to her family and Alejandra starts seeing visions. She finds a therapist who helps her tap into her history and connect with her ancestors.

I couldn't really relate to Alejandra because I have no desire to have children but I found the story interesting even if the conclusion went by too quickly.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for a eARC in exchange for my honest review. Never have I felt a book so deeply in my soul. I loved the different points of view and stories within the story. Eerie and thought provoking. This book put me down a deep hole and brought me out with hope. Being a mother is hard let’s work together to be there for each other. There are many triggers in this book so if you know the Folklore of La Llorona look it up before reading.

The Haunting of Alejandra" is a spine-chilling ghost story that had me on the edge of my seat. The author's writing style is atmospheric and haunting, creating a sense of dread and unease that stayed with me long after I finished the book.

The characters are well-developed and relatable, and their struggles with grief and loss add an emotional depth to the story that I appreciated. The setting is also beautifully described, with the lush jungle landscape and old mansion providing a perfect backdrop for the eerie events that unfold.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, there were a few moments where the pacing felt a bit slow, and I found myself wanting the story to move forward more quickly. Additionally, some of the supernatural elements felt a bit confusing at times, and I would have liked more clarity around the ghostly happenings.

Overall, "The Haunting of Alejandra" is a well-written and chilling ghost story that is sure to delight fans of the horror genre. While it's not without its flaws, it's a solid and entertaining read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a spooky tale to keep them up at night.

Was I the only one drawn to this cover? Initially when I came across the book and read the synopsis it was a must I read it. I’ve seen a movie based off La Llorona so I figured the book would give the same scary vibes.

This was also my first book by the author and I wasn’t completely dissatisfied. I actually enjoyed how the author metaphorically incorporated the tale of La Llorona alongside everything Alejandra had been dealing with.

The story follows FMC Alejandra a young woman suffering from unhappiness, depression, loneliness, loss of self-identity, and the struggles of being a mother and wife. The more she dealt with these things in silence the harder and darker her life had become. After awhile thoughts of suicide, nightmares, demonic encounters, and harmful acts plagued Alejandra’s mind.

With no knowledge of her family’s background because she was adopted what she assumed to be a mental illness was actually a generational curse. When Alejandra began therapy and rekindled with her biological mother she got a sense of who she was and what she was really dealing with.

The novel itself wasn’t bad but I felt the book had a lot going on with the timeline jumps. I had moments of confusion with them until I realized the flashbacks were Alejandra’s ancestors and their encounters with La Llorona. I think Alejandra’s character could be very relatable for some. Her husband Matthew was horrible and unsupportive. It took for Alejandra to nearly commit suicide before he noticed how bad things had gotten for her.

Overall, the book was okay I enjoyed the authors retelling of La Llorona. I didn’t find it as scary or creepy like the movie I’ve seen but it was still interesting. So if you’re into folklore retellings or paranormal type novels you might enjoy this book. Special thanks to author, @delreybooks, & @netgalley for my advanced copy!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

The Haunting of Alexandria was a very short but engaging novel! I did not know much about Mexican folklore. Therefore, this novel was a pleasant surprise. I thought that the story was well-written and had compelling characters! I also liked the setting and how it incorporated Mexican culture into the story. Thus, this was a perfect read for fans of gothic horror! I recommend this for fans of Mexican gothic!

This book was not at all what I was expecting, and I loved it. What a beautifully haunting story. This novel deals so powerfully with topics such as motherhood, depression, and multigenerational trauma told through a horror lens utilizing Mexican folklore.

Following Alejandra, a woman struggling in her marriage with feelings of hopelessness after giving up everything to be a mother, it soon becomes clear that her family may have a history of women struggling in similar ways (and it may not just be genetics). This was such an interesting take on the La Llorona story and I don’t want to say too much more there because it is worth reading for yourself!

This was my first work by V. Castro and certainly won’t be my last. She has such an engaging writing style that kept me gripped throughout the story. I love that this was told through vignettes and gave us different POVs as we learned about the female ancestors of Alejandra and the similar struggles that they went through. Flor in particular was very interesting as we learn about her involvement in the Mexican Revolution.

This story was just such an interesting take on a traditional haunting story, and I cannot recommend it enough for horror fans!

The Haunting of Alejandra is a short novel of Magical Realism and Horror written by Mexican-American author V. Castro. The story follows a woman - the eponymous Alejandra - who is miserable for reasons she feels unable to explain to anyone: she relies upon her husband for support, a husband who insists that she should be grateful for everything he does for her, she struggles to be a good mother to children who she loves and yet always feels wanted for more from, and she is stuck in a state she didn't grow up in without any family or friends of her own to rely upon. In addition to depression, Alejandra finds herself haunted by a strange spirit who takes the form of a Mexican folk legend, La Llorona, who appears to her and begs her to conduct self harm. The resultent novel uses Alejandra's story, as well as the interspersed stories of her ancestors, to tell a tale dealing with generational traumas, systemic oppression of women and minorities, and depression, as Alejandra discovers the roots behind her depression and haunting with the help of a therapist who specializes in more than the scientic method and believes in what Alejandra claims to be seeing.

The result is actually a pretty effective, if perhaps slightly too short novel for all the impact that The Haunting of Alejandra tries to have. Alejandra's story is portrayed very well and she's a very easy to sympathize with character, as a young woman who has never been given the support she deserves at any point in her life - from her Christian Foster Family, to the husband who lavished her with gifts at first but then seemed to just demand she become tied to him and that she appreciate that, to the biological mother who gave her up at birth - and her depression is very understandable. The demonic horror tied to that depression works as well, as does the book's tying of that depression to generational traumas, traumas that source themselves all the way back to colonial oppresion and earlier sexism. And the book's use of a therapist, especially one who merges modern medical techniques with the spiritual methods of a Curandera, is excellent, as the therapist helps guide Alejandra towards a resolution that allows her to move past the horror. It's a book that works well with its message and themes and ties to Mexican and Mexican-American history, even if the short page length makes some transformations occur rather quickly.

I'll try to give more specifics after the jump.



----------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------
Alejandra's world is miserable. She now lives in Philadelphia with her three kids and husband Matthew, but has no one else. Even worse, she has nothing else to do - at Matthew's partial insistence she quit working years ago when she became a mother, and with the move from Texas it's not like she can dstart again. Moreover, Matthew insists that she doesn't need to work and that she should merely be grateful for the fact that she financially doesn't have to thanks to him...not that he will ever listen or let her explain that she has wants of her own. And she's basically had no ability to satisfy any wants of her own for ages, to the point where she isn't sure of what those wants might be - all she knows is what others want of her, with her children wanting her to be their mother and to demand things constantly and Matthew wanting her to cater to him and all his wants, even if Matthew is in no way physically abusive or sexually demanding.

And now she's seeing things, like a demon silhouette out of the corner of her eye, whispering to her to cause herself pain, to commit suicide. Other times she dreams of seeing women who look like her, but older, floating in water, staring at her, begging her to invoke their power for....something.

Alejandra needs help and knows it has to change, and so she looks up and finds one possible source of help: a therapist Melanie who also advertises herself as a Curandera, a spiritual healer. And in opening herself up to Melanie, Alejandra soon finds things that might make life lighter...and begins to understand that the feelings she is having aren't abnormal and might have their roots in her ancestry - an ancestry of women who have been oppressed, who have all never had support from their own mothers, and who have been haunted by wants and the supernatural for ages.

Understanding this ancestry may help Alejandra move forward...but the demon haunting her will not accept Alejandra escaping its clutches so easily, not when Alejandra's misery and her children's fear, like the fear of her ancestors, is all so tasty to consume. To stop that demon, Alejandra will need to take a deliberate dangerous action to not only change her life, but the destiny of her entire bloodline....
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The Haunting of Alejandra jumps back and forth in time, with most chapters centering around Alejandra in the present, but occasional chapters jumping back sometimes centuries into the times of her ancestors, like her Mayan ancestor Atzi who was raped and enslaved by a Spanish conquerer and made a devil's bargain that began her bloodline's curse in the 1500s, the story of her grandmother Frances who abandoned her biological mother Cathy, the story about how Cathy became pregnant with Alejandra and why she gave Alejandra away, and even the story of her ancestor Flor, who left her family for a time to fight in the Mexican Revolution amongst men, including among the very real life historical figure Colonel Amelio Robles, a trans man who accepted Flor and fought with her. Through these jumps back in time we see how the depression and generational trauma of their family has made its impact upon each of them - which isn't helped along by the literal demon who is haunting their family and trying to feed off their misery. All of these ancestors struggled with sexist times, with being forced into roles and positions they didn't want, and all wanted better for their children - sometimes through attepting to give their children to someone else to better raise - even when what they tried to wound up being more hurtful than helpful, and thus only continued the generational trauma. Their stories are all unique and yet similar and its really easy to feel for them all in their struggles, especially as the reader sees them generally - but not always - struggle with the results they achieve.

And then there's Alejandra, a woman who struggles with more modern day versions of the same phenomenon. She wound up in a puritan evangelical foster family, one who didn't broker any disagreement with their ways and didn't really provide support to her as a child (Alejandra not being religiously Christian, being secretly Bi, and being Latino didn't help). She found what she thought was love in a man like Matthew who offered her gifts...and mistook being given things that he liked and that others said were good for love, resulting in her winding up in a loveless marriage where she's expected to be a stay at home mother without an income and just appreciate all Matthew does for her. She loves her kids...and yet at the same time, feels like she can't keep up with their constant demands that often contradict one another and that she's a bad mother for doing so. And she has no other friends or family - the one thing she thought she found was a surprise reconnection with her biological mother Cathy, but Matthew ripped them away from her when they moved to Philly. It's small wonder that Alejandra deals with depression, even if she didn't deal with a literal demon haunting her and trying to feed off of it...and to feed off of similar fears and anxieties of her children.

But Alejandra is perfectly capable of feeling better, she just needs a guide to help her find her way and to allow her to figure out what she actually wants. In that, she finds Melanie, a therapist who not only is board certified, but also helps with Curandera (shamanistic) methods, such as building an alter and meditation. In Melanie she finds someone who listens to her and doesn't disbelieve her, who offers her ideas and support and doesn't shame her, and honestly is willing to go far beyond what most people will find from their therapists in terms of the degree of help she offers, and how willing to be on call she is. And with her help, they prove that a person can find their own way, even an unconventional way, to get better, even if that person's depression isn't just menial, but is magical, as it is here, with the magical realism of the book being a literal demon feeding on the family's generational misery. It's a pretty good message that this book carries from beginning to end, and I appreciated that.

The book has some flaws - as I mentioned above, the book kind of has Melanie super attentive to Alejandra to a point that kind of seems ridiculous and doesn't quite jive with most therapists people will find out there, and the impact the therapy has on Alejandra is probably a bit too abrupt to be realistic. But well, its fiction with a message rather than non-fiction, so these sins are forgivable, and everyone's attitudes and issues here are portrayed fairly well, resulting in a strong use of magical realism to take on a very serious and apt message in these days. A worthy read.

*3.5*

Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. To her own adoptive mother, she is a daughter. But they cannot see who Alejandra has become: a woman struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her.

I really wanted to love this, particularly because I love the lore of La Llorona but this did fall a little short for me and that’s really because it wasn’t a story of La Llorona. I think she was a side in the background plot but it was really more about the struggles with motherhood and not having the happy marriage she felt she had. Some of it felt a little to forced.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine/Del Rey for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The folklore aspect had me intrigued, and was why I was interested in this title. However, this felt like a huge miss from the beginning. I ended up picking this up and putting down off and on. I ultimately DNF’d halfway through, so my rating is based on what I did get through. I feel as though the writing style contributed to my not wanting to continue.

Haunting? Yes! Trauma? Yes! Possession? Maybe?! Any book by V Castro is an automatic read for me, so I was excited to pick this up. This is a telling of the La Llorona story, who is a Mexican ghost who is roams near bodies of water mourning children that she drowned. So already - not for the faint of heart. I was a little iffy going forward b/c violence toward children is usually a no go topic for me. But this narrative focuses more on Alejandra's feelings of suffocation and stagnation, and how she is haunted in the walls of her house. Intergenerational trauma seems to be a popular theme lately, and this book handles it well. I really liked the character Melanie her therapist/curandera. I'd recommend this novel to anyone who likes a sad spooky (but not too scary) story that weaves in women's issues and shows how we are haunted by all manner of ghosts. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del-Ray for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!~

"He often called her 'difficult woman' in jest. She hated it. Was she difficult to love? A difficult woman despite catering to him at every opportunity, even when he gave her a cold shoulder or stormed away like a fourth child?"

**trigger warning for suicide/thoughts of suicide**

Characters - 8/10
The Haunting of Alejandra follows Alejandra, her mother, and countless of her ancestors. Alejandra is a mother that cannot stand her current life. She loves her kids, but loathes having to be a stay at home mother. Her husband, Matthew, is one of the most unbearable men i've ever had the displeasure of reading about, The woman is a saint for having to put up with his childish and selfish behavior alone. She clearly loves her children, but does not understand why she would rather be dead than be around them a second longer. No one would be shocked to find that, once again, Castro has written a cast of strong, badass women.

Atmosphere - 9/10
I think the biggest indicator of the atmosphere for this book being chilling was when i had to turn the lights on when i read at night because I kept hearing noises and getting spooked. From the first few pages, Alejandra is already seeing apparitions within the first few pages and if that didn't unsettle you, her seemingly postpartum depression is far too relatable for someone that's not a mother. If you've watched The Babadook, I felt like I was expecting her to recreate that scene where the mom stops the car and screams "WHY AREN'T YOU NORMAL????". And honestly, I couldn't blame her if she had.

Writing - 9/10
I have always loved Castro's writing and this book did not disappoint either. She has writes about women without sugar coating anything. Woman are people too - they have periods, orgasms, and intense emotions. She never leaves any of the "ugly" out and it really adds depth to her stories. This, like many of her novels, is written in a dual POV, which I prefer in works of horror. She interweaves the present day happenings of our main character, Alejandra, while weaving in flashes of what happened in her ancestor's pasts.

Plot - 9/10
A truly delicious plot, that felt wholy original, but still had that Castro mark. She very much likes writing about the reproductive system and motherhood, but this felt entirely new for her. I love that we got a generational curse based on a Latinx mythological being, I feel like I do not see nearly enough about mythology in this genre (I highly recommend you also check out some of her other books if you find this genre interesting). I had zero idea how they were going to resolve this curse and she surely did not disappoint.

Intrigue - 9/10
I read this in one sitting for fear that if I had too many sittings, I might also start seeing this creature in my room at night! But in all honesty, her books are so bingeable and nearly everyone I've read, I have read in a sitting or two.

Logic/World-building - 8/10

Enjoyment - 8/10
Fantastic, had a wonderful time, cannot wait to see more from her!!!

Overall, a 8.57/10 or 4.5/5 stars.

V. Castro has yet to disappoint me, can't wait for her next one!

I’m not entirely sure where to start… This was beautifully haunting and impactful. This was a beautiful mix of Mexican folklore and women’s fiction. It’s billed as a horror and women’s fiction blend. However, for me, it read more like women’s fiction, which I quite enjoyed.

Sometimes we lose ourselves being everything to everyone, even in an attempt to be everything to everyone. In the process, we tend to make everyone happy but ourselves. That’s the case for Alejandra. She’s a mom, a wife, a daughter, but she’s not happy. Alejandra has to adjust to her new life after moving from Philly to Texas for her husband’s promotion. It’s one hell of an adjustment…

The story picks up with La Llorona, which made me more interested in the myth. Some parts of the story were slow for me, but that’s a personal preference. The dialogue was also a little awkward to me, but it didn’t put me off the story. One of the things that Castro does amazingly well is that she writes Alejandra so that readers can’t help but identify with Alejandra and be empathetic. I also enjoyed how she introduced other timelines into the story.

This story caused me to have some moments of reflection. While I didn’t identify with every aspect of Alejandra’s life, I understood how she felt. “The Haunting of Alejandra” is a beautiful, gripping tale, and I enjoyed it very much.

Alejandra is a wife, a mother, a daughter, who somewhere along the way has lost her identity as a human / her own person. As Alejandra plunges into her depre and starts seeing the Llorona in real life and not just her dreams, she seeks help.

To be quite honest, the beginning was a bit of a drag. I almost DNF'd, but once I got through ~10% of the book, it picked up the pace and I'm glad I kept reading. I really enjoyed the metaphors deeply entwined within the story, but there were chunks of the story that felt unnecessary.

"The Haunting of Alejandra" is more of a testament to Alejandra's strength and the power of generational healing against generational trauma. Castro does a good job of combining her story with the folktale of La Llorona.

Thank you to Random House & NetGalley for the ARC!

Overall I very much enjoyed this book. There were many things I liked about it and some that not so much so let’s breaking this down.

First, I LOVED the concept of this book. I am not a mother but I am the daughter of a Mexican woman and can speak from experience about the amount of self-reflection and self-healing that it takes to break down the specific brand of multigenerational trauma Mexican women carry with them. V. Castro absolutely nailed the essence of this experience. Execution-wise I had more mixed feelings.

Firstly, even though this was a full length novel I actually thought this could have been longer. This would have given an opportunity to further develop Alejandra as a character. There are so many complexities to her that in order to get it across, the author had to rely more on telling and not showing, so there was a bit too much inner monologue explaining how she felt and less opportunity for the reader to get to know her in a more organic way. And the same was true, for some of the other characters. Especially because we explore different timelines with so many women, I wanted to spend more time with each one of them and also maybe spend more time specifically as they try to understand what is the entity that has been haunting them. Instead, I feel like the author had to explicitly tell us what is going on because there were just not enough pages to make it more of a mystery. This could also be a personal preference though, I love a slow burn, I love wordy, hyper-detailed stories but that is not necessarily the case for everyone.

The one other thing I didn’t love is that the self-examination process Alejandra goes through is written in such a straightforward way that some pages just feel like reading a self-help book, it’s just too many motivational quotes for me. And especially because the plot involves Alejandra visiting a therapist it’s all a bit on the nose. Again, my personality tends to be moodier rather than positive so that may be why this made me cringe a little, while maybe some people may actually enjoy reading positive affirmation.

So those are my only too criticisms. On to the the things I liked…. I already mentioned the concept. But I also wanted to commend the author for including one other unique aspect of Mexican culture that came across as very genuine, and that is that feeling of living at the interface between mysticism and organised religion, usually Catholicism. I loved how many of the characters embrace one or the other or both, to draw strength to fight their haunting.

Of course I have to talk about the horror elements, and this area V Castro blew it out of the water. The descriptions of the creature/entity were disgustingly beautiful. There is some intense gore and body horror involving female bodies that were so unapologetically horrifying, especially the very last horror scene. What a way to close the book!

I feel like even though I don’t always love V Castro’s writing style, I will be reading every single book she puts out. She has such a unique voice in horror right now, it is very daring, fearless, fiercely feminist, and extremely cathartic to read.

The Haunting of Alejandra is a pretty ambitious book that mostly sticks the landing. It tackles the social and generational trauma of women by viewing through the lens of one Mexican-American family and their connection to the myth of La Llorona (pronounced Yo-row-nah NOT Low-row-nah, please!)

Yeah, I had a good time here. I really liked the perspective chapters and how they tied up with the main storyline. My only complaint is that the writing often veered into cheesy territory, but you know what... it mostly added to this B movie feel that the book has (this is a plus in my mind)

I would absolutely recommend it.