The only thing worse than having ghost hunters for parents is having fake ghost hunters for parents. Luna Catalano would know. Her moms are haunted house flippers who use their home reno skills and pretend psychic powers to turn spooky old houses into ghost-free modern homes. Not only does their job require the family to move all the time–meaning Luna is completely friendless–but the only thing haunting any of those houses is bad decor. For once Luna wishes there was an actual, for-real ghost.
When they move yet again, Luna isn’t expecting much. But this house feels… different. Things start out innocent enough–items not where they should be, strange noises–but soon things turn sinister. Her moms are waking up with cuts and bruises, and disturbing drawings showing them with even worse injuries are being left in Luna’s room. With the help of her next-door neighbors and a mysterious woman who seems to know a lot about the home, Luna starts to piece together what exactly happened in that house before she moved in. But not everything is as it seems. In order to save her moms, Luna will have to get the story right before everything goes completely wrong.
I’ve been wanting to read something by Justine Pucella Winans for a little bit. They’ve got some really cool looking books out right now! Even though I haven’t been reading much YA lately, I’m definitely curious about their YA horror novel HOW TO SURVIVE A SLASHER (that cover!!!), but sometimes the Shiny New Thing is too hard to resist, so I decided to start with their newest middle grade horror novel, A LITTLE TOO HAUNTED.
When we meet thirteen-year-old Luna Catalano she is TICKED OFF. It’s been a month since The Incident.
Her two moms are home improvement influencers, but with a twist: they flip haunted houses. They move in, renovate the place, exorcise any unwanted spirits, sell the house, and move on. All of this is then edited & uploaded to their popular YouTube channel.
Luna has spent her whole life thinking the hauntings were real, and that her moms were really helping spirits move along. But she discovers that none of it was real, and she exposes her moms as fakers during a livestream…forever known as The Incident.
Understandably, Luna is upset with her Mom & Mamma. But her parents salvage their online identity/business, and sort’ve rebrand a little. They try to move on, and that brings them to a new house in northeast Ohio. “The least haunted house Luna had ever seen,” is how it’s described from Luna’s POV.
Luna is a moody, emotional kid, and she’s generally reluctant to make close friends. She has a couple of really close online friends she met through an IBS message board, but she doesn’t stay in one place long enough to make many in-person friends. But she finds herself drawn to a few kids in her new neighborhood, siblings Dani & Mateo Moreno, and an intriguing girl named Logan.
Additionally, Luna begins to suspect that the new house is really truly haunted, and she’s thrilled about it initially. But her moms simply refuse to believe her. Because ghosts aren’t real. Right?
This was really fun! Justine Pucella Winans does some incredible work with their characters & relationships. Luna is presented in a really authentic way, I think. Winans really allows Luna to be thirteen, and that means she is frequently complaining, agitated, frustrated, and sometimes just super angry. But this is a family with a ton of heart & love for one another, and so as a reader, you know there’s always going to be a soft place to land for Luna.
A LITTLE TOO HAUNTED also features lots of queer representation which is great to see in a middle grade horror novel! In addition to having two moms, Luna begins to explore her own identity as she starts to develop some crushy feelings for Logan. And Dani is trying out they/them pronouns and seeing if they feel right. I haven’t seen a ton of overt queer rep in the middle grade horror novels I’ve read, so it makes me even more excited to check out more from Justine Pucella Winans (they/she).
This was so cool overall. The book touches on a lot of really interesting & timely topics, like online friendships & the pressures of social media. The pace of the story is brisk & the writing is fantastic. The scares are legit. But most importantly, I really loved Luna and her little family. And the notion that even though they haven’t found a house to stay in for very long (yet), wherever they go, it’s home. Because they’re together.
A LITTLE TOO HAUNTED was a blast. Fun & scary & sweet, and a book that shows that we’re all just people…doing the best we can, making mistakes along the way, and trying to figure out just who we are. I really liked this one so much.
Grimdark Dad 