If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun

Synopsis

Cemetery Boys meets Legendborn in this thrillingly romantic, irresistibly fun YA contemporary fantasy debut following a teenage Chinese American ghost speaker who (reluctantly) makes a deal to raise her nemesis from the dead.

Cara Tang doesn’t want to be haunted.

Look, the dead have issues, and Cara has enough of her own. Her overbearing mother insists she be the “perfect” Chinese American daughter—which means suppressing her ghost-speaking powers—and she keeps getting into fights with Zacharias Coleson, the local golden boy whose smirk makes her want to set things on fire.

Then she stumbles across Zach’s dead body in the woods. He’s even more infuriating as a ghost, but Cara’s the only one who can see him—and save him.

Agreeing to resurrect him puts her at odds with her mother, draws her into a dangerous liminal world of monsters and magic—and worse, leaves her stuck with Zach. Yet as she and Zach grow closer, forced to depend on each other to survive, Cara finds the most terrifying thing is that she might not hate him so much after all.

Maybe this is why her mother warned her about ghosts.

Delightful and compulsively readable, this contemporary fantasy has something for every reader: a snarky voice, a magnetic enemies-to-lovers romance, and a spirited adventure through a magical, unpredictable world hidden within our own.

Review

4 very solid stars

Thank you to Harper Collins for my eARC! I had a great time reading this story!

If I Have to Be Haunted is a very entertaining, fast reading story with a ghost speaker, ghosts, a ghost hunter and magical beasts and monsters.

I read that book in record time as I really wanted to know if Cara and Zach’s “quest” would be successful!

The story begins with Cara and Zach bickering, as they’ve been doing for years now! Cara is a Chinese American girl whose now dead grand-mother could speak to ghosts and passed her gift to her grand-daughter.

But Cara promised her mother that she’ll never use her ability and would keep it a secret, just blending in and getting good grades.

Zach on the other hand is the town golden boy. Coming from a very wealthy family, a real charmer, he also is Cara’s nemesis.

When Zach dies unexpectedly, Cara is the only one who can see his ghost. And despite the promise she made to her mother, she can’t resist helping Zach to hopefully resurrect.

But that means embarking on a “quest” and going to a liminal world filled with danger! They will have to go from threshold to threshold, fighting monsters, deadly mist, ghosts and many other things if they want to save Zach. It’s also a race against the clock as they only have one week to succeed!

It was really enjoyable to read all that the author had imagined as magic ordeals and fantasy worlds. Cara and Zach had to help each other if they wanted to survive that place! And of course, slowly they grew feelings for each other.

If you are looking for a fast paced, effortlessly flowing fantasy YA with an enemies to lovers trope, this might be your book!

Thanks for reading.

Sophie