4.5.
A sentient house, a pack of beasties and a broody tortured love interest with a sword.
It could have been cut down which would have improved pacing but I still read it in one sitting. I feel like this is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It’s not amazing but I enjoyed it ( )

Opal is broke, so she takes a job as a house cleaner in the creepiest, scariest house in the entire town of Eden, maybe in the whole state of Kentucky. She's never had an easy life. Her mother died, when she was a teenager and to keep the only family, she has together together...she fakes her way into gaining custody of her younger brother, Jasper. Years later we find Opal and Jasper still struggling to make ends meet. Jasper is an exceptionally bright and creative boy, and Opal desperately wants to get enough money together to get him out of Eden and maybe to a private school that will offer him all the resources he needs and deserves. Opal has always been mysteriously drawn to the Starling House. It's a huge old mansion shrouded in rumors and local legends. When she meets the reclusive owner of the house, Arthur Starling, she convinces him to give her the opportunity of a lifetime....to let her work in the house as a cleaner. He doesn't take much convincing, and soon Arthur is offering to pay Opal enough money to send Jasper to school...and in return, she gets to explore the house to her hearts content...the house she’s been dying to see for as long as she can remember. When a woman claiming to be working on behalf of the local power plant offers Opal even more money for information about Arthur Starling and about his house, Opal then begins to think that she must first discover something for herself. She has started to feel that Starling House must have a mind and a will of its own...otherwise why would such powerful people want so desperately to get inside? Author, Alex Harrow has magnificently turned Starling House into a character in itself with a mind of its own and a deeply horrifying plan. The house is strangely ALIVE...but how can that be? Page by page, line by line, word by word, the reader watches as Opal tries to untangle the many mysteries of Starling House, revealing how powerful people will twist the truth until the story suits their purposes, and sometimes gives life to what should never been alive to start with. A delightfully chilling and spooky story about how hidden truths usually always come back to haunt you. ( )

Harrow goes Southern Gothic for this one, and mostly successfully, too - I was definitely on the edge of my seat waiting to see where this one was going. ( )

I really enjoy Alix E. Harrow's books and this one was great. To start with, the cover is gorgeous and the illustrations scattered throughout were excellent. I will admit that it took me a little bit to get into this book but once it got its hooks into me, I loved it. I have seen some reviews calling this a gothic horror book but I would call it a dark fairy tale set in Kentucky. The characters are interesting and the mixed media setup worked well here. I have had read a string of disappointing books lately and was really pleased to pick this one up and thoroughly enjoy it. ( )

What an interesting book. I’d recommended it to some but not everyone. I felt the writing was a tad dense. But overall I enjoyed the story of Opal and Arthur. My favorite thing about the writing was the way the author was capable of bringing this entire house and story world into some tangible through the senses. ( )