Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫.  -   4.5

If every haunted house story you’ve ever read grew up, fell in love, and moved to Kentucky, you’d get "Starling House." 🖤

This is one of those books that wraps around you like fog—warm, eerie, a little unsettling, and full of unexpected hope. It’s about home, family, legacy, and the magic that lingers in forgotten corners.

Opal is our flawed, fierce, beautifully human heroine. She’s not exactly lovable, but she’s unforgettable—tough as nails, protective of her brother Jasper, and doing everything she can to carve out a better life for them both. Her relationships—with Charlotte the librarian, with Arthur the brooding heir of Starling House, and with her own sense of self—make her story one of growth, forgiveness, and the quiet, powerful act of choosing who you want to be.

Arthur and Opal together? It’s less fairytale romance and more two lonely souls finding each other at the bottom of the barrel. Would they be together without the strange pull of this house, this town, this curse? Maybe not. But somehow, they bring out the best in each other—like two broken pieces finding the same missing shape.

And then there’s Starling House itself—sentient, watchful, fiercely protective. It doesn’t just creak and groan like an ordinary haunted house; it FEELS. It chooses. It calls. You could almost smell the dust and magic in its walls. It’s every bit a character as the humans who stumble through its doors.

Harrow’s writing is lush and lyrical, painting vivid pictures that shimmer in your imagination long after you close the book. The pacing is steady and immersive—never rushed, never dragging, just a perfect autumn read that makes you want to curl up with a blanket and a flickering candle.

Thematically, "Starling House" shines. It asks big questions: What do we owe the people who came before us? How much of our legacy do we carry—and how much can we choose to set down? Opal’s journey toward understanding that you can choose your own name, your own family, and your own definition of “home” hit me right in the heart.

As a mother, it made me think about what legacy truly means—not something to shackle the next generation, but a story we can choose to rewrite.

And of course, there’s that quote that will live rent-free in my head forever:

"I figure dreams are like stray cats, which will go away if I quit feeding them."

This is a book that lingers, that hums in your bones. It’s gothic but tender, haunting but hopeful. A perfect October read for those who love literary fantasy with a dark edge and a beating heart.

"Starling House" reminded me that home isn’t just a place—it’s a choice, a person, sometimes even a sentient, magical house guarding the gates of the Underland. 🕯️✨

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