My rating: 4 stars
Number of pages: 308
Genre: Fantasy - Horror - Mystery Romance - Gothic
Author 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.”
What did I think of Starling House?
At first, I was bored OUT of my mind. As interesting as the premise was, the beginning was quite redundant and kept highlighting how unhappy she was and how she was only breathing on this earth for her brother. But I have dnf’ed so many books this year and that’s not very cash money of me (literally, so much money wasted) so I have decided not to dnf another book until next year!
Don’t hold me to that-
Therefore, I kept reading and eventually around the 40% mark, I locked down, sat down, and gulped this book in one sitting which was amazing. It was just the right amount of comfy scary with just the right amount of closed-door spice, with a cool and thrilling mystery set in a spooky urban fantasy. I loved.
Opal was kind of a masochist towards herself. But that’s what made her so perfect for Arthur who was also a masochist towards himself. Their romance was surprisingly steamy to me, usually, I don’t care for romances if I feel I don’t know the characters enough but because these two were the world’s greatest overthinkers, I knew them in and out. Also shout out to her little brother Jasper, what a great kid! I loved the different nods to famous quotes, the different mythologies referenced, and the many fun footnotes that added to the depth and variety of this read. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes gothic mysteries and houses that dream.