This is an enjoyable book. From the haunting of the house to the back stories that explain the family “curse” this book draws you in from page one and keeps you invested till the final pages. I do wish that maybe there was a little bit more haunting during when the mother was explaining her experiences with the house, however it makes sense why the hauntings were so much more prevalent later in the book. I can’t wait to recommend this book and am sad I will have to wait so long before telling patrons to put it on their tbr list.
Thank you to Avid Reader Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this amazing book.

The best way to enjoy the Manor of Dreams is by ignoring its bleeding walls.

Most horror novels would absolutely lose me the moment someone gets attacked by moving vines. The fact that I kept reading after that and ended up giving this book four stars, shows how well everything outside horror elements works in it.

Intriguing story involving three generations of two uniquely connected families. The story was gripping till the very end. Author very skillfully leads the reader through current day and past events slowly uncovering the truth about the tragic history of the manor.

Great read for mystery/thriller enthusiasts, not so much for horror fans though. The supernatural elements were by far the weakest part of this novel. They were rather cliché, could have been cut completely and not much would be lost.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC of Christina Li’s The Manor of Dreams!

When Vivian Yin dies, Elaine is as surprised as anyone to learn that Vivian left her mansion to Elaine’s mother, especially since Elaine’s mother claims to have no connection to Vivian. Vivian’s daughters and niece are definitely not happy about the situation.

The two families stay at the mansion together while Vivian’s daughters gather her things and try to pursue legal action. But there’s something not quite right with the house, with some of the women having nightmares and seeing things that may or may not be real.

I enjoyed how the story alternates between this haunted house tale and the backstory of Vivian Yin, the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar. When we meet Vivian she is raising two young daughters by herself while trying to pursue a career in acting. We then follow her as she meets and marries a famous actor; a marriage that may not have been as picture perfect as it seemed.

These two storylines weave together until we discover what’s really going on with this house.

While I liked a lot of the revelations and resolutions of the ending, the end of the book didn’t wow me as much as I’d hoped. There seemed to be several story threads that were left unresolved (and a couple threads that were introduced shortly before the payoff).

But with that caveat in mind, there were a lot of things working well for this book and I would definitely recommend it. I’m interested to read other work by this author in the future.

Absolutely enjoyed this thriller! I loved the paranormal aspect, the relationships between Madeline and her mother, as well as with Nora. There was so much family drama, both past and present, it was hard to decide who was at fault. (Maybe all of them?) It just goes to show you that money can’t buy you happiness and that the thing that is truly important in life are your familial relationships. Fantastic read, check it out!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I felt like this was more of a slow paced thriller than horror. I did enjoy the legacy of the family. I didn’t find intrigue until 50 percent of the book. I can see a lot of people liking this story but I did not. I was wanting horror and I just didn’t get it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC. This started out interesting but slowly fizzled out. The book tried to tackle many different themes in a very unorganized and unsatisfying manner. The plot dragged, the characters were one dimensional, and the ending was super rushed. The only good part was the writing style.

1.75 rounded up

a captivating drama that vaults between timelines seamlessly

i enjoyed christina li's prior book, and was excited for her adult debut. this book follows two families as they compete over the inheritance of a beautiful manor passed down by a chinese actress who won the oscar. however, the manor is not what it appears to be. as we learn more about the history of vivian, the actress who passed down the manor, the horrors behind the manor are revealed.

i found one timelines stronger than the other; the timeline delving into vivian's character and her family. her relationship with richard was tragic and well-written, and the dynamics between her family and the other family on the grounds was compelling. i do think there was a bit lacking for me in the present timeline; i enjoyed reading about nora and madeleine, but their relationship seemed a bit rushed and at times i do think more scenes with the two of them would've helped established a stronger connection. the mothers were okay; i thought lucille was more interesting and more developed than elaine. again, i think some more scenes in the present with both families would've helped my enjoyment more. also tbh, i didn't see this as straight horror, it's more like a family drama with a bit of horror sprinkled in.

regardless, i liked this book! i read it in one day and i was pretty taken with the story. would recommend to people who enjoy reading contemporary fiction or light horror fiction.

thanks to netgalley and avid reader press for the book!

Thank you to Net galley and Avid Reader Press for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed about this book are my own.
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book-it was not my typical genre. I was very pleasantly surprised! I really liked it! When a Chinese actress dies, two Chinese American families move into her mansion and fight for ownership. Both families have strong ties to Vivian Yin, the actress. I liked the way the author slowly revealed the details about what really happened in the house. Lots of secrets and some supernatural elements thrown in. I really liked all the action at the end. I recommend this book if you like stories with some surprises along the way!

This was an insanely cool and chilling book, it reminded me alot of Mexican Gothic with its themes- which I loved! Very well written, a tragic story and def a book I recommend!

Chaos, confusion, and conflict follow the sudden death of 1970s Hollywood actress Viviane Yin, the first Chinese American Oscar winner, when Vivian’s family gathers, along with the former maid’s daughter, at her stately yet largely neglected California mansion for the reading of the will in Christina Li’s dual-timeline multi-generational and multi-cultural novel that covers a wide range of emotionally searing topics.

Promoted as a Gothic fiction and Horror story, I find “The Manor of Dreams” more a metaphor for: crumbling aspirations for acceptance; hidden and forbidden loves; sibling rivalries and petty jealousies; parent-child relationships; as well as domestic violence.

Yes, there are mysteries to resolve and a few pesky ghosts lurking in corners; however, this isn't a horror story or the next “Mexican Gothic.”

It's a slow-start, slow-burn read, with many characters with similar Chinese names to assimilate, keeping the pace sluggish. The storyline, tone, and pacing also seem more YA, so this novel may find appeal there.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Christina Li, and Publisher Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for reviewing this Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC).

www.goodreads.com/joyreadergirl1

This is book is not my normal read but I found I could not put it down. The story lines in the 2 time frames held me and I wanted to know how it all wrapped up. Thank you for letting me read this novel of intertwined families. Wonderful engaging read!

Okay, Mike Flanagan adaptation when???

I was utterly captivated by this novel. The pacing was impeccable and the web that Li wove kept drawing me back in. I did wonder a bit about where the train tycoon story line went but I was so absorbed in the rest of the narrative it didn't keep me too distracted. And I wasn't kidding, please get Flanagan working on this.

This book was so frustrating.

It felt like it was trying so hard to be so many different things:
a thriller with sprouts of horror,
a family drama, a lot of generational trauma,
a haunted house (or garden? Or both?),
a book about the issues of a Chinese woman in the US,
a book about how Chinese immigrants have been exploited during the Gold Rush,
a book about everything that is wrong in the film industry,
a romantic story, a queer romantic story, actually two queer love stories,
a book about domestic violence,
a book about revenge and therighteousness entitlement that comes with it,
a book about present and past in which, at the end of the day, nothing really happens. Besides sex.

I usually like the way a story jumps from past to present and viceversa. But in this book there were so many flashbacks that were so long that by the time the story was back in the present time, I nearly forgot what was happening. Or if anything was happening at all. I think this was also due to the fact that some characters were presented in a way so bland and boring that made them quite forgettable/irrelevant.

The author described this book as “a sapphic gothic book for the queer girlies who never got over Jamie and Dani from the tv show ‘the haunting of Bly Manor’ ”. I hope she was kidding. I would never compare this book with the majestic work of Mike Flanagan.

Honestly, this story was so underwhelming, pointless, confusing. There were many plot lines and plot holes. The point of views were messy. The way this books was written didn’t work for me at all. And at the end of it, nothing of substance remained with me.

Despite everything, it was still interesting enough to finish it, because I wanted to see where the story was going at least. But the last chapters and big reveal were a bit disappointing. And I am sorry for writing this review because I don’t like to speak badly of someone’s else work, but I just couldn’t like it.

Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the e-ARC.

So these sisters show up at their deceased mothers house to read the will. But someone else is there. Everything goes down hill fast as some unresolved spirits make themselves known.

The story was like Inheritance games but with horror added in. The first part of the book I had a hard time figureing out who was talking and was really confused. By the end I enjoyed the name of the POV being bolded once their paragraph started.

I really enjoyed Nora and Madeline. Seeing how their relationship developed. They got thrown into a situation they didn't ask for because of their parents.

The book was OK and I enjoyed the story. It was a little long for me but if you love horror you should check it out.

There was a point in the novel, maybe 90% in, when I got incredibly sad and teared up, and I was genuinely sorrowful. This doesn't happen much to me while reading, and I attribute this to the author's skill with the written word.

This multi-generational tale about Chinese American families was brilliantly woven together, and while it took me a little time to figure out all the familial relationships, once I did things made perfect sense. I was absorbed in the tale fully, and I cared about the characters.

My one complaint, albeit a major one, was the paranormal/spectral part of the novel, which became a rather large part of the story. It didn't really work for me, and made my rating 4 stars instead of 5 stars.

That aside, this is masterful. Will I read more from the author? Yes, absolutely.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

This is not a horror. It’s a family drama with a tiny tiny bit of ghosts. It’s a story about generational trauma with the use of a haunted house as a metaphor for passing down trauma and trying to break it. But it had a lot of extra unnecessary plot lines that distract from that.

It simultaneously had a whole lot going on, but also absolutely nothing of substance. Boring, slow. Confusing. The random smut scenes in this were completely out of place.

The Chinese family dynamics were interesting. could’ve been done a lot better.

i finished it in a day (or two) but mostly i couldn't stop reading and when i wasn't reading i kept thinking about it, this is the kind of book that makes you remember why you liked reading in the first place.
the atmosphere, the fully fleshed out character and the thrilling plot just made me keep on reading until the last page, i would say i loved reading about vivian's timeline more than the present one but as a whole it was just incredible and i really enjoyed every second of reading it.

Hey Netgalley - Thanks! Here's the honest review, just like I said I would! ;)

It appears I am in the minority for this book, but I have a lot of issues with it. The premise is right up my alley - a combination of Evelyn Hugo and Mexican Gothic? Sign me up. However, the problems with this book outweigh my enjoyment.

This story is told through the stories of three generations of a family, a matriarch who rose to fame through her acting in the 70s; her daughters, coming of age in the 90s; and the modern day storyline, partially told through her granddaughters, but through two of her daughters. None of these time periods are really represented in the novel. There's no touchstones, no remarks on the cultural, only the date stamped at the beginning of each chapter. I wanted to be immersed in these decades, but the timing was left ambiguous when it needn't be. Why put me in the 70s and then deny me feathered hair? Come on.

From here on out, things are going to have some spoilers, so read on at your own risk. Major spoilers will be hidden.

One relationship in this book features a lot of domestic abuse, and the scenes with this are very intense. There are also many of them. In fact, I would hazard that there are too many. I understood where they were at and what kind of a guy he was looong before those scenes were over. I was also able to see pretty clearly what she was going to do about it. Since this book tended to drag for me (until the final 15%, but I'll get to that), I think some of these scenes should have been cut. Each time it was brutal, and it hit a point where it wasn't adding to the story.

Speaking of relationships, there are two sapphic ones in this book. One feels organic, and the other does not. Unfortunately, the one that doesn't comes first. One girl kisses another without any of the build up or any idea that there was a sort of attraction there. At first, I thought the author didn't know how to handle this well, but she later featured another sapphic relationship where I could see the two girls were curious about one another and was not surprised when romance blossomed. It felt way more natural.

In fact, the first sapphic relationship was supposed to deliver a plotline where the two girls work together to solve the mystery that is at the crux of this story. (Was grandma killed, and if so, who did it?) Instead, that plotline goes to the side and they just dawdle into a storyline with sex and a vehicle for minor confrontations. I had been so interested in them working together to figure things out, and I was completely let down.

The book wraps itself up incredibly fast in the final 15 - 20%. In fact, it's too fast, and unfortunately, it leaves some loose ends and unanswered questions. Prepare for spoilers. [ At the end of the book, we come to find that two girls who died there in the 90s are haunting the premises, causing all the problems and horrors that are plaguing the folks in the modern day storyline. The fact that grandma was also haunted and saw terrible things when she was there in the 70s can't be explained by this. There is a suggestion that maybe she is haunted by a former tragedy that took place there, but this isn't fully fleshed out. All of her hauntings are left as loose threads, and as a reader, that felt unfinished.

Overall, this was a very unsatisfying read for me, which is unfortunate.

loved the sudden gays moment also yay berkeley representation! interesting and creepy horror ish, good use of chinese throughout

Christina Li has created an intriguing and atmospheric mystery in The Manor of Dreams.

Told in dual timelines across three generations of two families, this gothic tale is best described as a slow burn. It begins with drama around the inheritance of a crumbling mansion and, as secrets are revealed, becomes something more complex and haunting.

With supernatural elements and slower pacing, this book won’t be for everyone. However, it is a compelling and intricately woven story with complex characters and will likely spark great discussion in book groups.