I snapped up this ARC based exclusively on the author-- I *adored* A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking AND Nettle & Bone. This book immediately jumps in to a contemporary US setting, though. The writing also has a very different feel-- quicker paced and more irreverent. The narration is nonstop funny asides and one-liners, and then the horror starts to dip in. Some vibes of Just Like Home, although a bit lower on the horror scale. Body horror, maybe? Suggest to readers of Grady Hendrix.

eARC from NetGalley.

So this is my third T. Kingfisher book, and by now I expect odd characters and weird storylines, A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES does not disappoint. It's creepy and weird and just spooky enough to make you wonder what's watching outside the window when you're reading at night.

I loved the role vultures play within the plotline and overall I found the mystery and the danger to be really interesting... and for some reason the magic with the roses makes sense. I didn't always love Sam and felt like at times the writing was attempting to break the 4th wall which was a little odd and pulled me out of the story.

This isn't a fast-paced story, but stick with it because I believe it does pay off in the end. Overall this was an enjoyable read.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Nightfire in exchange for an honest review.

T. Kingfisher is officially an auto buy author for me. A House With Good Bones is Kingfisher at her best. It has the perfect blend of atmosphere and characters that are relatable. When we first meet Sam, it’s like running into to an old friend and catching up on what you've missed. She fills in the backstory as needed, when you need it. The other characters help flesh out a highly realistic portrait of living in a small neighborhood in rural NC. Also, having grown up and lived in rural NC for quite a while, I loved seeing references to local small towns and regional items (hello Cheerwine). It added a whole extra level of authenticity to the story.

This is a well paced story that doesn't have a lull. The reader has time to learn new information and digest it before getting a new piece of the puzzle. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a spooky, gothic story. Kingfisher thoroughly uses the location, characters and generational relationships to build a solid story to examine the impact of previous generations on current society. I can’t wait to add the next T. Kingfisher book to my TBR.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a surprising book!
I expected it to go in a specific direction, but it went another darker path, and I loved it. From the books I have read by T. Kingfisher, their ability to craft a story with roots, foundation, development & multiple genre elements is genuinely magical, especially since the book was so short- it's incredible!

You follow a main character who is worried about their mother's mental state and who begins to experience some unhinged moments in their family home. It gets to a point where their denial about what is happening adds to the suspense and leaves us, the reader, on edge.
The undercurrent of horror was perfect because I was nervous to know if my theory was correct or if something worse was afoot - it was!
Highly recommend the book!

Sam Montgomery visit’s her mother on a break from her work as an entomologist and immediately notices something is off. Her normally carefree, fun mom is anxiety ridden and has reverted the house from her personal, eclectic style back to the cookie-cutter state Gran Mae bequeathed it to her in.

This was my first T. Kingfisher book and I really liked it! Creepy at times but not too scary, it felt like a perfect rainy day read. Sam is a great main character, I enjoyed her funny, relatable, stream-of-consciousness narration (although I could have done with fewer asides about bugs).

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital ARC.

4.5 stars

I LOVED this! T. Kingfisher has the best way of writing horror that is absolutely hilarious!

Premise: Sam is an archaeoentomologist (aka she loves bugs and dirt). When a dig site gets compromised, she decides to visit her mother in North Carolina. Sam begins to notice changes in her mother and weird mementos from her racist grandmother begin to pop up. As Sam investigates why her mom's health is declining, things get weirder and weirder.

Overall, this was definitely more humorous than horror (which I was perfectly happy with). T. Kingfisher did a great job with the story and added in commentary about academia that I adored.

The little girl that went to bug camp when she was younger (i.e., me) had the best time reading this book.

Sam Montgomery returns to her childhood home to find her mother is not quite right. "Mom seems off" is what her brother says. A jar of teeth hidden behind her mother's roses and buzzards circling the garden is only the beginning of it. When Sam starts looking deeper into things, she may find that some things are better left alone. This book was fantastic. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy.

This was a creepy weird fun ride--a generational trauma story with bugs and flowers that will stay with me for a while.

I was given an Arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow this was my first T. Kingfisher book and it did not disappoint.

This book had me from the very beginning and I couldn’t put it down so I read it in one sitting.

It was just the right amount of creepy/weird and perfect for a rainy day read!!

I wouldn’t say it was downright scary but very creepy.

Sam is a great character and I loved that she is incredibly smart and has a curvy figure!

As much as I love this author’s fantasy romances, I simply adore her horror stories. This is a tale of a woman, an archeologist, specializing in old bugs, who goes home on a break from work and notices something odd going on with her mom and the house she lives in.

The weirdness starts immediately, almost as soon as Sam steps out of her car and onto the property in rural North Carolina. There are vultures perched outside… in fact there are vultures everywhere. And her warm, slightly sarcastic mother seems to have changed. The house is also undergoing a change, the vibrant walls are back to the plain ecru, the painting above the fireplace has been replaced with an old, racist relic, and the house itself feels heavy and weird. And the roses? What the hell is going on with the roses?

This story kind of plods along, slowly revealing the horror that Sam’s mother has been living with. From the plethora of vultures to the weird dreams Sam is having, and the introduction of a family history she only begins to learn about as she rambles around the house, this author lays out the players in this mystery piece by piece until the big climax and resolution.

The dialogue is at times lighthearted and fun, even as I was on the edge of my seat I actually laughed a few times at certain snappy comebacks, and the characters are well-drawn. In each of her stories, the characters are so relatable and easy to connect with, which makes their predicaments that much more fraught with tension. I think fans of this genre or author will immediately fall into this story and not come up until the last word on the last page.

This is another great read by T. Kingfisher. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this book!

I'm a big fan of T. Kingfisher's other published books, so I was very excited to see another horror book coming out. I love when you don't quite know what is going to happen in horror books, and what the evil thing is going to be. This definitely fits that category, and made me say "what the f did I just read?" at the end. A suburban neighborhood, bugs, roses, vultures, and magic all mix in a uniquely creepy way, and not in the way you would think. I certainly didn't guess what was going to happen, and it had me holding my breath at the tense moments.

My first T. Kingfisher and DEFINITELY not my last! This book was half horror half humour in the vein of Grady Hendrix - I was never actually scared, but I DID laugh out loud.

Sam is such a funny main character and I really loved her relationship with her mom - I immediately believed that something was off with her mom, and NEEDED to know what.

The twists were wild and I loved it all!!

I wanted to enjoy this one but I found the plot, story, and characterizations hard to follow and not really resonate the best for me at times.

Thank you to Tor Nightlife and NetGalley Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Sam Montgomery is on a break between entomological digs, and decides to spend her break visiting her mom. Her mom inherited Gran Mae’s house, and instinctually, even 20 years later, Sam still calls it her grandmother’s house.
When she arrives, her mom doesn’t look well. She’s dropped a ton of weight, she’s anxiety ridden, and worse yet, she’s remodeled the house from her eccentric taste to exactly how Gran Mae had it. Sam, a scientist first and daughter second, needs answers. She needs to get to the bottom of this. ASAP.
T Kingfisher is a genius. This is my first read of their work and holy crap I couldn’t put it down. From the worldbuilding to the monumental dread you feel while reading, I almost fear a reading slump in the near future from how fantastic this was.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💀💀💀💀/5

Creepy. Just so creepy - and then add in vultures. Hoovering near the house.
Sam's dig gets canceled - her room has been sublet out already, so off to her mother's house she goes. Originally her grandmother's house, Sam moves back in for a few weeks. To find her mother changed everything. Painted the walls, pictures on the walls - just like it was Gran Mae was alive.
Her mom also seems off - weight lose, mumbling to herself.
And the vulture, posted at the mailbox.
Sam is determined to fix her mother.
Loved the imagery. The characters were great.
Great read!

This is another spooky home run for T. Kingfisher. It has all the hallmarks of a great Southern Gothic read--creepy family history, weird neighbors, and something not quite right both inside and outside of the house. I love the vultures in this, and the use of entomology as the entryway into seeing something is very off. The characters are excellent. The main character is a scientist, it’s like a perfect fusion of Lovecraft and Southern gothic, and it’s just the right ratio of spooky to science. I love that the signature pet animal in this novel is a vulture. The whole thing with the photo is so deliciously creepy. And I love that as always, trips to a coffee shop are vital to the character’s sanity. The way the sense of foreboding increases steadily until everything goes off the rails is so well done.

It also, like all of her horror, seems like the characters do what real people faced with utter weirdness would actually do, which I always find refreshing.

Can T. Kingfisher please just write ALL the horror stories? Please?

This books is pleasantly terrifying. I'm not much of a horror reader, but I love Kingfisher's more fantasy leaning books, and this one somehow spoke to me. The only thing I was the tiniest bit disappointed in was the speed of the end. The majority of the book is ramping up, slowly adding scary detail after scary detail, until the end when, quite honestly, we slip sideways into crazy town. It totally works, but it is very much a 'you have hit the top of the roller coaster and it's just flailing wildly at high speed from here.' It resulted in my staying up just a smidgen past my bedtime, since there were only 40 pages or so to go, and it got VERY exciting. Sam is a wonderful main character and I very much enjoyed the entomology information scattered throughout. I learned things about ladybugs! And had to image search a particular kind of larva, and it was just as creepy looking as she said.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an digital ARC for review.

Turns out I can't resist a modern southern gothic/haunted house story. They are the ARC that draw me in when I usually read three chapters and abandon a book.

Great humor and only a slight creep factor, it isn't a keep the light on shiverer, but more if a light fantasy horror. (Though I suppose it depends on how you feel about ladybugs.) Loved the narrative voice (a plus size entomologist with a healthy side of skepticism) and humor throughout.

This was my first T. Kingfisher and I'm looking forward to reading more

Creepy and sarcastic in the best possible ways. I have been on a Kingfisher kick lately and this has to be the one so far! I can't think of single thing that would have made this better!
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Well, my first T. Kingfisher book read and that was a doozy. As I always do with any book, I never read the synopsis besides the first couple of lines before starting a book. So I was essentially going into this book blind and had no idea what to expect. This book is classified as in the horror genre and while I wasn't scared, I was grossed out a couple of times throughout the book, particularly at the end.

Sam has moved back into her deceased grandmother's house with her Mom while waiting for her job to start up again. But her Mom seems a lot different now, as her brother Brad has pointed out to her, their Mom doesn't seem like herself. She's changed the paint colors in the house, put up different pictures, and constantly acts scared of something in the house. Changing the paint and pictures in the house wouldn't be so odd, except her Mom swears that her Mother is still in the house. Problem is, her Mom passed away years ago.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book as I've never read anything by the author before but I really enjoyed the writing style. The quips, sarcasm, and dry humor intermixed had me cracking up throughout the book and was my main enjoyment from this book. Then as I got towards the end, things started to get very, very strange. I'm not sure if that's typical of the authors writing or just this book but it was a little much for me. I do enjoy the horror genre but I almost want to say this was comedic horror which I'm fine with, the story just really threw me off at the end.

I definitely plan on reading other works by this author though, the writing style alone kept me intrigued throughout the story and I really enjoyed it.