A House with Good Bones

4.5 starsI wasn't sure what to expect with this book as I go in blind. I knew it was going to be creepy in some way, but wow.Can I start with saying that Sam is an adorable and relatable character? I loved her so very much. The knowledge she drops along with the humor and banter with the reader kept me 100% on board with wherever this book was going to take me.I was expecting ghosts and goblins and some paranormal stuff, but I for sure wasn't expecting witches and sorcerers and underground children and vultures and jars with teeth and ladybugs. It was equal parts creepy and funny and to say I loved it is an understatement.

The book is great, the quality is legit.

And surprisingly good! And fun! Not at all what I expected, this is my first book by this author. I can't wait to read more.

3.5 rounded downThis book was alright. I felt I wasn't as invested in it as I was her previous books. It still had a good creepy vibe and creepy monsters, but I just couldn't get into it. For how short it was, it took me a bit to read it.A House with Good Bones was more of a lighter tale in regards to creepiness but had a few dark aspects to it. I will say it is a unique "haunted-house" story and was interesting and fun. The FMC was a relatable and witty character, though I did get a tad bit annoyed with her skepticism towards things but that's just something that bugs me with characters (when they refuse to believe anything that is obviously right in front of them).Honestly, the vultures made this book for me. They are such an interesting bird and I loved that they were a part of this book, albeit a smaller part.All in all, it was an alright weird fun book.

I have liked every fantasy novel by this author that I’ve read so far, so I decided to try out this book, thinking it was Gothic horror. That was the first fail: contrary to the description’s claims, this is an ordinary contemporary horror novel, a la Stephen King. It takes place in a suburban neighborhood that has absolutely no plot-related reason to be located in "the South."I was initially engaged by the main character, who is an archeo-entomologist. But she quickly turned out to be the kind of obnoxious white woman who is utterly obsessed with racism, despite the fact that the only racist character in the book is (only by vague report) her dead grandmother. By the time I was a third of the way through the book, I was actively rooting for her to die at the end. Even the resolution of the plot was not satisfying because the main character doesn’t appear to have actually internalized any of the realities she’s been exposed to. (One can only hope that the past eventually will catch up with her, far away from the assistance of her grandmother’s roses!)As is typical of contemporary horror, the horror elements are more gross than creepy. A certain amount of suspense is built up by the middle of the story, but it ends up falling flat once the nature of the threat is revealed. The ending is a bit deus ex machina, since there’s no foreshadowing that might suggest that the main character has adequate imagination for her in-the-moment solution.I’m planning to stay far away from any books by this author set in contemporary settings. And I will be much more careful about trusting the label “Gothic” in the future.Two and a half stars, rounded up to three.