Reviews

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the digital ARC of "The Haunting of Alejandra" by V. Castro.

I began reading, and couldn't stop.
The heartbreak was so tangible, and the pain of these connected women echoed through time.
The shared heartbreak and trauma throughout the generations were what hurt the most.
It might just be my opinion on how I read this... but in every segment, it felt like almost every woman lost part of themselves (who they were/what made them strong), or had to give up something precious - due to a man... and ultimately childbirth became a strength and a weakness for them.

The real horror for me wasn't the supernatural aspect... but how real the trauma, and losses were.

The only real downside to this book though was how quickly things wrapped up at the end, and there were a few parts that felt a bit disjointed from the pace the story started taking.

Overall though, I am thrilled to be able to recommend this book to anyone that will listen!

4/5

rene_'s review against another edition

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4.0

[4.5] ahhh this book was extremely ugly. It follows Alejandra and the maternal generational curse that haunts the first born mothers of the entire line. The creature creeps into the mothers’ minds (and times, their first born daughters), manifesting as a physical being only seen by them, filling them with depression and pain from their situations, ending with the creature feeding on the mothers’ fears and at the end of their lives, their physical bodies. My thoughts throughout the entire book was just if the women were able to leave their goddamn husbands and without society taunting them for it, the curse could’ve gone away so much sooner. With La Llorona, though im sure is a real myth passed amongst Mexican history, I kind of imagined it as depression and anxiety of not being enough for your families. We were also able to see some of the stigmas women loved through from like the 1800s to the 2000s and I think that’s a neat part of this book :) .5 off because I didn’t cry reading the book

ctrejo's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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