4.25 ⭐️

Absolute wild ride of a novel, I am gagged! Rivers Solomon brings a refreshing new style to the usual haunted house horror story. Beautifully written and thought provoking, with a final act that had my jaw on the floor and my stomach turned upside down. I will say this is not for the faint of heart so check trigger warnings if need be, but there may be some spoilers by doing so. Proceed with caution when you walk into 677 Acacia Drive. Thank you so much to Netgalley and MCD/FSG for the e-ARC!

Thank you to FSG & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Though I typically don't read horror, there is something magnetizing in Rivers Solomon's Model Home that demanded to be followed. So much so that I read the entire book in one sitting, hiding in my closet because it was petrifying - a never ending volley of terrors. I appreciated the ending that slowed things down and helped me catch my breath, to imagine a soft landing for the siblings after all they have been through.

‘Places become marked by the things that have happened to them, the things they’ve done. Rings in the trunk of a tree.’

This is not your average haunted house story. Like the rings of tree, it has layers. I don’t want to say anything that could spoil but this book was wonderful.
All horror could be called an allegory; a way to deal with life’s scares by hiding them from the reader just a little. Making the reader uncomfortable in a predictable way without them realizing that they are confronting something meaningful. This book brings that whole process out from behind the curtain. It’s all there and it builds. I loved every second and now need to read every book Rivers Solomon has put out.

I enjoyed every part of this book! The writing that mirrored ezri’s fragmented thought patterns, the unknown as the origin of horror behind ezri’s storyline and the exact opposite for elijah’s, the cycle (I love a good multigenerational cycle that is caused by trauma).
I had high expectations and I wasn't disappointed!

I love haunted house stories, so I was really eager to pick this up and it did not disappoint. Solomon has released consistently haunting and creepy stories, and this is no different. "In the Deep" is similar to 'Model Home" in many ways, they both had very haunting, cerebral vibes.

Solomon's writing is absolutely stunning, it's beautiful without being purple and it's his writing that makes his books so readable. His beautiful writing mixed with the haunted house genre makes for some really creepy, but wistful vibes that are perfect for the subject matter. Solomon is an unbelievable writer who manages to write such stark descriptive bits that make the characters lovable even though we do not get very much backstory on them.

This book is all about the vibes and the setting, the cover is unusual and does not match the actual content, and my biggest complaint is the somewhat abrupt ending, it left me wanting more and unsure of what had taken place. Still a perfect book to read if you're looking for creepy vibes.

I love a Haunted House vibe and will read anything with that vibe.

This book was written well and the vibe was so creepy.

I love this work and cannot wait to read more from the author.


Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

this was very creepy but i felt like the pacing was super slow and there were so many metaphors that it was hard to tell what was reality of just a metaphor. but i still think the writing was great and it definitely gave the perfectly creepy atmosphere!

Thanks to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (MCD) for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a ride! It took me a long while to finish reading this because the subject matter was dark and heavy. Rivers Solomon continues to flip certain tropes on their heads with their new take on the haunted house. The sibling relationships were the biggest highlight for me: Ezri, Eve, and Emmanuelle. Each were fully realized characters and had clear sibling hierarchies that affected the resentment they felt towards each other and their parents to some extent. I found the pacing a little too slow at times, especially in the first half. The mystery behind what was haunting them was surprising but made sense once I sat with the revelation. Please consider looking at content warnings before reading.

Content Warnings: pedophilia, child abuse, racism, animal death, rape, sexual assault, death of parent, suicide, mental illness, grief, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, self harm, ableism, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts, gaslighting, vomit, blood, dysphoria

I have only missed one of Rivers Solomon’s books so far, and that one’s on my tbr too. When the Maxwells moved into the gated community outside of Dallas, they were the only black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors were nice enough at first, but then disturbing things started happening in the house. The 3 children thought the house was haunted. Years later, they must return to the house after the death of their parents. They think it was the house that killed them, but they’ll have to face up to the trauma of their past and uncover the mysteries they blamed on ghosts.

Buckle up! This one’s intense. Like Solomon’s other books, it deals with generational trauma, has great characterization and relationships, and has plenty of mysteries to uncover.

No entirely sure if I vibed with this one, and possibly it was a bit overhyped but I did enjoy parts of this I just need to collect my thoughts a bit more. It was spooky and fun overall but there was something missing for me.

The death of their parents force siblings to return to their childhood home that only hold bad memories for them all.

I thought there would be more horror than childhood trauma. I can see the writing style appealing to many but it left me confused. I wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't, which I know is part of the point but it was just too confusing for me.

This book was so incredible. I loved the analogizing of the "haunted house" to reality: sometimes what happens in our lives is just horror. The entire book felt creepy, while also really evoking a sense of "there is more we don't know about this story." I truly enjoy Rivers Solomon's work and cannot wait to read more!

I think this book had gorgeous writing, but think calling it a haunted house story did it a disservice for me.
It is so much more than that. I know on a second read, I'm going to like it so much more!
See my full review here: https://bookbinch.substack.com/p/novembers-spilled-milk-ce5

Very creepy!!
I didn’t see the big twist coming, so that’s a great book in my opinion!
I do think it was a tad too long, but definitely still recommend.

What would bring you home to a home you hated?

Model Home, by Rivers Solomon, is a coming home novel where you hated your home, maybe it’s haunted, and your parents are dead. They say it’s a murder suicide, but that’s so unlike what you know about your parents.

I enjoy the reluctant going home novels. The novel where something awful is what draws you home. The home these characters return to is not a run down home on an island, but rather a suburb in Texas.

It’s a family novel, a haunted house story, and an exploration of grief and coming home to face your childhood nightmares.

If you liked Sarah Gailley’s Just Like Home, I think you’ll enjoy Model Home.

Thank you @mcdbooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy. This is my first Rivers Solomon book and it will not be my last.

My favorite genre of the moment is horror stories where the horror isn't the supernatural or horror elements, but the real world horrors that persist outside of the book and inform it. This is an absolutely perfect haunted house book, where the scariest things are systemic racism and generational trauma (though the haunted house is scary, too!) Five solid stars- although I wasn't sure where we were going on this ride through a haunted mansion, I was all in for it and I was left breathless by the end as secrets came to light and the horrors of one generation are passed down unwillingly yet again. Stick with it and it is rewarding!

"And I think that's because, well, when we speak of a house that is haunted, all we are speaking of is a house that is violent, and many houses are violent."

Rivers Solomon did it again, wrote this magical book that's equal parts beautiful and devastating. We don't get a traditional haunted house story, because it is not in Rivers powers to write something without the ability to transform.

We're following the reunion of siblings after the tragic death of their parents. On the surface it looks like a murder suicide, but based on their history with the home, the siblings believe a ghost is to blame, the Woman Without a Face. In order to learn how this tragedy happened, we have to go back into the past when the family first moved into this home. To the politics of buying the former model home of the community, to being the only black family in a white gated neighbourhood, to growing up "other" and the struggle to be on constant alert to prove you belong.

While there is power in overcoming there is also vulnerability to staying. Whether it damages our mental or physical safety. Is a house a conduit for trauma and resentment, or is there other factors that turn a should be sanctuary into a prison. What is the psychic toll of our parents expectations on our being, and how do these pressures manifest?

It's a book about how hard family relationships can be. How hard society expectations can be. About dealing with racism, sexism, homophobia. It's really just a powerful read that feels very necessary right now.

Thank you to MCD and Netgalley for a review copy of this novel. And take a second to bask in how gorgeous every element of that cover is. Wow.

This was not at all what I expected. Definitely don't go into this thinking it's a haunted house story. There is a lot of parent/child and sibling relationship discussions, which some were great conversations. It brings up some very disturbing topics. Check trigger warnings before reading. None of them bothered me but I also wasn't a fan of a few of the scenes or discussions going on. The ending did explain things and wrapped up pretty good. I am not a fan of this writing style at all, and at times I found it hard to follow along or stay interested. I appear to be in the minority on this, but unfortunately, I did not care for this book.

Thank you NetGalley and author for an ARC of this book. #NetGalley #ModelHome

I loved this one, the premise was wonderful and the writing was absolutely beautiful. Though, to be honest, the subject matter of this book makes rating it difficult, but I can say that I was engaged for sure

Creepy and bleak; not your typical haunted house story. A story with a dual timeline dealing with traumatic familial relationships. Heart wrenching and horrific