Starling House by Alix E. Harrow - an undeniably beautiful modern gothic fantasy

Yes, there is a slow build-up. Is it worth it? Completely. I was enmeshed and fully invested in this spellbinding tale of a cursed town and a haunted house.

Opal is a lot of things – orphan, high-school dropout, full-time cynic. Most of all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother. One that gets them both out of Eden, a town renowned for bad luck. So when Opal gets the chance to earn a good wage at Starling House, Eden’s very own haunted mansion, she can’t resist.

Her new workplace is uncanny and full of secrets ­­– just like Arthur, its brooding heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something Opal never had: a home. As sinister forces converge on Eden, Opal realizes she might finally have found a reason to stick around. But now she’ll have to fight for it . . .

The worldbuilding is fantastically vivid with an atmospheric writing style that dripped with tension - I literally devoured Starling House.

Opal, our main character, is beautifully nuanced and believable. While her background is tragic, she isn’t. She’s strong and flawed, vicious and witty, soft and sarcastic.

“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.”

Her journey is full of beasts and darkness and gothic vibes, an intriguing story that weaves between reality and imagination with a sentient house at the center of it all.

Starling House is a character in its own right; playful and mournful, drawing you into its eerie embrace. Some of my favourite scenes were of the house reacting to its inhabitants.

“But Starling House was no longer just a house. What had begun as stone and mortar had become something more, with ribs for rafters and stone for skin. It has no heart, but it feels; it has no brain, but it dreams.”

The slow burn romance is delightful, and with each turn of the page you uncover more layers of dark secrets. It is a story of hope and longing, curiosity and courage and, above all, what it means to belong.

PS. The footnotes were a quirky touch that I appreciated!