I enjoyed this book so much! I don't often come across fantasy books that feature research and medicine, and it feels like a special treat when I do. This one had both in abundance, and realistically smart characters to match—types of intelligence were distributed well amongst characters rather than hoarded by one genius protagonist. Relationships were convincingly built, mild spookiness was effectively sown, and I felt like the plot moved along at a good pace for a story driven by information-gathering. The tone and writing style were casual and relatable without veering into goofiness. This was a very effective fairy tale reimagining, with themes of loneliness and vulnerability to manipulation explored just a bit, and it was the most fun book I've read in a while!

Hemlock is the fourth Kingfisher book I've read, and if I'm honest they've been hit-or-miss for me. In case it helps anyone, this book lacked a few of the (subjective) issues I remember from the two that weren't for me (thematic confusion and a protagonist in her 30s who seemed much younger than her age). Anja does have insecurities and does tend to ruminate at every available opportunity, but in this book these traits came across as good characterization. (I'm sure that's also subjective; I just really appreciate a good "now how might that work?" tangent, even at potentially inconvenient times.) It seems like Kingfisher books all have their quirks, and this one's quirks were apparently the kind I go for.

Now I just need to figure out how to get my hands on more research fantasy!

oh i loved this so much, this book is like eating sweet strawberries with rays of sun shining throughout leaves of a tree you're laying under

While I had the sheer luck— and I say luck very purposefully here— to be born an American citizen through my father and his father before him, I have known many, many undocumented people throughout my life. I have friends my age that came to the U.S. when they were in middle school (notice my age in my bio) under asylum and are still waiting for their documentation to be processed— theirs and their entire family’s. I have friends whose family members were renowned professionals in their respective fields back home and left it all behind because they were no longer safe in their homes. I had a friend once whose mother sent her to the U.S. to visit her grandmother during the summer and then did not let her come back home. She never had a chance to say goodbye to her mother, her sister, her friends, or her entire life in her home country.

I’m bringing up my documentation status in this review for one purpose and one purpose only. To lay to rest the idea that undocumented people are a “slap in the face” or an affront to documented people. There is a portion of the latino population in the U.S. who feel hatred towards undocumented people because they feel frustration towards the immigration system and think that undocumented people are somehow laughing at the immigration system, getting a “free ride”, or diminishing their accomplishment of coming here “the right way”. I’ve seen these sentiments even from people who have undocumented relatives themselves. Sadly, there are some latinos with internalized racism and xenophobia. My message to them is this: proximity to whiteness will not save you. White people will never see you as one of them.

Well, I am here to say that, as a documented person, I do not—and have never— given a single fuck about people’s immigration status or how they came to the U.S. I have nothing but admiration and respect for people who have suffered unspeakable trauma both in their home countries as well as the U.S. in order to give themselves and their families a better life. I have seen how hard and expensive and time consuming it is for people to come here “the right way”. I will always advocate for an easier immigration process and the creation of more pathways to citizenship. Especially during a time in which we’re seeing people get deportation orders when they petition for a green card or get pulled out of line by ICE as they’re literally waiting for their citizenship ceremony.

I have seen what can occur when the immigration process is long and expensive. I have seen men marry latinas, bring them here, and then vote for Trump— “Well honey, you did come here illegally after all” is an actual quote I saw uttered by a man (who voted for Trump) after his wife expressed her fears about immigration and the current political climate last year. A man who fetishized his Ecuadorian wife but did not really care about her as a human being.

I have known other spouses who were brought here and were allowed by their partner to obtain a green card but not their citizenship. After all, a green card is just enough protection for the spouse to live here legally, but not enough to be able to leave their abusive partner for fear of becoming undocumented. Forced to live in fear of not only their abusive partner, but from immigration as well because their green card could be revoked any moment. I have seen men use the current political climate as an excuse to forbid their wives from leaving the house as a way to control them under the guise of safety from immigration. To be clear, these are men that have a long history of being abusive and just needed an excuse to exert more control over their partners.

Furthermore, while I am extremely aware that this book is about undocumented people specifically, I also want to highlight that many people in the U.S. will only ever see us as brown, as other. Documented or not. Sure, I was born a U.S. citizen, but that never stopped me from experiencing racism in my small town in Oklahoma which at the time had a 2% hispanic population. It didn’t stop me from being told to “go back to my country” more times than I could count (I grew up in LATAM and came here as a teen). And that still doesn’t stop people from commenting on my accent— “how come you still have an accent if you’ve been here for so long?” As if my accent is something that I need to fix or should be ashamed of. And it certainly doesn’t stop men from fetishizing my latina features.

And yet, I am one of the lucky ones. I am a best case scenario. I am afforded protections and privileges that undocumented people are not. As the author frequently highlights in The Undocumented Americans, undocumented people face unique struggles and fears. The author even discusses how people have used their citizenship to get undocumented people to trust them in certain scenarios such as the 9/11 response and then proceed to betray the undocumented people. What a disgusting use of privilege.

I am incredibly grateful to Karla Cornejo Villavicencio for creating this beautiful book of resistance. I am grateful to her for speaking about undocumented folks as people and not just workers or students or professionals. Just human beings deserving of life and compassion and having their stories told.

Additionally, I love how the author’s anger could be felt throughout the novel. Her anger felt like a real living, breathing force. She did not come here to be nice. She came here to be truthful. She came here to make a statement. I especially appreciated her argument about how immigrants are already American simply because they embody what it means to be an American.

My only criticism is that the book suffers from the way it’s structured and some of the author’s personal biases such as being a Harvard graduate. I’m not sure she realizes just how uncommon of an experience it is to have your private education financed by an elderly billionairess and later have a random Wall Street man write you checks while you’re studying at Harvard. Most immigrants will not have that experience.

I do appreciate how the author highlights that most available jobs for undocumented immigrants are jobs that Americans will not do— and how even though half of undocumented people pay into Social Security, none are eligible for the benefits. They don’t have retirement plans or health insurance and likely have little savings. Being an aging undocumented person is different from being an aging American. As the author says, “This country takes their youth, their dreams, their labor, and spits them out with nothing to show for it”.

To finish up this review, I am going to link my list titled U.S. Interference in Latin America here. I am aware that Cornejo Villavicencio highlights a few people who came to the U.S. due to fascism in their country and other struggles, but I still think that too many people are unaware of the specific problems that plague Latin America and how the U.S. is responsible for creating those problems. The U.S. has destabilized entire Latin American economies as well as installed dictatorships in a number of countries.

To create problems in people’s homes and then blame them and terrorize them for coming to America —a country that has a statue located in its largest city with an inscription begging to:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

— to seek opportunities and a better life is despicable, evil, and cruel.

As Bad Bunny said during the 2026 Super Bowl Half-Time Show, “God bless America”.

She is a Haunting is an exploration of grief, colonialism, and identity— both regarding the MC’s queer identity and feeling alienated from her heritage.

I enjoyed the main plot and the use of the haunted house and bugs as a metaphor for colonialism. The writing also really shone at times— particularly during the interludes as different body parts. That being said, I found that the pace was slow and the story meandered for a portion of the book and thus it was hard at times to stay fully engaged.

While I didn’t quite like this novel as much as I liked They Bloom at Night, I will happily read anything Trang Thanh Tran writes. I would love to see an adult horror book from her.