TW: Domestic Abuse

This work is told from two timelines: one set in the 1970s - 1990s and one set in modern times. I found the historic timeline more compelling than the modern one, but they were both decently written. I did like the modern one more at the end as the two timelines finally merged together and complemented each other better for the resolution. I think part of why I preferred the historical timeline was that I found the characters (and romances) in that timeline more compelling, creating a stronger experience. The pacing was also much more consistent in the historical timeline, whereas the modern timeline moved slowly without much happening.

Some themes of this work include jealousy, love (familial, romantic, and toxic), and how trauma and guilt can haunt you and future generations in unforeseen ways (I loved the quote "We inherit their history."). It also includes themes surrounding identity, especially cultural identity. I'm not sure that I'd call this a work of horror despite some of the graphic imagery, but the gothic atmosphere was strong and the fantasy/magical realism elements that were included added much to the read.

If you're interested in a slower gothic read with the themes mentioned above, you may enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published May 6, 2025. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A big thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

*The Manor of Dreams* is a haunting, atmospheric masterpiece that lingers in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page. Christina Li has crafted a story that feels both timeless and urgently modern, weaving together themes of family, legacy, and the dark underbelly of ambition. From the very first page, the crumbling mansion at the heart of the novel feels like its own character—a place where secrets fester, ghosts whisper, and the past refuses to stay buried. It’s the kind of setting that pulls you in and refuses to let go, much like the story itself.

The dual timelines are expertly handled, creating a rich tapestry of intergenerational drama that unfolds with the precision of a thriller. Vivian Yin, the enigmatic Hollywood starlet, is a fascinating figure—her rise to fame, her sudden disappearance, and the mysteries surrounding her final days are utterly compelling. But it’s the living characters who truly shine. The two families vying for the mansion are flawed, complex, and achingly human, each carrying their own burdens of regret, resentment, and unspoken truths. As the haunting intensifies, so does the tension between them, and you can’t help but be drawn into their struggles, their secrets, and their desperate attempts to outrun the past.

What makes *The Manor of Dreams* so special is how it balances its gothic elements with deeply emotional storytelling. The eerie visions and unsettling occurrences are chilling, but they’re grounded in the very real pain and trauma of the characters. The novel asks difficult questions about the cost of success, the weight of cultural expectations, and the sacrifices we make in pursuit of the American Dream. It’s a story about what happens when the foundations we build our lives on begin to crumble—and whether we have the courage to face what lies beneath.

Christina Li’s writing is lush and evocative, with a lyrical quality that makes every scene feel vivid and alive. The pacing is perfect, with just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end. And the ending? It’s both satisfying and haunting, leaving you with a sense of closure but also a lingering unease—the kind that makes you want to revisit the story again and again.

If you’re a fan of gothic fiction, family sagas, or stories that delve into the complexities of identity and legacy, *The Manor of Dreams* is an absolute must-read. It’s a novel that will captivate you, unsettle you, and ultimately leave you breathless.

The premise of this book is so cool, for lack of better world. Old Hollywood? Haunted mansion? But to be honest, it felt convoluted with all of the POVs. I had trouble keeping track of who was related to who and what point in time certain things happened. By the time the book ended, I wasn't sure if the outcome had been obvious or if I missed something. Christina Li is a good storyteller, I just wish that the story chose less people to tell it through.

3.25 stars rounded down to 3.

I really, really wanted to love this one…. So many female Chinese American characters! A gothic, haunted manor! A mysteriously deadly garden! Sapphic love! But there was just TOO much going on and some of the loose ends that didn’t get tied up could have probably been cut to improve the pacing.

All of that stuff with the Dalby’s? Red herrings. Meaningless to the plot, it seems. Unless maybe there was some Amityville Horror stuff going on!? But I think it was just a case of “he finally showed his true colors” and not “he’s being possessed by his awful relative.”

I absolutely loved finally being able to get to know Ada and Sophie. They were my favorite characters in this book because everything felt so natural and real between them. The stuff between our modern characters felt too sudden and unnatural.

Overall, there were elements I really did love, but I think the identity of this book was all over the place (gothic horror, historical fiction, family drama, YA romance) and it led to some pacing issues for me.

A QUEER ASIAN FANTASY DO YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING??? this was utter perfection, no notes, 10/10. the atmosphere was solid, the characters had me invested immediately, and the plot was unique in a time were that’s hard to accomplish (plus anything sapphic and i come running) yall better pick this one up!!!

When I saw this book was comped to two of my favorite reads -- Mexican Gothic and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo -- I knew I had to download it. I have to say, it took me a really long time to get into the groove of this book. It was just one where I didn't feel super connected to the characters and therefore I found myself not compelled to pick it up and read it. Once I got past the halfway mark I was invested and I didn't see all the twists and turns coming. I will say, some of the horror/Gothic elements seemed a bit forced to me. Like perhaps they weren't necessary to execute the story? We learn very early on that you shouldn't go in the garden (but not why) and that there are some strange things happening in the house. But to me the book would have been fine without the constant mentions of dirt coming out of the faucet and vines growing where they shouldn't be. I definitely liked the flashback chapters better -- learning about Vivian Yin and her rise to fame in Hollywood. I was less connected to the modern day battle between two families for the house.

All in all, I was positive about this book, especially towards the latter half, but would not say it was a "must read" for me. It may be a great book for someone else though!

I loved the family drama in this, and the dual timelines that goes back to the 70s when actress Vivian Yin was building her career in Hollywood, to the current time which is taking place shortly after Vivian's death. I also loved that it was claustrophobic and gave The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes, but mixed with a haunted house. What didn't work for me was the pacing, it is a bit of a slow burn, and the lack of spookiness consistently throughout the book. It really picked up at the end though and had a crazy ending!

A haunting page turner the house the characters a book I couldn’t put down.I will be recommending Christina Lisa Manner of dreams #netgalley#avidpress.

This was truly haunting and absolutely lived up to its comp titles. I can definitely see myself revisiting this story in the future.

This book was not at all what I thought it would be. It was like a mash up between Stacey Lee and Stephen King. Part historical fiction - part paranormal horror - all unique.

My only complaint is that the behavior and final choice of the younger sister at the end of the book made no sense to me given her earlier character development - and was not explained.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Marketed as a mix of Mexican Gothic and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this book had a lot of potential. I liked the beginning, and even a little further, as you learn more about how these two families are related. But I think that's where my praise stops.

First, this is not horror. There are some ghosts, a haunted house, and some creepy vines. Also, the writing here does not come anywhere close to Evelyn Hugo. The pace of the story is slow....really slow in some spots. You've got two timelines contained within the story. One is in the present day, and the other is in the 1970s/1980s in Hollywood. I would have loved for Li to develop the Hollywood timeline more to immerse the reader, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

My biggest complaint is that this book is trying to do too much, and it shows. You finish reading to have so many unanswered questions because an issue would be introduced and then never mentioned again. What was the point of including these if they add nothing to the plot and just take up page space? Just off the top of my head, Li attempts to cover topics that include cultural traditions, domestic violence, the need for acceptance, prohibited same-sex relationships, complex family dynamics, and glitzy Hollywood life. I know I'm forgetting some, but there were just way too many topics all crammed into one story. The way they were incorporated was poorly done. Some of them are casually mentioned, others are more prominent. However, the writing feels chaotic, as if Li made a list of issues she wanted to cover and just inserted them at random points. The book would benefit from a serious edit.

The story is told slowly, it's boring and confusing. And the ending - I won't leave any spoilers but know that the overarching story is only half explained. A huge portion of the book is not incorporated into the ending AT ALL, to the point that I sat there staring at my Kindle, convinced that I must be missing the rest of the book. It just seemed unfinished. And how the ending was pulled together was extremely rushed, especially after the story was so slow until the last 15% of the book.

After finishing this story, I felt like I had wasted my time. I should have DNF'd it. I'm shocked by the high reviews for the book, but I'm fine with being in the minority on this one. My final take: don't bother.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC!

With intense family drama and a haunted estate, it makes for a gripping read, this book has everything to keep you turning the pages. The Manor of Dreams is a mesmerizing blend of drama and suspense, with a mysterious situation that both families are struggling.

There were moments when I kept wondering how everything would unfold—who was who and what their true intentions were. I was completely intrigued, eager to see what would happen next.

Just a heads-up: this is a slow-paced read, and it takes some time to build momentum. But once it does, it will definitely pull you in and immerse you in the drama. The dual timeline POV doesn’t fully take off until the second half, where we uncover the past family drama and how it continues to impact the present.

The final part of the book ties everything together, answering the questions raised from the beginning. The only thing I wish had been explored more was the present timeline—I wanted more development for the characters after all they had been through, rather than just a couple of chapters wrapping things up.

There’s also a small plot twist at the very end, which was a nice touch. Overall, this was a great read! I really enjoyed it.

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li is an atmospheric, multi-generational story that weaves together history, ambition, and the haunting weight of family secrets. Set in a once-glamorous Hollywood estate, the novel moves between timelines, revealing the intertwined fates of two Chinese American families chasing the American Dream. Li’s storytelling is rich and immersive, balancing gothic intrigue with deeply human struggles. It’s a beautifully crafted novel that lingers with you, perfect for readers who love layered narratives with a touch of mystery and historical depth.

A very good ghost story about to families fighting over an inheritance of a haunted
house with a terrible past.

This is apparently Ms. Li's first adult outing, and honestly, it's a pretty damn solid adult debut. You have a haunted house and the generations of trauma that unfold inside and around it, and all the mysteries that are uncovered as the family matriarch lies dying. Nightmare in the sense that you see all the petty things that can be enacted by those who claim to love you, and what some people will do to escape bullshit. Definitely worth your time when this comes out this spring.

what it says on the tin

Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career and live out the rest of her life as a recluse.

Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood Vivian’s grand, sprawling Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead—one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement.

In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. Amidst the grief and paranoia of the families’ unhappy reunion, Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, only to realize they are being haunted by something much more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth about the last fateful summer they spent in the house, or will they cling to their secrets until it’s too late?

Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.

A complex mystery that will keeping you guessing. — That’s the thing though, it’s a mystery. It’s not a horror and it’s not a thriller. It’s a dark literary fiction with a mystery wrapped in vines and a crumbling manor.

If you want a dark tale of abuse and grief and trauma with many threads being woven at once, this is for you. If you are looking for a scary horror novel, this is not it. It’s not scary, it’s depressing. 4 stars for the sads, 3 stars for the spookies.

The dream house as a metaphor for generational trauma and the ghosts chained to us (yes, there’s the bare bones of the story using the format of a chapter title from In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado - you’re welcome)

I think this book tried to carry too much. I was all in on the present day storyline right from the very beginning (apparitions vomiting dirt onto the table in the middle of the will reading?? Yes please!) but it took a long time to build up the past, and I found myself profoundly losing interest from 20-55% until things turned sinister (and gay!)

Since the story does focus heavily on generational trauma, I think we should have done more with Richard’s past and his family. Even though it’s thematically appropriate and gives us a great excuse for more ghosts, it wasn’t prevalent enough.

Loved the descriptions of the crumbling manse, though I think we saw a lot less of that in practice. Like we’d get the initial plan of the camera to drink it all in, but no one was stepping gingerly over cracked and sagging floorboards, only hallucinating vines and dirt and blood and ghosts.

I also had a really hard time buying into the Madeline/Nora dynamic with as little as they interacted and as sort of a time frame and their families’ complicated history.

this was definitely an interesting read, but the pace was too slow for me. i was expecting more of a thriller, but i think it fits better into the slow-burn mystery category. the characters were easy to mix-up, and i had a hard time keeping up with who was who in the different conversations. i also didn’t like how part of the ending was left unresolved. however, this book was beautifully written with the dual timelines, and the imagery was done really well. thank you to the author/netgalley for this ARC!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li is a third person multi-POV Queer Gothic following the lives of Yin-Lowell and Deng families in the 1980s to the early 90s and 2024 when the family matriarch, Vivian, has passed away. When the Yin-Lowell house is left to the Deng family, who had once been the caretakers of the home and friends of Vivian, the Yin-Lowells are not willing to accept the snub from their mother. But the house holds some dangerous secrets and they’re no longer willing to be hidden.

The house has seen a lot of violence in a variety of ways. Vivian’s husband, Richard, paints himself as a very kind understanding man who accepts that she was previously married and raises her children from her last relationship as if they were his own. He’s covering up a violent personality that finally shows when Vivian forgets to name him in her Oscar acceptance speech and he continues to escalate his behavior whenever Vivian doesn’t fall in line. It is, unfortunately, a situation that is all too common and will be familiar to some readers. The other type of violence is subtle homophobia directed towards the relationship between one of the daughters of the Yin-Lowell family and one of the daughters of the Deng family and this violence becomes intertwined with Vivian’s situation.

There is an exploration of the history of Chinese immigrants to America, particularly those who were involved in the construction of the railroads and the racism that they were met with. Vivian discovers that her home is contacted to someone who was racist towards Chinese people and it makes her uncomfortable, but she doesn’t tell her children about what she found. This plus the treatment of Vivian in Hollywood and the struggle for her to find roles even after an Oscar-winning performance, shows how racism towards Chinese-Americans has changed it’s shape but is still alive and well even if it’s more covert.

The supernatural Gothic elements are more subtle for most of the book and pop-up here and there while the majority is focused on the strained relationship between the two families that used to be quite close. The house is certainly haunted and the structure peels back who is haunting it and why as well as all of the layers that make it more complicated. I feel the most sorry for Ada and Sophie, but it’s hard not to sympathize with most of the characters even if you don’t like most of the decisions. Madeline and Nora are kind of caught in the middle as their families argue over who gets this house and don’t know the full history of what happened three decades ago while Elaine Deng butts heads with Lucille and Rennie, Vivian’s daughters.

Content warning for homophobia and intense depictions of domestic abuse

I would recommend this to fans of Gothic novels exploring themes of racism, homophobia, and domestic abuse and readers looking for a novel discussing Hollywood’s anti-Asian racism