A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher | Book Review

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A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher is a slow-burning gothic horror tale about blood and roses.  

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My Thoughts on A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher –

After her latest job got delayed, Sam traveled back to the scene of her childhood to live with her mom for a bit. Once there, Sam has a difficult time coming to terms with being back in the house that they had grown up in. She recalls many bad memories and has odd dreams. She even starts experiencing some sleep paralysis. 

To make things more complicated, Sam had been previously warned by her brother that something seems off with their mother. Sam sees this immediately after her arrival as her mother’s personality has been completely wiped from the house, a racist painting is hanging up, and her mother won’t allow a single negative word to be mentioned about her mother who had passed away. 

Sam realizes it’s like her mother is trying to appease her late grandmother, but why? Was she just in delayed mourning? 

Sam digs for answers but only gets more and more unsettled as time goes on until this hit their breaking point. 

I had such a blast reading the first half of this book and seeing the unease and confusion slowly build. This gave us the perfect amount of time to really get to know each character. 

I was just waiting for the main character to snap and demand answers, but as she was so delicate with her mom, what actually happened was so much more satisfying! 

Once the action started, I couldn’t put the book down! As a reader, you can just sense that something is coming, but you’ll never guess what’s in store.

My Favorite Passages from A House With Good Bones – 

It wasn’t my place to police what color Mom painted her guest bedroom. Or the rest of her house, for that matter. Still, ecru. It’s like if you couldn’t decide on white or beige and combined the two for maximum blandness.

My phone informed me that it was absolutely talking to the internet, it was happy to talk to the internet, it loved talking to the internet, then as soon as I tried to check my email, it told me it had never heard of the internet and wasn’t entirely sure it existed.

My Final Thoughts on A House With Good Bones – 

T. Kingfisher’s style of writing here was such a blast to read! I loved that the narrator had such a humourous internal monologue even in times of stress.

By the time I hit the last page of A House With Good Bones, I couldn’t decide if I was ready to dig up the rose bush I had just planted this year or if I wanted to plant more! 

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