Okay so.... this book was not intended for me (32 year old female). I think a younger audience might like it. Both the main character and the audiobook narrator really bothered me, which are both central to the book. Thank you for allowing me to try it!

Starling House, a good easy listen. I enjoyed the narration and felt a connection with the main character. I would like to read more about her. The storyline of the almost magnetic pull of Starling House was intriguing and kept me listening easily but the ending fell a little flat for me. However I would still read a second one.

I haven’t read Alice E. Harrow’s other books but I was really drawn by the premise of Starling House. I love anthropomorphised objects so this was really appealing.

Starling House is a deeply atmospheric southern gothic fantasy. There are lots of Beauty and the Beast references and parallels to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I really enjoyed the explorations of the House. Definitely my favourite character in the book. I did like the human characters too, and the slow burn romance was nicely done. I also really loved Baast the hellcat.

Overall this was a really satisfying standalone story, and I would definitely recommend it.

This author has the most beautiful prose. It’s not purple, although is perfectly lyrical. It’s not descriptive, although is poetically ostentatious in creativity and design. And despite having some serious pacing issue (this is a SLOW book!), the writing style is such that you want to keep reading to dive further into that prose. Amongst other reasons, this is the one familiarity I felt with Alice in Wonderland of which it has certainly been designed with a view to giving a little nod to.

Arthur is the final warden of Starling House. This is a curtain twitching type of community where everyone knows everyone else’s business, but somehow nobody quite knows the true story of the mysterious house on the hill and it’s final living heir. They certainly have a good stab at making stuff up though, of course! He’s not doing a fabulous job of keeping the house in good shape though so he employs Opal - the neighbourhood nobody who is desperate to beg, borrow and steal whatever she can to make a quick buck.

Opal is an interesting character, more so than the house itself, who is utterly pathological in her lies and bitter about the hand that has been given to her (quite fairly so, truth be told). She’s a fun character to get in the mind of, and actually because the mystery of the house was quite underwhelming when originally revealed, she’s actually eventually the most interesting part of the story.

As I alluded to though - the pacing is off and this book is super slow. Not because it’s needlessly descriptive, although the footnotes are ridiculous and totally unnecessary, but purely because the focus here is on prose not on plot or intrigue. This wouldn’t usually work for me, but somehow it does for this author.

So the story was pretty underwhelming and certainly the mystery was a bit flat once unearthed, but I love the writing so I’ll really look forward to trying out some of the authors other work in the future nonetheless!

I adored this book, but I was very aware while reading it that it's not the sort of book everyone will like. It is a book of vibes and while there is a plot, it's very slow to start and for most of the book it's happening in the background. I personally adored the vibes and was very happy to just sink into the book and enjoy it, but I know other people have had problems with books like this, so I wanted to issue a warning.

I loved the themes of finding a home in this book. The main character Opal lives in a motel room with her brother and there were other characters looking for a home in Starling House too. It was very much a book about finding where you belong as much as it was of haunted house vibes.

I also have to say it was refreshing to see a story that didn't shy away from the realities of rich families in America who've made all their money through colonialism and slavery. Alix E. Harrow has always been very good at this and it's good to see that not only acknowledged but made a big part of the plot.

The narrator was excellent and she gave a sort of dream like quality to the book that really really fit well with the aforementioned vibes. I would recommend having a hard copy of the book to refer back to though as there were places I wanted to look back to confirm the details of, especially with the different stories of Starling House.

If you like a book with good vibes, this is a great choice!

A small town is haunted by a history it can't. Bury and Opal is drawn to a creepy house at its centre. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

This book had very cosy gothic vibes. I had a great time reading this. I was completely drawn in from the start and was so invested in the story.

I listened to this on audi, and I found the audio to be very well read and an engaging and very enjoyable experience.

Thank you to Netgalley, MacMillian UK Audio, and Alix E Harrow for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alix E. Harrow is a very popular author whose books will definitely appeal to a lot of ya aficionados. i however found the story's components cliched and uninspired.

“I might be a liar and a thief and a cheat, but I'll walk barefoot through hell for what I need”

I listened to the audiobook which I really enjoyed. The narrator kept me hooked and narration gave the spooky vibe of the book.

Okay so this isn’t my usual type of read but the cover had me intrigued and I actually ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would.

This book has gothic beauty & the beast vibes with a sentient house that draws the MC, Opal, to it.
The house has a rich and dark history which still intrigues all the people in the town and Opal is no exception. She takes a job as a cleaner in the house to make ends meet and look after her younger brother.
There we meet Arthur who is the lone heir of the house and grumpy & broody and does not like anyone.

We follow Opal as she uncovers secrets of the house and the town she lives in while trying to protect her brother and deal with her complicated feelings about Arthur.

While the book has a slow start, I was soon intrigued but all the history and lore about the house and how the stories are connected and why the house calls to Opal.
Even though I don’t read horror this was the right level of spooky and dark and had me hooked with wanting to uncover all the secrets.

As a gothic literature fanatic with a particular love for sentient houses... this did NOT disappoint!
I loved this for so many reasons ~ Starling house as it's own character with perfect personification, the whimsy, the haunting atmosphere, and the twists that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I adored Opal as a character (including her flaws) and I loved reading about the complexities of loyalty to her family when hope and desire conspired against it. With this, one of my favourite parts was also the continuous ways that history was repeating itself - for better or for worse. AND THE SENTIENT HOUSE!!! The houses' narrative was one that carried such uniqueness and the gothic motifs laced throughout was a consistent reminder as to why I love the genre SO MUCH.

The first half of this book undoubtedly felt like a 5 star for me, and despite loving the second half nearly as much, the pacing slightly affected my rating. If you're after a gloomy and melancholic gothic fairytale, I cannot recommend this enough! (I already can't stop thinking about rereading this)

rating: 4.5

What a thoroughly charming story.

My first Alix E Harrow took me into the mysterious world of Opal and her younger brother Jasper, living in the small town of Eden. Their mother killed in an accident when they were younger, Opal dropped out of school to get a job to support her brother whilst they were living in their towns local motel. When Opal's curiousity about the mysterious Starling House gets the better of her, it takes both her and Jasper into a dark mysterious world of adventure, horror, magic and the true power of dreams.

For the first 30% of this book, I couldn't see where this story was going to go or what type of genre it was going to fit into. However, once you get past that point, the story becomes much fuller and developed as do the characters, especially Opal, who you really come to feel for. There's also a number of characters who really develop throughout the story and because of this, you really do see them in such a different way that has a huge impact on the story.

This was such a charming and magical story and don't let the fact that I have given it 4 stars put you off. This was an unexpected surprise and one I enjoyed immensely.

From the synopsis of Starling House, I knew this book wouldn't disappoint me, and it did.
A story with gothic and mysterious traits.
A story whose protagonist is an enterprising and adventurous girl.
The story intrigued me right away, I felt involved. Alix E. Harrow proved to be a guarantee this time too! Plus the paper edition is beautiful, enriched with illustrations. I can't wait to have it in my hands.

I absolutely loved this book, one of my top 5 for 2023. It is a gothic mystery in which we see history linked with present and the mystery of a small town.

One thing about me, I absolutely love eerie, gothic houses setting for my books, so this is catnip to me!
I loved the ambiance, the setting and the tone of the book, they definitely pulled me in and kept me interested til the very end.
The characters and their relationships to one another were very intriguing! The way each of the MCs fought to do the right thing for everyone was inspiring.
The plot was insane but it still made a lot of sense and I once again enjoyed the odd and eerie vibes.
I did take down a star because it felt a bit slow at times, but I know I would've loved the pace if I had been in a different mood.
The audiobook was very well done! The narrator did a wonderful job bringing this book to life.

When I had finished reading The Once and Future Witches, also by Alix E. Harrow, I immediately promised myself to read more of her work, I slumbered a bit on that promise, but then along came Starling House with it's ominous foreboding, and the description filled with murky promise.

I absolutely loved it. Despite not generally loving contemporary fiction, this drew me in with Alix's evocative writing style and the creepy atmosphere, it kept me hooked as the story built, the threat from within the town and below it growing darker and the threads tying the two main characters, as well as the various side characters, together growing stronger, the bonds and histories gradually revealing themselves as though approaching through the mist. It was really cleverly done.

I really like the exploration of found family, family-based trauma and anxieties, and the idea of want and need and how the two can be intertwined, indistinguishable, and what that might lead to - for good, or bad. The truth and the hiding or shying away from it and what that can mean for societies and individuals, also is a deeper central theme as well. It left me with a lot to think about, and for a book that's also a Gothic romance, with Stranger Things vibes as well as notes of Hades and Persephone and Greek mythology thrown in, that's a lot packed into a pretty quick absorbing read.

I will say that if you're a character arc kind of reader, then this might not be your thing so much, the focus is on the characters' relationships and history, more then their personalities or development. It's not that the character-work is shallow exactly, but that the characters themselves aren't explored as much as what they mean to each other in terms of family, connection, and as a means of healing each other through that connection. But in terms of how they are presented, Arthur can feel a little one-note, which is part of the point - he is trapped within himself, and Opal can feel a little young - though again, part of the point, she has focused on survival and her brother, and hasn't moved past a particular point in her life. The house is a character too, though, which I enjoyed.
It just depends what kind of a reader you are, those elements might make it hard to connect to the central characters, but for atmosphere and the themes, I loved it...and now I need to go and ind The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I listened to the audiobook for most of the story, then switchd to the physical copy (the gorgeous illumicrate edition) for the last third. As a lover of physical books, I was able to appreciate the imagery and nuances more when reading the physical copy, but the narrator of the audiobook was very good, she had a kind of moody world-weary tone that suited Opal's experiences well, so I got a feel for Opal through her narration that I carried through to my reading of the end, - less so for Arthur, but the book isn't really his point of view,

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for this honest review.

Deeply atmospheric and beautifully written, with an enticing plot, a well written mystery and wonderful characters to match. Definitely a favorite read of the year.

An intriguing thriller charting the lives of Opal and her brother. Orphaned after their mother dies in a road traffic accident, the siblings are used to relying only on themselves, their crabby landlady Bev and the local librarian, Charlotte.

Determined to help her brother escape the dead end town for one with healthier prospects, Opal stumbles upon an opportunity which turns out to be both a blessing and a curse.

Hated by many in the town and pursued by a know-it all mysterious lady (acting for the local wealthy power plant owners), Opal is often fighting a solo battle to survive. Little knowing that a whole other world is just beyond her reach and knowledge - one that's legally her birth right!

Filled with fantastically spooky and scary beasts, a seemingly sentient house that chooses how to be structured, some menacing mist and family secrets and lies, Starling House has something for everyone with love, mystery, horror and a happy ending. It certainly kept me gripped throughout my listen.

This was a well written but somewhat predictable story. I really enjoyed the dark elements and morally grey main characters.

I heard many good things about this one and was excited to get stuck in but I have so many questions now I have read it... Why is it not branded as YA? Why was the narrator so hysterical? Why did this book need to be so long? Why did I finish it?
Maybe I wasn't the right audience for it... There WERE parts of it I enjoyed, when it finally got going and the house came alive. But there were so many frustrating parts - the pace, the main character, the "tension" between her and Arthur and the lacklustre romance between them. It was just so very MEH in every possible aspect.

Not for me.

A gorgeous southern Gothic tale from Alix E. Harrow. I absolutely loved the combination of fantasy, horror, and Gothic elements. The amazing characters are amazing, despite their flaws, and I loved all of the interactions between them. This book also depicts one of the best sibling relationships I've ever read. This will easily make my 'best books of the year' list!

I really enjoyed the way she tells a story. Starling House was a great little cozy gothic fairytale. I liked how the house was very much a character and that you could feel the atmosphere from the start. The plot was written well overall I really did enjoy this book I enjoyed the voice actors and it was the perfect book to read in spooky season