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She Is a Haunting (2023, Bloomsbury Publishing USA) 4 stars

A House with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect …

Fun Horror that Seems Caught Between Categories

4 stars

Overall a very solid, spooky read. It was enjoyable to have a slightly prickly protagonist, and her struggles with family and the legacy of colonialism were well presented and thematically resonant.

I think it was a mistake to market this as a YA book. It's a coming of age story about a teenager coping with her family, but I think it's too challenging and slow burn to really connect with teenage audiences.

The motifs were obvious (food, insects) but well used throughout the book.

I would rate this solidly four stars until about 85% of the way through, but the ending was a bit of a letdown and put in on the three/four star border for me. Horror endings are hard to get right, and I think the secondary antagonist muddled things.