A review by tanya_tate
Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Book Stats 
Stars: 3 Stars 
Start Date: 06/28/24 
Ending Date: 07/20/24 
Genre: YA Gothic Horror Romantasy 
Form: E-Arc/ Audiobook 
Page Count:304 
Publishing Date: 07/30/24 
Point of View: 1st Person 
Setting: New York, USA and North Spain 
CW: Suicide, Mental Health Issues, Death of Parents, Sex, Sexual Assault, and Violence 

My Blog :https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2024/07/22/castle-of-the-cursed-by-romina-garber/
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6627564403

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC and Edelweiss for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review. 

Spoilers Galore  

I was really enjoying this book until I got 70% in which the last 30% I was confused as hell. I think my subconscious knew that 30% was about to be a clusterfuck. I finished the first 70% of the book in three days but then I stopped and didn't finish it until two weeks later. 
This book is literally 
  • Mental Health
  • Murder Mystery
  • Blood Hungry Castle
  • Vampires
  • Witches 
  • Other realms with a castle
  • Evil Twins
  • Instalove/Instalust 

Which is thrown in a blender to see if the mix sticks to the wall.
 
So let's play the game of what worked and what didn't work for me.

What did work

  • Main character dealing with mental health after a traumatic event.
  • The whole mystery with the death of her parents.
  • The narration and how the narrator spoke Spanish.
  • The whole castle and how it works.
  • The whole horror feeling which the story ( the first 70%) felt like Rose Red or Crimson Peak

What didn't work for me or needs to be worked on
 
  • The whole twin thing felt like left field with families always having to have a set of twins with one being sacrificed.
  • The fact we didn't get Estela's twin backstory until the 70% mark. Which to me you should be starting to wrap this story up and heading towards the climax and conclusion. Not still dumping important info that should have been introduced around the 50% mark.
  • The fact Estella felt younger than 17 for the majority of the book. We also didn't know how Old Sebastian really was knowing that he was a vampire.
  • Estella and Sebastian's romance was so forced and didn't feel natural. Especially the fact how fast the events happen in this book.

 
  • The Pacing of the Events in this book - This is the biggest issue for me. The fact the majority of the book (with the expectation of the first three chapters) takes place in the matter of two weeks  is a little bit jarring.  Which is why the whole book feels rushed and not a satisfying conclusion.

Estella in a matter two weeks went through ( HEAVY SPOILERS)
 
  • Found out your parents had a family.
  • Go to a small village in Spain
  • Meet your aunt you never knew you had. 
  • Find a vampire that you thought you made up but didn't which you called shadow beast which they tried to kill you.
  • Be in a castle you find out that feeds in people's blood and corpses aka little shop of horrors style. 
  • Finds out the castle turns blood and corpses into compost in order to create special seeds that have healing properties. 
  • Befriends the local Librarian and Learns Spanish well enough to understand and speak it. I guess Duolingo worked for her
  • Finds out you have an uncle which is your Aunt's twin brother.
  • Find out you are a Twin and start getting memories when yall was five years old.
  • Find out you may have witch blood and come from a family of witches that is tied to the house.  
  • Found out your uncle is trying to get your twin back because he feels guilty.
  • Having the local librarian think you are your twin sister that he had a crush on at five years old.
  • Finds out the twin was sacrificed and is living in another realm in another castle where they were bullied. 
  • Your twin comes back by taking to your Aunt's body.
  • Find out the Vampire aka your shadow beast made a deal with your twin and was pretty much flirting with him. 
  • Find out your Vampire "boyfriend" is a Vampire Prince also from another realm who killed people. Prince Vlad Meets Edward Cullen
  • Fell in love with that Vampire Prince and got bonded to him.
  • Turn 18 and have to fight your twin sister for control of your body.

ALL THIS HAPPENS IN A MATTER OF TWO DAMN WEEKS 

TWO WEEKS!!
 
THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS TAKES PLACE IN THE MATTER OF SEVEN MONTHS BUT THE REST OF THE BOOK HAPPENS IN TWO WEEKS?
 
The reason why is jarring because you also expect me to believe in a whole romance that starts out with the MMC trying to kill the FMC because of mistaken identity which ends with them pretty much becoming blood bonded ( aka married) in a matter of two weeks. Especially with the final conflict, she has to believe in the "power of love " in order to defeat the twin. Also the fact that feels like a lot for a person who was pretty much not talking when she got to the castle due to the traumatic experience she had with losing her parents and the New York Government trying to cover it up. She was pretty much diagnosed with PTSD, Survivor’s Guilt, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression and you expect her to be ok after going though that much crap in a matter of two weeks?
 
I think it could have been a little bit more believable if it was maybe 2-3 months of her living in the Castle and all the secrets to unravel itself. But after two weeks, she barely unpacked her suitcase and got used to the country.
 
So that's why I'm at a crossroads with how I'm going to rate this book. It's not a bad book by any means but it just had so much going on which couldn't be executed well. If you get too much going on in the pot certain things are going to get lost in the sauce. Maybe just took out the whole twin thing and focused on the castle, Estela healing and coming to terms with what happened, her bonding with her Aunt which she found out about her parents and finding out they are witches and maybe the romance. Also I think it needs to be maybe 50-60 pages longer since it being 302 pages didn't give the plot time enough to breathe to me with all that mentioned is going on.
 
So this is how I'm going to rate it. 

First 70% - 3.5 Stars 

Last 30%- 2.0Stars 

3.5 plus 2.5 =5.5 

5.5 divided by 2= 2.75 Stars rounded up to 3 Stars 

So 3 Stars it is.