I read The Bewitching in a day because I couldn't put it down. I've enjoyed (and devoured) all of Moreno-Garcia's novels, but I haven't been so engrossed in one since I read Mexican Gothic. While the stories are very different, The Bewitching shares similarities with Mexican Gothic in its themes, mood, and supernatural darkness. My only disappointment was that I figured out the ending too early, so there were no surprises, but I still enjoyed seeing it all wrap up. If you liked Mexican Gothic, you will want to read The Bewitching for sure.

I did find 5 typos in the manuscript, and there is one character whose story isn't resolved (at least not to my satisfaction), but maybe those things will be revised before the novel is released to the public.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.
(I posted this review on Goodreads, but I don't know how to link the url.)

I really enjoy Moreno-Garcia’s writing and The Bewitching was no exception. I loved how the storyline alternated between the three perspectives and that they were all linked in one way or another. It kept the pace fast and built interest. The suspense was solid as I was uncomfortable reading in bed at night home alone! Few editing errors that will hopefully be caught before print but overall it was a really gratifying and interesting read.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia always hits it out of the park, but The Bewitching is my personal favorite. Such an engrossing atmosphere and effortless weaving of the threads of three times periods. The story hooks you and pulls you in and binds you and grips you til the end.

1908: On her family's small farm in Mexico, Albany helps her widowed mother tend to the house and her younger siblings while dreaming of leading a sophisticated city life. When her uncle comes to stay with his city clothes and costly gift for her, the pull of such a life is more painful. But not all of life is beautiful. Witches from a mountain village sell charms and spells. Animals on the farm are dying,and then events become more terrifying.

1934: Betty Tremblay, a poor scholarship student who attends a small New England college along with Ginny,a wealthy California student who communities with spirits. Carolyn, a wealthy , narcissistic socialite, rounds out the group, but the students on campus are not alone. Unseen forces seem to plague them, and Ginny is gripped by terror.. until she disappears.

1998: Minerva is an international student from Mexico at the same college. She is working on a thesis about Betty Tremblay and Carolyn, who is now an elderly widow in a jewel box mansion, agrees to grant Minerva access to Betty's writings and spirit drawings which are in her possession. As Minerva studies the events of the past, she becomes aware of several disappearances on and near the campus. She is shocked to find they may be beginning again and that time may be repeating itself as a crescent of dark witchery grows to its fullest.

This is a thoroughly enticing entry into the Canon of witchcraft tales that no one should miss. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

An excellent witchy story. In The Bewitching, we follow three perspectives set at three different points in time. Alba tales her part of the tale from 1908, Beatrice (Betty) from 1934 and Minerva from 1998. These three women are connected by both familial and familiar ties. The most common overlap between these women and what drives this story is their shared interest in and experiences with witches. And not witches like in a fantasy tale or as pop-culture often depicts them.

If you are a fan of stories about witches, this is one worth picking up.

I found the use of perspective changes well done and helped drive me to continue reading, even though often times I was afraid to continue out of concern for the characters. (If you don't turn the page nothing can happen to them right?) I appreciated the use of New England as the setting because I think setting the story there and reminding me early on of my preconceptions of the region created by other notable horror writers helped to set the mood for the rest of the story. I will read a story with witches any time of year, but this would make an excellent spooky season read too.

Also, could Minerva burn me a CD or at least share a playlist? The story often included what she was listening to on her Discman and had me wishing I could listen along with her.

I've read and enjoyed Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work in the past. This feels different in voice and style, but I think it works for the story.

I stopped 10% in, as I'm not personally interested in witchcraft. However, this will be a good fit for our libraries.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

TW: incest, sexual assault

This story starts off in typical SMH fashion: a tender rendering of scenes and characters. Lucky for us, we get a "three-fer," as it were, because we get three vignettes in one. If this were a "regular novel," it would be beautiful and lovely.

But then we get the SMG TWIST, and things start getting weird around 50% of the way in, and they crescendo with an excellent mix of psychological horror and flat-out gore. By the end, you're breathless and saying to yourself, "what the hell just happened?"

I'm not providing actual "spoilers," but I do feel like the sexual content in this story warrants trigger warnings, hence the heads-up.
Another SMG winner!

One of my absolute favorite modern authors. How she continues to move through genres, writing captivating stories and weaving her Mexican roots in each one creating a unique catalogue - I'm absolutely thrilled each time a new book comes out and I get to read it. This one was creepy and ghastly, jumping through narratives and each one with a distinct tone, each character fleshed out and alive on the page.

“The Bewitching” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a mild supernatural horror that takes place in three separate time periods. It follows a grad student studying in a small New England college as she investigates the disappearance of a famous female author of a horror novel. All three stories are threaded with Mexican folklore, gothic suspense and some chilling witchcraft and the journey of each of the three women protagonists is interesting. The book is well written but for me a little too slow with a predictable outcome. I do think people who follow this genre will enjoy this atmospheric tale.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really really liked this book! I love all things witchy, and magical, and I love how this book was a multigeneration tale that went through different periods of time. It was very enjoyable and I would recommend this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I think this was another case of it's me, not you (the book). I loved Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic and also liked The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, but her other recent books have all been largely underwhelming to me even though the premise should be exactly what I'm in the mood to read. Moreno-Garcia's latest is a story of witchcraft unfolding over several generations and multiple perspectives. We're given three main characters: graduate student Minerva working on a thesis in the 1990s, her grandmother Alba as a young woman in the 1900s, and the subject of Minerva's thesis, author Beatrice Tremblay, in the 1930s when her college roommate disappears under mysterious circumstances.

It takes a while for the action to get started. The first quarter of the book is a lot of shifting POVs between the three narrators as they set up the foundations of the story, and just like in many of Moreno-Garcia's previous books, my main gripe is that the voices of the characters all read so similarly that it's hard to distinguish who's telling the story without additional context. It makes it more difficult to become immersed in the world and the characters when there aren't any that stand out from one another. I think this book would benefit from more distinct characterization and a tighter control of the narrative, but I love Moreno-Garcia's ideas and I certainly hope she keeps coming out with them.

As usual for Moreno-Garcia's books, this is a gorgeous supernatural tale of horror and sacrifice, full of detail and lush settings and well-developed characters who grow through the course of the novel. Told in three time periods, and rife with red herrings, the story involves avaricious and truly deadly witches, and the women--a grandmother and grand-daughter--who learn to thwart them through spellcraft of their own. A college mostly abandoned for the summer, a similarly abandoned factory, a grand New England house, and a villa in a small town in Mexico provide excellent atmospheric settings, and the witchcraft is unique and wonderful. Folks into "dark academia" will eat this right up, and both previous fans of the author and newcomers to her work are in for a treat.

The three standalone stories are like a well-crafted puzzle, each piece fitting perfectly into the whole. Prepare to be spooked by dark magic, chilling horror, and wicked witchcraft. This book is a must-read for gothic/horror fans. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s magical writing will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As usual, Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written an incredibly exciting and captivating book. The Bewitching immediately pulled me in and I couldn’t put this one down! This books is a multigenerational story that follows three different women in three different eras. Personally, I would have loved three separate stories about each woman, they were so interesting and well written. The Bewitching is a great book and I can’t wait to read the next one from Silvia Moreno-Garcia!

This was a really interesting story, themes of witchcraft and interconnected characters overlapping 3 time periods.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia understands the importance of suspense, and how to weave a story that you never want to put down.
The first 20% was a bit hard for me personally to get into, but after that I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down. All 3 POV was interesting and you just have to know wants going to happen next.
This is my second book I read by Moreno-Garcia and I really enjoy her way of writing and how she can capture one’s attention and keep it through out the book.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to see that I'd been able to snag an early copy of The Bewitched, but I knew that this was probably going to be a hit or miss based on my experiences with the fantastic Silver Nitrate and then Mexican Gothic, which I didn't mesh very well with. Unfortunately, in this case, it turned out to be more of a miss for me.

This story follows three different women in three different timelines, namely Alba from the 1900s, Betty from the 30's and Minerva, Alba's great granddaughter, from the 90's. I really enjoyed reading about Betty, as it followed her desperately trying to figure out what caused the disappearance of her best friend, and also about Alba (even if there was a really weird plot line here that was unfortunately integral.) I felt the Minerva parts were very slow going and honestly kind of boring.

It felt like it was so slow going and when I realised it was under 400 pages, I genuinely couldn't believe it as it felt like I'd just gone through a much longer novel. I think that there needed better pacing here or maybe one of the narratives could have been cut out. Altogether, I do think that Moreno-Garcia has some beautiful writing and I can really picture what's going on, but I really feel like there is a lack of emotion in the story which made it hard to feel anything that I would want to in a "horror."

Was lucky enough to get an early copy of this, and ended up reading it in the liminal space at the end of the year. It's fascinating to see Moreno-Garcia weave together the various time periods and the people in them, and use the knitting thread of a girl going through the archives of a little known New English folk writer and the story of a witch and a haunting that unfolds across generations. I did end up seeing some of the technical strings of how she did what she did this time around, but this was still a great read. Pick this up when it comes out this summer!

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can almost never let me down, and she didn't with "The Bewitching". She understands the importance of suspense, the dangers of men, and how to weave a story that you never want to put down. There are very few storytellers today who are doing it like her, and I hope to continue reading and enjoying her work in the future.

This book is a beautifully crafted blend of academic mystery and supernatural horror that completely envelops you. Silvia Moreno-Garcia does an exceptional job weaving together three distinct time periods; each carrying its own ominous undertones, creating a palpable sense of unease and intrigue. The writing is rich, and the atmosphere thickens with every turn of the page. The blending of witchcraft and academic pursuit is done with such depth, you get lost in the chilling reality that something far darker than mere history may be waiting for Minerva. It’s not just a story about uncovering the past, it’s about confronting what’s haunting the present. This haunting, multigenerational tale grips you with its sense of foreboding and doesn’t let go, keeping you hooked all the way to the end. If you love a story that feels like it’s constantly on the edge of something unsettling, this one’s a perfect choice.

this was so atmospheric and impossible to put down. silvia moreno-garcia knows how to do historical fiction and i couldn't have been more excited for her to finally set a novel in the 90s! it's eerie, i was invested and a bit unnerving at times (so of course i couldn't put this down!)

I wish I had not started this. I like this author but I dont like horror. It was disturbing to me but it probably would not be a problem for horror readers. I only finished it because I was interested to see who the villain was, which ended up not being a surprise. If you like horror, dont let this review keep you from trying it. And if you dont like horror, don't let this review from trying one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other books. I received an ARC of this work from Netgalley for my honest review.