In 1950s Mexico City, young socialite Noemí Taboada receives a distress letter from her newlywed cousin who’s isolated in a manor high up in the mountainside. Upon travelling there, Noemí finds her cousin bedridden and not acting like herself at all. The husband, family, even the doctor all insist she’s just getting over an illness and will be fine. Noemí suspects something more sinister is going on, and wow is she right.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for the updated twist on a classic gothic setup, the strong-willed heroine at the center of it, and the unfortunately still relevant themes of eugenics and subjugation of people and nature. There was also a dash of opposites attract romance to add some lightness to the creeping dread.

Set in Ikeja, Nigeria, Cursed Daughters jumps back and forth in time between the 90s, early 2000s, and present day with the story of Edun, about to give birth, and her cousin Monife, who has just passed away. The women in this family are believed to be cursed by an ancestor’s rival to never have success in love and marriage. When Edun’s daughter Eniiyi is born, many swear she looks so much like her dead aunt Monife that she must be her reincarnation. Eniiyi grows up trying to blow off these shrouds until she falls for a man she rescued from drowning and fears she’s about to relive her aunt’s doomed love affair.

The deceptively simple yet fluid writing style is just gorgeous. I was invested in all the characters and really enjoyed the tension between the rational and magical. If you’re looking for another Practical Magic fix for the sisterhood and family love curse plot, check this one out.

Getting her start as a child actress in the 1920s, Mazelle Washington struggled to make the career she wanted as a Black actress in Hollywood. Her most concrete legacy is a resort she built in the mountains as a refuge for Black entertainers needing respite from segregation and anti-Black racism. Present day, Mazelle’s grandson Johnny inherits the lodge, once known as Mazywood. Though he wants to distance himself from his grandmother’s memory and what she left behind, his family convinces him to take them on a vacation at Mazywood to regroup after a career setback. When they arrive, a snowstorm is coming, as well as a predatory terror that Johnny suspects is connected to his grandmother.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. Tananarive Due of The Reformatory fame has done it again. This book not only wracked my nerves, it brought me to tears. If you’re looking for an immersive spooky book to curl up with in the dark cold months, this is the one for you.