Wow, this was such a cool concept! I couldn't truly guessed what would happen next because everything was so secretive. I honestly wouldn't mind more in this world.

Gothic mystery vibe with kids who have different physic abilities and a house that seems more than a house. We follow our main FMC who gets a job as a maid at a house that supposedly houses kids that have had the “procedure”
This is definitely one of those books that you have to pay attention to everything you’re reading and you may feel a bit lost in the beginning but it comes together in the end. I loved the different characters and the different abilities each had. I honestly had no clue how it was going to end which definitely kept me interested. It gave me vibes like the show Hero’s or Stranger Things with a bigger mystery spin. I’d recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for letting me read an eARC of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House/ Delacorte, and Ms. White for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

Kiersten White is a past master of eerie, ominous, gothic, claustrophobic, CREEPY settings and the House of Quiet does not disappoint in that regard. This isn't a jump-scare sort of book but it *is* super creepy in that way that makes all the hairs on the back of your neck (and arms, and legs) stand at freaking attention.

The House of Quiet is a sort of, idk, asylum? laboratory? no one really knows, where poor children are sent to have a "Procedure" done. The sort of Procedure that costs enough to beggar entire families, but which leaves the children with paranormal abilities worth a fortune. Except that when Birdie shows up at the House in search of her missing sister, she finds no sister and, in fact, no poor children: just a handful of rich kids and a boatload of questions. And of course, there's the House itself: built on the few square feet of solid ground in the middle of miles of bog, with secret stair cases and locked doors and lots and lots of secrets. What is really happening there? And who is behind it? Lots of twists and turns and sidesteps keep you guessing pretty much the whole time, all the while accompanied by that creepy walls-closing-in-on-you feeling. The tension ratchets up slowly but steadily, building to a satisfying crescendo.

I really enjoyed this. I LOVED Birdie and her snarky comments about Minnow's abilities (or lack thereof) as a maid, but all the characters: Lake, Dawn, River, Forest, Nimbus, were so good. This would make a really good movie, ominous and suspenseful and eerie. Definitely a good book to start off that Halloween time of year!

What an intriguing world! And what a creepy house! It was definitely a unique type of horror, kind of haunted house but so much more. It sucked me right in and I loved following Birdie around (quietly so I wouldn't be chosen to help the House Wife) as she searched for her missing sister and tried to figure out what the heck was going on in this House of Quiet. The procedure, which so many people worked hard to get their children to have for a better future in this country divided between North and South was a big part of mystery that kept me reading. Plus I loved the other residents in the house. Each one felt very unique but nicely lifelike (at least as much as one can be with the powers they mysteriously got) and seeing the story from the different views helped round it out well.

It was a slow creep horror with all the questions (like the red window, what the treatment is, and where did the other children go) but also a gothic mystery fantasy. I really enjoyed reading it and while it ends with a nice frantic bit of unraveling, figuring it all out in the nick of time and a very good determination to put the world to right after the dark discoveries in the House, I would not mind at all if there was another book about Birdie and the others!

I am very happy to have been able to read this great story and I know for sure that I will love everything that Kiersten White writes!

The House of Quiet by Kiersten White gothic horror had such a compelling premise.
It was very readable and held my attention through out.
I absolutely loved the story and it did not disappoint at all.
An intriguing gothic horror.

Thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte for the pre-release copy of The House of Quiet by Kiersten White. Below you'll find my honest review.

Well, this book chastised me. It wagged its pointer finger at me and said, "Shame on you for not having gone back and read any of Kiersten White's YA stuff. Shame on you for only having read Hide and Mister Magic! SHAME!"

I absolutely LOVED this one. She does some amazing worldbuilding, and the crazy part about that is that she does it with a story in ONE house in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE cut off from the rest of the world. Does she answer everything? No. Does it take a while to fully grasp the entire structure of the powers/the procedure/etc? Yes. But that doesn't matter because she's got a great group of characters that make you want to keep reading so you can find out whatever little tidbit comes next.

I adored some of the side characters the most - Lake and her weirdness, Dawn and her search for purpose and meaning, Forest and his silent fortitude - but the main characters were also strong and well developed. They were easy to root for, for sure.

Five stars, and I really, really hope this is going to be at least a duology. I need more in this world!!! Highly recommended.

What if there was a gothic style house full of children with X-men type abilities and creepy mysteries about what’s REALLY going on in the house?

Birdie is the FMC who is desperate to find her missing little sister, but the story also rotates perspectives so we get to learn more about the other kids in the creepy house along with their own secrets and special abilities.

The setting and world-building are fantastically unique, spooky, and gothic dystopian which I loved!!! The writing style would appeal to both young adults and adults in my opinion, and the plot is so different and interesting I think this has amazing crossover appeal for teens and adults who love one-of-a-kind spooky stories!

Some parts can be confusing because so much is left unexplained until the VERY end, but the way the story wraps everything up is satisfying.

Perfect spooky read that’s not too scary for people who aren’t big horror fans!

This is a wonderful gothic horror that is being released at the perfect time of year. The House of Quiet is eerie and atmospheric with engaging characters who make you curious to know more. It is a bit challenging to get into at first. The worldbuilding and the story are both rather slow to start. The reader is left not quite sure what is going on in the first couple of chapters, but as you get into the flow and format of the book, the world becomes a bit clearer. Overall, a great read for the chilly time of year.

Short and Sweet Review

Birdie is on her way to the House of Quiet as a maid in search for her sister. The house is on a bog and it’s a place where children who have had procedures done on them and now have powers are located. Even though Birdie is there to find her sister Magpie she finds that she can’t ignore the other children there. During her stay Birdie learns that danger lurks around every corner.

The House of Quiet has a very eerie vibe to it, the house is out on a bog and its location is a secret. We follow our main character Birdie to this house she’s searching for her sister Magpie, throughout the course of the book we learn what happened. We also have a group of children in the house who have undergone procedures and have different powers. Birdie was a good character, she was smart but also determined to find her sister, she knew that time wasn’t on her side and she would have to make each decision carefully. This book was pretty short and can be read in one sitting. I do think the ending fell flat and all the build up from the first half of the novel seemed wasted.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, it felt like we really didn’t know what was going on until we reached the end. The book had an interesting premise and the mystery will have you trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC of The House of Quiet. Kiersten White is undeniably a talented writer her prose flows so beautifully that I often found myself latching on to the way her words wove together more than to the story itself. There’s a haunting, lyrical quality to her writing that makes the atmosphere vivid and immersive, and I always admire how she layers imagery and emotion.

That said, this particular book didn’t quite land for me. While I do enjoy fantasy, I struggled to connect with the pacing and overall structure. The story moved slowly, and while that can sometimes build suspense, here it left me feeling a bit stuck rather than drawn in. The names and terminology were folksy in a way that pulled me out of the world instead of deepening my immersion. By the time I reached the end, it felt rushed almost as if all the buildup didn’t quite pay off in the way I was hoping for.

In short, this is a book that showcases Kiersten White’s skill as a writer, but the story itself wasn’t one I could fully engage with. Readers who thrive on atmosphere and language may enjoy it more, but for me, it was a mixed experience an intriguing premise wrapped in gorgeous prose but weighed down by pacing and a less satisfying conclusion.

This was not for me. I enjoyed the writing style, it was easy to read. I found the story to be a bit boring and confusing though.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am so excited that I got an ARC of this book because Kiersten White is an auto-buy author for me.  This book was so creepy and weird and absolutely something she would write, and yet, it is completely different than anything she has ever written.  

I really loved this book and how creepy and claustrophobic it is.  There is absolutely a vibe for this book and it's a really good fall read for that reason.  But you can read it anytime of year, especially if you're like me and you look books full of mysteries in a timeless gothic/Victorian setting.  

I loved seeing Birdie try to figure everything out and try to find her sister.  It's what leads her to the House Of Quiet, where she meets patients and staff with secrets of their own.  It is slow paced, and we have more questions than answers, especially at the beginning.  But it is absolutely worth it, because this story is different and original, in the best possible.  There were times where nothing made sense, but as I kept reading, I got to see everything come together.  Especially since we get multiple narrators, so we get different perspectives on everything.  Those differing POV's are not always obvious, but paying attention to the chapter titles will definitely give you the clues needed to figure that out.  I was definitely invested in the characters too, and I loved learning more about them.

My Rating: This is a 5 star read!  This is another great book by Kiersten White.  If you like eerie settings, creepy houses, and mysteries upon mysteries, this is the book for you!

Atmospheric and claustrophobic, this novel captures the essence of a locked room haunted house. With a unique spin on inclusive POVs, the reader is left guessing what exactly is going on in The House of Quiet, who to trust and wondering what could have happened to Magpie. A story that builds momentum and ends in a satisfying rollercoaster drop.

2.25 🌟 rounded down

I debated rating this 2 (2.25 rounded down) or 3 stars (2.5 rounded up). But honestly, if this book hadn’t been an ARC, I would have DNF’d it early on.

Ultimately, I found the book concept interesting (why I requested it), but its execution was very confusing. I enjoyed the characters, mainly the kids in the House of Quiet. They were all well-developed. However, their various abilities are never fully detailed, and neither is the world in general. There are some vague mentions of north vs south, and some blatant classism is going on, but this is never fleshed out in a way that brings everything together. I wish this background information had been laid out at the beginning of the book. Instead, it was presented in bits and pieces throughout the novel, which didn’t add to a complete narrative. I was left with more questions than answers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC.

This book has exactly what every spooky teen wants: haunted house, fantasy elements, a bunch of bored teens with powers causing mischief, mystery, drama. Literally I would have eaten this up as a teen and hoped beyond hope for a TV show. Really fun honestly. But I'm a Kiersten White super fan I'm always having fun with her books.

This is a hard book to get through.

The first quarter of the book is like a fever dream, but not in a good way. It's very atmospheric, which is great, but it's incredibly hard to understand what's going on. There are shifting perspectives that aren't explained except in chapter title references (of varying vagueness). Technically, some chapters switch perspectives every paragraph, which is insane. There are TONS of moments where one character or another eludes to some past event that you know will be integral to later understanding without actually saying anything about it, so it feels like the author is dangling these secrets in front of the reader in the most frustrating way. There's very little worldbuilding, too, so that readers don't really have a clear picture of ANYTHING outside the house, and very little inside of it. I think you'll lose a lot of readers in this section, who won't feel it's worth it to stick it out.

The middle two quarters feel like nothing in particular is happening at all. It continually adds layers and layers and layers to the mystery while giving very few answers, and there weren't many moments of increased tension or suspense to keep the reader pushing to the end.

The entirety of the plot feels like it happens in the last quarter of the book. Everything unfolds incredibly quickly, some twists were easier than others to guess at. This part is what saved the book from a worse rating, but I truly wonder how many readers will actually get here.

This story was absolutely wild from start to finish! It’s perfect for fans of Uglies, One Dark Window, and The Grace Year! It’s dark, gritty, and claustrophobic at times. I absolutely couldn’t put this one down.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for the ARC!

This book will be a great addition to our middle grades horror selections. Kiersten White never disappoints and I cannot wait to start selling this book!

First of all, what a gorgeous cover. This is a strange book. I was not sure what was going on. I really enjoyed the characters though. Would be interested in more to see the how the group can use their powers to overcome additional evils.

This is wild.

It’s unique and difficult to get into at first. It’s very eerie.
This is a book about children who have superpowers thanks to a mutation. The main character is searching for her sister who got lost in the system and the book is about what happens during her search.
You’re gonna be lost, it’s gonna be strange, but you’re going to keep reading so you can figure out what’s going on. Every character is puzzling.

The ending is what made me give 4 stars.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this haunted house story with a twist!