Weep, Woman, Weep is a novella about Mercy, a girl who’s whole family has been plagued by La Llorona’s curse. After a horrifying encounter with La Llorona, Mercy loses her best friend, and doesn’t come back unscathed herself. Mercy must fight to break this curse and take back her life.
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of thoughts about this novella. It has a very lyrical writing style. It flowed very naturally. I cared about the characters and the romance towards the end. However, I had more bad thoughts about this one than good.
The storytelling style narration was interesting at first, but it skipped around a lot. I thought the story would be benefit from being told in third person instead. And this story was not horror at all. It could’ve been if the scenes with La Llorona were fleshed out more. It’s more of a story about a woman coming into herself and taking control of her life, not a horror. I also got very bored of the story after her first real encounter with La Llorona. It’s like it peaked in that scene and went downhill from there because for most of the time after that, nothing interesting was happening.
Overall, I do think this story could’ve been great if either: A. It was marketed as a “coming of age later in life” story instead of horror or B. If it had actually been horror and really utilized La Llorona’s potential for scares. I thought the message of breaking generational curses and coming into your own was great, it just shouldn’t have been labeled horror.

Thank you to Books Go Social and Netgalley for this arc! All opinions are my own.

TW: drowning; child abuse; colorism; domestic abuse

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story. I was not a fan of the writing but the story and its message are truly lovely. I enjoyed the fantastical elements and the parts they played. Being a novella it’s hard to build real character depth, but the story carried on well and the main character did evolve in the short amount of time we got to spend with her. I recommend this not only for the message it delivers but for the conversations it can start.

Short, sweet, and to the point. DeBlassie writes the main character, Mercy, with a strong and sassy voice. I could hear her speaking in my head, and besides that the visuals tended to be on point. I felt I was able to let my imagination run wild with the town and the characters while still having stern guidelines for what I should be seeing. While I would have loved if some of the metaphorical themes surrounding La Llorona and the baptisms had been expanded even further, I still liked where the author took the book. I especially loved the neighbor she ended up next door to, and would love to hear more of his story one day. A nice, vaguely spooky read for a rainy afternoon or evening.

I think the best part of this beutifull novella is that it’s not only horror: it’s a story about losing the ones you love, overcoming that situation, trying to move on with your life, even when everything seems to be way too dark. I loved the fact that it started as a twisted and wicked fairy tale, but it ended totally different. The atmosphere is just perfect, very gothic and creepy. The events that happen between the protagonist and La Llorona are really spooky. Very nice story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review!

TWs: domestic abuse, drownings, racism, assault

'Weep, Woman, Weep' is a gorgeously written novella about a woman from New Mexico faced with the realities of living beside a river that is home to La Llorona (the Weeping Woman) as she haunts women through the generations. The curse takes Mercy's best friend, Sherry, and leaves behind a husk of a woman; Mercy is determined not to become another victim. The atmosphere of this novella is incredibly powerful and the horror was dark and well written. I loved the influence of Mercy's friends and family on her resistance against the Weeping Woman and how determined she was to live as well as she could despite her ongoing curse. The romance aspect of this was very slight and promised more, there was no rushing past Mercy's traumas and it was well developed. This was such an easy read, enjoyable with a strong character voice that I related to and I was worried about Mercy throughout. I read this all in one sitting and I know it will stick with me for a long time after finishing it. It has such a beautiful cover and I would have read an entire book based around this story!

Weep, woman, weep by Maria DeBlassie.

A quiet feminist horror novella perfect for spooky season which will keep you turning the page. I really enjoyed this and it had the perfect pacing. I have given it 4 wonderful stars.

The women of Sueño, New Mexico don’t know how to live a life without sorrows. That’s La Llorona’s doing. She roams the waterways looking for the next generation of girls to baptize, filling them with more tears than any woman should have to hold. And there’s not much they can do about the Weeping Woman except to avoid walking along the riverbank at night and to try to keep their sadness in check. That’s what attracts her to them: the pain and heartache that gets passed down from one generation of women to the next.

Mercy and her best friend Sherry have plans to escape to the city until Sherry is caught by La Llorona. Mercy escapes, but La Llorona leaves her mark on her. We then we follow Mercy as she builds her life with La Llorona's curse following her.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mercy and Sherry, two Inseparable friends, live in the town of Sueño, so close to the Shadow Lands. Part of a forgotten place in New Mexico, A sorrowful land!

La Llorona, lady of the river, made a horrible mistake, can be heard on stormy nights, weeping and wailing for all she lost. La Llorona, Weeping Woman, hurting people because she hurt too much to know better, always got the women, came for them. Women had no power. They will be like La Llorona, weeping and always in sorrow!

"We were powerful women, and we could choose our own fate."

Mercy and Sherry want to escape from here, from La Llorona. But, La Llorona is too vindictive to let them free. Always something gets wrong with the plans.
"I am built for tears. It's in my blood."
...
"The next time I cried, I killed someone."

Now, it's the time for Mercy to face her family curse alone. She manages to buy a farm, Mercy Farm. Growth miracles and lives her loneliness. She collected each tear spilled into the jar. It took some time but, by the end of it, the many jars were full. She doesn't want to let La Llorona see her weep and moan and break.

"But nothing makes a woman brave except living."

This gothic- horror tale was very beautifully written, so engaging, and compelling! I loved the story, Narration, Mercy's character. The story told by Mercy made it very heartwarming. I really enjoyed this book and Please do not forget the cover!

Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley, I have given an honest review of Weep, Woman, Weep (A Gothic Fairytale about Ancestral Hauntings) by Maria DeBlassie.

Such a gorgeous cover this book has! One of the prettiest I have seen! It definitely drew me and when I saw that the story is a fairytale set in the modern world, I had to read it.
It is beautifully written too, this tale of the women of the town of Sueno in New Mexico who are fated to inherit and pass on sorrow through generations because of La Lorolla, the witch of sorrow who was herself plunged into sadness in her own life. So she lies in wait on riverbanks and other waterways to drag girls and women into her own misery.
Mercy and her best friend Sherry have plans to escape to the city until Sherry succumbs to La Lorolla and Mercy can only watch helplessly. At first. Then she begins to build a life for herself, sustaining herself by farming the land, growing food and trying to avoid the ever grasping La Lorolla. In all this, she is still very wary of building relationships, of the company of others, of accepting friendship or doing anything that will make her happy because she is sure that that will lead to more sorrow for her and everyone she associates with.

She contains her tears and keeps to herself until she is slowly drawn out by the promise of love, hope and a miracle that she can believe in; the belief that she can and should defy everything that stands in the way of being happy and take the moments life offers confidently.

It's a novella so quite a short read but i definitely wanted more of Mercy and her world. A more detailed exploration would definitely be a treat.

This started off quite slow and it took me a while to get into it but once I got passed the first 25% I enjoyed it a lot.

It was a good, feminist horror story. It wasn't necessarily scary, the horror was understated but I enjoyed it a lot. I think I would've liked to see a bit more of what La Llorona could do but what she did do in the story was fine.

The book is very character driven so I think can seem fairly slow at times. The writing did seem to drag quite a bit at some parts which is why I only rated it 3 stars. Even saying this, I think it's definitely worth a read!

"This I would do to remind others that we are the seeds we plant, not the histories forced upon us."

What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL quote, and a powerful story rich with raw emotions! Weep, Woman, Weep is a story written simply while exploring the complexities of life and grief. Mercy tells us not just the story of La Llorona and the hold she has on her and the area — but also the story of conquering those forces and facing each day, moving forward even when we feel like giving up.

Weep, Woman, Weep did a wonderful job of showing Mercy's growth throughout the years and overcoming all the obstacles that life (and La Llorona) threw at her. The book not only leaves you feeling hopeful but it makes you understand the importance of not letting trauma weigh you down.

A short novella about the grief of women that carries generational trauma within it, this story takes the legend of La Llarona and makes it feel like something happening next door. We follow a lonely young woman as she grows up haunted by tales of La Llarona, and seeing what the figure in white has done to other women in her small town. Women seem to be bred to be docile, to be subjected to the wims of uncaring men, to be mothers to daughters who may one day become the next victim. But some curses need to be broken.

My thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC, I thoroughly enjoyed this read!

I wasn't a fan of how this was written. It felt like I was being told alot of things. But not shown. I thought this would be an interesting story. And it was for the most part. But again. I just felt like a history lesson then anything else.

This is a beautiful novella that I would describe as quiet feminist horror. The story follows the narrator through her life in a small New Mexico town haunted by La Llorona. It dances from year to year, showing scenes from different phases of life. This is definitely a character-driven story and it's really well done. I felt captivated by the magic and power in this story and it really focused on the strength of women.
I would recommend this book for people who enjoy magical realism, strong witchy women, and horror that's not too scary. It's also a fairly short and quick read that still has an emotional punch.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC from Netgalley

This book is about a woman named Mercy who lives in New Mexico dealing with the trauma bestowed upon her from the generations of women before her. She's determined to make a life for herself despite La Llorona, the river witch who tries to drown the girls in her town and especially Mercy after a few close encounters. She feeds off the sadness of the women and girls and is determined to make them all live a life of complacent sorrow.

I really enjoyed this novella. The underlying threat at all times of La Llorona was just the tinge of spooky I like. It had uplifting moments of hope and creepy moments with the weeping woman to make an all around good read.

Weep, Woman, Weep is the story of Mercy and how La Llorona molds and tries to control (and destroy) her life, as well as little by little, Mercy is released from that harmful influence on her life, leaving aside the sorrows.
It is a beautiful fable in the form of a novel, that anyone can apply to her/his life and learn to put aside fears and be able to live a full life.

One of my favourite genres to read, by far will be horror. This is an amazing horror book with a feminist twist on it! I really did appreciate the graphic this book gave me. It’s set in New Mexico and the horror itself in the book was extremely unsettling.. everyone should check out this novella. It was an easy 5 out of 5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this title in exchange for an honest review.
Weep, Woman, Weep was a beautiful own-voices narrative that blends an atmospheric rural horror genre with a coming-of-age sort of narrative. Mercy was a wonderful protagonist with a strong voice and incredibly resilient in the face of great hardships. I adore the sort of vignette style of the chapters, and it felt like a very sincere read. A study of grief, intergenerational traumas, sorrows, abuse, and finding joy among the tears.

"I am made for tears. It's in my blood. The women in my family don't know how to have a life without sorrows. If they couldn't find any, they made them."

That sentence enough upon the opening pages was enough to hook me. Quite simply, the vibes, themes and atmosphere of the novel was perfect and I would highly recommend it.

This was a really good witchy story that covers loss, grief, not meeting society's expectations, and the love and happiness the characters find along the way. I loved the New Mexico setting and found the big open landscape a perfect backdrop to the big emotions that our main character, Mercy, experiences. I thought the narrative form was also well done, it was as though Mercy is speaking directly to the reader. Overall, a solid reading experience and I'm really glad I picked this up! Thank you Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my thoughts.

Weep, Woman, Weep is a gorgeous horror folk tale about a woman who dares to live her own life in a town whose women are haunted by the spirit of La Llorona. I’m so glad I picked this one up: it hit my personal sweet spot of creepy myth, strong characters, and feminist themes.

DeBlassie filled the story with strong, likeable characters, a delicate balance between warm, heartbreak, and dread. When I finished this novella-length book I felt like I’d read a novel, I knew Mercy and her town so well. The writing is stunning and I found myself slowing down to savour particular phrases.

Weep, Woman, Weep is a quiet, beautiful story that reads like a wonderful dreamy mix between Seanan McGuire and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.