Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of Starling House. I absolutely adored this book. It has unique story telling, with awesome characters, great lore, and an intense atmosphere. I love anything Gothic and this really delivered. Starling House itself was a character all it's own, but Opal reigned Supreme for me. She was such an amazing character, she will be tucked away in my book of favorites. The writing was superb and unique, and I was hanging on every single word. I can't wait for everyone to read it.

Uh WOW I think this is one of my favorite books this year and I do not say that lightly.

I love this storytelling. It’s hard for me to keep my attention when stories are first ramping up, but I never lost my enthusiasm for this read. I love how this book hit the ground running immediately, but didn’t overwhelm and desensitize me with constant high-stakes situations. I normally don’t like love plots either but this one was so good and I found myself carving out pockets of time during my day just to get back to the story.

It’s extremely refreshing to have a book filled with average-looking people as well. I’m really sick of the rich, mysterious guy having six-pack abs and a jawline that cuts glass. It felt way more relatable that the protagonists are just regular-looking people. I know Arthur is described as ugly but I don’t want to be rude to him, even if he is a fictional character. He’s been through a lot!

In addition to the thrilling plot and awesome writing, this story is also an amazing reminder that we all need community lest we succumb to the illusions in our own minds, and that we are always in control of how we see and move about the world around us.

The only critique I have is that there are an alarming number of grammatical errors, probably the most of any book I’ve read through Netgalley to date. I usually find 1-2 in each book, but this one had at least 6 or 7. The footnotes also appear in weird places in the Kindle version of the book, so it may need some formatting adjustments.

5/5 from me! And I’m going to binge-read every other Alix E. Harrow book I can get my hands on.

Thank you Tor Publishing Group for the ARC of this gem of a story!

(I will be posting my TikTok review on release day).

Starling House is a fine book, but overall, it is nothing I haven't read before. It's my fourth Alix E. Harrow novel, and it's time to accept her writing is not for me. It felt thematically similar to V.E. Schwab's Gallant and wanted to be Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (a book I discovered through an Alix E. Harrow recommendation). I wish Starling House leaned more into its southern gothic roots (which was also a huge marketing platform for this book) and explored, perhaps, the plot through an environmental lens. Instead, the result was a generic fantasy-horror story. I wanted this book to pull me in, but it ultimately did not hit the mark.

What I liked: the romance was cute! But I wanted more. It felt rushed, and I found myself thinking: how did we get here?

One of my most anticipated reads of the year!

𝘖𝘱𝘢𝘭, 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 #12 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 19𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳, 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳. 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘖𝘱𝘢𝘭. 

𝘖𝘱𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦--𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥--𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦?

This book was not what I expected. I adored Opal, who was so snarky and full of grit and had a wonderful take-no-bs attitude. I also found it refreshing that Opal is described as having crooked teeth and Arthur is “ugly”, instead of the usual flawless heroin and her gorgeous knight in shining armor. I enjoyed Arthur’s character too, and the House itself seemed one in’s own right (think a spookier Casita from Encanto). I was, however, expecting the story to be a little creepier than it was, but overall I did really enjoy this book and will definitely be reading more by Alice E. Harrow!

Thank you so much to @torbooks and @netgalley for my review copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I cannot adequately put into words how much I loved this book. It's filled with complicated and detailed characters whose actions sometimes really make it hard to root for them, but you can't help loving (many) of them anyway.

It would be so easy to lean too far into the cheesy aspects of a House that's somehow alive and monsters made of mist, but Harrow's talent instead creates an intricate world that's the perfect amount of gothic with a sprinkling of light horror and fantasy. I find myself thinking about it in the days since I finished. I want to get lost in the House and fall asleep on the lawn listening to the starlings sing.

Fyi: the cat does not die.

Who needs Wonderland when a tumble down the rabbit hole can take you straight to hell?

“Starling House” finds Opal at the end of her luck trying to care for her teenage brother as her dreams whisper of the elusive Starling House known for its rustic architecture and short lived owners but his current owner Arthur has just enough allure to tempt her within the rod iron gates.

I love love loved this book!

Everything here was so much fun with a fairy tale like take on the overall storytelling but with these footnotes of “fact” that had me wondering just how much of this was truth vs fiction and thankful I never gave in and googled to break the spell that was cast from the very first page.

Opal was everything I could ever want with a character and I was a little surprised that she was so much older (my age let’s be real) than your typical protagonist in what I have to believe is a young adult story. Her fight to do whatever she could to make her brother proud and better off than her was so powerful and her unlikely friendship with Arthur was that much more special because he was the only other person in that small town who could understand her fight to do better and her obligations to her family no matter what pain it left to her.

The plot was so much fun and had this growing unease as each layer of the generational pain unfolded to reveal the horror and trauma beneath and the ripple such ruin can leave on a small town that keeps more than it’s fair share of skeletons in their closets.

I cannot recommend this book enough and for it to come out in October is absolutely perfect.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.**

👀 is gothic horror romance my new thing?! 👀🙊
Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an early read of this one!
Starling House should be on your list to read this spooky season if you’re into southern gothic horror! These characters were well developed & interesting, even the side characters were great. The house? Also a character…and my personal favorite one too 😂 Another very atmospheric read, which is something I NEED in my horror books! Lots of stories within this story, and a whole mystery that unfolds. I loved the pacing and the way this read. It’s a bit on the slower side but still kept my interest the entire way to the end!

Starling House is a southern gothic fairy tale that is somehow both romantic and eerie. One of my favorite parts of the book is the footnotes sprinkled throughout that both give the reader more information, and more questions. The writing itself was beautiful and vivid, and I definitely laughed at some of Opal’s thoughts. I finished the book in a day because it kept me so engaged. My only regret with this book is that I didn’t read it on a rainy fall day!

[Review to be published on Nerds of a Feather on 27 July]

Let’s get this out of the way first: I loved this book---I loved it so, so much. I stayed up well after 3am to finish it, and I can’t remember the last time I did that. This book is great: moody, tender, dark, touching, and fierce. There is a sentient house. There are monsters. And, crucially, it ends well. To be honest, that’s really all I feel you need in order to know whether you want to read it. If the moods and features I just listed strike your fancy, then quite readin gthis review and just go read the book.

If, however, you want to know more about why I loved it so much, well, I won’t object to your continued attention. It’s about Opal, a high school dropout in her mid-twenties who’s spent the last decade looking after her little brother Jasper after the death of her mother. She is smart and unscrupulous and fiercely loyal to her family---her dead mother's memory, Jasper’s future---and she's not above lying, stealing, and cheating to make sure that the miserable town of Eden where she was born and where her mother died does not get the best of her. She dropped out of high school to work dead-end jobs, and she's not above shoplifting school supplies or sticking her hand in the cash register in times of need. Her goals are clear: to get Jasper a spot at a boarding school up north, a wealthy place for wealthy people, where his whip-smart intellect will have the opportunity to build him a future outside of Eden.

Because no one has a future in Eden. The town is blighted, cursed. Economically it is oppressed by the wealthy Gravely family, who own all the industry that poisons the town and employs the people, without ever actually spending more than a day or two within the town limits. But beyond the mundane, it seems to suffer incredible bad luck: people die in freak accidents, like the one that killed Opal and Jasper's mother; buildings catch fire; floods and catastrophic environmental disasters crop up at much higher rates than seem plausible by chance alone.

This bad luck is somehow tied up with the history of Starling House, a mysterious looming hulk that holds itself apart from the rest of Eden. Arthur Starling, the current Warden of Starling House, knows its secrets, but has no interest in telling them to anyone---least of all the reader---because he also works for a single goal: to be the last Warden of Starling House. Whatever responsibility that position entails, he wants to end it forever, not for his own good, but to spare whoever would hold the role after him from that terrible burden. His goal, although more shadowy, mirrors Opal’s: They are both fixated on building a future that will benefit someone else, and they will burn themselves out doing it.

Naturally, these two cross paths. Starling House—which, by the way, is sentient, and has strong opinions, and so immediately won my heart because I am a complete sucker for sentient inanimate objects—decides that it rather likes Opal, and would like to have her around. It pulls her in, attracts her magneticaly to its gates, somehow arranges for Arthur to meet her there, and because Arthur is not quite as strong, brooding, and solitary a hero as he would like to be, he offers Opal a job as housekeeper. Starling House is a wreck, Arthur has money, and Opal needs, so she takes the job. And thus, the pieces are in place for Opal to discover the secrets of Starling House, the reasons for Eden’s blighted luck, the skullduggery at the heart of it all, and what she and Arthur can do to make it better.

I’m being deliberately vague about the details here, because part of the brilliance of this book relates to the way the themes and revelations wind around each other like smoke. Stories and legends about the history of Starling House appear in multiple forms: in the official history propagated by the Gravely family, in the unofficial oral histories uncovered by the town librarian, in a picture book that was a formative part of Opal’s childhood, and in the records kept in Starling house itself. Each time we hear the story, we get spiral a little closer to the truth underlying it all, and the truth resonates with the modern day events in deft, elegant details. The name of the school where Opal wants to send Jasper is the same as the name of a founding Gravely’s horse; a Gravely who died under mysterious circumstances fell off a bridge into the river in the same way Opal’s mother did the night she died. The weave of past with present is beautifully done.

Opal, too, is a wonderful main character. Life is hard in Eden, and Opal has become hard in turn: she keeps a clear bright line in her head between needs and wants; she knows how to smile and charm people when that is the only tool in her toolkit; she is keenly aware to the details of self-presentation that make her seem harmless, or trustworthy, or frivolous, or whatever characteristic will get her what she needs from an interaction. She lies freely and easily to everyone---even to Jasper. He says to her, at one point, ‘[Lying] is for everybody else. Not for family.’ And Opal reflects

The innocence of it makes me want to laugh, or maybe cry. The biggest lies are always for the ones you love the most. I’ll take care of you. It’ll be fine. Everything’s okay.

Her narrative is full of these sharp observations. Because she is so skilled at manipulation herself, she recognizes it when people try to pull it on her: [Baine] smiles some more. It’s a well-practiced expression, an efficient arrangement of muscles meant to make me smile back. It’s alright, this smile says. You can trust me. The hair prickles on the backs of my hands. That bright line between want and need falters sometimes, and she finds herself wishing for things with a hunger that surprises her: ‘Dreams are just like stray cats. If you don’t feed them they get lean and clever and sharp-clawed, and come for the jugular when you least expect it.’

Despite its starting point in such a grim place, this book's emotional trajectory is a rather heartening journey to show how Opal can, in fact, begin to start giving her trust and loyalty to people other than Jasper. It starts with Starling House, which responds so eagerly to her attention that she finds herself looking for tasks to continue her employment, unwilling to desert it after she’s cleaned and repaired the most pressing deficits. Perhaps because he is such an extension of Starling House, she also grows closer to Arthur, recognizing in him an outsider who shares a crushing burden, even if—for all her snooping---she can’t quite figure out what it is.

But as the book progresses, we see Opal realizing that there are other people in her life that she can trust. The proprietor of the motel where she lives, the town librarian, the family of Jasper’s best friend—they all turn out to have hidden kindness to them that Opal could not see, single-minded and hardened as she has been by her single-minded, hard life. She begins to open up, to discover that she doesn’t always need to protect herself, to lie, to project an image of self-sufficiency when she is not, truly, self-sufficient. On any other night I’d lie to her, Opal thinks at one point, when the librarian offers her a chance to leave Eden, tell her I’m saving up money, dreaming up some grand future. But maybe telling the truth is like any other bad habit, which getes harder to quite the more you do it.

The mood of this book is bleak, but the journey is about finding trust, and warmth, building a home for yourself, and lessening burdens by sharing them. It is beautiful, and comforting. Please give yourself the gift of reading it.

Alix Harrow is one of my favorite authors and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Starling House.

Starling House was an atmospheric gothic tale that I will be thinking about for a long time. I loved the mystery surrounding Starling House and how it all unfolds.

Opal was such an amazing and resilient character. I loved her relentless determination to do whatever she could to make sure her brother had a better life.
I also loved the side characters! Arthur, Bev, Charlotte and Jasper! And how their relationships with Opal grow throughout the book.

Same as with the audiobook - love, love, love. I really enjoyed this book. This gets a solid 5 star from me. I LOVED the "Once and Future Witches" by Harrow, but I have read other books of hers that just missed the mark for me. I wasn't sure where this one would land, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The characters are flawed, but still endearing. I love when an author is able to do that: give me flawed characters that I still really love and am rooting for. I really loved Opal and her brother, and while Arthur was *meh* to me, the siblings really sold the book. I loved Opal's love for her brother and her commitment to taking care of him. The townies were also delightful.

The atmosphere and intrigue were 100% what I am looking for when you tell me "Gothic Fairytale." Harrow nailed it. The creepy old house with a mysterious past? check. The ominous goings on about town? check. The intensely private and brooding homeowner? check. I LOVE a good gothic tale, and this one was absolutely a good gothic tale. No complaints from me!

Loved it! Perfect for a spooky October release. There is a lovely Gothic tension to the writing but great story and characterization. I couldn't put it down.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

It’s hard to think of something that’s less “my jam” than very Gothic, very Southern fantasy. (Is it Southern Gothic if it’s Gothic in the sense of a doomed romance between a girl and a creepy house, and also is Southern? I am not clear on that part. It’s sure got the decay and the poverty and–fantastic nightmares, they say? Yes, it has those. Okay. Southern Gothic turned up to eleven.) And yet this is so beautifully done. I kept running around telling people, “I have never seen a better use of Tractor Supply in a fantasy novel.”

Opal has been raising her brother Jasper the best she knows how, out of a shabby motel room in a town that has seen better days but honestly not that much better. She manages to get a job cleaning the enigmatic Starling House, which is beyond filthy and beyond mysterious. Its sole inhabitant, Arthur Starling, is a little bit Byronic hero, a little bit college junior living in way more squalor than he wants to admit to. The rumors about him are intense, the rumors about the house even more so. And rightly so, because this house wants Opal. What Opal wants is tuition to get Jasper to school somewhere far away and better than this. This is the town that killed their mother, and she doesn’t want it to eat her brother too.

She’s not paying a lot of attention to whether it gets her.

Luckily, Jasper and Arthur are. And they’re not the only ones. Over the course of the book, the secrets of Starling House reveal themselves a little at a time, and so does the siblings’ place in the community, which is not quite what Opal had always assumed–except for the places where she’s absolutely, belligerently right. This is acutely observed about small town relationships, families, and the ways we sometimes take care of each other better than we take care of ourselves. Its squalor is purposeful, its decay sure-handed. If ever you want a creepy magic house story from the near South, oh, this is the one. If you think you don’t…you still might.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

"Starling House" is an immersive dark fairytale that brilliantly intertwines haunting imagery with an emotional narrative. This novel beautifully combines the essence of a classic gothic fairytale with contemporary elements, making it one of those books that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to pick back up again.

The vivid descriptions and atmosphere building are truly the stars of this book. They not only transport you directly into the heart of the mysterious Starling House and the bedraggled Eden, Kentucky but also manage to turn the house itself into a breathing, sentient character. The town, under the unfortunate influence of the greedy coal-mining Gravely family, embodies a desolate and hopeless landscape that feels all too real.

Our two protagonists, Opal and Arthur, are drawn with such depth and complexity that it's hard not to become invested in their journeys. Opal is portrayed as fiercely protective, fuelled by an unyielding desire to provide a better life for her younger brother, Jasper. Her resilience against the grim realities of Eden is commendable, and you can feel her determination and resolve. Arthur, the forlorn and isolated solitary warden of Starling House, embodies a solemnity that makes him equally as intriguing. The interaction between these two strong yet lonely characters builds an intense dynamic that adds a palpable layer to the story.

This tale is powerful, poignant, and perfectly paced. Yet, it's the atmosphere that truly stands out. Harrow has created a world that's eerily beautiful and unsettling, a world that you find yourself lost in long after you've turned the last page. It's a beautifully crafted novel that offers an engaging mix of dark fantasy, familial bonds, and forsaken romance. Highly recommended for fans of gothic fairytales!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59426445-starling-house?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=EHoObSFTNx&rank=1

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

This was a very atmospheric Gothic read that read like a horror fairy tale. Each character was unique and the house to be given its own character was intriguing and made the story even better than expected. The town of Eden carried its own weight of mystery and made the story come to life. The overall story was great, although I found at times getting a bit boring and almost predictable, but it was still interesting enough to hold my attention. I would definitely recommend this during a chilly night in fall curled up on the couch with a good cuppa!

"Starling House" is presented as a gothic horror, and it is, sort of: while it isn't frightening in the monstrous way, its chills brush up against the frightening topics of generational trauma, poverty in late-stage capitalism, and the worst of Southern culture. Opal is an opportunistic thief trying to pay for her brilliant little brother's education; when she is offered a job cleaning the mysterious Starling House by a caretaker described as "intense" and "ugly", you know exactly where this is going: a love story, skeletons in the closet brought to the light, and catastrophic danger. And yes, this story isn't particularly original, and that's okay. I loved it because it reminded me of all my favorite gothic tropes: the mysterious and tortured gentleman, the canny and terrified woman with a secret, the house that looms like a menacing character all of its own. The characters were all well-realized and while this wasn't frightening as the plot summary would have you believe, I'd classify this readily as "cozy horror": it brushes along the aesthetic without actually descending into them. Four stars; I very much enjoyed this one.

Alix didn't disappoint. This book is the perfect spooky fall read. A mysterious house, an attractive man living in it. 100% a must-read.

I am convinced that Alix E. Harrow wrote this book specifically for me. Scrappy protagonist! Brooding emo bisexual love interest! Magical, slightly ominous house! Footnotes!!!! Harrow has once again blessed us with incredible world-building, amazing characters, and gorgeous prose. It's a story I wanted to live inside, even at its grizzliest. This is basically a contemporary gothic romance and I really could not be more here for it.

Once again, Alix E. Harrow wrote a magnificent book. The ambiance, the gothic vibes, the mystery, the tension between the characters, I loved it all. I like how their flaws were not hidden but played along in the plot, and how the house itself is a character of its own. I cannot wait to get my hands on that gorgeous cover once it is out !