I really enjoy Kingfisher’s fairy tale type stories, but every time I try to read a horror it doesn’t go well. This one I could feel the creeping dread and the dark undertones of what’s going on, but overall I was just bored trying to read this. Just a case of a book not working for me and my personal preferences.

T. Kingfisher has become an auto-buy author for me, and A House with Good Bones did not disappoint. This modern Southern Gothic haunted house tale is both creepy and funny. Kingfisher is a master at fitting a story into novella length which fits the horror genre perfectly.

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Rating: ★★★★☆

“Strange, the powers you find sometimes, in a garden at the end of the road.”

Sam, a 30-something archaeoentomologist, returns to her childhood home in rural North Carolina because a research dig she was about to start will be delayed. Edie, her mom, inherited the place from Sam’s grandmother, who was a complicated woman with very strong opinions, to put it lightly. When Sam pulls up, there’s a black vulture on the mailbox. And things, as you’d expect, get weirder and weirder. Then they get downright dangerous.

When I heard this was a southern gothic horror I expected a grim house in a small town with a disturbing family and some hauntings. What I didn’t expect was to also be audibly laughing out loud at the humor. Yeah it’s dark humor but so effective.

Kingfisher brings that signature wit and lightheartedness but meshes it with the creepy crawly, literally! This book had me squirming but also craving a cold glass of iced tea.

The main character Sam and her mother are stand outs and very well written. Gran Mae is more complicated than she first appears which was a pleasantly dark surprise. The mystery of why is intriguing enough to keep you guessing till the very end.

This is a horror story fans of horror will enjoy but also one you can give someone that usually doesn’t read horror. T. Kingfisher is an instant read author for me going forward! If you haven’t read ‘What Moves the Dead’ i cant recommend it enough!

🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞

I am growing more familiar with the horror genre, and this book was a delightful foray into atmospheric and generational horror.

This being my first T. Kingfisher book was kind of a let down, I thought this was going to rock my world and it did not at all. I want to try more from this author this was a big miss though.

I think I thought this was going to be super scary when it was just a little creepy. This could have gone so many different places and ways and it just stopped short every time.

There was so much rambling I was so bored the whole time.

I have quickly become a big fan of T kingfisher. This is what interesting, creepy, atmospheric writing is. I loved being able to read about a fellow fat main character who is unapologetic. This was so refreshing. And it wasn't just a romance! Really loved the creepy vibes, supernatural elements and almost cozy feels.

I really enjoyed this story and the development of Sam. I felt this was a little slow to get into but the ending made it all worth it. Would recommend!

I've been on a T. Kingfisher binge the past several months and I think I am nearly caught up. The downside of this is that I know how good T. Kingfisher is now and this just did not catch me quite like the others.

But if there is one thing that Kingfisher is good at, it's writing relatable horror protagonists. A lot of horror, in all its' various formats, is guilty of falling into tropes with the main characters. The ethereally beautiful and naive young woman. The overconfident badass. The one who doesn't believe there is actually anything going on. But Kingfisher writes us into her horror. I've seen what would likely be my own reactions reflected back at me in her books multiple times. And A House with Good Bones is no exception. I liked this one, but I did not love this one the way I loved The Hollow Ones and What Moves the Dead and The Twisted Ones. No particular reason why, just not my fav of Kingfisher's.

It feels wrong to not include a T Kingfisher book on the list of good books I've read recently. This is a southern gothic horror story, which feels like this authors specialty. It involves a plot that unearths deep dark family secrets. We follow Samantha who is between jobs as she returns to her mother’s home only to discover drastic changes in her widowed mother and childhood home. Honestly this gives off such a good Halloween read vibe, theres a “Witch”, ravens, a ghost and our main character who has a good sense of humor through all the chaos. Theres such a good mixture of like creepy as hell like you’ll want to read this with the lights on but theres also a light hearted feel to it which made it a fun combo. It’s a really quick read, I recommend it if you are already a fan of this author or if you haven’t read from her yet, this is actually a great starting point in getting a feel for her stories.
Full review on YouTube

OH BOY do I have a WEIRD WILD READ for you! Sam is an archeological entomologist (heck yeah women in STEM) whose latest dig was canceled. She decides to head to her mom's house in North Carolina to kill some time, on the advice of her brother who said that mom had been "acting weird." And that's an understatement... when Sam arrives, there are a couple of vultures hanging out on the mailbox, all the walls in the house have been painted an eerie white, Mom is jumpy and anxious, and there are NO bugs in the garden. Zero. Bugs. Sam becomes suspicious and finds out that some secrets should not be dug up.

This book was the perfect creepy weird unsettling read that I needed, and it has everything: Southern charm complete with bigotry, a haunted house, vulture puppies, evil grandmas, sexy gardeners, ladybugs, a family history of evil sorcerers (don't we all have those), ghosts that comb your hair in the night, weird magical maggot children, and some startlingly frightening rose bushes. Put it all together and what you do get? A hilarious, creepy, ghost-y horror novel. I loved the banter, I LOVED Sam as the narrator, I loved how unique the story was, and I honestly loved the creepy elements which isn't something I normally go for. This book is OUT THERE...but in the best way!

An excellent haunted house horror, though I’d say more like a haunted garden. A loving daughter comes home to stay with her mother and discovers some strange happenings in the house. With the help of the local herb witch, cutie pie handyman and some lurking vultures, she sets out to discover the secrets behind the occurrences.
This book was a first for me. I haven’t yet read another that focuses as heavily on entomology and botany. It was quite unique and a joy to read.

I’ve read a lot of T. Kingfisher’s work, and sadly I think this is my least favorite. However, it was still an enthralling read and I would recommend without hesitation

T. Kingfisher does it again! A House with Good Bones is a haunting, character-driven horror story with Southern gothic elements. Highly recommended for library collections looking to add creepy, whimsical horror to their shelves.

***4 Stars***

THE 411....

╰☆☆ “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.” ☆☆╮

This is now my second T.Kingfisher (the first was Nettle & Bone) and I’m quickly surmising that this author can’t be boxed into just one genre. Genre blending authors have all my respect (think Silvia Moreno-Garcia), if done well you just know you’re in for a wild ride. This southern Gothic Paranormal story is centered around a house that seems to be haunted by our MC’s racist grandmother. Sam Montgomery is an entomologist returning home to visit her mom in North Carolina, her brother has given her the heads up that their mom is acting a little funny. When she arrives, she isn’t met by the warm wallpaper and cozy vibes her mother is known for. Instead, she sees plain white walls and finds a jittery version of her mom who startles easily and can’t stop looking over her shoulder. One thing hasn’t changed, her grandmothers prize-winning rose bushes. However, Sam’s whole life is the study of insects and what she doesn’t see in her mother’s garden is a single bug in site. With enough red flags to get her going, Sam begins digging for answers all the while noticing the crows circling the house at all hours of the day.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

This one is a bit slow paced up until the 60% mark at which point you realize that it’s intentional. I don’t think I would’ve been as genuinely creeped out for Sam and her mother if it weren’t for how Kingfisher slowly makes the haunting seem real. I actually stopped my read overall since it was the book I chose to take with me to the mountains and I kid you not, I did not sleep well that night startling at every single creak of the wood floors. The ambiance in the book is perfection and our MC is comes across as relatable, easily someone you’d know in real life. She’s witty, funny and has a pretty cool relationship with her mom. All Sam wanted to do was come home with a box of wine and spend time with her mom on the couch solving murder mysteries on tv. What she gets instead is a haunted house and a slew of paranormal encounters thanks to the racist grandmother who has a tight grip on the house and her mom. The last 40% of the book revs up the paranormal aspects and the revelations will make your skin crawl. I honestly feel this is one author that has written books for every reader, I’m enjoying making my way through their backlist. A dedicated post ranking my favorites is definitely in the future.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it did not disappoint. I suspect T. Kingfisher is going to become an all-time favorite author of mine, and while I haven’t gotten a chance to read her longer form fiction yet, I will be proven correct if it’s anything even remotely as good as this.

If Kingfisher's humor was a nice added touch in "What Moves the Dead," here it is very much the centerpiece. A House with Good Bones takes that satirical voice and uses it to tremendous effect. It shouldn’t make sense for humor and horror to go together in any kind of overt way, but some how Kingfisher is able to use that satirical element without losing the tension or the ominous foreboding that this kind of story needs.

I think some people might consider comedy to be something that would undermine the fear that often defines these kinds of haunted house stories, but I actually found it to be quite a welcome change of pace, because what’s happening *is* so subtly terrifying and unsettling that we need someone with Sam’s levity to counterbalance and make it easier to approach

Plus, when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. Because most of us, if we were dropped into this kind of a situation, would use humor as a way to deflect what’s really happening, as a defense mechanism, as a way to reassure ourselves that what’s happening can’t be real because it’s just "too ridiculous."

One of the defining features of Gothic literature is the present being haunted or eclipsed by the past. That’s a theme we see in a lot of haunted house stories, and this one is no exception. But it explores that idea of a place being haunted in new and interesting ways.

In some ways, I think the haunting in this story is very subtle and indirect, but it doesn’t lose that intensity. For instance, there’s no ghosts or possession involved in the story, but Sam’s dead grandmother is still very much at the forefront. And I think part of what makes this story so intriguing is that, on some level, strange and inexplicable things are happening, but a bigger part of that underlying fear stems from how many of these strange occurrences are things that Sam's mom is willingly doing to herself or putting herself through. Granted, not by choice, but still.

What makes this story stand out in a sea of haunted house stories is that this repatriation of the house, so to speak, is about confronting the ways generational racism and generational sins cycle around and always find a way to surface. That’s not to say that Sam’s mother or Sam herself are racist. In fact, they’re very liberal minded people. But it’s about the tension between generations.
It’s about not wanting to have those difficult conversations with older folks who are quote-unquote “set in their ways” *because* they are old and considered to be “harmless.” But the long-standing legacies of those ideologies they uphold are anything *but* harmless and can actually outlast our lifetimes and have horrific consequences we could never anticipate.

I think that’s why the generational divides being showcased in this story make it that much more fascinating, because the dynamic is different from one generation to the next. We see with Sam’s mom how she tries to appease her dead mother’s spirit and wishes, because she thinks it’s easier to take the path of least resistance. And then we see how Sam is dealing with consequences of that choice—how pretending that something isn’t real or isn’t important doesn’t actually make it go away.

So I appreciate Sam being the hero of this multi-generational story, seeing how she’s trying to forcefully reclaim agency over this family’s narrative and legacy by actively challenging the past. She's not merely trying to destroy it, but more importantly actually confronting it and bringing it out into the open for once.

There’s a lot of great things happening in this book. It’s funny, it’s strangely charming and delightful for a haunted house story, it has great underlying themes, and it’s also just surprising and innovative in the way these aspects of the past are trying to make themselves known. T. Kingfisher has a great knack for taking images and objects that are not inherently sinister and gradually making them feel more and more unsafe, which I think really adds to the atmosphere of the story and also that thematic interrogation of how things that we collectively deem to be “innocuous” can in fact actually be dangerous.

I’m sure you can tell, but I very much enjoyed this. Reading it made me even more excited for both the upcoming "Thornhedge" and also Kingfisher’s back list as well. At the end of the day, this was an easy five stars for me.

I love a good Southern Gothic novel! This was the perfect amount of creepy to keep me turning pages. The protagonist was fun and relatable. The "monster" built well throughout the novel and the end revile and climactic action felt very satisfying.

I recommend this book both to fans of horror/fantasy novels and to those who are sceptics, like the protagonist, and want a logical reason for the things that go bump in the night (or the swarm of ladybugs that appear in the guest bedroom) that has nothing to do with sorcerers and magic.

The more serious horror elements of A House with Good Bones kick in toward the final fifth of the novel, a dark tonal shift that can seem fairly jarring when contrasted with the rest of the book’s more lighthearted, humorous tone. It’s also pretty easy to spot the story’s main plot twist from fairly early on in the novel, which may leave readers feeling frustrated with Sam—who is after all a Ph.D.!—and her continued inability to put the most obvious pieces of her family history together. (That said, if I were suddenly concerned that my grandmother’s rosebushes were possibly eating people, I might attempt to avoid thinking about that too closely, as well.)

The final segment, in which the formerly domestic tale becomes something much more overtly supernatural is impressive both in its discomfort and its utter refusal to really explain how what you’re seeing unfold is possible. (Sam’s family history, which is fascinating is…well, a lot.) And although you may find that the ending of A House with Good Bones ties things up a little too neatly, Kingfisher’s startlingly well-written prose is always worth the price of admission, and the deft mix of whimsical elements alongside shocking violence and disturbing supernatural imagery helps this tale stand out from the pack.

A House with Good Bones had great build up into Kingfisher's usual fantastical twist and Sam's perspective was filled with great humor. The foreshadowing of family medical history transcends into strange family magical history for wild ending. This book took me a while to get into, but I'm glad that I finished it.

If you're looking for another Nettle & Bone, skip this, but if you love a solid mother-daughter relationship with a crazed grandmother turned haunter and more, this book is for you.

First book by T Kingfisher but certainly won't be my last. I loved the modern gothic feel. The main character was one of my favorite strong female leads I've read recently.

Another excellent ~spook~ from T. Kingfisher. Atmospheric, grounded, entertaining, and creepy.

And, as with anything Kingfisher writes regardless of genre or vibe, will at times make you laugh out loud.

Do you have a bug phobia? This book may not be for you. Otherwise, absolutely recommend.