Lush, haunting, and dripping with dark academia horror: this book absolutely consumed me.

This is the kind of gothic horror that lingers in your bones. A story that spans decades, three formidable women, and a creeping sense of something watching from the shadows? Perfection.

Minerva’s journey as a graduate student uncovering the eerie truths behind Beatrice Tremblay’s life—and the sinister inspiration for The Vanishing, felt like peeling back layers of a cursed manuscript. Every discovery deepened the dread, and as the novel wove its spell through the past (Nana Alba’s terrifying childhood in 1900s Mexico) and the Great Depression (Tremblay’s unsettling obsession with her vanished roommate), the pieces started falling into place too neatly. That’s when you realize: the horror hasn’t been confined to history. It’s still lurking.

The atmosphere is stunning—rain-slicked streets, candlelit dormitories, libraries filled with forgotten knowledge. It’s dark academia at its finest, but with an added sense of dread that makes you want to check over your shoulder. The writing is immersive, and the way witchcraft pulses through the narrative, both metaphorically and literally—is chef’s kiss.

This is one of those books that gets under your skin, where horror and history twist together until you’re not sure which one is more terrifying. If you love Mexican Gothic or The Shadow of the Wind, you need to read this.

Absolutely chilling. Absolutely brilliant.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has another gothic story for those that loved Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Dr. Moreau. Even after finishing The Bewitching, the storyline continues to haunt my thoughts.
This story covers 3 generations tied together by the concept of witches in South American folklore. These are not witches in the style of European or North American folklore. They are darker and more insidious. I hesitate to say more because I do not want to spoil the suspense of the story, but it gripped me in the beginning and starting half-way through, I could not read it close to bedtime.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this excellent e-galley.

This was my first eyeball read for a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book, and something about reading it in this format made it just a touch more eerie. I loved it. The Bewitching really leans into the dangers and horrors of the unseen. A strange sense that something is amiss, but you don't know how to explain it or how to convince others that you know danger is following you. How exactly do you "prove" that you're not losing your mind when some unseen specter is haunting you? The only way forward is to live through it. Moreno-Garcia is so incredibly adept at slowly building plot points and tension and interspersing moments of high action and violence to keep a reader on their toes. You can see similar pacing in books like Certain Dark Things and Mexican Gothic - the two other books I have read by SMG. As a novice and very casual reader of thriller / horror genre fiction, I did not anticipate who the villain/monster in either the 1934 or 1998 points of view.

It's interesting how the varying points of view and time periods all hint at Moreno-Garcia's fascination and exploration of themes: witchcraft, the occult, female horror writers, Mexican folklore, and historical world building. On that last point, each of the time periods are carefully crafted and highly descriptive, making it easier to envision the scenes on page. At times it was just a touch excessive but that was my only complaint.

Read if you are in the mood for:
Gothic horror / gothic fiction
Varying POV chapters
Historical adjacent (1908, 1934, 1998)
Slow build plotting
Mexican folklore

CW/TW: grooming, incest, SA, gore.

This was hands down my most anticipated release of 2025, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia delivered a masterfully crafted horror that exceeded every expectation. Weaving together three timelines - 1908 Mexico, 1930s New England, and 1990s academia - she creates an intricate tapestry of witchcraft, family secrets, and spine-tingling suspense. The way she blends Mexican and New England folklore is absolutely brilliant, creating something fresh and utterly captivating in the horror landscape.

While some readers might find the pacing slow in the first half, the atmosphere Moreno-Garcia builds is deliciously creepy, making every seemingly quiet moment feel loaded with tension. Though I could predict certain reveals early on, it didn't diminish my enjoyment - if anything, watching these three women navigate the darkness closing in around them had me staying up way too late turning pages. Of the three storylines, Alba's 1908 narrative particularly shines, though all three heroines bring something unique and compelling to this bewitching tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great read from the author of Mexican Gothic. Set in both Mexico and New England, this is a book featuring strong female protagonists in three separate timelines. Each is faced with evil and witchcraft and the author does a fine job of connecting all of the storylines.

I absolutely loved this book! Silvia Moreno-Garcia never disappoints, and The Bewitching is yet another masterpiece that had me completely hooked from start to finish.

The story unfolds across three timelines, each one adding layers of mystery, history, and horror. Minerva, a graduate student in the 1990s, is researching her favorite horror writer, Beatrice Tremblay. But as she digs deeper, she discovers that Tremblay’s most famous novel was inspired by something terrifyingly real—a disappearance from the Great Depression era that might still be casting its shadow today. On top of that, Minerva can’t shake the eerie feeling that her great-grandmother Alba’s old stories of witches in early 1900s Mexico are somehow connected to everything she’s uncovering.

This book was so atmospheric and suspenseful! I was completely drawn in by the eerie, almost dreamlike quality of the writing. The three timelines wove together beautifully, and I loved how the different perspectives built up the mystery piece by piece. The characters—especially Minerva, Tremblay, and Alba—felt so real, and I was invested in their stories from the very beginning.

I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. The blend of supernatural horror, historical fiction, and gothic suspense was perfection, and the tension kept me on edge until the very end. If you love books that are immersive, mysterious, and just the right amount of unsettling, The Bewitching is an absolute must-read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Silvia Moreno=Garcia just really has a way with language and atmosphere that is unmatched. Unfortunately, my brain does not feel smart enough to read her works. I wanted to try this one because it came highly recommended, but it just wasn't for me. I do think other Silvia Moreno Garcia fans will not be disappointed though.

A story of witchcraft set in three different time periods, the early 1900s, the 1930s, and the 1990s. and two locations, rural Mexico and Massachusetts that become connected when Minerva, a graduate student, who studies the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, a little known author of macabre tales. Minerva’s great-grandmother told her stories of frightening witches when she was a young woman in rural Mexico. Minerva finds eerie similarities in her research of Beatrice Tremblay from the 1930s, her great grandmother stories, and what she is experiencing in the 1990s. Told in alternate narratives.

I really enjoyed this book as I did Mexican Gothic. Silvia Moreno-Garcia knows how to write a good horror story that isn’t too scary and I like her settings. I will continue reading her books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced reader’s copy of the book.

I will start with a preface that is - I don’t like scary media. I am so easily scared and it lasts a long time and fucks up my already busted sleep schedule. However I will make an exception for a few authors that I know will explain the phenomenon in a way that I will no longer find it scary and Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of those. I definitely stalled out a bit at 60% because I was sure the next chapter is where the spooky really got going and I was absolutely correct, that next chapter was so spooky. But I’d given myself enough time to keep going and get to the answers. As always, the book would feel slow if you’re a proper horror-reader but as someone who likes a lot of classic mysteries, the pacing felt right for the story.

A brilliant and riveting read from Moreno Garcia. She is fast becoming a failsafe author who brings spooky, fantasy vibes to life with Latina pizzazz. The multi generational storytelling really struck chords and rounded up beautifully across time. The book left me curious about the genre and authors it paid homage too. Would love to recommend it to people.

Gracias a Netgalley por el acceso para leer de nuevo a mi favorita

Desde el principio me tenía atrapada y si están acostumbrados a la escritura de Silvia saben que el ritmo empieza de menos a más

Tres mujeres y tres historias que contar, siempre dándonos grandes personajes

Tenemos brujas y una gran historia que no podrán soltar hasta el final

Grande Silvia

This book was intriguing, captivating, and much like its title, bewitching. I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia's writing style - it is so engaging and every chapter left me desperate to know more. I enjoyed the multiple narrators and timelines and it was so satisfying at the end when the connections between them were explored. Each narrator was fun to read and the elements of magic and witches were unlike anything I've ever read before. An excellent read! Perfect for horror lovers as well as those who may be a bit more squeamish.

This was such a slow read for me that I almost gave up reading. I did not care for the relationship between one of the main characters and her uncle. I did enjoy the witchy parts, the lore, and the Mexican culture within the story. I found Minerva’s character to be boring and pretty annoying; she lacked personality and wasn’t relatable at all.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

I was drawn into this book, and thought each of the storylines intriguing, especially Minerva and Alba’s. I thought the author really invited the reader into each world, and the book was hard to put down. Scary enough that I wanted to finish it quickly so I wouldn’t be too freaked out, but no grisly horror.

The timelines and settings were seamless, and you can feel the author’s deep understanding of each place, which made the storytelling evocative and enveloping.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC. We’ll be adding this to our “witchy fiction” collection at my bookstore as soon as it’s released!

Thank you Del Rey and NetGalley for allowing me to read this early! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the intertwining of 3 narratives that paint the overall picture! The ending was worth the long read!
My only gripe was Minerva; I felt like I didn’t get to read much of her personality. It was hidden most of the time, and I felt there were numerous opportunities for the reader to see more of who she was but never got the chance.

Alba, Betty and Minerva grew up in different times though consumed with the same haunt in this mystery thriller that still has me with goosebumps.

Each girl has some of my favorite historic backdrops over the past century. Alba’s story in told more as folklore while Betty’s holds that ideal mid century atmosphere where a mystery insists on a logical explanation. In the 90s, Minerva’s background on witches is very much the Salem stories we grow up with, quite a bit removed for Mexican folklore stories and yet the terror remains for each of the girls and their circumstances.

I too had a spell on me while reading and could not put it down. The more information I absorbed, the scarier the circumstances.

Told across nine decades, this novel weaves together the stories of three women who all encountered strange magical phenomena involving a particular type of witchcraft. These are not the conventional witches we are all familiar with, but a type of Mexican witch called teyolloquani, who are vampiric, drinking the blood of their victims and eating their hearts and also capable of shapeshifting to hunt prey.

We first encounter these beings in 1908 in Mexico where a young woman, Alba lives on a farm with her recently widowed mother, older brother Tadeo, younger siblings and her Uncle, who has recently come to try to talk them into selling the farm. Strange occurrences start to happen on the farm. Strange lights in the trees, the feeling of a presence watching Alba, animals dying and then her brother vanishes without a trace.

In 1998 Alba’s great-granddaughter Minerva is a graduate student at a college in Maine researching the life of her favourite horror writer Beatrice Tremblay who was also a student at the college. Her novel ‘The Vanishing’ was based on the disappearance in 1938 of Virginia Jackson, a fellow student and Minerva hopes to find out more about what happened to her. With the college all but empty for the summer, Minerva also starts to experience strange phenomena and feelings and remembers the stories her Nana Alba used to tell her.

The novel builds pace and tension gradually, introducing us to the three women and their encounters with the malignant phenonema causing their bewitching. By the middle of the book, I was invested in to wanting to know what would happen to them and gripped by the unfolding tale of powerful warlocks and witches (although I was left wondering how the teyolloquani had arrived in Maine). With gothic vibes and some graphic scenes, this is an intriguing read which will appeal to fans of horror and paranormal fiction.

A Journey Through Folklore & Fright

It is a multigenerational horror saga where danger and bewitching magic intertwine. Yes please!
Three women—spanning eras—are mysteriously bound by a dark force lurking in the shadows, creating a tapestry of terror that’s as eerie as it is exciting, as intriguing as it is unpredictable

Horror and Folklore Collide

With a title like Bewitching, I was all set for a cauldron brimming with classic witchery—potions, herbs, and timeworn incantations. Instead, I found myself immersed in a world where witches draw their power from the rich traditions of Mexican folklore, offering a refreshing break from the norm. At first, the unconventional take threw me off balance, but as the story’s eerie horror elements—steeped in folklore and an unsettling atmosphere—slowly crept in, I couldn’t help but be drawn into its thrilling, otherworldly allure.

A Haunting Rhythm: Uneven Pacing Disrupts the Spell

For me, pacing is the skeleton that holds any story together. I appreciate a slow build when it has an engaging structure that keeps me eagerly clicking through each page. Unfortunately, the pacing here felt uneven—flashes of action, only to be swallowed by a sluggish rhythm that sometimes breaks the spell. This imbalance makes the pacing feel like a ghostly waltz, where moments of tension build beautifully—only to slow down again.

You’ve Been Warned

One part of the story left me utterly stunned—the kind of twist that makes you gasp and think, ‘Don’t go there!’—only to be left completely astonished when it does. Consider this your friendly warning: prepare for the unexpected, because this narrative isn’t afraid to push boundaries

More Than Spells and Potions

Despite a few pacing hiccups and one particularly shocking moment or two…, the daring blend of Mexican folklore with spine-tingling horror is both refreshing and deeply engaging, challenging everything you thought you knew about witches. In the end, it left me delightfully bewitched!
Take this journey if you're eager to explore the darker side of legends.

Oh the author is Mexican Canadian!!

A Witches Words buddy read with some of my favorite witches. Debra and Carolyn

This was a triumph of a novel. Moreno-Garcia weaves together family secrets with spellbinding supernatural tales to create an utterly exquisite novel.

I have been looking for a good creepy witchy book for a while, and this ticked all my boxes. I loved the movement through timelines and people’s perspective, and how it all linked together! This was a fantastic read! The folklore and witch stories were brilliant.