This Cursed House by Del Sandeen

e-Audio, 11:27:44
Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
Release Date: October 8, 2024
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley)
Read from: September 25-28, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I also received an early ALC from the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review)
Content Warning: Racism, Bullying, Racial Slurs, Incest, Body Horror, Infertility, Self Harm, Suicide Attempt, Colorism
For Readers Interested In: Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Historical Fiction (1960’s), New Orleans setting, Gothic Horror, Adult, Family Diversity

      In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth. They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.
     In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. 
     But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.
     As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I have been waiting to get this novel in my hands ever since I saw the cover. I’m talking since way in April. But I was never good enough for Berkley lol So I was just begging on social media. And this time, it paid off.

Ok so I ended up getting an ARC of this from a friend of mine. And I can’t say how happy that made me. I LOVED this book. More than I thought it was since it was a gothic horror book. But I think it being gothic horror, combined with being set in the South, AND about people of color, made this book entirely everything what I wanted it to be.

Ok so the main character is Jemma. She takes a job in New Orleans after finding out some terrible news. Once she arrives she quickly realizes that something isn’t quite right. What she doesn’t realize is just how bad it’s about to get. The people who gave her the “job” are her family, but they don’t act like it. They brought her there to break a curse that’s been placed on the family. And they think Jemma can undo it.

I’m not usually a fan of gothic horror, but this was actually really enjoyable. It’s a slow burn scare, so don’t go in expecting jump scares or anything. But the hauntings, the ghosts, the seances, the curses, the house, and everything give you all the horror vibes. The actual curse has trapped the family in the house where they can’t go anywhere, even if they tried. It’s because of this that some of those content warnings appear. If you need some more info on that, email me and I’ll tell you what it is.

The characters are terrible. I mean literally all of them besides Jemma. Because Lordt let me tell you the way these people were is atrocious. As someone who is on the lighter side, I HATED reading this. I’m not as bright as they seem to have been, but my sister is. So basically we’ve heard all the jokes and we have seen the way people treat people with more melanin than them. But for them to act like they weren’t also Black was just weird. They deserved all that was coming to them.

Historical fiction isn’t usually my favorite genre because I hate what comes with seeing people of color in these situations. So this was even worse, because it came from our own people. The historical aspect was also very accurate. Even if it was hurtful, it was accurate. Even her train ride to New Orleans and back.

The ending was cool and it has a open like ending. I hope this means there might be more in the future? Even if its through someone else. It was so full of secrets and scares, so I hope at the very least you pick this up to find out what I’m talking about!

Overall, I give this