A slow beginning but the creepiness was on point in A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. A huge thank you to NetGalley., the publisher and the author for this advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was not a favorite of mine by this author but I still enjoyed this story none the less. The narration gave me the chills at times so yayyyy for that!! The author truly captured the Southern Gothic Vibes and let me tell you I listened to that through the night!! Yes, I read past my bedtime and with this author’s writing style I didn’t mine that I was beyond tired the next day. Definitely worth losing sleep for! Again, not my favorite by the author but it’s still a good time!! I highly recommend both the audiobook or the book itself!!

T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite horror-esq writers. Last fall I read her rewrite of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of The House of Usher" called What Moves The Dead and it was the perfect modern take on Poe! This spring A House With Good Bones came out and I was invested just from the blurb. A haunted house with white walls and something buried out back, count me in! As usual, Kingfisher nailed it with the atmospheric elements that always keep me on my toes and characters that don't seem quite right. If you like Shirly Jackson, A House With Good Bones if for you!

It has been awhile since I have read this genre, but A House With Good Bones was a smart and quirky Southern gothic horror novel that delivered chills and thrills until the very end. T. Kingfisher's writing is engaging and she has a way with words that will make the hairs on your neck stand in high alert and keep your reading until the very end.

The main character, Sam Montgomery, is an archaeoentomologist who has a passion for insects. When she is forced to take a break from her archaeological dig, she heads back home to stay with her mother in North Carolina. Sam is a great protagonist, and Kingfisher has done a good job of creating a character who is confident in her plus-sized figure, passionate about her unconventional career, and content with her independent lifestyle as a single woman. I loved how relatable Sam was and how her quirky personality made the book a breeze to read.

One of the standout features of the book was the inclusion of insects and their role in archaeology. Although I'm not usually interested in bugs and horticulture, Kingfisher seamlessly integrated these elements into the story and made them fascinating. I also appreciated how Kingfisher balanced the lighter, quirkier moments with the darker, more chilling scenes.

As a precaution, I feel it's important to note that A House With Good Bones could potentially trigger individuals who have experienced familial abuse. That being said, T. Kingfisher approaches the topic of family trauma and the lasting effects of abusive relationships in a thought-provoking manner, shedding light on the generational repercussions of such behavior. Despite the sensitive nature of this subject matter, I believe the author handled it well.

Overall, A House With Good Bones is a wonderful l read that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Southern gothic horror or is looking for an engaging, well-written book with a unique protagonist.

3.5 stars

This is the second story I’ve read from T. Kingfisher and I have to say she writes such fun concepts. I love the inclusion of plants, vultures, and entomology.

This wasn’t necessarily a standout read for me but overall it was short, fun, and enjoyable.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this arc.

Sam Montgomery goes back to stay with her mother in the house that once belonged to her deceased grandmother, who was a tyrant, concerned about her brother’s warning that her mom is acting odd. To her surprise, there are vultures watching the house, and the house looks like it did when her grandmother’s iron hand was in control of their lives. The roses are blooming, and there is a presence in the house that seems to say that her grandmother might not be gone at all.

A House with Good Bones is a short but thoroughly satisfying book. Kingfisher combines themes of family generational trauma and legacies with Southern Gothic and haunted house to create a fascinating tale that is in parts laugh out loud funny and in others terrifying. Sam is the heroine this story needs. The clash between her grandmother’s rigid patriarchal and outmoded values and Sam’s millennial outlook playing out through a supernatural lens feels like therapy for a reader facing similar issues. Sam’s family history is like an onion, with layers peeling back that brings revelations for her and the reader. The best part of the book is how Sam processes and interacts with the weirdness. She is such a fun character to follow with her knowledge about bug facts and her self-deprecating humor. Sam is so unflappable despite the mental trauma she has to revisit being in the house she grew up in with her unbearable, mean grandmother. The supernatural twist was so unique and rather complex, for a short novel. Readers who would like a different spin on the Southern Gothic, with botany and insects thrown in, and a gutsy heroine, will get a kick out of A House with Good Bones to the very last page.

I liked this book, as I like everything I have read by T Kingfisher. This is thoroughly a horror novel and I loved those horror and supernatural elements.
That said, I had a love-hate relationship with the main character. At times, I loved her because she was so witty and relatable, but at other times, I felt like she was too witty and relatable that it was almost off-putting. I think I prefer T Kingfisher's books when they are higher fantasy, but that said, I still liked the story in this one. It just felt too real at times, which I think was intentional.

Another short text by T. Kingfisher that's deliciously creepy and scary.
100% recommend ! Thank you for the digital copy.

This was such an interesting weird horror book. Each book I read my T Kingfisher reinforces the fact that they are one of my favorite authors. I enjoy the fact that none of their books are ever the same, always finding new ways to keep their books interesting and creepy

Do you note how NetGalley asks if you would recommend this book to others? Well, I was talking about and recommending this book before I was finished with it. It’s horror lite, most certainly. But it’s clever and funny and well worth the read. I was reading this, also, upon a visit home to my mom after a bit of a health scare. My mom lives in my grandparents old house in a rather rural neighborhood. Her best friend is a gardener and bird enthusiast, and vultures are a common sighting. So maybe it was karma that led me to this book.

I’m also still viewing the world of entertainment with that Bechdel test lingering at the back of my mind, and T Kingfisher passes that metric without out batting an eyelash. Sam is a bug scientist. She's single, and while the story has a potential love interest in Phil the handyman, Phil is far from the center of attention. Because Mom has been acting weird. Sam needs to know what’s up because the house, that had once been filled with the bright eclectic flavor of her mom, has slowly returned to the "nice and normal" ambiance of Sam's grandmother who, in hindsight, turns out to have been not very nice at all in her quest for normalcy. Also, the local witch down the road has a haven for vultures, and those vultures are very keen on giving attention to Sam's mom's house.

As strange and suspicious events continue to unfold, involving a lack of bugs in the garden and mom's insistence to adhere to grandma's outdated ways, Sam embarks on an investigation that unravels a few unsettling truths about her family history that author Kingfisher masterfully connects to some outrageously true history connected to L. Ron Hubbard.

It’s such a clever and creative little horror story, with how it weaves the seemingly unrelated horror elements into a cohesive whole by the end. I want to give spoilers so bad with this, but I’ll refrain. Suffice to say that it gets five stars and is near guaranteed to entertain.

Thank you to Tor and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not my favorite by T. Kingfisher, not the worst either. This book had a really good promising premise to it, but I felt like it needed "more"...I'm not sure, but I'm finding a really weird trend lately where her books just suddenly drop at the end. It felt overstuffed with things that are completely irrelevant to anything in the story and I kept skimming and finding myself getting a bit irritated. I wasn't too immersed with the characters in this one as they felt a bit flat to me. Not to mention the dialog was over the top with "err" and "umm"......

Rant over, but there are some positives! The actual plot of this story was interesting and strange to say the least, gave off the creepy vibes that have grown to become the Kingfisher style. To me, I've become accustomed to expecting something wickedly strange from this author and I like the creepy factors of her storytelling.

So, with that in mind, I was at the halfway mark with this one.

Sam returns to her family home to find her mother trapped by the ghost of her racist grandmother and all the horrors of her past. The cheerful, cluttered home she knew has been replaced by a sterile, flat show place where the garden has no bugs and the roses drink blood. Creepy and deep, A House With Good Bones is about generational trauma and the fears that trap us in place. Similar to Sarah Gailey's Just Like Home, a good choice for those who like their horror domestic and all the more terrifying for it.

You can add A House With Good Bones to the never-ending list of fantastic books by T. Kingfisher. It's weird, it's creepy and it keeps you hooked right up until the end.

Oh my. This was a fun one. This is my first book by Kingfisher and I definitely may need to go through their backlist. I truly enjoyed this one. The horror elements were just enough. The old haunted creepy house is usually a winner for me.

I cannot get enough T. Kingfisher. She is amazing at slow burn atmospheric horror and relatable, funny characters that don't follow annoying conventions of MC's in horror books. She has a way of writing that comes across as a friend telling you a story and the magical realism is so well developed that you can't help but be pulled in by the story. I love that her books have super creepy elements without tons of gratuitous gore. The mix of science is really fun too although I might be a bit biased as a biologist. It has the same feel as The Hollow Places and Twisted Ones but each story is so unique and gripping. I really enjoyed this book and will forever have T. Kingfisher as an auto buy author.

Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan for this ARC!

This was a fun take on a haunted house novel. It reminded me (in vibes) a lot of Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt, where the house is haunted less by ghosts and more by the area’s past. It’s a lot different in plot, but I am enjoying the hyper specific “house haunted by bad vibes” genre.

Samantha Montgomery has to briefly move in with her mother while her archeological dig is postponed because of human remains. Instantly, she can tell something is wrong with her mom. She’s not as bright and cheerful as she used to be, and she’s embracing ideals that are very unlike her. Sam starts digging into what’s going on, and as a scientist, she finds stuff that she just does not believe.

I love a good story about familial trauma and breaking generational trauma. This definitely falls into that category. It also directly tackles fat phobia, which is rare in horror stories. It was also just… creepy. Sam is an archeoentomologist, meaning she deals with old bugs. So warning, there’s bugs. I also loved the vultures in this story. The book also takes place in North Carolina and tackles stuff like systemic and generational racism.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. My only real issue, hence the .5 star reduction, is a bit of a spoiler but it had to do with the ending. It was just kind of too easy. Otherwise, T. Kingfisher blows me away yet again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the chance to read this advanced review copy. A House with Good Bones is available now.

CW for fat phobia, body shaming, racism, medical trauma, entemophobia, child abuse, emotional abuse, fire, injury description, blood, gore, and death

T. Kingfisher does it again. Atmospheric and gripping, this novel is a slow burn that becomes a raging fire by the final pages. If you are looking for a modern Southern Gothic with witchy elements and down-home family drama, this is the book for you.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

3.5

This was extremely well written and I was hooked from the beginning. However, I found myself losing interest when it took 100 pages for anything to really happen. It’s a real slow burn and because I’m in a reading slump, I just really didn’t stay engaged. I did really like the characters though.

Inter-generational trauma. Mother-daughter bonds. Feminine magic. Roses.
Witty, smart, and thought provoking. This newest offering from T Kingfisher is my new favorite, even more than The Hollow Ones! Fast paced and absorbing this was a quick read that I found myself sneaking back to every chance I got.
After a change in plans leads Samantha back to her mom's home she realizes that something is off with her normally bubbly mom. Why is Samantha's mom bringing back things that haven't been seen/done since Gran Mae died? What's behind the seemingly revisionist history her mom now seems attached to? A tale of the ways we carry the past into the future, Kingfisher is at her finest with Samantha Montgomery's clever, relatable, and evolving protagonist leading us on this Southern Gothic thrill.

Book Summary:

Sam Montgomery is a paleoentomologist, which is basically the fancy way of saying she studies insects found in ancient sites. She loves the work, even if it occasionally results in her getting furloughed for indeterminate amounts of time.

The good/bad news is that Sam will be spending some time with her mom. Unfortunately, something isn't right. There's a lingering feeling of wrongness in her mom's house. Not to mention that her mom seems to be constantly on edge. What could it be?

My Review:

Man, does T. Kingfisher know how to create the perfect setting for a horror story. You'd think something as banal as a home in a small neighborhood wouldn't be so creepy. But when it's done right... I'm trying to say that A House with Good Bones is a must-read for all paranormal and horror fans.

I think all the familiar elements help create that profoundly unsettling feeling. We all have that one family member with extremely outdated (read: racist) views. Likewise, who doesn't have an attic a little too full of junk?

This sets the tone for everything that follows, as Sam and her mother quickly find themselves in the center of something much darker. Interestingly, there's a lot of depth and layers to this horror/paranormal incident. That made it all the more compelling. Not everything is so black and white - even in the paranormal world.

Bonus points for having a paleoentomologist main character that is unashamed of her weight and the potential romantic subplot. Sam's character is perfect, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

Highlights:
Ghost Story
Horror
Gothic Fantasy
Paranormal

Trigger Warnings:
Familial Trauma
Mental Health Concerns
Food/Fat Shaming

Reader Beware: Do you like bugs? Proceed. Do you dislike bugs or are you specifically terrified of lady bugs? Run, especially to your local bookstore or library if you love to bring yourself discomfort.

Personal Backstory: my sister-in-law is genuinely terrified of lady bugs and I always thought it was kind of funny but leave it to T Kingfisher to prove me wrong. There is a limit to the amount of lady bugs I will tolerate and I have met that limit within this book. In signature style, T Kingfisher has written another hit. At once contemporary and gothic with the house *nearly* acting as main character this book was disturbing. I feel like with the alchemical thread of this book T Kingfisher and Seanan McGuire need to team up. I won't give too much away, read the blurb if you must or jump in blind because you're in for a ride either way.