in THEY BLOOM AT NIGHT a red algae bloom has overtaken mercy, louisiana, bringing with it mutated wildlife and rising waters. noon is trapped in a town full of monsters, both literal and emotional, while navigating her strained relationship with her mom, who believes their deceased family has reincarnated as sea creatures. as a new storm looms, noon must face the traumatic past tied to a party at the cove and decide whether to confront the monster within her.

like in her debut, SHE IS A HAUNTING, tran creates an emotional and atmospheric setting with clear and accessible prose. this is a unique story with insightful commentary on identity, trauma, and family dynamics. that said, the book is short, and unfortunately, that brevity shows. i really wanted more depth, especially on the family lore and sông specifically. what we got felt half-baked and underdeveloped.

i also struggled to connect with the characters, as we learn very little about anyone except noon, which made it hard to root for them. that said, noon’s journey of forming bonds with both old and new friends creates a sense of found family which i’m a total sucker for, so she won points from me there.

i didn’t become fully invested in the story until i was more than halfway through, and even then there wasn't much going on to keep me hooked. the concept was strong, but the execution fell a bit flat for me this time.

although this wasn't my favorite, i will continue to pick up tran's works in the future.

thank you so much colored pages book tours for sending me this beautiful copy of trang thanh tran’s newest novel!

[arc review]
Thank you to Bloomsbury for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
They Bloom at Night releases March 4, 2025

3.5

“The monsters have always been human. I should’ve known that.”

In the aftermath of a hurricane, the town of Mercy is overtaken by the bloom of red algae.
With dwindling resources and a debt to pay, Nhung must find the alleged monster that is responsible for the disappearance of so many residents.

They Bloom at Night is a unique and thought-provoking exploration of SA, survival, and gender identity. The gradual increase of body horror and body transformations cleverly shape the aforementioned themes as the characters try to make sense of the folklore surrounding them.

I’d recommend this if you like genre-bending, coming-of-age stories, with a climate-ravaged setting.

“Mercy is an echo chamber, and even when your family comes from somewhere else, it will swallow you.”

In the push and pull factors of migration, there are only two factors that cause people to leave the places where they’re born: climate and employment. (Yes, resources fall under climate.) In They Bloom at Night, the coastal town of Mercy once held a big Vietnamese immigrant population, but in reality Vietnamese immigrants of the 20th century settled mostly in California and then all over the American coastline in varying population sizes so long as they had access to the water. Sugar Land, Texas, would’ve been the largest population closest to the setting in the book due to its proximity to the Padre Islands and the Gulf of Mexico.

Those immigrants left their birthplace behind, but not their ways. That theme, of being a child in a new world trying to find yourself when your culture has no term for you; really, it has no concept of you, isn’t a new one in this genre, but the way in which author Trang Thanh Tran approaches it from this angle of gender identity and sense of parental apathy really adds a sharp melancholy to the internal struggles and grief that Noon, our protagonist, is weighed down by throughout this whole book.

That there is the problem: Out of this whole book, I only liked Noon. The Louisiana setting felt too obvious and an easy target for the plotline. The male characters felt like caricatures of rednecks in the deep south and it kept throwing me off. Covey, the main supporting character in the book, felt like a supporting character I’ve seen in several other YA novels in the vein of this one and I felt like I could honestly predict her movements and decisions. Then there was Noon’s backstory, which is one I’ve read before in YA novels with leads of all sorts. What saves this backstory from being called out is how it affects the entire plot and not just Noon.

I just wished for more from this book. It was one of my most-anticipated reads of the first quarter of the year.

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or lower will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

They Bloom at Night is eerie, emotional, and really unique. Set in a half-drowned Louisiana town, it follows Noon as she navigates red algae, mutated creatures, and a mother convinced their dead family members are now sea monsters.

This slow-burn horror is packed with folklore, mystery, and an unsettling atmosphere that builds the story. While it is more horror related, the undertones tell a story about grief, self-identity, and what it really means to be human. I found this book to be creepy and thought-provoking.

They Bloom at Night is a very good horror novel. In it, Noon and Covey start to look into the mutated fish and disappearances that haunt their village. There is a lot of Vietnamese folklore. Trigger warnings for body horror and the effects of sexual assault. Family plays a role especially in the way some decisions are forced upon us while we look to make our own way. 4.5 stars.

This book scratched an itch in my brain that I didn't know was there. The elements of Vietnamese mythology, the protagonist's journey to accepting and loving herself, the acceptance and love by friends formed along the way--just so good!

Noon and her mother have been living in Mercy, Louisiana where following a hurricane a red algae bloom has taken over the landscape. Strange occurences and disappearances have started, and Noon's mother thinks that her dead husband and son may have been reincarnated as sea creatures.

Noon struggles with not feeling at home in her body, especially after a horrible night with an older boy at The Cove. She pushes her feelings and memories aside, and tries to care for her mother the best she can. When the leading local businessman demands that Noon locate the sea creature(s) causing residents to disappear, she finds herself unexpectedly bonding with his daughter Covey on the quest. Will they find what they are searching for before Noon succumbs to the call to transform herself?

I loved everything about this story: Noon letting go of shame that was not her fault, finding a place of love and forgiveness toward her mother, just the beautiful writing that kept giving me goosebumps.

Definitely check trigger warnings on this one if needed: body horror, memories of SA, deaths of loved ones.

Thank, you so much to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for this book!

a haunting queer ocean horror infused with Vietnamese folklore and finding your place in the world. a hurricane devastates a small town, causing rising sea waters, mutated wildlife and a red algae bloom. when people start to disappear, Nhung is tasked with finding the sea monster responsible. it's eerie and atmospheric and filled with terror from the environment and those who live there. it weaves together climate change, class, gender, queerness, and found family.

I loved the concept of this. Sea monsters and apocalyptic algae sounds amazing. The pacing is unfortunately what ruined this. It was too fast and very hard to keep up with what was going on what supernatural beings were at work. More explanation and more time would have done wonders for this book

This cover is EVERYTHING though. absolutely stunning.


thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book which will be published in March 2025

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 and I ate it up. This is a post apocalyptic horror that takes place in Louisiana after hurricanes bring red algae bloom and devastate the region. The horror elements are almost psychedelic and I loved the tie into Vietnamese folklore. I adored every character and thought they each had so much depth. (I also loveeee the name Covey and put it on my baby list so thx for that).
I believe this is YA but really eloquently covers a range of heavy topics. Check content warnings before reading.

At the start of this book, I truly thought to myself "there's no way that Trang Thanh Tran can top 'She is a Haunting'" and boy oh boy was I wrong! If you like stories of monsters, body horror, and redemption then you needn't look any further than this absolutely haunting second novel from Tran. I don't get easily scared or squeamish but Tran's books are the only ones in which I categorically cannot be eating while reading them because their writing is just so descriptive that I can picture what's going on as if it were happening right in front of my food.

The allusions to how sexual assault changes someone were haunting and yet rang true of so many stories I have heard told from women who are told to cover up what happened, or told that what did happen to them was their fault. Without giving too much away of the plot, I can say I was very satisfied with the ending and how Nhung embraced the changes being made both physically and mentally.

"They Bloom at Night" was as beautiful as it was terrifying, and each time I read the words that Trang Thanh Tran has put to paper, I am astounded by just how intelligent and prolific their writing is. To think that one person contains multitudes such as this that allows them to write with such heart has me eagerly awaiting their next novel.

Do not skip reading this book.

They Bloom at Night is atmospheric from page one. It has this apocalyptic feeling to mysterious algae blooms taking over. Even more so, the world of They Bloom at Night has a monster looming in the dark. There's something lurking underneath. They Bloom at Night immediately sunk its teeth into my heart with its exploration of parenthood. At the end of it all not only is Noon's relationship with her mother at the core, but also the lingering ghost of her dad. All the ways we try to keep our future, our past, alive. Within They Bloom at Night their relationship and the world is challenged.

I was so thankful to receive an early copy of They Bloom at Night, which is delightfully creepy.

I have been into eco horror lately, and YA authors have been putting out some fantastic titles. This book has a strange and deadly red algae that began to bloom after a hurricane in Louisiana, but the algae is something else. It’s changed the sea life in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s even changed the main character, Noon, and now people are disappearing.

The body horror is top-notch as well! I swear I could smell what was being described.

This is a five-star read for me. I loved the Vietnamese culture and folklore woven into the story. Also, definitely recommend reading this at night. There’s nothing like reading a scary novel in the dark. It just hits different.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC!

After a hurricane falls in Mercy, Louisana, everything changes in the blink of an eye for Nhung (also known as Noon). A mysterious red algae bloom has over taken the aquatic water life, Mercy is becoming more dangerous to occupy as the days continue but Noon's mother is adamant in staying with hopes of finding their deceased loved one reincarnated thanks to the goddess Song. Noon is apprehensive on the prospects of life after death and things get worse when they are tasked to join a madmans daughter in searching for the "monsters" that lurk in the waters. A tale of survival, painful pasts, and identity weave together in this dystopian horror that begs to question who are we at our core when things are bleak?

This was an easy 5 star read for me in terms of the representation that showcased itself from Vietnamese main characters to queer characters, and justice served to the bigots that would tear them down, this was outside of my usual readings but Tran has a new auto buyer/reader out of me, just absolutely beautiful writing.

I was so obsessed with She is a Haunting and that made me so excited for this book. It completely lived up to my hopes and was such a satisfying book. I loved that there are of course some similarities in the style and the vibes of the horror while also being very different in ways that respect the setting and illustrate more of Trang Thang Tran's talent. She's clearly a master of mystery and creepy imagery and used that so well. This book was a little more of a slow build which was interesting I liked how that showed off more of the setting with having the characters going around Mercy and putting together different clues and theories. The ending was amazing, it was great seeing how everything came together and so surreal. The environmental and dystopian elements to the horror where perfectly executed and also added so much to the ending. All around a great book.

I am always up for a good rage-fueled thriller (the world sure has no shortage of things to get enraged about) and this newest from Trang Thanh Tran features a nonbinary Asian American teen dealing with an algae bloom inspired monster in their Southern hometown as well as intergenerational trauma handed down from their refugee immigrant mother. There's also anti-Asian racism and queer-phobia in this highly relatable and creative YA cli-fi dystopian/horror story. Great on audio and highly recommended for fans of books like Pink slime or authors like Jamison Shea and her I feed her to the beast series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

So, the cover is awesome, the synopsis/blurb sounds awesome. But I was bored reading it. I think I’d requested a physical ARC and only was able to get an e-galley. And I wonder if I’d had the physical copy where I find it easier to flip back pages to remind myself of something if it’s unclear, then maybe I could have gotten into it? But nothing was really scary. Sure there were a few kind of creepy things, and I loved the whole bit with the octopus that was loose. But I just was bored and felt the descriptions were long and sometimes over the top for me. I see most ratings are pretty high for it, so I’m going to say it just wasn’t the right read for me.

I’ll start by saying that They Bloom at Night has an interesting plot. Following a devastating hurricane, the waters surrounding the small town of Mercy, Louisiana, have been taken over by red algae. At the same time, people are disappearing and rumors of monsters in the water start to spread. The main character, Noon, and her mother are forced to team up with the antagonist’s daughter, Covey, to find and bring back one of these monsters.

That’s the main plot of the book. The idea of mutant algae taking over humans and turning them into zombie-like creatures is already intriguing enough. But the author adds several subplots about tough topics like body dysmorphia, discovering one’s identity, the death of loved ones, and sexual assault. Each of those subplots are important topics and relatable for many young adult readers, but when they’re all rolled up into one book, it feels like A LOT. Unfortunately, there’s not enough space in the pages of the book to allow for each of these important subplots to be fully explored and neatly handled. Another aspect of the book that I found jolting was the sudden change in locations. I kind of felt like I got whiplash with how quickly characters moved from one location to another, especially considering the forces of nature that challenged them along the way.

My favorite part of the book was the acknowledgements section when Trang Thanh Tran gave a shout out to Laurie Halse Anderson for writing Speak. I’m sure I’m not the only reader who felt that upon reading it.

I do think this is a suspenseful read that will appeal to many YA horror fans. I look forward to adding it to my library’s collection.

CW: SA (mentioned but not described), death of loved ones, body horror

this was terrifying and exciting ! such a deep dive into culture and very eye opening. totally scary.

They Bloom at Night takes place in Mercy, Louisiana and follows Noon and her mother as they try to survive ever since their town was hit by a devastating hurricane. A red algae bloom has taken over the town and something lurks in the water. People are disappearing. Can Noon and her mother make it out alive?

I was drawn to this book because of the cover. The cover rocks! This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and I really like their writing. I loved the creepy, dark atmosphere and the strong main character. There were some pacing issues in the middle of the story, but I really enjoyed the ending. I look forward to reading more from this author.

🩸Coming of Age
🩸Vietnamese Culture
🩸Queer Rep
🩸Body Horror
🩸Creepy

⚠️CW: sexual assault, body horror

3.5⭐️

I was instantly drawn into the eerie atmosphere created by the red algae bloom and the mutated wildlife lurking in the rising water. The setting was so vivid that I could almost feel the humidity and hear the ominous sounds of the submerged town. I was especially intrigued by Noon, the MC, and her complex relationship with her mom. Navigating their flooded town together while dealing with their unique beliefs about their dead family reincarnating as sea creatures added such an interesting layer to the story. I found myself rooting for Noon as she faced the pain of her past and the night that changed everything at the cove. As the plot unfolded, I was hooked by the tension created by Mercy's predatory leader and the demand to capture the creature responsible for drowning residents. I loved the dynamic between Noon and the leader's hunter of a daughter, as well as the old and new friends who joined the adventure. The suspense built up perfectly as the next storm approached, and I couldn't wait to see how Noon would confront her past and the monster within.

Overall, this book was an unforgettable journey filled with thrills, mystery, and unique characters. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting read that keeps you guessing until the very end!

Okay so first off, the cover is amazing! I was instantly drawn to this book because I loved the cover so much. The book also did not disappoint. I have never read anything by this author so I wasn’t sure what to expect but it definitely exceeded my expectations. The author flawlessly combined horror with mythology and a lot of other impressive topics/themes. I absolutely loved that there’s a sea monster but I don’t want to give too much away. This was a very unique, quick and fun read. I will definitely be reading more from this author.