"The problem with family is that they know where all the levers are that make you move. They're usually the ones who installed the levers in the first place."

When Sam goes to stay with her mother after being laid off, her brother warns her their mother has been acting off. Sam doesn't know what he means, but she's prepared for the worst. Or so she thinks. As she puzzles out what's happening, more questions than answers arise. Something is off, and maybe it's not just with her mother.

I always enjoy anything Kingfisher publishes. This has the right amount of offbeat and horror, with humor mixed in. I love the relationship Sam has with her mother, Edie. While I figured out a few things early on, it didn't deter my enjoyment because the way Kingfisher builds dread keeps the reader engaged and anxious to watch it all unfold.

Thank you, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, for sending this along.

This is my first T. Kingfisher book, and it won't be my last. I know without question that this will be a book I will think about for years to come.

We follow Sam, a ancient bug expert who's next job is unexpectedly cancelled prompting a visit to her childhood home. Noticing some weird changes in her mother, Sam initially thinks her mother is sick. But after further investigation, and some unexplained new symptoms for Sam herself, Sam uncovers far more sinister and other-worldly explanations for the newfound quirks within her mother and the house she lives in.

This book was very reminiscent of Mexican Gothic, by Sylvia Moreno Garcia. I found the vibe to be very similar and yet somehow also very different. I found myself extremely interested in the story early on, and it absolutely held my attention throughout. I would say it was a medium pacing and things were happening just often enough to keep me engaged.

This was a fun little horror novella that can easily be finished in a day. A haunted house, vultures, and manicured lawn suburbia. What more could anybody ask for?

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing an Advanced Reader Copy of this book!

A House With Good Bones is a tight novella with short chapters that made it easy to finish in one sitting. The story is a mix of southern family drama, Southern Gothic, witches, horror, and humor. The characters are easily relatable and you come to care for them. Fans of Kingfisher’s previous work, gothic, or horror novels should not miss this one!

I read this book during a major thunderstorm and blackout, which was maybe not the best choice, but it certainly enhanced the mood. Horror is not my go-to genre, but I enjoy it every now and then, and this is the exact kind of horror book that I love. It has layers of meaning and metaphor, gets inside your head, and definitely provides that sense of impending doom that makes you jump at any little noise. It’s also funny. The humor is just enough to break the tension and bring out more of Sam’s personality. This book also contains just enough gross, creature horror to distinguish it and give it a unique quality without making me ill.

This book also has big “good for her” vibes. The women in this story are breaking generational curses and stepping into their power, and I am here for it. I very much appreciated that Sam is a fat single woman in her 30’s who is a scientist and is happy with her life. This is a character type that I haven’t seen much outside of romance, so it was especially great to see in a horror novel. Sam’s mom and neighbor are also strong women and their friendship, while understated, is really sweet.

Rating: 4.5 stars (rounded up on Netgalley)
I absolutely loved this book. It strikes the perfect balance for me in a horror novel between humor, fear, tension, and deeper meaning. On a personal note, I related to this story more than I have related to anything in a while, which feels a bit odd to say, considering the genre. Sam reminded me a bit of myself, and her mother and grandmother reminded me of my grandmother and great-grandmother, respectively. For me, a 5 star read is something l loved, found impactful, will recommend to others and revisit time and again. I’m not 100% sure about revisiting, unless I have space during the spooky season. Or during the next blackout.

*2.5 rounded up to 3 for Goodreads scoring*
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for my arc in exchange for my unbiased review.

"A House With Good Bones" by T. Kingfisher (I've read "Nettle & Bone" and "The Twisted Ones", both opposite experiences for me) is a Southern Gothic tale about what hides beneath the created façade of normalcy in Sam Montgomery's childhood home. After returning home for a brief visit, Sam finds that not everything is fine and normal with her mother. Sam's mother moved her and her older brother to her mother's home after the sudden death of her husband. It is this house that Sam returns to and what lurks here is not all roses and thorns.

I have to say that I was SO excited to get approved of this ARC and get to read it. I LOVED "Nettle & Bone" but hated "The Twisted Ones" but the plot sounded spooky and creepy and Southern Gothic tales are so fun to read in the Spring/Summer. I was sorely disappointed. Granted I read this over a long period because of graduate school readings, but god was it SO slow moving. Not suspense building slow, just SLOW. And Sam as a main character was not great. I identified with her for maybe 25% of the book (I too am a fat academic with a niche interest) but my goodness was she just so one note. She remains pretty stagnant throughout about 98.5% of the book until shit hits the fan and she's forced to adapt but other than that? No character growth. The narrative itself is also pretty boring until you get to the last 3-5 chapters and even then, I found my eyes drifting to my phone and checking the time. This absolutely didn't feel like Southern Gothic to me. It was just boring and nothing really happened and I basically cared more about the "side characters" over Sam.

I am not sure if it's just Kingfisher's writing but I find it so inconsistent and annoying because they have such cool ideas, I just feel like they aren't always the best at execution.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this ARC. T. Kingfisher does it again! This was an obvious 5 star read for me. The characters were all interesting, the main characters inner dialogue through out the story was super funny, while the plot itself was creepy. I could not put this book down!

T Kingfisher is a master of dark fairy-tale style writing. This book is an excellent mix of horror and family trauma. Plus, it makes you absolutely fall in love with vultures.

Yes, yes, and yes!
Kingfisher has done it again. I will literally read anything Kingfisher writes.

In true T. King' fashion, this book was a unique horror story with the absolute best commentary/thoughts from the characters. I always find myself laughing and creeped out all at once while reading a T. King' book.

I love how there is always some kind of "creature/s" that is not what you expect. Always something that makes you think and appreciate the creativity that goes into the story. In this case, there were a few, but I wont spoil anything. I will say though, I loved the vultures! Again, such a unique aspect to add in.

Can't wait to see what comes next from this brilliant author. T. Kingfisher is in my top 3 authors of all time.

T. Kingfisher is a little hit and miss for me, but A House with Good Bones was definitely a hit! It's smart, Southern gothic horror about a house that seems to be haunted by the main characters racist, emotionally abusive grandmother. Sam is a scientist and a skeptic, but coming home to stay with her mom for awhile something seems....off. And things devolve from there.

While this has humor and light, quirky narration style, it also has scenes that are truly creepy and disturbing. But Sam is pretty unflappable for much of the book, always seeking a logical explanation and that balances things quite well. She's also a fat woman who is comfortable in her own skin and I LOVED how this tackled fatphobia in the medical industry among other things. I don't know that I've seen this kind of thing included in a book casually like that before and I was so impressed.

So yeah, definitely among my favorite things I've read from T. Kingfisher. I seem to do well with a lot of her horror and that's certainly what this is. With a side of family trauma! It's also worth noting that Sam's job is studying insects from archaeology sites, and there are a fair amount of insects in the book in both creepy and non-creepy ways. The audio narration is also excellent. I received an advance copy of the audiobook for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I see another Hugo Award for Best Novelette going to Kingfisher for this book! As a huge fan of T. Kingfisher, I was beside myself excited to see this new novella being published. It will be the perfect recommendation to my students when exploring themes of gothic horror, story writing, and suspense. All of Kingfisher’s books are literary works of wonder, and this one is no exception.

A House With Good Bones is about a secret that maybe, should have, could have, or needed to be….left buried. But the mother…the garden…and so much more will have you asking yourself “do I really NOT believe in ghost stories?” or “do I really NOT believe in the supernatural??” Because when this story ends, believe me, you WILL. Five out of five stars for the sharpest, most eerie, vulture-obsessed, emotional family dynamic story this year. I can't wait to start recommending it.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire via NetGalley for this arc. I voluntarily read it and all opinions are my own.

Kate’s Thoughts
We are back with another joint review, doing another horror story from T. Kingfisher, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I really like it when both Serena and I can provide various insights into one book, and Kingfisher may be joining Silvia Moreno-Garcia as one that we both read and review. This time we have “A House with Good Bones”, a haunted house story with dysfunctional family dynamics, insect archaeology, and so many vultures! I can tell you that if you are someone who wants to dabble in horror, but don’t really like feeling the various intense feelings that horror novels can convey, Kingfisher is a good option. This is definitely a haunted house book, but it’s horror-lite, and it’s horror-lite done well!

I enjoyed our protagonist Sam slowly starting to realize that there is something weird going on in her grandmother Gran Mae’s old house, that her mother has now moved into. In life neither Sam nor her mother got along so well with Gran Mae, but now Mom is not only nervous to speak ill of her, she is also following rules that she used to ignore or at least acknowledged were bunk. One can kind of see where this is all going, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Kingfisher builds up the suspense regarding the weird goings on in the house, be it the vultures that have come to roost on the property, or the sudden ladybug infestation, or the slow recovery of memories of Gran Mae’s weird habits and abusive tendencies when Sam was a child. Kingfisher knows how to balance the suspense and genuinely scary moments with a lot of good humor and quirky characters that make the book a good horror story without more intense elements that could turn some people off. I also liked the way that some of these horror elements manifested, as they felt unique and interesting and outside from how other horror authors may have approached it. I really like how Kingfisher brings in the dark fantasy stuff to spice up the genre a bit, and it always feels like it melds well. And finally I liked the more thematic elements of this story regarding family dysfunction, generational trauma, and the way that parents can sometimes make mistakes that take a toll on their children that may take time to process and heal from. It doesn’t bog down the story with too much melancholy, but I liked that it was an underlying theme.

I enjoyed “A House with Good Bones”! Kingfisher is a great choice for people who want to do horror but aren’t as into visceral or intense scares. It’s a fun and creepy haunted house story to be sure.

Serena’s Thoughts
I second what Kate said: it’s so fun when we get to joint review a book, and T. Kingfisher is another author who intersects well with both of our genres, writing horror and fantasy. Plus, like Kate said, Kingfisher writes the type of horror that is still approachable for those of us who are big fraidy-cats about the very dark stuff. And this book is another perfect example of it!

While I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of where the horror aspects were going, once they actually showed up, they were sufficiently horrific. In particular, the last quarter of the book went into a very creepy place. There were some genuinely freak visuals and the book masters a classic horror trope: the solid ending that feels just off enough to leave you in suspense! But even during these darker moments, there were parts were I was laughing and also feeling strangely sad for the horrible creatures/people. It was a very mixed bag of emotions that worked really well.

I also really liked the themes about family trauma and abusive relationships in families. Again, all of these things were touched on in ways that felt very true to life but never made caricatures of any of the characters involved. Sam was an excellent main character. Her scientific background was unique (lots of interesting tidbits about insects and archeology) and lead her to handling certain scenes with ladybugs with a lot more calm than I would have had, that’s for sure! She also was a great example of casual body positivity. It’s not her entire identity, but she’s comfortable with who she is and how she moves through the world.

Kate’s Rating 8: A creepy haunted house story with family trauma and vultures galore, “A House with Good Bones” is a horror-lite haunted house read that will leave horror fans satisfied.

Serena’s Rating 8: Sufficiently creepy for this fantasy fan while also tackling important themes like family trauma and body positivity.

Link will go live March 20

I love T Kingfisher and this one did not disappoint! I didn’t give it 4 just because I completely predicted the ending. It gave a little too much away to leave much up to surprise.

However, there were some parts that caught me off guard or grossed me out, even shocked me. The whole book played out like a movie, and I was engrossed by the writing style. I highly recommend for a good spring read!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

A House with Good Bones is an interesting intersection between Southern Gothic and comedic horror.

Sam, our snarky perspective character, is an archaeo-entomologist. Bugs are kind of her thing. When a job is postponed because remains are found on site, Sam finds herself without a place to stay and decides it would be a good time to visit her mom in North Carolina. But something is off. Her mom has redecorated the house to look exactly like it did before Gran Mae, Sam’s exceptionally mean grandmother, passed away 20 years ago. All of the bright colors her mom loved are gone. Her mom now asks the blessing before every meal and refuses to curse or say anything critical of her own deceased mother. All of which is incredibly out of character. Sam is worried that her mom is suffering delayed mourning or, worse, the onset of dementia. But when Sam starts noticing some really odd things around the house, and when dark family secrets begin coming to light, she is forced to reevaluate.

This story was suitably creepy, and a bit subversive with its tactics. I’ve never read anything else that painted vultures in such a positive light and roses in such a disturbing one. I was reminded of Grady Hendrix when it came to the actual horror elements, but without whatever it is about his work that I find inexplicably off-putting. And I absolutely loved Sam as a narrator. She is snarky and funny and easy to root for.

However, I did have a serious complaint about this book. The pacing is just weird. The front half of the book is almost painfully slow at times, to the point that I would have put it down if not for Sam’s charming, sarcastic commentary. Things really picked up in the back half, though, to the point that the ending felt rushed. I couldn’t put it down at that point, but I found myself annoyed at how quickly everything resolved in the end.

A House with Good Bones was my first T. Kingfisher experience. Though I had a few issues with it, this definitely won’t be my last book from her. The voice in this book was fantastic, and kept me reading even when I felt the pacing was really off. I would especially recommend this to people who want to be fans of Grady Hendrix, but just feel an unexplainable disconnect from his stories.

Probably the creepiest thing Kingfisher has written. The book legitimately unsettled me for large stretches, even while maintaining the author's trademark acerbic humor. That said, though I'm a lover of strange twists, this verged into the bizarre a bit too quickly near the end, though in her defense, Kingfisher did very well to telegraph everything that was coming, sometimes in very clever ways. On the whole, a hearty recommendation, especially for those seeking a change to the haunted house formula, though it's leisurely pace may leave some with a sour taste in the mouths, as will some of the wild swings taken in the back third.

I love a good southern gothic story with some hauntings. T. Kingfisher has become an automatic purchase for me. I really do love the majority of her work and her storytelling abilities are off the chain! She keeps me as a reader intrigued and I love how quirky this story was. From the vultures to the roses, this story is one I will definitely remember and recommend! Also that cover is.. chef's kiss.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this was an incredible story about a mother and daughter’s journey after their mother/grandmother died; and their reconnection through the mysterious findings in her home and the power she left behind.

A House With Good Bones was a cleverly written paranormal horror story following an archaeoenomologist, Sam Montgomery, when she returns to the home she grew up in. When she finds her mother more anxious than usual and the house returned to how her conservative grandmother had kept it, she's forced to acknowledge that either her mother's mental health is declining or something stranger is at work.

This was fun! I found the twists in the book to be truly chilling and unsettling. I often enjoy T. Kingfisher's wry humor and niche facts in their novels, but I found that they were a bit overdone in A House with Good Bones and it actually detracted from the build up of tension. I wish more of the book had the tone of the final scene with the underground children. As it stands, I don't know if the humor was fun enough to recommend to someone looking for a comedic book, and the horror was so sparse, I feel like a fellow horror fan might be disappointed.

Not my favorite Kingfisher, but I'm looking forward to their future work!

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Nightfire, for this Arc!!!

This is it! This made my life better! I swear it did. Sam (Samantha) goes home on a break from an archeological dig. She's an entomologist (studies bugs) and an archeologist (studies OLD bugs). Her scientific mind is put to the test when she enters her childhood home and finds it completely changed. Her mother seems to have a new obsession with Sam's grandmother, Grand Mae, and this has resulted in mom recreating the house in Grand Mae's original style. Not good. Especially because Grand Mae was a very mean, cruel, lady.

I am so into this horror! I loved the main character. Honestly, I loved every character in this book. They each had a purpose and were hilarious and interesting to read about. Sam especially because her sense of humor was absolutely on par with every single weird thing that happened. And, trust me, things get really weird. And Sam is the guiding light through this whole story, keeping me thoroughly invested.

Obviously I loved this. Of course I recommend it. Just read it you fools!! (Gandalf voice).

Out March 28, 2023!

T. Kingfisher always knows how to balance a legitimately unnerving horror story with a quirky and fun cast of characters and a generally light hearted tone, which I really enjoy when I read her books. A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES is no exception, as this haunted house tale also has some fun characters and some really charming (though admittedly creepy) vultures that just won't stay away. I liked how we got the slow build up on unease surrounding Sam's grandmother's old house, and how Sam, being a rational scientist, is trying to figure out rational explanations to the strange things in the house, the way her mother has been behaving, and the weirder and weirder family lore that she is discovering during a visit to the house that her Grand Mae owned before her death. The horror elements are well conceived, but it never gets too scary or visceral so a lot of people, even those who aren't big on horror, can enjoy it. I also liked the dark fantasy elements that are brought in, as it makes for a fresher and more unique outcome than had Kingfisher stuck to horror dynamics and world building alone.

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES is fun horror that will appeal to a lot of people, horror and non horror fans alike. I always enjoy my time with T. Kingfisher books.