May the Dead Keep you

Maybe because I’m right in the middle of Gen X - no need to do that math, and we’re being accused of having a second adolescence (joke’s on them, we never fully escaped the first), I’ve been enjoying some YA horror lately.

May the Dead Keep You by Jill Baguchinsky is a gothic YA novel. Catie, the main character, is a teenage girl, but there’s also a haunted house, a complicated relationship, and generational trauma, through the lens of someone who’s also trying to grow up and define themselves at the same time.

It’s set in the redwoods of Northern California - a good thing, too; if she followed mysterious voices in the woods around here (Appalachia), the book would’ve ended at page 3.

Catie lives with her mother, CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and her older brother in The Heights, a mansion built by Patrick Earnshaw - obvious references to Wuthering Heights.

Catie is a teen obsessed with classic horror films, is best friends with her ex-girlfriend, and who loves the isolation and the woods, so she’s not that excited when her mom rents out the guest cottage to one of her work partners and his teenage son, Hunter.

At the same time, strange things start happening, like a bird smashing through a glass door. Is there a connection?

I read the content warnings, and you should, too, if you decide to read this, but I still did not love how easily Catie dismissed all the red flags that popped up early with Hunter.

Otherwise, this was a fairly entertaining read about a big haunted mansion with a mysterious past, atmospheric redwoods, and magic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for the advance copy for my unbiased review.