Book Review: The Astrology House | Carinn Jade

This is a spoiler-free review of The Astrology House. If you’re looking to have that weird and wild ending explained, head over to the spoiler review where I unpack it all!

I would categorize myself as someone who loves the idea of astrology more than a believer, but I always find anything that crosses into fate, the future, and mystical introspection so much fun. Carinn Jade’s debut novel, The Astrology House is a dramatic and slightly gothic mystery centered around a group of wealthy friends who travel to a retreat, turning the heat on up simmering resentments and buried secrets.

What is The Astrology House about?

Margot needs a minute. She’s been working eighty-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She’s disconnected from her brother, the only family she has left. And she’s still not pregnant after years of trying.

Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat promises rest, relaxation, and wisdom for Margot and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings in an impeccably restored waterfront Victorian house, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun. For Margot’s brother, Adam, it’s the perfect opportunity to rekindle the romance that fuels his writing, but his wife, Aimee, hides the darkness of her past with a beautiful social media feed. Their friend, Farah, is a successful doctor who cannot admit she’s losing control. But no one holds a greater secret than their astrologer host, Rini. She has a plan for all her guests, and one won’t be leaving Stars Harbor alive.

What did I think?

This was surprisingly juicy! I expected a more somber novel given the title and cover. Instead, The Astrology House is a soapy portrayal of a group of friends who are harboring a lot of secrets. And isn’t a retreat where they are all isolated from the outside world in close quarters the perfect place for their secrets to come bursting out? I certainly think so!

In terms of the structure of the book, changing perspectives made it difficult for me to get the handle on who everyone was and how they relate to one another for the first 20% of the book. As a rundown, Margot is an attorney who is married to an investment banker named Ted. Margot is close to her brother Adam after the two bonded together in a traumatic childhood. Adam is now a secret romance novelist married to a successful influencer named Aimee. Her social media focuses primarily on her children and being a mother, and Adam is not a central figure in her online presence.

Aimee is best friends with Farah, who is a successful OBGYN. Farah is married to a politician named Joe, but harbors secret feelings for her best friend Aimee that only emerged recently. Farah is trying to unpack what it means. Rick is best friends and colleagues with Margot’s husband, Ted. Rick is married to a jewelry designer named Eden. Rini is the owner and host of the astrology-themed retreat. She inherited the house and built her business from the ground-up. The Astrology House is an old Victorian mansion set on the shores of Long Island.

This book is dramatic! So much drama to go around. I dropped one of the earliest reveals (as in, during the first chapter Farah narrates) about her confusing feelings for her best friend Aimee. Let me tell you, that is mundane compared to many of the other secrets this groups holds. I love a group of rich people who behave badly and this group had plenty of that archetype. Several of the characters were sympathetic and likable, so this wasn’t one of those books where you don’t like anyone. The women, in particular, are mostly people who you may not relate to, but you’ll understand.

Rini may be the one with the biggest secret and she waits all the way until the end of the book to drop the full story on us (and on her guests). This isn’t a random group of friends staying at the Astrology House—Rini has lured them there for a specific reason. This made her astrology readings with them extra fascinating. I kept wondering what Rini knew and was injecting as predictions into her sessions. Aside from Rini’s big secret, she also is convinced that she will be dying soon. This comes from a reading from another astrologist long ago who has been eerily correct about many things. Rini has accepted that fate, and she’s using her last days to take down… someone in the group. Or more than one person, perhaps! Some of them take themselves down, if I’m being honest.

Unexpected and fun! This is definitely more drama than thriller, though there are plenty of secrets to come out before the book is done. A surprising reveal at the end packs a punch, though it had some things that bothered me. Check out my thoughts on the ending over on my spoiler review.

Thank you to Atria Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.