Some doors should never be opened… but what if they’re calling your name? 👀✨⁣
With curses, vengeful spirits, and a wish-granting well that demands a price, this book had me hooked!

This had a super cool premise but fell flat in the execution for me. I like the idea of a family curse, a vengeful ghost, a mysterious cavern and the overall vibe of be careful what you wish for. BUT the book had a very slow pacing, which is not a deal breaker on its own, but add in the fact the last 2 chapters of the book were a whirlwind of action to wrap everything up, I feel like I got whiplash. The ending was 100% the most exciting part of the story, but had too much crammed into it in just a few pages I am not sure I understood all that happened. If the ending could have been drawn out or happened more over time then I may have felt differently about the book, but as it is now I feel underwhelmed by it. I am sure others will love the overall creepy vibe of the story and may be surprised by the end reveal (which the entire book pointed towards) but it was not my favorite.

I wanted to love this but it felt like a 'thriller by numbers' with a lack of character development and depth. Though it's a young adult title, it felt very limited and lacking in ways that other young adult titles aren't.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Initially I was drawn in by the beautiful cover of These Venegful Wishes but this book isn't just a pretty face, with a fast moving plot linez complex characters and a vivid world I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, it was an easy and fun read.

Struggled to stay interested, and eventually found myself skimming entire chapters just to find out what finally happens. Interesting plot, but the writing and character development just weren't there to back it up.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

A little late with the review but I come with a lot of love for this book.

The cover was the thing that drew me into requesting 'These Vengeful Wishes' but right from the start, this book captured readers with an atmosphere of melancholy, longing, and anxiety.

Following Ceci as she returns to the town from her mother's childhood and to a manor haunted by a curse.
A mysterious curse surrounds the original families' deaths, and on the way to discovering the truth, she'll find out the cost of wishing.

I will say that this was very fast paced and while I could see more information or setup adding to the book, it still really hooked me, so my comment is only for what i think some might say.

I was really enjoying this story, but was having formatting issues on my e-reader. Now that it's out I'll definitely be getting it from my library so I can finish it.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ceci and her mom, Marina, have to leave their luxurious life and return to Marina’s hometown - Santa Aguas. The caveat, Santa Aguas is basically haunted by La Cegua, a witch who eliminates bad men; in this case, it’s all the Sevilla men. So of course Ceci and her mom move into the Sevilla manor, and after finding a secret wishing well, all the secrets start unraveling, including Ceci’s very own history.

This book reads like a movie. The writing is so clear and easy to imagine (this coming from someone who doesn’t usually visualize what I’m reading). "These Vengeful Wishes" is told primarily in first person from Ceci’s point of view- with snippets of La Cegua’s thoughts. I’d say this is a medium-to-fast paced book.
I appreciate that Montalban didn’t run wild with too many details. The scenes were set clearly, and left to speak for themselves, no unnecessary fluff.
Though a well-written haunted town/family story, "These Vengeful Wishes" also highlights the impact relationships have on a person, be it parental, friendship, or romantic. Furthermore, the reader sees Ceci and her mother struggle with their truths and vulnerabilities, and what it takes to break down the walls they’ve built.

I highly recommend this book. It has a little bit of everything: frenemies, young love, retribution, character growth, and a “villain” we could root for.

WOW! This book knocked it right out of the park. I loved the darkness and the mystery. I cannot recommend enough.

Montalban knocks it out of the park with this Nicaraguan legend of La Cegua. Readers will root for Cesi and Jamie while exploring serious topical issues of family, generational trauma and gentrification. The pace picks up in the second half of the book with thrills and suspense that keeps you turning pages. These Vengeful Wishes was a deeply emotional read and I look forward to whatever the author writes next!

This was a great read. If you're in the mood for spooky. I really enjoyed the myth that was used for this book. I had never heard of it before. Can't wait to read more from the author

Thanks netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First and foremost, thanks to Netgalley and Zando for gifting me the ARC of this.

A town full of secrets, a vengeful ghost granting wishes with terrible prices, and a teenage girl on the hunt for answers. This book really has it all. We meet young Ceci, when her newest stepfather gets arrested, forcing her mother and her to move back to her mother's childhood town. They take residence in the long-abandoned Sevilla manor, a family rumored to be cursed by none other than the infamous La Cegua, a vengeful ghost on the hunt for miserable and drunk men, only to lurk them into the woods. So why is it that Ceci feels a sudden and strange connection to the supposed vengeful ghost? It doesn't take long for strange things to happen and Ceci soon takes it into her own hands to search for answers and uncover not only the Sevilla's family secrets but also her very own.

This one was hard to rate for me. Both the writing and the characterization were really on point and actually made jumping into the story easy. Ceci is a flawed, angry teenager who doesn't have the best connection to her mother. Something, most people probably will understand easily. She is a loner, and never really felt like she could fit in with the people around her, as if her heart somehow was hollowed out, making her feel unlovable. And yet the thing she always desired most was exactly that: love and a close family.

When she moves to the old manor with her mother, she doesn't expect anything different to happen; yet another town with people she could care less about. And yet it seems that this small town, ravaged by a vengeful ghost, is the place she can not only finally forge the connections she always yearned for, but is also the place that makes her finally feel at home.

The whole plot was really well thought out and though I kind of figured out part of the big plot twist early on, it was still well executed. I could really feel with the characters and their choices and was hooked when the plot thickened towards the middle.

I do think that the pacing in between slowed a bit down, usually whenever I was hooked just right, something that bummed my rating down a bit but all in all, I really loved not only this story but the whole lore around it.

Definitely recommend it to everyone looking for something mysterious!

I loved the dark mystery surrounding this story. The relationship with her mother was very authentic. I am glad that Ceci learned that it was okay to open up and make true friends.

It didn’t take much for me to add this to my TBR. I think I saw the cover and that was enough. Afterwards I immediately went to Google to find the legend of La Cegua. I needed to know everything that I could about it. And now that I’ve finished it, I can say it was absolutely warranted.

Ok so this is a very slow, slow burn. There’s a lot of explanation and there’s a lot of story filling, but not that many scary bits. I know that’s a me thing, but I just feel like if you’re going to make it a slow burn, put some stuff in there to make it so that I don’t look away. You have to make it thrilling in some other way. And that’s what she did. The weird stuff with the town on down to just the descriptions of La Cegua. It was all weird lol

The characters were what threw me off the most in this book. I get that there was some extra weird going on here, but the thing with the boy? Ol dude fell hard and fast and left all common sense there lol And like she was so mean? So many of those things she was doing I kept thinking like wtf lol All the lying and the way she just made her own decisions with no regard to anyone else was sending me. Idk. I’m not usually a fan of morally gray, so maybe this is just me. But yeah, I was not a fan. (Especially since the person who SHOULD have gotten got only got a small taste because her mom kept going to visit him! she should have left him where they were lol)

And just as a heads up, this was pitched to me as a horror book and I think with me thinking of La Cegua and what the overall theme was, I had an idea on how this was going to go. But it’s more fantasy than anything. The horror is more gothic horror so I would actually call this a gothic fantasy. I’m just trying to clarify, because I think if I had been told it was fantasy, I would have rated it higher.

This book was a lot of fun, but it didn’t come without flaws. I definitely enjoyed it. I hope to see more of this later. Seeing culture in horror or just spooky books in general is EVERYTHING to me. And the author is such a wonderful human. I can’t wait to see more of this in the future.

A heartbreaking, yet heartwarming story about folklore and young love. Family secrets are being ripped apart at the seams and in the midst of it are two young people, so afraid of falling in love, yet its inevitable.

The characters, the story and the whole vibe of this book just grabbed me, and I truly enjoyed this reading experience! For the fisrt time in a long time I sat there kicking my feet, rooting for these people, and cursing others. Absolutely reckomend if you like mysteries, magic and suspense! This is a YA, but I did not feel like it read very young, which is a good thing for me personally.

I love books based on folklore. I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I think it would make a great audio book too.

This was one of those books that had potential but just fell a bit flat.

It’s very formulaic in is story and while is was interesting enough for me to finish nothing surprised me or impressed me

The FmC is a very cookie cutter I’m not like other girls type with the classic family issues. But there was no real development it didn’t feel impactful or unique.

There is great representation within our cast of characters which I love to see but I think this story could have been so much more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an E ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anything Vanessa write I, reading. She has a way of giving you a bit of history or lore mix with her story telling abilities. Her writing is so vivid and intoxicating. You want to stay up and read the book until the very end . Definitely worth the read.

I didn't feel super connected to this story, but I did like the mystery of the past and I liked the story telling. I think I just didn't quite feel super obsessed with Ceci, but she's a character with some depth, as she's like on the grumpy side but still wants to be hopeful, so I have a feeling that other people might find a better connection with her!