Being a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's book Silver Nitrate, I was stoked to get an ARC of her next horror story, The Bewitching. My enthusiasm was rewarded with a gothic novel of folklore, witches, and dark academia.

Content Warnings:
The Bewitching is a horror novel revolving around missing persons cases and murder.
Be mindful that there are instances of body horror, classism, incest, and rape.

The Bewitching is the tale of women connected across time and distance by blood, witchcraft, death, and the determination not only to survive but to destroy the danger posed to them. We begin with Minerva Canterras in 1998 at a New England college. She is studying for her Masters degree and hyperfocused on an unknown (fictional) author, Beatrice Tremblay. Then we have Minerva's great-grandmother, Alba, in 1903 who is visited by her beloved uncle after the death of her father. She desires a better life away from farming and country sensibilities. Finally, we have Beatrice Tremblay in 1934, a writer who is in love with her roommate Virginia, a spiritualist who's disappearance creates a ripple through time.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia showed what a horror movie geek she was in Silver Nitrate. Now she shows us that her geekdom doesn't end with film but branches out into classic horror literature. As a fellow horror geek, I loved this.
The Bewitching's chapters set in 1998 with the character Minerva are my favorite. I am a huge fan of retro nostalgia in horror but also related to Minerva as a horror fan and general weirdo among her peers. Because of this, I decided to geek out a bit and create Minerva's play list (she constantly has her Discman with her and makes burned CDs for other characters) as well as a list of books that are or might be on her bookshelves. Not included is the list of movie and tv show references like Pink and the Brain, Kwaidan, The Real World, and Poltergeist.

Dark academia fans will love The Bewitching. Minerva and Beatrice both walk in the shadows of stone campus buildings, linger in archives and libraries, and are caught up in occult studies one way or another. References to early weird horror writers and horror classics abound. Discussions of classism and finding, missing students, scholar burn out, and more fill pages between lurking and whispering ghosts.

We also have a gothic story of folk magic, vampires, and mystery, particularly in Alba's story in 1903. This part of the book felt like a lush black and white silent film. I could imagine Alba, in her mourning veil, eyes wide with terror as she faced dangerous creatures, witches, and men who loved her too much. It had the drama, the body horror, and the painful twists and turns that I felt hard as the reader.

I am a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work and The Bewitching definitely earns its place on the shelf among my most beloved horror novels. I highly recommend it for fans of her earlier work as well as fans of dark academia, gothic romantic horror, and horror mysteries.

Multigenerational horror saga you say? Well yes. I will be picking up and devouring this book. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the author you are. The Bewitching is such an interesting blend of a folktale, a work of historical fiction, and a family history. I was hooked in from the start. Jumping among the timelines was such a cool way to build this story up to its climax. I will absolutely be recommending this.

An engrossing witchy tale full of folklore and history. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a master at crafting unsettling and atmospheric stories. Each chapter leaves you with more and more building tension. The three timelines are woven together perfectly and so satisfying as the pieces start to come together. There was one part I could have done without, though I do fully understand why it was included and the impact it had. (I'm just a softie for animals.)
I did throughly enjoy reading this story, it's excellent blend of mystery and horror that will keep you wanting more.
Thank you NetGalley and Del Ray for the eARC!

(My actual rating is a 3.5)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an amazing writer, in my super humble opinion. She has a wonderful way of weaving a story with everything a goth girly could possibly want. She writes moody women whose main interests almost never include men. She writes scenes filled with ancient magic, gothic architecture, and old evils.

The Bewitching is no exception to her ability, but unfortunately due to the nature of one bit of content, I wasn't as thrilled with this book as I have been with others.

The story centers around 3 different women in 3 different time periods and has horror elements involving witchcraft, curses, and the like. The characters are painfully human and all serve their part in the story quite well. Often I don't like POV and time switches, but SMG did a rather good job of keeping the story engaging in each.

Overall, I think this is a well-written and captivating story. I just really wish that a certain aspect had been left out. I understand its purpose...and for that I guess I'd have to say she did a great job making me uncomfortable lol

I found The Bewitching to be an intriguing book, but for some reason it never fully captured my interest. Similar to "The Seven Veils of Salome", Moreno-Garcia tells this story from the point of view of three different characters, who are undergoing parallel events despite being separated by years and geography. The stories are all tied together at the end. I think the execution of the style was done better here than in Salome though.

I loved the small New England college town setting of 2/3 of this book, it was exactly the atmosphere a witchy story like this needed. I also enjoyed the parts set in Mexico, and the inclusion of Mexican folklore around witches. It's interesting to see how much overlap with vampires there was. Unfortunately, I did figure out who was cursing the protagonists about half-way through, which then made the shocking reveals at the end somewhat less shocking. I do think Moreno-Garcia is at her best when writing the gothic horror genre though. She excels at atmospheric world-building and incorporating magic into the mundane.

I was, as always, thrilled to have the opportunity to read this, and look forward to sharing it with friends and library patrons when it's released.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's The Bewitching is an atmospheric and captivating blend of history, folklore, and magic. Her lush writing brings both the eerie ambiance and complex characters to life, making the world feel immersive. Themes of female power and identity weave throughout the narrative. For those in academia, they will recognize and empathize with the main heroine's feelings which veer between mental exhaustion & determination, as well as imposter syndrome & competence.

The novel cleverly weaves between three time periods and three female main characters, each with her own story that gradually intertwines and come together to impact the outcome of the events of the present day. This narrative format adds depth and intrigue, as the different perspectives and eras shed light on the mystery and the horror at the heart of the story. The Bewitching will be a solid and engrossing read for fans of Moreno-Garcia's previous novel, Mexican Gothic.

✨ARC Book Review:🖤

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a masterful tale of dark academia and supernatural horror, woven across three distinct timelines. This enthralling novel takes readers on a spellbinding journey through 1908, 1934, and 1998, with three remarkable women at its core, each confronting a creeping darkness that binds their lives in unexpected ways.

A Story That Haunts Across Generations:
* Timeline 1 (1908): Alba, a young woman in rural Mexico, struggles with the mysterious disappearance of her brother, Tadeo, and whispers of a curse befalling her family.
Determined to uncover the truth, she finds herself drawn into a world of malevolent forces and dangerous witchcraft.
* Timeline 2 (1934): Beatrice Tremblay, an ambitious college student and budding horror writer, becomes obsessed with the disappearance of her eccentric roommate, Virginia, a rumored spiritual medium. Her debut novel, inspired by these events, gains fame, but Beatrice remains haunted by the ghosts of her past.
* Timeline 3 (1998): Minerva, Alba's great-granddaughter, is a graduate student researching Beatrice's unpublished manuscript for her thesis. But as she delves deeper into the mysteries of the past, she awakens a malevolent presence that begins stalking her—one that no one else can see.

A Narrative Intertwined With Folklore:

Moreno-Garcia weaves these three timelines into a seamless narrative, skillfully interlacing elements of Mexican folklore, mysticism, and gothic horror. Each timeline is richly atmospheric, from the eerie rural landscapes of 1900s Mexico to the haunting corridors of a 1930s New England college and the moody, nostalgia-tinged vibe of the late 1990s. The transitions between timelines are tlawless, making the connections between the women's lives and the dark secrets they uncover all the more compelling.

Themes of Survival, Witchcraft, and Power:

Through Alba, Beatrice, and Minerva, Moreno-Garcia explores themes of survival, the resilience of women, and the omnipresent shadow of unseen forces. The witches in this story aren't merely symbols of evil-they are complex, deeply embedded in the cultural and historical fabric of the narrative. The novel asks probing questions about the nature of curses, fear, and the human capacity to face what cannot be fully understood.

Why You'll Love It:

This is not just another witchcraft story-it's a deeply layered, ambitious saga that mixes historical intrigue with supernatural terror.
Moreno-Garcia's ability to create an atmosphere of creeping dread is unparalleled, making this novel both gripping and terrifying.
Her rich characterizations bring each timeline to life, ensuring that every twist and revelation lands with emotional weight.

Final Thoughts:

The Bewitching is a testament to Silvia Moreno-Garcia's brilliance as a storyteller.
Fans of her previous works, like Mexican Gothic or The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, will relish this chilling, beautifully crafted tale. The novel's seamless blend of folklore, dark academia, and multigenerational mystery makes it a must-read for anyone who loves atmospheric, supernatural fiction.

Highly recommended to fans of supernatural horror, dark academia, and gothic fiction.
Don't be surprised if you end up leaving your lights on after finishing this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Random House Publishing Group/Del Rey/Inklore for providing a digital reviewer copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was an intense and wonderful horror story but I hated switching between the storylines. Felt like the pacing was off because of that. However, the prose translated gothic horror at its peak! 4 stars

Was lucky enough to get an early copy of this, and ended up reading it in the liminal space at the end of the year. It's fascinating to see Moreno-Garcia weave together the various time periods and the people in them, and use the knitting thread of a girl going through the archives of a little known New English folk writer and the story of a witch and a haunting that unfolds across generations. I did end up seeing some of the technical strings of how she did what she did this time around, but this was still a great read. Pick this up when it comes out this summer!

This author has written the best stories I’ve ever read. I highly recommend this book to anyone. And I cannot wait till it comes out to own it myself. 10/10

I don’t love horror, but I do love Silvia Moreno-Garcia so I’m glad I gave this a try! It was scary and I couldn’t put it down. I love all of the different narratives, but I felt frustrated every time it switched to a new timeline because I was desperate to find out what happened in each one!

Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote another fantastic book. I was a little concerned at first, It seemed to start off slow, but the three POVs kept me entertained and captivated as to what would happen next. It was fascinating how she wove the three stories together by the end. This book falls in line with many of Moreno-Garcia's previous works. She does a marvelous job of maintaining a suspenseful and mysterious aura in her book, that keeps you turning the page until your questions are answered. I read this in almost one sitting due to how interesting it was. As always I am looking forward to whatever she does next!

Silvia- Moreno Grace quite simply never misses and here is no exception. This has all the intense horror that I have been waiting for since the end of Mexican Gothic.

I LOVED this book. I've previously read Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic, so I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, as SMG has books in a variety of genres. It was a little of a slow start, and it took me a while to see how the three timelines all tied together. I thought SMG did a great job of weaving everything together, and dropping little hints here and there about where the story was going. The story was suspenseful, and definitely had very creepy vibes. I was a little curious about the type of blood drinking witch they mentioned in the book, and how that might be different than a vampire, but that's also research for another day. I thought the pacing of the book was solid. I have already started recommending this book to my friends who are also fans of SMG!

As a Salem resident, I was skeptical from the start of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's 'The Bewitching' -- aren't there enough stories about witches based in the Massachusetts North Shore? But like always, Silvia Moreno-Garcia had a way of breathing fresh life into an old tale. 'The Bewitching' tells the story of three women from three different eras as they try to make sense of unusual and supernatural events taking place in each of their lives. The protagonists include Minerva, a graduate student studying the life of an obscure horror writer Beatrice Tremblay, Minerva's Nana Alba who suffered a supernatural haunting in her young adulthood, and the notes and manuscripts of the horror writer at the focus of Minerva's thesis, as Beatrice Tremblay becomes completely fascinated by the odd comings and goings and later disappearance of her roommate.

Like so many of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other novels, 'The Bewitching' feels like a brand new kind of book within the genres it occupies. It is a multiple protagonist novel that focuses on three characters with a shared experience, it is a horror book that at time feels like The Blair Witch Project and at others like something more present: The Babadook, or the recent Nosferatu, it is a folk tale that plays out across three time periods. Moreno-Garcia's 'The Bewitching' reads as a contemporary horror book, but the folk lore thread gives the hauntings a significance that, at least to me, made the hauntings spookier and more disturbing.

At first I had a bit of trouble keeping track of all of the relevant characters across the three storylines. Alba and Minerva share a lineage and a number of family members and Minerva and Beatrice Tremblay share a location (the fictional Stonebridge College). The details of each storyline come sharply into focus after a few chapters but I think some may find this to be a challenging aspect of the reading experience. Despite this hiccup in the beginning, once I got everything straightened out I really enjoyed the reading experience and flew through the second half of the book to see if Minerva would learn from her predecessors in time to save herself. There were a few unexpected twists that I did not see coming and definitely enhanced the reading experience.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey, NetGalley, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia for an advance ecopy of The Bewitching in exchange for an honest review.

I read The Bewitching in a day because I couldn't put it down. I've enjoyed (and devoured) all of Moreno-Garcia's novels, but I haven't been so engrossed in one since I read Mexican Gothic. While the stories are very different, The Bewitching shares similarities with Mexican Gothic in its themes, mood, and supernatural darkness. My only disappointment was that I figured out the ending too early, so there were no surprises, but I still enjoyed seeing it all wrap up. If you liked Mexican Gothic, you will want to read The Bewitching for sure.

I did find 5 typos in the manuscript, and there is one character whose story isn't resolved (at least not to my satisfaction), but maybe those things will be revised before the novel is released to the public.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.
(I posted this review on Goodreads, but I don't know how to link the url.)

I really enjoy Moreno-Garcia’s writing and The Bewitching was no exception. I loved how the storyline alternated between the three perspectives and that they were all linked in one way or another. It kept the pace fast and built interest. The suspense was solid as I was uncomfortable reading in bed at night home alone! Few editing errors that will hopefully be caught before print but overall it was a really gratifying and interesting read.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia always hits it out of the park, but The Bewitching is my personal favorite. Such an engrossing atmosphere and effortless weaving of the threads of three times periods. The story hooks you and pulls you in and binds you and grips you til the end.

1908: On her family's small farm in Mexico, Albany helps her widowed mother tend to the house and her younger siblings while dreaming of leading a sophisticated city life. When her uncle comes to stay with his city clothes and costly gift for her, the pull of such a life is more painful. But not all of life is beautiful. Witches from a mountain village sell charms and spells. Animals on the farm are dying,and then events become more terrifying.

1934: Betty Tremblay, a poor scholarship student who attends a small New England college along with Ginny,a wealthy California student who communities with spirits. Carolyn, a wealthy , narcissistic socialite, rounds out the group, but the students on campus are not alone. Unseen forces seem to plague them, and Ginny is gripped by terror.. until she disappears.

1998: Minerva is an international student from Mexico at the same college. She is working on a thesis about Betty Tremblay and Carolyn, who is now an elderly widow in a jewel box mansion, agrees to grant Minerva access to Betty's writings and spirit drawings which are in her possession. As Minerva studies the events of the past, she becomes aware of several disappearances on and near the campus. She is shocked to find they may be beginning again and that time may be repeating itself as a crescent of dark witchery grows to its fullest.

This is a thoroughly enticing entry into the Canon of witchcraft tales that no one should miss. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

An excellent witchy story. In The Bewitching, we follow three perspectives set at three different points in time. Alba tales her part of the tale from 1908, Beatrice (Betty) from 1934 and Minerva from 1998. These three women are connected by both familial and familiar ties. The most common overlap between these women and what drives this story is their shared interest in and experiences with witches. And not witches like in a fantasy tale or as pop-culture often depicts them.

If you are a fan of stories about witches, this is one worth picking up.

I found the use of perspective changes well done and helped drive me to continue reading, even though often times I was afraid to continue out of concern for the characters. (If you don't turn the page nothing can happen to them right?) I appreciated the use of New England as the setting because I think setting the story there and reminding me early on of my preconceptions of the region created by other notable horror writers helped to set the mood for the rest of the story. I will read a story with witches any time of year, but this would make an excellent spooky season read too.

Also, could Minerva burn me a CD or at least share a playlist? The story often included what she was listening to on her Discman and had me wishing I could listen along with her.

I've read and enjoyed Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work in the past. This feels different in voice and style, but I think it works for the story.

I stopped 10% in, as I'm not personally interested in witchcraft. However, this will be a good fit for our libraries.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.