Anything by author Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an automatic must-read for me and her latest novel, "The Bewitching" is...well... bewitching! Following three different women living in three different times, this is a story of witchcraft, girl power, and how the past influences the present, with twists of Mexican folklore and dark academia thrown in for good measure. In short, I loved it!

Moreno-Garcia's writing is hauntingly beautiful and her words create a tense atmosphere of dread and smoldering suspense. Like all of Moreno-Garcia's works, reading this book felt like entering a vivid and horrifying dream; I wanted to wake up but I also wanted desperately to find out what would happen next. This was a book I could not put down, and I stayed up late into the night turning its pages.

"The Bewitching" is sure to win Silvia Moreno-Garcia some new fans and it will enthrall her old fans as well. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this hypnotic and terrifying book. Five stars!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Silvia Moreno-Garcia for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Bewitching coming out July 15, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is one of my favorite authors. I love Spanish stories. I’ve read a lot of her books. I really enjoyed the time periods in this book. I love witchy stories. There were some things I didn’t enjoy as much, but I don’t want to give anything away. Overall, I loved it and I’ll definitely read more books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys supernatural stories!

First and foremost, thanks to Kay Popple at Penguin Random and NetGalley for offering me a pre-approved eARC copy of The Beewitching in exchange for an honest review.

While it took me many months longer than intended to get through Moreno-Garcia's newest publication, I devoured The Bewitching in basically two days.

Split across three separate timelines (1998, 1934, and 1908) and three separate women battling bedeviled metaphysical forces across their particular timeline, The Bewitching tackles both multi-generational fights against evil, and very personal losses as a result of these fights. In 1998, our protagonist is Minerva, a graduate student just trying to get through the summer and work on her thesis - centered on witches and Northeastern US horror stories. In the 1930s, our protagonist is Beatrice Tremblay, writer and individual who is doing her own fighting against things that go bump in the night, which lead to a career in writing horror fiction, stories that have inspired Minerva's own interest in witches, horror, and more. Finally in 1908, our protagonist is Minerva's own grandmother Alba, who has just lost her father, and who has to engage in her own battles against witches and the occult.

All three timelines and stories converge as Alba and Minerva fight for their lives, their well-being, and those of their loved ones.

Inspired by Moreno-Garcia's family's own stories of witches, the occult, and more, The Bewitching is a fairly fast-paced novel that will be great for fans of horror novels where witches aren't the "good guys" at the end of the story, but are up to something much more nefarious. Intertwined in the plot of the novel are folktales from Latin America and the US about witches and the occult, reflections on the era of studying the mysteries beyond the veil with séances and ectoplasmic art, and much more.

As always, this latest Moreno-Garcia novel is well-researched, well-paced, and builds to a finale that is able to be anticipated in some ways, while in others not so much. The Bewitching will have you unsure who to root for at times as the reader, and keep you on the edge of your seat and turning the pages.

Happy pub day to Silvia Moreno-Garcia!

CWs: adult/minor relationship, incest, gore, misogyny, blood, murder, gaslighting, animal death, mental illness, death of parent.

Note that CWs around gaslighting, misogyny, and mental illness are in direct relation to the treatment of women and their presumed mental illnesses in the early 20th century United States.

Three Words That Describe This Book: dark, witchcraft, mysterious

› The characters were interesting; however, they felt flat to me, and I had a hard time feeling anything for them. I would have liked more description of the setting and world-building. I liked the overall Gothic mood and the writing style. There is great dialogue and effective use of perspective and multiple timelines. The plot had a great start, felt muddy in the middle, and had an okay ending. That being said, I was intrigued and wanted to know what happened to Virginia and learn more about Minerva's Nana Alba. I loved all the witchcraft and folklore, but found there were some aspects of the plot that didn't make sense. There were too many nicknames and repetition; however, I read an ARC, so this may have been changed in the final copy. Overall, it was a good read.

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: sweeping, unconventional, tragic
Pace: medium
Tone: emotional, high-drama, mystical, thought-provoking, magical, dark, mysterious, haunting, violent
Heat index: chaste (G), mildly sensuous (PG), steamy (PG 13), explicit (18+)
Writing Style: compelling, descriptive
Character: brooding, complex, flawed, likeable, diverse
Racial Representation: Mexican

Read Alikes:
Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa
Ghost Story by Peter Straub

› Final Thoughts
• The Bewitched shows there are many kinds of witches, and historically, Mexican witches are not superheroes, and they don't go to witch school. They are real, and they are dangerous. New England witchcraft is similar to Mexican folklore in many ways. The Bewitched provides an authentic feeling of what it's like to work on campus and be stressed trying to write a thesis. This was a good book, and I recommend it to fans of horror and magic. I'm looking forward to reading more from Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

No one does historical horror better than Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This time, she takes on witches in a triple timeline Featuring Alba, in 1908, who believes her family is bewitched; Beatrice in 1934, a college student who has just published her first novel, Vanished, based on the disappearance of her roommate, Virginia; and then we have Minerva in 1998, Alba's great-granddaughter, studying at the same university as Beatrice and writing her thesis on Beatrice's novel, Vanishing. Her research pulls her into obsession and Minerva starts to feel the same malevolent prescence that haunted the other women.
Horror saga at its best. No one does it better!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for this digital e-arc.*

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is known for her slow burn plots but I struggled with the pacing of The Bewitching. But it might be due to my own lack of familiarity with the genre that impacted my enjoyability. I was sold on the witchy vibes and the air of suspense throughout the story but the lack of urgency made the story move too slowly.What kept my interest was the atmospheric writing but the ambiguous motivations made this somewhat challenging to keep my attention. There was just too much dialogue and speculating that it began to feel repetitive. I did appreciate all the "lore" surrounding the mystery. However, so much was kept a secret that I felt left in the dark. This story was beautiful and intricate; I just needed to feel grounded in the story rather than go back and forth between three timelines before we got to the bottom of things. This is only a 370 page novel but I spent nearly two months trying to get through it. Again, that might be the convention of traditional gothic horror writing. That being said, I recommend this for anyone who wants a "no plot, just vibes" story.

SMG's latest novel is a dark page-turner that whisks readers away to three eras filled with dark magic and witchery! This multigenerational tale tells of three women haunted by witchcraft. I loved the three protagonists but was specifically drawn to the 1908 timeline. The story was haunting and tense and I really felt transported into the mystery.

If Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote it, I will read it. I still consider Mexican Gothic one of my favourite books I have read in recent years. Moreno-Garcia has a way of making you feel absolutely creeped out in such a beautifully delicious way. I usually spend the last few chapters of her books under a blanket clutching my poor schnauzer (shout out to Walter, he's the real MVP)

The Bewitching is the stories of three different women. Alba living in rural Mexico on her family's farm where the superstitions run rampant through the village.
Minerva, Alba's great grand-daughter, studying abroad in New England learning about her favourite horror author for her thesis and stumbles upon a missing woman's story from her college, and Beatrice, the future author who is studying at college and finds her roommates behaviour getting increasingly strange before she disappears without a trace.

The way that the three timelines weave together is so wonderful and feels like everything flows really well together so you don't ever feel like you're being flung from one story to the next, but they inform each other's story and pushes forward the narrative. The deep love that Minerva has for her great grandmother and finding out how her story directly influences Minerva's ability to figure out what is going on in a foreign country was amazing.

If you like being creeped out and learning about old folk tales passed down for generations then I highly suggest picking up The Bewitching, which is out today, July 15 2025! Get it at your local book seller or library.

Thank you to Del Ray for providing me with an ARC ebook of The Bewitching.

I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and was so excited to get an ARC of this book! I went in with high expectations and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the three different timelines and the generational POV’s. There was not one storyline that I wasn’t engaged in. It’s dark. It’s witchy. I loved it.

I have been hooked on Moreno-Garcia since I read Mexican Gothic and this book didn’t disappoint. Normally I am staunchly against alternating timelines because I tend to prefer certain POVs to others, but I think in the case of this book they really added to the overall story. Moreno-Garcia is excellent at building suspense, and keeping readers on their toes. I zoomed through this one because I had to know what happened next.

I think witches have become quite popular in fiction lately to the point where it feels like the field has become oversaturated. However, I think this book provides a fresh perspective to witches and has accessible lore so you don’t feel bogged down by the setting and rules that the witches operate within.
I really enjoyed this one and I will be recommending this one to anyone who likes a little dark academia, witches, or fantasy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the eARC!

Multigenerational witchy horror saga at its best! Follow three women as the battle with the occult in 1900s Mexico, depression era and 1990s Massachusetts university campus. Try to resist getting pulled into these interweaving narratives, it is futile. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Del Rey for an advanced copy for a honest review.

This new novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was full of suspense and delicious contradictions. It's very spooky, but also scaredy cat approved. I enjoyed the slow-paced, atmospheric unfolding of the story. I also appreciated how the pacing starts to ramp up around the 60% mark. The Bewitching has a gorgeous setup too: it toggles between two timelines, one in 1908 in rural Mexico and one in 1998 at a college in New England.

Since every plot line happens before 2000, reading this felt like a digital detox. Technology is analog, and there's a thread of oral storytelling in the narrative, I delighted in the physical media the characters interact with inside this book. Stuff like paper archives, handwritten ephemera, journals, and the library borrowing cards that were once pasted into the endpapers of books. This book is also strategically sprinkled with art, music, movie, and literary references and a fair amount of 90's nostalgia. My millennial heart was very happy.

Minerva, the main character, is a coffee drinker and big time book worm. As a result, this book made me crave late night coffees and library visits.

Other things I really enjoyed: the theme of collective consciousness that was explored, the presence of warlocks (not just witches!), the hint of vampirism, the poetic writing, and how much Mexican and American folklore was infused in the pages.

Minerva has always been a bit of a spooky girl; a horror enthusiast. Probably stemming from the stories her great-grandmother Nana Alba used to tell her about early 1900's Mexico: "Back then, when I was young woman, there were still witches"; In 1998 Minerva is now pursuing graduate studies in the history of horror literature at the very same Massachusetts university that the subject of her thesis attended. Minerva is delving into the writings of Beatrice Tremblay and in the course of her studies discovers the real true history of Tremblay's most famous novel The Vanishing.

As Minerva delves deeper into the mystery fictionalized in Tremblay's novel, she uncovers an even deeper, more supernatural mystery that mirrors the stories Nana Alba used to tell her as a young girl and soon the supernatural forces involved take notice and start working against Minerva herself.

Let's cut to the chase, I really liked this book. I love a book about witches. There, that's out of the way. I have a few critiques that I want to address up top and then we can slip more into the things I loved.

What didn't work:

The "omg who is it?" bit of the mystery is a bit obvious both in Nana Alba's recollections as well as Minerva's current adventures. The mystery is no the focus. The focus is the horror vibes (and that's fine and I love it!) but don't expect to be surprised.

Choosing an existing horror author's last name to use as one of your characters made this horror author a tiny bit confused when there was suddenly a Betty/Beatrice and I kept expecting this to somehow be about Paul Tremblay.

Minerva is extremely unlikable. Part of the ramp-up of supernatural happenings in Minerva's life is her deep distrust for almost everyone she interacts with and I think this was handled well and realistically. However Minerva isn't likable from the jump. She seems to completely hate her friends and is constantly looking for ways to avoid them even before things start to go bump in the night. I found myself 1000% invested in the Nana Alba chapters and like 20% invested (early on) in Minerva's story.

What worked well:

The witch lore. This was fascinating. I love hearing different takes on standard horror creatures(?) and this weird vampirey witchy vibe was awesome. I really like learning about the folklore that surrounds these creatures in different countries. Big win here.

I liked that witchcraft was very obviously labeled as neither good nor evil allowing us to see both perspectives on it and that the intention or use is what truly has moralistic connotations. I don't like when a book is just "witches are evil because witches". This felt more nuanced and I really enjoyed that.

Nana Alba. Girlie pop is awesome. I loved her chapters and her whole story. Definitely my favorite aspect of the story.

Beatrice's manuscript about Ginny's disappearance. This starts far enough along in the story for the reader to know to be on the lookout for clues that are deeper than a surface level mystery. I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of this portion of the book. While I wasn't surprised by the reveal I enjoyed hearing Betty's remembrances.

Diversity! Seems like a check box at this point but for Beatrice to be unashamedly a lesbian and for Benjamin to be an asexual (holla!) aromantic, this hit really well for me. I love good ace rep even if brief.

All-in-all I really had a great time with this book. I still think Mexican Gothic will forever be my favorite Moreno-Garcia book but, maaaan, this one comes close!

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. As a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I had been looking forward to this novel for quite some time - and it didn't disappoint! The writing was a little slower than her work in her previous novels "Gods of Jade & Shadow" or "The Beautiful Ones", but the quality of character development, description, & plot is exceptional. I usually don't care for novels that use multiple characters in more than one timeline (not to mention three different timelines), but the way Moreno-Garcia managed her triple timelines and plot/characters throughout was impeccable. I strongly recommend her work to anyone who enjoys supernatural-influenced stories set in historical settings, especially with strong female characters.

This is a captivating multi-generational, witchy book! I found the connections between the timelines interesting, and the aspect of academia colliding with real life was solidly interesting. It's not too too scary for the horror hesitant, but does have some darker elements throughout.

Happy Pub Day to THE BEWITCHING, aka my new favorite book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia!

There’s just something about the way that SMG writes that slowly sucks you in. She’s a master at cranking up the tension in the tiniest increments until you reach a breaking point and are completely unsettled and have no choice but to finish the rest of the book. I’ve found this to be true with all of her books and THE BEWITCHING was no exception!

In THE BEWITCHING we have three different timelines with three different heroines. In 1908 we follow a young Alba in rural Mexico whose family appears to have bewitched as a series of horrific events plague the family. In 1998, Alba’s great-granddaughter Minerva is a grad student in New England studying the life and work of horror writer Beatrice Tremblay. As Minerva learns more about Beatrice’s life on the same college campus and the disappearance of a classmate, Minerva can’t help but notice how similar the story is to a student who abruptly left the university last December. We also get Beatrice’s POV in 1934 as she recounts the events that led up to the night her roommate mysteriously vanished.

SMG had me on the edge of my seat with each alternating chapter POV. And then she would leave me on a chapter cliffhanger and jump to the next POV. It was maddening but absolutely kept me hooked.

One of the things I loved the most was how through Minerva we get to the see the similarities between Mexican folklore witches and the history of the witches of New England. It’s the perfect blend of historical fiction and horror. While I loved all of the 90’s pop culture references (and the sneaky nods to horror authors Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones and Nicholas Mamatas), Alba’s story was the one I loved the most, although it was arguably the most horrifying!

This is horror-lite so there are some gruesome scenes. Be sure to check the trigger warnings friends!

Thank you @delreybooks for the #gifted eARC of THE BEWITCHING!

I was a big fan of Mexican Gothic by the author, so I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of her latest horror novel.

This book features a triple timeline: in 1908, Alba’s family is mourning the loss of her father and dealing with strange occurrences on their rural farm. In 1934, Beatrice Tremblay is a college student and budding writer, who will use the mysterious disappearance of her roommate as the basis for her future horror novel. In 1998, Minerva, Alba granddaughter, is a graduate student at the same college Beatrice attended, studying her works and digging into Beatrice’s roommates disappearance, while dealing with strange happenings of her own.

What worked: I enjoyed the flow of the story. All 3 timelines were interesting, and all built up a creeping dread I associate with the author’s work. While at first the three stories seemed not to be related, their stories all came together in the end for a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the folk magic and knowledge, especially the witch village in Alba’s timeline. I enjoyed the little nods to other horror greats in the names of the college’s department heads.

What didn’t work: I did sometimes find the three timelines confusing, especially because some characters crossed and it was difficult to remember how they were important in each story. I do not like rape as a plot point, and it unfortunately appeared here. While I enjoy a slow build, the story did seem to drag in parts without advancing the story.

Overall I enjoyed this read and I look forward to reading more from the author.

It is going to be no surprise to anyone that has been following me for a while, but I absolutely loved this book. It is my favorite author writing a truly chilling tale about witches, and I really loved the slow-burn to a truly satisfying ending.This book is definitely not going to be for everyone, and I advise checking the trigger warnings in advance (there is an incestuous relationship that the author handles really well and presents as a grooming situation, but I don’t want anyone walking into that blindly).

This book takes place over three timelines, and I think all three equally held my attention which is something I often struggle with in stories like this. They all involved brilliantly written young women facing up against magical evil and meeting different ends, but I couldn’t wait to read on and figure out what happens to all of them. I really loved Minerva in particular from the most recent timeline of 1998 (full of just wonderful nostalgia particularly with music). This author writes beautifully flawed characters that don’t have all of the answers but try their best to learn and fight for those they love. I really loved Minerva’s learning from the past and taking what she learned from Beatrice’s manuscript as well as the story of her great-grandmother.

And this was really the highlight for me. The author brilliantly blends witch stories from New England that an American audience would be more familiar with as well as witch stories from Mexico that take a very different and often more sinister turn with blood sucking and curses. The horror scenes in this one do not disappoint and are so viscerally written that I could picture everything happening so clearly in my mind. This definitely reads as more gothic horror (I read an interview where the author notes this is her ode to Shirley Jackson and I definitely get that here) with a slower burn, but when the action occurs, it is bloody and doesn’t hold back.

I cannot recommend picking this one up enough this fall. I think it is the perfect spooky season read, perfectly blending the occult, historical fiction, and stories of how young women, particularly women of color, are often disregarded, taken advantage of, or not believed.

Moreno - Garcia proves once again that she is a master of seeding unease. Her folk horror style has a way of crawling under one's skin and seducing it's readers, refusing to release it's wiles until long after the final page has been read.

Told in three timelines, The Bewitching explores themes of oppression, vengeance, and identity, while effortlessly blurring the lines between folklore and reality. The result is a tale that feels both timely and ancient.

Possibly my new fave by Silvia Moreno-Garcia! It was so hard to put this one down and I loved how the 3 POVs intertwined. The MCs, young women from 3 different generations, were each compelling in their own way. My biggest complaint is that the story was fairly predictable by the halfway point, but the creepy vibes and Moreno-Garcia’s beautiful, chilling prose definitely made this read worth it.

You’ll Enjoy This if You Like…
- Witchy, folklore horror
- Dark academia
- Multigenerational sagas
- Compelling mysteries
- Unsettling vibes
- Ghosts & monsters