STARLINGS

Kit’s dad always said that her grandmother was dead.

But when Kit’s father dies suddenly, Agatha Starling, his mysterious (and very much alive) mother, invites Kit and her mom to leave North Dakota and spend the winter holidays at her home. Agatha lives in a small apartment even though she still owns massive Starling House, the old family home that’s since been turned into a museum. When Kit and her mother arrive in Rosemont, a Stepford-like small town in Wisconsin, for Christmas, what awaits her isn’t a quaint holiday with her long-lost grandmother but a horror-filled trip complete with creepy townsfolk, magical roses, disembodied voices, and even a mysterious death. When Kit’s mother suddenly disappears under strange circumstances and her grandmother seems more preoccupied with an upcoming New Year’s town festival, Kit knows something is not right. She is forced to rely on herself and her few new Rosemont friends to figure out what is really going on and what exactly is keeping Rosemont seeming so outwardly perfect. This is an original and fast-paced horror novel with elements of fantasy. While the prose is at times overly embellished and the supporting characters lack significant depth, the deliciously chilling plot advances swiftly toward a conclusion that will leave readers delightfully creeped out and thoroughly content. Main characters are White; Kit is bisexual, and there is some diversity in race and sexual orientation among supporting characters.

A foreboding, flower-filled, feminist horror story.