an empowering twist on la llorona, this book is about alejandra, a modern day mexican american mother who is being haunted.

there is a sharp contrast between alejandra's intensely deep mother love for her children and the suffocation she feels. it's heavy, like she is performing her mothering and housewifery duties from underwater or from under a dark cloud.

it takes her some time to realize that something is deeply wrong, beyond typical depression. she is being pursued by a creature who follows her bloodline because the women in her family are brimming with rage and sorrow, which it feeds upon. it's that good old intergenerational trauma!

but once alejandra realizes something is very wrong, she works toward taking care of it. she finds a dual curandera/therapist to provide guidance. she builds an altar to her family and prays for help from her ancestors, strong women who visit her in her dreams. she also contacts her birth mother, who acts as a supportive friend. i love this part early in the book, when she is making powerful strides toward getting better and learning to value herself.

however, the pacing is not great, and the writing is strangely dry for an otherwise compelling story.

in the beginning i really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints, which keep it fresh. alejandra's chapters are interwoven with chapters about her ancestors, which provide context on the curse that has followed the women in their family for generations. we see all different versions of their suffering, not only alejandra's stale unhappiness.

but as the book progresses, we jump around too much. at around 80%, when we should be approaching a climax, we're still following alejandra's great great grandmother, who joins the mexican american war and has a love affair with real historical figure emiliano zapato?? what?? i was totally thrown off by the inclusion of a real person from this moment in history. this chapter also briefly includes a trans character who serves in the military, which is cool representation, but it comes out of nowhere and feels random.

this uneven momentum, combined with horribly unrealistic paragraphs-long expository dialogues between alejandra and her curandera, really took me out of the story. this curandera is a savior figure who is always available and always says the perfect thing, and i just don't believe it. i love the idea of her helpful character, as well as of alejandra's supportive birth mother, but the writing just doesn't bring them to life.

the horror is good - there are some genuinely scary moments, and very disturbing demonic imagery. it's particularly terrifying when the creature goes after alejandra's children. and the ending is wonderfully empowering, as alejandra performs her own ritual to take on the demon, and guided by ancestors, does what she has to do.

castro's ideas are 10/10, it's the execution that's not ideal. but it's still a powerful book, and worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Firstly, I love the cover! This and Goddess of Filth are probably two of my favorite book covers ever! This is in a sense a retelling of the La Llorona story but with a bigger twist and more modern complexities. This story follows Alejandra as she struggles with her day-to-day life as a stay-at-home mom of three kids. She’s given up her career, she no longer loves her husband (maybe never loved him at all), and constantly battles with thoughts of suicide which are always accompanied by apparitions of La Llorona and her disparaging whispers. This was a fantastic read and I’m so glad I got to read another work of Castro. This is a gruesome and dark horror novel that explores generational trauma as it is passed from woman to woman and the incredible lengths one woman must take to break the cycle; to learn to love herself, accept her children, and to embrace her heritage. Indigenous people, POCs, and minorities always suffer from the curses of men but women especially are always the ones to suffer. Castro depicts this through different time periods where centuries may separate these women and their societies but their suffering is universal. We explore the POVs and minds of several women within Alejandra’s family as they experience this curse and getting to know them and their reasonings is so heartbreaking. But while they may have suffered they will always be there to be called upon to help and propel hope. I loved this and being able to explore all of these strong women and Castro’s love for her heritage and culture is plentiful and gives no quarter to the patriarchy and colonialism’s erasure of POC identities. The body horror is pretty gnarly too and Castro’s La Llorona is probably one of the most unique depictions I’ve ever read. For as dark as this novel is, there is still an abundance of hope to fight against our demons and to learn to love ourselves and to be patient. Go get yourself a copy now!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Alejandra is doing her best but she's struggling. She can't seem to do anything right as a mother and a wife, even though she's erased herself and her wants and needs to fulfill theirs. She feels all of her energies sucked in and hears voices but she thinks it's all in her head. Until it isn't.
I really like the way we see the events unfolding in the eyes of Alexandra and the development each character had overall, but especially her. You can see her find her voice as a Mexican woman that didn't have a voice, didn't have her roots, and didn't have free will almost. Apart from Mathew, who is a despicable man but you really get to know and like her family and other characters. And you get invested in her journey to find herself, her heritage, her lost family and to better herself.
Without spoiling the story too much, this is much more than a story about a haunted woman and a lot more about the effects of generational trauma and the dangers of letting yourself and your mental health forgotten until it's far too late.
V.'s writing is engaging and enticing and it has a way of connecting the dots right at the very end.
Thank you so much to Hear Our Story, V. Castro, Del Rey, and Penguin Random House for giving me access to this book! My review is unbiased.

he Haunting of Alejandra is a horror novel that follows the story of a woman named Alejandra who is haunted by intrusive thoughts and the apparition of a crying woman. She discovers that generations of women in her family have been haunted by La Llorona, the same apparition she has seen. The novel delves into multigenerational trauma, mental health struggles, and the complexities of womanhood and motherhood, while incorporating Mexican history, folklore, and culture seamlessly into the story.

I appreciate the weaving of multiple different timelines and points of view to tell the story. There were some horror moments that were truly scary but the book itself felt a little disjointed at times. The book started out a bit slow and honestly kind of felt that way throughout, which is a shame because the concept and story were there.

Overall an entertaining read, I just wish it would have been a bit more exciting.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an EARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Mexican folk horror and this didn’t disappoint! Only regret is not waiting to read in the fall. The creep was perfectly done here - I never felt full out scared of disgusted (horror relies on grossing us out too often IMO) but had a constant creeping feeling … amazing!

This book was absolutely my cup of tea, exploring grief and generational trauma through stories of Mexican-American folklore. I also absolutely love the cover.

The Haunting of Alejandra tells the story of an overburdened mother as she begins to experience hallucinations of La Llorena, the woman in white who drowned herself and tried to kill her kids as well. It's a story about generational trauma and one woman's journey to get rid of her demons (literally), but it just wasn't for me.

I found Alejandra to be fairly bland - she had a hard life, and I really felt for her, but I just kept wishing for more. I wished for more for a lot of this book: I really enjoyed the structure of the story and I thought it was told in a really compelling way, with the narrative switching between different generations of women within Alejandra's family, but I cared a lot more about their stories than I did about Alejandra's, if I'm being honest.

What definitely didn't work, in my personal opinion, was the stilted dialogue and the fact that there is just so much of it. I found myself wanting to skip through all of the talking, but it seemed like all there was would be talking, until suddenly the monster was right there and I had missed all of the lead-up to it because I found the talking so boring. Perhaps this is unfair, since I do truly believe we need more books that involve people going to therapy, but the therapy was so boring to me, and Melanie the therapist was way too chill about everything. It was hard to get into the stakes of this book (and it should have been really high stakes!) when I found the dialogue so laborious to get through.

Overall, I thought this book had a lot of potential, and I really liked pieces of it - particularly the flashbacks to other women in Alejandra's family - but it fell flat for me. It definitely provides a nuanced look at topics such as motherhood, generational trauma, the patriarchy, etc, so it's worth reading just for that! This one just wasn't for me.

The Haunting of Alejandra was a nuanced look at generational trauma through the lens of the Chicano culture. Rooted in one of the best known stories of Mexican-American folklore, The Haunting of Alejandra tells the story of a woman who feels that she has lost herself in her marriage and her day-to-day tasks. Castro does a fantastic job utilizing Alejandra’s character as a means of exploring generational trauma, as well as an individual’s connections to their ancestry. A little emotional, a little grotesque, and a whole lot of pride in la raza Chiacano, the story of Alejandra will stay with me for quite a while.

This book is seriously gripping and heart-wrenching. It explores grief and how it can impact generations, making it impossible to ignore. But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom - there are plenty of gore and darkness to satisfy any reader who loves a story that shines a light on how women, especially those with Alejandra's ancestry, have been treated throughout history.

In short, if you're ready to delve into a mesmerizing read that will have you rooting for Alejandra and the women before her, then this book is for you!

By the time I finished this book, I was enjoying it. But I struggled with the first 2/3 of it. Alejandra was insufferable, understandably, and I was glad to see her go through therapy. However the dialogue was so contrived at points. I think this book has an audience out there but I’ve already done my decades of therapy and don’t need to read it on the page. The horror aspect was excellent. La Llorona is a fantastic inspiration for a story and I loved that through line.

Thank you Random House Ballantine for the review copy on NetGalley; this is an amazingly powerful, effective, and challenging in a good way novel. From the spot on artwork on the cover to the strong character voices and throughout the suspenseful development of the la Llorna narrative. There is importance in sharing culturally nuanced stories and I particularly love a book that weaves identity and race and ethnicity into the horror genre, I find it empowering to read stories that place under represented voices at the center of stories and not just as secondary characters or victims.

Chilling, beautifully written horror story. I can’t even articulate how much I loved this. OBSESSED. I love the incorporation of la llorona and motherhood. I was a very refreshing new way being told.

A fantastic premise, blending South American history and folklore with horror, all upon a framework of generational trauma and emotional abuse, while telling the story of the women in Alejandra's family over hundreds of years. There were definitely attempts made to address womens issues and even how contemporary religion contributes to harmful systems and expectations against women. Unfortunately I wasn't able to really connect with the story. The prose seemed stilted and overly formal, agonizingly repetitive, and often exhausting with all the descriptions of nothing happening. The characters fell flat, which seems like it should be impossible given the absolute flood of information provided, they just lacked depth or life. The Haunting of Alejandra has great bones and could really be an incredibly unsettling story, but I didn't enjoy it as it is.

THE HAUNTING OF ALEJANDRA: A NOVEL
By V. Castro
Published; Del Rey Publishers on 4/18/2023
Page Count: 272


This is my first foray into the world of V. Castro and won’t be my last. Nicely melded are horror and folklore. This will be a wonderful addition to the aficionados of Silvia Moreno-Garcia …to be immersed and devoured. Alejandro is caught up in the struggles of motherhood and depression …. although she loves her two children, she is saddled with an apathetic husband, who always is away on business trips and even when home, seems to only complain and be judgmental and cruel. While trying to deal with her inner anguish and despair, she begins to envision a creature who takes corporeal form to further torture her sanity. Expertly introduced is the folklore , involving La Lloraona, the mother who drowned her children and herself, and now haunts mothers like Alejandra, trying to cope with the pressures of motherhood and life. Alejandra is thankfully aided by therapist, Melanie Ortiz , who has the attributes of a spiritual healer … a curandera.
V Castro masterfully weaves a compelling horror story, drenched in folklore with that of everyday horrors of life. She explores many of life’s tribulations …. postpartum depression mental health, motherhood, patriarchy, self love and worth. A perfect degree of creepiness, adds to the escalating sense of suspense and tension. Nicely juxtaposed are flashbacks from the 17th century to heighten the sense of the visceral horrors that Alejandro is attempting to cope with. The writings of V Castro must be added to the those who enjoy mixing their horror with folklore monsters.
Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey Publishers for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

This is hands down the best horror novel I've ever read. The themes of generational trauma were so carefully woven into the horror aspects of the novel. This was beautifully therapeutic, particularly for Hispanic women. I saw so much of my family in the pages of this novel.

3.75 stars thanks to Netgalley for granting my wish on this book. Im not gonna lie I was hesitant about requesting this book because Horror is definitely something I don't do, but im so glad I still requested this. As a Latina, Mexican-American who lives close to a border I grew up hearing about the Llorona she came to those children that did not behave. I never knew the story behind the Llorona and after reading this book Ive realized that there are many different versions the only thing that stays the same is that she drowned her children so I will keep behaving lol. But dont be fooled the Story of Alejandra is so much more than the tale of La Llorona it is about breaking generational curses something that is very very real and something that is not talked about especially in different cultures. It also talks about motherhood and how as much as it affects each one different the attacks are all the same we just take them differently. I ended up over my horror hang up and really enjoying this book.

Wow! This book. This was one of my most anticipated reads and it did not disappoint!

The Haunting of Alejandra is about Alejandra who is succumbing to the darkness of her mundane, unappreciated life as a stay at home mother and finds herself face to face with not only her loneliness but a dark force as well. She starts to hear threatening voices and has visions of a creature who she later believes is none other than La Llorona, a Mexican ghost from a folklore whose story has been told for many generations. La Llorona’s hauntings are the result of a generational curse on Alejandra’s bloodline. We get the privilege to read flashbacks about some of her ancestor’s fights and struggles with the Weeping Woman. With the help of her birth mom and a curandera, a spiritual medicine woman, Alejandra won’t give in to the demon without a fight. Has La Llorona finally met her match?

This was a tough read as a fellow stay at home mom who feels like she lost a piece of her self when she became a mother. I can see how easy it is to slip into some of the feelings that Alejandra was having. But also I can relate to the fight of a mother who will do anything to protect her kids. Castro dives into some very dark and heavy topics on motherhood, postpartum depression, femininity, grief, mental health, immigration, patriarchy, revenge, and most importantly self-love and care. I liked Castro’s spin on the legend of La Llorona. I am always intrigued by the different retellings of the legend.

This dark Latinx horror is one you should add to your TBR! While I was never (thankfully)overly scared, it had the right amount of creep factor and gore to keep me anxiously turning the pages!!

V. Castro has been on my TBR for a long time after I kept seeing "Goddess of Filth" all over booktok and bookstagram. I was so happy to get this arc and be able to read it!

I always loved the story of La Llorona and have been captivated by the legend. I automatically knew I needed this read after seeing that. We follow a mother named Alejandra who is suffering of depression and anxiety that cause night terrors of a woman in white. In every dream this woman is calling to her and telling her to hurt her children. These mental health issues cause her to deep dive into family history and learns that all the women of her family going back generations have experienced this same thing. The depression and anxiety and night terrors of this woman have plagued them like a curse.

The book is told with multiple POVs which I really loved. They go back to many women in her family that have had these experiences. I found that beyond interesting! I loved seeing and hearing what the other woman were experiencing. The book was so atmospheric, interesting, and frightening.

For her latest novel, The Haunting of Alejandra (Penguin Random House), author V. Castro creates a beautiful hybrid of Stephen King’s It and the Disney film Encanto, in that the book features an unknowably old, maybe interstellar creature and it explores multi-generational trauma with a compass pointing toward forgiveness and self-actualization.

I actually DNF'd this book. There were aspects I found very enjoyable but I didn't get much of them. And then I finally I just gave up because it was not holding my interest.