The Villa, Once Beloved

Gothic tales always catch my eye, and I’ve been especially interested in ones set in different countries. This drew me to The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo, set in the Philippines. Filipina-American Sophie travels to the Philippines for the first time with her boyfriend, Adrian Sepulveda, when his grandfather passes away. The Sepulveda villa has been in the family for generations, and it comes with a long history of secrets and whispers of curses. Things quickly become strange for Sophie, disorienting dreams combining with the progressively more unsettling history she learns about the Sepulveda family. From demons to bad family squabbles, is it safe to stay at the villa?

What I Liked:

• History and culture of the Philippines. The Sepulvedas are closely tied with the political figures of the Philippines, specifically the past dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. There is also a decades-long power (and money) imbalance between the Sepulvedas and the workers they employ. In contrast to the political climate, we get a healthy dose of folk tales of horrifying creatures that haunt and kill. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the Philippines, from the political history to the culture and beliefs.
• The evils of real people. Sure, there may be demons and curses. But most of the worst horrors here come from regular people doing awful things. The Sepulvedas have some dark secrets hidden away, and whether it’s karma or something else, their sins may come back to bite them eventually.
• Multiple POVs. The novel flits between the perspectives of Sophie (an outsider to the Sepulveda family), Javier (the dead man’s middle child), and Remedios (a longtime caretaker of Villa Sepulveda). They each know pieces of the puzzle, or ask different questions to bring those pieces to light. It’s a tapestry of information slowly being woven together.
• Gothic vibes. If you want a Filipino Gothic, this one checks every mark: isolation due to remote location and turbulent weather, a large creepy house with odd characteristics, disorienting nightmares that feel too real, and dark family secrets. It builds up slowly, but the horrors confirm those early hints.

Audiobook:

Joel de la Fuente and Jensen Olaya both do a marvelous job of narrating The Villa, Once Beloved. They each take on the points of view of different characters, including Sophie, Remedios, and Javier. Their narration is engaging as the novel unfolds.

Final Thoughts

The Villa, Once Beloved is a dark and twisty Gothic horror focused on a vile family with a tainted legacy. I enjoyed getting to know the Philippines and seeing the various characters, faulted as they each are. I look forward to reading more from Victor Manibo.

Special thanks to Kensington, RBmedia, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Villa, Once Beloved here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo
Audiobook Narrator	Joel de la Fuente and Jensen Olaya
Audience	Adult
Genre	Gothic; Horror
Setting	The Philippines
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	November 25, 2025
Publisher	Erewhon Books

Official Summary

A dark history is unearthed amid crumbling façades in Lambda Literary fellow Victor Manibo’s new gothic tale of family, homecoming, and postcolonial vengeance . . .

SOME LEGACIES ARE BEST LEFT BURIED . . .

Villa Sepulveda is a storied relic of the Philippines’ past: a Spanish colonial manor, its moldering stonework filled with centuries-old heirlooms, nestled in a remote coconut plantation. When their patriarch dies mysteriously, his far-flung family returns to their ancestral home. Filipino-American student Adrian Sepulveda invites his college girlfriend, Sophie, a transracial adoptee who knows little about her own Filipino heritage, to the funeral of a man who was entwined with the history of the country itself.

Sophie soon learns that there is more to the Sepulvedas than a grand tradition of political and entrepreneurial success. Adrian’s relatives clash viciously amid grief, confusion, and questions about the family curse that their matriarch refuses to answer. When a landslide traps them all in the villa, secrets begin to emerge, revealing sins both intimately personal and unthinkably public.

Sifting through fact, folklore, and fiction, Sophie finds herself at the center of a reckoning. Did a mythical demon really kill Adrian’s grandfather? How complicit are the Sepulvedas in the country’s oppressive history? As a series of ill omens befall the villa, Sophie must decide whom to trust—and whom to flee—before the family’s true legacy comes to take its revenge . .