She Is a Haunting

3.6(40)
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About the book

William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist
Instant New York Times and Indie Bestseller

This house eats and is eaten . . .

"A riveting debut from a remarkable new voice! Trang Thanh Tran weaves an impressive gothic mystery in which Jade's father is determined to restore a decrepit home to its former glory and Jade is the only person who feels the soul-crushing devastation of colonialism lingering within its walls." --Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firekeeper's Daughter

A House with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She's always lied to fit in, so if she's straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don't belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can't ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves cryptic warnings: Don't eat.

Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house--the home they have always wanted--will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house's rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.

Editions (3)

ISBN9781547615681
PublisherBloomsbury USA
Publication Date05/07/24
Pages368

Reviews & Ratings

40 ratings

6 reviews

3.6

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  • starsandspines
    starsandspines

    5 Followers

    3.5

    Racism and colonialism as very important topics! But the writing was confusing (it felt like it jumped between actions and thought instead of flowing, yk?) and overall I would rate it as an "okay" read

    Aug 9, 2023

  • raoii
    raoii

    41 Followers

    5.0

    Creepy, chilling and haunting in a beautiful but twisted way. Couldn't stop reading. Wanted to know more. At all cost. Maybe this book is haunting me...

    Nov 30, 2023

  • lelemontgomery
    lelemontgomery

    80 Followers

    3.0

    Not for me

    I really do like spooky books especially books like this one that is attracting me with cover and the description on the back but honestly this was probably the third time I tried picking this book up to read it the first two times I used my physical copy and for a third time, I got myself a Kindle copy of Libby but it’s still not really my thing Most of the issues I had with this book is simply the story and the connection between the main character and the rest of her family because even though she is not American but lives in America and visits her dad in Vietnam she isn’t really a fan of being Vietnamese while the rest of her family is trying to convince her somehow to live like other people in the family that live in Vietnam. Also when the whole haunting starts in the house, no one believes her and what she does next is just completely stupid but also relatable at the same time which makes it quite hard to actually enjoy any of the characters in this book. The haunting part of the book I would say it’s more like a traumatic haunting other than any normal ghost haunting and therefore hard to tell if it’s actually real or Just in her head because the whole story is just not really making sense and with that I mean you’re reading a chapter and something happens within the chapter but the whole something happens in a chapter part is just 2 sentences long if even and then the main character is talking about something completely else and a whole something happens, part is just gone and not relevant anymore That makes a whole book really confusing and it’s also making it hard to follow along the plot and understand what’s going on because every single time something happens it’s like you’re getting dragged away from it even though you do want to know more but there’s no way to find out more And honestly, after trying to read it for the first time in the past two years I’m honestly thinking that this book is just not for me and I should probably never touch it again just because I don’t like it. I mean it’s not a bad book. there’s definitely stuff in there that needs to be talked about, especially the historic part about the country and the people living there but at the same time the story itself is not haunting. I wouldn’t really considered this book a horror book or a spooky book because it is not really in that vibe at all.

    Apr 30, 2026

3 of 6 reviews

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