Before, I give my full review, I would like to thank the publishers for getting this story into the world. It felt so important and impactful to me and truly enhanced my view, so thank you.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this arc. This was such an impactful horror story that blew me away. For it only being 208 pages I was not expecting the amount of character development and the amount of plot that we got. The progression never felt rushed and everything was well thought out. I loved that we got characters I feel like are rarely highlighted. The amount of Dominican culture we are immersed in was amazing. And even though many aspects of this story were me looking through a window I still felt so connected to our main character, Mari through her feelings of self-doubt and grief. The horror elements were also good. It was very atmospheric and the looming nature of the hill really contributed to the spooky feeling. Except for one scene though this story wasn’t terribly graphic and it has so much merit that even if horror isn’t your regular genre I would recommend. This is easily one of my top reads of the year, please go check it out.

I can not thank Have a Cup of Johanny and NetGalley enough for this ARC!

As Johanny says, this story follows Marisol`s journey through ”grief, reclamation, and the radical magic of remembering”.

Marisol returns to her hometown after her mother’s death. She’s forced to confront the magic and secrets her family buried long ago. Hallowthorn Hill — a place alive with whispers, memories, and darkness — calls to her, stirring visions of her ancestors and unearthing the parts of herself she’s tried to hide.

The way that Latin history and ancestral roots blended was so beautifully done. The mystical and the frightening scenes just captivated me and i turned the pages so fast. The atmosphere in this book is unreal — lush, eerie, and full of longing. Every page felt alive with whispers and roots and echoes of something ancient. Johanny’s prose is so lyrical it almost reads like a spell. You can feel the tension between light and dark, fear and power, memory and forgetting — and the way she ties it all to Marisol’s growth is just stunning.

I was so deeply connected to Marisol in many ways: being scared to show my own culture, to actually know my own history. This book felt like a mirror — tender, haunting, and healing all at once. I loved how Marisol’s journey wasn’t just about confronting magic or fear, but about learning to belong to herself again. The way the story wove together identity, grief, and generational wounds left me genuinely breathless. By the end, I felt like I’d reclaimed a part of myself too.

This isn’t just a story you read — it’s one you feel. Like the whisper of wind through old trees, it lingers. The hill is patient, the hill is watching… and I can’t wait for others to feel its call too.

It’s a reminder that our roots, our grief, and our magic are all part of who we are. It’s haunting in the best way, and I know Marisol’s voice will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you again to Have a Cup of Johanny and NetGalley for the chance to experience this early — it’s one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.