Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Hello.  I hope you're having a great day.

The holidays often make me think of the people I've lost, like my grandparents.  I was blessed to have fantastic, loving grandparents on both my maternal and paternal side.  My maternal grandfather was a very pious man, he also was extremely outgoing. He was modest but he was also a politician.  He was mayor and actually secured the land that later became the town's only mall. My grandparents traveled around the world going everywhere but Russia, where they wanted to go but never got the chance.  Every year they went to Hawaii for my birthday...without me...and called me from the pool, while I was in cold New York.  Being the way he was, my granddad knew the name of half the population of Hawaii, and they knew him.  My poor demure grandmother went along with it all.  She surprised me when I got married by giving me the advice to "train him (meaning my husband) right from the beginning".  That makes me think she ran the show more than she let on. Sadly, hubby has proven untrainable.

One time my grandparents moved to the boonies near my hometown.  They were near a swampy area, by a State Park.  When there, they became avid bird watchers. They had a tiny little book, which my sisters and I always fought over, that identified all kinds of birds.  It was so prized, it not only survived decades but was given to my niece when she was little.  For a while, my whole family knew the names of many birds, now sadly they are just known as the mean blue one, or the gray one with the yellow tail.

I recently read Starling House by Alix E. Harrow.  This is the story of Opal, a down on her luck, hard life kind of girl.  She lives in the town of Eden where everyone seems cursed.  She keeps having dreams of Starling House, a local mansion.  Starling House was the home of Elizabeth Starling, who, in the 1800s, wrote a book called The Underland and then disappeared.  Drawn to the house, because of her dreams, Opal meets the rude and brash current owner, Authur.  Opal tries to find the reason for her odd dreams of the elusive house, and why in the dreams the mansion feels like home.  As she does secrets become unraveled, some not only dangerous but life-threatening.

This book was lots of fun.  It was a fast pleasant read.  It is an odd bird (get it...bird...Starling), as it's kind of a gothic horror without being scary, it has a bit of romance, lots of mystery and suspense and a fair amount of thriller thrown in for good measure.  One thing about the way this is written, I usually hate, but is done so effectively here, that I loved it.  I dislike when things are said over and over, I feel like the author is trying to increase book length and is wasting my time.  In this case, it is on purpose and very useful.  We hear the story of Starling House from several points of view, from people with experience with the building, land and family.  The closer we get to the end, the closer we get to the truth.  So entertaining.  I literally could not put this down, reading until my vision was blurring.

I've been on a roll lately.  The last several books I've read have been so creative and fantastic.  Christmas has come early! 

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a nice day.

Does your family play games?  My family plays lots of games.  When we were growing up, there was one game that reigned supreme, especially with my father...Tripoley.  This is a card game with a board that has combinations of cards written on it.  You start by playing poker, then go into a version of rummy.  With certain combinations you get to claim the amount that is anted to in each spot on the board.  Now, gambling is frowned upon, so I'll say we always played this with poker chips.  Okay, I'll put this out there, what is the point of saving your pennies in an old coffee can if it is not to crush the dreams of your family, one cent at a time! Perhaps I "forgot" to ante once or twice, making it much more profitable.  Don't look at me like that, you never heard the saying "mama needs a new pair of shoes?"  Well, April has a raging book addiction to pay for, with pennies if necessary!

I recently read The Family Game by Catherine Steadman.  This is the story of a young newly engaged couple, Harriett and Edward.  Edward is from a wealthy family, like Vanderbilt wealthy.  In addition, he has made a fortune himself.  Though Edward has been kind of estranged from his family, he now feels it's time for him and his bride-to-be to participate in family gatherings. The only issue is that his family is weird, toxic, abrasive, and not to be trusted.  Then there are the games.  When the family gathers, they play games, not a rousing game of Scrabble (I always get z and q repeatedly), or a marathon game of Monopoly that requires snacks and eventually coffee.  Nope.  This family plays "run for your life" kinds of games.  Is Edward worth it?  What would you go through for the person you love?  How wacky of in-laws would you put up with?  These questions and more are asked as secrets are exposed and hidden.

This was a quick and fun read.  Nothing too taxing, with pleasant writing.  Pretty thrilling as far as thrillers go, this book has that feeling that you're waiting for someone to jump out around every corner.  It was a tiny bit annoying that some characters were in the story only briefly and could have played a bigger role.  Nonetheless, very enjoyable.

I'm going to count my pennies, lots of books are calling my name.