I would like to thank Wednesday Books (St Martin's Press) for providing me with an advanced copy to review. Castle of the Cursed will be available on July 30 2024 at your local bookstore or public library.

Estela has never had a home but has a life with her parents on the road, her mom is a freelance journalist and her dad is a private investigator who has taught Estela how to solve mysteries which comes in very hand after a crazy accidents takes away her only family and lands her in front of a castle in Spain with her only remaining family, a cold and distant aunt Beatrice.

This book was such a fun time. It felt like a combined Twilight with a Spanish a telanovela, there is supernatural suspense, hidden identities, magic spells and impossible romance. Estela begins to heal and find out that there is so much more to her life, even in the wake of losing her parents. She overcomes impossible events and learns just how powerful she can be.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC and opportunity to review this title early!

Castle of the Cursed really surprised me, and even with the synopsis, I didn’t fully know what I was getting into at first. I also don’t read many gothic stories, but I enjoyed this one. Estela is such a smart heroine and the mystery pulled me in from the first chapter. The writing flowed so well that it just kept me reading chapter after chapter.

The story deals with some sensitive topics, so I would be aware of those before reading, but overall, I really enjoyed this!

I loved the gothic and Spanish-language aspects of Castle of the Cursed, but felt constantly sidelined by reveals and turns of events that eventually made me lose interest in the story.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an HONEST review.

Ok…I don’t usually do reviews on books that I disliked or found so many faults with, but I felt I needed to in this case.

My review is basically just one big spoiler so proceed with caution.

SPOILERS***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS***

The premise of this book sounded really interesting and it started out really good. It had that spooky, dark, Spanish Gothic horror movie vibe to it - sort of The Invitation meets El Orfanato (The Orphanage) with a splash of 30 Monedas (30 Coins), at least that’s how I saw it in my head…You had a town full of creepy founding families that didn’t pay rent or for services with money…they paid with their blood…but we only ever heard/learned about one of those families because their son, Felipe was tutoring Estela in Spanish and he was also obsessed with her except he wasn’t really obsessed with her he just didn’t realize that. So, for the first portion of the book after the tragic subway deaths and the mental hospital stay we get the backstory on the town and the castle Estela has been carted off to. This was done in a great way. It had me hooked. I was curious about the town’s history, what the hell her Aunt was giving her every night instead of her prescribed medication, and what/who was the smoky creature/person she kept coming across that was threatening to kill her if she didn’t remove the spell she put on him…because she’s supposed to be a witch (but that plot point kinda gets forgotten about) Then it starts to get a bit wonky when Sebastian the smoke creature guy bites Estela and we witness him(through a memory)…playing with a blue baby bear that his father later murders in front of him…? What? Is he an alien? An inter-dimensional alien vampire? I’m so confused at this point. So, of course Estela falls hard for this “creature” that has threatened to kill her basically every time he sees her after she throws herself at him and shoves her tongue down his throat.

I can ignore the immature insta-love on Estela’s end seeing how’s she’s an almost 18 year old and we all thought every crush was love back then. I can also ignore the fact that she missed so many red flags when it came to Felipe. Dude was a walking, talking red flag, but she never really had friends, she was in a different country/culture, etc. What I can’t ignore is how the story basically went from a supernatural, Gothic horror story to some weird ass ripoff of The Magicians at about the 68% mark. It was like I was reading a completely different book at that point. A book I did not like or have any interest in reading.

So, the founding ancestor of the Estela’s bloodline and castle is some sort of creature that’s literally banging his way across different universes/dimensions and his offspring all end up at a mirror image of the castles in their own worlds? Oh, and they hate humans, and they “feed” the castle they currently reside in when they “graduate” but they don’t know what that means…like, they don’t know what anything means. They’re just a bunch of blood thirsty assholes except for Estela’s twin sister (that she didn’t know about)but then she turns into some diabolical mastermind too.

The dialogue in this book is weird and does not flow at all. I’m not talking about the sections where it’s a mix of Spanish and English, that was normal. I’m talking about the fact that the flashbacks of Estela and her sister have them talking (and thinking/acting) like grown ass adults as 6 year olds for starters. Then we have Sebastian…he comes from a completely different dimension/realm and learns English somehow by reading all the books in the castle…the books that are all in Spanish…because this takes place in Spain. He also somehow goes from using very formal, almost broken English to making sexual innuendos and using a much more colloquial way of speaking even though Estela doesn’t speak that way. Is he getting tutored in American Slang 101 when he just poofs away during daylight hours?

Then we have Antonela. Like I said above, her storyline is basically a weird ripoff of The Magicians that takes over around the 68% mark. I don’t know what inspired our author to go this route, but she did…Antonela definitely got the short end of the stick when she got sent to the Hogwarts from Hell Academy, so I can understand how she turned out a bit…evil. I think my biggest issue with her in particular is that she’s just dumb. She did not think her plan through all the way/enough in regard to using ol Iron Vampire Prince Basty Boy as her intergalactic taxi back to Earth. Her whole convoluted plan to get an audience with him in the first place was absolutely ridiculous and made me wonder how dumb all these other mythical creatures are.

I wish that the love story between Estela and Sebastian had been fleshed out A LOT more. It literally went from 0 to 100 out of nowhere. They kissed a few times then he decided he was going to give up his chance to return home because he was in love with this young girl that seems to attract messiness to her on a daily basis? What? There was absolutely no real build up and no chance for me to become emotionally invested in these two being together. Oh, and this takes place over a span of two weeks. TWO WEEKS and this dude is giving up everything and basically proposing.

Ok, I will say that I liked the very end with the whole ‘rounding up criminals and letting Sebastian hunt his dinner’ thing.

Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and this book isn’t aimed at someone my age I just couldn’t ignore all the stupid things Estela did or that the pacing was really weird. But I just didn’t enjoy this book once it took the weird turn into the other dimension. If the author had gone more of an “The Others” route I think the book would have flowed much more organically and I would have loved it. For me this was more like a 2 1/2 star read.

Castle of The Cursed is a gothic romance that proves to you that sometimes family isn't all its cracked up to be and secrets that have long been buried in the past are maybe something that needs to be dug up and exposed to the light.
Estella has spent her life on the move, her parents never settling down in one place. She longs to be a detective, finding ways to pass the time on the road with paying close attention to those that surround her but on one day, one trip on a subway she became known as the soul suvivior of the tragedy and took her parents and the lives of so many others.
Enter La Sombre the imposing Castle on the hill that she will now call home along with her aunt whom she barely knows. Estella hasn't spoken since her family died and has been in a mental institution but that is all changing now.
Shes not sure if she is losing her mind as she is seeing and hearing a monster from her dreams. She worries that she is spiraling out of control but things in this town, this castle are not at all what they seem.
I want to thank #Netgalley for giving me the chance to read #CastleOfTheCursed in return for a fair and honest review.
I very much enyed Castle Of The Cursed.

A wonderful gothing romance sure to thrill YA audience. Exactly what is needed in this genre, written in a way that will captivate readers and make them love the charaters and the plot! Excellent story!

⭐️ 2 Stars

Unfortunately this book was not for me. It was overly dramatic and poorly written at the start making it difficult to get into. The pacing seemed off and chaotic at times. There was so much going on at the end, that I felt like all the elements got away from the author. I would pass on this one.


Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately this was just not the read for me. Gothic Twilight seemed like a just-fine premise to me and I was thoroughly excited, even with the mixed-reviews. I'm just not too sure what to think of it but the writing, plot, and characters just didn't work for me.

I didn't love this but it doesn't mean that you won't. Vampires and dark, haunted castles is a real mood (maybe I'll try again in October). Plus Twilight has a huge cult following, so this might be for you if love twilight :)

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Castle of the cursed by Romina Garber, The book is about Estella who won while visiting New York there was an incident on a train that kills everyone except for a Stella in this includes her parents not knowing any other family she is put in an expensive psychiatric hospital until they find her aunt who lives in a castle in Italy Who agrees to take her in. The first night she arrives she disregard everything her aunt tells her and starts exploring the castle she has memories that she feels is attached to the Home in a purple room but what she finds is so so much more. This book left me with many questions not only while reading it but even after I put it down I would have an aha moment like whoa wait what about…? For example how could Sebastian try to kill her and then the next day she feels overwhelmingly attracted to him? I have other questions but that will just give plot points away and many people really enjoyed this book as I did in the beginning up in until she started claiming to be in love with Sabastion and I was all Lynn to the story and it’s not even that I don’t like Insta love which I really don’t but sometimes I find an author can make it feel pseudo authentic. In this book it just seemed forced some of the twist seem like it was created out of hole cloth there are many things I liked about the book the sex scenes not so much I feel someone going through all this life altering revelations for one wouldn’t fall in love with a vampire and for two if they did wouldn’t do the things they did that just totally ruin the momentum of the story for me and although I did like a Stella a lot she eventually started to great on my nerves. Because I mean really she has to name him and then learns he’s a vampire and then can’t keep her hands off of him but this is just the beginning there’s a lot more towards the end of the book that almost seems ridiculous This review was way too long for a book I am only rating two stars.#SaintMartin’sPress, #NetGalley, #RominaGarber, #CastleOfTheCursed,

3.5 ⭐️

I have so many mixed feelings on this one 🙃

I loved loved loved the beginning and the whole premise of the book, it was dark and mysterious and very eerie. Estela not speaking was a very interesting concept too, I was really curious to see how it was going to be handled.

I was not expecting the precise supernatural turn this book took, but it was actually a really fun surprise!! Not sure I would’ve been as excited if I had known from the start, but because I was unaware, it felt so fresh somehow

Estela was a great mc! I loved how real her struggles were and how she never really tried to hide what she was feeling or unnecessarily fake anything. Even after losing so much, she felt so strong to me throughout the whole book, never losing sight of who she was.

Bastian was also an interesting character, but I think the romance there felt a little rushed at times - which kinda makes me wish this was a duology. His father/world also felt like a bit of a loose thread as well, so I think a second book could’ve helped that too.

I feel like the world building that happens through most of the second half could’ve been done a lot better. Theresa was just so much thrown at you, so felt a little info dumpy. But as the same time, I also couldn’t get a big enough grasp on everything I was learning! Again, from what the author was setting up, I really feel like we could’ve dug a lot deeper if this had been spread out into two books 🤷‍♀️

Which brings me to another confusing aspect: Bralaga! What is his true goal? Is he actually a neutral party? What’s going on with his connection to the castle? I guess I’ll never know haha

My biggest complaint, though, was how choppy some of the scene transitions and plot developments were. It really took me out of the story when everything would suddenly change or a scene would just stop abruptly

All in all, loved the premise here and how the story unfolded in the first half. But I unfortunately think the story got away from the author throughout the rest of the book.

Unfortunately this was not for me.

I had a major issue getting into this book for serval reasons, primarily, it's messy, the plot jumps timelines and relies on a semi unreliable narrator to unfold. Unfortunately, that brings me to issue number two, I hated the main character from before the book even started. In the authors intro to the book she makes a comment about the main character being "caught in the shadow of her own pain" this immediately set a bad tone with me, I was concerned that the main character Estela was going to be overly melodramatic and full of teen angst, unfortunately my initial guess proved correct, and by the 20% mark I had reached my limit, not only was the grief aspect overplayed but it was poorly written, with odd comparisons and phrasing.

Unfortunately, I did end up DNFing at the 20% mark, the world was messy, the plot hadn't really begun and I hated the main character so much I could not begin to care what happened to her.

Romina Garber is back!!! I was worried this wouldn't live up to Lobizona/Cazadora for me but it may have surpassed it. It was so perfectly atmospheric and creepy, and I loved the world building/mythology of this world. I do think some of the more supernatural elements weren't as fleshed out as I'd have liked them to be, but I managed well enough. I'd love a sequel, but this was a stunning standalone!!

I've gotta say, I came dangerously close to DNFing this one, but I'm so glad I didn't!

This had a little bit of a rough start for me. I know there was an intentional aspect of mystery here, but it felt like the story was all together poorly explained up until one particular reveal once Estela is physically in the house. From that point, though, this story really took off. I was expecting a cursed, mysterious house situation and thats definitely what I got, but there was a ton of wildly unique world building and twists that I didn't expect in the least. I loved the inclusion of other worlds, family history, mysterious magic and rituals. I love any story where the house (or setting in general) seems to have almost a character and role of its own, and that definitely happened here.

One thing I remain unconvinced about even come the end, though, was the romance. I felt like throughout the entire story I didn't actually trust Sebastian's loyalty and feelings toward Estela, and like his home world/family situation is pretty insurmountable for them to overcome. The ending was a bit unsatisfying in this way, and I am strongly hoping that the author decides to revisit the Vampire world of this story. It has a ton of potential, and was barely touched.

Regardless, I was overall very satisfied by the ending of this story as far as Estela herself, her role in the castle and in her family, and the outcome of the original murder mystery. I love what this author ultimately did with this world and how magic does or doesn't exist in it, and I think fans of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, Starling House, and Belladonna will quite enjoy this.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eArc!

I have had this ARC sitting on my TBR pile for so long that I actually forgot what the book was supposed to be about. Yet, that was kind of a good thing. It allowed me to dive headfirst into Castle of the Cursed without any preconceived expectations or concerns regarding what kind of narrative I was getting—and let me tell you, it was well worth it.⁠
Castle of the Cursed is two parts gothic romance, one part haunted house story, with a sprinkling of portal fantasy gone wrong. You’ll spend the first half of the novel just trying to figure out which characters you can trust, including the main protagonist. It thrives on presenting an eerie and mysterious atmosphere that balances somewhere between occult, mournful, and true crime detective novel. For me, my favourite part about this book was that for so much of it I wasn’t entirely sure if Estela was seeing and experiencing everything, or if it was just a break in her psyche as a result of the accident and her parents’ deaths.⁠
Personally, I do believe that the first two-thirds of Castle of the Cursed are a lot stronger than its conclusion. I find that once you know what the black smoke represents/is, the rest sort of falls into place a little too neatly, and it becomes predictable. As a result the ending comes off as rushed when it shouldn’t—as a reader you just know what’s going to happen so it kind of distracts from the lead up to that point.⁠
In terms of if I would recommend it, I most certainly would. I think if you like mainly mystery focused investigation type stories, something similar to T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series but with a side of romance, then you would probably like this.

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so close to DNFing this one. I wanted it to be good from the summary but it just got messy and chaotic and brought in way too many elements. Spanish Brujas, a cursed castle, witches who can only do magic on the full moon (which apparently was totally forgotten about around half way through the book?), then somehow we slipped into vampires and alternate dimensions and traveling through portals with the weirdest most unexpected “spicy” romantic moments that were just so completely unnecessary…

One of my biggest pet peeves is stories with magic that have messy or, even worse, no rules. This magical world got so sloppy at times it just really irked me. If the writing had been amazing I may have been able to overlook it to an extent but it also felt overwrought. None of the characters were particularly likable (or even understandable).

So I’m gonna give this one a big “no” from me.

I thought the cover was very cool, and not just because it's purple, and the story was a cool twist on a gothic haunted house tale.

This had the potential to be really good but the writing just wasn’t resonating with me. I like more expressive language and this felt very matter-of-fact.

At times it felt like I was reading an educational novel rather something meant to pull you into a new world. I will say that the Shadow man definitely had his appeals, he was the best part of the book.

After Estela survives a mysterious attack that takes the lives of her parents, it takes her months to recover and for the authorities to find her only living relative - an aunt she’s never heard of in Spain. When Estela arrives, she discovers that her new home is actually a castle called La Sombra. It’s situated on a hill where the town of Oscuro literally lives in its shadow. The people there seem in equal parts to fear and nearly worship her family and their castle.

Then she meets a boy who lives in the castle but that no one else can see, who claims to be trapped there. Using her father’s detective rules, Estela tries to figure out how what happened is linked to what is going on in La Sombra which is made more difficult by the fact that everyone is lying.

This book is very Poe-esque in that the castle feels like some thrumming organ beneath your feet. A lot of the world is represented in a haunting portrait of Gothic proportions in blacks, reds, and greys. There are metaphors in abundance with black obscuring smoke, closed off and dangerous hallways in the castle, flashing lights, haunting mirrors, decay, and a town that seems in some ways lost to time. There’s also some fascination with blood–it’s mentioned often in the writing. In some ways it reminds me a bit of Dark Shadows in that the world is mostly dark with brighter pops of color (i.e., blood).

In some parts of the novel I felt that Estela was very naive and should have known better. The names of the town and castle felt a little heavy-handed, but I’ve found that’s often the case in translation. Some of Estela’s thoughts felt repetitive. It makes perfect sense to be consumed with dark thoughts but it still can seem repetitive (who hasn’t thought in a depressive episode that this whole thing is tiring and repetitive?) Repetition doesn’t make it not true.

I did guess some of what was going to happen in the story, but I felt that the actual reveal was truly original, albeit slightly terrifying. There were some parts that might make some people squeamish. The end was open and left one or two threads to subjection–if you catch it.

I insanely love how the inside of one of the rooms was described as if the beams/structure inside made it resemble a rib cage.

Incredible!

The way this book explores grief is a fascinating gut punch done up in gothic horror.

I really resonated with Estela and her survivors guilt as she tries to solve the mystery of the shadow castle.

I just can't imagine how it would feel on top of all that trauma, to realize that pretty much everything you knew about yourself was a lie.

Phenomenal book with a haunting last page.

A dark, haunting, and beautifully written story that delves into themes of grief, loss, and the supernatural. The protagonist, Estela, grapples with deep depression after her parents' death, and the cursed castle's dark secrets add to the story's gothic atmosphere. The unexpected twist involving Sebastián and the development of his relationship with Estela are particularly compelling. The book's blend of horror, romance, and gothic elements, set in the mysterious town of Oscuro, creates a suspenseful and emotional narrative that lingers long after reading.