Rating: 3.8 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 4/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Gothic, Mystery, Romance
-Horror: 1/5
-Fantasy: 5/5
-Gothic: 5/5
-Mystery: 3/5
-Romance: 4/5
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Yes

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

I had requested this book and was on the fence about it. I left it sitting and was going to pick it up later September but a woman on Tiktok said she wished she had picked it up sooner. That really had me curious. Do I agree with her? Kinda.

Where I did enjoy the story a lot as a whole I did have some annoyance with Opal, mostly, and a bit from Jasper. Opal could be a bit much and how she acted towards Arthur made my blood boil sometimes. As for Jasper. How he treated Opal sometimes annoyed me. Also this whole book felt like a NA/YA novel. For these people to be 26/27 and acting like they fresh out the womb... it was annoying.

Beyond that, the story was... so so good. Despite how I felt about Opal as a person I did cheer for her and Arthur a good chunk of the time. It was magical and gothic. It showed the ugly side of history. It showed how people are disgusting monsters when it comes to ownership and land. I really really do recommend this book.

🪞AUDIOBOOK REVIEW🪞

Starling House - Alix E. Harrow
Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for my copy!

"This book has everything you could possibly want this fall...a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting—plus, characters willing to risk everything." —Reese Witherspoon

This spooky, eerie gripped me from the first chapter. I loved the atmospheric writing. Based in rural Kentucky, it follows Opal, high school dropout, who is trying to make a better life for her brother. She’s really one of those characters that I instantly connected with - willing to lie, cheat or steal to survive. Her relationship with her brother was so tender and heartwarming.

While I did enjoy the spooky, Southern gothic haunted house part of the story, my favorite take away was the consequences that can happen when small towns collectively keep secrets. I thought Harrow did an excellent job with mixing in themes of poverty and generational trauma into a horror, fantasy setting.

Recommend if you like:
- Southern gothic
- A haunted house
- Towns full of secrets
- Slow burn romance
- Complex characters

I'm a sucker for a book that nestles in-universe information via things like Wikipedia excerpts and people telling stories to other people, so unsurprisingly, this ended up being incredibly up my alley. It's a combination of a story about the power of stories to shape a community, as well as an old school gothic romance set in a slowly decaying mining town. You've got a mysterious, quite probably haunted house, the mysterious young man who owns it, the strange happenings around it and the town itself, and a curious girl who has a wider tie to all of it that she's not necessarily aware of just yet, and the community and people around our protagonist. We also get a combo of first person and third person POV, which is just fun. This was mostly read on my commute to/from work, and it was something that gave me something to look forward to during the work day if nothing else. Plus, Rovinia Cai illustrations!! Definitely worth a read through when you can get your hands on it. Also Ms. Naudus does a great job narrating!

Starling House was an eerie, clever, and incredibly intriguing ghost story full of magic. I did not want to put this one down.

Fantastic writing! The story is woven together perfectly, with so many layers that keep the reader guessing and turning the page.

I listened to the audiobook. I listened at 1.5x speed (my normal is 1.75x speed) because I wanted to capture all the detail, and the main narrator speed seemed a bit faster than most adult books. I loved both the main narrator, and the secondary. They did a fantastic job!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced audio copy.

Starling House is a Southern gothic story that follows Opal, a young, poverty-stricken women in Eden, KY, scraping to get by as she cares for her teenage brother. She gets an opportunity to work at Starling House, a mysterious and infamously creepy place, that she’s been obsessed with since she was a child. Opal falls deeper into the mystery of the house and it’s owner as the story unravels.

This book sounds exactly like the kind of gothic fiction I usually love, and I did enjoy the main plot line and the house itself. What I didn’t connect with were the characters or the romance-while-in-peril side story.

I listened on audio as an ARC and I would not recommend it. The narrator was not a good fit for the character and had no hint of a rural Kentucky accent. As someone with in-laws from that area, I just couldn’t forgive the oversight.

This story is more grounded and gritty than any of Harrow’s previous works and while many readers will connect more with this, I did not. I’m here for the fantasy and escape.

While this not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, it was just okay for me. I will still read more from Harrow because I love her creative ideas.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Such beautiful writing, a bit spooky, a lot gothic, beautiful and atmospheric- the perfect pick for fall !
This book is an amazing slow-burn southern gothic/ urban fantasy/horror novel about a creepy house with a complicated history, a book about a book, an exploration on how history distorts the truth and is told by the winners, how poverty can be just as horrific and scary as the fantastical horrors plaguing this fictional town of Eden, Kentucky - or is it really a Beauty And The Beast retelling ?
Opal's character from start to finish was so incredibly written - a grumpy MC with crooked teeth hardened by years of not really being wanted anywhere, just tolerated. I feel that Harrow has truly nailed her flowery prose with this one - descriptive, emotive and atmospheric with a straight to the point plot.
Opal is in need of work to look after her little brother, but she is stuck in a dead end town dominated by a mine which poisons the water and the air and contributes to her brother's asthma and the need to get him out of there which requires money she doesn't have or can realistically earn with her measly retail hours. So when she's offered the job of housekeeper to an obviously haunted house, with a reclusive owner, she takes the offer. But her Heathcliff isn't brooding, he is determined, but what if the house has been calling for her?
I could not stop reading/listening to this book. Listening to the audiobook for this really immersed me in the world. It felt so atmospheric and gripping I sped through it in just two days!

This book has a little something for everyone: horror, fantasy, romance, thriller…. It would probably be a four star read if it wasn’t for the slow start. I almost stopped reading about half way thru, but I’m glad I stuck with it because it paid off in the end.

I love everything about Starling House, the gothic setting, the aching romantic B plot, and the hidden secrets in plain sight.

This book transported me and I adored every second of it.

All the stars go to Starling House, I will be dreaming of it for years to come.

If you are a fan of sentient houses, gothic settings, spooky vibes, and romance that makes you ache - read Starling House.

3.5 Stars
Love the concept

Opal's fascination with the Starling house started the moment she devoured E. Starling's spellbinding novel - The Underland. Each page filled her mind with vivid images of mystery and adventure, leaving her yearning for more. Now, years later, the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself, offering her a chance to not only come closer to the enigmatic Starling house but also to give her beloved younger brother a chance to leave this desolate town. Can she unravel the secrets shrouding the Starling house? Or has she embarked on a perilous journey beyond her imagination?

I must confess that it took me some time to get into the story. The initial half was a bit slow for my taste. However, things took a significant turn in the second half, where we were finally presented with answers and clues regarding the enigma of the Starling house. It was a surprising twist that I was not expecting.

Overall, an interesting read. Would recommend it to fans of horror and fantasy.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Alix E. Harrow, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

First thank you to Netgalley and the Author for allowing me to arc read this lovely book. This is solely my honest opinion and I haven’t been paid to make this review.

I loved the way the way this was written and had a spooky vibe to it on a “Goosebump” level. Being an adult, it fell a little short for me. I did enjoy the book and I would absolutely recommend the book and will be getting a hard copy for myself.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this book. I am a huge Alix E. Harrow fan, particularly of his fractured fables, and Starling House does not disappoint!

At Starling House, you can never be free from your past, and the truth is never as it seems...

In this Southern Gothic haunted house tale, we meet Opal, an impoverished girl who needs money to take care of her younger brother, and Arthur, who lives in a huge lonely house with a lot of secrets. Arthur is the last warden of the Starling family, and must battle the nightmares plaguing both the house and his family. But Opal has secrets of her own. What starts out as an employer-employee situation turns into a dark, spooky romance and an unlikely hero, with battles against monsters, and a whole lot of blood.

I loved everything about this story, from the plot, to the characters. The development of Arthur's character in particular was great to read. The audiobook was a great listen, and had the perfect pace and narration. It really transported me into the story! There were some definitely dark undertones in the story, slavery betrayal, female anger, and revenge, but everything came together beautifully into a haunting story that had you emotionally invested in the characters by the end.

I will definitely be recommending this book, both in audiobook and print form! Any fan of Gothic Horror will love it!

🖤🎃𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝑬𝒗𝒆🎃🖤

How is Halloween already, I’m not ready for October to be over!!

🥺

“𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏…”- 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆

If you are like me and will be continuing to read spooky books all the way till December, be sure to add STARLING HOUSE to your TBR! It was so good🥺👀☕️🤌🏻

👻𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄👻

Published Oct. 3rd, 2023

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Audio narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
**highly recommend the audiobook🎧

It’s almost like a cross between adult fiction and YA so it’s on the lighter side of folklore and haunted myths but oh my gosh it was the perfect fall book. Contains: a gothic mansion (haunted of course), a cursed and sinful town, dark fairytales, and vivid dreams. PERFECTION🤌🏻

Have you read this one yet?! Do you plan to??

In a small town in Kentucky - Eden - everyone knows about the mysterious Starling house. Trash piles up for days. The Starling heir, Arthur, is supposedly living there, but is never seen. Opal starts having dreams about the house before she ever accepts the job offer to work there. She knows she's supposed to be there.

There she finds about the mysterious E Starling, who wrote about a mystical world called the Underland before disappearing forever.

I found this so engaging to listen to. I'm usually not a big history fan, but given that this is mostly a history set in present day, I was just so drawn into it. It's like a dark gothic fairy tale, and I loved it. It's definitely not traditional horror and I can understand why some reviewers are saying it doesn't really fit.

Even if you're not a big fantasy fan (I'm not either) give this one a chance.

Thank you Macmillan audio for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

In a Nutshell: A Gothic Fantasy with minor shades of horror. Contains beautiful prose and interesting characters, but not much plot depth. The pacing was somewhat off.

Story Synopsis:
Eden, Kentucky is a dying town that’s been ravaged by pollution, thanks to the Gravely Power company. The only positive thing springing from Eden has been the legacy of author E. Starling, a reclusive nineteenth century author who left behind a children’s book titled ‘The Underland’ and a sprawling mansion rumoured to be haunted. Today, the only resident of Starling House is the equally mysterious Arthur Starling, whom no one knows anything about but everyone agrees that it is best to stay away from him.
When Opal gets a job offer from Arthur to housekeep Starling House, the salary is good enough for her to fulfil her dreams of sending her intelligent younger brother Jasper away from Eden. But as she cleans up the mysterious mansion, she unearths dangerous secrets from the past and the present. Now it is up to Opal and Arthur to ensure that Starling House doesn’t result in the end of Eden.
The story comes to us in the perspectives of Opal (first person) and Arthur (third person).

I had loved this author’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and while I do want to read her interim books, I expected a lot from my second Harrow pick. Unfortunately, while this book began well, it spiralled into chaos as it progressed and the ending was a mess. I usually have extensive notes in my review draft so that I can remember the key points while actually reviewing. But this time, I had almost nothing in my draft except for a couple of comments about the characters. Based on what I remember, my feelings are pretty mixed all the way.

✔ The book is supposed to be a Gothic fantasy with shades of romance. The Gothic angle works excellently.
⚠ This is not at all horror, despite the presence of “monsters”. The fantasy elements are explained to a certain extent at the end, but I didn’t like the format of the explanation – it was almost like an infodump coming out of nowhere.
❌ The romance, while not unexpected, was underdeveloped. I couldn’t see the attraction at all, especially from Opal’s side as her feelings seem to go from 0 to 100 within no time and with no reason.

✔ The fictional town of Eden, where the story is set, creates a great atmosphere for the story. The town’s struggles because of pollution and corporate apathy come out well through the atmospheric writing.
❌ The setting could have been utilised much better. The small town vibe has been used only for its negative traits.

✔ Opal as the main character is tough to like but tough to ignore as well. She is gutsy and doesn’t shy from speaking her mind. At the same time, she is loyal and ready to do anything for her brother. It would have been easy to hate Opal, but I admired her determination.
❌ Opal Is twenty-seven; she acts seventeen for more than half of the book.

✔ Arthur is the strong, silent type. He reminded me of ‘Beast’ from Beauty & the Beast. It was nice to see a reserved and introspective male character as the warden of a haunted house.
❌ Why was his physical unattractiveness vital for the plot? I was tired of the stress on his looks, or rather, lack thereof.

✔ Starling House makes for an impressive third character. I love this trend of houses with feelings, though I have seen this handled much better in other fantasy novels.
⚠ The hotel owner and the librarian had much potential. As did the hellcat. Wish they had been used better in the story.
❌ The motivation behind antagonist Elizabeth Baines didn’t make any sense. E. Starling’s character is sorely underutilised. Jasper (Opal’s brother) could have also been used better for his brains. But he hardly get anything to do.

✔ There is an excellent use of metaphors and imagery to enhance the plot. The author’s vocabulary had impressed me in her debut novel, and her prowess with words is visible in this one as well.
❌ The story seems overly elaborate at times. Despite this, many plot points are left dangling. Who was narrating the footnotes? What was with Arthur’s tattoos? What’s with the townspeople keeping so many secrets from Opal?

✔ The start is excellent in establishing the two main characters and the baffling backstory of Starling House.
❌ The pacing drags much in the middle. The end is a weird combo of dragged + rushed – go figure! The action is limited to the climax. The rest of the book is more like a slowburn exposition of fears and feelings.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 12 hrs 26 min, is narrated by Natalie Naudus. She does an excellent job with the female characters and a decent job with the male characters. She is most impressive with the footnotes. There are many footnotes in the book, explaining or countering a point made in the main story. However, Naudus narrates these footnotes in a distinct voice, making it very clear that the narration has segued into the footnote.
That said, this audiobook was a challenging exercise – listening to extensive footnotes in audiobooks isn’t easy. I wouldn’t recommend the audio version to newbies, though avid listeners might find it a good way of completing this slow-paced book.

All in all, I knew I could expect great prose from this novel, and I got it. But I was looking for a better experience with the fantasy/horror elements. Going for the midway rating as my feedback is pretty balanced between the pros and cons.

3 stars.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Starling House”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

Starling House is the story of Opal and, well, Starling House, a dilapidated old mansion known at one point to house a reclusive author who wrote a terrifying children’s book called The Underland. Opal is beyond poor and caring for her younger brother. When the current heir living in Starling House, Arthur offers Oal a job, it just might be the thing that helps her out of poverty or it might just be the thing that gets her killed.

This book started out strong and I was super invested until it lost me. I’m not sure exactly at what point the book failed to hold my attention, but it did unfortunately. I was super intrigued by the lore of Starling House and was ecstatic when the book talked about The Underland, a bit disappointed not to see any pictures because this book had reference entries, so I thought it was coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Natalie Naudus was a fine narrator. I wanted to love this book, but in the end, I thought it was just okay.

The secrets of Starling House immediately draw you in. Why does this house call to certain people? Why do they dream of things inside the walls of the house that they have never seen.
Opal is one of the many draw to Starling house and is eager to learn the secrets. Arthur, the latest resident offers Opal a job and soon the horrors of the house come to light, and secrets better kept in the dark start popping up.
This book is pretty fast paced and easy to get through, the characters personalities shine through in every scene, even the ones that pop up rarely in the whole book. The mysteries and horrors will keep you reading and on the edge of you seat until the end.

I loved everything about this book. It tugged at your heart. It had found family. It was relatable with a splash of magic. There was mystery. Romance. It is about wanting to belong. These characters with tackle their way into your heart and stay there. The narrator did a great job. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen in exchange for a review.

Intoxicating writing with the most engrossing imagery. Alix pulls you right in and doesn’t let go until the last page. The sheer creativity is astounding! Character development was strong and the undertones of justice propelled the narrative into a satisfying trajectory.

The audiobook version was brilliant—incredibly narrated and perfectly produced. In fact, the narration made all the difference in keeping me engaged during the short lulls in the storyline.

A great addition to your year-round “Halloween” collection.

A beautiful gothic novel that sucked me in so completely that I had finished the whole book before I even realized it. Alix E. Harrow has a way with pose that always weaves the world in such an engaging way that despite its leaning toward purple prose it never feels like too much to me. Opal was a fantastic main character, especially when balanced with Arthur Starling, they both craved something more but were willing to set that to the side to help their loved ones. However, what really sucked me in was the folklore and backstories to the world, especially the twisted, sinister setting of Underland. Natalie Naudus did a wonderful job of narrating by lending just the right tonality to the story. Overall, a grimly beautiful gothic tale that is a perfect read for anyone looking to feel cozy and scared at the same time.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for early access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of both the e-book and audiobook of Starling House by Alix E Harrow.

This is the perfect spooky fall read as we follow Opal, a ne’er-do-well, and Arthur, the guardian of a mysterious house.

If you love Gothic novels where houses come alive and are as important of a character as the human ones, this is a great fit for you. This gave me all of the Edgar Allen Poe, House of Usher, vibes.