Castle of the Cursed

An orphaned teen uncovers her family’s terrible legacy in this bumpy Gothic fantasy from Garber (Cazadora). While Estela Amador and her parents are riding the N.Y.C. subway, smoke obscures Estela’s vision, followed by a “starry burst.” When Estela’s sight returns, she’s surrounded by corpses. Authorities blame a gas leak, but Estela insists otherwise, earning her a hospital stay at the Rainbow Center, “a treatment facility for children of the elite.” Estela’s parents never mentioned relatives, so it’s surprising when Beatriz Brálaga writes from Oscuro, Spain, claiming to be her aunt and inviting Estela to live in Castillo Brálaga. Upon arriving, Estela discovers Beatriz isn’t the castle’s only inhabitant: a vampire named Sebastian appears nightly, calling her “bruja” and threatening death unless she ends the spell blocking his memories and binding him to this realm. Estela fears she’s hallucinating, but soon learns that the truth about her new home is far stranger than she imagined. An appealingly sinister start is dampened by puzzling and seemingly arbitrary plot twists. Half-baked worldbuilding and the unearned central romance aside, Estela’s tenacity and fortitude lend the tale moxie. Major characters read as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (July)