{"id":215853,"date":"2025-10-15T18:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215853\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:23:12","slug":"ghosts-witches-and-all-things-spooky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/215853\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts, witches, and all things spooky"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY<\/p>\n

\"\"Three Kisses, One Midnight
By Roshani Chokshi, Sandhya Menon, and Evelyn Skye
Wednesday Books, 2022<\/p>\n

As Halloween approaches, the residents of Moon Ridge prepare for their town\u2019s 400th birthday. And according to local legend, at the stroke of midnight that same night, a young woman died just as she was set to start a life with her dearest love. And every century, the Lady of Moon Ridge descends from the stars to walk among the townsfolk, conjuring an aura upon anyone willing to follow their hearts\u2019 desires.<\/p>\n

This year, high schoolers and best friends Onny, Ash, and True\u2014better known as The Coven\u2014embark on a night they hope will bring them love, with just a little help from Onny\u2019s grandmother\u2019s love potion. But it\u2019s not going to be that easy, as it\u2019s going to take more than a potion to open Onny\u2019s eyes, boost Ash\u2019s confidence, and heal True\u2019s broken heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree Kisses\u201d is the story of three young people learning to embrace and accept love\u2014even (or especially) when it doesn\u2019t come in the form they\u2019re expecting. Told in three short stories, each from the perspective of a different member of our trio, we see what they\u2019ve all been through to get to where they are when it comes to romance and relationships, and what they think they deserve (or don\u2019t deserve). For an adult, Onny\u2019s, Ash\u2019s, and True\u2019s dramatics around romance were a bit much, but it felt realistic for teenagers. Because I definitely remember how so many things were basically life or death when I was that age. Chokshi, Menon, and Skye all did a great job of capturing those big feelings and emotions.<\/p>\n

In addition to the main trio, the stories feature some great adult characters. From their parents and neighbors, to one of their teachers, Mr. Brightside, and his husband, Mayor Grimjoy. The latter pair were definitely my favorite with their opposites-attract relationship and their cringeworthy (but hilarious to me as an adult) interactions with the teens.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Bone Witch
By Rin Chupeco
Sourcebooks Fire, 2017<\/p>\n

At the age of 12, Tea learned that she can raise the dead. Without meaning to, she accidentally resurrects her brother, Fox, during his funeral. And in doing so, she learns that she is different from the other witches in her family. With her gift for necromancy, Tea is a bone witch, making her both feared and ostracized by her community. Not long after, Tea and her brother leave their village with an older bone witch, who takes them away so Tea can train and learn to use her powers.<\/p>\n

Once in her new home, Tea throws herself into becoming an asha, someone who can wield elemental magic\u2014and in Tea\u2019s case, a Dark asha. But with dark forces approaching, and facing great danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles and make a powerful choice.<\/p>\n

Alternating between flashbacks from the time Tea comes into her powers, and when she\u2019s (a little) older and telling her story to a character only known as the Bard, \u201cThe Bone Witch\u201d is a dark fantasy filled with witches and demons\u2014which I\u2019m always here for. While going back and forth between past and present may be confusing or jarring for some readers, I enjoyed it, especially as the narratives tied together so seamlessly. In the present, Tea has also been exiled, living in a very remote area, so readers will want to learn more about what has led to her banishment, and what exactly she\u2019s up to as the Bard tries to do the same.<\/p>\n

In addition, Chupeco does a great job of building a universe with a unique magic system that readers can really dive into. Because of this, I can almost forgive the cliffhanger at the end of the story. It only makes me want to read the rest of the series even more.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Ghost Bride
By Yangsze Choo
William Morrow, 2013<\/p>\n

As the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, Li Lan has few prospects. But then fate intervenes and the wealthy and powerful Lim family come to her father with a proposal. Except they want her to become a ghost bride for the family\u2019s only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. While this marriage would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, it comes with a terrible price as a ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit.<\/p>\n

And after visiting the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds her dead would-be suitor now haunting her dreams, which draw her night after night into the world of the Chinese afterlife. And to make things worse, she meets the Lims\u2019 handsome new heir, Tian Bai, who she can\u2019t help but be drawn to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taking place in 1890s Malaya, \u201cThe Ghost Bride\u201d follows a young woman in a time when young women didn\u2019t have much (if any) control over their lives. Living in the present day, it\u2019s easy to take for granted our ability to do the simplest things like work, walk around town, or say \u201cno\u201d to a man, whereas much of Li Lan\u2019s fate is determined by others. And yet, that doesn\u2019t stop her from fighting for herself. Readers can\u2019t help but cheer on her success.<\/p>\n

And while the idea of being haunted by the ghost may be scary, the creepiest part may just be his entitlement to Li Lan and his determination to make her his bride. It just shows how far we have come as a society\u2014in that women can now choose who they marry, or whether they even want to marry at all. It reminds readers to not take for granted the rights we have, as not everyone in the world has them, and they can so easily be taken away.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Samantha PakNORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Three Kisses, One MidnightBy Roshani Chokshi, Sandhya Menon, and Evelyn SkyeWednesday Books, 2022…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[64,63,457,134],"class_list":["post-215853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-books","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}