"The Haunting of Alejandra" follows Alejandra, and overwhelmed mother of three children and wife to an unsupportive, dismissive husband as she fights to save her family from a malevolent force that's been stalking them through generation.

I loved this book! It's a gorgeous exploration of very heavy, very real themes of generational trauma, motherhood, and existing as a woman today and throughout history. The book gives us glimpses into the past through Alejandra's ancestors, detailing their encounter with the entity stalking the women of their bloodline and demonstrating how the trauma of colonialism, misogyny, and mental illness manifest through generations. The descriptions of Alejandra's torment and depression are visceral and real; I felt genuinely anxious and angry for her, and her feelings and experiences were so true to life.

The use of the supernatural to embody the complex experience of generational trauma is phenomenal, and you'll find yourself rooting for Alejandra and all of her ancestors to break the cycle and kill the creature following them once and for all.

Cannot recommend this book enough. You'll like this if you like supernatural horror based in real-world issues of misogyny, racism and colonialism, feelings of loss of identity in motherhood, and generational trauma.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC; this has been my honest review!

The haunting of Alejandra had so much potential but ultimately fell flat for me. I was very intrigued by the idea of using generational trauma and a bit of spooky ghost ( la Llorona). Still, the multiple viewpoints from different people and times were hard to digest.

There were multiple times in the book when I felt the writing was immature, and I'd actually stop reading to google if this was supposed to be a YA book. Additionally, Alejandra's character would go off on these long monologues that left nothing for the reader to imagine or connect to because the author told you exactly how and what you were to feel about the situations.

One thing I did enjoy was the acknowledgment of regret some women face when having children. The author did an excellent job of getting the readers to understand that sometimes women get lost in their motherhood identity and it’s all-consuming.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC.

I loved The Haunting of Alejandra.
Even though Alejandra led a very different life from me, I felt her struggle and pain and guilt as she juggled 3 kids and a clueless husband and the loss of her identity.
I loved the way the story tied together with the previous generations and the curse of La Llorona. The book didn’t feel very scary, but a little bit dark and atmospheric with ties to the past and curses. Overall, it was a story about women and I think that’s what I enjoyed the most. Watching Alejandra grow into herself, fight the entity plaguing her and her family, and connecting with her biological parents as well as her cultural roots was amazing. And despite her frustrations as a parent, there was never a question that she loved her children.
I will mention that the beginning was a tad tough the read because you can’t help but feel for her as a character while she feels like she’s drowning, but she does find her footing and it’s worth the effort to see her find it.
I highly recommend this book if you’re a fan of books like those by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

This book is my first ever ARC and first ever book tour with @hearourvoices and I am so excited to share it with you! This book is not one I would normally read because it is a horror book but when @bookventureswithdivi shared the tour info and I read the book description I immediately wanted to read it since it mentioned La Llorona.

I grew up hearing stories about La Llorona so I was intrigued but when I started reading I realized that it was so much more than just the folklore I grew up hearing about. The book delve into Mental Health, Depression and Healing! This made me so happy because I have been on this healing journey for quite some time and it was like the universe aligned this ARC for me perfectly! The book had so many similarities to true life when it comes to healing. I related to it so much!

In addition, the book touched heavily on how trauma carries over from generation to generation. & it had so much history I had no idea about! From the Spanish conquest of the Aztec to Emiliano Zapata. The author did such a phenomenal job weaving together the main characters healing, history and the ghost that was haunting her, La Llorona.

Lastly it is important to note that there are a lot of triggers in this book: Depression, Suicide and Self Harm.

Thank you so much to @hearourvoices for giving me an opportunity to participate in this tour. & thank you to #Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me the ARC.

This review will be posted on
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yesiolvera/?hl=en
Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/yesiolvera
Podcast: TBD but can be found on instagram

<i>The Haunting of Alejandra</i> is a book primarily concerned with a woman's agency and fulfillment, much like other fiction from V. Castro. Here, Castro blends together Mexican folklore with ideas from modern feminism, exploring the pains, horrors, and loneliness of motherhood and marriage while also examining the depths of a mother's love. The book relies heavily on this counterbalancing of ideas--the longing for self-possession weighed against the obligations one has to family.

One of the things I love about Castro's fiction is that she really does work hard to make sure her point is clear, that her characters' actions and thoughts and feelings align with the cogent political statement she intends to make. Castro's voice cannot be louder in <i>The Haunting of Alejandra</i>; she speaks plainly and boldly about real psychological and political issues facing women--and especially women of color--in a patriarchal society that still has yet to relinquish its power over women. Much of the experience of Alejandra, the book's protagonist, is centered on the many ways she lacks agency, and Castro uses the folklore of La Llorona as a metaphor for the oppressive culture that ends up trapping women in generational cycles of unhappiness. Alejandra's eventual determination to confront that cycle is an important component of Castro's vision for her literature: it is the tool by which we may discover our own empowerment.

While Castro's vision for the novel's story is both necessary and deliberate, I do feel as though her prose and dialogue are not quite as polished. Her prose can get a bit repetitive and does not often flow well on the page. The same can be said for her dialogue, which often comes off as stilted or clunky; her style reminds me a lot of V.C. Andrews in this regard, for better or for worse. Readers accustomed to highly polished prose may struggle to connect with this story on account of its style.

Nevertheless, <i>The Haunting of Alejandra</i> is a worthy contribution to horror's recent boom, a valuable study of the need for a woman's agency and fulfillment. It is at times tender, painful, horrifying, and edifying, the kind of literature that showcases what horror is best capable of doing for us as humans with complex needs and desires. Castro understands especially the need for horror to address real issues women face in our modern world, and her voice serves as a bolstering call to action, empathy, and empowerment.

2 stars, only because I’ve read worse books and I appreciate the ideas of this even if the execution was so miserably poor. Alejandra commits the sin of being both corny and gory, making both the moments of hope and the moments of despair that much…goofier. This book about women committing suicide and murdering their children is so goofy, no joke. But it’s a joke that lands so flat.

About 50 pages in I realized that this was going to follow the typical horror movie formula, with a monster from a spooky legend and people not believing the protagonist and the demon tormenting the kids, haunted house, yada yada. I was like, okay, whatever, I can deal with cliches. By far the most successful part of the book is when Alejandra is called in to parent / teacher / school counselor meeting where these white women are like ummmm your daughter is being SO SPOOKY. & they judge the shit out of her for telling Catrina the La Llorona story. Even though it is just a standard little spooky urban legend ghost story, they treat it as SO WEIRD and BAD PARENTING and it’s one of the only moments where race impacts the story in a way that is scary!! Yeah there’s a demon running around but there are also these bitches accusing Alejandra of being a bad mother because she shared a bit of culture with her daughter!!

The biggest problem is that there are no hills and valleys to the narrative. The mystery of the spooks and the scares is solved very, very early on — we even get the demon’s POV — and so any rising tension in the book is cut so short. We know exactly what the villain is and what it wants, but we have hundreds of pages left to go.

Similarly, the secondary villain — Alejandra’s terrible husband, Matthew, sucks so hard right from the get go. We spend no time with him thinking “aw he isn’t so bad” and “maybe they can make it work.” Instead he is an amalgamation of like, every misogynist ever. It’s not that he is unbelievable (men do act this way. Often, even) but having Matthew’s villainy start at 10 and never rise or fall from there…it’s such a lost opportunity. I feel like I'm reading misogynists on r/AITA instead of dialogue. I’m not an expert on gothic literature but the book was sorely missing tension, a mystery, a third act reveal, a realization of what the demon was, how bad Matthew really was. But we get the information far, far too early, making the entire book a drag as you sit through scene after scene of gore.




!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spoilers and CW for gore below. Like for real gross and nasty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






The gore was incredibly unsettling. I respect the hell out of Castro for deciding to go ham with the horror of reproduction of it all. Like yeah whatever the monstrous feminine, motherhood = scary gross or whatever. Castro takes this so much higher and grosser & it does evoke the classic “ewww” of slasher movies.

I think what I do take issue with is that the gore doesn’t seem to serve the politics of the book very well. Like, I’m never going to forget the scene of Alejandra in the bathtub like…un-birthing the demon and having it eat her reproductive organs is so massively nasty but I’m like okay so what does this say. Is the solution to the horror of motherhood and misogyny internalizing….it? Letting that demon inside you and then passing it as a menstrual clot? Like genuinely I don’t understand what is going on here. The rest of the book seems pretty standard “solidarity among women” but that’s a theme we are TOLD instead of shown over and over again. Alejandra’s final battle with the demon involves sending her kids away, her mother barred from her side, and a horrifying showdown when the demon is literally EATING HER BODY? Is the demon a child? Is it a predator? Is it sexual trauma? Is it depression? Who knows but it sure is munching on her ovaries!

It lines up with the book’s overarching problems of telling not showing wrt the characters feelings, politics, the world-building, the mysteries, etc. If you are writing the slasher the gore should be saying something!! At best I think it’s saying “lol gross right” and at worst “actually women do need to face their demons and the trauma of motherhood alone <3” which contradicts . The rest of the book.

I was prepared for this review to be even more negative but the combination of the bathtub scene and strangling the little menstrual clot cyclops finally pushes into camp territory. like fucking. Hell yeah!! Go Alejandra!!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the concept of this. I appreciated the maternal horror aspect and I think that was a fascinating concept. I enjoyed the tie in to Mexican folklore and La Llorona. As a woc, I really appreciated the in-depth look into Alejandra’s relationship with her mental health, her culture, her past and her children. The narrator style was just okay. I commend the author for keeping the timelines straight.

A housewife finds herself struggling with mental health when she begins seeing things. Are they real or not, she can’t tell at first. Eventually finding out some history from her biological mother, a family curse is discovered. This one held my attention for a while and then just kind of tapered off toward the end.

The story of Alejandra and her generational curse was a unique twist on a traditional haunting story. This is the kind of horror that I enjoy reading. You can feel the dread and overall sense of something awful while still being invested in what happens next.

I really enjoyed the alternating chapters between Alejandra and the women in her lineage. It really helps to build the story and show how the trauma moves from generation to generation. I will say that I did get a little lost at times and had to reread a few sections because I was confused. I think it might have been the writing style?

I did enjoy the end but found myself bored at times so it made it a little difficult to want to read.

Alejandra has just relocated to Philadelphia with her husband and three young children. Every day is a struggle, a struggle with the children, with her husband's new demanding job and with her own dissatisfaction with her life.

At her lowest point, she sees a woman in white...with a ghastly face...who tells Alejandra that the only way to rid herself of this pain and monotony is to end her life.

After connecting with a therapist, she begins to explore her family history as well as traditional Mexican folklore...that of the La Lalorna. She learns that this is something that has haunted her family far beyond her.

I wanted more from this book. I wanted a deeper exploration of Alejandra and her.... let's be honest...her depression. We read about WHY she's so sad and despondent, but even afterwards....Alejandra is still a rather dull - one dimensional character.

I feel like this has potential to be excellent, but fell flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

First and foremost, check trigger warnings for this book. This is not a light read, and while I wouldn’t say it’s scary (I’m not easily scared, though), I would not recommend it for those who are squeamish.

There were many aspects of this book that I enjoyed. The story is based around the Mexican folklore of La Llorona, and as a lover of most things scary and creepy, I was familiar with this tale, but learned so much more while reading this book.

I enjoyed how the author wove in generational stories, highlighting the impact of generational trauma. I also thought the horror writing was well done- if you’re easily squeamish, this might not be the book for you.

However, ultimately, it fell short for me. This book, while not lengthy, took me a while to get through. I didn’t want to give up, but I also just didn’t feel a pull to return to the story. I never felt a connection to any of the characters, and to be honest, found it to be a bit boring at times. This was a solid middle-of-the-road read for me…I don’t regret finishing it, but it did take me a while to get there.

Thank you Netgalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Del Rey, Netgalley, and PRH Audio for the complimentary book!

V. Castro is one of my favorite horror authors and she knocked it out of the park again.

The breaking of generational curses and motherhood and postpartum and mental health all intertwined in this fantastic take on La Llorona.

Castro’s ability to combine Mexican Folklore with the present day and write incredibly terrifying stories always blows me away.

If you haven’t read any Castro yet, you’re missing out.

The premise of this book is great; a haunting being a symbol of generational trauma. However, I didn't realize when going into this that it was a YA book (at least it read that way. I may also have just missed that in the description, very well could have been my fault). That being said, it wasn't a bad read, for the right audience I'm sure it would be a homerun, I am just not that audience.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an arc of this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, and V. Castro for the advanced copy of The Haunting of Alejandra in exchange for my honest review.

I *really* enjoyed this book. It's beautifully descriptive, the characters are so well-developed, and the multiple timelines are expertly pulled off. From the very first page I was immediately rooting for Alejandra, and that never wavered as I continued reading. My only complaint is the chapters are LONG, but thankfully I had the audio to supplement which helped a ton.

I loved that Castro included the POV chapters from Alejandra's ancestors throughout the past, and the very last historic POV chapter was EVERYTHING!

As if that weren't enough positive praise, there are some excellent horror scenes sprinkled throughout the story as well. I definitely need to read Castro's backlog now!

The Haunting of Alejandra will be on US bookshelves April 18!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the digital ARC of "The Haunting of Alejandra" by V. Castro.

I began reading, and couldn't stop.
The heartbreak was so tangible, and the pain of these connected women echoed through time.
The shared heartbreak, and trauma throughout the generations was what hurt the most.
It might just be my opinion on how I read this... but in every segment it felt like almost every woman lost part of themselves (who they were/what made them strong), or had to give up something precious - due to a man... and ultimately childbirth became a strength, and a weakness for them.

The real horror for me wasn't the supernatural aspect... but how real the trauma, and losses were.

The only real downside to this book though was how quickly things wrapped up at the end, and there were a few parts that felt a bit disjointed from the pace the story started taking.

Overall though, I am thrilled to be able to recommend this book to anyone that will listen!

4/5

Big yikes for me on this one. I am so sorry, I hate giving ARCs low ratings based on writing quality because I feel like there could be a lot of editing that still could take place. That being said, this was not good. The story was okay. But the writing was so bad it was a major distraction and led to me not enjoying this book at all. This author needs to learn how to show, not tell. It felt written by and for about a middle-school aged child, if you ignored the content. Also, The content. I couldn't stand the MC. Her character arc could have been beautiful but she spent 95% of the book being such a whiny, annoying, turd, it meant that by the time the last chapters/epilogue came around, I just really didn't care what happened to her.

But thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me give it a try!

This book was so haunting as the title says. Also as a mom dealing with her own darkness, this is the first book that made me feel seen.
I’m gonna buy it for my shelf for sure!

This book started off intriguing, but ultimately it wasn't for me. The POVs in the past wound up becoming boring and I couldn't focus through them. I understand why they were there, it just didn't fit with the tone of the rest of the book, I found myself wishing for the book to end. However, I did like the haunting being a metaphor for generational trauma and Alejandra being the one to break it. I liked her character growth and I liked the side characters of Cathy and Melanie. Matthew definitely should've been punched in the face many times, but I understand that it's not that easy. While this book wasn't for me, I did like the writing and the plot, and I might try others by this author.

DNF @50%. I really tried to get through this whole book, but the writing just didn't do it for me at all and it was feeling like a chore to pick up. I've gotten to a point where my eyes glaze over whenever I try to read this and I'm just not absorbing what's happening anymore, so I think I need to just stop.

Aside from the stilted writing, all the characters just felt so flat and undeveloped, even the main character Alejandra. She's undergoing such a terrifying journey over the course of this book, but I felt literally nothing because I felt like I had no sense of her as an individual or any of the people around her. Her husband, especially, just reads like a caricature of a "bad husband" with no depth, and it's impossible to see why they even fell in love in the first place or why they've stayed together.

It's a shame I couldn't get past the writing and the characters, because the actual plot and the themes it's trying to explore are so interesting! I just couldn't bring myself to push through the way it was executed.

This book was chilling and beautiful. I loved the way they tied in the story of la llorona with the difficulty of healing generational trauma. Had the perfect amount of creepiness, and was a beautifully woven stpry. Loved it!