I was really excited to dive into Bochica, but unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing it as I felt it was really slow paced. I'm typically not into gothic horror type books, but the premise of this one really intrigued me since the moment I saw it announced on the Primero Sueño Press Instagram, but unfortunately It just wasn’t the right fit for me at the time.

I would definitely give the authors future books a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Primero Sueño Press for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 34%.

Premise was incredible, but execution fell so flat. The author's writing style is stilted and very "tell, don't show." Too many things happened "suddenly" and events were convoluted and repetitive. Antonia's opinions and feelings also change on a whim; she'll be terrified and overwhelmed with love for her father and two pages later she will be completely calm and full of anger and disgust that she wasted her life caring for him. 34% in and nothing major had happened yet to grab my attention.

Since I DNFed this book, I will refrain from posting a review on social media.

Actual rating 2.5 stars

Bochica had an intriguing premise with its promise of gothic elements, but unfortunately it is excruciatingly slow that it left me yawning and eventually falling asleep.

The setting was eerie with description that flooded my senses. I was on high alert, anticipating the creepiness to be tuned to like an 8, but I quickly learned that it was not going to be THAT kind of suspense.

I struggled the most with Antonia's character who ruminated SO MUCH and delivered little to no action behind all her theories. I also feel like the author didn't know what kind of horror to incorporate as the subject. Is it demons? Is it a cult? Is it a haunting? I was confused, looking for clues as to what I'd encounter next. There's also a bit of romance woven in, but Alejandro as the mmc leaves much to be desired. I didn't like how he was used as a vehicle to reveal the mystery regarding the murders surrounding El Salto. The information being handed to Antonia this way is lazy and disappointing.

My favorite part was reading her mom's journal entries. I think they offered interesting insight to their familial line, and what potential darkness has lurked in their lives.

I am not an expert in gothic literature, but this one just ... didn't hit the mark.

Bochica definitely had a lot going for it, but the execution fell flat for me. Despite a haunted atmosphere, creepy things that go bump in the night, secrets galore, a haunted mansion, ghosts, cryptic journals, and a mystery, nothing really happened. Nothing. I really wanted to like this one, but the whole thing fell flat, from beginning to end.

What I did like and appreciate were the legends and discussions about the Muisca people as I didn't really know a lot about them. Learning about the different figures that play an important role in the spiritual life of the Muisca people was fascinating, and I really wish the author had used that a bit more in the story. There was also some discussion about the impact of the Spanish colonization and how it affected the people and some of the steps they took to protect the land. However, that being said, there were also a lot of tropes being used as well to depict Indigenous peoples, some of them discombobulated and contrary to what was originally mentioned, and I did have a problem with that. If you are going to use something to be a red herring, don't use these misconceptions as that is not very impressive. There was also a lot of discussion about women and their role in Colombian society during the 1930s and how frustrating it could be for a woman who wanted to do something different than be a wife and mother. Women's roles were very limited during this time period and I empathized with a FC who wanted to do something more with her life and felt constrained by the men around her. The idea that a woman has to become evil in order to get what she wants in society should have been discussed more in the novel as I think that was an important theme in this book.

Antonia herself is a strong-willed character, but she is pretty one-dimensional in nature and we don't really get to know her very well. We don't learn very much about her time in the mansion, something I thought would have been important to the story. Despite the theme of women's rights running through the book, the author chose to have Antonia in a relationship for her to get out of her situation rather than on her own merits, something I did not appreciate. The story itself was pretty formulaic and predictable, and despite all the elements available to give one the creeps, there was actually nothing to the story. There were many plot holes and so many things were just glossed over in such a way that the reader was supposed to just accept them. Not this reader.

Bochica had a lot of potential, but more emphasis on creating a plot that the reader has to figure out rather than a reader just accepting how things are would be beneficial. I had high hopes for this book, but this definitely could have used some editing to make it more powerful. Overall, I think this suffered from a plot full of holes, a story that had potential but essentially was more in the nature of telling you what was happening rather than letting you figure it out, and little suspense.

A haunting tale of a daughter seeking to find out what really happened to her mother. The mansion sits at El Salto, abandoned for the past three years following the tragic death of Estela. Antonia and her father wanted nothing to do with it, trying to escape the sadness that has surrounded them, until a family friend decides to rent it out as a hotel. Thus, Antonia and her father are drawn back to the house and its secrets.

A tragic and suspenseful story steeped with Colombian history, this was a quick read - frightening with a dash of romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

I'm a bit disappointed with Bochica. I was so excited to find a Latin American gothic horror that incorporated Colombian legends into the storytelling. The editing definitely still needed to be finalized. I even bought the published ebook to see if the glaring spelling errors had been fixed before publishing. They hadn't. The story moved a bit too slowly and musings were repeated (many times on the same page mere lines apart) as well, which could have been helped in another round of editing. Overall, this book could have been reduced by a good chunk of pages to keep tension from being overco.e by boredom.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Comparing any book to Mexican Gothic is a very high pedestal to start on. I did enjoy the gothic qualities to this book, but I did have a hard time in places to follow along with the storyline. However, the setting was gorgeous, atmospheric and gothic, and considering this was a debut, I know the author is going to create amazing works in the future.

Thank you to Atria Books | Atria/Primero Sueno Press and NetGalley for an E-ARC copy of this book.

Bochica by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro is a mesmerizing, witchy tale that wraps you in its eerie atmosphere and doesn’t let go. With lush prose and a creeping sense of dread, the story builds slowly—but trust me, the payoff is so worth it.

I loved the haunting, folklore-infused world and the subtle, simmering romance woven into the narrative. This is the perfect read for those who love dark magic, atmospheric horror, and stories where the supernatural feels deeply rooted in something primal and real. If you enjoy slow-burn tension, rich mythology, and things that go bump in the night, Bochica will cast its spell on you too.

Highly recommended for fans of witchy tales and gothic folklore—just don’t read it alone in the dark!

Antonia’s life seemed like a fairy tale growing up. She lived in a beautiful mansion her father built for her mother and all of the gothic novels she could ever want. When her mother dies, Antonia and her father are devastated. And when her father tries to burn down their home, Antonia begins to question whether her mother’s death was really an accident or if something more sinister happened. When Antonia and her father return to their home to celebrate its reopening as a hotel, tragedy strikes and the mystery surrounding the house and the land pulls Antonia back in.

I enjoyed reading Bochica, but I think I let my hopes get too high based on comparisons to Mexican Gothic and The Shining. Not much happens during the first 30% and I wish things would have gotten spookier faster. The author did a great job of creating an atmospheric setting and using it to create tension. I enjoyed the creepy imagery and really loved the supernatural elements and the lore we got about Bochica and the Muisca people. I definitely think this author is for me and I look forward to reading from her again in the future.

…no one ask me how my “DNF more books” resolution is going.

when antonia was a child, her father built a beautiful mansion for her mother—but the family’s dream quickly became a waking nightmare. now a young woman, she finds herself drawn back to the childhood home where her mother died mysteriously years earlier, and caught up in a deeper conspiracy involving a murder cult and a power struggle over sacred land.

i was really disappointed by bochica. the almost-YA writing style, tendency to tell rather than show, and stilted, passionless romantic subplot bog down what could be a haunting story about the cost of colonialism, muisca culture, and the lengths women will go to for power in a society that denies them. i realize i read an ARC, but it reads like an early draft.

✨Bochica by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro is Brilliantly Haunting! ✨

I loved every single second of this horrifying tale! Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro has truly outdone herself with this brilliantly haunting debut! Full of Indigenous Colombian mythology, supernatural suspense and family secrets waiting to be unearthed - Bochica 100% had me on the edge of my seat!

✨ Indigenous Colombian Mythology
✨ Family Secrets
✨ Historical Fiction
✨ Gothic Horror
✨ Mystery & Madness
✨ Family Secrets
✨ Haunted Mansion

Bochica was such a beautifully disturbing read and I cannot wait to see what tales Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro will tell next!

PS. Reading Bochica has sent me down a rabbit hole of the history of The Hotel Del Salto and I’m so excited to learn more!

Thank you so much Atria Books for sending a copy my way!

This historical horror novel masterfully blends chilling suspense with powerful themes of colonization and feminism. Reminiscent of Mexican Gothic and The Hacienda, it invites readers back into a hauntingly atmospheric setting where the past refuses to stay buried. Fans of gothic horror with a socially conscious edge will find much to admire in this gripping, thought-provoking tale.

This book was one I was really looking forward to—Colombian gothic horror? Yes please. But I found the prose and meandering narrative style tedious and unrewarding. Knowing that the author is a journalist explains a lot: there’s an overabundance of telling and very little showing. I did not enjoy this reading experience. I slogged through this and eventually gave up.

Because I was so disappointed and eventually decided to DNF, I’m confining my review to NetGalley rather than sharing it on other social platforms. Thank you for the ARC.

Bochica is a debut novel, set in 1920s Colombia, that follows Antonia as she returns to her childhood home years after her mother’s death. Antonia wants to find out more about her mother’s death and the dark secrets of her past.

This was a quick read. I loved the gothic atmosphere and the eerie vibes. I think the atmosphere was my favorite thing about this book. I also liked learning a little about Columbian mythology and the Muisca indigenous civilization.

This was a shorter book, so I read it pretty fast, but I wanted more from the story. It felt like something was missing. The beginning was promising and lured me in, but as the story progressed, it became less interesting. I couldn’t really connect to any of the characters, so I wasn’t really too invested in the story.

The ending felt a little underdeveloped, and everything happened too fast. I wanted more from the ending.

I did enjoy the writing style so I would read more from this author.

You might enjoy this book if you like historical Gothic fiction that feels similar to Mexican Gothic.

I wanted to love this book, but it just didn't work for me. This story is considered a gothic novel, and you'll read the phrase "gothic novel" a lot in this story. It's mentioned numerous times, and while I love a gothic novel, the fact that the book itself kept calling it out felt weird. I knew the author and character were showing appreciation, but I think it was so called out that I started focusing on that vs the story.

The author does a beautiful job of bringing the atmosphere to light. It was very easy for me to see the scenes in my mind, and the imagery created was vivid and realistic. It feels beautifully haunting, and the author also managed to bring smells to life.

Antonia's character was one that I felt a lot of empathy for. You can tell she's having a hard time, but she's also dealing with situations that she's either been denying are real, or the details have been withheld from her over the years. I did find some of her denials frustrating because the evidence was right in front of her and it had been years of oddities occurring. It wasn't like one or two things happened and she wasn't believing her own eyes.

Overall, this story was okay. It's on the shorter side, and I think if things were more developed, it may have felt more complete.

(3.5 Stars)

Overall, I had a great time listening to this and I think it's a solid new entry in the Gothic horror space.

I especially love what this story is doing in regards to acknowledging the tension between colonialist land "ownership" and land stewardship conducted by communities indigenous to the land. That's where the "horror" stems from in the story: the fact that people who are not of the land are trying to exact ownership and control over it — even though they do not ( and cannot) understand the full breadth of the land's intricacies. And that disruption, that discomfort, it what is truly "haunting" the characters.

That said, thematically and aesthetically, I really appreciate what this story is doing. However, I found myself wanting more from the relationship dynamics in the story. I think the main character, Antonia, is very strongly characterized, but I found her relationships with other people to be a bit wanting. In particular, there's a romantic relationship unfolding with a young journalist who is also helping Antonia to investigate what's really happening at this hotel, and I just didn't feel anything from their supposed connection. And she also has a somewhat contentious relationship with her father, which also ends up feeling a bit surface-level.

The majority of the story also takes place over the course of a couple days, and I think that accelerated timeline ultimately did the story no favors. Everything feels rushed, new discoveries don't have time to properly land, and it just doesn't feel like we get enough time to sit with the characters and everything they're struggling through.

I also wish the story took more advantage of the found journal entries, which were one of the most compelling plot devices in the story. But we only got to read maybe two or three entries by the end, and it just felt like a big missed opportunity, not only to give voice to Antonia's deceased mother in her own words, but also to add even more suspense and layers to the story.

Overall, I appreciate what this story is doing, and like I said, thematically it has a lot of worthwhile things to say. But in the end, I just wanted a little bit more from it. Maybe if it was 50-100 pages longer, it could have explored these characters and this setting mor thoroughly. But like I said at the top, this is still a solid Gothic horror story from a promising new voice and I can't wait to see what else Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story a lot, with its bits of horror and mystery, and the setting was creepy and spooky, as intended.

The problem was it took me a while to read because the writing was very jumbled and skipped over things. There were instances where Antonia was talking about the past and I couldn’t tell if she was still talking about the past or back in current time.

Antonia is being haunted, so there were parts of the story that are just missing, and she acknowledges that she has holes in her memory, but we really never get that resolution. Plus, she has these visions/hallucinations that are hard to separate from reality from the readers perspective. There were just a lot of times where I thought, what is happening and how did we get here???

As is the nature of a book that is 240 pages long, the pacing of this was really fast, which I didn’t have a problem with, but it did feel as if some elements were mentioned with the intention of being explored more and then just didn’t get the chance.

I really enjoyed the end of the story and the arc that Antonia went through as a character though.

Overall, if you like spooky stories with haunted houses and haunted girls trying to solve a mystery, I think you will like this. Just be prepared for the writing to be complex.

3.5 stars. This was a great haunted house story, intertwined with familial relationships and rooted in Muisca indigenous history.

I loved Carolina’s writing style! She is concise and to the point. And I liked how she described the setting, it felt so immersive. Sometimes the chapters and transitions had me a bit confused but I was able to figure things out with context clues.

The author’s commentary on society and humanity made me SO happy. So many good quotes! The connections she makes to the lands history, the characters flashbacks and the character herself is so beautiful, just the depth to it all is amazing!

I didn’t like the romance element, didn’t make sense for Antonia’s independent character and the time could’ve spent elsewhere lol. I think the story would’ve been better with a stronger or true climax, it may have felt more complete. I also wish more time was spent on explaining the background of the Las Hijas, because I loved that aspect of the story so much!

Overall I enjoyed this book! I’m looking forward to read Carolina’s next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Primero Sueno Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of potential in the beginning, but it took a weird turn 2/3 the way through where it almost became a Scooby Doo let’s get the authorities involved to help stop the murderous Cult. I feel like if the book was a little longer it could have fleshed out more of Antonia becoming the leader she was meant to be (even if she did not want to follow in her Cult leader mother’s foot steps) to end the haunting, and stop her dead mother’s traitorous former friend who has purchased their old home turned Hotel for her sacrifices to summon demons to gain power. All of these characters could have been fleshed out further, there’s also a somewhat forced romance between Antonia and Alejandro (someone she barely remembers from her childhood turned reporter). Also the returning of her mother as a ghost? to basically tell her the only one to break the curse is the one who cast it and no other way even if Antonia were to accept her fate and step up as a leader. I just wanted more.

While I did enjoy this debut, it ultimately fell a little flat. The author did a great job at the setting the scene. Loved the gothic atmospheric vibes. But the storyline itself didn’t really come together for me.