That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall
Blurb:
A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise, in this YA supernatural thriller that's Mexican Gothic meets She is a Haunting.
For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation.
But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization—and help—after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff.
As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields—or risk being consumed by them.
Sharply observed and gorgeously written, That Which Feeds Us explores the true cost of paradise as Lehua must fight to reclaim the land, the stories, and the very souls of her people.
Review:
A retreat for the world’s wealthiest elites rests on the Hawaiian islands and is called Kōpaʻa Island Resort—but it’s more than just a vacation destination for those with enough money to afford it. It’s also an escape for those who need it, both poor and rich. Equipped with a lack of cellular service or outside communication, the island is a place meant to restore the mindsets of its visitors. It’s also known for its persimmon orchards and how it changes whoever steps foot there.
Lehua, unfortunately, doesn’t see the resort as a dream destination like so many others. Having traveled there in search for her twin sister, Ohia, who has been missing for weeks, she’s bitterly disappointed to discover no trace of her sister on the island. When she tries to go home and regroup, she discovers she’s been cut off from everyone and everything she knows—she missed her departure boat, she has no wi-fi, and she has no choice but to remain on the island until the next boat comes by.
Comforted by the resort’s expensive guests and churlish staff members, Lehua decides to spend her time investigating her sister’s disappearance rather than enjoying the amenities of the resort. In her hunting for information, she realizes her missing sister isn’t the only mystery to originate on the island her sister came to supposedly work at. Soon, Lehua can’t put aside the haunting dreams warning her to leave the island. But to uncover what happened to Ohia and potentially save her sister, she has to unravel the island’s secrets and face horrors she couldn’t have imagined.
I’ve never heard of Keala Kendall before picking up the advanced reader copy of this novel via NetGalley, but I’m becoming less and less surprised that so much talent is being pushed into the publishing industry as of late. That Which Feeds Us is an outstanding, haunting, and dreamily terrifying novel. Written with lush prose, intriguing characters, and mysteries that kept me up late reading, this story contains everything I love in a horror story: scares, secrets, and sabotage.
One of my favorite things about That Which Feeds Us is the marginalized perspective of the protagonist. I can’t say I’ve ever read a novel written from the perspective of a Hawaiian native before, much less on an island so full of cultural and modern history. Having grown up in a family that visited Hawaii often, plus married into native Hawaiian families, and having friends who are Hawaiian natives themselves, I can promise readers that this novel is as accurate of representation as it gets.
It was so easy to dive into this novel head-first and to whisk my way through its pages. It was intricately written, with eerie prose and bone-rattling tension that kept me up late into the night reading. Rich with culture and riddled with spooks, this novel brings readers to a crossroads of tropes they love and perspectives they can educate themselves on.
This has been one of my favorite horror novels I’ve read since the beginning of 2026, and I can’t wait to see what Kendall puts into the world next! An absolutely mind-blowing read.
