Delicious Monsters

Delicious Monsters poignantly highlights how the real monsters in our lives are closer to us and more brutal than any supernatural ones we dream up. The story is about various forms of real-life trauma, the cycle of trauma and how differently we process and get through it, told in a setting of a haunted and paranormal house.

Did you know the name of the plant “Monstera Deliciosa” (Daisy's favorite plant) or swiss cheese plant, literally translates to Delicious Monsters? But that's not the only meaning behind the title of the book.

The main character Daisy's biggest problem according to her is that she sees dead people. But she doesn't see how she has much more real monsters in her life. She has a tendency to trust the wrong people, not trust those who deserve it, and be generally unaware of the trauma around her.

All the characters are nuanced, flawed, and impacted by the abuse they've lived through in different ways. It's difficult to love any of them as the reader but it's even harder to hate them.

The author did a great job of setting the scene with creepy tense vibes. This is a very atmospheric and haunting read. Once things start to happen, it is impossible to put the book down. The mystery and horror of the haunted mansion pulls you in, just like it does the characters in the book.

Daisy's story is interleaved with Brittney's who's looking into the case a decade later, this helps increase the tension of the story since it tells us from the get-go that things aren't going to end well. The parallels and differences between the two characters' situations also help highlight the nuances of their relationships with others.

I really struggled to get through a good chunk of this book. Barely anything seems to happen for the first 40-50%. It didn't help that the MC is insufferable that whole time as well, with the biggest chip on her shoulder. To be fair, she has every right to be that way, and it's absolutely valuable to let characters, especially POC, be angry.

It was difficult to rate this because of how much I struggled at the beginning vs how much I loved it as things started happening. I'm rating it an inexact 4⭐ ranging between 3 and 5.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley for the eARC.