Be prepared to cry from start to finish.

This book deals heavily with grief and other intense subjects. There’s a lot of pain within these characters. And amazingly, there’s a good balance between cozy and soul destroying!

Hoping to fulfil her dead sister’s wish, Saika travels to Ash Garden, a magical place where the ashes of your loved ones turn to beautiful trees.

But is Saika finally ready to let her sister go?

Luckily Frank, the owner, offers her a position at Ash Garden for as long as she wants, or until she is ready to let go of her sister. But what can Saika help with? She is a useless witch that doesn’t have her power, but they don’t need to know that, right?

Another ARC I’ll absolutely have to buy once it comes out!



- review will be posted on instagram on september 27th and on amazon after publish

I expected this book to be a cozy fantasy - which it was - but it also had so many more layers. The main character is dealing with grief and I thought the author beautifully explored how deeply grief can impact us and the slow but steady healing process - in this case by helping others, which is particularly beautiful. I loved the found family elements of the story, especially for how it balanced out the grieving and became a part of the healing process.

Thank you Bindery and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book follows Saika who is lonely and grieving her beloved sister as she visits Ash Gardens in order to lay her sister’s ashes to rest. What she doesn’t expect is to be welcomed to stay by the owner Frank and the kooky but loving group who all make Ash Gardens function. Something is going wrong with the house and Frank though as they both seem to be deteriorating at a rapid pace, little do they know Saika has a secret of her own.

It’s difficult to rate this book as it caters to an incredibly specific reader. The story as a whole centers around a grieving main character who works through their grief by helping others. I should also mention the story is set in a fantasy world with every character being magical in some way. It’s incredibly cozy with a strong found family theme, and while there aren’t really high stakes I’m unsure if this should be recommended to the cozy reading crowd. There are quite a few trigger warnings that could take someone out of reading this including mentions of suicide and talk of death and grief. However, the mentions and triggers throughout the story are added in such a gentle way that I think someone who has gone through a grieving process would appreciate. There is so much diverse and LGBTQIA+ representation that is done so incredibly well. In my opinion, this author did an amazing job weaving the grief into the story in a way that could help someone cope with loss and remember that when we lose someone we don’t have to continue to be alone. I will absolutely be recommending this book to my followers and friends with the caveat that they have to check their triggers and note that it does get cheesy.

Much like the movie Up by Pixar, this is a gentle magical meditation on losing people, grief, recovery and renewed purpose. Also like the movie Up, this is the perfect book to read when you've just lost someone to help with your own processing. LGBTQ friendly and involving found family, this book is a lovely song in written form. Recommended.

I absolutely adored this book! Such a sweet, moving story about loss, love and finding your true family. If you loved TJ Klune's Cerulean Sea, then you're going to love House of Frank! I was so excited to get approved for the digital ARC because I follow Ezeekat and when I saw he was publishing this thru Bindery I knew I had to read it!! I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!!! Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Ezeekat Publishing for my digital ARC ❤️ ♥️!

This was a bit of a cozy fantasy which isn't usually what I pick up so I wasn't sure what to expect. The cast of characters were wonderful and complex, and the exploration of grief and healing really tugged at my heart. It was an emotional journey from start to finish and I loved every second!

Cozy fantasy is hit or miss for me, yet when it hits it hits, and I was fully expecting House of Frank to do just that. A warm-hearted story of found family, grief, hope and finding comfort in small things, set at a magical arboretum; sign me up!
Unfortunately, despite its wonderful elements and promising premise, the execution didn’t live up to my self-imposed hype…

The Story:
We follow Saika, a witch stripped of her magical powers in the wake of a tragic series of events that cost her beloved sister her life. Consumed by her grief, she leaves with nothing but the clothes on her back to travel to the famous Ash Gardens, where she plans to lay her sisters ashes to rest. When Saika arrives at the always-stormy sanctuary, she is welcomed by its owner, an enormous, knit-cardiganed mythical beast named Frank, who offers her a role as one of the estate’s caretakers. Accepting any chance to put off her final goodbye to her sister, Saika accepts and is taken in by the colourful “family” of staff at the Ash Gardens. Soon she realizes that not everything is as magical as it seems; from Franks increasing forgetfulness to the decay that threatens to break their very house down. Saika must unravel the mysteries in order to prevent losing the life and family she’s just beginning to build for herself.


What I loved:
As mentioned, there are plenty of individual elements to love here. A tender story of grief and healing made a little less “heavy” by a good helping of magic and whimsy: yes please. A cast of wonderfully diverse characters, all with backstories of their own, creating a patchwork found-family: absolutely! Set amongst magical greenhouses, functioning as the final resting places for the ashes of loved ones: brilliant! The issue wasn’t the concepts, but the fact that many of them didn’t make it past the “concept-stage”; they simply lacked development.

House of Frank sure has its moments, especially when it comes to Saika. The portrayal of her grief over her sister felt authentic. It’s not easy to make a reader care for a relationship with a character we’ve never actually seen on page, but Synclair manages that well. Similarly, there are some endearing moments between Oli and Saika (fans of sunshine-grumpy-romances will adore these two), and Saika and Frank. If you’re able to enjoy the story on just that surface level, enjoying the ambience and “aesthetics” only; you might have a great experience. Unfortunately, when you give it more than a passing thought, things crumble faster than the walls of Franks house.


What I didn’t love:
Underdevelopment is the keyword here, which I’ll explain by 3 hallmarks of a good (fantasy) book (story, characters, worldbuilding) and finally a small spoiler-section on the resulting plotholes.
First things first, the story is less than wafer-thin. It’s a McGuffin-hunt for a magical fallen star that will magically solve all the problems around The House. The plot is driven mostly by “time-to-falling-star”, rather than characters actions, which makes for a very passive story. The few actions the characters do take often feel out of left field, lacking decent character motivation.

Speaking of which: the characters. Apart from Saika and Frank, they exist to make for a cute and whimsical ensemble, but are little more than window-dressing. There are “grumpy elf”, “magical-grandpa-like-beast-who-wears-knit-cardigans”, “semi-invisible-ghost-with-bowler-hat”, and “pair-of-cherubs-who-constantly-bicker”. Sounds more like character-prompts than actual characters, right? That quickly becomes a problem when your story hinges so much on found-family and character relationships. We’re told to root for this bunch and think of them as a tight-knit and cozy community, but what we actually see is often the opposite. For a “family” there is surprisingly little love and surprisingly much indifference on display here. Many of the characters have a clear problem that Saika must solve for them throughout the story. Except all of these problems should’ve been solved easily by other “family-members”, if only they’d shown a single grain of attention and care for each other. E.g. It’s clear very early on that patriarch Frank suffers from memory-issues (and has for a long time!), yet I’m supposed to believe that all of his “family members” have just shrugged this off and offered him no help whatsoever. Same for Phil: he’s a mute ghost who’s made it abundantly clear that he wants to communicate something to the rest of them. Yet everyone just ignores, dismisses him or even laughs at his antics. How is this a family I’m supposed to root for?

Thirdly there’s the worldbuilding. I’m not expecting a Brandon-Sanderson level epic from a cozy-standalone, but still… I want something more than “just roll with it”. We barely get an impression of the immediate setting. I was excited for the descriptions of the house (just look at that cover) or the gardens, but was left so disappointed. There’s also no rhyme or reason to the magical creatures or their powers. From the cherubs to the ghost in the bowler-hat: they’re there because the author thought they were cute. The issue with that is that it creates massive plot holes along the way.

Beware spoilers ahead:

Poor Phil is the accumulation of all this novels plot-holes combined. When death and grief are your novels central themes, introducing a ghost is a big deal. Why is Phil a ghost who lingers beyond death, yet other deceased characters are not? we learn that he used to be a human, in fact: a close friend to Frank and some others in the house. That makes it even more unbelievable that his “family” would treat his ghost with so much indifference, and don’t even attempt to give him tools to communicate with them. It’s shown he can open locks and move cutlery: give the man a pen and paper and let him speak!
Of course, that would spoil the mystery that Saika needs to solve, which hinges on him and his knowledge specifically. Yet again; as he’s shown to be able to manipulate objects (locks/boxes/cutlery) just fine: Phil shouldn’t have needed Saika in the first place!!
Final note: Death as a character makes NO sense in this story. His deals are ridiculous and benefit no-one. In combination with the presence of the ghosts and cherubs, it became increasingly clear that there’s no thought behind the way the afterlife works in this world…


End of spoiler-section


This novel takes clear inspiration from other cozy fantasies like The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Unfortunately for it, I’d recommend any of them over this title.

Many thanks to Bindery Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was absolutely wonderful, and I look forward to purchasing a physical copy once available. Thank you NetGalley for letting me have an eARC in exchange for a review!

This novel follows Sai as she struggles to fulfill her sisters final wish, to be planted at Ash Gardens. As soon as she arrives at the House of Frank, she meets Frank: a large mythical creature in a cardigan. That alone I think helps set the tone of this book. This book had my crying multiple times, and in case you’re looking at reviews prior to reading the blurb I will mention that the book is dealing with grief in multiple different ways, and it could be a very difficult read if you’re not in a place to do that.

Please check for trigger warnings.

I adored the light touch of representation done in this book, bringing enough attention for you to see it and feel what’s happening, but not enough that it becomes their entire character. It remains a facet of them, and I appreciate when representation is done this way.

This book made me cry as I said, but it also made me laugh and smile. It was wonderfully cosy, but also heavy. I’m thinking about getting multiple copies to give out as gifts this year because I think it’s imagery and exploration of grief and working through it was wonderful.

I wanted to mention my favourite character, but I don’t know who I would give that title to. Saika, Frank, Olivie, Hilde, Merry and Morose, Evette and Phil - even Ignatius and Fiona - all of them felt like dear friends by the end. I hope you’ll give this one a try and see if you like them as much as I do.

4.5 on Storygraph, rounding down to a 4 here!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bindery Books, and the author for allowing me to read an advanced digital copy of The House of Frank in exchange for an honest review!

Sitting at my computer and trying to formulate a review for The House of Frank has proven to be difficult. I'm so overwhelmed by the emotions that were evoked throughout the book, especially those last two chapters, so perhaps it is fitting that I name those first: comfort, grief, sorrow and bittersweet contentment. The House of Frank is a book that is earnest and honest in the conversations it brings about death, grief, loss and finding yourself again.

It's impossible to not feel that strongly while reading regardless how familiar you are with the presence of Death. Kay Synclaire wrote a beautiful story that brings forth emotions first before anything and in the hands of a different author, it might not have worked for me. While it's not rare for a book that make me feel, it is rare for a book with the backdrop of whimsical and cozy to clearly bring me to tears.

I absolutely adored the cast of characters and felt like I was back in my childhood years reading a fairytale when it came to them. They felt familiar despite me not having known them before and I think that is such a wonderful example of Synclaire's talent. I enjoyed the simplistic, uncomplicated world that was established and am thankful that the author didn't attempt to do too much when it came to presenting information about the world building. It allowed her to focus on the interpersonal relationships, Saika's own emotions and journey, and the main plot without being bogged down by anything else.

The only reason this isn't a five star review is because of one tiny, itty bitty hang up I had and that is the sometimes repetitive nature of scenes. There are a few occasions in the book where Saika or another character would have a conversation about doing something and then that would be followed immediately by that same thing being done or restated, resulting in the paragraph feeling unnecessarily clunky. I'm not an editor, but if I was the editor for this book I would've suggested cutting those bits out to have the overall experience flow better. It wasn't enough to totally disrupt or ruin the reading experience, but enough that I did notice it a handful of times throughout the story.

That aside, I truly fell in love with The House of Frank and cannot wait for it to be released in October! I will definitely be buying a copy for myself and some for my friends!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Kay Synclaire’s House of Frank is a heartwarming and imaginative tale that beautifully explores themes of grief, healing, and the power of found family. Set in the enchanting Ash Gardens, this debut novel offers a unique blend of fantasy and emotional depth.

The story follows Saika, a witch who has lost her magical abilities following the death of her sister. She arrives at the Ash Gardens, a sanctuary for magical beings, to fulfill her sister’s final wish of planting her remains. There, she meets Frank, a gentle, cardigan-wearing mythical beast who runs the sanctuary. Frank offers Saika a place among the caretakers, a diverse group that includes bickering cherubs, a mute ghost, and a cantankerous elf.

Synclaire excels in creating a cast of memorable and endearing characters. Saika’s journey from a grief-stricken, powerless witch to someone who finds solace and strength in her new community is touching and inspiring. Frank, with his nurturing presence, serves as a symbol of the healing power of love and acceptance. The supporting characters, each with their own quirks and backstories, add richness and depth to the narrative.

The author’s prose is lyrical and evocative, capturing the magical essence of the Ash Gardens while delving into the profound emotions of the characters. Synclaire’s ability to balance whimsy with serious themes of loss and recovery is commendable. The narrative is interspersed with letters Saika writes to her deceased sister, adding a poignant layer to the story.

House of Frank explores the complexities of grief and the journey towards healing. It highlights the importance of community and the idea that family can be found in the most unexpected places. The novel also touches on themes of self-discovery and the resilience of the human (and magical) spirit.

House of Frank is a beautifully crafted story that will appeal to fans of cozy fantasies and emotional narratives. Kay Synclaire’s debut is a testament to the healing power of love, friendship, and acceptance. A must-read for anyone looking for a heartwarming and magical escape.

I wasn't completely sure what to expect from this, but it was a really pleasant surprise! I'm really impressed with the comforting and healing way this book managed to talk about death, grief and remembrance. It has a super interesting cast of characters where the characters aren't just fun, kind and loveable, but they are flawed and complex. The writing fit the story really well, and felt very immersive.

"House of Frank" by Kay Synclaire is a cosy fantasy that gently explores grief and the healing process. Told in first person (sometime 2nd), you really feel the main character’s emotional journey as she mourns her sister. Despite the heavy theme, the story is filled with warmth and lovable, quirky characters that bring a sense of comfort.

While it didn’t completely blow me away, the writing is beautiful, and the way it blends loss, family, and magic gives it heart. It’s a sweet, heartfelt read for anyone seeking a character-driven fantasy with depth.

What a wonderfully cozy and heartfelt book.

The main character, saika, lost her sister 2 years ago but now feels ready to follow through on her last wish, which was for her ashes to be buried at ash garden, so she can grow into a magical tree. When she arrives she’s greeted by the best cast of characters, frank the big furry beast that runs ash gardens, 2 cherubs, 2 witches, a fairy, a ghost and a grumpy elf. While there she creates bonds and learns how to cope with her grief. Please be aware that grief is a central theme of this book. The main character is grieving her sister and as it’s told in 1st person we see how much it’s affecting her. The other characters working at ash gardens all stayed to help after losing someone themselves so their grief is also explored to varying degrees. It continues through the whole book too so please be aware of that in case it is something you would struggle with.

The characters are so diverse and multifaceted and I applaud the author for making me care about so many characters so quickly. The interactions between the characters made me laugh but also at times made me feel emotional. Honestly found family vibes are just chefs kiss. The writing was great, the dialogue felt really believable and the plot moved at a fast pace for a cozy. My only gripe is that saika kept talking to her dead sister in her head. It was relevant to the story and I understand why the author did it but I really struggled with the switch from 1st to 2nd person and each time it happened it pulled me out of the story. It’s my only gripe and I loved every other aspect so overall a really enjoyable read

The general premise is appealing and the world is one I am interested in. As a reader I needed more solid character development to fully buy the story. The wishy washy nature of the lead lost my interest midway and I stopped looking forward to picking up the book. Because of this the romance didn’t land and even the friendships felt so-so.

This book is about grief. It has magical witches, elves, a furry caretaker, a sprite some cherubs and a wonderfully tatted up half gargoyle. There are curses and death and a lot of emotions. Warning here, this book is going to make you cry. Like ugly crying at 2am. If you enjoy reading anything from TJ Klune you are going to enjoy this one also. Hard hitting and emotional I loved it.

Okay, so… this is 2024 TJ Kline and I’m not upset about it but… it’s been done and it’s okay to move on?

This was a great exploration of grief but like I said, TJ Klune has done the same thing twice over and I can’t say that this was better or added to anything. I felt like Saika was very bitchy and you can say she’s grieving all you want, but everyone there is grieving and they don’t act like that? It’s just… it’s not it and I feel like it’s a little too late for it.

House of Frank is a cosy fantasy about grief and finding a family. The writing is beautiful, and I truly love every character, each with their own unique traits. Overall, I adore this book and highly recommend it. Also, the cover is stunning, and I can't wait to see it on my shelves. Thanks to NetGalley and Bindery Books | Ezeekat Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

House of Frank is a delightful cozy fantasy novel that focuses on grief. Honestly, the narrative gave me Ghibli vibes and the prose flows very well. The characters are relatable and I adored Frank.

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC

This book was really beautiful. Thank you so much to Bindery Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book! This is perfect for fans of “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Somewhere in the Cerulean Sea” we have a fun cast of mythical characters while also highlighting the heavier aspects of death and grief.

We follow Saika as she finally goes to plant her sister’s ashes in Ash Gardens, a magical arboretum run by a beast named Frank. While there, she meets a variety of creatures and as Ash Gardens starts crumbling at the seams, she is determined to help. As she watches everyone around her move through her grief, she finally starts to understand the importance of letting go.

The narrative style of this story is definitely interesting and it took me a bit to grasp. It’s told in 1st person, but as if Saika is talking to her sister, Fi, using the 2nd person. I thought it was an interesting concept but overall it’s a little bit jarring and really pulled me out of the story at some points. I think this could’ve been done through letters and made a lot more sense and just flowed better overall.

I also felt like the romance was a bit underdeveloped and rushed. This story would’ve done perfectly fine without the romance that appeared out of seemingly nowhere. I really like the relationship arc that Oli and Saika go through, but it could’ve ended with friendship and have been just as good (if not better) in my opinion.

I do really like the story as a whole. The world is very fantastical and it’s developed just the right amount. We have the basics of the world without getting into the nitty gritty of maps and species and whatever else may exist. The plot of the story itself is also very intriguing, but I wish there was more explanation of “Death” as we see him portrayed.

Overall, this book didn’t absolutely blow me away, but it did have its good parts and it was overall a fun story with lovable characters.

Ever since losing my dad, I have been drawn to books that do grief and grieving well. I am SO thrilled to report that this special little book absolutely knocks it out of the park! The cozy fantasy plus the very real, nuanced reflection on grief worked for me on so many levels. I adored this one and cannot wait to share it with my audience for spooky season!