House of Frank by Kay Synclaire 
Published by Bindery Books on October 15, 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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A warm and hopeful story of a lonely witch consumed by grief who discovers a whimsical cast of characters in a magical arboretum—and the healing power of found family.
Powerless witch Saika is ready to enact her sister’s final to plant her remains at the famed Ash Gardens. When Saika arrives at the always-stormy sanctuary, she is welcomed by its owner, an enormous, knit-cardiganed mythical beast named Frank, who offers her a role as one of the estate’s caretakers.
Overcome with grief, Saika accepts, desperate to put off her final farewell to her sister. But the work requires a witch with intrinsic power, and Saika’s been disconnected from her magic since her sister’s death two years prior. Saika gets by at the sanctuary using a fragment of a fallen star to cast enchantments—while hiding the embarrassing truth about herself.
As Saika works harder in avoidance of her pain, she learns more about Frank, the decaying house at Ash Gardens, and the lives of the motley staff, including bickering twin cherubs, a mute ghost, a cantankerous elf, and an irritating half witch, among others. Over time, she rediscovers what it means to love and be wholly loved and how to allow her joy and grief to coexist. Warm and inventive, House of Frank is a stirring portrait of the ache of loss and the healing embrace of love.
A nice group of characters who are each dealing with grief in their own way.
It took me awhile to write this review. I was excited to be approved for a review copy of House of Frank. I follow Ezeekat on Instragram who is one of the publishers behind Bindery Book. He had been talking about this book for awhile, describing the characters and the magic in the House of Frank. It sounded like a fun story.
On the plus side, this is a great group of characters in this “found family,” but be warned that each of these characters is dealing with or had dealt with the loss of someone very important to them. The entire story is overshadowed by sadness, especially in the main character, Saika. This isn’t a light-hearted beach read.
Saika lost her sister about two years ago and has been floundering ever since. Her sister was her closest friend and confidant and in fact, her dysfunctional relationship with her parents has devolved since her sister’s death and they have disowned Saika. Saika promised her sister that she would bring her ashes to be planted in the magical grove so she can live again as her tree grows. It has taken Saika two years to get to the point that she could knock on the door but she is still not ready to part with her sister’s ashes.
Frank, the owner of the house, who is a man in beast form, lost his beloved wife and due to her urgings, created the magical forest. He understands Saika’s reluctance and her desire to delay. To give Saika some time to adjust to the idea of planting her sister in the grove, Frank makes her a deal to stay at the house in exchange for some magic help around the crumbling property. Saika agrees to help but she doesn’t disclose that she is a witch with no magic of her own. Saika and her sister found a falling star when they were children and Saika has kept part of that in a locket around her neck, drawing power from it so people assume she still can perform magic. The power in the star is dwindling, but Saika would rather risk its use if she can delay her sister’s planting.
As I said, each of the characters is dealing with a significant loss and while most of the current residence have worked past the worst of it, they each succumb to moments of intense grief. Saika has done some horrible things while overwhelmed by her grief and still makes bad decisions to avoid doing the one thing she has come to do, bury her sister’s ashes in the magical grove.
But when the magic in the grove is at risk, time has run out for Saika and if she doesn’t hurry, she may never be able to fulfill her promise to her sister.
Overall is a very sad story about grief and loss and while her new friends help Saika accept her loss, it is still 350 page of sadness from flooding out of Saika, and not the fun, magical B&B experience I was hoping to enjoy.
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