If you want a cozy fantasy story, this book isn't for you. It is heavy with grief and losing.
I loved all the mythical creatures and the diverse cast of characters (especially Oli!). The writing is sometimes a bit clunky but still enjoyable. As I already said, be prepared for a story full of grief and dealing with losing someone and not so much a cozy found family book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book!

I don’t read very much cozy fantasy but I always love books that delve deep into grief so I wanted to check this out. Overall very cute and emotional, but I just never really connected with the plot as much as I’d hoped for!

This does not read like a debut novel. This is the first book from Jaysen or Ezeekat's imprint with Bindery and it was equal parts cozy and heart wrenching. I went into this story somewhat blind, and I appreciated it so much so I won't go into too much detail. This follows the main character Saika, and she is dealing with the loss of her older sister. Her sister Fiona's final wish was to be planted at Ash Gardens.
When she gets to the estate she meets a cast of characters that are so unique and lovable. This story is about grief, holding on to those you hold dear and the struggle of moving on with life without wanting to move on without them. It's crazy how life comes full circle, l've been following Kay since her journey writing this story, before Bindery's Pitch Fest when she tasked herself with writing this book in 30 days. I had a similar loss to the main character last year, and she was one of the people who reached out to make sure that I was okay. And just like her reaching out felt like such a kind gesture, this felt the same but even more so. People need this story. Beyond how unique the characters are, there are so many different kinds of love. This is truly a precious book. Jaysen couldn't have chosen a more perfect story, I understand why he fell in love with it, I fell in love for the very same reasons. I highly recommend.

2.5 rounding up to 3. I really enjoyed the setting and concept of this book. Grief is a universal experience, and very difficult to talk about. It is good to see a theme like this handled in a cozy fantasy. Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the digital ARC.

House of Frank is a delicately crafted story exploring grief and healing as Saika, a witch lost in her grief after losing her sister, begins processing how to finally honor her sister’s wish to be laid to rest (“planted”) in the magical arboretum of Ash Gardens. When Saika arrives and agrees to help out around the large estate in exchange for a place to stay - and in turn prolong the time before she completes her sister’s wish - she begins to unravel the many secrets and mysteries of Ash Gardens, the other residents, and herself.
For me, this was a beautiful story not so much about coming back to yourself, but about discovering and learning to embrace fully living as who you are NOW.


Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books/Ezeekat Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This one's for the queer fantasy lovers.
A pretty cozy, magical, warm book-- a Sapphic romance with grief at its core.
The story is about death, love, and found family, with positive queer representation.

I appreciated the unique/grumpy characters-- elves, a mute ghost, bickering cherubs, a half-witch etc-- the setting and message.

For fans of The House on the Creulian Sea.

Thanks to Bindery Books for the digital Advanced Readers Copy!
When Saika’s sister passes her one request is to be planted in the Ash Gardens but years pass before she can bring herself there to finally say goodbye. This book has a crew of characters that have all either lost someone or something. As you travel with Saika she learns the Ash gardens could use more help than it’s getting so she takes on a task that could save everything but if she fails it could all fall apart. I enjoyed this book as a view of grief and the journey it takes you on and how healing is not in a straight path.

a very cozy fantasy about grief and love -i did get teary eyed so please purchase tissues. I wish I had the correct words to discuss this book, but it felt like a warm hug on a rough day, and i will think about it for a very long time. I cannot wait to purchase this book.
5/5 stars

An equal parts cozy and heart-wrenching read, this soft fantasy book is all about an eclectic group of people who have found each other through grief. What I loved about the book is its honesty on how grief transforms us, how we can become people who are just rather awful to be around or make drastic decisions when the world seemed to have crumbled around us due to loss. Every character, including our protagonist, Saika is flawed and deals with their personal losses in their own ways.

And the diversity! We have various queer representation, characters of various fantasy races, socioeconomic backgrounds and histories. For a book with such heavy themes, it felt like a comfort every time I read a chapter or so before bedtime, and I felt incredibly seen as someone who hasn't completely healed from losing someone even after more than a year.

Thank you Bindery Books, the author and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I leave this review voluntarily.

This book was a good read. While flawed, the characters were all loveable (or at least relatable) & you really wanted everything to work for the House of Frank. I enjoyed this story about friendship, family and the toll grief takes on us all.
I would like to read more about the characters & their stories that brought them to the House of Frank.

I thought this was beautiful, and I definitely shed some tears while reading. This was a lovely cozy fantasy that dealt mainly with the topic of grief. The found family storyline was deeply touching and well done. I'm not normally a fan of a second person narrative, but I thought it really worked for this book!
The pacing of this story was perfect and the character development was just superb. I ended up loving every single character in the end.

To start, I’m going to relay the thought I had nearly the entire time reading this book: this is like if The Irregular Society of Secret Witches had half (or less) of its charm.

I lost a beloved relative of mine 2 days ago. Luckily, I had an arc for this book, so I decided to pick it up. Shocking: media about grief doesn’t always help you grieve, especially when it’s halfassedly executed. So unfortunately, I read this entire book with dry eyes. No message will get across if you can’t connect to the material, and I was not connected or engaged or immersed here. It’s sad; it has all of these components that I would love, but the execution fell a bit flat.

I was very excited for both the fantastical elements and the theme of grief and what it can do to you. Unfortunately, I felt as if both of these aspects were underdeveloped and underbaked. As for the world building: there was 0 world building, with a very quick and ineffective explanation of how magic works. This is pretty damn important to know about in a story in which this is VERY relevant to the plot. I wanted to know about death himself, fallen stars, the entire fucking arboretum, the history of the different races, the different types of magic. I really wish more cozy fantasy books had beef to them: the coziness shouldn’t take away from that meat. I want to be transported and immersed, but I wasn’t in this book. At least in many cozy fantasy stories, the characters and character work make up for the lack of said beef, but we didn’t get any of that good shit in this book either (more on that later).

As for the themes and story, yes, grief can make people do selfish things. There were many characters here that I felt a little something for, as they had all lost people too, but Saika was unlikeable. She was selfish and stupid nearly the entire damn book, often crossing lines and boundaries. Of course, like in many cliche books, she suddenly sobers up and becomes a big hero at the very end…yawn. Oli I grew to like, as I did Phil, Merry, Hilde, and Evette. I went from Liking Frank to tolerating him. Every other character can kick rocks as far as I care. Speaking of characters, there was a startling lack of character development in general. No arcs, no progression, no nothing except for a rushed arc from Saika.

As for the story itself, we know too little about important characters and events. As such, the reveals and the climax are underdeveloped, and the story didn’t resonate. It’s like looking for gold and finding pyrite. Anyways, if anyone actually knows good fantasy stories about grief and navigating it (female centered please) I would love to know. Sucks that this book didn’t hit the mark for me at all.

I didn’t hate everything in this book though. I loved the descriptions, the house, and there were a couple of characters that I liked. The diversity of the different fantastical races and witchy career paths was also enjoyable to read about. I very much also like Beezlebub; she’s a good girl. In addition, this book did contain a nice atmosphere. I’m sure I’ll update this to make it more coherent as the days pass, because bitch I’m grieving too. Anyways, 3 stars.

eARC provided by Netgalley. Thank you!

I was first introduced to The House of Frank, written by Kay Sinclaire, from ezeekat, a TikTok and Instagram content creator I follow. This is the first book he acquired to publish by Bindery Books and I’m honored to be able to read it.

This novel is more than just a cozy fantasy novel. It is a journey of grief and self healing. It is about living, laughing and loving. It is about found family. It is a letter written for the dearly departed.

If you’ve ever lost someone, you can feel the anguish and heartfelt emotions conveyed by the main character Saika. It feels like you’re the only one suffering, but soon you come to terms with reality and that you can rely on others to help you through the tough times and find light in the darkness.

The cast of characters are diverse, with cherubs and witches, and mythical creatures. There is some queer romance in this as well, though not the main point of the story.

And as the title of the novel is called, it is about the house of Frank. A wonderful resting place for those who have passed on, and what a wonderful thing Frank does for those.

I would highly recommend this novel, to those who have lost a loved one in their life.

5/5 stars.

This was such a beautiful cozy fantasy. Fans of Legends and Lattes will love House of Frank. I enjoyed all the representation in the book! It is a great read about grief, found family, and perseverance.

Saika is a witch without powers who has lost her sister. Time hasn’t made it easier to lay her sister’s ashes to rest, and her parents pretending their only living daughter doesn’t exist certainly hasn’t helped either. So she just does it. Or, she intends to, but then there’s a storm and she kind of gets stranded at this … funeral home? It’s not a funeral home, but they do plant ashes, and take care of them when they grow into trees. They also take care of each other.

“House of Frank” has a cozy setting, but I would not describe it as a cozy fantasy – there was too much that could and did go wrong for that. It still felt safe, and I attribute this to a gentle love story.

Although the story was endearing, it felt a bit cluttered to me, and I think it would have benefited from being more focused. I also think the plot might have been better suited for a (long) short story than a novel.


Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC!

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A story full of heart that, for me at least, didn't ever quite take off.

We meet Saika, a witch in desperate mourning after the loss of her sister, and determined to fulfill her dying wish; bury her ashes in under the trees in Ash Garden. What follows is very much a found family story, about grief and about helping one another heal.

What I liked:
Exploring an aspect of grief and loss that I don't think has huge attention: losing a sibling. The whole book is written in first person, as if Saika is talking to her deceased sister. Many times Saika will actively refer to us, the reader, by her sister's name. It's a framing that I know will turn some people off, but I felt like it really grounded us in Saika's journey.

I enjoyed the diverse cast we meet in Ash Gardens and I like the setting itself. Each of the people living at Ash Gardens had their own background and their own story, and I liked hearing about what had brought them there. Especially nice was in reading how they interacted with one another, and the way that they cared. Kay Synclaire also writes nice prose and I found myself enjoying a good turn of phrase fairly frequently.

What I did not:
To me, this book could be summed up as "a bit clunky", whether that's dialogue or characterisation. I struggled to believe in Saika's motivations for remaining at Ash Gardens, and also found myself a bit annoyed by how much of a saviour complex she seems to develop. It's a level of rushed emotional investment for her that never struck me as authentic. The same is true for how she interacts with some of the other characters, especially Oli, where the dialogue tended towards the stilted. I feel like I can see echoes between this and Under the Whispering Door by T J Klune, which in my very subjective opinion felt more polished.

Rating:
For me, this is 3.25 stars rounded down.

We need to start by acknowledging how this book has one of the most delightful, coziest covers I've EVER laid eyes on. It makes me want to crawl inside and live in this magical, strange little world, and I'm very glad that I was given the opportunity to do exactly that.

However, HOUSE OF FRANK felt surprisingly ... empty? It *was* cozy and lovely and magical, but in a hollow sort of way, like the charm was a veneer with nothing underneath. We get very little worldbuilding beyond Ash Gardens—and honestly, I wasn't mad about that, but it did mean that certain key aspects (like how magic works) fell flat. Saika and her friends never felt *quite* real; I didn't *quite* buy into the romance; the coziness & sentiment felt a little *too* contrived. It reminded me strongly of THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA without a certain sharpness that (imho) made that book so memorable. I don't know. After a while, I found myself skimming/skipping pages even though I couldn't put my finger on why.

That being said, there were some genuinely beautiful, sincere moments. The planting ceremony almost had me tearing up, and Kay Synclaire has a gorgeously immersive writing style. I can see this appealing to a wide breadth of readers & I'll definitely be checking out whatever this author writes next!

What a beautiful melody entangled with grief, love and magic.

Now this is a book that wraps you in a warm hug on a stormy night. I truly loved it and devoured it. Saika is mourning the loss of her sister. She had tried everything to avoid her feelings and coming to terms with her loss. That is until she takes a step towards The Ash Gardens. But she finds much more than she bargains for. This book is full of hope, found family and secrets.

I was quickly lost in the words of this book. The author did a beautiful job creating characters to love and relate to. Each reader will find a bit more inside this book than just another fantasy read. They will find a little piece of themselves. I truly wish we had a place like this in our world. But maybe we do we just have to open our eyes to those around us to find peace for our grieving hearts.

Don’t forget to wish upon a star you never know when that wish will be heard.

This is a low stakes cozy fantasy novel, which is also not super long, so a very good first step into the fantasy genre! It covers grief in a thoughtful and beautiful way, and the characters are just amazingly well written. I might have put it as young adult though, instead of adult fiction.

If you are looking for an intro into fantasy, this is the perfect book for you. This short, low stakes fantasy novel covers grief in such a beautiful way. I connected with each of these characters and want to live in The House of Frank. The development of the characters is so thoughtful and well rounded that you can’t help but fall in love with each of them.