This beautiful story takes the very real premise of inherited trauma and generational curses and paints a supernatural portrait: what if your family's curse was an actual haunting, a malevolent something feeding from and encouraging the suffering of your people? What would it take to stop something like that? Jumping between Alejandra's present-day attempts to work through her depression with therapy and her ancestors' past stories and struggles with the same curse, this book reminds us that we are not just the products of women who have suffered, but of women who have survived.

This book was fabulous! I loved the Mexican culture that is integral to this story and the very honest portrayal of someone who has been adopted out of their community and the struggles to reclaim a heritage or identity that was taken from them. I love that Alejandra's story is so thoroughly mapped to her therapy and takes readers through real therapeutic approaches to handling overwhelmingly negative emotions. I hope to see more books published that showcase the benefits of therapy in the future. Even as someone who is not a fan of historical fiction, I enjoyed jumping back into Alejandra's ancestor's stories (with one notable exception - more on that later). These are much shorter narratives, almost vignettes, and provide some action-packed breaks from Alejandra's emotion-heavy chapters.

There was much to love about this book but I also don't think it's going to be good for everyone. Most importantly, there is a lot of potentially triggering content with regards to suicidal ideation and deeply depressive though processes. There is graphic violence, emotional abuse from a partner, violence against children and the book touches on adoption trauma as well. Please check any other CWs I may have forgotten about.

Secondly, the book is very plot-driven - we only really get to know one character (the MC Alejandra) and even then her character is mostly sketched out through emotional episodes where she is at her lowest, and there is not much breadth to the character's thoughts. Beyond that, the other characters are largely interchangeable in voice, although not in circumstance, and can read flat at times. So, if you are mostly into books for character dev, maybe this isn't your cup of tea.
As well, if you are not a fan of historical fiction, those parts of the books may drag for you. I typically do not like hist fic but in this book they were short and entertaining snippets that kept me engaged in the story at crucial points. However, I must complain about Flor's chapter - perhaps it's because the Mexican Revolution is much more recent history than the other chapters, or because I personally know a little bit about that time period, but ugh this chapter was SO BAD. It was incredibly cheesy and completely unrealistic and didn't fit in with the concept of generational curses at all. <spoiler> Did she really have to get with Emiliano Zapata? Did the author have to include a trans fighter in her story only to have that trans character reveal his transness to her upon their first meeting & BY UNBUTTONING HIS SHIRT???? I get it, you learned a fun fact about a trans revolutionary and wanted to put it in your story, but just by the way it was written, it is obvious that that is not your story to tell as it was not handled with care, and doubly obvious that it did not go through sensitivity readers before being published. In fact, if I may digress for a moment, that scene seems to me to be a case of self-insert, with the author jumping to show her readers that she is queer friendly (especially since the curse appears suspiciously heterosexual) than actually adding to the story or bringing attention to Amelio Robles Avila's story with the respect he deserved. </spoiler> Anyways. Right around that chapter I felt the quality of the plotting fell off quite a bit. What was that ending? We were not given an explanation before or after as to the logic behind this ending. Also, as far as the haunting being a metaphor for generational curses, that ending is pretty awful... I also felt like more could have been done with this curse (no mention of poverty as the main cause of such an inescapable cycle?). BUT ALAS, I still enjoyed it and thought it was a good idea and decently executed. Maybe a stronger editor could have pushed it over the edge into great.

The Haunting of Alejandra is a retelling of the Mexican folklore La Llorona. The story follows the titular character Alejandra through her struggles with daily life as a mother and wife, and her identity crisis about who she is as a person and a brown woman. She is constantly haunted by voices telling her she isn't enough, isn't worthy, isn't any good at anything. Alejandra slowly puzzles together that this voice might not be in her head and is actually a creature haunting her and her family.

There were a lot of great things about this book. I was not familiar with the tale of La Llorona before picking up this book so I was very intrigued. I think the story had a lot to offer in terms of retelling this folklore, giving the women throughout history a voice, and depicting the vastness of maternal love. It also addresses some heavy topics (I suggest going through the cw's before reading).

However, I do think this book could use some editing. I felt there was too much back and forth between being in Alejandra's head and the POV's of her ancestors. Was it really necessary to introduce that many characters? I think, structurally, the back and forth could've been used to show how the family is haunted throughout history with a reveal of what the "ghost" is at the end instead of just giving it away at the beginning. Doing so would've added to the creepy/spooky vibes in my opinion. There is also quite a bit of monologuing as opposed to conversing between characters. It felt as if we were being spoon fed information about the characters' lives instead of naturally picking up on their thoughts and feelings.

Overall this book had a lot of potential, but fell a little flat for me. There was no twist and the main character was so in her head the whole time that the plot seemed to drag.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an eARC of the book for my honest review!

V. Castro absolutely obliterated every nerve fiber that could possibly fire at this moment.

How Castro could take a simple childhood game of "Telephone" and spin such an extraordinary web is just "WOW!!!"

But that is precisely what V. Castro manages to do in her mind-boggling tale, The Haunting of Alejandra.

Let us begin:

Alejandra is a married mother of three young children, Catrina, Will, and Elodia. A stay-at-home mom who, if she had her way, would be out working and making her way. However, Alejandra is a people pleaser; who does not like to disappoint people or make unnecessary waves. She would rather not upset people, especially not her husband, Matthew, who she has picked up her entire life, to move from Texas (after finally reuniting with her birth mother) to a sprawling 6-bedroom home in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Matthew feels that Alejandra should be "grateful" for she has everything that she could ever want. But Alejandra thinks that there is nothing of her when she looks around. Everything was already decorated in there; she had no money of her own, no credit; what should she feel grateful for besides her children? She is miserable; she has no friends and family close by and thinks that she does not even deserve to be a mother to her children and that the children would be better off without her. Then she begins to see the visions more clearly, natural and life-like, in the tattered gown, only not human, grotesque looking, like a monster. Reaffirming to her how horrible a mother she is, how she would be so much better off dead. Alejandra feels like she is losing her mind and does not know what to do. That is until she gets the call from Catrina's school, where she must explain that she told her daughter the tale of La Llorona the night before.
That night her daughter confesses that an awful lady in a white gown told her that her mother does not love her, that she would be better off dead. That is when Alejandra has had enough and decides to seek help, if not for her sake, for her daughters.

Alejandra seeks the help of Melanie Ortiz, a Curandera who reignites Alejandra's Mexican heritage by telling her to start her prayer altar. Alejandra tells Melanie that Matthew will not like the prayer altar in the house. Melanie explains that whenever Alejandra does something for herself, she takes a piece of herself back.
Alejandra's next showdown with La Llorona is when Melanie tells Alejandra to call La Llorona and find out what she wants with Alejandra. After La Llorona tries to scare the wits out of baby Will, Alejandra confronts it and point-blank asks it what it wants precisely. But the answer is not one she wants to hear, and she becomes furious, and that fury causes Alejandra to be able to cast it away. Alejandra calls Melanie immediately, and Melanie comes by to purge the house. Upon purging the house, Melanie finds a substance on Will's bedroom wall, which she sends to her friend for analysis. Next, Alejandra plans to get with her birth mother, Cathy, to find out any information she can to see if she knows anything about a generational curse.
Before Alejandra calls Cathy, Cathy has an odd experience over in Texas and immediately books a flight to Philadelphia. Cathy arrives in Philadelphia, and Alejandra feels like a load has been lifted already. Having her mother there, finally having someone of her own that she can talk to, makes her feel much better.

After putting the children to bed, Cathy hears a noise in Elodia's room. When she gets up to check the baby, she sees a creature trying to attach itself to Elodia. Cathy knocks the beast away; however, the beast is more muscular and lands on top of her. Hissing that she is the one that got away to save everyone, why doesn't she kill herself? Instead, Alejandra clicks on the lights, and the creature vanishes. Finally, someone else has seen La Llorona; both women no longer need to hide it from one another. That is when Cathy confesses that she gave up Alejandra to save her. But she did not escape; neither of them had escaped the curse. Alejandra calls Melanie immediately since the creature has made contact. Alejandra and Cathy meet up with Melanie the next day, where she hurries them into the room, explaining that La Llorona had threatened her to back off and knocked over the oil on her desk. That is when Alejandra decides she knows "EXACTLY" what must be done to beat La Llorona. And this is where I must leave you, my fellow reviewers.
I am not sure I would associate this book with horror because I was "way, way too consumed" to be scared. Maybe I would put this more with Sci/Fi, Thriller, and Suspense? (Definitely Sci/fi)

Castro poignantly touches upon the utmost significance of therapy needed in WOMEN of COLOR
Especially for Post-Partum Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Generalized Depression, Castro does it "STUPENDOUSLY" and "BEAUTIFULLY."

This book is so extraordinary that I could not even begin to review it; it took me three days to even write this, and I could go on and on.

V. Castro SHOOK the damn foundation, CRACKED the walls, and brought DOWN the house with this book.

Her writing style is exquisitely done, especially with her flawless POV narratives and timelines.

Castro's word building is stellar, and she makes sure not to use any word filtering, which would lead to word dumping.

Castro's scenic imagery of times past, such as with Flor and Dorotea or Flor and Emiliano (Sniff)

Flor!! That was my girl!!

Even the scenic past of Frances and her time with Rogelio were all epically done. It was like you were truly there, watching it happen before your eyes.

The aspects of generational curses, are they tangible? If so, how does one go about breaking that cycle?

Hands down, this book will have you pondering days after.

But like the "FANTASTIC" book that it is, your questions will be answered until only one question remains.

"WHAT THE F@CK?" "HOW?"

"CASTRO, YOU GO, GIRL"

BEST BOOK OF 22/23

LISTOPIA!!

SHE KNOCKED IT WAY OUT OF LEFT FIELD

Thank you, NetGalley/V Castro/ Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine.Del Rey/ For this "INCREDIBLE" eARC for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alejandra, all I can say is I FEEL YOU BABE. This novel is a love letter to all women who carry the complete mental and emotional load of running a household with no acknowledgement or compensation. Thanks for seeing us and telling us we aren’t alone, V. Castro! Obviously this über-relatability had me fall in love with our main character and start rooting for her right off the bat.

In the beginning, there was something about Castro’s writing that was so accessible and soulful—it was very easy to read…for a bit, anyway. Also, the comparisons to the Legend of La Llarona were perfect.

This story occurs during multiple timelines consisting of present day, the 1960s/70s and 1500s Mexico during the Spanish invasion. The commonalities between these timelines are stark and poignant. The commentary on generational trauma and how little has actually changed in society is sharp. Castro poses us the cutting question: What’s scarier—being cursed by an ancient Aztec god or cursed to live out the same predestined socialized gender roles as our mothers, grandmothers, great-great great-great-grandmothers?

My biggest complaint is that the story lost its steam for me in the middle section. It could not hold my interest for the life of me! The more typical “horror” pieces of this story felt a bit lacking, mainly because they involved a sub-genre that I really don’t find particularly scary or riveting. I kept trying to find the flow that had so captured me in the beginning chapters, but after I lost it it was nowhere to be found. I guess when push comes to shove, this one was a mixed bag for me.

Overall, I read this as more of an empowerment piece than a horror story. It ended up being just ok in both of those genres. A promising start, but this one fizzled to mundanity fairly quickly. Not sure if I’m crazy or what, but it seemed like there was a noticeable decline in the quality of the writing starting at about 1/3 of the way through?? The dialogue became almost unbearable after the first couple chapters. It almost seemed like the author didn’t quite know how to get us to her envisioned conclusion, so just threw a bunch of literary spaghetti (and mediocre horror) at the wall until we could get to the final act. It definitely could be trimmed down, and I do believe that would make for a more impactful story.

I read an ARC copy The Haunting of Alejandra from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity.

I loved the atmosphere and reflection in this book. With my migraine, I can’t say that I always was able to completely follow how everything connected with all the flashbacks, but let’s give an overview of the plot.

Alejandra’s life as a mother and wife has left her feeling depressed and suicidal. There appears to be voices and hallucinations urging her to follow through with the worse of her thoughts, but her husband has moved her away from the mother she just found and any family she had before. All she has is him and the children who don’t seem to appreciate what she does in their lives. When she visits a therapist, she starts exploring her family’s history. The pain passed from mother to daughter, the curse of La Llorona, of how colonialism and misogyny as driven them all to a watery grave, and she learns to find the strength and love that was in them and start fighting against what seems her family’s fate.

The book primarily follows Alejandra as she deals with a husband who refuses to listen to her needs, often looking down on her reaching out to seek her birth mother, or her seeking out a job for herself. His dismissiveness is almost over the top, but I wondered if it either was part of the curse or if it was part of his own curse, as the book hints there are more to be found in the world besides hers.

As the book continues, there are parts from the point of view, just snippets, of the curse, and how it sees her and the women that came before her. Especially after the first story of how it made a deal with the first woman who was suffering after being taken by an invader who was taking her against her will, and she wanted her daughter safe, but him to suffer as much as he had made her suffer.

Overall, I really loved the book. It was a great exploration of grief and how it affects people through generations and how it can’t just be put to the side. How it has to be confronted. If you’re looking for a gory, dark read that looks at how women have been treated, especially women with Alejandra’s ancestry have been treated through the years, then this is an excellent read.

Alejandra has everything she should want — a rich husband, three beautiful children, a nice home… and a demonic haunting? This was a new take on the legend of La Llorona that I really enjoyed. The parts of it that were done well were done really well. There were wonderful discussions of the nature of generational trauma, the causes and the cyclical nature of it, with particular importance placed on therapy and doing the healing work to break those cycles. I enjoyed Alejandra as a protagonist, watching her go from a terrified, haunted woman to finding her strength. I also greatly appreciated the chapters focusing on the women who came before her. Every single one of them had an important part to play in her story… their story really. Where it fell short for me was in the writing and the mythology. While I enjoy beautiful prose, the writing in this book was at times poetic to a fault, contributing nothing to the actual narrative, and then overly simplistic at other times. Additionally, the mythology of the story became a bit muddied towards the end of the book, leaving me wondering about the true nature of the monster. For those reasons I had to knock off a couple of stars, but it was otherwise a solid read.

I was so happy to receive this advance digital copy and for it to be my first ever to review from NetGalley.

This is a horror story of sorts, with generational trauma, historical flashbacks, but most importantly, resilience. The resilience of some very strong Mexican women 🇲🇽

Read for the spooky vibes and stick around for the genre-bending from @vlatinalondon 💖

This is scheduled to be released in April of 2023 but you can preorder now. I definitely recommend getting yourself a copy.

Thanks again to Ballentine, Del Rey, and Random house for this copy!

A unique and creepy retelling of La Llorona. Prose wasn't quite my style, but I still enjoyed this book, overall.

First off, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this story. Now, for my honest review.

This book was nothing like I expected, and somehow exactly what I needed. I found myself relating to Alejandra in so many facets of her life; a young mother who has lost herself in the more mundane aspects of life, someone recovering from an evangelical upbringing, someone trying to find pieces of her culture she feels on the outside of. I felt compelled by just the raw truth in her story and the stories of her ancestors. This book did not read like a novel so much as a fictional history of womanhood, family, identity, and the need we all have to battle our own demons. I was scared in parts, I cried in others, I even laughed a few times. The beauty of all of these women fighting something dark together felt very powerful.

My one reason for not giving 5 stars is that parts of the ending felt rushed. Without giving any spoilers, there were relationships I wish we had sat with for a longer period of time. I wanted to see more how alejandra moved through the world after everything she had been through.

This is not your typical horror novel, it is something bigger. It will stick with me for a long time.

So good!! I love reading stories about Mexican folklore. This was such a unique twist on the origins of La Llorona. It is also about a woman trying to find herself and save her children and future generations to come no matter the cost. I loved the spiritual aspects to this story; how trauma is passed on from generation to generation and how we must decide it stops with us. This is the tale of Alejandra deciding the suffering stops with her.

The Haunting of Alejandra is available April 18th, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballentine for a digital review copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was such an incredible book, I could not put it down once I started reading it. There were so many important topics touched on, such as generational trauma, post-partum depression, and motherhood. I loved how the chapters were structured to show the reader the POV of Alejandra's maternal line as a way to understand where the entity of La Llorona began and how intertwined it was in their lives. I loved seeing Alejandra reconnect with her heritage that was lost and taken from her and how she really came into her own twoards the end of the book. The horror aspect of this book was so good (was a mixture of body horror and psychological), I got chills reading some of the chapters. I will most definitely be picking up a physical copy of this book once it comes out!

This was a book that I picked up at the right time. V. Castro created a character in Alejandra that I could fully relate to and became connected to. I didn't... like Alejandra, but I understood her.

I wouldn't call this book scary but had some very detailed, gory descriptions. I appreciated the Mexican folklore and how Castro showed the lasting impact of generational trauma. It was a nice way to tie tradition to what was happening in the current day.

I know this was the unedited version, and there were several places where a proofreader should visit. A few names were misspelled and a few other words, as well as continuity in the ages of the children. I also thought the dialogue felt clunky. The characters were speaking so formally that it did not feel believable to me. I really enjoyed the book, the dialogue just took me out of it a few times.

I love horror whether it is in movie or book form. I wasn’t aware of the La Llorona story until the American movie The Curse of La Llorona. I passed on that release and opted for the Guatemalan movie La Llorona (if you have access to Shudder, I highly recommend you watch this!) instead because I was told it was scarier and possibly more accurate with the legend. So that movie was my only knowledge of this story.

In The Haunting of Alejandra, the main character is being haunted by the ghost of La Llorona. But this book is much more than than a creepy ghost story. I don’t have any kids nor the desire to, but this book touched me deeply in ways I never expected. Its about breaking generational trauma which is a curse. It’s so powerful!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Alejandra is going through some hard times in her life. She sees herself as a wife and mother. She goes to a therapist and learns more about her past which will help her make decisions. I liked this book.

Unfortunately, this book was really not for me. The writing style was juvenile, the husband felt like a caricature, and the horror was… not that horrifying.

Tbh I think this book needs another solid round of editing before it’s released. The dialogue (internal and external) was SO BAD — stilted and awkward. And the whole book felt like way too much tell, not enough show. Oof.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This was a DNF for me.

This is a great book, and I bet it will be really popular because it deals with a lot of issues we are coming to terms with as a society, namely generational trauma.

The writing is pretty smart, though I think some parts could have been further developed (more showing, less telling, as I tell my students). I found the husband character to be without a lot of redeeming qualities, and I struggled to understand how someone as strong as Alejandra would choose him as a mate. I mean, that was her arc, that she was meek, then grew in strength and was able to finally speak her piece. However, I just didn't buy it 100%. I think it was hard to see Alejandra as "strong" when she was not characterized by that before she started seeing Melanie... strength of character doesn't happen overnight. I also didn't really get the relationship between Alejandra and her kids. She tells me she cares a lot about them, but I didn't necessarily feel anything toward the kids.

And... aside from knowing they were a stereotypical judgmental Christian couple with 8 adopted children, I found the adopted mother and father to be as flat as the husband. There was also the "Dave" (I don't know his name) but the adopted brother thrown in for good measure... where did he come from? Why was he included?

I liked the relationships between Alejandra and Melanie and Alejandra and her birth mother. I found the conclusion of the book to be pretty good, and I definitely liked the vignettes. I was rooting for all of the women along this family line. I just thought further development might help me to feel something more for the characters, many of whom just fell flat for me. Including Alejandra at some points.

This book will seriously Haunt You To The MAX. A truly terrifying story that has roots in both history and culture, but brings something overall new to the genre.

Wow this book was incredibly unique, it's a horror book, but it is so much more and is really genre bending, and expanding!

A retelling of the La Llorona legend told through generational trauma, and battling our own demons, figuratively and literally. A story of familial and community love, of self care and living as our authentic selves.

It's got gore and incredibly creepy scenes that'll make your skin crawl, but it's also this inspiring and beautiful story of overcoming hardship and finding inner strength.

I definitely recommend this if you're a fan of horror, but also if you're a fan or multi-generational stories, and stories about strong women.

CW: gore, death of parent, body horror/trauma, death of child/miscarriage, suicidal thoughts

I enjoyed the premise of this book and how Castro depicted the generational trauma in Alejandra's family- haunting each woman in the blood line. It felt often felt obvious and a bit disjointed at times--- I wish that the La Llorona connection was more subtle and that some of the previous generations would have been referenced sooner (Flor's story was rad!).

Plot:
The narrative was my kind of story: heavy on the characterization rather than the plot. It was a deep dive into the protagonist, Alejandra, and her personal growth and journey. The catch that I loved? That the backdrop was gothic and mythic, embedded with Mexican folklore (particularly the the tale of La Llorona). A story predominantly about depression and generational trauma is important and timely, but it’s made even more palatable and engaging when told like a horror story. Though slow and redundant at times, the story is well worth a read if you like scary, deep, and visceral storytelling.

Characters:
Alejandra was relatable in many general ways - like her struggle with life’s overwhelming curveballs, or her grapple with her past. Even the ways I couldn’t personally relate to were important and inspiring, which is indicative of great character development. I think many people will find Alejandra’s portrayal to be genuine if not relatable.
Other characters didn’t stand out to me as much, and Matthew in particular seemed a bit one-dimensional. I wish there were more layers to some of these secondary characters, though I guess Alejandra is ultimately the only one who truly matters.

Writing:
I enjoyed the writing style; there were unique ways - such as time jumping and perspective switching - that were effective.
However, a lot of the messages Castro intended to convey - about life, work, marriage, family history - felt at times disjointed, no single one fully fleshed out.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!