House of Frank by Kay Synclaire is a standalone novel coming October 15th from Bindery Books.
Genre:
Cozy Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQIA+
Opening Line:
“Sing for me,” you whisper. “Please.”
My Thoughts:
3.5 stars for this is a cozy fantasy story with grieving as a major theme throughout, and an LGBTQIA+ romance.
Saika is a music witch mourning the death of her sister. Fiona made her promise to see that her ashes were planted at the arboretum at Ash Gardens, where they will grow into something beautiful. Even after she arrives at Ash Gardens, Saika finds she is not yet ready to part with her sister’s ashes, and she winds up staying on and helping out around the place. She gets to know the others employed there, including cherubs, an elf, a half-gargoyle, and a one-of-a-kind beast. It turns out they are all suffering their own losses, and develop relationships that allow them to help one another navigate through their grief.
This was nice story of love, loss, friendship, and healing. The range of characters was nice, although you only get to know a few of them beyond surface level. I wasn’t really feeling the romance between our two lovebirds, personally–their interactions with one another were more irritating than anything, in my opinion, but it made for a sweet story. This is a slower-paced character driven tale, and though it takes place in a fantasy world, we are only shown this one specific part of it at Ash Gardens (with one day trip into the city). Potential readers should also know the narration often veers into second person, as Saika addressing her departed sister. It’s not like the entire book is written in second person point of view, but some people may be turned off even by a portion of it being so.
Now if I may grumble a little bit – when Saika reads that a dragon laying eggs means it’s trying to start a family and explains this to others, and their response is, “I had no idea!’…what exactly was their understanding of how eggs work?! Also, this is another case of me being taken by surprise by the occasional F-word sprinkled throughout–cursing in books doesn’t bother me (as long as it’s not excessive), but was surprising in what otherwise seemed like such a wholesome story.
But overall this was a decent cozy, emotional yet hopeful read.
Thank you to Bindery Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
Jessica Crawford 