While I went in expecting more of a creepy house, instead I found more of a mystery with some horror elements, along with a lot of family drama and secrets and enjoyed the journey Li took to reveal everything. The story alternated between the past from Vivian’s perspective and the present as Vivian’s family tries to piece out everything. I appreciated the depth added by the Hollywood glam and the exploration of the Chinese American identity within there. Li also managed to shift the narrative tone well while alternating perspectives.

A multigenerational haunted house story that hinges on botanical themes and family secrets.

Disclaimer: I read this as an e-book via Netgalley. I did also receive a physical finished copy in a PR box from the avid reader press. Thank you so much for the free copies. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

The formatting for both the e-book and the physical book were well done. I felt like the book was well edited. I did not run into any errors or grammar issues that I cannot hardly think of. I was satisfied with my reading experience with both copies. There are instances of Mandarin peppered throughout the book which I thought was really cool. I decided to read my e-book so I could use the translation feature. The Mandarin language was used very well and you were always able to understand what was being said, regardless of your knowledge of Mandarin.

The setting of this book was absolutely one of my favorite parts of it. It gave off dilapidated house; very dark, dingy and drab. It was absolutely a Gothic feel, and I love that when it pertains to a haunted house story. I also like that, the action and suspense of the haunted house tale kicked off within the first bit of the book. You were thrown into this setting almost immediately and peppered with a what was clearly family secrets and lies right at the beginning, thrusting you into this world and really Intriguing your senses. The descriptions of the hauntings and the House in general were really well done and absolutely transported you there. I love the imagery surrounding the novel.

I did have a few issues with the pacing. It started off really good throwing you into the mix, but then it did cool down for a little bit of the book while it set everything up. While there were little instances of activity peppered into the slower parts of the book, it wasn't enough for me to not call it a slow part. There was a few times where my mind would start to wander because I felt like it got a little repetitive, but it did pick up again and end on a very climatic note.

Within this novel, we are dealing with multiple timelines and various narrator voices. The book did a very good job of letting you know what timeline or narrator was currently being utilized. It wasn't confusing or complicated. It worked really well. I did enjoy all of the timelines because I felt like they woke together really well and made a great storyline for the reader. I did enjoy the way. The timelines eventually were together and met up at a point within the story. The author did a great job of making everything a cohesive story.

The book was light on romance overall, but there was a couple instances of sapphic romance present the story. I am still at odds with myself if I enjoyed the romance aspects of the story. They were intricate to the plot, so they needed to be there in order for it to work, but I also didn't really feel any endearment towards the characters or the chemistry that they had together. The reason I am at odds with whether or not this was a positive or negative is because I didn't really feel like I needed to like the romance in order to enjoy the book. Not really buying into the romance did not affect my overall read.

Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was interesting, compelling, and the way it was laid out before the reader was definitely a good reading experience. I will definitely read more by this author in the future.

Book Stats:
📖:352 pages
Publisher: Avoid Reader Press
Genre: Horror Lit Fic
Themes: Grief, Loss, Family Dynamics, Generational Trauma
Triggers: Death, Domestic Violence, Drug/Alcohol Abuse
Spice: 🌶️
Gore: 🧟‍♂️

The family of Vivian Lei, an Oscar winning actress, are gathered in her mansion for the reading of her will. They were surprised that the family of a former employee was in attendance. The conflict and drama begin when the mansion is not willed to Vivian’s family and they are ordered to leave the premises in a week. Hostility, secrets exposed, visions and a murder build into a grand climax that is out of their control.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster.

Posted the wrong review in this space. I have not finished reading Li’s book yet. Will come back and post the correct review soon.

This just ended up being a miss for me. I was really excited for the horror elements and a haunted house. I was especially excited to dig into the historical aspect and learn more of the Chinese culture. This didn't read like it was billed for me. It was very slow and I felt it was going nowhere. I also was having a really hard time telling the characters apart, especially Nora and Madeline. Their characters were too similar in dialogue and I found myself flipping back too many times. Maybe the horror comes more in later but just a creepy backyard wasn't doing it for me. Plus if the house is crumbling why are they all fighting so hard for it? I also didn't like how gothic it was reading as that's not for me and I was expecting more historical horror.

Gothic horror is not something I tend to gravitate to but thought this one sounded interesting. I enjoyed the creepy gothic setting and felt the horror was done just right. This is definitely a slow burn with lots of characters and backstory. The descriptions were long and drawn out and I found myself trudging through this one. I did like the family dynamics, the Hollywood rise to fame aspect, and the bit of mystery. Overall I would have enjoyed this more if it was condensed to a shorter length.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sounded completely beautiful but for some reason I just couldn't connect. It was like reading a dream, and maybe that was the point. I just had a hard time really getting into this story unfortunately.

Thank you @simon.audio @avidreaderpress for the gifted copies of this book.

Christina Li is a new author for me and I have to be honest, I went into this book thinking it was going to be more horror but it was actually quite different than I expected. It is compared to Mexican Gothic but I have to respectfully disagree. 🫣 Not in a bad way, just different than I expected. It was much more thought provoking and explored more difficult topics like domestic abuse, manipulation, substance abuse, societal and cultural barriers and of course a lot of family drama. There is a fair amount of psychological tension and trauma in this one that is explored in more of a slow and measured approach. It made it unfold in a more traumatic and painful way! Oooof these characters had it tough! I did enjoy this book, the writing was great and I would recommend this for fans of family drama and light horror

The concept and execution of this book was FANTASTIC! The way it transitions smoothly from past and present POVs is great (some novels have a hard time finding a way to do this seamlessly). Although there were a few aspects that were predictable about it, there were quite a few things that were extremely unique in it. I enjoyed how there was some mirroring between Ada and Sophie’s relationship and Nora and Madeline’s relationship. I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile. Definitely worth the read!

Academy Award Winning Actress Vivian Yin has died. At the reading of her will, not only are both her daughters (Lucille and Rennie) and granddaughter (Madeline) present, but so is Elaine Deng and her daughter, Nora - the family of Yin's late housekeeper and groundskeeper. When the attorney announces that Elaine Deng inherits Vivian's house instead of her daughters, they are outraged. Vivian changed her will just 2 weeks prior to her death, and Lucille is positive that Elaine coerced her mother to change it before killing her. Lucille decides the family must stay in the house until COD is determined. Elaine allows them one week before she kicks them out to sell it. The five women fall into an uneasy truce, all staying in the house together until Lucille's time is finished. But something weird is going on - Rennie keeps seeing things, Elaine is acting extremely oddly, and Madeline is attacked by the vines in the garden. Vivian wanted to keep her family safe from the house, but is it too late?

Flipping back and forth between the remaining family members, we slowly get a picture of the dynamic. But the bulk of the information comes from the past - when the Dengs were living with Vivian and her family, taking care of them and the grounds. There is a lot to unpack here. Vivian is a Chinese immigrant who falls in love with a dashing actor with a trust fund, Richard, who is ultimately jealous of her success and becomes increasingly abusive. Vivian's three daughters include twins born prior to her marriage as well as Renata, born to Richard, one of whom is suspiciously absent from the present day story. Elaine and Sophie are the children of the staff who were truly treated as family, at least for awhile...

This was interesting, but I feel like it as kind of all over the place. At it's heart, the book is a family drama. But there were so many tangents thrown in - like the story of Chinese immigrants building the railroad were mentioned briefly a couple times, but didn't really go anywhere. Elaine slowly goes mad over the course of the week, but why? And Rennie at the end...well, no spoilers, but, what?!? Also the modern-day romance seemed rather forced to me. Overall, the story was interesting, but the loose ends bothered me.

I wonder- did I get a different edition of this book than others did? So many other readers loved it, I am in the minority here!

Muddled
Disorganized
At times confusing
Overly drawn-out descriptions.
Sapphic sexual tension that added nothing to the story.

I don't know why I pushed myself so hard to finish this novel. But finish it I did! If it had been a little worse, I would not have finished it. Kudos to those who loved it! The last few chapters of this book made it somewhat worthwhile.

This book blends horror with family drama, or rather a saga, and so far, the family drama has won out over the horror, but it's as dull as all get out.

This would have been, in my opinion, a better book had the author stuck to the modern-day setting and explored what happened to Vivian by searching the possessed house and digging a little deeper to uncover the truth about the husband and the deceased daughter. Dealt less with the past and added more of the horror to it.

Finding out more about Vivian while searching this haunted house would have been ideal. It might also have been better if we hadn't had to learn so much about Vivian and her career and all the minutia that went with it.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, the author, and NetGalley.

“now she saw that she had spent decades trying to prove herself to this place. she’d given it everything: her ambitions, her youth, her children, her sense of self, and still it held its mouth open for more.”

this book hooked me from the beginning to end - i usually don’t read horror or anything remotely with horror bc i am a scaredy cat lol but i’d call this more of a historical gothic mystery thriller with horror elements sprinkled throughout.

manor of dreams is a twisting, suspenseful story of unending family trauma spanning three generations, two timelines, and multiple POVs. it begins with two families fighting over the inheritance of vivian yin, an oscar winning chinese actress (we love a good battle over the will lol), and unfolds into a deep rooted dark history of the manor and the characters themselves. even with so much going on, i was actually never confused at any point and each character felt very well-developed. don’t want to give any spoilers but seeing how history repeated itself in the present was both ingenious and eerie(!!!). it was so satisfying when i reached a point in the book where everything clicked - when i had enough information to figure out why the manor was the way it was👌

i loved the dual timelines (past and present) but especially loved the past timeline where you learn more about vivian’s character and her family. there’s a historical aspect to her past as you learn about her journey as an actress and her experience as a chinese woman in old hollywood/film as well as the horrific experiences of chinese people during the industrial revolution/gold rush era. you learn about why vivian made specific choices and sacrifices and it was both heartbreaking and infuriating💔 her relationship w richard was fraught with trauma and tragedy (can’t say more w/o spoiling but i have soo many thoughts😭)

i thought the present timeline felt a bit rushed and could’ve been expanded more - esp nora and madeleine’s relationship! i also wish elaine as a character was more developed - she was a character that i still had a lot of questions at the end. without spoiling anything, i actually loved the “secondary” couple in the past timeline much more🥹

there were some unresolved issues at the end of the book but i think it ended the way it should’ve (don’t want to spoil anything so won’t go into details). overall, i thoroughly enjoyed this book and the reasoning behind the haunting tied the story together so well! stayed up till 3 am to finish the last 10 chapters, things really picked up!!

what a solid adult debut from christina li, i can’t wait to see what she writes next! thank you to netgalley for this ARC!

💭 W I C K E D W E D N E S D A Y review 💭 featuring “The Manor of Dreams” by Christina Li!

MY RATING: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Vivian Lin was the first Chinese actress ever to win an Oscar. It took a long time for Vivian to get accepted into Hollywood in the 1980s as a Chinese actress. Vivian’s marriage and lifestyle may have looked perfect from the outside, but on the inside she struggled and faced a lot of trauma that would get passed on for generations to come …

When Vivian mysteriously turns up dead decades later, her family gathers for the reading of her final will. Another family is also in attendance much to their shock … especially when the manor gets left to the other family. The will was changed 2 weeks before Vivian’s death and now her daughters are suspicious. They refuse to leave the manor until they investigate further into their mother’s final days and go through her things.

Yin Manor was once beautiful and full of love and laughter, and has since turned into a decaying beast that is cursed with so many secrets, lies, regrets and painful memories. Everyone soon starts experiencing disturbing dreams and sinister hallucinations as they desperately try to find answers!

This book is STUNNING and powerful and frightening! A gothic thriller that is both totally captivating and trippy as hell. With themes of family drama, self/cultural identity, sibling rivalry, greed and sacrifice … this book haunted me to my core. The beautifully written dual timelines and multiple POVS from three generations really sets the stage for this dark and terrifying story.

Thank you kindly to @christinaliwrites @avidreaderpress @simonschusterca @netgalley for my #gifted advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases on May 6, 2025!

After aging actress Vivian Yin is dead, her two daughters and granddaughter meet at her dilapidated manor for the reading of her will, fully expecting to inherit her manor and money. Also at the reading is a woman who grew up in the house with the daughters as her parents worked for Viv, and her daughter. When the layer reads the will, Viv left her small amount of money, but the house is left to the outsider. One daughter, Lucille, furious, and determined to get the house. The layer advises Viv changed her will days before her death, with a message that it is to "save" her daughters, as the house will destroy them. Both families decide to try and work something out, but when the house seems to have a life of its own, it will not be easy. During the seven days all are in the house, some see ghosts, flowers bloom that are not there, vines growing out of the walls and attack. What is learned, is that three deaths and secrets from more than thirty years ago have destroyed Viv and the house and none of them may escape with their lives.

This book was not what I expected yet a surprising, enjoyable read. This book does not match its comparisons (especially to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). Despite that, it was a slow burn that did keep me engaged as I wanted to follow the twists and know what would happen to this family.

This is a story of miscommunication, loss, and love. This is a wonderful telling of how family trauma gets passed down each generation.

I did feel that the way the story wrapped up was lackluster. I expected a little bit more resolution and it felt like it tied together and also left questions to be answered that weren't necessary to leave unopened.

Overall, this was intriguing and definitely held my interest!

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and Simon & Schuster for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an intense story of miscommunication, lost love, and the complicated and nuanced dynamics of familial relationships. The story intricately weaves us through the background of Vivian Yin and contrasts her story with the modern evens occurring in the family home.

This was equally sad, stressful and unsettling. The dialogue about familial obligation vs desire to help was spot on. I couldn't anticipate what what going to happen next, which made this a really enjoyable read.

Propulsive, gorgeous, and haunting. Li's stained old Hollywood romance is captivating and set a unique backdrop for an intergenerational wound.

The Manor of Dreams was an excellent read. I loved the character development and the writing was propulsive.

I've struggled to gather my thoughts on The Manor of Dreams because the book was not really what I expected based on the synopsis and comps. In general, I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it but I also didn't hate it. I've been reflecting on the story, the characters and themes and trying to sort them.

First, the comparison to Mexican Gothic does this book a disservice. I loved Mexican Gothic and I came into this novel expecting horror, but this is 90% family drama and only 10% horror. But for the final 50ish pages, there are merely hints at the paranormal. This was disappointing to me as a horror reader who loves books about haunted houses.

Sometimes I felt a disconnect between the characters as they had been developed and their actions. When this occurred it took me out of the story. Why did Lucille, who was close with Ada and Sophie, suddenly act jealous and mean toward them? Vivian and Edith were beautifully depicted with a close friendship, so why did Vivian push Edith away in her moment of need? Why did Vivian ensnare Sophie in her plans? Why doesn't it seem as if the unintended consequences of Vivian's desperate act have any impact on her emotional well-being? You'd think it would have destroyed her, but I didn't get that sense. Madeline and Nora barely spoke to one another, how did they develop such a bond? Why did Elaine begin the week composed and as the days pass completely unravel? Why did the intervening decades leave Sophie with such unbridled rage and a thirst for seemingly indiscriminate revenge? What am I to make of Rennie's arc and where she is at in the end? It seems like the development for many of these things must have been cut out of the book in the editing process. What am I supposed to take away from this story? I feel like I'm supposed to think of it as a commentary on how greed, ambition and advancement at any cost can be ruinous, but it doesn't seem like that was the story told? Vivian's downfall didn't arise from greed or ambition. She acted out of a misguided sense that she was protecting everyone she loved. Is it about the precarious position women, particularly immigrants, face when their fate is in the wrong man's hands? What should a woman do, when faced with only terrible options? What does this novel say about family? About motherhood? About mothers and daughters? I honestly don't know. And while there were many references to Chinese food, language and the fact that Vivian was often typecast and denied opportunities in her quest for stardom, I wanted her identity to be more deeply explored in the novel. I really liked how Li brought up Richard's racist ancestors and how the railroad business brought his family riches and the manor. But I wish more had been done with it.

In the end, there were a bit too many unanswered questions left for my satisfaction. The middle lagged a bit. I landed at 3 stars, the premise held so much potential but I feel it wasn't fully realized.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The Manor of Dreams will be out 5/6.

Manor of Dreams by Christina Li is a beautifully written, slightly spooky novel that blends fantasy with real emotional depth. The blurred lines between reality and fantasy are really cool and you start to wonder yourself as a reader “is this real? is this … magical??”

The author’s writing has a dreamy, poetic quality, and she balances the eerie atmosphere with real heartfelt moments about grief and family. The story feels fresh but familiar enough to intrigue you, like a mix between Coraline and a cozy ghost story. It’s the kind of book that really lingers after you’ve finished. Wow.