If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun (review)

Reviewed by: If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun Aaren Tucker Sun, Miranda If I Have to Be Haunted. HarperTeen, 2023 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063252769 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063252790 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 9-12 Cara Tang can see ghosts, but her mother has made her promise not to tell anyone and certainly not to speak with the spirits themselves; her ghostly grandmother, on the other hand, hopes that Cara will take on the duties of a ghost speaker, helping dead people pass over. If the tension at home wasn't enough, Cara also has to deal with her privileged, handsome, and highly annoying classmate Zach Coleson, who hangs his swim team flyers right over top of Cara's cross-country ones. When Cara stumbles across Zach's corpse in the woods, though, she inadvertently reveals to his ghost that she can see him. It turns out that Zach isn't fully dead yet, though: he has been bitten by a Signet Snake and can be saved if Cara will undertake a perilous journey to find the antidote within seven days. With her nemesis' life in her hands, Cara must finally choose if she is going to obey her mother's wishes or follow her grandmother's path. This ghostly debut is influenced by many myths and folktales—prominently Greek and Chinese—and features a fascinating paranormal world, insightful family dynamics, and two prickly people finding the courage to be vulnerable with each other. Sun effortlessly balances humor, gleeful horror, and sparkling romance on Cara's Homeric journey to self-actualization. Cara and Zach make a great team once they set aside their mutual antagonism, and this book [End Page 72] stands out amongst the ghost romance trend for its intriguing world-building and Sun's mastery of poetic symbolism ("Cara's stomach hurt from swallowing her words"). The novel works as a standalone with a satisfying conclusion, but the epilogue teases a sequel which should please series-enjoyers left feeling they have only scratched the surface. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois