Alix E. Harrow

No one in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But everyone agrees that it's best to let the house - and its last lonely heir - go to rot.

Starling House is uncanny and ugly and fully of secrets, just like its heir. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but it might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden.

It feels dangerously like something she's never had: a home.

But Opal isn't the only one interested in the house, or the horrors and wonders that lie beneath it. If Opal wants a home, she'll have to fight for it. She'll have to dig up her family's ugly history and let herself dream of a better future. She'll have to go down, down into Underland, and claw her way back to the light.

This is a sweeping gothic fairytale from Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award-shortlisted Alix E. Harrow.

Starling House

Haritha R

I know he is the thing I have been chasing and craving, searching and waiting and hoping for my entire life: home.

doomed to spend her life discovering the terrible distance between a house and a home.

Mostly it’s just the money, which in my experience will solve all ninetynine of your problems

a thing unloved by the person who promised to love it best.

I have no home, no porch light. But I have what I need, and it’s enough. It’s just that, sometimes, God help me, I want more.

I don’t believe in curses, but if there was such a thing as a cursed family, it would look a lot like us.

I’m pretty sure this is what Mr. Cole, the high school guidance counselor, might call a “crisis point” when I ought to “reach out to my support network,” but I don’t have a support network. 

Dreams aren’t for people like me. People like me have to make two lists: what they need and what they want. You keep the first list short, if you’re smart, and you burn the second one.

there were sharp teeth behind every smile, and bare bones waiting beneath the pretty skin of the world.

Step into Lark House – if you dare . . .

Nobody in the town of Eden is old enough to remember the building of Lark House, but the stories have been passed down through the generations like good china. The hairdresser says it was the beginning of Eden’s bad luck – the river water they can’t drink, the coal dust they can’t breathe, the cemetery that fills too fast.

Opal Gravely has spent her life collecting stories about Lark House. One evening, she accidentally runs into Arthur Lark, its reclusive last heir. He offers her a job as a cleaner, and desperate for the money, she accepts. But there are monsters beneath Lark House, clamouring to escape and wreak havoc on the town. And even they might not be the biggest threat . . .

“The Underland” is a sweeping gothic fairytale from Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award-shortlisted Alix E. Harrow.

The Underland

liana

I love the way Harrow writes: it is visceral and evocative and disconcerting in a way I find delicious. This book has many things I adore: unlikely heroes, magical houses, gothic architecture, found family and more. I really enjoyed being lost in this world of revenge, magic, home and history. 

Giulia

a beautiful read of a gripping tale with such a carefully-written protagonist. messy and rotting, but flowers still bloom in between.

Gael Magno

Cannot help but feel like this did not feature the titular house enough nor was it anywhere near gothic and creepy enough. The tone of the novel was all over the place, perhaps because I also find it hard to believe that the main characters were 26+ old, however abnormal their childhoods and upbringing might have been. Jasper essentially behaved as more of a mature adult than his 10 years older sister.

I wish I could say more about this but I feel like I have talked to death about where every single booktok / bookstagram / book twitter novel fails. It is always the same - little connective issue, a lot of pandering, a lot of purple prose that aims to be quotable, YA dressed as a higher age group so the author can feature one (1) more explicit sex scene. Genuinely made my work today worse and duller.

Cannot help but feel like this did not feature the titular house enough nor was it anywhere near gothic and creepy enough. The tone of the novel was all over the place, perhaps because I also find it hard to believe that the main characters were 26+ old, however abnormal their childhoods and upbringing might have been. Jasper essentially behaved as more of a mature adult than his 10 years older sister.

I wish I could say more about this but I feel like I have talked to death about where every single booktok / bookstagram / book twitter novel fails. It is always the same - little connective issue, a lot of pandering, a lot of purple prose that aims to be quotable, YA dressed as a higher age group so the author can feature one (1) more explicit sex scene. Genuinely made my work today worse and duller.

Dark and gothic with the sassiest haunted house as a secondary character and a plot so heaped in more fairytales than you could have hoped for!

Victoria Justice

I too am  one of the million people who read Starling House, and I liked that it felt spooky without being gross, and that it was sort of a beauty and the beast vibe without like the whole like force her to live there until she falls for the only guy around weirdness (which there I think was a soft nod to, she mentions her library hold id a beauty and the beast retelling)

I liked that they managed to write a stubborn, obstinate 20 something woman who doesn't just come across as an petulant asshole who just rebels for rebellions sake because "you aren't my father" or some other YA insufferable knee-jerk "everyone said not to do it but I never was good at following the rules" type woman character who then ends up in a world of shit and has to be saved. I hate when writers do that. This didn't have that! We know exactly what she does what she does every time and it makes sense and, dare I say, logical and smart young women might even make similar choices in the same circumstances. About time. Hallelujah. 

We also don't have instalove either which, again, thank you for that. If I had to suffer through another woman who was a "survivor" who "fought her way through hardship" only to see a mans mussed hair and have him be rude to her in a nice room and suddenly lose control of all her faculties, I would fling myself into the sea. And our guy is a bisesxual, which I love for him. And the women are real people. Whole entire real people. You love to see it. 

Apiecalypse Jen

I too am  one of the million people who read Starling House, and I liked that it felt spooky without being gross, and that it was sort of a beauty and the beast vibe without like the whole like force her to live there until she falls for the only guy around weirdness (which there I think was a soft nod to, she mentions her library hold id a beauty and the beast retelling)

I liked that they managed to write a stubborn, obstinate 20 something woman who doesn't just come across as an petulant asshole who just rebels for rebellions sake because "you aren't my father" or some other YA insufferable knee-jerk "everyone said not to do it but I never was good at following the rules" type woman character who then ends up in a world of shit and has to be saved. I hate when writers do that. This didn't have that! We know exactly what she does what she does every time and it makes sense and, dare I say, logical and smart young women might even make similar choices in the same circumstances. About time. Hallelujah. 

We also don't have instalove either which, again, thank you for that. If I had to suffer through another woman who was a "survivor" who "fought her way through hardship" only to see a mans mussed hair and have him be rude to her in a nice room and suddenly lose control of all her faculties, I would fling myself into the sea. And our guy is a bisesxual, which I love for him. And the women are real people. Whole entire real people. You love to see it. 

Alix E Harrow is the kind of author I always feel safe about picking up. I like her writing style and she’s good at storytelling. But even though she’s one of my most-read authors she isn’t one of my favorites. I think it’s because she keeps trying to take on complex social issues in her stories but she doesn’t really dig into them beyond the surface level. Like with this book she brings up racism multiple times, but all that happens is her main character goes “Oh man! That’s RACISM! I’m so ashamed I didn’t realize it!!!!” And then the story just… moves on and it has no real impact on anything. I don’t know if it’s getting progressively worse with each book she writes or if I’m just noticing it more, but I’ve pretty much lost interest in reading any future books from her because of it. 

The story itself in this book was decent but I wasn’t super invested in the characters or plot, and by the last 50 pages I was skimming it because I could see exactly how it was going to end and predict what the characters were going to say. Also the romance was fine but a little bland. I liked that they weren’t conventionally attractive. But they were simping a little too hard for each other. Lol.

Cloudface

Alix E Harrow is the kind of author I always feel safe about picking up. I like her writing style and she’s good at storytelling. But even though she’s one of my most-read authors she isn’t one of my favorites. I think it’s because she keeps trying to take on complex social issues in her stories but she doesn’t really dig into them beyond the surface level. Like with this book she brings up racism multiple times, but all that happens is her main character goes “Oh man! That’s RACISM! I’m so ashamed I didn’t realize it!!!!” And then the story just… moves on and it has no real impact on anything. I don’t know if it’s getting progressively worse with each book she writes or if I’m just noticing it more, but I’ve pretty much lost interest in reading any future books from her because of it. 
The story itself in this book was decent but I wasn’t super invested in the characters or plot, and by the last 50 pages I was skimming it because I could see exactly how it was going to end and predict what the characters were going to say. Also the romance was fine but a little bland. I liked that they weren’t conventionally attractive. But they were simping a little too hard for each other. Lol.

I love Alix E. Harrow!!! This wasn’t my favorite book of hers, but I still greatly enjoyed it. Haunted house story? Count me in. 

Sophia 

A little cheesy, but ultimately sweet. She also kept a dash of complexity in several characters who seemed initially like they would just be broad types. However, there was about 20% too much ruminating over the same set of pretty basic ideas. Like ah yes, let's have another page and a half explaining why funding your brother's education outside Eden supercedes anything you might have wanted for yourself. I liked it though!

Boothby

I think I might’ve found my favorite back of the year. This book was amazing if what you’re looking for is a spooky book with a spooky house and an amazing couple with an amazing love story you need to get this book.

Hannah Alexander 

I have so, so many words. Gonna have to come back to this review

(Bre)anne✨

TW to be added later

I have so, so many words. Gonna have to come back to this review

This was unlike anything I’ve read. I wanted to jump into this book so badly! 

Adrianna

I absolutely loved 10.000 doors and once and future witches.

This book however was not it for me. The book has some really interesting ideas and notions that could’ve been explored. I kept waiting for more world building, but it kept being delayed and so I got really frustrated not understanding what the things look like what the beast were like. What was the danger?

Both the protagonists were pretty underwhelming, although I would’ve liked to hear more from Arthur’s perspective. I’m sad I didn’t like this spoken it in resonate with me. I hope it does for you.

Suzanne

I absolutely loved 10.000 doors and once and future witches.

This book however was not it for me. The book has some really interesting ideas and notions that could’ve been explored. I kept waiting for more world building, but it kept being delayed and so I got really frustrated not understanding what the things look like what the beast were like. What was the danger?

Both the protagonists were pretty underwhelming, although I would’ve liked to hear more from Arthur’s perspective. I’m sad I didn’t like this spoken it in resonate with me. I hope it does for you.

Cindy McKee

An atmospheric creeper of a tale! That’s part of what makes this a good read, however, it’s beating heart is it’s people. Desperate, broken, tired, people who hunger for a home. It’s that want that drives the tale and fuels its monsters. Dreams become nightmares so easily when you realize what you’d truly give up for what your heart wants. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

**Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early edition.**

Opal has lived a hard life in a decaying town in Kentucky. Through determination, work, and stealing, she kept things going for herself and her younger brother after her mother died. But in her dreams, she keeps seeing things in Starling House, a mansion in the town she’s never actually seen. Until one night when she goes by the gates and the house invites her in. This was a wonderful fantasy about dreams, life, and the longing for home, told in the prose that Alix E. Harrow is known for. I enjoyed it

Cheri McElroy

An atmospheric creeper of a tale! That’s part of what makes this a good read, however, it’s beating heart is it’s people. Desperate, broken, tired, people who hunger for a home. It’s that want that drives the tale and fuels its monsters. Dreams become nightmares so easily when you realize what you’d truly give up for what your heart wants. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starling House

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