I have decided to step out of my usual murder/mystery genre and explore. I would put this under horror/fantasy and I did enjoy it. Loved the narrator Mary Robinette Kowal, she did a fantastic job with the characters! It had me laughing out loud in some parts and cringing in others. I am going to look for more books from T. Kingfisher, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I love finding new things to read/listen to.

**The following description is from Amazon.

"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.

This was everything I wanted from a T.Kingfisher book. Gothic vibes combined with insect nerdiness and a side of sarcastic social commentary. The story was evocative, creepy and entertaining, The narration was stellar! Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one!

A House with Good Bones is another fantastic book by T. Kingfisher. As always, I love that her protagonist was not a teenager/early 20's character, but was a fully mature woman who come homes to find her mom potentially having a mental health crisis. But with all the creepy bug infestations happening in the house, pictures falling off the walls, everpresent crows, and lack of functional internet, things are pointing to a more supernatural explanation.

The audio narrator gave the book a more chipper and less doom-y feel than I usually associate with a Kingfisher book, so while she was good it wasn't the feel I would've preferred.

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher was a humorious/scary read. The narrator who did the audio book did a fantasic job with the voices. I loved how it was a bit humorious and had suspense tied together. This is the first book I have read/listen to from T. Kingfisher and really enjoyed it. I like that Sam was an entomologist and that she gave a lot of information about bugs. This kind of reminded me of Grady Hendrix books that I've read in the past.

T. Kingfisher is my new go-to automatic request author! This is, by far, the best novel I've read by this author. I enjoyed this story immensely. Contemporary Southern gothic at its best!
Samantha Montgomery is an entomologist/archeologist who has time off from her latest dig. She goes back home to her idyllic North Carolina street to visit her mom for a bit. But just as her brother has warned her of something being "off" with mom, Sam starts to see other things amiss about the house itself. Plus, there always seem to be vultures watching the home.
This story has a slow build and a horror that makes you want to curl up in bed and pull the covers over you head. Thanks goodness I listened to this during the day!

*Special thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Many thanks to NetGalley, Tor/Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest thriller by T. Kingfisher and amazingly naarrated by Mary Robinette Kowal - 5 sparkling stars!

Sam Montgomery is an archaeoentomologist - she studies insects in archaeological remains. When her latest dig is postponed and she had already sublet her apartment, she came back to North Carolina to live with her mom, Edith, for awhile. Her brother had encouraged this because he told her that Edith seemed off lately. And Sam found things definitely off. Edith had lost weight, all the bright paint colors she loved were replaced with various shades of white. pictures replaced on the walls to when Sam's grandmother lived in the house, and Edith was very, very anxious and scared. Suddenly, Sam's vision of boxed wine and British crime stories with her mom were replaced by hoards of ladybugs and very creepy things.

I absolutely loved this book - it was creepy, sure, but filled with so much humor and heart. The narration was amazing and I personally believe it made the book so much better. I literally was laughing out loud as I listened, even while the creep factor was strong. If you're a T. Kingfisher fan, or even if you haven't read any of her books, you must listen to this one!

I really enjoyed this one. I found it interesting, unique, and really fun to read. I would definitely recommend this to others interested in unique horror.

Saying this book was not for me is an understatement.

Samantha is a bug archeologist. I don’t have it in me to go back and look up the proper title she gave herself. She returns home and something is off with her mother. I can’t even describe the big final shebang at the end of the book because I didn’t even follow what was happening. The house sinks into the ground, the roses are alive, her grandmother was maybe an evil witch or sorcerer or something. It was hard to follow.

Eye Twitching Annoyances
- Samantha’s character was “fat” and it was referenced over and over and over and over again. It seemed like the author gave her the personality of the “funny fat girl” that you see in the early 2000’s movies. It added nothing to the plot line for her to continue to make mildly self-deprecating “joking” comments about her weight while at the same time embracing it. It just missed the mark. We aren’t in the 90’s anymore. Unless it’s a major part of the story, I don’t see why someone’s body weight matters.

- As mentioned above, Samantha was “funny.” She was essentially that girl that decided she was the funny girl and had to crack one liners about everything. You couldn’t get through four sentences without another *drum drum cymbal* moment because she made a joke. It wasn’t funny. I would probably quit my job if I had to work in a cubicle next to her. It was just incessant.

- The bug descriptions. Oh god, the bug descriptions, every time they mentioned a bug there was a whole side explanation of the class, species, fact about it. It was too much, just TOO MUCH!

It added to my displeasure by listening to this as an audiobook. There’s a handyman who comes by who is supposed to be a cute potential love interest for Samantha. However, the “man voice” that the narrator did for him might actually have been the only thing I actually found humorous because he sounded like the elderly grandfather on South Park.

As I said above, the first 75% of the book was boring and annoying. Then all hell broke loose really quickly, no buildup. And I wasn’t even fully sure I understood what was happening.

I’ll leave you with this final thought - I felt like this book was written to be a 90’s sitcom where every few minutes, everything freezes so the main character can say something funny (which usually isn’t actually funny) to the camera about what’s going on, and then stands there patiently while the laugh track plays.

I am a solid T. Kingfisher fan. House with Good Bones is a scary, sometimes funny, atmospheric book with magic and intergenerational tension. It"s another great Kingfisher book.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sharing this audiobook with me in exchange for my honest review.

Sam Montgomery returns to her family home in North Carolina to stay with her mother while on an unplanned sabbatical from her work as an entomologist. She soon begins to notice changes to the house and even her mother, which lead her to question if there is something going on beyond just evolving decor preferences. Mom's lost weight. She's anxious. She uncharacteristically scolds Sam for using strong language and insists on praying at meals. Sam wonders what is normal behavior for her parent while reacclimating to the home she grew up in. It is not the welcoming sanctuary she expected.

Mary Robinette Kowal is an excellent fit for T Kingfisher's latest. Southern charm billows through her performance like cool breeze on a hot day. She demonstrates poise and clarity throughout the more serious moments but manages to bring out a laugh in her next breath. Her pace is perfectly on target and I found it easy to pick up at any point and resume listening without a second thought.

In true fashion of T Kingfisher, A House with Good Bones weaves an enthralling tale both timely and terrifying. She carries her unique voice from previous novels, much to my appreciation, and just the same I find at times she sounds eerily similar to the internal monologue rambling through my own mind at any given point. I thoroughly enjoyed this short novel and will continue to anxiously await further releases.

If someone were to ask me why I requested A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher while I was browsing through NetGalley I would not have an answer for you besides I picked it because the cover looked different, and it was an audiobook. What did I just listen to?!?!?! (and I mean this in the best way possible!)
I was into this story from the beginning.

This book took me on a ride!

I finally found an audiobook that I could clean by house to. This place never looked better because cleaning was my reason to continue listening in one sitting (or should I say cleaning).

Huge shocker at the end and I was here for it.

Loved the characters I was supposed to but also felt so many types of ways with other characters (trying to not give much away)

I went into this knowing nothing about the novel and I suggest you do the same. Love that the synopsis is actually short and sweet and gives nothing away too.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review. Shout out to Mary Robinette Kowal for the wonderful job on the audiobook.

This is why I come here and get these audiobooks. This was so weird and so amazing. The grandma was perfectly evil. The mom's behavior was exactly what you would expect in this situation.
The narration was perfect. She did ALL the voices perfectly. More of these please.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it was a fairly short read. The audio book being at only 6 hours it was hard to stop listening. I loved the narrator. My only complai8nt was her choice of voice for the handyman (and I forgot his name already). He was a younger gentleman close to the MCs age but was voiced like an older man. Other than that, the narration was spot on.

I loved the way this story was told. It was full of humor, really weird stuff, strange family dynamics, and vultures. I don't know much about the southern gothic literature genre. If they are like this one, then I think I'll like it. The twists and turns were a little obvious but the writing made the journey enjoyable. I wish mom would have told daughter sooner about all the crazy stuff that was happening. Or you know....moved away, but I doubt the house would have sold. The descriptors of the creatures were amazingly horrific. Also, why did Grandma keep all this a secret? Did she think she was going to live forever?

Anyway, I loved all the characters, I loved the humor. Just overall the story telling was amazing. I also agree that driving across Texas takes forever!

When Sam comes home to North Carolina to stay with her mom, Edith, she can't help but notice how out of character Edith is acting. On top of that, everything in the house seems to be reverting back to the way her grandmother liked it before she died. Edith says it's haunted, but that can't be. Right? Sam enlists the opinions of some neighbors when she finds a jar of human teeth buried in the garden, but they may not be able to give her the easy explanation she desperately wants.

This book is GREAT. As expected from T. Kingfisher, the atmosphere and unique absurdity of the horror components are spot-on. I absolutely loooved the vivid depictions of great-grandpa, loafing vultures, racist oil paintings, and swarming ladybugs. The story itself is light and funny at the beginning, evolving into a creepy gothic tale that doesn't let go. I binged it easily and will do so again in the future!

The narration in my audio version is perfection as well. Narrators really bring audiobooks to life, and Mary Robinette Kowal does so easily.

Thank you to T. Kingfisher, Tor Nightfire, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.

At the end of a long roadtrip, Sam comes home to her mom's house. Her grandmother's house. She's confronted by her past, her family's past, and some things that don't quite add up. Kingfisher builds amazing suspense throughout, while maintaining a remarkably light and funny voice in Sam, the protagonist. This is southern gothic in the microcosm of one family's home. Creepy, graphic, visceral.

5 out of 5 stars



Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this in exchange for an honest review.



I have been wanting to read T. Kingfisher for awhile so I was excited to see this on Netgalley and I am super happy because this was really good. I have added a new author to my list of favorites. Mary Robinette Kowal was a really good narrator who was great at making Sam feel very real .

Sam Montgomery was very super excited to visit her Mom. She so rarely gets a chance to visit her Mom in North Carolina and it has been ages since she to to see her Grandmother's home . It was always pleasant being raised there but her single Mom really had no choice so they put up with her mean, racist Grandmother. What she finds when she arrives though is something she never expected. Her liberal, leftist hippie Mom is acting strange and the house that her Mom had changed after her Grandmother's death was back to the way it was before. Her Mother's bright colors and happy decor gone. As the visit goes on she begins to realize there is something very wrong with the house. Something dangerous.

I always love a haunted house story and this was a good and different story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC! This had an interesting premise and some unique and intriguing elements (ladybug significance, various magic types, and the main character’s family mythology). Unfortunately, the pacing was painfully slow. I found myself growing frustrated and somewhat bored listening to the audiobook just waiting for something to happen. All of the action happens in the last 20% of the book and doesn’t feel earned or developed enough. Additionally the teeny, tiny romance subplot was underdeveloped and underutilized causing it to feel completely unnecessary. This had the potential to be great but suffered from pacing and plot issues. I wanted to love this, but was left unsatisfied.

Incredibly good and very well-written. It was funny, creepy and engaging from start to end. Nothing but praise for this book an author. Read this.

The audiobook narrator was 5 Stars for sure, she was incredibly entertaining and made me laugh out loud numerous times!

This book started out really strong for me and was witty and entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. I really appreciated the North Carolina setting and cultural references to the area as I live in the same state. The story kind of lost my interest about halfway in however and then it seemed like it came to a conclusion very quickly when the action hit. This was unfortunately my same experience with this author with another of her books so I'm thinking her writing just isn't completely my taste.

This audio took me until 77% to even care what was happening. And then when I did get there, I felt like the payoff wasn't even worth the first 77%. The writing and clear research was great.

However, excellent narrator. 👌 She was pleasant to listen to. I did have to bump it up to almost 2x for it to please my brain. But I actually appreciate that I could still understand at that speed.