I’ve seen some people describe this book as campy- and in a way they’re right! Castle of The Cursed is a gothic telanovela, in a good way. Vampires, magic, a cannibalistic castle…what’s not to like?

When Estela is the only survivor of a horrific accident that claimed her parents, she assumes that she is all alone in the world. Stuck in a treatment center, she loses even the ability to speak. Seven months after the incident, an aunt in Spain reaches out, and so Estela travels to the gothic castle their family has owned for centuries.

But things aren’t adding up. Her aunt is super tight-lipped about her family. There’s a mysterious vampire who accuses her of being the bruja who cursed him, the countless creepy books about her ancestral home in the bookstore where she has Spanish lessons, and memories of a purple room filled with black smoke. Teaming up with Sebastián, Estela is determined to get to the bottom of all of this- unbeknownst of the chilling truth behind why her parents fled with her as a child.

I found it was slow in the beginning, but once the plot started going, it really picked up!