I really wasn’t sure what to expect from house of Frank, but I really loved what I got. It’s a story of grief and how people deal with the pain of losing someone that meant a lot to them. The main character, Saika, loses her sister and feels empty, wandering the world for a while. She eventually decides to honor her sister’s final request and lay her to rest at an arboretum where they plant ashes as trees. This is where she meets the denizens of Shady Oaks. These include a big hairy monster, a fairy, two cherubs, a witch, an elf, a ghost, and a gargoyle/witch. Saika takes her time to get to know them all, putting off burying her sister’s remains. They all came there with their own baggage but ended up staying to help sustain the business and help others through their grief. When you lose someone that’s very important to you, it’s hard to move on. Maybe you think that there’s nothing else left for you, or you’re just not sure what your next move is. That’s where many of the characters in the story find themselves. They are unable to move forward of their own accord, so they stay and help others do so. Through that cooperative mission they all come together as a family.

A story that centers around death can be pretty dark, and this book does have a few heavy moments. However, its main mission, I believe, is to inspire hope. No matter what you’re going through. It will end and you’ll be stronger for making it through it. If you have people around you who support you and can be there for you through tough times, you can make it through. Even a stranger can lend a sympathetic ear. Who knows, they might have undergone something similar. No one knows what anyone else is going through until they ask. Comfort can be found anywhere, you just have to be willing to seek it out.

It felt like as I read, I was becoming a member of the house through Saika’s eyes. I was getting to know her struggles with putting her sister to rest, as well as the background of how everybody in the house ended up there. The reveals were steady and the character relationship dynamics were constantly evolving. I really loved the way they all interacted with one another and truly felt like a family. Despite their various backgrounds and history of loss they all found something in one another. It’s an inspiring story that I think anyone who has ever lost someone should read, maybe not directly after, but a little bit down the road from when you lost them. It really gives you a new perspective on death as a concept and I feel like it impacted me in a way that I can’t explain. Definitely give this one a shot if you are someone that likes those found family stories and wants to work through some of your own issues of letting go.