Ceci and her mother move a small town filled with secrets, ghost stories and curses. Loosely based on Nicaraguan folklore of La Cegua -a vengeful female spirit with the face of a horse skull, the story unfolds with Ceci exploring woods behind her house and the stories (or curses!) that tie the house she is living in with the myth. As she investigates the woods, a missing boy from two decades ago and a eerie connection with her mother, Ceci comes to sympathize with the spirit and her own sadness during the process.

Quite an engaging read, almost predictable how it would end but the process was enjoyable nonetheless.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I love the spiritual and folklore elements of this story. However, around three quarters of the way into the story, I started to lose interest in the plot. Nothing against the book, but it wasn’t fully for me.

💥💥 Book Review 💥💥

These Vengeful Wishes
By Vanessa Montalban
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars

This is the second book I have gotten to read by Vanessa. I got to read, A Tall Dark Trouble, which is good read as well. So when I saw that she wrote a horror book. I was like, let’s go! 👻
These Vengeful Wishes is so much fun. It is brimming with dark atmospheric, mystery/apprehension, found family, elements of horror, a vindictive apparition, and a dash of romance. I love the characters because they are really relatable. This is young adult horror at its best. I absolutely LOVED this book! This book enter-twins folklore with life that leads for a horrific fast paced novel.

I want to thank NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Wow. I saw the book and felt I will like it not knowing anything about it. I love when I'm right, but I admit the plot was unexpected.

This vengeance triggered drama/mystery/magic realism/the hauting of Sevilla men story is beautifully written. I enjoyed every aspect: the curse, the scary moments, human emotions and not always smart decisions people make, realistic characters, characters development, the need to find a place to call home, and the moral of the story. There is a fairy tale quality to it and I want my kids to read it when they are a bit older. I also wish I had this book as a teen. I would've loved it even more than I do now.

Cecilia and Marina kind of remind me of Ginny and Georgia. I was so ready to slap some sense into Ginny, and Cecilia also made some really dumb decisions, but this was worse because my nickname is Cecilia! 😁😁 Now really, I actually loved how much she grew until the very end and how realistic the character felt at all times. What I think I loved the most is that although we know that men can be horrible (so horrible that they doom everyone with their behaviour) and there are constant reminders of it, there are good men as well.

And of course, anyone can find their poison while drinking from the wishing well. So be careful what you wish for.

I find every twist well done and I don't know what else to say to convince everyone to read this. I thought this will make me angry and vengeful which is how I usually feel when I read about revenge. But it is not like that at all. "These Vengeful Wishes" is a relaxing modern fairy tale that will purify your heart and calm your soul. ❤️

"Her head lifts in my direction. I watch slowly as she lifts her mantilla and shows me her true face . And in it, I see horror, I see beauty, but most of all, I see truth."



☠️ La Cegua is an old Nicaraguan folktale about a beautiful woman who lures men into the woods. She petrified them by showing her true face - which some claim is a horse skeleton. A vengeful spirit in the woods. La Cegua is a creature born of tragedy and abuse, fueled by revenge.

Some weird town superstition? myth? Rumours?

We follow MC Cici who describes herself as an out-of-town weirdo who moved to a haunted mansion in the middle of the forest. She finds herself having vivid dreams or nightmares about La Cegua and ultimately discovers the painful truth about her family.
Despite it not being scary at all imo, it is still well-written and doesn't read like typical YA. It is more of a cosy mystery/suspense/thriller for me with just a few horror elements sprinkled and with gothic atmosphere. The characters especially the MC is so relatable. Ma pa Sana all Ka na Lang dayon na tani may Ara kaman Jamie irl.
Generational curses and ghosts, vengeful spirit, magical realism, complex mother-daughter relationship and more. 🖤✨


Big thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🖤

I really wanted to like this! But in the end, it just bored me. It wasn't atmospheric or even eerie, as promised.

Update: 2-4 TikTok release-day post

Creeping dread, secrets and lies, conflicting desires, complex relationships, and moral struggles--These Vengeful Wishes is scary, fun, and deep.
The beginning of the book caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting Miami, and the mom character was off-putting. Once the strained mother-daughter duo arrives at the neglected, isolated Gothic mansion in a small town, I became more engaged.

The images, rumors, and lore pertaining to La Cegua ratchet up the creepy vibes. The main character possesses insight and maturity, and I could relate to her situation that caused her to keep up her guard. I don't seek out books with young protagonists, yet this one joins a group of exceptional new books with appealing teen characters. I could relate to Ceci’s strengths, challenges, and flaws.

I loved the La Cegua story-within-a-story. The depth and emotion in it felt real and satisfying.

The many flashes of fresh, muscular language delighted me. Vanessa Montalban is a strong storyteller and a talented writer. She reveals painful issues without sentimentality or excessive heaviness. A wonderful sense of adventure carries through, even in the midst of intensifying suspense.

The historical elements and connections with Nicaragua feel intrinsic and powerful. The honoring of the land, people, and traditions, and especially of women's history and the work from their hands, created a moving tapestry. The imagery will stay with me.

The main character’s art matters in the novel, and art in many forms weaves through the book in meaningful ways.

For me, there were a couple of minor plot issues and the antagonists felt flat.

Overall, it's a compelling novel with intrigue, wounds, healing, and a lot of heart. It’s a surprising book, and the ending lands beautifully.

I recommend These Vengeful Wishes to adult and YA readers who enjoy Gothic Horror or Dark Fantasy. The horror is fairly mild, so it’s a good choice for readers new to the genre. This novel is also a great pick for anyone interested in folklore or wanting to diversify their bookshelves.

Thank you, Zando Young Readers, for the E-ARC via NetGalley for consideration. These opinions are solely my own.

This book started off kinda slow for me but I really enjoyed it! I loved finding the "truths" come out slowly but surely.
This story follows a mother and daughter. A mother with a lot of secrets and a bad choice in men. When her latest relationship falls apart she is forced to go back to her hometown and face her secrets. While she tries to keep them hidden something calls to Cece. Will Cece uncover her mother's past before her mother has the chance to stop her? Will they both finally be free??
Highly recommend picking up this book and giving it a read!

Fantastic book. Well written. Great characters and storyline. I haven’t read much YA horror. Usually one or the other. But this was a great introduction to this genre. Very impressed .

THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTE MAGIC.

Immediately, I felt connected to Ceci and her journey toward being a more trusting person who allows herself to love and be loved. The way she evolves as she makes friends, finds a place that feels like home, and has the chance to delve into her history is just mesmerizing. Once the story really got going, I could not put it down.

When Ceci moves back to Santa Aguas, where her mom grew up, she gets to make real friends for the first time. She meets Jamie, a boy who might be so good and so genuine that he's worth having feelings for, and she gets to explore the local legend of La Cegua, who steals or punishes drunken men. Ceci feels drawn to the imagery of the bride with a horse's head, and the magic that surrounds her. It's so much darker and more personal than she can imagine.

The magic, the ties to the past, the swampy gothic, it's just gorgeous. I wanted to live in the Sevilla mansion and get my feet dirty in its gardens.

If you love YA, gothic fantasy, and Latine-inspired folktales, this one is for you!

Cecilia is used to her life being uprooted as each of her mother’s marriages end. However she wasn’t prepared to return to the town where her mother grew up to a mansion that’s the talk of the town due to a family curse and La Cegua. As she starts to get familiar to her new environment it quickly becomes clear that something isn’t right.

I loved the characters and relationships! The added elements of an ancient curse and a superstitious small town made this book so hard to put down! I devoured it.

A beautiful meditation on otherness and belonging, wed to truly effective supernatural/folklore horror. Appropriately accessible for YA audiences, haunting at any age. Just gorgeous.

This one is outside of the genres I typically read but I was drawn in by the unique story. The setting was artfully described so that the reader can picture the world around the characters. I also enjoyed the cultural aspect and Nicaraguan legend that was highlighted.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hear Our Voices tours for the gifted ARC

"They think the dark can hide their wickedness. But I see into their rotten hearts"

This was my very first dip into YA horror, and I couldn't be happier that this was the book to kick that off.

We meet Ceci, a young girl forced to be uprooted after her step-father is arrested. After her meal ticket is sent to jail, her self-absorbed mother is then made to journey back to her hometown with Ceci. Problem is, they're moving into the cursed Sevilla manor. The superstition surrounding the Sevilla family, is well known-and as Ceci and Marina begin to settle in, she has one rule for Ceci...don't go into the woods.

Vanessa did an amazing job delving into the folklore of La Cegua, a beautifully haunting spirit that is out for one thing, vengeance. The Sevilla men must pay. Melding a YA horror novel with beautiful character arcs and emotional scenarios. All Ceci wanted was to fit in somewhere. The side characters, who become main characters in my heart, were beautifully written. Vanessa Montalban has become an auto-buy author for me, and I would most definitely recommend this book!

«These Vengeful Wishes» has been such a nice surprise. What first caught my attention was its cover, it had something that was so appealing to me. Then its summary ended up fascinating me as well: a female spirit, a curse, a haunted house… It rose my expectations and I was so happy it didn’t disappointme at all.

This book follows Cecilia, who moves to Santa Aguas with her mother Marina after her last husband left them with no money. The manor they arrive to was purchased by Marina because it was cheap and it was placed in the town where she grew up. Cecilia is about to graduate, so she has to go to Santa Aguas’ highschool for the last weeks of the scholar year. There she will meet a group of people who will end up turning into family, specially Jamie, a tender-hearted boy who spends all his time helping people and working in several jobs.

When Cecilia arrives to Santa Aguas, she starts learning about La Cegua, a female spirit from the Nicaraguan folklore that lures men into the forest and kills them. La Cegua’s curse is strongly related to the Sevillas, the family whose manor Cecilia and her mother are now living in. One day, exploring the woods around the house with Jamie, Cecilia discovers there’s a place with La Cegua’s statue and a well; they end up discovering it makes wishes come true, so they try its power. What could go wrong?

«These Vengeful Wishes» was so interesting to read. First, you meet a Cecilia that has no empathy for her mother at all, who is isolated and whose friends are not there for her at all. Gradually, you discover why she isn’t close to her mother and why art is her only escape from her reality. Her character’s growth was, besides La Cegua and Sevillas’ mystery, the best thing of the book. When she meets Jamie, she starts bonding with him: he’s attentive, a good friend and a great listener. Along with him, she meets Di and Myra, a couple that become her real friends: they care about Cecilia and her wellbeing, they welcome her into their family with so much ease. There you realize Cecilia is a great girl, but she was unlucky with her background and the people she surrounded herself at first. Cecilia’s mum ends up being such an interesting character as well once you get to know her full story, how she grew up, how was her adolescence.

And what about La Cegua and the Sevillas’ plot? It was amazing to put the pieces together. Montalban creates such a dark atmosphere around them, she’s able to make the reader imagine everything so clear, I felt like I was there with the characters, feeling their fear. I think the way the mystery develops, how Montalban builds the tension was fascinated and she could end the story with a satisfactory plot twist —even though it was somehow predictable at certain point, I enjoyed it nonetheless—.

I gave the book 5 stars because it was an amazing experience and all I can wish now is to have it translated to Spanish, my mother tongue. I would love for other spaniard readers to enjoy it as much as I did!

A teen girl moves into a new town and discovers that there is a magical wishing well possessed by La Cegua, a vengeful female spirit...but every wish has a consequence and what started off as fun soon takes a dark turn. Ceci is tired of her life and she's tired of her stepdad... so when she might have leaked informaiton on him and ot him arrested, Ceci and her mother have to move to her mother's hometown of Santa Aguas. The town is steeped in the legend of La Cegua, a witch who was wronged and now appears on lonely roads at night to lure untrustworthy men to their deaths. Ceci and her mom move into the abandoned maonr of the Sevilla family, that was said to have been cursed by La Cegua. Ceci soon finds that her mother is more connected to this town and its secrets than she could have imagined and it does not help that Ceci's dreams have been plagued by La Cegua.... and when Ceci finds the well that grants wishes... the well of La Cegua things take a turn. The wishes start off fun but turn into something sinister as those she cares about are being put in danger.... Ceci must find out her mother's past and its connection to the town and how to stop La Cegua's wish granting well from being used for the wrong reasons.... and to stop La Cegua herself. This is a YA horror novel that doesn't really feel like a horror novel. I was initially intrigued because it was about La Cegua but I just found myself bored by the story. It's definitely a younger YA read and theres also a bit of a romance plot in here too that was fine. I just found the story a bit too slow for myself and while it didn't connect with me as a horror fan, I do think that younger YA readers will have a fun time with this, especially during spooky season. Its light in terms of horror and scariness, and it's pretty easy to read, so while I wouldn't say this was the best book ever for older readers, I do think that younger readers who don't want anything too scary to read during spooky season will have a fun time with it.

Release Date: February 4, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Zando Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

These Vengeful Wishes was a very atmospheric and mysterious read. I loved the supernatural elements throughout the book. This is the second book that I’ve read by this author and I really love her writing.

The story follows teen, Ceci, who moves to her mother’s hometown in Florida. Ceci soon discovers a wishing well near her home where La Cegua (a vengeful female spirit) resides.

I thought this was a pretty fast paced book with an interesting premise. I thought the lore of La Cegua was very interesting. I liked the main character, Ceci, and her new friend, Jamie. There is a little romance in this that was cute.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to YA supernatural lovers.

3.75 rounded up

This was good but there was something that didn't fully work for me, keeping it from being a true 4 or 5 star read.

Ceci was an interesting main character - strong, willful, and more read like a true teenager. However, I struggled with her attitude at times and got frustrated with the decisions she made. This may be more to do with the fact that, as I grow older, certain YA books get harder for me to relate to. This is natural and not an actual issue for the book - so take this with a grain of salt! - but I personally struggled with Ceci at times.

Jamie is a solid counterbalance to her, though, and I enjoyed their relationship. Unfortunately, I found it less satisfying that his growth occurs off-page at the end - while I'm glad he seems to reunite with his mother and escape his father's influence, I felt a bit robbed of seeing him take action to change his life when a good bit of his characterization has to do with him being stuck in his current circumstances.

If you enjoy YA, gothic fantasy, and Latine-inspired folktales, this one is for you! Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 1/31/25. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

Cecilia is used to her life being uprooted as each of her mother’s marriages end but she wasn’t prepared to return to the town where her mother grew up to a mansion that’s the talk of the town due to a family curse and La Cegua. As she gets more acclimated to her new environment it quickly becomes clear that something isn’t quite right.

I really enjoyed this story overall. The pacing felt a bit all over the place so there were times I found myself thinking “okay what’s next?” I appreciated the weaving of folklore and the discussions surrounding power, subjugation, and worthiness. The ending was satisfying and I found myself wanting to stay a little longer in that slice of life moment.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Zando books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

Before I start, yes I love Jamie, yes he is the best ray of sunshine and no I will not be changing my answer.

Now that’s out of the way, These Vengeful Wishes was great. It was everything I wanted from the synopsis and more. Full of mystery and intrigue. Ceci was a great main character, she had depth without digging too much into her woes and backstory. We understood all we needed to about her from the get go. The way she developed was excellent, the mother-daughter dynamic was done so well I wished the epilogue had gone on longer so I could see the ways Ceci and her mother would continue to develop. I loved every second of Ceci’s hard exterior melting in the sunshine of Jamie’s presence and the way he disarmed her was just chefs kiss.

I enjoyed the story, I thought it was intriguing and the use of flashbacks aided in telling the reader the things they needed to know. I felt for Soledad and everything she was put through. The feeling of wrath and vengeance is felt throughout the pages and the characters actions. I did feel as though Adel was a bit of an unnecessary character, she kind of felt like she was weaved into the story last minute and didn’t really add anything. The things she brought to the story kind of bogged down the narrative and made it feel a bit childish.

Other than that, I rooted for the rest of the characters. Even the side characters that we only got small glances of stuck in my mind. The plot was addictive, I couldn’t put it down I just needed to know what happened next! So overall, a very easy, enjoyable read and I would be very intrigued to read Montalban’s other works