This book was a lot.

And I mean that in both good and bad ways.

There is some absolutely stunning writing that is done in Model Home and that's the greatest part this journey honestly. Rivers Soloman truly is a master of words and it's highlighted throughout this entire story. Although the writing is spectacular some of the formatting isn't something I particularly enjoyed, specifically when reading through flashback scenes. The only way for me to pick up that it was something that was happening in the past or even "off-stage" were the lack of quotation marks around dialogue. 

Many of the subjects that are in this book are very heavy, and I highly encourage everyone that picks this up to check them out before diving in.

I do love a twist on the haunted house idea and this is exactly that. I found that where I thought this novel would go is completely opposite of what I had initially thought. And the way that I felt about that was 50/50.

I'm a lover of horror and I understand that the genre of horror doesn't always have to be supernatural elements. And in a lot of instances, I don't mind it when the big twist is "hey it's not haunted it's actually this".  But for some reason Model Home falls into the category of times when I don't enjoy it not being supernatural elements.

There is a lot of representation that goes on. Ezri is a wonderful main character whose flaws are a crucial point of the storytelling as well as the flaws of their siblings. However, with the flaws of the main character being a huge plot point, I feel like the ending, and the twist that comes with it to tie everything up in a little bow, end up falling flat. We're left with an unsatisfying conclusion that to me doesn't make sense.

Allowing Lilly to walk free because of "what she could do to those in jail" is honestly asinine to me. And Ezri, as a parent who's literally had their entire life shaped by a predatory woman, should have been the one to make the decision. Allowing a woman to walk free who is in the process of grooming my child only to allow her to go on to groom others seems insane to me.

All in all, this was a good read that sat with me for a while after I finished. There is great commentary in here about racism and incredible representation of how to parent non-binary/genderfluid individuals in here as well as neurodivergent representation. However, I find there are just so many moving parts within the novel that it begins to get clunky and a bit of a trudge.