when the stars align

Brother and sister Margot and Adam have been struggling to connect. Life is busy, work is hectic, and it’s harder to spend time together. So they decide to spend several days at Astrology House, like a vacation for their families and best friends, but with readings that can help them gain some clarity about their challenges. There are four couples in all, and all of them have packed up their secrets for the weekend to bring to Long island.

Rini and her sister Andi were young when their father left, but he put a piece of land in trust for them for when they turned 18. They got 3 acres of property on Long Island with a rickety Victorian house. After years of restoration, thanks to a kind local contractor and lots of home rehabbing shows, the house was ready for guests. And since Rini had been studying astrology since she was a kid, they named their home Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat and opened it to guests looking for a unique experience in a lovely vacation home.

Adam is a writer and college professor, and his wife Aimee worked for magazines before she quit to concentrate on her kids, and now she creates beautiful photos for her social media. Margot is a lawyer who desperately wants kids, and her husband Ted is in finance along with his friend Rick. Rick’s wife Eden is a popular wellness influencer. And Farah is an obstetrician to the extremely wealthy, and her husband Joe is a charismatic politician.

RIni offers up individual readings as well as couple readings for the guests, but there are things happening in the house that aren’t part of her schedule. Tarot cards appear as if from nowhere, and they have multiple meanings, some being contradictory. There are notes left for some of the guests. And there is a storm brewing, adding to the feeling that there is something in the air, something unstable. Maybe even dangerous. But it’s not until Rini starts to get them to drop their guards and start spilling their secrets that things get deadly.

Rini knew that this weekend would be a challenge to her, but she never told anyone the secret she kept about it. She never even told her sister. But she knew this would weekend would end her. And it did.

The Astrology House is a zesty thriller from debut author Carinn Jade. It blends a locked-room mystery with questions of fate or free will as the vacationing New Yorkers learn more about the movements of the planets and what that means for them. Relationships change, long-held beliefs are shattered, and dangerous secrets come to light as these adults come to terms with the decisions they had made over the last ten years. It’s a twisty tale of choices and consequences.

I really enjoyed The Astrology House. I liked the slow reveals of the secrets, and the way that there was a ghostly presence to the house itself. The questions of free will versus fate were compelling. However, there were several characters that were very hard to like, so there were some parts of the book that felt a little flat to me. But I still really liked this book, and I think Jade seems like a smart writer who will only get stronger. If you are a fan of locked-room mysteries with more secrets than you can anticipate, then give The Astrology House a try. You just might find that your horoscope is telling you to read more thrillers.

Egalleys for The Astrology House were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.