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jillaay_h's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Blood, and Death
gem114's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I actively disliked the first 30% or so and thought about DNFing, but I’ve been in a reading slump and was committed to finishing this book.
I had a hard time sympathizing with Alejandra regarding her situation, despite the fact that I know the author meant for me to feel for her. I also don’t think she’s a healthy representation of mental health struggles, as she goes from rock bottom to an empowered woman ready to battle literal demons after only a month or so of therapy. I found myself more drawn to minor characters, like Melanie, Flor, and Francine. I enjoyed the lore of La Llorona and little details about Mexican culture.
I think I probably would have liked this book better if it had been edited down about 100 pages. The organization would have needed to be tighter, fewer loose ends regarding the ancestor characters, less repetitive descriptions of the creature, etc.
I had a hard time sympathizing with Alejandra regarding her situation, despite the fact that I know the author meant for me to feel for her. I also don’t think she’s a healthy representation of mental health struggles, as she goes from rock bottom to an empowered woman ready to battle literal demons after only a month or so of therapy. I found myself more drawn to minor characters, like Melanie, Flor, and Francine. I enjoyed the lore of La Llorona and little details about Mexican culture.
I think I probably would have liked this book better if it had been edited down about 100 pages. The organization would have needed to be tighter, fewer loose ends regarding the ancestor characters, less repetitive descriptions of the creature, etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, Suicide, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Infidelity, Gore, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Colonisation, and Car accident
inky_cap's review
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
V Castro is a master at her craft, exposing the deep wounds of generational trauma and showing how they fester. How generations of pain can meld demons that feast on its descendants, the only hope of exorcising the evil is by confronting it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Rape
katreadsmore's review
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
catwhisperer's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Pregnancy, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Violence
laurenbookwitchbitch's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’ve been a big fan of V. Castro since reading “Goddess of Filth,” so I was very excited for this new, even longer horror novel. First off I mean look at this gorgeous cover! I adore a grotesque book filled with ghosts and blood that has bright pastel flowers on the cover, five stars for the illustration! Alejandra is a mother, wife and home-maker plagued by depression, anxiety and recurring nightmares of a woman in white whispering encouraging her to kill her children. As Alejandra’s terror increases, she begins to delve into her ancestry to discover a long lineage of women, who have had similar encounters w/ this demon masquerading as La Llrona. This book does that thing where it switches POV and goes back and forth in time between the different ancestral women who also encounter this demon in a way that is hard to pull off seamlessly but Castro nails it! “The Haunting of Alejandra is dark, emotional, fraught, frightening and will threaten to devour your own soul. But like, in a way that makes it a fantastic horror reading experience!
My only criticism of this book is that it very much equates womanhood with motherhood. 🙁😐
My only criticism of this book is that it very much equates womanhood with motherhood. 🙁😐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Gore
jessreadreceipts's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Suicide, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Colonisation, Abandonment, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Car accident, and Infertility
megandherbook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is my favorite book of 2023 so far.
Alejandra is a wife and a mother and is seriously struggling. She feels as though she has no identity other than those two things and she isn't even good at them. As her depression gets deeper she starts to see a ghostly figure of a woman in white - La Llorona. After deciding to get therapy this entity starts wreaking havoc on not only her but her children. This leads Alejandra to connect more with her birth mother who gave her up at birth and to learn more about her family history. She wants to learn more about this woman in white and how she can get rid of her for good.
This book is the epitome of how much heart horror can have. To start, Alejandra is such a beautiful, flawed character. I am not married and have no children but as someone who has depression I felt her agony. I have many friends who have felt the way she felt about their own partners and children and I know that Alejandra's struggle will resonate with so many. Yet the strength and love she has for her children will have you cheering for her the whole way through the book.
I also loved the exploration of her family history and heritage. Alejandra is a woman that was adopted and raised by people that had no ties to her heritage which made her feel even more lost in her identity. Getting to go with her has she learned and connected with her family and the strength it gave her had me crying. It was truly beautiful seeing her and the women of her family line experience the very real emotions that come with being human but specifically Mexican American women.
Finally, La Llorona is terrifying. I know enough about this legend and this take on it was so unique. The way that the moments of horror were paced seriously left me on edge. This book is told through multiple POV's and multiple timelines that made the story unfold in a way that made it hard to put the book down. I highly recommend this book!
Alejandra is a wife and a mother and is seriously struggling. She feels as though she has no identity other than those two things and she isn't even good at them. As her depression gets deeper she starts to see a ghostly figure of a woman in white - La Llorona. After deciding to get therapy this entity starts wreaking havoc on not only her but her children. This leads Alejandra to connect more with her birth mother who gave her up at birth and to learn more about her family history. She wants to learn more about this woman in white and how she can get rid of her for good.
This book is the epitome of how much heart horror can have. To start, Alejandra is such a beautiful, flawed character. I am not married and have no children but as someone who has depression I felt her agony. I have many friends who have felt the way she felt about their own partners and children and I know that Alejandra's struggle will resonate with so many. Yet the strength and love she has for her children will have you cheering for her the whole way through the book.
I also loved the exploration of her family history and heritage. Alejandra is a woman that was adopted and raised by people that had no ties to her heritage which made her feel even more lost in her identity. Getting to go with her has she learned and connected with her family and the strength it gave her had me crying. It was truly beautiful seeing her and the women of her family line experience the very real emotions that come with being human but specifically Mexican American women.
Finally, La Llorona is terrifying. I know enough about this legend and this take on it was so unique. The way that the moments of horror were paced seriously left me on edge. This book is told through multiple POV's and multiple timelines that made the story unfold in a way that made it hard to put the book down. I highly recommend this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Religious bigotry, War, and Rape
bkwrm1317's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The star rating is a personal rating, rather than the rating I'll provide for this eARC (which will be four stars).
First and foremost, thanks to Del Rey and Penguin Random House (shoutout to Sabrina S. at Del Rey for recommending based on other novels I've reviewed!) for providing me access to an eARC of The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro in exchange for an honest review.
Castro's Haunting of Alejandra is a slow-medium paced novel that spans centuries and generations of women who have been haunted by an entity that feeds off of their sorrow. Our protagonist is a modern mother of two who, having grown up in an unstable home environment, is enraptured by a young white man who promises her stability. Unfortunately for our protagonist, she ends up in a marriage without real love or affection and deeply unhappy (her spouse's gaslighting her certainly doesn't help things).
We also get insight into our protagonists femme ancestors, who, all the way back to the inception of colonization in what is today México, have been burdened by this curse, intended to punish colonizers by one of our protagonist's forebears.
Wrapped into this generational curse and its consequences are an interpretation by the author of the myth of la Llorona of Latin American folklore. Perhaps one of the most interesting characters of the novel, this creature, perhaps from another dimension/part of the universe, has an insatiable hunger for violence and malevolence on par with the Spanish conquistadores. "Before the invasion of this land by other humans, the creature had known that something just as malevolent as itself sailed the horizon. Perched on a jagged rock at the edge of a cliff, the creature had watched the bleeding sunset and inhaled the scent of death carried by the currents from the open waters creeping onto the shores. An omen." (location 544 in eARC via Kindle app)
A great fit for fans of Latin American folklore imbued fantasy, fans of Latin American inspired horror, folks who enjoy fantasy that covers broad time periods/is multi-generational in nature, readers who want to discover new takes on familiar tropes/stories (la Llorona, in this case), and emotional or heavier fantasy. I'll be on the lookout for more by V. Castro!
CWs: thoughts of unaliving oneself, horror, ghost stories, family/generational curses, emotional manipulation and gaslighting, childhood emotional abuse, childbirth, regret of having children, adoption + associated emotions for birth parent and adoptee
First and foremost, thanks to Del Rey and Penguin Random House (shoutout to Sabrina S. at Del Rey for recommending based on other novels I've reviewed!) for providing me access to an eARC of The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro in exchange for an honest review.
Castro's Haunting of Alejandra is a slow-medium paced novel that spans centuries and generations of women who have been haunted by an entity that feeds off of their sorrow. Our protagonist is a modern mother of two who, having grown up in an unstable home environment, is enraptured by a young white man who promises her stability. Unfortunately for our protagonist, she ends up in a marriage without real love or affection and deeply unhappy (her spouse's gaslighting her certainly doesn't help things).
We also get insight into our protagonists femme ancestors, who, all the way back to the inception of colonization in what is today México, have been burdened by this curse, intended to punish colonizers by one of our protagonist's forebears.
Wrapped into this generational curse and its consequences are an interpretation by the author of the myth of la Llorona of Latin American folklore. Perhaps one of the most interesting characters of the novel, this creature, perhaps from another dimension/part of the universe, has an insatiable hunger for violence and malevolence on par with the Spanish conquistadores.
A great fit for fans of Latin American folklore imbued fantasy, fans of Latin American inspired horror, folks who enjoy fantasy that covers broad time periods/is multi-generational in nature, readers who want to discover new takes on familiar tropes/stories (la Llorona, in this case), and emotional or heavier fantasy. I'll be on the lookout for more by V. Castro!
CWs: thoughts of unaliving oneself, horror, ghost stories, family/generational curses, emotional manipulation and gaslighting, childhood emotional abuse, childbirth, regret of having children, adoption + associated emotions for birth parent and adoptee
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
Minor: Child abuse
enchantressreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“Everyone deserves to write their own story.”
Alejandra is a 30-something, stay at home mom with three children. Her life seems normal, except for the bloodied creature wearing flesh and fish skin for a dress that watches her children sleep.
I love books about trauma. I love books about mental health. I love *raw* and honest books about mental health. V. Castro is already one of my favorite authors, and The Haunting of Alejandra is no exception. I flew through this book quickly, devouring it in about two nights.
This was a hard book. I don’t have children myself, and don’t want them, but it shook something in me that made me take a look at my past and my trauma and how the people around me treated me over it. Women (and other marginalized communities) are meant to take so much trauma without creating a fuss. They are meant to give up everything to cater to others. And this is the norm, not an extreme. This book forces you to look at the uglier side of womanhood and motherhood. Reading this on the heels of The Lies We Weave by Grace R. Reynolds definitely added a bit of emotion to the story.
Tread with caution, and treat yourself kindly while reading this book. I loved Alejandra, and I hope you do too.
Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the chance to read this advanced review copy.
CW for death, murder, body horror, suicide, suicidal thoughts/ideation, blood, gore, toxic relationship, sexism, abandonment, sexual assault, emotional abuse, child abuse, rape, mental illness/depression, infidelity, miscarriage, colonization, and racism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Colonisation, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Racism