I really enjoyed this book. It felt warm and cozy, or at least as cozy as you can get when the story revolves around grief. It also contains my favorite trope: found family.

Saika is feeling lost after her sister's death and we meet her after a couple years of travel as she arrived at the location her sister requested to be laid to rest. She meets the crew at Ash Gardens and ends up sticking around and helping out while waiting to feel ready to bury her sister's ashes. As she works, we start to learn more about her past, slowly unraveling what has led to her current state.

My big criticism is that the romance line between Saika and Oli doesn't feel very organic while they're flirting and getting together. I honestly was hoping it wouldn't happen. Once they were established, it was fine, but I didn't feel chemistry between them that got them there.

“And I fear I still haven’t let her go.”

“Why should you?” He lifts a gentle brow. “She was a major part of you. Letting go of her would mean letting go of a piece of yourself.”

Cozy fantasy, but it's actually quite a deep exploration of grief and loss. I loved the cover, loved the magical aspects of it, and loved the idea of burying loved ones in an arboretum where their spirits connect with magical trees. That said, I hated the narration. The main character is talking to the sister she lost, so it's all in the second person and that kept me disconnected from the story. I liked a lot of the elements, including the found family and sapphic romance, but ultimately, I didn't like the execution.

House of Frank by Kay Synclaire was a grief heavy but magnificent story that managed to balance themes of fpound family and connecction as well as queer storylines. There is a perfect blend of greif and love, sadness and companionship that feels like a creative communal home for processing difficult emotions in a safe and supportive way. I feel like there is no other war to describe this novel but brave and transformative.

Interesting concept but I found the storytelling dry and hard to get into. It felt like a slog sadly.

When Saika travels to the Ash Gardens to bury her sister as per her dying request. She finds that she struggles to let go of her and fulfill her promise. Instead Frank the keeper of Ash Gardens offers her a place in his home in return for her help until she is ready to lay her sister to rest. Saika finds herself among a rag tag bunch of individuals, including but not limited to cherubs, witches, a ghost and a dragon, all who have lost something or someone in their lives and have found purpose at Ash Gardens.

Cozy fantasy is the vibe and House of Frank does it perfectly. With a hint of mystery added in and the slow unfolding of our main characters past. I was kept intrigued the whole way through.

I have struggled to find 5 star reads this year, but something about House of Frank just filled a gap that I wasn't aware required satisfying.
I got wholly attached to the characters and Ash Gardens. I adored each and every one of them and their unique personalities. The sapphic representation and budding romance was perfectly created and felt so natural and beautiful. While this book does deal with heavy topics, it never feels overtly depressing. Instead it explores the themes of grief with a touch of whimsy.

The narration was hard to get into at first as Saika continuously talks to her deceased sister Fi about everything that is going on, which removed me from the story at times. However, this improved as the book went on and was a stylistic choice that made sense, given that those who are grieving often crave ways in which to feel close to the deceased. For Saika this was talking to her sister.

Overall House of Frank is a bittersweet story of loss, grief and the measures we go to for the ones we love. It was a total winner in my opinion and has become one of my new favourite comfort reads. If you enjoyed the likes of The House in the Cerulean sea then House of Frank is right up your alley.

Big Thank-you to Netgalley, Bindery Books and Ezeekat Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"What's a gift?"
"Life. Especially after seeing how fragile it can be.
You're broken for some time, yes. But then you pick yourself up again."

There are so many things I wish I could say but I try to limit myself a bit because review pages have a word limit.
Let me start with how you grow attached to all and any of the souls you meet in the House of Frank, of the way the cherubs are the way are, how Hilde will sit down with you over a cup of tea and Oli will tell you about pirate stories, how Saika will try to help you no matter what and how everyone. And I mean everyone. Will sneak into a place in your heart.
This story is extremely heartfelt. And I loved it with every page I read. Grief and loss are such important matters. And it is shown in many of its forms here. Which makes it so gripping. So understandable. And yet it also shows very wonderfully but also messy healing can be.

Perfect for fan's of TJ Klune's Te Whispering Dorr, House of Frank is going to wealcome readers in with open arms. A tale about grief, and how moving on doesn't always mean letting go, this book addresses hard topics with compassion and kindness. Full of diverse, interesting characters House of Frank is a story that will warm your heart and wishing you could read it again for the first time.

The House of Frank is a story that will break your heart but also heal and rebuild it. The story follows Saika, who finds herself at Ash Gardens after spending some time grieving the loss of her sister. Her sisters wish was to be buried at Ash Gardens, but Saika is still grieving and is struggling following through her sister's wishes. Frank, the owner of the house, offers Saika a job in the meantime. Little does Saika know, that she's not the old one harboring a secret.

This story goes over grief and love in the best ways. I struggled on the public transportation while reading this, being on the verge of tears with every page. The characters are all so special and have really great backstories. This is definitely a book i plan on buying for myself, and maybe as a gift for someone who might need it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC of House of Frank! I am always happy to support new authors and I was so excited to read this, as it is being published by one of my favorite influencers. It did not disappoint!! It was such an emotional journey. I cried several times, and don't even get me started on the epilogue. I really fell in love with so many of the characters. I especially loved Phil, and to give so much personality to a ghost who doesn't talk is pretty astounding. It does give "Under the Whispering Door" vibes, but the story feels new and fresh. It does have some flaws, but overall I immensely enjoyed this story. 4.25/5 stars

What a heartwarming and lovely book. This book gave me all the feels and felt like coming home to a nice warm hug. The pacing in this was perfect and the characters were all so wonderful. I don’t know if cozy fantasy is a genre but that’s what it felt like to me. I really enjoyed it!

Thank you Bindery books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The House of Frank was an unexpectedly poignant and beautiful promenade through the process of grief, love, healing and support. The prose was so heartfelt and touching that it made this book incredibly easy to read and a delight to enjoy. I thought the book was extremely well-written and that the pacing was excellent. I loved the multiple journeys of healing, the growth of the characters and the found family moments. I also loved that the topic of death and grief did not feel overwhelming or heavy. Synclaire did a fantastic job of making the story feel accessible and for me, completely relatable. I've seen others calling this a cozy fantasy and while I agree the vibes are low-key, this book felt like more than what that genre has given me in the past. I guess wherever this book becomes categorized, at it's core, it was warm and kind and full of relationships that are representative of real people and real dynamics, not always perfect, not always present, but always there..

I picked this one up because I'm a fan of TJ Klune and I thought this might hit the same blend of cozy fantasy and emotional resonance.

Synclaire's magic is the strong element of this book. It's cozy fantasy with unique elements. I enjoyed the system and the relationship to the stars, etc. There is enough to set her magic apart from others without it being boring or overly familiar. The central premise, that the ashes of the dead can be planted in a magical arboretum and grow trees, is truly brilliant. I loved that idea.

Unfortunately, the book was disappointing in terms of emotional resonance and character development. The characters are very surface level and most are limited to a few identifiable traits. At no point was I really invested in the relationships because we don't see those develop and deepen in a believable way, particularly the romance.

Saika, the protagonist, is the worst culprit of this. This character seems to be serving a function in a scene rather than actively participating. She goes from insulting to caring, controlling to cooperative, without any rhyme or reason. She is completely lacking in self-awareness and does not earn her place in this "found family." She says and does harsh things to the other characters, especially Frank, without having a single moment of "this isn't my place" or remorse. Her place among the others is not earned, and as a result I was irritated by her. Her Music witchery doesn't seem to serve much of a function, since she actually (gasp!) can play an instrument without magic. At the same time, she's snide about witches who didn't declare formal elevated study - but we never get to learn why she has this bias. There are a lot of things about Saika which are contradictory, nonsensical, and which we never really get to understand.

The romance arc falls prey to this as well. It is obvious from Saika and Oli's first encounter that they will be romantically entangled, yet by the end of the book I was still question why. Besides their banter (at times well-done) I couldn't see any justification for why they were together. It seemed that the book needed a romance, and so Synclaire fit one in. I was not rooting for them not did I feel any romantic tension. Oli is arguably the strongest character in this book with a far more compelling story than Saika's, but I absolutely don't understand their connection. She just falls in love with her for... reasons?

The central theme of the book is grief, and Synclaire delves into this through every character, particularly Saika. I found this element to be executed fairly well, though the grief backgrounds of the other characters were rudimentary at best and often given in info-dumping dialogue.

Ah, the dialogue. I truly did not enjoy it. At times preachy and overly sentimental, and generally stilted and unnatural sounding, it was just not my cup of tea. With the exception of Oli and Morose, the dialogue does very little to illuminate the characters and help them feel real. I think it was a missed opportunity.

This was a miss for me, but I'm certain others will enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lovely and deeply emotional book that was primarily about all the different ways that grief affects us, and the lengths we would go to get just one more day with a loved one who has passed on. I cried many times while reading this, and if you are interested in books about death/grief then I would recommend this! It is quite unique to anything I have ever read before, especially due to the the fantasy aspect. However, if you are expecting a complex fantasy with a developed history and magic system, etc. then this might not be for you.

The characters in this book are a lovable found family of fantasy creatures who are each dealing with their own grief process. They gave me the warm fuzzies, similar to how Becky Chambers' books do, so if you are a fan of her characters, then you would probably love this too! There was also so much queerness in this book, though I liked that it was not the focus of any character or their trauma, and rather just a small piece of the story for each of them.

I think I only found that Saika was a little unrealistic/chaotic at times, from helping to the point of self-destruction, to her sporadic headstrong behavior, to her too-fast-for-me-personally romance. I couldn't get really deep into her story because of that, although I still liked her and really felt the strength of the connection she has with her sister. Overall would recommend this very touching and deeply emotional book, especially if you have recently lost someone and/or have trouble letting go of people.

I enjoyed the found family aspect as well as the magic in this story. Yes, some parts were very depressing but overall it was amazing.

CW: Grief, Suicidal Thoughts, Dementia, Death, Mentions of Past Child Death, Mentions of Past Suicide


3.5 / 5 Stars


This is a book about grief and learning to move on. It's also attempting to be a book about found family, but it's kind of not really succeding on that front, but more on that in a second.

Because the parts where we focused on the loss stuff was done greatly. I have seen people hint at spoiler stuff, so I might do the same as well. It's just hard to talk about some of the things that went down without mentioning Death. Cause Death, is very important for this story, and the consequences of getting touched by Death are too. You might have noticed that I made the effort to spell this a certain way. You might make assumptions based on that. And those assumptions might be very right. The unclusion of death is what makes this book very strong, but the inclusion of Death is also what makes some stuff not so great. Because you'd assume that Death doesn't discriminate, right? Death doesn't care who you are or how much life you've still got to life. He comes and he takes, because that's just how life is, no feeings involved. Death wouldn't gain anything from seeing you suffer, nor would Death gain anything from destroying your home. Why should he? No really??? What would that do? What exactly were we tryin to say, if something like that were to happen in our story? It makes for good stakes. Sure. But if it's just meant as symbolism, to show how deep people will fall in their grief, how intense loss can affect someone, then I'd say it kind of misses the mark a tiny bit. So let's ignore Death and focuss on the emotional aspect of things.
Because everyone in the House of Frank has felt death and loss and pain. It would make for a great found family. Trauma bonding. But some people, like our mute ghost don't get allowed to communicate at all and others are kind of forgotten until the plot recalls their existence. While I didn't mind the sapphic romance, it also asked for a lot of attention and focus, so the rest of the cast got even less page time, resulting in an ending that kind of fits, really. Cause that's what happens when you get so caught up in your own grief, that you forget that other people suffer too. Loss is hard and I love the way it hunts our MC still, even after all this time. It makes her journey exciting to watch. And the conclusiion of her arc a good one. That being said, if the only person you can think of while grieving is yourself, you might miss out on the people in the here and now who are still there and need you, too.

Final Thoughts:
I did like the book overall, I really did. There's just stuff I wished it had done better.

This is going to be a book that stays with me for a long time. House of Frank is billed as a cozy fantasy, and that is true, but it is mainly a beautiful book written about grief and the variety of ways that people experience it.

It is set in a beautiful, fantasy world and follows a witch dealing with the grief of losing her sister. She finds community in the staff of Ash Gardens, a place to plant a loved ones' cremated remains. At Ash Gardens she meets a witch sea captain, a ghost, a cherubs, a loving beast, and a cantankerous elf.

I had a hard time putting this book down. It is very queer, and a safe space to those who need one, The world/character building was so delightful, but the story itself was a love letter to anyone who is grieving. This is a book that you need to be in the right place to read. It is heartbreaking and deals with every type of loss, but it also gives you the space and safety to grieve.

HUGE thank you to Kay Synclaire, NetGalley, and Bindery Books for the chance to read and review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really struggled with the writing style for this book. The second person passages felt clunky to me and it was hard to switch between the second person and then first person present. I usually have a hard time with first person present tense so it's definitely a me as a reader problem and not the book.

Cosy Fantasy
Magic
Found Family
LGBTQ

Reading this book feels like the warmest embrace.

It is a beautiful love story about a witch who loved her sister so much that she gave her power and her youth just to have more time with her before death finally claimed her.
It’s about learning to deal with grief with the help of her new found family who are all dealing with the same pain. Learning to say good bye to the ones you love dearly in your life and to help others say good bye to their loved ones in the best possible way.

Saika’s sister’s last dying wish is to have her ashes planted in Ash Gardens. Saika however has trouble letting go and in her time at Ash Gardens she finds love again in her new found family, all of them going through similar heartache.

If you enjoy cosy fantasy then this is a beautiful book for you.
My heart is warmed and I would read this book again and again.



I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Bindery Books for this e-arc.

cozy fantasy at its prime but filled with grief....... i loved it. if you're looking for a book that peers into your soul and reveals fears about losing loved ones, and then hugs you and tells you things will be okay... this is it.
i loved all of the characters and the found family aspect saika discovers in them. i'd honestly die (HA) to be a part of it.

Themis cozy whimsical fantasy was so beautifully written. Do you have characters such as witches, cherubs, fairies, monsters in cardigans, ghosts and more who are all in various stages of their grief journey. They’re helping each other navigate through that journey and for anyone who’s ever been on that grief journey, this is a must read. I lost my best friend five years ago, and this helped me feel very understood in my journey.