This book was dark, gothic, and creepy in all the right ways. It was so easy to get sucked into the book and it will linger long after it is over. I loved every moment of it.

Eden, KY is anything but a paradise. It is a place where bad luck seems to fester and Opal has not been able to escape that bad luck, but she is determined to get her and her brother, Jasper, away from Eden. Starling House is a place feared by most locals, but when Opal is offered a job there she sees it as possibly the first opportunity she has had to earn enough to get away from Eden and its bad luck.

This was incredibly atmospheric and beautifully written. From the moment it started I knew I was not going to want it to end. It is a wonderful mix of gothic thriller and fantasy with one of the most unique plots I have read and an extremely satisfying conclusion. I adored it and cannot recommend it enough.

Starling House feels like home, both to Opal and to me. The book feels like Kentucky. It smells like Ale-8, oaky Bourbon, and tobacco. The prose sounds like lyrical twang and Bluegrass music. It is both the best and the worst of us. It is such a deeply Kentucky feel that is woven throughout the story that those who know and understand that Kentucky feel will find home in Starling House.

Joining the ranks of other deeply Kentucky authors like Silas House and Barbara Kingsolver, Alix E Harrow offers a story with rich magic, the horror of eldritch monsters, small town isolation, and the love found in finding your home. Starling House is one of the best books I've read this year and it should be on your Fall 2023 TBR.

Haunting, dark, beautiful.

This books is the perfect read for someone who is looking for small town vibes, dark secrets, mysterious mystical house and will they-won’t they slow burn romance. Starling House draws you in and makes you fall in love with its charm and personality. The heart-aching twists and turns leave you wanting more.

The descriptions of the characters with their imperfections and realistic traits is refreshing in comparison to what a lot of todays novels portray as idealistic.

I received this ARC via NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Alix E. Harrow ever since I reading her Fractured Fairytales ( A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended). I also enjoyed Once and Future Witches and Ten Thousand Doors of January. This author's writing style is complex and she often includes academic theory, stories within stories, and glorious footnotes in her novels. While I love it, I can understand why for some folks this seems a bit much and slows down the story.

Starling House, I am happy to say, is the best of both worlds and I think her most accessible novel to date. Harrow nails the southern gothic atmosphere. Yet she continues to deal with social inequities, class privilege and the unique experience of biracial characters as she has done in her other novels. She also continues to weave stories within stories into her narrative, but here without any sense of academic pretension.

From the publisher blurb:

"Nobody in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But the town agrees it’s best to let this ill-omened mansion – and its last lonely heir – go to hell. Stories of the house’s bad luck, like good china, have been passed down the generations.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, or brooding men. But when an opportunity to work there arises, the money might get her brother out of Eden."

I loved Opal's dedication to making a life for her brother and the way she has learned from experience to be cynical and protect herself. She is a complex character with a lot to unpack, as is the Arthur, the current caretaker of Starling House. The book masterfully displays how small town narratives are born and grow, and the power the stories we tell about others have, regardless of the truth. The house is a character unto itself, with agency and secrets that are slowly revealed.

Overall this is a fantastic fall vibes read! It has mystery, adventure, family and romance with great characters and steady plot development. I have seen this described as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which looking back I can see those pieces, but it is oh so much more. I highly recommend!

I listened to this audiobook and it added so much to the experience of this book! The narrator does a phenomenal job of capturing each character distinctly as well as Opal and Arthur's inner monolgue. The tension and feelings were superb! It's well worth getting to listen while reading along, but I think easy to follow if you just want a good spooky audiobook while driving or getting task done where you can't have a book in your hand.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian audio for granting me access to an eARC in exchange for my fair review.

This was such a beautifully creepy book and I loved it!! Alix Harrow writes impeccable vibes, with an almost-sentient house that really just wants to be loved lmao. The main character was very morally grey which I LOVED - Opal is absolutely feral about protecting her younger brother, getting him out of their crappy, racist town, and providing for the both of them. I haven't read a novel about a homeless teen/young adult in a long time, and I really loved how Harrow intertwined their dreams and desperate hopes for more with the creepy Southern Gothic mansion vibes.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the eARC - this book will be out Oct 3 :)

4.25 rounded up.

🌈 Queer rep: bi/pan male main character, lesbian side characters/couple

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I listed to the audiobook version, and really enjoyed the narration.

A slow start, but Harrow picks up in unveiling the importance of the gothic Starling House.

I found it a little reminiscent of Kate Alice Marshall's Thirteens, just for an older audience. Overall enjoyable.

I bet Mitch likes this book. I loved the atmosphere and the main character. The family dynamic and the way it was written was beautiful. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. It got confusing and silly and then ended abruptly.

*4 stars*

This was a lush, atmospheric story. A gothic fairytale set in a dying southern town. This was a story about the hidden horrors of real life, and what it means to find a home. I think Alix E. Harrow’s prose is perfect for this kind of dark fantasy.

The switches between first and third person were a little jarring at first but made sense for the narrative. I would have liked the romance to be a little more fleshed out. Opal and Arthur are very interesting characters and I think the story would have benefited from seeing more of them as they came together.

The narration in the audiobook was done really well. I always think that listening to an atmospheric tale always adds to the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book is so perfect for the Halloween/autumn season. What more could we ask for than a haunted mansion, a secretive brooding man, and spookiness all around? The audiobook narrator was fantastic about giving voice to the characters emotions. Given the narration along with the vivid imagery and suspense provided by the author, this was such a great read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I would like to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

i listened to the audiobook for the first 30% and then read this title in digital arc copy for the remaining 70%, which i preferred. this story was very interesting and imaginative, and alix e. harrow is an intriguing talent. this author is new to me and i look forward to reading more from AEH in the future! i've heard great things about The Ten Thousand Doors of January especially, and i am certain, from the lyricism of starling house, that everything written by this author will have lush composition to be celebrated!

First of all, this felt like a light horror book and I couldn’t stop listening!

Opal is a rough main character in her late teens. Taking care of her kid brother, they live in a motel trying to make ends meet. The Starling house is mysterious property that she can’t help be drawn to. It’s haunted with many secrets but no one is talking.

I really enjoyed this book! The twists and turns kept my attention and I found myself wanting to hear just one more chapter! This is a perfect novel for fall! I highly recommend this novel!


Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the arc!

A gothic fantasy set in a small town in Kentuky, where the secrets of the Starling House refuse to stay silent. Eden is a dead-end town marked by unfortunate events, including the disappearance of a reclusive author and founder of Starling House, E. Starling. Arthur Starling is the last remaining heir to the decaying house. Our main character, Opal, is continuously plagued by dreams of the haunted house. When the broody Arthur offers her an unlikely job, she jumps at the opportunity to help finance her younger brother's education. However, dark forces are at work in Starling House and they have to confront their fears to protect the town from vengeful supernatural entities.

What a fun, quick read for spooky season! The gothic, small-town vibes here were everything I wanted and then some. Very atmospheric with superb storytelling. All the characters felt well-rounded and I was invested from the first chapter to the last. Loved that the house was a living breathing character in itself, which made for a really cool reading experience.

It's also worth mentioning that the pacing in this was impeccable. With it having some heavier themes of generational trauma, family, and home, the forward motion of the book did not get bogged down at all. I was surprised by how much I liked the romantic subplot as well! Overall, this book was great and I highly recommend! Love, love, loved the audiobook, the narrator did a wonderful job.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

To say that this book is phenomenal is an understatement of epic proportions. However, this book is phenomenal!

Easily going to settle into my top 10 for the year, I enjoyed every second of this audio book. Specifically the emotion that the narrator called into their voice and the way they performed rather than just read. Very very good.

In terms of the actual story I didn’t have a lot of expectations going in but even still it wasn’t really what I thought I was getting myself in to. I had it in my mind that this was going to be more horror but I was pleasantly surprised to find it had more dark fairytale vibes. A bit like going to wonderland and finding out everything has teeth. It was unsettling and for the first half of the read, while I was still figuring things out, I felt a little thrill every time something slightly off balance happened. Then as more became apparent it transformed from being somewhat creepy to being exciting and mysterious. I guess that would be my one complaint, sort of. If you go into this expecting a full blown horror story you’ll be disappointed. But if you go in, knowing the bare minimum and that it’s going to be creepy but awesome you’ll be alright.

10/10 I highly recommend this and can’t wait to start giving this to people.

I'm now convinced Alix E. Harrow writes books just for me, because everything about this gothic, slowburn romance in a mysterious, old sentient house spoke to my heart in the best way. Cursed towns, monsters rising with the mist, complex, realistic family dynamics...ugh, I could go on and on.

Starling House was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and it delivered. Opal is one of the best, most realistic and funny heroines I've read in quite a long time, and I adored her relationship with her brother, Jasper, as well as our brooding lead Arthur. The writing in this book was phenomenal, the prose was so vivid that it felt cinematic–and that was only heightened by the fantastic audiobook performance. I was throughly compelled by this story and its twists and turns, and I'm already itching for a re-read in October.

I think some part of my heart will always remain in the halls of Starling House. Actually, now that you mention it, I've been having these weird dreams about a house I've never seen and the hot, tattooed warden that cares for it...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for my honest review

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of Starling House by Alix E. Harrow in exchange for an honest review. I love these types of books, the dark, haunting, mystery with love and hope and good vs evil. I love the tension between Opal and Arthur. Opal's relationship with her brother was totally believable and heartbreaking, they both loved each other so much and tried to protect each other. This is definitely a book I'll reread many times, I loved it.

This felt like watching a movie. The kind you go see at a drive-in theatre with friends on a cool summer night. I would categorize Starling House as a Supernatural Horror Lite ™️ fantasy tale of a women lost within the space between dreams and reality, and where she desires to truly feel alive. A few mystery elements and set in the urban South of the USA gave this book a perspective on this world.

Starling House is an Encanto level sentient place, if it were covered in dust and shutters.

Personally finding space to relate to both MCs felt forced up to the 70% mark when the chips truly began to fall. Harrow has a talent to describe internal thoughts with vigour and poise while not being over complex.

Going into the story I was left wanting more dynamics within the built relationships of Opal and more from the speculative fiction aspects of the story. That said, I feel this book will be enjoyed by many varieties of readerships for its blanketing of themes including; fate vs. free will, family, identity, everlasting love and will to survive.

Listening to the audiobook with Natalie Naudus narrating is always a pleasure, I will happily read any book she narrates. Her intonations and different voices paired well with the characters in this story.

An excellent beginner read to ‘spooky season’.

Much gratitude to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and TOR publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Opal and Jasper are two teenage siblings that live on their own in Eden Kentucky. Opal works to provide for them both, and to ensure her younger brother has a bright future, so when she has an opportunity to work (and make more money) at the "creepy" house, how can she resist? As she works at the "starling house" she discovers the house it not like other buildings, and the owner is not like the other members within Eden. As she works to discover the mysteries of the house and the family, she is startled at some of the information she finds.

The novel covered a surprisingly large amount of ground, and because of this I did not find myself bored while listening to this book, while also appreciating the detail that remained within the writing. There is a very large supernatural element to this novel, and I got "Stranger Things" echoes multiple times from the story-line and the descriptions of the supernatural. I enjoyed the main characters, and their individual quirkiness that went with them. I did almost have a heart-attack at the end of the novel...that is until I kept listening to the epilogue. Thankfully the epilogue cleared up some concerns, and I was happy with the ending overall.

The audiobook was very easy to listen to and the narrator, enjoyable to listen. I would certainly recommend this book for those interested in the spooky supernatural novels.

There was just so much to love about this one! Compelling characters, evocative writing, intriguing mystery... Combined with the excellent audio, this one was definitely a treat! Definitely checked all the boxes for a gothic fairy tale! Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one!

A gothic fairytale novel just in time for spooky season. It is not easy to describe this novel. It's part cozy fantasy, part cozy mystery, which I loved. I loved the mysterious element of a reclusive heir to Starling House.. The house itself was also a mystery with a heart and mind of its own. One of the main characters, Opal, is her younger brother's sole caretaker. To provide for both of them, she takes a job at Starling House, a haunted house in town that most people think is cursed. Soon, the secrets and dangers of the house catch up with Opal and the heir of Startling House. I loved the character development of Opal and thought the novel was well-paced.
Loved the narrator for this novel!

Starling House was a perfect October read. It had gothic elements that were eerie and spooky. I was obsessed and wanted in that house! I listened to this as an audiobook and narrated by Natalie Naudus. She was a great pic for this. Many bad things happened in this town and it was cursed. The characters were raw and broken and I enjoyed it. This very much felt like one of my Halloween films I watch every year.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via MetGalley.