Reviews

The House of Sorrowing Stars by Beth Cartwright

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jellybean1981's review

5.0

One of my favourite books, definitely in my top ten & highly recommend it.
Lots of hope, love and magic at The House of Sorrowing Stars, a real heart warming magical read! A library full of stories waiting to be read, a key that can bring closure & a house that needs healing.

wordsbyzahra's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

merchant_of_mishaps's review

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mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I enjoyed the prose and the way of writing that the author has. But I felt that the story didn't quite match up with it, I loved all the descriptions but I would've preferred to see the mysteries and relationships really develop over a longer time, everything seemed a bit sudden for me personally.

Wasn't heinous by any means, but could have been better :)

anne_98's review

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emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Overall I quite liked the book, the story and the characters were very interesting and I liked the concept of the house. I especially love the idea of the library and Eloura seems so sweet and interesting

Spoiler

am I the only one who thought she was the cat? Is it just a normal cat? I mean that'd be fine I love cats, I just really got the impression something special was going on with it

. And that garden, I would love to spend time there and Ben seems like a lovely person to spend time with as well.

However I am left feeling just a bit unsatisfied, I feel like some things could have been fleshed out more, or we could have spend more time with some situations/characters/relationshis.

Spoiler

Some more of those stories from the library would have been interesting, for some reason I was expecting more like that, more stories and more guests. I also would have liked more time to get to know the Keymaker/Raphaelle and see his relationship with Liddy grow, because it seemed a bit sudden? They touched, she had a vision of them together in a bath (did he see that too?) and now they're in love? Also how old is he exactly, my feelings about this relationship are kind of dependent on that. Immediately followed by how long was Liddy at the house, it felt like days, but that's seems to short for everything that happens and all the relationship development.

Spoiler

I also wonder if Liddy misses her family and if she's planning on seeing them again. She seemed to at least have a decent relationship with her father and she was close to her cousin, but this never really gets mentioned... I might have liked to see her write them a letter at least or mention something about visiting them or inviting them.