She Is a Haunting
by Trang Thanh Tran
Horror
Supernatural
Suspense
Thriller
* * * Stars (Pretty good)
Jade is coerced into staying with her father in Vietnam for 5 weeks to receive money for her college tuition from him. Her sister, brother and mother will also be traveling to Vietnam but since her parents are separated her mother and brother, who has chosen not to spend time with his father, will be staying with her mom’s relatives. Her sister cannot wait to be with their father and try to be a family. Jade has no such aspirations and is only enduring the 5 weeks to get that college tuition money. Her father has acquired a French colonial house and renovating it into a Bed and Breakfast with the help of his two daughters. But strange things start to happen in the house… a former resident of the house starts appearing to Jade and night after night Jade is paralyzed while in her bed. The garden and insects are acting strangely and a ghostly bride starts to make appearances. Jade befriends a girl and starts to have feelings for her. In all of this, her father starts to act strangely, too. Jade is becoming very confused as to what is real and what is not.
It is a slow starter but takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, suspense, intrigue, and horrific moments. The events and people have fabulous descriptions to make you really believe that Jade cannot distinguish between reality and paranormal, but at the same time, there are moments you wish the author had not thrown in so much and it makes the book a bit slow in some parts. The ending is a shocking surprise and will make you wonder if it was real or not. For high school teens and adults.
Reviewed by YS “Swimming” Librarian
