The Forgotten Bruja
Johanny Ortega
Freedom has always meant leaving.
For Isadora Espinal, escape was the only way to survive the life her mother tried to force upon her—a legacy built on silence, blind obedience, and a responsibility Isadora never agreed to carry. So she left Willowshade behind and built a future far beyond her mother’s reach.
Twelve years later, Altagracia Espinal is dead, and Isadora has been summoned home.
What awaits her is not an explanation but a trail of unfinished warnings, fractured family histories, and whispers that seem to seep from the walls themselves, blurring the line between guidance and manipulation. The deeper Isadora searches, the more she suspects her mother’s secrets were never meant to protect the family. They were meant to bind it.
Now the house remembers her. The land is watching her. And the inheritance Isadora once rejected may not allow her to leave a second time.
Set in late-1960s Ohio, The Forgotten Bruja is a slow-burn gothic horror novel steeped in Dominican folklore, Spanglish dread, and magical realism. It is a story of inherited obligation, buried history, queer love, and the devastating cost of deciding which parts of a legacy deserve to survive.
THE COVER REVEAL:
I’m organizing a cover reveal for The Forgotten Bruja by Johanny Ortega, an Adult Gothic Horror novel. The reveal is scheduled for Monday, October 26th, 2026 (after 12:01AM EST). Social media sites are welcome.
An email with the posting information will be sent to all participants 3 days before the reveal.
HTML will also be provided.
