A review by curiouslykatt
The September House by Carissa Orlando

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“There are rules to these things. Everything is survivable, even this.”

The house on Hawthorn Street is so much more than just a house. Margaret and Hal have found their perfect house. It’s gorgeous. It’s Victorian. It’s cheap. What could be the problem? Surely they were just in the right place right time. 

Everything changes in September. Every September, the hauntings start. 

The walls bleed. The ghosts roam the halls. The animals behave erratically. The screaming that is everywhere and nowhere lasts all night. You never enter the basement. Every September. All through September. 

Margaret has learned the rules to survive Septembers, and these all seem like minor inconvenience for the home of her dreams. Margaret has learned to live with rules her whole life. Margaret can survive anything. 

Everything changes one September when her husband Hal goes missing and her adult daughter Katherine comes home to help find him. 

The September House is told through a nonlinear storyline jumping between the current September and the Septembers of the past. This story is so much more than just a haunted house. This is a complex well developed story around trauma responses, living through cycles of abuse, and the generational impacts of violence. Carissa does use dry humour sprinkled throughout to add so levity to the story. I will say it did feel about 50 pages too long but ultimately I will still highly recommend this read. 
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