I think already explained it like a hundred times, but let's do one more: I am a huge, huge fan of books that deal with haunted houses. There is something in the figure that lurks in the dark, in that movement in the corner of the eye that only the main character sees (and the reader feels), in those children who are speaking with someone who is not supposed to be there.
Kate Collins’ A Good House for Children is a solid debut and a fantastic new entry in the haunted houses collection. The Reeve, because an old, haunted house probably full of ghosts needs its own name, is just another character in a story that takes the reader in two different journeys, one in 1976 and one in 2018. The perfect place to destroy a family, says the cover, but the families we as readers meet are already starting to break before entering the Reeve. The house just waits for the perfect opportunity to cast its shadow and drown them all inside.
Oh, I was so waiting for something like this. Gothic atmosphere, female characters at the edge of everything and creepy children.
The writing is mesmerizing. In 1976, Lydia moves to the Reeve to work as a nanny, and we quickly understand how much love she feels for the children she needs to take care of. In 2018, Orla just wants to be surrounded by inspiration and takes the reader along every stroke of her paintbrushes and every goose bump in her mind.
I am now going to be extremely unoriginal, but I need to say it: for fans of Shirley Jackson and Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, but also for anybody who wants to feel claustrophobic and is eager to feel (once more) the looming sense of an invisible menace.

‘Every story is a ghost story. All houses are haunted houses; each person is the spectre at their own feast, the wraith dogging their own footsteps.’

A gothic spooky kind of story told in two timelines. I was intrigued but also a little confused about what was going on but things picked up in the second half.

Thanks to Net Galley and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books for this ACE.

This book was right up my street! Classed as 'horror' but not in a terrifying way, a creepy way. An excellent ghost story told across different timelines with the idea that time itself is an organic concept that can go against our notion of how time is supposed to work.

With some books, you struggle to link the title to the content, not so with this one. The focus for the main protagonists are the children and how they interact with their care givers and the house. None of the children have a conventional childhood and the house just exacerbates that.

Trigger warning: At times deeply emotional, this story details loss of a child, suicide and mental health issues.

A mixed bag of a review I’m afraid. I did enjoy the story and am a massive fan of a haunted house/ turn of the screw tale, and this story will appeal if you like this genre.
If I had to base this review on the first half, in all honesty I would probably have given up. I spent quite a white rereading bits and trying to follow who the characters were. I only worked out there were 4 kids in the 1970s story at about the 40% mark which isn’t great. I also didn’t warm to any of the characters so genuinely felt any of them could be next!
I realise that this confusion was possibly intentional to add to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the book and the cyclic nature of the story but at first I was rather lost.

Having said that, the second half picks up well. The haunting / incidents are actually quite creepy and the story left me guessing what would happen next. I did enjoy it and read the last 40% in one go.
Read through netgalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this read, it was dark and distubring and had a claustrophobic atmosphere woven all the way through it. It was well written with a storyline that gripped me right from the start and didn't let go and well developed characters. I loved it and I am still thinking about it now, it is unsettling but brilliant.

I think unsettling is the best way to describe this book.
Things weave in snd out of one another, where I was never quite sure what was actually happening.
Each of the two timelines had stories that had me wanting to rush back to them.
It's one of those books I wish I could have devoted a whole afternoon to and relish it in one sitting.
The house becomes a character itself almost.
It played with my emotions a lot, from plain dread to sadness.
This one should do incredibly wel