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Starling House cover art

Starling House

By: Alix E. Harrow
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
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Summary

A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

Step into Starling House if you dare . . . Alix E. Harrow reimagines Beauty and the Beast in this gorgeously modern Gothic fantasy, perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab and Naomi Novik.

Nobody in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But the town agrees it’s best to let this ill-omened mansion – and its last lonely heir – go to hell. Stories of the house’s bad luck, like good china, have been passed down the generations.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, or brooding men. But when an opportunity to work there arises, the money might get her brother out of Eden. Starling House is uncanny and full of secrets – just like Arthur, its heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something she’s never had: a home. Yet Opal isn’t the only one interested in the horrors and the wonders that lie buried beneath it.

Sinister forces converge on Eden – and Opal realizes that if she wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it. Even if it involves digging up her family’s ugly past to achieve a better future. She’ll have to go down, deep down beneath Starling House, to claw her way back to the light . . .

This is a romantic and spellbinding Gothic fairytale from Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award-shortlisted Alix E. Harrow.

©2023 Alix E. Harrow (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Alix E. Harrow is an exceptional, undeniable talent, and Starling House, with its gentle reassurances of the homes we make and the love we deserve, is more than satisfying. It’s pure loveliness in book form (Olivie Blake, author of The Atlas Six)
Gorgeous, poignant, and honest—an unforgettable read (Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter)
The gaudy, dark seam between horror and romance. Starling House is Alix E. Harrow’s greatest work yet – if you can survive its slow belly-crawl into hell (Ava Reid, author of Juniper and Thorn)

What listeners say about Starling House

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Must read

Absolutely loved this book, hooked from the start highly recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy, suspense and romance

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A spellbinding story

I really enjoyed this.
I liked the narrator - as she gave it a real American feel.
The story is about a girl who has,essentially, lost everything. She only has her brother.
They live in Eden- a small wrecked town.
One day she gets a new job and her adventures start- or maybe they just continue…
Magical

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Fantastic book

I was captivated from start to end! Well written, well narrated. Best thing on audible right now.

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Captivated from the start.

This is the first book I have read by this author. Starling House was in my Illumicrate book box. I sat and devoured it. Loved it so much that I then grabbed a copy on audible. The narrator did an incredible job bringing the book to life. Not giving any spoilers as the book blurb tells you all you need to know. It’s one I will keep reading.

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Good story but annoying narrator

Good book, with interesting storyline some might say obvious ending others might not.
My one huge bug bear was the narration, it was unfortunately a very whiny voice with I felt distracted from the plot.

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Another Reliably Beautiful Novel from Harrow

Every novel Alix E Harrow has written has, in my opinion, been achingly beautiful. This was no different. Her fabled writing roots shine through here as they have in other works, and if you open your heart and mind you will find very real life emotional themes that many face every damn day, wrapped up in prose so pretty it’s almost tied with a bow. Alix writes about important societal issues and I wonder if people overlook that and just see the ‘fantasy’ or the fable; I would encourage those readers to try again with a wider lens. Anything Alix ever writes will be an automatic must read for me, and my only regret with this book is that I was too damn broke to buy a signed first edition copy when it came out last month. It will be a classic, in time, I am sure.

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Terrible Narration

This story is actually well written, okay plot and some rounded characters but overall it’s completely let down by the narrator. The whole thing is so over the top emotionally that at times I did feel like giving up. Don’t buy this, get the book instead. This woman’s voice will drive you mad.

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Complete boredom

I got this following lots of rave reviews on Goodreads. I actually think these reviews were from people who were given free copies of the book by the author. This is one of the VERY FEW books I have not been able to finish. 4 hours in and I am completely and utterly bored… serious lack of tempo, story…. Instead a rambling of awful characters which I just detested.

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Childish and slow

Starting by saying that I am not a huge fan of sci-fi typically but this was very slow to get started, it seemed childish & never really ‘got going’ .

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