Divorce Diversion-Entertainment Wrap-Up April 2024
Hi, and welcome to my entertainment wrap-up for April 2024.
Books
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
I listened to this book on Audible. The narrator did a nice job, but the book's content was a different story. I finished it and gave it a 3 out of 5 on my reading scale.
A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.
Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
Five-Star Review from Goodreads...
THIS STORY. THIS BOOK COVER. THIS WRITING. This one is a top 20 for me. If you love Stranger Things and Never Ending Story mixed with a dark Secret Garden, this book is calling you, just like the house. The magical realism and weight of Opal’s world had me wishing and wanting for her the entire time. There was never a dull moment in this book. Nearly everything was explained in the end - except for Elizabeth Baine. What WAS she exactly? I WILL be thinking about this book for the next three days. I only wish to see Starling House in my dreams.
What tf was this book even about? Like, I literally could not give you a synopsis, except there’s a house that’s magical, and weird beasts are involved. And the trope of a girl who needs to be strong for everyone, with a bad/traumatic upbringing, doesn’t let anyone in. WHAT EVEN HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK???!!!!
I have to give a high score to the book's cover. It is beautiful, with purples and greens. That being said, I can't give that high of a score for the content of this lovely book. I got so lost in this book, and not in a good way, but in a confused way. The only thing I really cared about was the budding romantic relationship. Other than that, it made no sense to me, and I just did not care about the living house and all of its monsters. For me it was too far out there to even be interesting.
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I have decided to alternate reading a physical book and listening to an Audible book. The book I started after finishing Starling House is...
I am only on page 68 of this 376-page book, but I am really enjoying it. A few things in this book relate to an elite circus, a young girl with polio, and a Jewish boy evading the Naizis. This is going to be a very good book, but it also has the potential to be a painful read.
I tried a new Podcast that I enjoyed, The Curious History of Your Home. I listened to one on "Baths." I found it very interesting, and I have decided to keep this Podcast in my library to learn more about the history of the many things in our home. Great Podcast!
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