I couldn't quite engage with the narrative or the characters, though others might find it more appealing. It just wasn't for me.

Look. No one wanted to love this story more than me. I admire the premise of Bindery Books Publishing who promotes reader communities to choose books they’re passionate about. This book was chosen by someone I personally follow on IG, who has many a time recommended reads I’ve enjoyed. Sadly, this was not a win.

Just like the blurb says, Saika is grieving her dead sister and arrives at Ash Gardens to finally lay her remains to rest. There, she’s pulled in with the denizens who reside at the sanctuary and finds a place of belonging and redemption. Everything else in between missed the mark.

When I don’t like a book, the last thing I want to do is nitpick it to death but inevitably a review must review. This book promised healing and found family but really fell short for me. Most of the characters were clueless as to what was going on around them which made no sense if this “family” truly cared for one another, and many were not at all likable, often coming off antagonistic and abrasive which also included the main character. The sapphic romance was not believable, mistaking insults for flirty banter and desire, and don’t get me started on the multitude of secrets everyone is keeping from each other. It didn’t help at all that Saika jumps from first person pov to a stream of consciousness dialogue to her dead sister constantly, and it was absolutely jarring everytime she did this, ruining storytelling flow and momentum.

I will concede that the magical system was interesting, and I liked the variety of fantastical beings that were included. Each character had their own tragic grief that they dealt with separately and that did nudge me a little in the feels. Otherwise, I was mostly bored and impatient to get conclusive answers to all the issues, challenges, problems that Saika and her “friends” were confronted with, and when the reveal and solution finally came, it just didn’t satisfy my particular self in its simplistic incongruous answers.

Overall, my unimportant opinion in the grand scheme of things is miniscule, as the vast majority who has read this book emphatically adored it. I just wish I was one of them.

Thank you to Bindery Books via NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a honest review posted to Goodreads

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't fully connect with it for some reason. The story was cute overall, but I struggled to finish the book.

In House of Frank by Kay Synclaire we meet Saika, a witch, who has come to Ash Gardens to plant her sister in their magical arboretum. Saika, however, is not ready to say goodbye and instead takes an offer from the owner Frank to stay and work for as long as she wants. Ash Gardens is falling apart and Saika and the other magical inhabitants are working to keep Frank’s home and dream standing. Everyone at Ash Gardens has been touched by loss and grief in some way.
This book does a great job showing the different ways we all handle grief and loss. As well as the dangers of holding on too tight and the comfort that can come with time, perspective, and connection.
With such a large cast of characters and found family it does take awhile to learn about everyone, but once you finally get there you are not left wanting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever experienced loss or felt alone or just wants an emotional story. Overall, it is a satisfying read where you can take comfort even in loss.

Thank you Ezeekat Press/Bindery Books, Kay Synclaire, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Content Warnings: Grief, Memory Loss (Alzheimer’s/Dementia level)

The novel was a great read. It’s a gentle, but engaging, story of navigating and overcoming grief. I loved the amount of LGBTQ+ representation present, which included men loving men, sapphic romance, asexual, and trans. These are all just portions of the characters, but to have such a diverse array interacting within the same space really made it feel queernormative. People of color are also well-represented, especially in the main character, Saika. I wish there had been a bit more world building at times (see also: if Architecture and Music Witches exist, what other kinds exist?), but overall I really liked this book.

This is a must read for anyone who has lost someone close to them. A cozy fantasy that will make you *feel*, House of Frank is a beautiful debut.

Saika shows up to Ash Gardens to plant her sister's ashes like she wanted, but Saika isn't really ready to let go. Frank offers her a deal to stay at the house and work until she's ready to do the ceremony. Along the way, Saika gets to know the other residents, including a fairy, a pair of cherubs, a couple other Witches, an elf, and a ghost. Each has their own reason for being there.

My dad passed away last year, and reading this book healed part of me. It's about grief and moving forward and not letting the grief consume you. I loved all the characters, and the Sapphic romance subplot is sweet. The story remained interesting throughout and had me wondering what brought everyone to Ash Gardens. Finding out is a journey, and it highlights how grief can be a shared experience even when not knowing who the other person lost.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bindery for the opportunity to read and review!

Thank you, Kay Sinclaire and Bindery Books/Ezeekat Press for making this ARC freely available via NetGalley.com. They have not influenced my review.

I gave this book a try because I was curious about Bindery Books' publishing/marketing model. I am pleased to say that I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The author handled the heavy themes of love, loss and grief in a way that was surprisingly comforting. The intimacy and uniqueness of the setting (a magic-infused arboretum for the departed) and the imperfect yet interesting characters (various magical beings of various types) was whimsical without being overly precious. I also appreciate that the in-book world was queer-normative without ever feeling preachy.

I recommend this to fantasy fans who want something "cozy" but that still deals with serious subjects.

It's what it says on the tin- a cozy fantasy about grief and grieving. The ruminations about life and love have all been said before, but that's what you want from this kind of story. You cry at the end and feel better for it (and I did cry at the end!). I think the narration style did fall into telling us the story and lessons rather than showing it, as others have said. This really applied to the found family aspect for me- we focus so much on two or three characters that we don't fully get the chance to connect with the rest. Saika's characterization in particular felt like it bounced around for me. She would alternatively put her foot in it and then interact with everyone with familiarity and know just what to say, which felt a bit jarring. The romance was sweet but also suffered a bit from telling us rather than showing us. All in all, it is sweet and a quick read with mostly lovable characters (and as many have said, very reminiscent of Klune).

House of Frank is a beautifully moving cozy fantasy that dives into themes of grief, loss, and love. Our main characters, Saika, is experiencing grief after losing her sister and travels to the Ash Gardens to lay her to rest but finds that she doesn't want to let her go. The garden's caretaker, Frank, who I was not expected to be a big fluffy monster invites Saika to stay for as long as she likes.

Saika helps around the house and over times finds herself with a new family and falling in love. This story helps build appreciate for the beauty of life and left me feeling warm and cozy. I didn't realize I would be so moved by this book but here I am. It is a wonderful break from the craziness that is real life and to enjoy finding happiness in it all.

Thank you so much to Kay Synclaire and Bindery Books for the ARC!

I have so many mixed feelings about this. It sounds like a cozy fantasy at first, but it ends up being mostly melancholic and reflective. I could relate to how the Saika felt about her sister and dealt with her grief in a kind of self destructive way. It didn’t make me properly cry but my eyes were leaking a little at multiple points in the story.

The author is a good writer and the story flows very well, I just had a few gripes with it that were increasingly hard to ignore throughout the book. The thing is, I’m just not a fan of the use of second person and I can think of only one example where I’ve liked its inclusion in a book before. Every time Saika suddenly addressed her sister it took me right out of the story. So, if you think you can handle frequent sentence long interruptions where the narrator speaks directly to you, you’ll be fine, but like I said, it bothered me a quite a lot.

I liked the characters overall. Each of them got the opportunity to shine on their own for a little bit. I loved Hilde’s story and the depiction of Frank’s (magical) dementia hit me quite hard as someone currently dealing with something similar in the family. I never really warmed up to Oli and I wasn’t a fan of her dynamic with Saika either. I didn’t care for their romance at all. The rest of the group was fun and interesting but near the end it was like a conveyor belt of tragic stories. Okay we got to know this one, who wants to tell their sad life story next?

I didn’t really get the found family vibe. I could see that the group loved one another but they all kept so many secrets and important information from each other. I get that people are like that sometimes, but it was just extremely dysfunctional in this case because everyone did it.
Also, a minor thing but I can’t understand why they didn’t find a way to communicate with Phil. Just give him some pen and paper since he can interact with objects. (view spoiler) They were all way too dismissive of obvious issues in the house.

What the book does well is exploring different sides of grief and how we deal with loss. The author writes well, and her characters are flawed but endearing. It’s a good book and I think I might’ve enjoyed it more at a different time. I do recommend it, if you think you can overlook the things that bothered me. Reading it was still a good experience.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read the book early in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 2.5 Stars

My main issue is that I do not like the main character, she is not a nice person and very self-centred. I also just cannot understand/relate to her obsessive grief and one would think that the book would make you at least like the person that's being grieved but no, I feel like I know nothing about Fiona.

The found family in this book does exist but it isn't a good one. They barley talk about anything that matters ever and I got the feeling they don't even like each other.
The characters in general felt rather flat. Most of them have like two characteristics and one of them is always grief.

Also the whole thing with Death making weird deals read like a fairytale not like the cosy book it's supposed to be.

The casual queer rep was nice though.

When you lose someone, you lose a part of yourself too.

I finished this book in one sitting and it made me ugly cry. Fans of cozy fantasy will find much to love in "House of Frank." It is a tale that balances whimsy with profound themes of grief and hope, ultimately leaving readers with a renewed sense of optimism and wonder. It reminds us that even in our darkest moments, there is a possibility of finding light, beauty, and family.

This was an astonishingly moving, lovely story that so perfectly encapsulated grief... The writing is lyrical and yet also crisp (a tricky feat), moving the characters and plot along at a perfect pace without sacrificing the magic of the storytelling. I could not believe how wonderfully Synclaire captured what it is to love, to grieve, and to find your family and place in the world. It was a wholly original story that somehow managed to feel comfortable even while its story and characters felt fresh and new (again, no small feat that). The book is pure genius and I hope she is already working on another title!

I really enjoyed this book. It felt warm and cozy, or at least as cozy as you can get when the story revolves around grief. It also contains my favorite trope: found family.

Saika is feeling lost after her sister's death and we meet her after a couple years of travel as she arrived at the location her sister requested to be laid to rest. She meets the crew at Ash Gardens and ends up sticking around and helping out while waiting to feel ready to bury her sister's ashes. As she works, we start to learn more about her past, slowly unraveling what has led to her current state.

My big criticism is that the romance line between Saika and Oli doesn't feel very organic while they're flirting and getting together. I honestly was hoping it wouldn't happen. Once they were established, it was fine, but I didn't feel chemistry between them that got them there.

“And I fear I still haven’t let her go.”

“Why should you?” He lifts a gentle brow. “She was a major part of you. Letting go of her would mean letting go of a piece of yourself.”

Cozy fantasy, but it's actually quite a deep exploration of grief and loss. I loved the cover, loved the magical aspects of it, and loved the idea of burying loved ones in an arboretum where their spirits connect with magical trees. That said, I hated the narration. The main character is talking to the sister she lost, so it's all in the second person and that kept me disconnected from the story. I liked a lot of the elements, including the found family and sapphic romance, but ultimately, I didn't like the execution.

House of Frank by Kay Synclaire was a grief heavy but magnificent story that managed to balance themes of fpound family and connecction as well as queer storylines. There is a perfect blend of greif and love, sadness and companionship that feels like a creative communal home for processing difficult emotions in a safe and supportive way. I feel like there is no other war to describe this novel but brave and transformative.

Interesting concept but I found the storytelling dry and hard to get into. It felt like a slog sadly.

When Saika travels to the Ash Gardens to bury her sister as per her dying request. She finds that she struggles to let go of her and fulfill her promise. Instead Frank the keeper of Ash Gardens offers her a place in his home in return for her help until she is ready to lay her sister to rest. Saika finds herself among a rag tag bunch of individuals, including but not limited to cherubs, witches, a ghost and a dragon, all who have lost something or someone in their lives and have found purpose at Ash Gardens.

Cozy fantasy is the vibe and House of Frank does it perfectly. With a hint of mystery added in and the slow unfolding of our main characters past. I was kept intrigued the whole way through.

I have struggled to find 5 star reads this year, but something about House of Frank just filled a gap that I wasn't aware required satisfying.
I got wholly attached to the characters and Ash Gardens. I adored each and every one of them and their unique personalities. The sapphic representation and budding romance was perfectly created and felt so natural and beautiful. While this book does deal with heavy topics, it never feels overtly depressing. Instead it explores the themes of grief with a touch of whimsy.

The narration was hard to get into at first as Saika continuously talks to her deceased sister Fi about everything that is going on, which removed me from the story at times. However, this improved as the book went on and was a stylistic choice that made sense, given that those who are grieving often crave ways in which to feel close to the deceased. For Saika this was talking to her sister.

Overall House of Frank is a bittersweet story of loss, grief and the measures we go to for the ones we love. It was a total winner in my opinion and has become one of my new favourite comfort reads. If you enjoyed the likes of The House in the Cerulean sea then House of Frank is right up your alley.

Big Thank-you to Netgalley, Bindery Books and Ezeekat Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"What's a gift?"
"Life. Especially after seeing how fragile it can be.
You're broken for some time, yes. But then you pick yourself up again."

There are so many things I wish I could say but I try to limit myself a bit because review pages have a word limit.
Let me start with how you grow attached to all and any of the souls you meet in the House of Frank, of the way the cherubs are the way are, how Hilde will sit down with you over a cup of tea and Oli will tell you about pirate stories, how Saika will try to help you no matter what and how everyone. And I mean everyone. Will sneak into a place in your heart.
This story is extremely heartfelt. And I loved it with every page I read. Grief and loss are such important matters. And it is shown in many of its forms here. Which makes it so gripping. So understandable. And yet it also shows very wonderfully but also messy healing can be.

Perfect for fan's of TJ Klune's Te Whispering Dorr, House of Frank is going to wealcome readers in with open arms. A tale about grief, and how moving on doesn't always mean letting go, this book addresses hard topics with compassion and kindness. Full of diverse, interesting characters House of Frank is a story that will warm your heart and wishing you could read it again for the first time.