A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

Publication date: March 28, 2023

Date read: November 9, 2023

Audiobook read by Mary Robinette Kowal



Sam's excited for this rare extended visit with her mom, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them. But stepping inside the house, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above. To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.

I'm fairly new to T. Kingfisher's books, but she is definitely an author I plan to read a lot of in the near future. This book had a lot to offer - especially for as short as it was (less than 300 pages) - and managed to be both incredibly creepy and laugh-out-loud funny throughout.

The type of horror in this book is almost entirely atmospheric - very little gore or even anything physical until the climax - which is probably my favorite type of horror. That unsettling feeling that comes over me as a reader, even when not all that much is happening in the story, is something I really appreciate.

I loved the characters in this book, especially Sam, although I don't think there was a poorly-written character in the bunch. Sam was very much out of her depths, and I enjoyed how real her responses felt to everything. I also highly recommend listening to the audiobook version, because Kowal did an amazing job bringing Sam to life and especially bringing the humor of the writing into her telling. I can't remember the last time a book scared me and made me (intentionally) laugh within the same chapter.

It's hard to say a lot about this book without risking spoilers, but I loved how the story came together - it was unexpected, a bit messed up, but ultimately completely enjoyable and believable in context. I also believe that even non-horror fans can enjoy this book. It's definitely a horror, but the gore is very toned down, relying more on an unsettling environment and things "going bump in the night" than jump scares and blood.

Overall, one of the best reads of 2023 for me. I highly recommend it to all horror/mystery fans, but will pretty much recommend it to anyone who can stomach a good "haunted house" story.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Content warning: language, bugs, fat shaming, psychological/emotional abuse, racism

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book

To start, I'd like to note that I've never read a book like this before. The way T. Kingfisher combined a funny yet creepy narrative is practically an art, especially within such a short story. She so clearly established this atmospheric setting that it feels like I was being sucked into this unsettling home myself. I think this book unlocked a new genre for me, and I am eager to dive into more of her work and exploring paranormal horror more.

While I didn't hate this, I also didn't love it. Perhaps Kingfisher, and Southern Gothics, are not for moi. The scariest thing about this haunted house story with some eerie Sleeping Beauty vibes was the racism. I didn't find Sam fully fleshed out as a character. I found the gardener creepy and weird. Mom was confusing, but I suppose she was written that way. I have no words for grandma.

I love T. Kingfisher and was so excited to read another book by her. My favorite book by her is What Moves the Dead, but this is a close second. I will read any book she publishes. I enjoy her dark humor, writing style, descriptions, world-building, and characters. A House With Good Bones is a horror, gothic, paranormal mystery. Kingfisher is a writing chameleon. She can write in any genre, though the horror/mysteries are my favorites.

Sam is my favorite character in this story, which doesn’t always happen with main characters. Kingfisher writes strong main characters, though I love all of the characters in this story, and love to hate one of them. Sam is a relatable and wonderful character to follow. She is kind, intelligent, and digs for the truth of what is going on with her mom and her mom’s house. The world-building is great, I felt like I was there with Sam, Edith, the vultures, and the other characters. I like how everything unfolded slowly over time. The book has some creepy scenes along with some dark humor and I loved it. If you enjoy horror, gothic, mystery, thrillers, and/or paranormal books, you should definitely pick this one up.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.
Kingfisher does it again. She can do no wrong in my book.

This was great. There's some dark humor overlaying the horror of what's happening. Kowal does a marvelous job of making the MC sound authentic.

I enjoyed the narrator for the most part, but I didn't like her voice for certain characters. The story was really good...somewhat creepy with a good finale. I also enjoyed all the insect/ arthropod references and that they weren't the creepy part (which they so often are in stories).

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher is a superb gothic adventure with acheological finds and comedic language. I enjoyed many parts of this book including the humor, reference to 80s cartoons and the writing.

I finished this book a couple of months ago and I’m still thinking about it. What an eerie delight of a story.

A book that appears almost comedic until the haunting takes place in earnest, the generational trauma permeates this story's soil.

T.Kingfisher will forever be in my top favorite authors! The storytelling portrayed from them, Makes you want to keep reading and hooks you until the very end of the book!

Although this story was a little predictable vs some of their other books, the aspect of a creepy haunted house with mentions of vultures hanging around is all I ever need to read a spooky horror book!

The story takes place with two children and their mother. After the children receive some weird phone calls from their mother, The daughter decides it is maybe time to check up on their mother. Once the daughter gets to the mothers residence, things don't seem as they used to be. Is their mother sick and losing her mind? Or is there more to the naked eye?

5 star read for me!

A southern gothic where because of an archaeological dig falling through, Sam has no where to live, so moves in with her mother to the house she grew up in, including when it belonged to her grandmother. Her mother is acting strange- putting the racist art back up, painting the bright colors beige, and acting like her mother wasn't a terrible person. Almost like she's afraid someone will overhear. Things get progressively creepier the longer Sam stays at home and starts to realize the problem she and her brother have noticed in their mother might be less medical than they'd assumed.

So many aspects of this are so reminiscent of my own childhood. Thankfully my grandmother was much less terrible to me and my cousins. And before Sam goes into random divergents from the story, so many images and experiences are familiar to me.

Speaking of, I really don't care for the constant inner monologue. Every other paragraph would be an aside about the most random information. There was a page about the average day when Sam was a child and her grandmother was still alive, and it was the most basic description of childhood. Nothing overly strange or necessary, She keeps randomly having interruptions of memories and commentary and they got annoying by chapter 2. Its repetitive, and we already got the picture by the third tangent. I don't need a sarcastic paragraph detailing how bad the service is, it was already established. It's just a constant comedy routine, and its insufferable.

There's also this weird thing with time. Sam is in her early 30s, then acts like its such a big deal a photo from 1917 might be her mom's great grandfather and not her own. I am also early 30s, and my great grandfather was a ranked officer in WWI so like.... I don't know why she's harping on this point. Then there's mention that a man born in the 1870s in the south having a child in his 60s would be a scandal in the 1930s. Like. No it wouldn't?

I also really enjoyed the neighbor's pet crow. It was so sweet. and had a great moment at the end. Speaking of the end. That was rushed as all get out. You think something is solved and then BOOM here's an entirely different issue that was discussed once and not in a significant way. Just a real let down as it didn't get the chance to shine because the grandmother plot was handled so poorly. Really had the makings of a great book, but seriously dropped the ball.

An extended visit with her mom is exactly what Sam needs....at least that's what she's telling herself. Her brothers call about something being "off" with their mom was the kick in the pants Sam needed to make the journey. Regardless, Sam us going to make the best of her time with her mom; even when her mom acts like someone unseen is always in the house with them, not to mention the buzzards beginning to cluster around the outside fence. Are the buzzards a bad omen to come? And will what Sam unearths from her family's past come back with a vengeance?

T. Kingfisher is a hard author for me. I absolutely adored Nettle and Bone but The Hollow Places was a massive miss for me. I find that A House with Good Bones was a refreshing surprise from Kingfisher. It had everything that makes it a quirky ride with unforseen consequences for our main characters. Sam diving into the memories of who her grandmother was really helped bolster this novel into something great. Spooky elements were great, but the scariest thing I've ever come face to face with is other people. Will Sam find a new way to connect to who her grandmother was? Did she really know her grandmother at all? I can't go too in depth for fear of spoiling things for new readers, but know, as with most Kingfisher novels, EVERYTHING has a long term payoff.

4.25 stars rounded down to 4. I really enjoyed this novel, but I wish it had been a bit longer to dive more into some of the secondary characters. These characters had such potential to be more than they were utilized for. A great novel from Kingfisher, recommended for fans of their previous novels or fans of world's like ours with a twist. Age recommended for 12+. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an AudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: Language, fat shaming, toxic relationships, abusive relationship parent death, drinking

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:"Mom seems off."Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.
Release Date: March 28th, 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 233
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. References to 80s cartoons
2. I enjoyed the writing style - it flowed

What I Didn't Like:
1. All the references to bugs
2. Not horror
3. Sam comes off as a whiny person
4. Was boring

Overall Thoughts:
Take a drink everytime bug(s) is mentioned because I was absolutely annoyed at the 124 uses of bug, 83 bugs, 88 ladybug, and 57 ladybugs. It's too much! The book is only 233 pages. It's like this book is 45% the form of bug(s) & ladybug(s).

I kept waiting and waiting and WAITING for something to happen that was scary/creepy. How is this labeled horror?

I was just exhausted about reading about;
• Her mother's health
• Bugs
• Why the bugs aren't on the roses (seriously wtf does it matter that they aren't there?)

Final Thoughts:
I made it to page 117, so 50% into the book and I was just not having a good time. The writing is nice and I was curious about the story but it's just the subject manner that dragged this story down. I was so bored of it. It was like listening to the same person just complain over and over about the same thing.

I don't care about bugs and I didn't know her mother well enough from character development to care about how she used to be. The book keeps reminding you how the mother was but we are just told it and we never read about. Made it not have any feelings toward it.

Love T. Kingfisher! I found this book to be really engaging and I loved the premise. I'm a sucker for spooky stories so this story was right up my alley. I am looking forward to reading other books by the author.

2.5 stars for this one, in my opinion. While I found the story to be interesting, the fantasy/magical realism moments threw me off and took me out of it. Those were a bit unexpected as this is the first book of the author’s I’ve read and I don’t remember it being billed as such!

I thought the narration was just OK. I especially struggled to listen when the narrator shifted into male voices, as it seemed unnatural to her.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

Obsessed. This entire book from start to finish was so entertaining and kept me completely enthralled. I've come to love T. Kingfisher's work and I truly believe each book has excited me more as I've come across them. The narrator on this audiobook did such a good job in keeping me drawn completely to the story. Learning about Sam, and her mom, and her grandmother had me making wild assumptions only to figure out my assumptions weren't correct. I cant recommend this enough.

4.5 stars.

"Mom seems off."

"A House With Good Bones" is a southern gothic horror about discovering family secrets hidden behind a perfect veneer. As a lover of Gothic horror, I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get through it. The suspense is built slowly up until the explosive climax. The climax of the story was actually really creepy... and quite unlike anything I've read before. I would say it made the slow beginning worthwhile.

I listened to the audiobook, and for the most part I thought the reader had the perfect voice for the dry, sarcastic, narrator. Her voice for the grandmother was perfectly creepy as well. However, I found her voices for the male characters to be laughable, particularly Phil. I could not take the character of Phil seriously because of the reader's silly male voice.

All in all, I appreciated the sarcastic narrator (despite her many entomology tangents. though, these were interesting at times) and the theme of generational conflict. And, that crazy climax will stick with me for a while! Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook access!

I could not love this book more. The characters are fantastic. The setting is excellent. The creepiness factor is perfect, not too scary but a good amount of scary. The Narration is really good and I like the engagement with the southern gothic. Samantha is so smart and fun and the depiction of academia is really, really good. I just loved it so much.

In the hauntingly atmospheric novel "A House with Good Bones," a Southern gothic tale unfolds, revealing the secrets of an old family home, vultures, roses, and supernatural encounters. Samantha Montgomery's archeology expedition comes to an abrupt end, prompting her to return to her childhood residence after her brother expresses concern. The house, once inhabited by their malevolent grandmother, Grandma Mae, holds a history of misery and darkness. As Sam arrives, a chilling omen manifests in the form of a foreboding vulture perched on the mailbox, seemingly scrutinizing the house. The unsettling sights intensify when she reunites with her ailing and peculiar mother and starts witnessing unexplainable phenomena herself, including her grandmother's haunting voice and roses that defy nature, lacking any insect presence.

Haunted by memories of her traumatic past with Grandma Mae, Sam embarks on a journey to unravel the long-buried family secrets hidden within the house's walls. The deeper she ventures into the mysteries that shroud her childhood home, the more she confronts unimaginable horrors beyond rational comprehension.

"A House with Good Bones" is a mesmerizing read that masterfully captures the essence of Southern gothic fiction, cleverly employing the symbolism of roses and vultures to add intrigue and depth to the narrative. This novel is a true delight, offering an immersive and spine-chilling experience.

My heartfelt thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.