A House With Good Bones

A fun yet spooky horror story with a small cast of interesting and lovable characters. I enjoyed the relationship between the main character, Sam, and her mother and brother. I think the small neighborhood type setting fit the type of horror going on very well. I also had a good time learning so much about bugs and plants! T. Kingfisher always works for me, it felt like a breath of fresh air to be reading one of their books again.

I was amused by the Chekov's Doily. I did have a few questions that went unanswered, like what changed in the last year that caused the grandmother to get more dramatic with her haunting? It's possible the info is there but I missed it and didn't put it together.

I picked this up because I have loved everything else I have read by this author.

I am not usually into horror, but this one had enough humor in it to allow me to gloss over the scary parts enough.

I would have given it 5 stars, but I didn't like some of the voices that the narrator chose for some of the characters. A 59-year-old woman shouldn't sound like she is in her 80s. The handyman sounded like he was dumb as dirt by his voice, but he was definitely smart, judging by the things he said.

I would recommend this story.

4.5 stars!

This book is pretty much everything I wanted [b:Mexican Gothic|53152636|Mexican Gothic|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636._SY75_.jpg|73647361] to be, but wasn't. We get the gothic vibes (even though this was just a house and not a mansion), the creepy happenings, the secrets, and the hauntings. tbh, I actually liked that it was a house and not a mansion like in Mexican Gothic or [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386605169l/17899948._SX50_.jpg|46663] - it flipped the concept of a gothic book around, since we normally expect dark mansions with secrets. But this was just in a chill suburbian neighborhood.

Also the main character was *chefs kiss*. She was perfect for the story, so snarky and with a distinct, individual voice. I loved that her career ended up being really helpful for her in the situation, and it was just like ~character flavor text. It was super relevant. Have I mentioned that I love T Kingfisher's characters? Both in [b:Nettle & Bone|56179377|Nettle & Bone|T. Kingfisher|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645110008l/56179377._SY75_.jpg|87513158] and in this book, they jump off the page. I want to be friends with all of them and just crack jokes and make sarcastic comments. And of course, just like in Nettle and Bones, the side characters were awesome. They were all such interesting people and I wish they (especially Phil and Gail) could go on further adventures with the main character.

The magic stuff was a little bit confusing, but I didn't even really mind that because the rest of the book was so good. I just sort of hand-waved it and went with what I could gather from the situation. Loved the creepiness of the underground children and the vultures. There's just such an ~atmosphere that the author is able to evoke that complements the gothic vibes within the house itself so well.

T. Kingfisher is definitely quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I can't wait to read more of her books! :)

Great gothic horror book and the reader for the audiobook was superb! I laughed aloud a few times. And openly gasped once too!

YAWN.