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Cynthia Pelayo

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Cynthia Pelayo

Goodreads Author


Born
Puerto Rico
Website

Twitter

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Member Since
May 2009


Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet.

Pelayo writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and cycles of violence. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, The Shoemaker’s Magician, as well as dozens of standalone short stories and poems.

Loteria, which was her MFA in Writing thesis at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was re-released to praise with Esquire calling it one of the ‘Best Horror Books of 2023.’ Santa Muerte and The Missing, her young adult horror novels were each nominated for International Latino Book Awards. Poe
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It Came From Neverland is available June 9, 2026 from Crooked Lane Books

It Came From Neverland is available June 9th from Crooked Lane Books.

It's a continuation of J.M. Barrie's novel Peter and Wendy published in 1911.

My story follows Wendy Darling who is in her early 20s and is a teacher at an orphanage in 1914 at the start of WWI.

Wendy is still struggling with all of the trauma from her time in Neverland, a place that she remembers very differently than what J.M. Ba Read more of this blog post »
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Published on May 24, 2026 10:07
Average rating: 3.76 · 20,850 ratings · 4,375 reviews · 67 distinct worksSimilar authors
Children of Chicago (Childr...

3.37 avg rating — 2,225 ratings — published 2021 — 10 editions
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Vanishing Daughters

3.32 avg rating — 1,876 ratings — published 2025 — 3 editions
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Into the Forest and all the...

4.31 avg rating — 1,417 ratings — published 2020 — 5 editions
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Loteria

3.47 avg rating — 1,628 ratings — published 2012 — 12 editions
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Forgotten Sisters

3.72 avg rating — 1,193 ratings — published 2024 — 5 editions
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The Shoemaker's Magician (C...

3.56 avg rating — 466 ratings — published 2023 — 7 editions
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Crime Scene

4.35 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 2022 — 3 editions
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It Came from Neverland

4.18 avg rating — 131 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 4 editions
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Gothic Blue Book: The Haunt...

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4.15 avg rating — 95 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions
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A Krampus Carol: Gothic Blu...

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4.16 avg rating — 70 ratings — published 2020 — 2 editions
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More books by Cynthia Pelayo…
Children of Chicago The Shoemaker's Magician
(2 books)
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3.40 avg rating — 2,691 ratings

Santa Muerte The Missing
(2 books)
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3.79 avg rating — 73 ratings

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Cynthia’s Recent Updates

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It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
It Came from Neverland
by Cynthia Pelayo (Goodreads Author)
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“The boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out.”

- J.M. Barrie, Peter & Wendy (1911)
Cynthia rated a book it was amazing
Something Followed Us Home by Cynthia Pelayo
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For you and me, and for us.
Cynthia rated a book it was amazing
Punk Goes Horror II by William Sterling
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It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
It Came from Neverland
by Cynthia Pelayo (Goodreads Author)
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“The boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out.”

- J.M. Barrie, Peter & Wendy (1911)
Cynthia rated a book it was amazing
The Bone Key by Mary Rajotte
The Bone Key
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Vanishing Daughters by Cynthia Pelayo
Vanishing Daughters
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"She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells." - Lord Alfred Tennyson ...more
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Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo
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Quotes by Cynthia Pelayo  (?)
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“Chicago was plagued with hundreds and hundreds of unsolved murders and missing persons cases. Lauren knew this was her purgatory, her reason for living to find them and set this right.”
Cynthia Pelayo, Children of Chicago

“Was your kindness smothered in cruelty?”
Cynthia Pelayo, Into the Forest and all the Way Through

“He does this often, echolalia, the repetition of sounds, words, phrases, or full sentences. Echolalia is just one of the many characteristics that sets Bela apart from the other children.”
Cynthia Pelayo, The Shoemaker's Magician

Polls

Which "moderator recommends" book should we read for March 2025?

The Long Walk by Richard Bachman
The Long Walk
Richard Bachman
(Stephen King)

Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, tells the tale of the contestants of a grueling walking competition where there can only be one winner—the one that survives.

In the near future, when America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Among them is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty, and he knows the rules—keep a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you’re out—permanently.

A “psychologically dark tale with commentary on society, teenage life, and cultural entertainment, The Long Walk is still poignant decades after its original publication” (Publishers Weekly). This edition features an introduction by Stephen King on “The Importance of Being Bachman.”
 
  20 votes 69.0%

The Devil in the Junior League by Linda Francis Lee
The Devil in the Junior League
Linda Francis Lee

The Junior League of Willow Creek, Texas, is tres exclusive. Undesirables need not apply. Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware (Frede to her friends) is a member beyond reproach...until her life begins to unravel. When her husband betrays her, steals her money, and runs off to places unknown, it's something Frede would rather keep under wraps. The last thing she needs is to become fodder for the JLWC gossip mill. And to make matters worse, there's only one person in town who stands a chance at helping her get revenge: Howard Grout, a tasteless, gold-chain-wearing lawyer who has bought his way into Frede's tony neighborhood. But here's a price: She has to get his tacky, four-inch-stiletto-and-pink-spandex-wearing wife Nikki into the Junior League.
Linda Francis Lee has written an hysterical novel about the creme de la creme of Texas society, the lengths to which one woman goes to bring her cheating husband to justice, and how taking on what seems like a Mission Impossible can change you in ways you could never have imagined.
 
  6 votes 20.7%

Children of Chicago (Children of Chicago #1) by Cynthia Pelayo
Children of Chicago
Cynthia Pelayo

This horrifying retelling of the Pied Piper fairytale set in present-day Chicago is an edge of your seat, chills up the spine, thrill ride. ‪ When Detective Lauren Medina sees the calling card at a murder scene in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, she knows the Pied Piper has returned. When another teenager is brutally murdered at the same lagoon where her sister’s body was found floating years before, she is certain that the Pied Piper is not just back, he’s looking for payment he’s owed from her. Lauren’s torn between protecting the city she has sworn to keep safe, and keeping a promise she made long ago with her sister’s murderer. She may have to ruin her life by exposing her secrets and lies to stop the Pied Piper before he collects.
 
  3 votes 10.3%

29 total votes
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Mae West

“Was your kindness smothered in cruelty?”
Cynthia Pelayo, Into the Forest and all the Way Through

“Chicago was plagued with hundreds and hundreds of unsolved murders and missing persons cases. Lauren knew this was her purgatory, her reason for living to find them and set this right.”
Cynthia Pelayo, Children of Chicago

“The Robber Bridegroom,” “The Crows,” “The Willful Child,” and “The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn How to Shudder.”
Cynthia Pelayo, Children of Chicago

“Borinquen — the name originally given to it by the indigenous Tainos before Christopher Columbus came and took everything, including their name, away.”
Cynthia Pelayo, Children of Chicago

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