This was an intense story of miscommunication, lost love, and the complicated and nuanced dynamics of familial relationships. The story intricately weaves us through the background of Vivian Yin and contrasts her story with the modern evens occurring in the family home.

This was equally sad, stressful and unsettling. The dialogue about familial obligation vs desire to help was spot on. I couldn't anticipate what what going to happen next, which made this a really enjoyable read.

Propulsive, gorgeous, and haunting. Li's stained old Hollywood romance is captivating and set a unique backdrop for an intergenerational wound.

The Manor of Dreams was an excellent read. I loved the character development and the writing was propulsive.

I've struggled to gather my thoughts on The Manor of Dreams because the book was not really what I expected based on the synopsis and comps. In general, I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it but I also didn't hate it. I've been reflecting on the story, the characters and themes and trying to sort them.

First, the comparison to Mexican Gothic does this book a disservice. I loved Mexican Gothic and I came into this novel expecting horror, but this is 90% family drama and only 10% horror. But for the final 50ish pages, there are merely hints at the paranormal. This was disappointing to me as a horror reader who loves books about haunted houses.

Sometimes I felt a disconnect between the characters as they had been developed and their actions. When this occurred it took me out of the story. Why did Lucille, who was close with Ada and Sophie, suddenly act jealous and mean toward them? Vivian and Edith were beautifully depicted with a close friendship, so why did Vivian push Edith away in her moment of need? Why did Vivian ensnare Sophie in her plans? Why doesn't it seem as if the unintended consequences of Vivian's desperate act have any impact on her emotional well-being? You'd think it would have destroyed her, but I didn't get that sense. Madeline and Nora barely spoke to one another, how did they develop such a bond? Why did Elaine begin the week composed and as the days pass completely unravel? Why did the intervening decades leave Sophie with such unbridled rage and a thirst for seemingly indiscriminate revenge? What am I to make of Rennie's arc and where she is at in the end? It seems like the development for many of these things must have been cut out of the book in the editing process. What am I supposed to take away from this story? I feel like I'm supposed to think of it as a commentary on how greed, ambition and advancement at any cost can be ruinous, but it doesn't seem like that was the story told? Vivian's downfall didn't arise from greed or ambition. She acted out of a misguided sense that she was protecting everyone she loved. Is it about the precarious position women, particularly immigrants, face when their fate is in the wrong man's hands? What should a woman do, when faced with only terrible options? What does this novel say about family? About motherhood? About mothers and daughters? I honestly don't know. And while there were many references to Chinese food, language and the fact that Vivian was often typecast and denied opportunities in her quest for stardom, I wanted her identity to be more deeply explored in the novel. I really liked how Li brought up Richard's racist ancestors and how the railroad business brought his family riches and the manor. But I wish more had been done with it.

In the end, there were a bit too many unanswered questions left for my satisfaction. The middle lagged a bit. I landed at 3 stars, the premise held so much potential but I feel it wasn't fully realized.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The Manor of Dreams will be out 5/6.

Manor of Dreams by Christina Li is a beautifully written, slightly spooky novel that blends fantasy with real emotional depth. The blurred lines between reality and fantasy are really cool and you start to wonder yourself as a reader “is this real? is this … magical??”

The author’s writing has a dreamy, poetic quality, and she balances the eerie atmosphere with real heartfelt moments about grief and family. The story feels fresh but familiar enough to intrigue you, like a mix between Coraline and a cozy ghost story. It’s the kind of book that really lingers after you’ve finished. Wow.

3.5 stars. While it got a slow and confusing start, I did eventually get sucked into the story. It was atmospheric and once I got into it, it kept me engaged and turning the pages.
There’s a lot going on, maybe even too much; Multi-generational family drama, sibling conflict, not one but two sapphic romances, domestic abuse, being Chinese in Hollywood, oh and let’s throw in a haunted, mysterious garden for good measure.
Overall, I thought it was good not great. Definitely recommend to those who love multi-generational family dramas and/or gothic haunted house stories.

They say "The Manor Of Dreams" is "Mexican Gothic" meets "The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo" and they are not. I felt definite "Mexican Gothic" vibes. it was creepy yet had plenty of twists and turns. I did find it difficult to keep the characters straight at times.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

SO FREAKING GOOD. CHRISTINA LI YOU GENIUS YOU.

I've been terribly late at writing my reviews, but this book has stuck with me over the past weeks. It's a heady, twisty, heartfelt *scream* of a story, full of secrets and ghosts and family trauma. I want to roll around in this book. I want to eat the prose. I want to throw it in SO many people's faces.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"The Manor Of Dreams" by Christina Li is a dark, haunting & thrilling story that is told in dual timelines & spans 3 generations.
The storytelling & writing were excellent.
I would definitely read another book by Ms. Li.

I dnf’d at 55% I didn’t realize this was multiple pov when I requested. I’m a hit or miss with multiple pov. And in this story I really struggled with feeling immersed or invested into the characters. I wanted more of Nora and Madeline, but it’s like every character took a back seat to the ensemble cast as a whole.

The Manor Of Dreams by Christina Li, this is about famous Asian actress Vivian who even won an Oscar in the 80s leaving her home not to her children but to her maid and gardeners daughter Evelyn. Evelyn and her college daughter Nora show up to the reading of the will at the rundown mansion where she’s reunited with Lucille, sister Rennie and Lucille‘s college age daughter Madeleine. even before the wheel is red it is not a happy reunion but more like a standoff and after it’s known that the house was left to Evelyn, Lucille is incredulous. She cannot fathom her mother leaving their childhood home to the helps daughter. They soon come to an agreement that Lucille Vinny and Madeline can stay to go through Vivian‘s belongings, but really it is just the front so Lucille can find a way to get her childhood home back. Throughout their stay strange things happen in the book brings us back to the 70s/80s when Vivian and husband actor John lived in the home and all the secrets that were divulged throughout into the 90s’ where we get to see life from the point of view of the three daughters of Vivian along with Evelyn sister Soshas experience at the strange homestead. I think this book had a lot of admiration because more than once I found myself thinking oh so that’s what the book is about? Only to be wrong because as the story goes along it turns out it’s about a lot of things. There’s supernatural realism in the book including strange ghost and sounds but that’s not to say the book was creepy. Although the part where the garden tried to eat up Madeleine was a bit scary. I do think the two romances between the four girls were a bit extra especially the one with Nora and Madeline but either way I think any plot line the author would’ve chosen would’ve been a good one whether it be the ghost of the Chinese railroad workers or the ghost of John’s family or the many other sub plots unfortunately she tried to put it all in one story and I think it made it too crowded. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good story because I really found it hard to put down and although I’m not only liked every POV I do think at times the book went a little slow and there were things that could’ve been taken out and it would’ve made for a much better read. I still recommend it it’s not only interesting it has important historical points to make I just wish you would’ve been clear about making those points. #NetGalley,#TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,#ChristinaLi, #TheManorOfDreams,’

Beautiful writing but the pacing did not work for me. Just too slow. I struggled to make myself keep picking up this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

The lush storytelling and perfection of the intertwined generations brought onto the pages hooked me from the start of THE MANOR OF DREAMS.

Despite the initial confusion of who everyone was, I was quickly able to learn everyone's role in the story. A bitter relationship ensues between two families with deeper ties than they know to a mysterious manor lived in by the deceased and her late husband/father of two sisters in one of the families. Christina Li provides tension that is just right, while also slowly peeling back the layers behind what causes the tension and secrets that are kept by the main characters.

What we are given is tragic nuance. Vivian Yin's backstory and her role in the lives of both families is masterfully crafted and left me feeling like I was in the walls of the manor watching everything unfold. I felt the pain and the anger, the turmoil and the secrecy, the hope that maybe there won't be tragedy in the after...

Sapphic gothic horror is a niche I hold dear to my heart, and when I saw Li market it is a happier "Haunting of Bly Manor" (one of my favorite pieces of media to ever exist), I knew in my bones that I needed to read this. And I am so glad I did. Thank you SO MUCH to Avid Reader Press for providing me an eARC of one of my most anticipated books of the year. It deserves all the love it receives when it comes out next month

Part family drama, part haunted house tale, part sapphic love story—I really enjoyed this one. The author did a wonderful job of weaving together the two families’ stories, revealing secrets at just the right pace. It’s more heart wrenching than spooky, but the gothic elements are clever and satisfying.

Who doesn't love a haunted house full of secrets and a love that blooms despite it all?

Christina Li weaves atmosphere and emotion expertly in her adult debut novel The Manor of Dreams! The book follows two multigenerational families that arrive at the manor to discuss the will of their deceased loved one, and takes a turn as three generations and two timelines interweave to it's conclusion. The characters in this novel were well-rounded and I found myself deeply invested in each of their stories and how they arrived at this manor and into the will. There were so many secrets to unravel, and the mystery surrounding it all was built with just enough tension to keep me reading and guessing.

Very enjoyable and can't wait to see what else the author writes!

Presented as Gothic fiction and horror, this debut novel unfolds instead as a haunting elegy of aspirations left to wither, love concealed in shadows, sibling rivalries that fester like wounds, and the fragile, inescapable bonds between parent and child. Beneath this estate’s decorated halls and sprawling gardens, lies a deeper history— one of longing, betrayal, and the quiet violences that shape a life.

Vivian Yin, once a shimmering Hollywood star, the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, is dead.

Now, her remaining family gathers in the house where they once grew up, where shadows have grown long and dark in their absence, and expect to inherit the now crumbling childhood home. But the will has changed. The house is no longer theirs. It belongs, instead, to another— a different family, now returned, as if the house itself has been waiting for them.

But I wouldn’t call this exactly a horror or a thriller, more earnest and quite simply, it is a mystery. A thoughtful piece of dark literary fiction with unanswered questions and hidden truths choked in vines and buried within a decaying manor. I raced through the pages, invested in the relationships and fraught with emotion to find every answer, some a heavier weight than others. Unfolding and impacting women across three generations, The Manor of Dreams is a tale of love and ruin, ambition and betrayal—a story of the price paid for the American dream and the restless ghosts it leaves behind.

The Manor of Dreams is so many things: a multi-generational, decades long family drama adjacent to the cutthroat world of Hollywood, an exploration of the immigrant experience, and slow burn gothic horror as an expression of the cost of relentless ambition.

When once famous Chinese actress Vivian Yin passes away, her children and a family friend are called to the estate for the reading of the will. Vivian's daughters Lucille and Renata are shocked when Yin Manor, the home they grew up in, is given to Elaine, their childhood housekeeper's daughter. Livid and sure that Elaine must have forced Vivian's hand, the sisters vow to figure out how to prove that the house is rightfully theirs. They strike a deal that they will all stay in the home for a week, and if the sisters can prove Vivian made the amendment to her will under duress.

But the longer they stay at the manor, the more everyone in the house is reminded of the past that haunts it. As Lucille and Renata investigate what happened in Vivian's last days, the story alternates timelines, following Vivian's rise to fame in the 70s, and the tragedies that unfurled in the home she thought would be filled with happiness. As the past comes into focus, the women in the present must face their irrevocably entangled lives and fates before the manor ruins them all.

I was absolutely hooked by this book from the beginning. Li masterfully reveals Vivian's complicated history with beautiful character work and perfect pacing, and the present chapters poignantly depict the ripple effects of Lucille and Renata's childhood experiences. With beautiful imagery and atmospheric prose, Christina Li tells an emotionally riveting story about the complexities of all forms of love, and the consequences of ambition.

I requested this book on NetGalley due to the promise of a multi-generational Chinese-American family gothic horror novel. Overall I enjoyed it, although it wasn't one that I eagerly looked forward to getting back to whenever I had to put it down. It leaned far more heavily into the family drama than it did the gothic/horror elements. Those elements were really more like highlights on the full picture, and there were no moments of dread or anything I found particularly creepy. Despite the synopsis mentioning that the characters are "racing" to find out what happened to the deceased matriarch of the family, the pacing was fairly slow and unhurried as the history of the family unfolds through flashbacks that take up the majority of the story. If family dramas are something one enjoys, there's certainly a solid one here.

4.5 stars. This one was good! Thank you to Christina Li, Netgalley, and the publisher for this Advanced Reader's Copy that comes out in one month!

This story is dark and filled with magical realism -- I got a lot of Isabelle Allende vibes from it and I'm here for it!

The plot centers around Vivian Yin's two families upon her death. Vivian herself was the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar but then something happened and she mysteriously disappeared from the limelight. The families are now gathered at her mansion, reading her will and expecting to get her house, but the contents of the will are rather unexpected. Both families move into the house and try to figure out what happens but that's when they start to unravel dark secrets and creepy things begin to happen.

I found this book to be very emotional and to show the physical, haunted way that secrets can overtake our lives. At times, I was reminded of creepy horror films involving houses like "The Conjuring" or "Insidious" but there is a lot more depth to this book than movies like that. In general, it was really good.

The ending was a little confusing, one thing I often find to be the case with magical realism books, which is why I took off half a star, but overall I recommend it!

Highly readable, exciting, and downright creepy at times. I absolutely loved my time with this book - it checked a lot of boxes for me.

✅️ Crumbling house full of secrets
✅️ Family drama & intergenerational trauma
✅️ Unexpected but sweet romance

I was absolutely entranced by this book and the way that secrets unfolded neatly with every passing chapter. The characters were not always very likable but I found that more realistic. There were a few things with the ending that I wish there was more closure for, but overall this was a fantastic read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!