This is the second book I’ve read from Kingfisher and I absolutely loved it. The protagonist Sam Montgomery is hilarious, so although the novel has very creepy and terrifying moments, her humor lightens the darkness. I love that the book explored generational trauma in ways that were very unexpected and new. Sam stays with her mother during a time when she’s currently not working and soon discovers that her mother’s actions and words are off from how she recalls her. In fact, she’s reminded more and more of her deceased Gran Mae. As Sam tries to make sense of what is happening to her mother, she soon discovers very dark family secrets and how those may also be the answer to saving her mother. I don’t want to say much else about the plot as it’ll be a treat for you to discover all the twists and turns, but rest assured that this is one hella fun novel that you can absolutely read at the beach or by the pool as it moves very quickly and the humor is very amusing.

I recommend this book to anyone that loves ghost-adjacent books and family secrets.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Creepy haunting atmospheric Gothic horror. An engaging read that was hard to put down. A classic horror, well executed.

I've enjoyed other books by T. Kingfisher but I think this one is by far my favorite! Such a fun, throwback type of horror story!

T. Kingfisher is an auto-read for me. “A House with Good Bones” was a delightfully creepy, atmospheric read. Just lovely. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This wasn’t my favorite Kingfisher, but not my least favorite either. When I first noticed the formulaic nature of her books it bothered me, but now I’ve pretty much embraced it and can enjoy it so long as I space them out a bit. This was a solid entry in her horror cannon, if a little esoteric in its climax compared to the rest of the book. Thank you to Tor/Macmillan and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

In the hauntingly atmospheric novel "A House with Good Bones," a Southern gothic tale unfolds, revealing the secrets of an old family home, vultures, roses, and supernatural encounters. Samantha Montgomery's archeology expedition comes to an abrupt end, prompting her to return to her childhood residence after her brother expresses concern. The house, once inhabited by their malevolent grandmother, Grandma Mae, holds a history of misery and darkness. As Sam arrives, a chilling omen manifests in the form of a foreboding vulture perched on the mailbox, seemingly scrutinizing the house. The unsettling sights intensify when she reunites with her ailing and peculiar mother and starts witnessing unexplainable phenomena herself, including her grandmother's haunting voice and roses that defy nature, lacking any insect presence.

Haunted by memories of her traumatic past with Grandma Mae, Sam embarks on a journey to unravel the long-buried family secrets hidden within the house's walls. The deeper she ventures into the mysteries that shroud her childhood home, the more she confronts unimaginable horrors beyond rational comprehension.

"A House with Good Bones" is a mesmerizing read that masterfully captures the essence of Southern gothic fiction, cleverly employing the symbolism of roses and vultures to add intrigue and depth to the narrative. This novel is a true delight, offering an immersive and spine-chilling experience.

My heartfelt thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved everything about this book. Kingfisher has a unique way of horrifying you but also making you laugh. Her characters are also oftentimes super relatable, and I love that she doesn't have teenage characters, that they are aged up because that also makes things more relatable. I also really loved the way that she handled the characterization of the character in this book as being a little overweight, because she handled it so well, it felt so authentic to me. I also have to say that I look at crows very differently now! A super great read, one of her best!

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher is an absolute gem of a book that captivated me from start to finish. With its blend of mystery, fantasy, and heartwarming moments, it offers an unforgettable reading experience that I wholeheartedly recommend.

One of the book's greatest strengths lies in its characters. Our protagonist, Hallie, is a refreshing and relatable character with her determination, resilience, and a dry sense of humor that had me chuckling throughout. As she navigates her way through the peculiar house, her growth and transformation are beautifully portrayed, making her a character you can't help but root for.

This was such a good read! I'm on a T. Kingfisher streak and this did not disappoint. I couldn't stop reading to see where the mystery would go next and why mom was acting so weird on Sam's return. Down the rabbit hole we go!

This was my first T. Kingfisher novel and I understand why I keep seeing this author now. This novel was definitely a unique take on the haunted house genre for me. It had twists I didn’t expect and an interesting premise. It had convincing horror elements while still making me laugh. I’ll definitely be picking up more of this author in the future.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital ARC

A solid quick horror read from T. Kingfisher, with the equally balanced doses of snark and heart that I've come to expect from her work.

As always, T. Kingfisher knocks it out of the park. Kingfisher has this way of making a book incredibly funny and incredibly scary all at the same time. The characters are remarkably relatable which makes the book even scarier. Sam is just an ordinary person who is going to visit her mom. It’s so ordinary! But what’s not ordinary is the way her mother has redecorated the house, ridding it of the eclectic clutter and replacing it with boring white walls and unsettling family portraits of unlikeable relatives. And the jar of teeth. The jar of teeth is definitely not ordinary.

The longer Sam stays with her mother, the more the house feels wrong and the more Sam becomes convinced that something is trying to harm them. And she’s not wrong. But it’s so easy to brush many of the experiences off, which is the scariest part to me! Kingfisher’s skill at making the mundane horrifying is a sight to behold.

It’s such a fun reading experience to have a book be both incredibly dark and unsettling, as well as genuinely funny and relatable. I found the story to be incredibly compelling and fast paced. The mystery was well plotted and all of the characters were fantastic.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I just finished reading A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher and let me tell you, I’m wondering why I haven’t read anything by this author before!! This book was seriously amazing from start to finish. The writing was top-notch and had me laughing out loud. The pacing was spot on, keeping me hooked the whole time. And can we talk about the plot? It was funny, engaging, original, and had just the right amount of creepiness.

But let’s not forget about the characters! They were so likable and well-developed that I couldn’t help but get invested in their lives. Seriously, this book has to be one of the most entertaining reads I’ve come across this year.

By the way, if you’re curious about the story, it follows Sam Montgomery as she visits her mom in North Carolina. But things aren’t quite right when she gets there. The house has lost its cozy charm and her mom is on edge all the time. As Sam digs deeper into what’s going on, she discovers a jar of teeth hidden under some stunning rose bushes in the backyard and vultures circling above. And that’s when things really start to get interesting.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss out on this gem of a book!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I really enjoyed this book. The writing style is so easy to get into and I was sucked in right away. The humor is top tier and I even caught myself laughing out loud a few times which I rarely do when I'm reading.
I loved the main character and found her obsession with her niche interests to be very relatable. I also loved all of the side characters and wanted to know more about each of them.

Absolutely a new favourite that I would recommend!

Kingfisher is one of a kind as are their books. So well written. They write books that I just can not put down.

When her archaeological dig is postponed Sam decides to stay with her mother. She hasn’t been home for a while and both she and her mom are looking forward to spending time together. But Sam’s brother has mentioned that “mom seems off” so she isn’t sure what to expect.

What she finds is a house that she barely recognizes, a mother who seems nervous for no apparent reason, and vultures. Lots of vultures.

A House with Good Bones is an enjoyably creepy story about suspicious roses (each chapter begins with information about a particular kind of rose), questionable ancestors, things that go bump in the night, a jar of teeth hidden in the garden….and it get weird from there. But, weird in a very good way. I don’t read very many horror books, but I found this book to be very enjoyable. I love the characters. They are strong women who care for each other and don’t back down under any circumstances. The writing is fresh, the pace is good, and the plot is unique.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author but she’s on my radar now. Netgalley provided an advance copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

T. Kingfisher's A House with Good Bones has all the depth, creepiness, and uncanny valley sensations that seem to come so naturally to their writing. I was immediately drawn in by the characters, and the sinister suburban setting.

A woman returns to her family home after years away, to find her mother acting out of character, and the house looking as it had in the time of her less than pleasant grandmother. While she tries to see what is wrong with her mother, she starts encountering strangeness in the house, and the tension builds.

This novel is atmospheric and so enjoyable (in the way that a good scary movie draws you in and makes you jump at all the noises in your house is enjoyable). If you like creepy reads, or any of T. Kingfisher's other books - pick this one up and read it.

Main character Sam, an Entomologist, goes to live with her mother for a while in a quiet neighborhood in North Carolina. They watch British crime shows and drink a lot of boxed wine. She find her mother to be a lot different than she remembers. She's almost acting like her long passed grandmother-a cruel racist religious southern belle. Sam plans on finding why her mother has changed so much, including how she redid the interior of her home to look like when her grandmother lived there. One day, she finds her old picture with what looked like a buried hand in the photo and a jar of teeth buried under her grandmother's prized roses.

That's the whole story. It reminded me of R.L. Stine's stay out of the basement, but written for young adults. It was not scary; I would not consider it horror. The endless inner monologue drove me nuts. Imagine every page just dripping with sentences in parentheses. Sam was pretty much written how a teenager would think. Just constant flow of thoughts. It was all about drinking tons of boxed wine and I letting us know she has a PhD. but can't do things for herself as a grown woman. It also had that stereotypical, "I'm fat (her words), but the neighbor's son falls in love with me after a week" type of plot point. So again, I would put this in YA.
This was my first Kingfisher book, and I was excited because I have heard so much about this author, but if this is how she always writes, I think I can do without. Sounds harsh, but the writing style was too simplistic and the idea has been done before. It did not really have a point until the last quarter. I wouldn't even considered North Carolina "southern gothic' either. Just because they reference a quick "witch" person a few times.
I feel the climax could have been more descriptive and drawn out more, but at least it was a quick read. I want to try for some compliments, but the characters were not likable and the story fell short for me. There just was not enough details for the backstory.

At this point, I am literally ride or die for anything T Kingfisher writes and this was no exception ….although if you have a phobia of bugs, this probably isn’t the book for you! (IYKYK)🐞 🥀

A heady mix of realism and lucid dreaming, I’m honestly not quite sure what I just read, but I know that I liked it…I think 😂

Unsettling and funny - this is my favorite T. Kingfisher so far!

Sam has returned to her family home in North Carolina while on furlough. Originally looking forward to the extended stay with her mother, Sam is caught off guard when the charming, quirky home she is used to has been returned to the state it was in when her deceased grandmother was alive. Sam's mom seems off too... and there's a bunch of vultures watching the house?

This was nothing like what I expected it to be, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it after the first two chapters. However, I am SO HAPPY that I kept reading. Sam has a unique voice that grew on me as I got farther into the narrative. This is also true of the scares; it started off rather tame, but ramps to a spooky climax. I think the book did not overstay its welcome; in fact, my only critique is that I wish it had more pages. There was a lot at play in this story that I think could have used a little more page time to have more of an impact.

This was truly some weird horror and I would definitely recommend to others!