Alix Harrow has written another fantastic book. I adored Starling House almost as much as The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Opal was an engaging and well-written character. Her perseverance, stubbornness, and a never-ending search for a place that felt like home endeared her to me. I find Harrow’s descriptive writing enchanting and look forward to her future stories.

The town talks about Starling House. It is a large mansion, stuck way back in the woods and its sole occupant is a mystery who is rarely seen. The house was built by a woman who married two brothers, both of whom stole her money and were found dead after establishing the town's major industry, the mining of ore beneath the land. Now Arthur Starling hides in the house and talks to no one.

Opal lives in the town but is not a leading citizen. She lives in a motel along with her brother, Jasper. She took over being Jasper's guardian when their mother was killed in a car wreck. Opal isn't popular; the town looks down on her poverty and willingness to do whatever it takes to protect Jasper. She ekes out a living at a local farm supply store as a cashier but Opal has been dreaming about Starling House.

One night, walking home, she stops at the gates of Starling House. She is shocked when the gates open but goes into the grounds where she runs into Arthur. She is terrified but when he offers her a job as a housekeeper making twice what she was making as a cashier, she agrees. She only hopes she doesn't have to see this strange, odd man very often.

As time goes on, Opal starts to feel something for Arthur and apparently, he does for her as well. But Opal is being blackmailed by a group to send them pictures of the house and its layout. They suspect there are things they want hidden there. There are also rumors of beasts that occasionally appear but seem to disappear. Is Arthur involved in their appearance and disappearance?

This is a lovely gothic mystery that will warm the reader's heart. The blossoming love story between Arthur and Opal, both outcasts but will huge protective sides to their characters, is fascinating. The old legends of the town, some true, some not and the discoveries about her own family that Opal slowly learns racket up the tension until a climatic revelation. This book is recommended for fantasy and horror readers.

A story that is part fantasy, part horror about a house in Kentucky with a sinister past. The book starts off slowly but picks up and then moves at lightning speed.

This is not my usual genre, but there was something about Starling House that drew me to reading it. Starling House draws our protagonist Opal to it like an old friend. After Opal accepts a job offer from creepy Arthur Starling, she spends every day cleaning the filthy house. She gets to know the house and the house gets to know Opal. It affects her dreams at night and her perceptions during the day. As she gains the trust of both the house and its guardian Arthur, she begins to understand what it means for somewhere to feel like home. She and Arthur have fallen in love, but first they must defeat the sinister monsters locked deep inside the house. Will either one of them survive in order to remain guardian of Starling House?

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. Gothic romance, along the lines of Wuthering Heights, is always good for my soul. This book was not perfect, by far, but I was captivated by the characters and the story. One complaint: the characters in this book would have saved themselves a lot of heartache if they had only actually had conversations with each other; not just Opal and Arthur, but every single character in the book. Of course, where would the drama be if that happened? My other complaint: the ending; I was confused by the way the final battle ended. Without these two issues, I would have given this book a 5.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes their romance gothic and their horror on the light side (it's almost more fantasy than horror). Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have tried a few books by this author and well I am sad to say that this will the last of the stories I give myself to. I have not enjoyed any of this authors writings. This one had the same issues as the others. They were just hard to follow and boring.

There was just so much to love about this one! Compelling characters, evocative writing, intriguing mystery... This one was definitely a treat! Definitely checked all the boxes for a gothic fairy tale!

Very atmospheric and spooky read, with a lot of humanity at its heart! Flawed, imperfect main leads that you will be able to relate to and sympathize with. Worth the read!

I love everything Alix E. Harrow has written, so it’s no surprise that I love this. Starling House is possibly my favorite book of 2023 😍
Starling House is many things: A ghost story, a romance, a family drama, a haunted house saga, an exploration of rage and exploitation. It’s full of dark shadows and foreboding vibes, a story about the monsters that lurk in imagined places and those that exist in the harsh light of the real world. It’s about lost people and broken places, and the longing for a place to belong.

Opal has been raising her younger brother since their mom died, and her only focus is making enough money to get Jasper out of Eden, a dying coal town. But Opal has dreams about the Starling House, of claws and teeth and monsters, and she’s drawn to it. A chance encounter with Arthur Starling gets her a well paid house cleaning job at Starling House, but before long the house starts to feel like something Opal has been afraid to dream about - a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a decision to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

Opal is cynical, clever, prickly, selfish and brave. She does what she has to do to survive, and I’ve never rooted for someone as much as I rooted for her.

From the author: “I think what I wanted to say about class and poverty is that poverty is a form of violence and horror in and of itself," Harrow says, "and that those experiences do emotional and physical harm.”

Harrow is a brilliantly gifted writer and I recommend everything she’s written ❤️

This was really beautifully written but took me forever to get into. The plot took a direction I was not expecting and by the end I wasn't sure how I felt about all of it. Not my favorite but I can see why many people would love this.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!

Look. I love a novel with footnotes. Footnotes in a novel happen when the author has a world that is so big and rich that it has to spill over into the margins of the book to fit it all in. Starling House starts out with footnotes. It has haunted houses, and haunted families. Sure, the main character, Opal, can verge on being nothing just a Tragic Example of Poverty and Pain, and the romance a little pat, however Harrow's love of language, world building, and the occasional snarky aside kept me engaged through out.

A gorgeous southern Gothic tale from Alix E. Harrow. I absolutely loved the combination of fantasy, horror, and Gothic elements. The amazing characters are amazing, despite their flaws, and I loved all of the interactions between them. This book also depicts one of the best sibling relationships I've ever read. This will easily make my 'best books of the year' list!

I've loved Alix Harrow's past books and novellas, but this was not my favorite of hers. Still compelling and incredibly readable, but something about it didn't fully land for me.

When Alix writes a book, I read it. This was a very interesting take on a haunted house. We have a scrappy protagonist Opal who tends to make the worst decisions unless it involves her brother Jasper who she will do anything for. I liked how Alix worked in a little romance as well with Arthur, the current owner of the Starling House. The house itself was like it's own character and I enjoyed how we were slowly putting the pieces together. I was expecting a little more "magic" based on Alix's other books, but as always her writing was phenomenal.

A haunted house written by Alix Harrow?? Sign me up! Alix Harrow can do no wrong. I will read any book, genre, trope, phone book or list she decides to write. Starling House is immersive and original. I devoured it!

um, wtf??? this book was so good?? it was NOTHING like I expected and like nothing I’ve ever read. I love a sentient house (think house of wind) + found family + taking down problematic rich white men + lovable outcast characters. just all of it - *chefs kiss* my ONLY complaint is that the main villain ended up feeling like a huge loose end/unanswered question in the end, but overall, this book was freaking fantastic and was a great way to wrap up spooky season. highly recommend!

The tale this novel relates is a tale of ancient monsters in the dark limestone bones of Kentucky. Or is it? Where do the monsters come from? What is the story of the house that appears to shelter them? Why does Opal dream of a house and its monsters she's never seen? And, more down to earth, how do the residents of a Kentucky mining town survive after the mine company has taken all it wants and left only poisoned earth and water?

This book, full of southern gothic lore, changed my life. I'm just not yet sure how...

Opal has been dreaming of Starling House, but the house seems to have dreams of its own… Starling House by Alix E. Harrow is a brilliant Gothic fantasy which came out earlier this month. With a sentient house, a cursed family, and long-buried secrets rising to the surface, this book puts Kentucky Gothic on the map.

Opal has two lists: her Wants and her Needs. The only thing on her Needs list is taking care of her younger brother Jasper. Her Wants list has been crumpled up and buried deep inside herself. Ever since their mother died when her car plummeted into the river, Opal has done whatever she had to—mostly lying, cheating, and stealing—to carve out a simple existence for herself and her brother in the small, backwoods town of Eden, Kentucky. Saving up money to get Jasper out of this town and on a path to a better life is the only thought that gets her through the days working at the Tractor Supply store. But at night, she dreams about Starling House, the large, decaying mansion at the edge of town where Opal’s favorite children’s book The Underland was written and where the last heir of a strange, reclusive family now lurks, getting up to who knows what sort of devilry. Arthur Starling is brooding, ill-mannered, and maybe a little insane, but when he offers Opal a job as a housekeeper she can’t resist the pull of the house. However, the more she learns about the house, about the Starling legacy, and about the bad luck that haunts the town of Eden, the more Opal realizes they are all tangled up together with her own past—and her future.

One of my favorite characters in this book is Starling House itself. After more than a century of serving as the focal point of supernatural activity, the house has acquired a certain level of sentience. It has a symbiotic relationship with the Wardens who live within it, although in Arthur’s case, the relationship can often be antagonistic as he grows to resent his role in the house and the tragic memories it holds for him. The house can alter its architecture and its grounds to protect itself from outsiders or appeal invitingly to friends. Opal immediately and naturally bonds with the house, even before she accepts the full extent of supernatural goings-on. Her first instinct is to pity and relate to the house as a fellow lonely and neglected creature. When the house frightens or frustrates her she talks to it, and as housekeeper she lovingly cleans and restores the rooms and furnishings. The house, meanwhile, repays her by opening locked doors, caressing her with sunlight and warm breezes, and offering up its secrets. There’s an extra temptation in this magical, magnificent house for someone who’s never quite felt like she had a home.

As is often the case in Gothic works centered on an old family home, legacy and identity are important themes in this novel. As an orphan with no known last name (her mother had a tendency to constantly invent new surnames on a whim), Opal struggles to figure out who exactly she is and where she belongs. The Starling name, meanwhile, is not one passed down by blood. Every few decades (usually after the previous Warden of the house dies a mysterious death), a stranger finds themself drawn to the house by their dreams and takes on the Starling name along with the duties of the Warden. The Starlings are often contrasted with the Gravelys, the most powerful family in Eden who view their surname as signaling a birthright to the land and its resources and anything else they want. As Opal learns, names can contain important information about one’s past, but they do not have to determine one’s future. Everyone has a choice in when to shoulder old legacies and when to start again new.

Starling House is a love letter to the Gothic genre, to old spooky houses, and to outcasts—I highly recommend checking it out!

Horror is among my least favorite genres, but this was so beautifully written. Harrow imbues her descriptions of a down-on-its-luck Appalachian mining town with an elegiac beauty. Opal and Arthur are both such wonderful characters, strong and brittle at the same time. And it was extremely satisfying to see all the characters get their just deserts at the very end.

Alix E. Harrow perfectly blended mystery and gothic vibes into this unforgettable, unique fantasy following Opal and THE House’s secrets in a small town that has many unlucky occurrences.
I loved how the characters’ flaws were portrayed and how morally grey they all felt, how even the mansion had its own quirky personality.
The twists in the story will just add more fuel to your already burning appreciation for this glorious novel!

Thank you so much for the Publisher , Netgalley and Alix E. Harrow for the gifted earc. My opinion is entirely my own.

One of my highly anticipated books for this year and worth the hype.

I went in a bit weary: I don't read horror/spooky books but this book has just a dash of spookiness to make it interesting, but still tolerable for anyone like me.

Opal is a well written character, and far from flat. She's likeable but not in a way that feels unrealistic.

Bonus points for how great of a character the house itself is.

4.5 rounded up.