“Which was ridiculous, of course. Creepy is for old Gothic mansions and run-down cabins out in the woods, not cookie-cutter houses in the middle of a subdivision.”

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher


QUICK SUMMARY 🖊️
Sam is on a break from work and since her apartment is being subletted she’s gone to stay with her mom until it’s time to head back.
Sam quickly is surprised and suspicious of the changes to her mother and their house. She believes there’s something more behind it.

FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
I’ve been a fan of T.Kingfisher since discovering The Twisted Ones, and what that book was lacking for me A House With Good Bones had it. It was a quick read with a great story of a mother / daughter relationship the climax didn’t leave me disappointed.

I do really like this book, it's scary when it wants to be, the story is interesting and the humor is cute and funny. My only problem is that while I was reading it I kept thinking it was weirdly similar to How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. There were a lot of similarities that kept popping up in it. I don't think it was intentional but it soured it for me a little.

This was my first book I have read of T. Kingsfisher and I'm so glad I was able to read it. I will be reading more books. This gave me a creepy and gothic horror vibes. Which is definitely a nice change for me. If you are looking for a haunted house story then this is a must read. I will be recommending this book to my friends.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for allowing me to read this ARC in advance for my honest opinion.

A House With Good Bones is like sitting with your best friend and having them tell you a scary story- if your friend was incredibly witty and had banter so sharp it almost hurts. And so I started this book heavily invested! I was really hoping for a horror comedy novel. Which I think this was, if not also a little flat?
I enjoyed reading it, but I also didn’t feel overwhelmed by it.
In short, this is about a woman who goes home to visit her mother, while her job is temporarily on hold, and finds that something is different. The house, her mom, is different.
It’s pretty easy to figure out what’s happening, though I’ll admit that a few parts still surprised me. I’d read something from this author again!
Thank you for the early read, social media review to come in the next few days.

"A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn't what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she's the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what's got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried."

Did someone say Southern Gothic as a pop out from behind the rose bushes hiding the teeth?

A House With Good Bones was definitely a fun time. It had the humor and cozy vibes that a few of T. Kingfisher's other recent works have had, while still incorporating the horror throughout. I would say that the author excels at horror through language. Although this isn't necessarily the scariest horror I have read, Kingfisher integrates the creepiest language into mundane tasks the characters are experiencing, which really makes it feel real.
I personally struggle with placing this into a genre, as it is subtle and the horror plot does not come into fruition until the last 80% of the book. That being said; however, the subtle scary moments throughout the entirety of the novel does definitely make the overall atmosphere uncomfortable.
I enjoyed the characters and the setting, the horror aspects were really fucking weird (which I loved) and it was occasionally very funny. Not totally memorable and I do feel that the pace was slightly off but I did have fun, therefore my rating is a 3.

Bone chilling novel, nicely written, a bit of a slow start but picked up nicely. Enjoyed the read but didn't 100 percent love it.

This is a book for someone else. Kingfisher has a distinct style, balancing humor and vaguely gothic (I use gothic because it was vaguely adjacent to horror but never landed).

However, for me, the humor also didn't land. The dialogue and internal monologue in the beginning felt forced and out of place. Again, this humor might be exactly your cup of tea, but I prefer coffee.

The novel also circled the point for the first third of the book like the vultures next door. It was clear what was happening, but there are so many chapters of that hook, "Mom seems off." After a few pages of it, you realize why mom seems off and are just turning pages waiting for it to happen.

I will also say that the main reveal felt very... unscary. I preferred the earlier chapters focused on atmosphere and foreboding, because I was decidedly not impressed with the twist and how it materialized.

I would say that if you're interested in horror and gothic but don't actually like being scared, this might be a read for you. It has the flavors of something scary without the same tension of others in those genres. Also, the main character's sense of humor cuts the tension and grounds the story in a very unique way.

Thank you to T. Kingfisher, the publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my review.

Is there such a genre as cozy horror? If so that's what this book reminds me of. Its very low stakes, loveable hilariously relatable MC, and a cozy setting (a suburban house).
The main character, Sam, is what kept me reading this book, and her humor. The first half of the book not a lot is really happening. The second half of the book picks up more speed and gets into a bit more of the scary parts of the story.

A woman returns to her childhood home to visit her mother and finds things amiss. The house appears to have gone back in time to before her grandmother passed, the whole neighborhood is acting suspicious and vultures are lurking around every turn. Great setup but pretty predictable plot wise. The writing was humorous and used unique imagery in the horror aspect.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and T. Kingfisher for the advanced copy of A House With Good Bones in exchange for my honest review.

I very thoroughly enjoyed this creepy book. I love Kingfisher's writing style, and I think she expertly weaves humor into her horror novels. I found myself chuckling often and I absolutely adored the protagonist, Sam.

I thought the climax of the story was very entertaining and the ending tied everything together nicely. Fans of Kingfisher's previous works will undoubtedly enjoy this one as well.

A House With Good Bones will be on US bookshelves on March 28!

Coming out in March 2023
3.50 Funny and clever bits of dialogue try to puncture the dread that builds and builds in this modern gothic horror as Sam goes home to stay with her mother in her nice and normal home and encounters something very weird going on. As she learns more of her family's history, she encounters vultures, hauntings, black magic, and childhood monsters. Also roses and ladybugs. So many ladybugs.
I've only read a few of Kingfisher's books, and while this was a good solid story, it was my least favorite of hers so far.

T. Kingfisher is one of my top 5 favorite authors. Her books are deliciously creepy.

The Hollow Places and What Moves The Dead will forever be my favorite books of hers (and The Hollow Places is the absolute scariest book I have ever read!!) so I was absolutely ecstatic to receive an ARC for her newest one. While this isn’t my favorite of hers, that doesn’t mean it’s not good by any means. it just doesn’t have that unique flair her other books have until 65% ish.

Sam moves back home unexpectedly with her mom, who she starts suspecting has dementia. Then weird things start happening around the house, and she starts thinking it may be haunted.

It was a fun twist on a haunted house story, but the first half was pretty long winded. The second half was MUCH better! She will forever be an auto buy author for me, it just didn’t have her usual creepy flair.

Big thank you to Netgalley and TorBooks for the advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Archaeoentomologist Sam Montgomery is on a brief hiatus while her archaeological dig is put on hold. With no where else to go, she goes to stay at her mother's house after hearing from her brother that "Mom's acting a little off". Edith, normally carefree - is nervous, skittish, and constantly looking over her shoulder despite living alone. Edith has even go so far as to restore the home back to how it looked when her mother, Sam's grandmother, lived in the home.

Sam is worried that maybe Edith is still mourning her mother's death after 20 years or maybe she's starting to decline mentally. All are valid options until strange things start happening in the house. Sam is determined to get to the bottom of it; discovering family secrets and mysteries that may have been best left untouched.

This was an entertaining southern gothic mystery novel. I really enjoyed how the author was able to go from having the hair on my neck stand straight to having me giggling at the FMC's sense of humor. The overall story, including the twists and turns, were well thought-out and written. There were some parts of the plot that were a smidge predictable but I honestly didn't mind it as there were so many other pieces of the plot that surprised me and kept me on edge. My only critique is that the end was wrapped up pretty fast after such a slow burn leading up to it.

I recommend this to both horror and mystery fans. It's magical, witchy, paranormal, funny, surprising, and everything in between. This book releases March 28th, 2023 and I'll be grabbing a physical copy to add to my personal library.

In this spooky novel, a woman returns to her childhood home and finds the ghosts of the past might not be as dead and buried as they should be. This thing has everything. Ritual magic, a creepy grandma, vultures, a Aleistar Crowley name drop, bugs…. I had a ton of fun with this one. It’s my first T. Kingfisher, which is kind of crazy. I really love her writing voice. It balances humor and horror really, really well. It has great pacing, and for its overall short page count felt like a ton happened. I liked the dynamic between all the characters, and the horror visuals were genuinely gross and scary. Great atmosphere. I’m excited to check out more of T. Kingfisher’s work after this one. It was a great place to start!

Review will be posted closer to the pub date on Insta @boozehoundbookclub

4.5 stars - I'm a big fan of T. Kingfisher and this book definitely didn't disappoint. The mix of horror and humor was balanced fairly well and it was a fun, creepy read. I enjoyed Sam as the main character and I thought the pacing was done well. Will definitely recommend this book!

It seems like haunted house horror is the latest thing, but this book amps it up a notch with a Lovecraftian twist. Sam returns home to North Carolina when she has a hiatus from the archeological dig she was on in Arizona. Warned by her brother that their Mom has been acting strange, she returns home to find that her free spirited mother has become an anxious mess, who is acting more like Sam’s grandmother, Gran Mae. From there, the creepiness slowly builds. T. Kingfisher is a master of slow burn horror, planting the seeds of what is truly going on along the way, so that when the unbelievable happens, we are total believers.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A House With Good Bones
By T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Publish Date: March 28, 2023

What you need to know:
Samantha (Sam), returns to her late Gran Mae’s house in rural North Carolina, which she spent a good part of her childhood in, to stay with her mother Edith, while her job is on hiatus. The neighborhood is nice and normal as it was, Mr. Pressley is still spying on everyone, Gail the witch still lives at the end of the street, Gran Mae’s roses are still in the backyard, and black vultures are roosting on roofs and the mailbox. Wait, what? Vultures? And why did Sam’s mom return the inside of the house to exactly how it had looked when Gran Mae was still alive?

My reading experience:
This was a really fast read for me. I really like how Sam’s internal dialogue seemed to be speaking directly to me. She also has a pretty good sense of humor! I felt like I connected with her easily and was able to experience the story through her. I had a sense of uneasiness and eeriness throughout, but was totally unprepared for the ending! Definitely a great way to pull everything together at the end, so pay attention to early details!

Family secrets, Southern goth, prying neighbors, a witch, and vultures… exactly the spooky book I was hoping for!

Definitely recommend this book, 5/5 stars!

I was really excited to read this book. It had a great description and sounded like something right up my alley.

I wasn't disappointed, but I wish there was more. The author was very knowledgeable about the topics discussed in the book. The details about entomology, roses, and animals were great. Samantha was a great character that I could relate to and she was funny and down to earth which was nice. It was like I was talking to a friend while I was reading. There seemed to be a lot of "random" fluff and the real action didn't take place until the last 30 pages then it just ended. I didn't even really feel that intense excitement or energy I normally do at the climax. It just seemed like "this is happening" and then "now its over." This was a hard rating for me because I liked it, but I didn't at the same time. Just a strange middle ground I guess.

Overall, I think I'm going to give this one 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this title in exchange for an honest review!

I’m not sure I could ever say that I felt cozy while reading a horror novel, but I certainly did with this one! Part of it was the main character, who was funny and charming the whole way through. But it was also due to the slow build up of the tension, you never really felt afraid until the very end. This was a book that I read in one day, because I just couldn’t put it down.

I just loved Sam. She was such a fun character to spend time with and I bonded with her almost immediately. She has a very analytical mind, being an entomologist and an archeologist, and she really wanted to explain everything that was happening in a realistic and scientific way. By the end though, she does come to realize that maybe not everything can be explained rationally. I also loved her wit and humor, and her little snippets about the natural world around her were delightful. Sam was definitely someone you wanted to root for when things got tough.

I also like the secondary characters in the book. Her mom, was also a delight, even when she was acting weird. Gail, the ‘witch’ who lived down the street, was also a fun character, who helped Sam when things got tough. And Phil, the handyman who gets caught up in everything, but doesn’t back down. He was kind and gentle with everyone and an all around good person.

The story was very well paced, with a slow build up of tension as Sam discovers more about her family history and how that relates to what is going on now. There was a minor theme of generational racism, that could have been explored a bit more, but was nicely handled. The scary scenes were pretty mild compared to some horror books I have read. No flying body parts or extreme violence or blood. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary, you want to read this one with the lights on!

If you are a true blue horror fan that loves the gore and violence, this may not be the book for you. If you don’t read horror because they are too scary or violent, you might want to give this one a try. The characters are funny, smart, and with the slow build up to the really scary parts, you are ready for it when it finally happens. A very smart and kind of fun haunted house story that will keep you reading through the night.