A review by cocoanut7
Three Story House by Courtney Miller Santo

4.0

Three Story House by Courtney Miller Santo is a delightful book that I thoroughly enjoyed. This book reminded me of old movies: the beginning can be a bit slow and the plot isn’t really action packed, but it was heartwarming and honest. The story explores issues that felt authentic and relevant and the main characters were realistically flawed but still loveable. Initially I found myself not very invested, but as the book progressed and stories developed it became very engaging. The plot is very basic. Mostly it’s about three cousins and their attempt to fix and repair an old and collapsing quirky home – the home of one of their grandmothers. All three struggle with identities and familial and social relationships but they have a strong bond together which pulls them through. Their character development is mostly believable though slow and not quite as fulfilled as I was hoping for (Spoiler alert: it ends without resolving their struggles, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s probably more realistic. It’s just a bit anticlimactic). This book actually occurs from the perspective of each girl in a linear way – the plot is never repeated, but the point of view just changes. I was reluctant to change from the main character because I was invested in her story and frankly the other girls seemed kind of shallow and uninteresting, but then I became attached to each cousin as their story progressed and I learned more about their internal struggles. It also is a heavier book; it’s not as lighthearted and uplifting as I was expecting. Still, the book is heartwarming, and there are definitely some plot twists I didn’t expect. I would definitely recommend this book to people especially if they’re looking for something that isn’t as cliché or high intensity as some books are nowadays; it’s honest and wants to relate more emotionally.

Fair warning: there’s a fair amount of swearing (with some f-bombs) and sexual references including a scene that’s pretty sexually driven.