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Starling House

Alix E. Harrow

4.22

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“This book has everything you could possibly want this fall...a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting—plus, characters willing to risk everything.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club October ’23 Pick)

Starling House is a gorgeous, modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….

Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors—and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House—and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund—she can't resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I’m home.

And now she’ll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.

A Book of the Month Club Pick

An October 2023 Indie Next Pick

A LibraryReads October 2023 Hall of Fame Pick

Apple, Best Books of October

EW.com, Fall Book Must Reads 2023

Washington Post, Noteworthy Books for October

Paste Magazine, The Must-Read Fantasy Books of Fall 2023

PopSugar Best New Fantasy Books of 2023

BookPage, Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2023

Observer, Must-Read Books of Fall 2023

Polygon, 12 Best New SFF for the Fall

LitHub, October’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

Bookish, October’s Most-Anticipated Books

Gizmodo, October's Huge List of New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

ContemporaryScience FictionFantasyFictionRomanceHorrorAdult
Pages
308
First published
October 3, 2023
Language
English
Edition
Ebook

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Shelved by 16 Litcadians

Reviews

  • Finished July 3, 2024

  • Finished May 3, 2024

    One word for this book: lovely. I wish I would have read it in one sitting; on a rainy day with a cup of coffee because that is the exact vibe you get. Dreary yet cozy.

  • Started April 27, 2024 · Finished April 29, 2024

    Long story short: a little bad luck town and a sentient house fall into a nightmare/dreamland state, where 2 loners have to come together to save everything. I love a good haunted house story, and this was really well done. The beginning hooked me with a MFC that rides the struggle bus hard, but also gets shit done by doing what she needs to do to survive - for her and her brother. The metaphors were top notch and descriptions crude yet funny. There were definitely a few moments i was very angry reading some of the fucked up things people were doing, but also some “awww thats fuckin sad” moments too… “Survival is a hard habit to break.” 🌶️ 0.5/5 I did not expect any spice in this, and honestly there really wasnt any, but the awkward love story was there, and the hint of spice spicing…

  • Finished October 15, 2025

  • Started November 7, 2025 · Finished November 7, 2025

  • Finished October 18, 2025