I thought this book was just okay. It did have some creepy vibes. But I wasn’t hooked the way I expected to be. I didn’t really feel scared or anything which is the way you want to feel reading a horror book. I liked the story. I just wish it sucked me in a little more.

I was properly spooked reading this book! Tran does such a brilliant job of weaving in emotions and yearning and high-stakes drama while also creeping me out with the haunting aspects of the story. I was fully invested for the entire ride and read this book quickly because I couldn't put it down. Jade is a masterpiece, as is this story. Can't wait to read more of Tran's books! I'm a fan for life.

She is a Haunting is a haunted houses ghost story that takes place in Vietnam, exploring concepts of colonialism & its lasting effects on a place and its people.

Reviewing this one is difficult because there were so many elements that I found fascinating, and I loved the focus on how a haunting could be influenced by elements like colonizing. The haunted house itself was really interesting - French-style architecture in a small Vietnamese town - and carried painful history that was ripe for angry spirits.

The main character, Jade, was difficult for me; I felt like we were told a lot about her, but it didn’t feel as if I saw those things developed in the story. There was also a lack of fear - despite her claiming to be scared - that made it hard to feel the horror of what she was experiencing. There were some truly grotesque things that happened, yet they were typically glossed over or moved on from really quickly with little effect on Jade; it took a story that could have been really scary/disturbing, and sort of blunted its edges.

Lastly, the writing was a little hard to follow in some places due to vague pronouns or abrupt transitions. I found myself rereading certain passages 1-2 times simply because I wasn’t fully understanding how things were described. It made reading feel a bit like a chore, and I wish the prose flowed a bit more seamlessly.

This was not a bad book by any means; I think some people will really enjoy it, and as I said, the concept was fantastic. But for the reasons states previously, there were just some things that held me back from loving this as much as I expected to.

Thanks to the author & publisher for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

As I read the description for this novel, prior to requesting it, I envisioned a horror story. Similar in my mind to The Ring and maybe more psychological, I guess.

And while this fits the bill as a horror story, it also incorporates other themes that add so much to the dynamics of this story. Set in modern-day Vietnam, there are threads through out of a barely functioning dysfunctional family, the repercussions of French colonialism, and generational traumas. I worried that it would be too "busy,"

The story was truly haunting and darkly delicious. It was satisfying for this lover of horror stories. Part psychological and part just gory and gross. Jade's response and reactions are completely believable and real.

I had a handful of issues from the crafting perspective. Jade is the only character really developed. To some extent, it worked (Ba basically abandoned the family when Jade was young, so the fact that he is not "developed" helped show the very broken relationship Jade has with him), but characters that were pivotal (Lily, Florence) were sparsely described.

The house itself, the setting of the whole story, is a character in and of itself because of the haunting. I couldn't create images in my head of it--the rooms, the garden--because it wasn't given enough words. Maybe this was intentional (this could be any house?), but I like more detail.

Overall, it's a really good, creative, scary debut. I recommend it.

I almost felt like I was reading two books at once. One was a slightly overwrought "horror" story and one was about a young woman getting ready to go to college and dealing with her estranged parents and dating. I didn't feel like the two stories meshed as well as they should and I also felt like neither was a fleshed out as they should have been. I was disappointed. I wish it had been written as two separate books.

This was so good, and phenomenal work for a debut. I originally thought this was adult, was enormously alarmed when the publisher appeared to be middle grade, but ultimately would place this as young/new adult. At times I wished this wasn't YA (my default position usually) but thankfully this book was YA with a purpose, and one that was used effectively, so it stands on its own regardless of age bracket.

First, the horror: was excellent. For a moment, let's talk vibes. If you've ever read classic horror - the 70s, 80s, and 90s masterpieces that gave us modern-day horror tropes and the defining features of the genre - She Is a Haunting is a phenomenal tribute to the oeuvre while giving it a fresh take and pushing the boundaries into modernity. While there was a distinct atmosphere of place, I wouldn't describe this as gothic, but that may be a matter of interpretation. For me, gothic often includes a psychological element, where the atmosphere and sense of place play into the question of belief or reality - in that She Is a Haunting was (view spoiler) the atmosphere and place instead played two parts: first, as a complicated environment where our main character is constantly having to mediate her identity, and second, as a very straightforward (view spoiler).

The haunted house / ghosts themselves? Absolutely peak. I feel as though a good haunted house should punch you in the gut and tear at the heartstrings, have deep roots in whatever the underlying mechanism is for ghosts / hauntings to be possible, should unsettle, creep out, alarm, and horrify the hell out of you, get under the skin of both you and the protagonist, and be thoroughly relentless in all of the above. She Is a Haunting nailed every piece of that. The house? The ghosts? The history? The bugs? Tying in the family history? The colonialism? I can't say too much without spoilers, but it was very, very well done. When it comes to the horror/haunting plot itself, everything was pitch perfect. (view spoiler).

I think our main character Jade had some good character development, and her age and role in the family was used skillfully in the story. However, the book is very much centered around family dynamics and history, and it often felt that we were told rather than shown much of that context, creating a certain distance. I can see the argument that our MC didn't have all of the information, that she was estranged from her father, and that her anxiety was the reason we spent much of the time in her head...but I left the book feeling more connections with the family that had lived in the house a century before. For her sister and dad to have been right there, sometimes interactions felt surface-level. They were good characters with potential - I just felt they needed more time and context on the page to really pull some parts of the story together a bit more impactfully.

Overall, excellent debut, will recommend and revisit again, 100% going to pick up Tran's next book, and may I also say thank you to the author and publisher for leaving in the Vietnamese and French? Seriously, books have been ruined by overuse of translation and the divorce of language and place - it was a relief to have it in place here.

Pick up a copy, read it! It's a gripping ride and a fun haunting.

Jade Nguyen has made an agreement: stay with her estranged father in Vietnam and help him renovate the French Colonial house he has and in return he will give her the money she needs for college. Jade has a complicated relationship with her father. He left her as a child and he definitely does not approve of her being bisexual. Jade is accompanied by her younger sister who is determined to have a good relationship with their father. This was suppose to be a simple summer... but when Jade arrives at the house, the house as other plans. Every night she suffers from sleep paralysis and experiences bugs leaving their legs and feelers everywhere and the house thrumming with sound... and the strange ghost of the beautiful bride who gives her the cryptic warning of “Dont Eat”. Then Jade begins to dig into the history of the house... and things get weirder and weirder. Yet no one will believe that Jade is seeing the ghost...so Jade decides to take matters into her own hands, even if it means she has to force them to believe. The more she stays in the house the worse the hauntings get and the stranger her father begins to act... if Jade cannot save herself and her family before it’s too late... the house and it’s ghosts might just kill consume her. This was a fantastic ghost story that I just had a blast reading. As a Vietnamese person myself, it was so cool to see Vietnamese culture and language in the story. I absolutely adored the spookiness and light sapphic romance aspect as well as how the story deals with the complications of family and identity.

*Thanks Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, Bloomsbury YA for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

THIS. This is Gold-Tier Gothic Horror. A beautiful house surrounded by a suffocatingly fragrant garden, hiding the rot that you can only see if you choose to look. A tragic and powerful history that returns to haunt the living. Never truly knowing if what you're seeing or experiencing is something real. The flawed protagonist who struggles and desperately claws to escape and freedom while slowly losing their sanity.

Perfect.
This is the story I was looking for this past Halloween season.

And this is also the story that reminds me WHY horror is such a wonderful vehicle for discussing social themes and issues like racism and colonialism. Because it IS horrible. And those sins against humanity fit perfectly into a house that wants to devour everything alive.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC

This book was eerie, captivating, and beautifully written. The story has important aspects regarding family pain and anger, it felt relatable while still being horror. I loved the details and the depth that the author went into, it created such vivid imagery for me. Definitely picking up a physical copy.

As terrifying as it is beautiful, SHE IS A HAUNTING is a show stopping debut that should not be missed!

I'm a sucker for books about femme anger, as well as post/colonial horror, so this one drew me from the start and kept me enrapt. Basically, 'She is a Haunting' is an astonishing horror novel, and I literally could not put it down. From the title (gorgeous) to the cover (stunning), to all of the contents, this book is the whole damn package. It's also wholly it's own thing, but if you want comps, it's certainly got elements of 'Mexican Gothic' (think fungal body horror and the rot and decay--both figurative and literal--that go hand in hand with colonialism and white supremacy), a smidge of 'The Haunting of Hill House' (with a house that's all-too sentient), a fair bit of 'Black Water Sister' (closeted queer Asian-American girls summering in their parents' homeland, with high-stakes supernatural family drama ensuing), and a smidge of 'Catherine House' (with its fever-dream narration).
But again, this book stands on its own and is a thorough revelation, from its breathless narration to its horrifying imagery to its striking humor. Politically and ideologically, it's got claws, too.

I was haunted by this book. When I couldn’t be reading it, I was thinking about it. I had dreams about it. It dug its roots into my brain.

I went into this book looking for queer horror and got so much more. This book has layers. Familial love and pain, the history of colonization in Vietnam, a haunted house, bisexuality, racist ghosts, hydrangeas, dead bugs and spending the summer with your estranged father and not live laugh loving it. The atmosphere was off from the beginning and the way this author writes builds that underlying tension perfectly. It’s disturbing. It’s beautiful and unsettling at the same time. I loved the horror, but I loved Jade even more. She felt real. Especially the portrayal of her bisexuality and her struggle with being closeted. It felt really authentic and after being let down a whole lot by poorly written or absent bisexual characters in media I truly appreciated Jade. Can't wait to see what else Tran writes.

I consider myself a survivor of Nha Hoa! This gorgeous thriller is set in the backdrop of Vietnam. Trang Thanh Tran lures us to a destination so beautiful yet so terrifying as the story unfolds. Jade Nguyen is our protagonist who teaches us about resilience and the power of truth. A must read for any horror fan! For those who suffer from entomophobia, BEWARE! The lasting effects are unknown.

Trang Thanh Tran has penned a creepy, lyrical, and highly original gothic novel about Jade Nguyen, a closeted bisexual about to enter her freshman year at Penn. Jade and her little sister Lily take a summer trip to Da Lat, Vietnam to help their father, from whom they have been estranged for four years, renovate an old, rotting French colonial house for tourists. But as she works on the website of the future rental, Jade gets more than she bargained for when the house starts revealing its dark secrets. I appreciated how Tran alternates Jade’s first-person narrative with the voice of the predatory house itself, each of the latter chapters titled with different, dismembered body parts. This novel kept me hooked from start to finish.