Ezri returns to their childhood home where they and their siblings grew up as the only black family in a white suburb to find her parents dead in an apparent murder suicide. Ezri and their siblings are forced to confront their pasts and their presents to determine what really haunted that house their entire childhoods.

As with many of Solomon's reads this dealt with a lot of difficult topics including racism and child abuse. It was a good book, but a hard read. I felt that it was more of a thriller than a horror novel.

I thought did a good job switching between perspectives within the book.

I definitely struggled to get into this one due to the voice/audio narration. I found the storyline intriguing and the ending blew me away, but the voice was difficult to enjoy.

A haunted house story unlike any other. Ezri moved all the way to England to escape the house they grew up in. But now something is wrong. All three Maxwell siblings will have to return to the house that still haunts them in order to move on. But is the house really haunted--or is something else going on?

Go ahead and plaster every trigger warning imaginable on this one, because true to Rivers Solomon form, it gets dark. The exploration of trauma and sibling relationships was expertly done, and the twist at the end took me truly and horrifyingly by surprise.

I haven’t had time to read this yet — I’m so sorry. I plan to read it when Libby has the audiobook available.

Model Home is an intense emotional rollercoaster. It deals with family dysfunction, trauma and racism conceptualized into horror. Ezri has been running away from her past and is forced to deal with it when her parents are killed. Ezri and their siblings are complex characters that are dealing with their childhoods in different ways. There are many instances that have you wondering, what really happened in that house? And who is responsible for their parents deaths? Solomon explores the themes of racism, family trauma and how we carry it with us through strong characters and eloquent writing. At times, the pacing was off, some scenes lingered too long and others felt too abrupt. The narrator imbued the complexity of Ezri and the creepiness of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ALC.

A literary horror story about a wealthy Black family and the creepy haunted house they move into. This story has great neurodivergence and disability rep (diabetes and mental health disorders) plus very relatable queer characters

This was powerful and unflinching. It was a bit dark for me, but that was expected. Highly recommended.

I read Model Home based on my faith in the author, Rivers Solomon. I normally do not read horror - horror readers might not even consider this horror. But for me, it definitely slides from creepy into actual literary horror (whatever that is). A sense of dread permeates every crevice of the book. Horrific things happen. I give Model Home five gold stars and don't want to read anything like it for a long, long time. Thank you to the author, narrator, publisher, and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

At its core, Model Home is about the ways adults do not protect children. It is also about memory and family and forgiveness. It is about race and class and identity. But the horror at the heart of the book is the very real experience each of us has had of not being protected by someone who should have stood up for us, and about the adults who preyed on us. While many of us do not experience the extreme horrors found in this book, I think most of us had the family friend who always insisted on a neck rub, or being bullied and a parent choosing to ignore the situation. The author took these common experiences and turned them up to eleven. Part of the book's horror is how easy it is to see how things came to be the way they are. This book explores many interesting ideas, never taking the easy way out, always insisting on the full, rounded, truth. We humans are both unimaginably harmful to each other and also, we are the best things about each other's lives. There is beauty and love and hope among the greatest grief.

Ezri's family is the only Black family in their gated community south of Dallas, Texas. And Ezri is probably the only genderqueer kid in the neighborhood. But that isn't why they or their two younger sisters have been estranged from their parents for decades. The Maxwell children left home because disturbing, unexplainable things happened there, perpetrated by Nightmare Mother.

When they suspect something has befallen their parents, Ezri, Eve, and Emanuelle return to their childhood home to confront their ghosts and understand what has happened to their parents. A haunted house story that explores themes of racism, family dynamics, gender identity, and the cycle of abuse, Model Home was a deeply impactful story and I think will be one of my favorite books of the year. Honestly, this book deserves to be a modern classic next to Beloved.

I love that Ezri is deeply flawed and makes missteps in nearly all of the relationships we see in the novel. They are not painted as a great queer saint, but rather as a human who is trying their best to exist in a system that is often working against them. Their sisters and daughter likewise all make various missteps throughout the novel, but they are all actions driven by grief or adolescent naivete. I appreciate that all of the choices feel human and consequences feel rational. (Yes, I am saying this about a haunted house book.)

Gabby Beans' narration of this book is absolutely phenomenal. She inhabits the character voices -- it was like listening to a radio drama. I wish I could award an extra star just for her performance. It was just incredible. I cannot say enough good things about it.

I do not often re-read books, but after having experienced the full story and getting to know all of the characters, I found myself wanting to immediately start the book over again. I wanted to try to know them better and I was not yet ready to leave Ezri and their family.

This book contains descriptions and implied instances of abuse. Please check trigger warnings and take care of yourself while reading this book.

I have seen Model Home described as a story about a haunted house and haunted people. It is this and so much more. It is a story with many complex themes including trauma, grief, abuse, mental health, and racism. Model Home is a work of speculative and literary fiction with beautifully written prose. I don't usual annotate books, but there were many sentences and passages that deserved to be highlighted.
I read the book while also listening to the audio book. The audio book is narrated by Gabby Beans. She does a great job bringing this story and characters to life.

Thank you to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Macmillan Audio for the ARCs.

This is my first Rivers Solomon and definitely won’t be my last. They have such a way with words, and I felt myself entranced by the family they wove in this story. Very sad but ended on a hopeful note.

Model Home didn't initially sound like a book I would pick up but after reading a number of reviews, I requested it and was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy. I am so glad I did because it was truly an original story with a lot to think about and I know it will stay with me for a long time.

The Maxwell family has lived in a fancy Dallas suburb for a number of years. Ezri has returned home after the death of their parents and what plays out is a haunted house story that's true horror is racism. Touching on a lot of relevant topics, readers will find a lot to explore in Model Home.

The audio production was fantastic and I am so glad that I got the chance to review it. I loved the narration and will look for more titles from this narrator.

Ezri flies back from their current home in London when their siblings are unable to reach their parents. When they go to the house, they find both parents dead in suspicious circumstances. The rest of the book unfolds in the setting of a haunted house story, but really it’s an exploration of Ezri’s experiences growing up as a black, genderfluid person. I loved this and did not want to put it down, and the audio narrator is absolutely perfect for this book. Solomon’s previous book really stuck with me and I suspect this one will, too.

Rivers Solomon's Model Home explores family, race, and identity through the Maxwell family. Solomon's exceptional prose blends horror with themes of sexuality and neurodiversity, creating a disturbing yet thought-provoking narrative. The story centers on Ezri and their siblings, with Gabby Beans' narration enhancing the audiobook experience.

The novel depicts racism through insincere white neighbors attempting to oust the Maxwells, contrasting external conflicts with internal family struggles. Solomon candidly addresses adult themes, offering an unfiltered portrayal of the characters' experiences. The author reveals how support and compassion can heal trauma, while exposing the shocking root of the family's pain.

Model Home provides a powerful commentary on Black, queer, and neurodiverse experiences. Though unconventional in its approach to horror, the novel challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths and the complexities of human relationships.

This one was a DNF for me at 38%.

First, I loved the way this horror story was written in such a literary way. It was beautifully written as far as I got, examining the diversity of the family and the difficulty of living in this horrifying neighborhood.

I had to stop after listening to a particularly graphic sexual scene. It was consensual, but it felt very disturbing to me. I didn't especially need to hear the details of this encounter, and the idea of returning to this book and the possibility of having to hear another graphic scene is not appealing.

If this is not a problem for you, I would recommend this book. It is not often a literary horror comes across my path, and I am sad to have to leave it.

"We can't be disappointed by men we never once believed in"

Gut-wrenching, shocking, and heartbreaking.

This is a story about a family terrorized by a house. It's a story about racism, trauma, and gender fluidity. This story of siblings and their attempt to untangle their childhood memories of a haunted house, their parents, and what they know to be true. It bounces between one of them as a child and then as an adult, come back to the house now that their parents are both suddenly and shockingly. . .gone.

I did this as an audio with an amazing narrator and there were times I had to stop and catch my breath, the tension and dread in the story was so tight. It's hard to say I love this one but I definitely felt drawn into the story and it will stay with me.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank you to Rivers Solomon, Macmillan Audio, Farrah, Straus, and Giroux, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Haunted house stories use all of these qualities to create a setting that often becomes its own character in the story. Model Home certainly knows the genre and uses its tropes and certainties to its advantage.

Model Home follows Ezri and their family as they move from New York to Dallas and into a model home in a gated community. They are the only black family in the Oak Creek Estates but the Maxwells persevere. Bad things start to happen to the Maxwells and as their family grows, tragedy after tragedy rains down on them. Years later Ezri is back in their hometown after leaving. Questions arise and they and their family must face the truth.

That's the most you should know of the plot before reading. I think that the less you know, the better.

I listened to this book and was at the edge of my metaphorical seat the whole time. Solomon not only captures the voice of their characters but creates the world in a way that feels like you could walk into it and be there.

That place makes the ambiance of the book what it is. It is that which lets the horror creep out and into your spine. When a character steps into a seemingly innocuous house during the day, you can feel the underlying menace. When family members talk, the tension of years seeps into their words. The nuanced way the presence of Ezri’s mother makes itself known and yet Ezri, at times, feels themselves as not whole and overshadowed by a long-gone person.

All of this complexity is created in the prose. A mixture of clinical and luscious language put us in a vivid and inescapable place. In which terror is right around the corner and trauma is omnipresent.

So much of the book felt like a dream, or really a nightmare. The ghosts that haunt the siblings are many: supernatural parental, generational, historical, and personal. Whiteness is a monster, a predator. The expectations and parent’s guidance become more of a burden than motivation. We cling to dreams even if they hurt us. We become so poisoned by our own grief, that we might not be able to see and help those around us. The most ordinary can hide the most hideous. Family inheritance can cause its own pain.

Pain and its inheritance is a huge topic. The brutality and dehumanization of racism is an ever-present haunt. How it harms in its madness not only obliterating the person of its target but also the surrounding communities and families.

What holds it all together is the relationship between the siblings. Bickering at times and loving at others, Ezri and their siblings are forced to face the house and all the secrets inside.

"A family hurts. It does. We are born in its noose."

This is a book about a monster that grooms you to feel like you’re the monster. The monsters of our childhood follow and haunt our actions and steps.

That we, in turn, become a haunting.

All of this culminated in an ending you won’t soon forget. I felt it was a bit rushed, it didn’t take its time like the rest of the novel, and (this is more a fault with me as the reader) the movie watcher in me wanted everything to be tied into a bow. I wanted the monsters to be forced into the light and help to save the day.

Still, Solomon delivers on the promises they make in the beginning. We are left with humanity, pared down and ripe with horrors, in a bittersweet finale.

This is a bold, haunting, beautiful, and grief-filled book.

I can’t stop thinking of Ezri and the Maxwells and all the horror in their lives. But, I also can’t stop thinking of the quiet moments.

I've got my full review up on halfextinguishedthoughts.com

I’m not into slasher horror. I’m more of a mind fuck horror type of reader. And I am deeply DEEPLY disturbed by this book in the best way.

A black family moves into white suburbia. Into a haunted house.

Now, the children are adults and discover their parents the victims of what looks to the police like a murder-suicide. But the siblings know different. They know it was the house that killed their parents. And it’s not letting go of them either.

I knew throughout the book that everything wasn’t as it seemed. It was never supposed to be. The air of mystery and the Easter eggs left throughout the plot were obviously leading somewhere. But definitely not where I expected. It’s so hard to surprise me with a plot twist, my pattern recognition picks it up every time, but I was FLABBERGASTED.

I’m a big Rivers Solomon fan already, but this one is their best yet!!! The way that they discuss systemic racism and queerness in such an insightful way that fits perfectly into the plot is unmatched. If you’re a horror fan, be warned that this book has so many triggers, but it is an absolute must read!

Truthfully, I would have DNF'd this, but I powered through to the end. I like that we get some closure at the end, but I really didn't enjoy this (I don't think this is a book someone truly enjoys tbh).

This was pretty dark and there were LOTS of heavy themes (racism, classism, trauma, grief, abuse, mental illness, +more). I thought this was a book about a haunted house!!! And it was.... or was it?? It felt pretty disjointed and at times I was confused about what was going on. There were some really great quotes, and I thought Ezri's perspective was unique. Something I thought was interesting was the parent-child relationship between Ezri and her parents (mostly her mom). This really illustrates how big of an effect the words and actions of parents have on their kids. One thing said/done in passing can have a lifelong effect. This book just wasn't for me, but I know there are people out there that would love this.

Model Home is beautifully written and I loved the language that the author employs to tell this highly disturbing story. For me, however, the paranormal aspect was a bit too much and I found it hard to really engage. I think that other readers, especially those who like horror more than I do, will love this drama involving a complicated family and their haunted house. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to offer an honest review of this audiobook.