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Castle of the Cursed reminded me a lot of an episode of Supernatural, if the Winchesters weren’t involved. In a good way, if that makes any sense at all. Horror movie vibes abound! The FMC is the sole survivor of a highly publicized tragedy, and when she’s invited to live in an old family castle in Spain that may or may not be slightly alive, all of the family secrets her parents never told her start coming to light.
Vampires, dark magic, even darker history, and the slow process of working through grief and trauma make this book a darker read for sure, so make sure to read the Author’s Note at the front before you start.

I seriously loved this one! Highly recommend.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

Overall enjoyable read. It had a slow start but then picked up and I was very intrigued, but then it felt like twist after twist and it felt like too much was happening. I'm also confused and intrigued by the ending and what exactly it means. The writing was good, characters were good, and I really liked some of the mythical/paranormal/magical elements. It had a lot of cool parts, just a few too many for a single book in my opinion. But there's a lot to offer and a lot people will love about it.

I love classic gothic novels, so the description of this book pulled me in.
The mix of gothic and fantasy elements reminded me a bit of Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth series, but unfortunately this book doesn't go nearly as far over-the-top.
While a few times it verges on some serious vampire sexiness, overall it ends up feeling very restrained. I wanted more... more weirdness, more atmosphere, more gothic darkness.
It's a YA book, and while I often love stories marketed to young people, I guess this one was too 'teen' for me.
It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to read the next in the series...

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

Estela goes through the tragic loss of her parents only to find she does have more living family and a home to go to. Only once, she's there, there's secrets aplenty and a language barrier in the way.

I will admit that I went into this book with high hopes of loving it. I love gothic tales. I love spooky castles. I love things that go bump in the night. What I got was those things but poorly executed. Some help was had by my already knowing Spanish since not every sentence is translated even if Estela knows what was said, but there were times where I had to re-read the Spanish to get an idea of what was being conveyed.

Then towards the end of the book, they jump the shark. If there weren't the twist and a different ending, I would have loved the book. The second half of the book, I kept going "Is it over yet?" and that's never a good sign. Estela both seemed to be her age and be a young teen at different parts, but I wonder if some of that was just her own sheltered-ish upbringing.

I didn't hate it, but I think it just wasn't well done.

I have chosen to DNF this book at 35%. It was much too slow for me and couldn’t keep my attention.
I will star rate it here on NetGalley with the average stars since that is required, and will not leave a review or rating anywhere else since I chose to DNF.
Thank you for the opportunity!

Thank you, NetGalley and Wednesday Books, for my free E-book for review.

Gothic atmosphere. Family Secrets. Curses. Supernatural. Castle of the Curse has it all, and I was captivated from the very first page.

The story begins with Estella, who is orphaned in a sudden, unexplainable tragedy that kills everyone around her except her. Thrust into a world she never knew, she finds herself reunited with an aunt she's never even heard of before. Their family home turns out to be an actual castle, and Estella struggles to navigate this strained new relationship, often rebelling against the strict rules of her new environment.

Estella's rebellious explorations of the forbidden areas of the castle lead her to a mysterious man she dubs the "Shadow Beast" - a construct of her own imagination or something more. Meanwhile, she befriends a young local named Felipe, who seems to have a deep reverence for Estella's family and their history. As they uncover the past together, Estella becomes increasingly unsettled by the secrets her parents kept from her, and what her aunt may be hiding as well.

It's these tangled webs of secrets and the gradual unraveling that kept me glued to the pages. The rich family history adds a truly unique and captivating element, going beyond what I initially expected. Estella is a wonderfully complex protagonist, her inner turmoil between fight and flight stirring up a range of emotions in me as a reader.

Despite the dark fantasy elements, the core themes of sisterhood, repressed memories, and the exploration of vengeance really resonated. And that ending - I never saw it coming! The author's bold choice left me reeling in the best way possible.

Overall, Castle of the Curse delivered a gothic, supernatural adventure that exceeded my expectations at every turn. I highly recommend this book to anyone craving an immersive, emotionally charged fantasy experience.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 30, 2024
After Estela’s parents are killed in a mysterious subway accident, she is sent to live with her estranged aunt in a gothic castle in Spain, named la Sombra. Suffering from survivor’s guilt and immense grief, Estela is clinging to the only thing she has left- determining what killed her parents. Surrounded by strangers in a strange place where she doesn’t speak the language, Estela begins to notice strange things about la Sombra, including a silver-eyed young man that only Estela can see. As Estela questions her sanity more mysteries about the castle pile up until the only thing Estela can do is find out the truth, even if it means risking everything she has left.
Romina Garber’s gothic, YA thriller, “Castle of the Cursed” is perfect for fans of “The Mortal Instruments” and “Twilight”. After losing everything, our young protagonist is faced with a new environment, living among strangers, where she seeks the truth of who she is and finds romance along the way. Garber fully embraces Estela’s Spanish history and culture, as many portions of the novel (mostly conversations and literature) are written in Spanish (translated to English underneath), which is both refreshing and unique. Garber fully embraces Estela as a Latinx protagonist, and this will definitely serve her well, reaching out to a more diverse YA audience.
There are many mixed reviews to this novel and I can understand why. The beginning of the novel was slow to start as I could not connect with the main character (although I felt for her) and I struggled to make sense of what was happening. The Spanish castle, however, is terribly spooky and it was the absolute perfect setting for this creepy novel. The creativity of Garber’s living, castle is unmatched. There is a vampire, of course, as well as spirit possession and alternate universes, so Garber certainly has something for everyone.
Beyond the castle itself, “Castle of the Cursed” is not particularly unique, but it was a decent read. I was invested enough in the characters by the time I got to the mid-point that I wanted to find out how they fared. A lot of the action happened in the last third of the novel, so it was an easy journey to the ending after this. I have not read Garber before, but she is a relatively new author who is just finding her footing in the world of fiction writing, but it is obvious that she is a natural writer. “Cursed” will appeal to the audience for whom Garber is targeting, and I am intrigued enough to want to read more.

Dark and creepy; I loved every part of this book. Lost love, new loves and horror combine to tear a family apart. Surprise revelations and new friends may help heal it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC copy of Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber.

So, I want to start off with the fact that I love how Romina Garber puts a little warning of grief/suicide and that there are resources for those going through these mental difficulties. I think it is so important that those resources are put into light, as many may not know that they are out there or just a reminder that there are people out there who can help. In saying this, the book is rather dark and honestly, darker than most gothic novels I've encountered and feels like this needs to be said.

Castle of the Cursed follows Estela after becoming the only survivor of an incident of unknown circumstances on a NYC metro line. From her time in a psychiatric ward to her Aunt's castle in Spain, where it seems that all these memories are starting to come back to her. Estela is also navigating the mystery behind the castle and why locals outside of the village seem to be afraid of the area. It is certainly full of secrets, especially ones around her family which made the story complex. However, I kind of figured that vampires were going to come into play after Estela learns of the place she will be moving to and then it got a little Twilighty with the romance between her and Sebastian. My honest opinion is that no romance was needed at all for this novel, it could have just stayed with the family mystery unraveling etc.,

But this is my first book by Romina Garber and I would certainly reach her other novels.

I listened to the audiobook and wanted to like this book more, but because of the narrator's voice I kept picturing Estela to be around 14 years old or even a little younger. The romance between her and Sebastian fell flat for me - he seemed to be much older, and I didn't feel a connection between them. The premise grabbed me, and I liked the author's writing style but between the narrator's younger voice and the slower pacing, this novel just wasn't for me. That certainly won't prevent me from checking out this author's future releases.

This is a very dark book. Not only is it in the Horror / Fantasy genre, but the subject matter is on the grosser side.
To be fair, this is not they type of book I usually read but I was intrigued by the description and the writing was really well done so I kept at it until the end.
I enjoyed the descriptions of Spain and I loved the Spanish dialogue thrown in throughout the book. It really captured my attention and introduced me to new things. The story line kept me wondering what would happen and brought me into a new world. But that was a double edged sword because the other worldly-ness of it went to much into fantasy and it didn't seem to make sense. It was just gratuitous violence and people doing things with no grounding.
Overall, kudos to the author because the writing was very well done. But the story needed a tighter plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I honestly don't have too many thoughts about it, it was intriguing at first, and then in parts it really dragged for me. The concept of the gothic horror, gothic paranormal and the castle was such a spectacular idea, but it just didn't end up working for me.

This had some Twilight Zone like feelings, but I just...I didn't get into it like I had hoped.

I think there will be a subset of people who will enjoy this book, it just ended up not being for me.

I really wanted to like this one — the premise had me hooked. An old castle and mystery and romance — all the gothic vibes that I crave! So, where did it go wrong for me? I felt like the events of the story were hard to suspend disbelief for — I tried, I really tried but I didn’t feel Estela processed events in a way that felt natural. The dialogue felt stilted and I just couldn’t connect in the way I’d hoped. I know this book will find its audience, it just wasn’t for me. My warmest regards to St. Martin’s Press for the arc.

This genre-bending gothic tale was equal parts captivating and spooky. The writing is so descriptive and engrossing that it kept me reading til the end.

I enjoyed the experience of reading this book, though I struggled just a bit with the romantic aspect. I wasn’t quite sold on the chemistry between Estela and Bastian. There just needed to be a bit more between them for me to feel like I could really buy in to the romance.

Nevertheless, this book was very enjoyable and has only expanded my interest in reading more work by the author.

Beauty and the Beast, the R-rated version?

I just didn’t love this book.

The entire story is told from Estela’s POV. I wish we’d had another POV to offset hers. Being stuck in her head the entire time was a problem for me.

The “silver-eyed boy” she falls for is not a boy at all. He’s very mature, and the pairing was odd. To make matters worse, there is absolutely no buildup to the romance, if it can even be called a romance. It’s instalust, followed by instalove. Their connection came out of nowhere and didn’t make sense to me. We also have a couple of steamy scenes that come out of nowhere. Like, literally, just plunked into a scene for the sake of some spice.

The other characters sort of did what they were supposed to do to keep the plot moving. And that’s about it.

I could go on, but I’ll leave it there. Unfortunately, not a book for me.

Love the Gothic feeling of the castle, the characters, and the way you’re not entirely sure what is going on. The more the story unfolds, the more drawn into the story you become.

If there was anything I didn’t love, it was the rapid speed of love that happened, but once it was there, it worked well.

Overall, this story was a super fun blend of heartbreak and creepy. Garber has you wanting to give Estela everything good in the world.

🏰 Castle of the Cursed ARC Review 🏰

Thanks so much to Romina Garber and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Castle of the Cursed is a dark gothic standalone YA romance. 17 year old Estela has lost everything - her family, her home, her safety. Now she finds herself in Spain, living in a spooky castle belonging to family she never knew existed. Can she figure out the mysteries of the castle before it’s too late??

This was an interesting read. I liked the historical lore and magic system surrounding the castle. I liked Estela as a character overall, but struggled with her age and maturity in this book - as she is 17 through most of it. I enjoyed Bastian as a character too, but would have liked some chapters from his PoV as well

Overall this was a three star read for me. I liked the world building and general story, but struggled a little bit with the age and maturity levels of the characters. This book has some darker elements, so please check triggers if you’re sensitive. This book did have a romantic subplot with YA levels of spice, so overall one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of YA fantasy with gothic lore, engaging world building and interesting magic, then definitely pick this one up.

Please note: review will be posted on Amazon upon publication

Gothic telenovela meets Twilight in Castle of the Cursed!

I wish I had known going in that this was intending to be over-the-top, almost campy much like a telenovela. I knew it was a darker gothic romance with vampires, but there were some twists that kind of threw me tonally until I figured out what the book was doing. I think I especially wasn't expecting it because the book begins with content warnings- the main character deals with major mental health issues including suicidal ideation, grief, etc. So it's an interesting blend of serious and over-the-top.

I liked the idea of this book, but I have mixed feelings about the structural execution. The beginning is a little rushed with a lot happening that's important, but doesn't feel like it gives us quite enough setup. Then in the later part of the book, there is a big twist that kind of info-dumps a lot of information and history with a mechanism I'm not really a fan of. I don't want to spoil anything, but I think there is a world where this could have been a much better book by seeding some of that information earlier without revealing what it actually meant. It is on the darker and sexier side of mature YA romantasy and I kind of liked the relationship element. I feel like this one is going to be polarizing, but it's decent and had even more potential. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

3x listening speed was not fast enough to finish this book. This is my second time reading this author and I am very sorry, but I think her writing is just not for me. This was kind of confusing with the magic and the castle, and it kind of had the dumbest instalove romance I've read in YA in a long time.

One of my favorite subgenres recently has been gothic fantasy. There have simply been so many good ones of late that I almost have gotten to the point where I just expect them all to be amazing, simply by definition. I was also intrigued by the promise of a murder (?) mystery regarding the loss of Estela’s parents. And while I knew that a romance would be involved, and often I like a good romantic subplot, unfortunately the loves story brought it all down for me.

But let’s start with some positives! Of the three primary aspects of the story (gothic, mystery, romance) the gothic portion of the story fares the best. Once Estela gets to the estate, the author’s style of writing seemed to come more to life, effectively building tension and creating an atmosphere of barely-concealed horror. Second to the gothic aspects, the mystery was also compelling, especially in the beginning of the book when Estela is first beginning to realize that there is more going on here than a random, tragic accident. Once certain elements were introduced, I did feel like the big twist was a bit predictable, but on its own, I think this was a creative turn to the story. I wasn’t expecting the book to go quite so far into the fantastical as this one went, and for the most part, much of this was successful.

Unfortunately, the romance really killed it for me. A large part of this comes down to the fact that much of the story takes place over a very compressed number of days. I always struggle with love stories that develop this quickly; I can’t quite turn of my own skepticism over it all. That’s not to say, however, that a fast love story never works, but I do think it takes a very solid hand on characterization overall to pull it off. And here, neither Estela nor Sebastian were up to it. Both felt very flat, especially in their interactions with one another. Estela’s original arc, her struggles with the guilt of surviving the deaths of her parents, had a lot of potential. But the minute the love story started up, she seemed to lose much of this inner character work. And, again, this all happens rapidly, so it was difficult to believe in the sincerity of these emotions.

I also don’t want to get into spoilers with regards to some of the major twists in the end. But, essentially, I felt like the explanation for the resolution to the final conflict to be fairly ridiculous. It pretty much required the reader to disregard everything we’d seen from Estela up to this point and pretend that she was a very different character than she was. One of the things that I appreciated initially with this character was the struggles that she continued suffer through in the beginning of the story. But as the story went on, because the character became so consumed by the romance, we didn’t see the necessary growth to justify the things we were being told about her in the end. In fact, only a few pages before the fact, the character behaves in a manner that directly contradicts what we are later told is a crucial trait she contains!

Overall, I was a bit disappointed by this read. After a promising start, the story quickly began to fall flat and the characters were unable to hold my interest. The writing was strong enough and particularly shone with regards to the gothic/horror elements of the story. But the romance was uninspiring and dull, and as that ended up taking up a large chunk of the story, that killed it for me a bit. That said, romance is an incredibly subjective element of storytelling, so other readers may enjoy this one more than me!

Rating 7: While the gothic/horror elements were interesting, the characters and the love story failed to capture my imagination.

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