Starling House & After the Forest

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Published by Macmillan Audio, Tor Books on October 3, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary
Length: 12 hours 25 minutes
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm

Starling House is a gorgeously modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen....

Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors—and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House—and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund—she can't resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I’m home.

And now she’ll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Okay, I am convinced that Alix E. Harrow can do no wrong. I have loved all of the books that I have read written by this amazingly talented author so far (I still need to read The Once and Future Witches and I promise to get to it sometime soon.). This story grabbed me from the very start, and I didn’t want to stop listening. I had a fantastic time with this entertaining novel that I found almost impossible to put down.

Opal was a wonderful character, and I wanted to see things work out for her and her brother. She has faced a lot of challenges in her life and does what needs to be done to care for both herself and her brother. She can’t turn down the job at Starling House that she is offered. Arthur was equally amazing. He is doing the best that he can with the situation that he has found himself in. I loved the gothic vibe of the story and thought that it was just creepy enough to really pull me in.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Natalie Naudus did a wonderful job with the story. I loved the voices that she used that helped bring the characters and story to life. I found her voice to be very pleasant and am certain that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of the story. I will definitely be recommending this one to others. I found this story to be a wonderful tale filled with characters that were easy to fall for. I cannot wait to read more of Alix E. Harrow’s writing.

I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Books.

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

After the Forest by Kell Woods
Narrator: Esther Wane
Published by Macmillan Audio, Tor Books on October 3, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy
Length: 13 hours 56 minutes
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm

After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.”

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

What an amazing debut! When I saw the description for this book, I was intrigued and it didn’t take long for me to get hooked once I started reading. I feel like this is the Hansel and Gretel story that I didn’t know that I needed. I had never considered what might have happened to these two characters after escaping the witch’s gingerbread home. I was quickly invested in this story and couldn’t wait to see what the future might hold for Greta and her brother, Hans.

Greta was a wonderful character who I liked right away. She seemed to have a good heart and I felt bad that she was put in difficult situations by the actions of others. She does use a magical book that once belonged to the witch who wanted to eat her and her brother years before to make her gingerbread but is careful so that she will not be labeled a witch. The book took several turns that I didn’t expect and I love the magic of the story. I thought that the romance added a nice element to an already delightful story.

I listened to the audiobook and thought Esther Wane did a wonderful job of bringing the story to life. I thought that she added just the right amount of emotion to her reading which added some depth to her reading. I liked the voices that she used to help bring each of the characters to life. I will not hesitate to recommend this entertaining story to others. I cannot wait to see what Kell Woods comes up with next!

I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Books.

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