I’m still figuring out this newsletter thing as I go along, but I think I’ll want to dedicate a good part of it to talking about books I love.
And I’m so, so excited this week, because one of my all-time favorite books is about to go out into the world for everyone to read!
Trang Thanh Tran’s She Is A Haunting, out Feb. 28, is the ghost story of my dreams. It’s the kind of ghost story where it’s unclear what's scarier: the supernatural presence, or the past that's shaped us; the strange happenings in the house, or the people we can't trust and the questions about ourselves we can't answer. I was fortunate enough to get to read an early draft last year, and I've been obsessed with it ever since.
Here's the pitch:
When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.
But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.
Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.
I loved the book's searing, gorgeous prose, the intense longing, and the incisive, nuanced treatment of Jade's questions about her identity and her fraught family dynamics.
Jade's voice grabbed me from the first page and wouldn’t let me go. She's angry in such a self-aware way, and so funny and perceptive, I found her immediately endearing. I could probably listen to Jade read her grocery list and it would still be fun. The mystery of the house's backstory kept me turning the pages, and Jade's feelings of unbelonging and unease resonated deep in my bones on multiple levels. I can’t wait to re-read it when the final copy arrives.
I'm also so excited for Jade Adia's There Goes the Neighborhood, coming out March 7!
Fifteen-year-old Rhea and her best friends, Zeke and Malachi, are South L.A. born and raised, but a recent wave of gentrification has been transforming the place that they call home. When an eviction notice from a greedy landlord threatens to split up the crew, Rhea and her friends manipulate social media to form a fake gang in hopes of scaring off developers. Their scheme appears to work at first… until a murder is pegged on the nonexistent gang. Yikes.
There Goes the Neighborhood is a love letter to South L.A., a middle finger to the destructive powers of gentrification, and a hilarious adventure about three teens who have the best intentions, if not always the best solutions. Perfect for fans of Tiffany Jackson's Let Me Hear a Rhyme and Netflix's On My Block, this is an uproarious novel about power, friendship, and what really makes a neighborhood.
I love books that use a kind of absurd, wacky situation to look at serious issues, and I think it's so next-level to be able to use humor in that way.
I just started reading this (the perks of sharing an editor 🥰) and Rhea's voice leaps off the page! The friend group dynamic at the heart of this story is so wonderful, I'd follow them anywhere.
I've been dying to read Mae Coyiuto's Chloe and the Kaishao Boys ever since I saw the announcement, and now it’s nearly here, also coming out March 7.
Chloe knows what it takes to be the perfect Liang daughter—stay in Manila, study business management, and join the family company. But when she unexpectedly gets off the wait list for USC, her dream of becoming an animator in the United States is suddenly within reach.
Before she goes, her auntie insists on planning a traditional debut for Chloe’s eighteenth birthday. And while a party with all her friends and family sounds like the perfect send-off, the huge production her auntie wants—complete with ball gowns and a choreographed dance number—makes Chloe want to pass out from stage fright.
To make matters worse, her father, intent on finding Chloe the perfect escort for the party, keeps setting her up on one awkward kaishao—or arranged date—after another. Why does her dad suddenly care so much about her love life? And what happens when she actually starts to fall for one of the guys, only to have to leave at the end of the summer?
At home in the Philippines, Chloe has her future all planned out for her. In America, nothing is certain. With a career in animation far from guaranteed, Chloe must decide if following her dreams is worth everything—and everyone—she’ll be leaving behind.
The premise sounds incredible—fun and romantic while also touching on difficult questions about leaving home versus deciding to stay. And I'm excited to see Chinese-Filipino rep in a YA novel!
Odds and ends
In case you missed it, my friend Trinity recently announced her book and it is absolutely wonderful! Everyone keep an eye out for A BANH MI FOR TWO, coming in fall 2024.
And finally: I have, at long last, made it through the author rite of passage that is getting rejected for your Goodreads author page multiple times!
You can add my book to mark the occassion 🤪
Hope you’re all having a great week!
Love always, Clare 💙