Monday, February 2, 2026

Book Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Title: Starling House
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Gothic, Adult Fiction
Pages: 308
Publisher: Tor Books
Year Published: 2023
Format: Audiobook (Library Copy)

"A grim and gothic new tale from Author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland- and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it's best to let the uncanny house- and its last lonely heir, Arthur Sterling- go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get ehr brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she's never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she'll have to fight for it."

My Rating: 4.5/5

This tale follows Opal, who feels like an unreliable narrator, but is she? Her love for her brother pushes her to the extremes and makes the reader wonder, what would I do for the ones I love. It also follows Arthur and his trials and tribulations with the land he owns, and the nightmares that follow him. Overall, this is the tale of two people finding home in places they least expect, and confronting things one never thought possible, while maintaining the suspenseful and at time horror based elements. 

Thanks for reading,
Sidny

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