A review by ooohgoshtara
The September House by Carissa Orlando

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Margaret was giving cuckoo for cocoa puffs in her attachment to the house and unwillingness to leave no matter what the house or ghosts threw at her. Margaret learned and followed the rules. The mysterious disappearance of Hal had me invested because where is your husband Margaret? Katherine was so high strung a good play on Margaret's surface level unbotheredness. This book is slow but I liked the tension and build up. I liked how we slowly learned about Margaret and Hal's life together through flashbacks. Margaret's behavior started to make sense. The ending ruined the book for me. If the house, ghosts were Margaret's coping mechanism then that's what it should have been. Not the weird exorcism, massacre that happens. Katherine had been there all week and encountered none of the house's ghosts. How?! None of the others were initially seeing what Margaret was seeing so the ending came out of nowhere for me. Hard to explain without adding spoilers but that's the gist. The ending spoiled the story for me.