Starling House (2023) by Alix E. Harrow - Book Review

Starling House (2023) by Alix E. Harrow

Published by Tor Books / Release Date: 10.03.2023

- Book Review -

Before anything else... That COVER! This book hit my radar before the cover was revealed and I was already intrigued. As soon as the book listing updated with the cover image I knew that I would be reading this. But of course I wasn't judging the book by its cover...

As of this moment, I'm writing this review in the dead heat of summer but the book will be releasing in the Fall and this is the perfect Fall / Halloween read. This isn't the first time that I've started a book when I knew I should have waited for the fall, it likely won't be the last time either.

Starling House is gothic, suspense novel that takes place in Eden, Kentucky. Opal is an orphan, a high school drop out, caretaker to her younger brother Jasper, resident of the motel Garden of Eden, and (depending on who you ask) a no-good delinquent. Opal knows that Eden doesn't hold a future for her or Jasper, so she pushes Jasper to do his best in school, works to save money, all so that she can get Jasper out of Eden and give him the chance he deserves. But there's a house in Eden, home to the reclusive Starling family, and Opal can't get the house out of her head or her dreams.

As she stands outside the iron gates of Starling House, she realizes that the only Starling left is standing in the yard, watching her. Opal knows she should stay away from the Starling House, but an offer to work in the house as the housekeeper, making more money than she could ever make at the local Tractor Supply Co., is an offer she can't pass up.

Brooding, suspenseful, and at times all too intimate, if Starling House isn't already on your Fall 2023 TBR, then it should be.

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