A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES
T. Kingfisher

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES is as charming and refreshing as sweet tea.

If you happen to like sweet tea as I do then you might like this book.

Entomologist Samantha is back home in North Carolina to visit with her mom while on furlough. But mom and home are not as they always were.

This is extremely disorienting for Samantha. And while she is busy deciding whether or not she has given time permission to pass she is missing the big clues around her that all is not well with her mom or the house.

I loved the premise and the themes are extremely interesting to me. I especially loved how it landed at an intersection between Motherhood and aspects of aging, death, and grief.

The main character and her mom are looking forward to endless nights of watching British crime shows and the endless amounts of wine that can be found in a box with a spigot.

These are my people.

I love Kingfisher's sense of humor which is on display here and the audiobook narrator landed lines like a stand-up comedian. The performance added to the atmosphere.

I highly recommend the audiobook version.

And you might be asking yourself how scary is this book and like Kingfishers others the horror lies in the speculation. Being locked in a house with my mom as the house itself morphs and responds as if it is sentient sounds like a version of hell to me.

After all, hell can be a place on earth.

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES is out today!

This would make an interesting follow-up to Iain Reid’s WE SPREAD, review linked.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is another cozy horror book like the previous ones I have read by T Kingfisher. This is now my favourite of all her horror books.

The story was more charming than scary with focusing on themes surrounding family. I appreciated the discussions surrounding weight stigma and health at every size. I felt this protagonist was a particular well realized woman.

I prefer darker stories but I would recommend this one to those enjoy lighter supernatural tales.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Happy Publication Day!

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.

In "A House with Good Bones," T. Kingfisher offers up a chilling Southern Gothic tale that explores the dark underbelly of family and home. Sam Montgomery returns to her childhood home in North Carolina for an extended visit with her mother, only to discover that something is deeply wrong. Her mother seems off, the house is painted in sterile white, and there are strange and unsettling things hidden in the garden. As Sam delves deeper into the mystery, she uncovers dark secrets that threaten to destroy everything she thought she knew about her family and their home.

Kingfisher masterfully builds suspense and tension throughout the novel, crafting an atmosphere of unease that lingers long after the final page. The characters are well-drawn and relatable, and the family dynamics feel authentic and nuanced. The setting is evocative, with vivid descriptions of the lush North Carolina landscape and the decaying mansion that looms at the heart of the story.

"A House with Good Bones" is a haunting and gripping novel that will keep you up late into the night, eagerly turning the pages to uncover the dark secrets that lurk beneath the surface. Highly recommended for fans of Southern Gothic and suspenseful family dramas.

This was a fun quick story. Sam is quirky, confident, and has a great sense of humor. She kept me interested and chuckling throughout. The rest of the cast is there but none of them really provide much to enhance the plot, although the mom-daughter banter was entertaining. For a horror, I didn't find myself scared so much as I did curious. It almost felt more like a funky dark fantasy than anything else.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Macmillan for the audio ARC!

This was so fun. It was creepy and entertaining. I liked the narrator and the main character. The plot was interesting the entire way through and I really enjoyed how things evolved. The ending was a bit abrupt but still satisfying.

The MC's personality was solid - her career was interesting, her commentary about bugs was actually kinda neat (and I'm a bug hater), and I liked the way she interacted with others.

T Kingfisher has this amazing ability to take a normal setting and slowly fill you with dread. I loved the contrast between the beginning of the book and the end. This wasn't gory or "scary" but it was creepy and off putting, especially toward the end.

I really love everything I've read by this author.

I loved this one so much! I adored the witty, charming, body positive, smart FMC (Sam), the fantastic imagery and use of nature. It balanced perfectly with the dark, unsettling events unfolding. I was thoroughly entertained as family secrets unraveled and Sam discovered her own strength. 4.5/5 ⭐️

This was fantastic! Sam needs a place to stay for a while so she goes home to her mother only to find that things have taken a strange turn. Her mother is not acting like herself and the house seems to have reverted to the way it was when her grandmother was still living. Not to mention the fact that vultures have taken up residence in the neighborhood. I really had a blast with this audiobook from beginning to end.

I love the thread of humor woven throughout the story and couldn’t wait to find out what was really going on. I liked how Sam’s expertise in entomology plays a role in the book and some of her observations raised a lot of questions. I thought the story was incredibly original and I loved that every time I thought I had things figured out, I quickly realized that I was completely wrong.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Mary Robinette Kowal did an excellent job with the story. I found her voice to be very pleasant and I liked the voices she used for the various characters in this story. She did a great job of adding just the right amount of excitement into her reading which helped to bring the story to life. I believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of this wonderful story.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. I thought that many great elements came together to tell a very original and entertaining story. I hope to read more of T. Kingfisher’s work very soon.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio.

This was such a fun and quick read. Nothing overall frightening going on in this story from T. Kingfisher, but it was still a creepy tale that was unnerving at times. If horror could ever be described as cozy and comforting than the author definitely nailed it with this one.
I received an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher.

I’d like to start by thanking NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook! I haven’t been so excited about something in a long time.
I am a huge T. Kingfisher fan. I adore her spunky characters and the use of fat women as protagonists. I can identify with her characters more easily then almost any author.
A House with Good Bones was a quick, fun read! I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book especially. Toward the end, it got a little campy for me, but I thought the resolution had a lot of meaning to it, especially for this genre! Everything tied together nicely. The quick wit, laugh out loud moments, and the charming denial of Sam’s experience as she fights her scientific understanding of the world with the unexplainable going on around her, all come together to create a tight bond between reader and protagonist.
I recommend this book to all T. Kingfisher fans and those who are wanting to step out of their usual genre: you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you so much Macmillan Audio for an arc of A House with a Good Bones in exchange of my honest review.

Well, this was surprising!! I have to say that horror is not my favorite genre, although I have been pretty lucky with some of my horror picks and this was another one for the winners!!
The story is about Sam, an entomologist (yes, she is a doctor, and no.. it's not that kind of a doctor - as someone with a PhD I am tired of saying this exact phrase haha) that decided to stop by a few days to visit her mother in a small town in Texas because she received a phone call from her brother that their mother was acting weird.
Hold and behold, when she arrives, yes, her mother is showing a very strange and off behavior. However, as she tried to go to the bottom of the problem some odd things start to happen to her.

This book had the feat of being funny as hell and also creepy at the same time. Sam is SO FUNNY and her thoughts and how she comes to conclusions is sometimes hilarious. I swear I laughed at some moments in this book. However, when the house starts to haunt her as well, I was pretty grossed out about it.
PSA: if you have aversion of insects I would caution you about this book because it does have them as a first point of horror element.
All the characters are really well developed and I enjoyed immensely her relationship with her mother and with her mother's handyman. (But no.. there is no romance in this story).
Overall is short but well rounded and written horror story with sprinkles of comedy and a bit of fantasy that I read in one sitting!!

I love light Horror when it’s well done, and no one is doing it better right now than T.Kingfisher.

This is such a fun and lovable read, with top-notch humor and charming, wonderful characters.

Kingfisher does an exceptionally good job at marrying the creepy with the humorous, and the tone is consistently hilarious without ever veering into obnoxious.

The big reveal and ending were a bit fuzzy around the edges for my taste (a common problem in Horror, in my opinion), but this didnt take much away from my overall enjoyment of the story.

And as someone who is a big time vulture enthusiast, I was so happy to see them feature heavily here. I loved Hermes so much.

This is a good read for those (like me) who like the creepiness of Horror but are put off by gruesome violence and icky predatory stuff. This may be a bit much for you if you are very scared of bugs, but otherwise, it’s the perfect balance of creepy enough to keep you the fun kind of scared without being at all upsetting.

If you’re able to read this way, I highly recommend the audiobook version, which has an absolutely fantastic narrator.

"A contemporary Southern Gothic from award-winning master of modern horror T. Kingfisher, A House With Good Bones explores the deep, dark roots of family.
Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother. She seems anxious, jumpy, and she’s begun making mystifying changes to the family home on Lammergeier Lane. Sam figures it has something to do with her mother’s relationship to Sam’s late, unlamented grandmother.
She’s not wrong.
As vultures gather around the house and frightful family secrets are unearthed under the rosebushes, Sam struggles to unravel the truth about the house on Lammergeier Lane before it consumes her and everyone else who stands in its way…"

My Thoughts:
This was my first T Kingfisher book and it won't be my last. Well paced with great characters I was fully engaged in the story from the beginning. It had a little bit of everything horror, fantasy, mystery, family relationships; I would struggle to put it in just one genre. But that is the beauty of this story, it takes you on a ride that allows you to experience it's magic without any expectations, just pure entertainment.
If you like a story that's a little different, fast paced, and just a fun read - this is the one for you.

Thank you to @netgalley, and @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy of this book.

What a delightfully dark and twisty story! Bring on the roses and the vultures! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my first book by Kingfisher, and I was so immersed in the story from the beginning that I listened in 2 sittings. . The audio narration by Mary Robinette Kowal added to the experience and brought the characters to life even more.
The protagonist, Sam and a robust set of characters that live on her Mom’s street bring weirdness, sarcasm, a few laughs, and gothic horror to this fantastic haunted house novel. I am really looking forward to reading more of Kingfishers backlist!
Thanks to @netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the advance listeners copy.

Absolutely loved this! T. Kingfisher did a great job blending the ominous, tense vibe with a very sarcastic protagonist. (The narrator nailed the tone of the protagonist-highly recommend pairing this with the audio.) This book takes it's time building the tension of the feeling that everything is not okay. While I didn't find this book completely scary, I adored the consistent eerie feeling and goosebumps. Also, if you are a person that is afraid of bugs, buckle up!.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me review this book!

This was a great horror story, I couldn’t put it down. T. Kingfisher is now an auto buy author for me. The main character was sarcastic and hilarious, I literally laughed out loud at times, which during a horror novel doesn’t happen very often, but it made me happy! The struggle to accept what was happening was written in a fantastical descriptive way. And holy monkeys, I was not prepared.

Sam is an archaeologist entomologist, which is a fancy way to say she digs at sites for bugs and looks for clues about life. Unfortunately for her, her dig found unexpected human remains right away, and she was furloughed until they were identified and properly and respectfully taken care of. With her apartment occupied for the next 6 months, she heads to her mom’s house. Only… it’s different. And her mom is acting strangely. Is her mom having a breakdown, or is there something more sinister at play here?

Thank you @Netgalley for the ARC of A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. This is my first book by the author and it definitely won't be my last. She has been on my list of authors to read, so I was excited to be approved for the ARC. Thiis book was a slow burn and creepy. It started out with small unexplained occurances and then the ending took a big turn that was unexpected.

Sam is staying with her mother in her family home and strange things start happening and her mother acts out of character. Sam tries to find what is behind this and unveils secrets that are terrifying.

This was a funny, unique book. The characters made me chuckle with the funny come backs and comments.
In this story, the history of the family has Induced future chaos to which magic has been controlling. But what will happen once the magic stops?
This was a very enjoyable book with a surprisingly unique ending, lots of giggles and a need to keep the pages turning.
I recommend this book to those looking for a lighthearted read.

I adore T. Kingfisher. "A House with Good Bones" was an absolute delight. T. Kingisher creates quirky, clumsy, real characters that are unique and fun. Horror isn't one of my favorite genres, and the blurb didn't quite entice me but I am SO glad I gave it a shot anyways.

Sam, an archaeoentomologist (dead bug scientist), gets furloughed from work when they find human remains on their dig. With her apartment leased out for the foreseeable future, she decides to move back in with her mom until work starts up again. Her brother raised some concern about their mother's mental state from his last visit & when Sam arrives at her childhood home, things are a bit unsettling.... her mother is on edge, the house is now southern-traditional (very unlike her mom), there are no insects in sight and a giant vulture is standing guard watching their house.

"A House with Good Bones" is a twist on the classic haunted house story. There's dark family secrets mixed with classic controlling old southern grandma charm (or lack of charm really). The cast of characters is bewitching, we have: a lovable goof that tends the garden, a wacky conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a witch down the street with a gaggle of vultures (who have A LOT of personality ... looking at you Hermes), an academic obsessed with bugs, a garden of overgrown roses (yes, they have a personality of their own), a sweet older lady, an evil (nude) warlock and everything in between (if you could imagine!). It was fun and fresh as is expected from T. Kingfisher!

The twists weren't particularly twisty but it felt purposeful...the writing was on the wall and as the reader you were more "in" on it than the characters. The horror elements were mostly fantasy based and fairly low-stakes.

All in all, it was a quirky delight - fun and funny, while still being a bit perturbing! I loved the insect and vulture facts that were layered throughout the story too. I guess it is time for me to read T. Kingfisher's entire backlist.

Sam is headed back to her home town to stay with her mom while she has some time off of work. Her mom still lives in the house that she grew up in that belonged to her difficult grandmother. When Jess arrives there are small changes to the house that bring up memories of her grandmother. The house no longer reflects her mothers vibrant personality but looks disturbingly like it did when her grandmother was alive. Her mom seems a little off too. She is jumpy and is constantly looking around for something it seems. Sam takes it upon herself to uncover the truth. Is her mom suffering from some sort of a breakdown or is there something more sinister happening?

Once again Kingfisher creates a creepy atmosphere that draws you in to the story. The interactions between the characters and Sam's determination to uncover the truth are the driving force in this book. The subtleties are what make Kingfisher the great storyteller that she is. Oh how I loved the vultures!!

4 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.