Recent Reads: Starling House by Alix Harrow

Starling House by Alix Harrow

Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date:  October 3, 2023

 

Format: Hardback
Source: BOTM Pick October

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis:

A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

Review: 

I love this cover so much, sadly the story was just ok for me.

Opal is raising her younger brother after her mother's death, it was a freak accident and she drove off of a bridge. Arthur has taken over a family home in the town of Eden, which has always interested Opal. While Arthur and the house are odd, and there are so many rumors around its weirdness, Opal takes an opportunity to work as a house cleaner there to raise money to help her brother get into a better school. Arthur and Opal kind of become friends and this has a strange almost grumpy/sunshine trope...to some degree. 

Highlights of this book were all around the house, it was strange and kind or alive and it does stuff to its own liking. I also liked the add-in of  The Underworld, a book by the first Starling House owner. I enjoyed these magical things, but the way it all came together in the end just felt odd and kind of rushed. Maybe there was too much romance build up and not enough explaination of the dreamworld magic and the town for my liking. 

Overall it was a creepy and fun read for the end of October/ early November, and think that some will love it. It jsut wasn't for me.