Reviews

“It feels like the very end of June, or the beginning of July. When you’ve lost track of time and it doesn’t matter because you have nowhere in particular to be. When summer stretches so luxuriantly on either side of you that you begin to doubt the existence of other seasons.” I really enjoyed this story — the small town vibes, the demons and haunted house and the tattooed tortured warden of it. It was spooky and mysterious but also moving. It reminded me of VE Schwab’s Gallant but for an older audience. Also, I read the audiobook and I thought the narrator did an excellent job, so I definitely recommend as an audiobook. This story is about a girl who lives in a small town named Eden and has had a hard life and is struggling to get by. Her name is Opal and she does everything she can to give her brother Jasper the best life possible. That sometimes means stealing or doing whatever else she can to get the money she needs to send him to college. Their mother died years ago in a car accident and she was never really open with Opal about their family history. In their town, there’s also a house called the Starling House and there are a lot of rumors and stories about the family who lived there. The woman who used to live there, Eleanor, was said to have killed her husband and his brothers. She also wrote stories about her the Underland, a place with beasts and monsters, that Opal always felt a connection with. (The main character’s name is NORA LEE. And I’m not going to get into the fact that Nora Lee and Arthur are both big names in this book but I will know the meaning behind this. Anyway.) One day Opal goes by Starling House after injuring her hand and gets blood on the gate and the house starts to call to her. She then meets Arthur Starling, the last known heir. And he gives her a job to clean the house. The house is a sentient thing, and it wants her there. Opal does the job (also stealing some trinkets that she can sell on the side for extra money) but can tell something is different with the house. There’s a basement that remains locked, for example, and etchings on the wall. Soon she is approached by a company that wants the property and bribe her for information about the house. But Opal soon finds that she’s formed a connection with Arthur and knows he’s been through a lot and betraying him puts a sour taste in her mouth, so she stops. But she also continues researching about the house herself and she comes to find her true last name is Gravely, which are apparently the family that these demons that pass through the house are trying to get and who started this whole coal and power company that is trying to get the property. And Arthur is the warden of Starling House; he is meant to keep the monsters from getting out into the town. This has been going on for generations but Arthur vows to be the last warden. And he knows more about Opal than she knew — the night that her mom died, he had let the monsters slip through and they went after her. Opal feels very betrayed by this and leaves the house. He didn’t know her true last name until later, though. She gets her old job back and tries to continue her life but then the company that wants the land returns and since Opal will no longer take their bribes, they blackmail her using Jasper against her. They burn down her apartment complex but luckily Jasper isn’t in there. He is safe, but they used him to get what they want. They actually use Opal to get to Arthur, who basically agrees to give up the land and follow the beasts down to the underland, which Opal suggested when she felt betrayed by him. But obviously now she realizes that no, she doesn’t want to run away. She has a role in this to help Arthur and Starling House. She runs after Arthur and passes through to the Underland. The she finds Arthur still fighting the beasts and she also finds Eleanor, the one who has allowed these beasts to past through, her own making. And Eleanor tells her her story: about how her father had stolen everything from her mother when she was pregnant, and when her mother died she had to go live with her father, who owned a company and slaves. And when he was killed they blamed Eleanor even though she didn’t do it. But she inherited everything but her father’s brothers were evil and tried to figure out how they could take it from her. One of her uncles decided to MARRY HER ew and the town did nothing. So she goes to the river intending to drown herself and instead finds the link to underland, and uses the beasts to kill her uncle, and while the town turned against her she basically lived in loneliness the whole time. But as a Gravely herself, Opal is able to talk down Eleanor and say she’ll spend her life writing the truth of the Starlings and Gravelys, and gets Eleanor to sleep and disappear, and the beasts become a shadow of what they once were. The book ends with Arthur and Opal living in Starling House and they become a new sort of talk of the town. But they still get Jasper as visitors, Bev and Charlotte too. So I suppose it is a happy ending in that they find a home in each other at Starling House. In the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition, there’s a story seven years later about a girl who runs away from home and crashes her car and runs into Opal, who gives her food and a place to stay if she needs it. And the girl overhears Opal and Arthur talking about kids, which is cute.

anneessdee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

efelch's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

shortsm's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kinzyhale's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was the perfect spooky house story, I loved the vibes of this book. I enjoyed the plot and the sprinkle of romance was well written. I also loved Opal's character and think she had a lot of depth and personality.

sdgottlieb's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

roge5737's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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