House of Pain is described as a Gossip Girl-Harry Potter crossover and I must say that’s accurate. It doesn’t mean it’s well executed though.

Worldbuilding is inexistent. The story is set in Venefica Academy, a college for witches and warlocks. But don’t let this fool you, the book is not dark academia. We know that students attend courses such as Herbalism in Witchcraft or History of Sexuality of Witches (yes, you read it right), where they read erotica (yes, you read it right again). However, students barely attend lectures and let alone study. They are split into different Houses, on which bases we don’t know.
This is as far as the worldbuilding goes, if we not consider all the elements that the author clearly stole from Harry Potter: a forbidden forest, gigantic spiders, dementors, a door that asks riddles.

Moving on to the plot, students in Venefica Academy every year play a game, called Game (wow), which consists of stealing another House’s Book, containing spells reserved to that House. And apparently stealing the Book could lead to the falling of a House forever.
But aren’t Houses just part of an institution, the Academy? Why would they fall because of a game that is played every year?
Anyway, a good part of the story follows House of Snakes members in a series of quests in order to get the House of Tigers’ Book, their main enemy. But when someone steals Snakes’ book they are all surprised and cannot guess who stole it? Please.

As for the characters, there’s Alecto, the main female character, who is an half-blood witch. She fights to be respected, she is in fact discriminated by different classmates. At the same time though, she comes from an important witch family and is part of the Inner Circle, the élite, of House of Snakes, where she is well respected (Andro and Jolene are her friends, while Val admires her as a witch), despite the author insisting otherwise.

Then we have Blaze, also part of the Inner Circle of House of Snakes and the only one who really treats Alecto badly for not being a pure-blood. Blaze has no characterization as his two personalty traits are daddy issues and Alecto, who is quite literally his obsession, with a sprinkle of misogyny. I’m not talking about his relationship with Alecto, since from the presentation of the book I knew what to expect. But, specifically, I am talking about Blaze’s attitude towards his mother who’s described as a “weakling” more than once because she can’t fight his abusive father. So she is “weak” and “fragile” for something, standing up to that man, that not even him dares to do?

The enemies-to-lovers relationship between Blaze and Alecto is well played, even though the whole “I’m bullying you because you’re a half-blood so you don’t deserve respect” could have been left out, I don’t think discrimination was necessary to make them enemies.

Lastly, Wilde’s prose is not bad nor particularly good, but it is prone to repetitions: every few pages Blaze’s eyes are described as dark, black, coal, obsidian-colored and the word “core” during sex scenes is overused. Also, I don’t think it’s necessary to tell the readers what characters are wearing outside of sex scenes.

This book was a spicy and magical romp full of vibey dark academia imagery. I didn't quite know what to expect, as all too often any books that revolve around students at some sort of magical school end up reading like Harry Potter fanfiction, but that couldn't be farther from the truth for House of Pain, barring a silly character name or two.

Both Alecto and Blaze were fully realized protagonist and antagonist, whom I rooted for, from the get go. Their revealed flaws, trauma, and disturbing histories mirror each other in tragic but compelling ways, which makes their central relationship and the ensuing push and pull they have on each other truly believable.

I appreciated the world that Wilde has created, where witches are more demigods than mortals, so there is a flippancy for life and love that adds to the complexity of the characters and the stakes of the story. I'm really looking forward to the other books in this series! Would highly recommend for fans of books like Ninth House.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced read copy.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Readers who loved Zodiac Academy, this is the book for you! This book is very similar where there are houses in the school who compete against each other. The main difference is that this competition is the main focus of this book.

Blaze and Alecto’s relationship is very very VERY similar to Tory and Darius’ relationship in Zodiac Academy, to the point where I was looking for something special or different that will differentiate them in a way. That is where the wasted potential of Rogue comes in. Rogue had so much potential in this book in so many ways but just wasn’t utilized. Rogue could have been used as someone to make Blaze jealous, to try and create conflict in the inner circle, to maybe confuse Alecto in her feelings towards both the inner circle and Blaze. His character barely had any development, I wish we got to know him more.

I also wished there was more of a plot outside of winning the competition and stealing the books. The book was around 900 pages long and most of it was about Blaze and Alecto’s very toxic relationship or stealing the book. Give me some fun side characters, maybe more of a story behind the legacy’s parents, I was just looking for a little something more.

Overall, the book was entertaining and interesting.

I love a good bully romance, so finding one that adds in fantasy elements really intrigued me! I was excited to receive an eARC copy from the publisher and NetGalley (thank you!) and dove in right away.

I don’t like giving negative reviews, but I do think it’s helpful for the author and publisher to receive critical feedback. Having said that, I think there’s a lot of potential with this story idea. The execution to this point, however, is lacking. I felt like there was a ton of character and world building information left out - to the point where I had to check to see if I had unknowingly started in the middle of a series. I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of the action and I knew nothing about it. I wasn’t invested in the characters or their arcs. I trudged through until about half way then I decided to DNF. I hate to DNF :(.

1.5 stars (I rounded up to 2)

I read this book as an ARC through NetGalley and I was definitely not disappointed! I could not put this book down! Seriously, I stayed up all night to finish it… It was like a spicy Harry Potter/Zodiac Academy/Gossip Girl. I loved it and cannot wait to continue the trilogy. I’m completely invested in Blaze and Alecto’s love story, as well as all of the side stories. I can’t wait to see how they continue to develop and what trials are thrown their way as the Game continues. My only critique is that the backstory and setting could have been developed more in the beginning of the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good YA, spicy, fantasy romance!

Loved this book. The book starts with a group of witches performing a spell and the intrigue continues from there. I enjoyed that not all the information about everything (the world, the witches, the game) is given to you at the beginning, you have to work your way through the book and information starts to unfurl. This book is heavily focused on romance and I would probably classify this as NA not YA given the sexual content. Would definitely recommend this dark and witchy book to others. House of Pain would be perfect fans of Zodiac Academy or Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Books for an early eARC.

A solid 4.5! House of Pain will give you a darker Harry Potter mixed with Zodiac Academy vibes that will keep you coming back for more. It sucked me right in. I love an enemies-to-lovers trope moment and the plot was well thought-out. I’m super excited that there will be two more books because the chemistry between Alecto and Blaze is just top notch. Be wary of the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Hi hello are you interested in a spicy dark academia book that is similar to gossip girl?


Read house of pain. Oh my, this book was fantastic! I’ve been hunting for a good spicy fantasy read and that’s exactly what this was. Highly reccomend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso books for an advanced review of the House of Pain.

I think you will enjoy this book if you enjoy bully romances, ruthless MCs and steamy scenes.

I enjoyed this book but I didn't love it because of the following:
- The story starts without a lot of background and I spent the first quarter of the book trying to understand why everyone was trying to steal a book, and the annual ceremony was an orgy,
- Yes there were magical elements but I wouldn't classify this book as fantasy. I felt like it fell more in the "bully romance" trope. So much of the plot was about the two MCs sexual tension and after a while I started getting frustrated and wanted more from the story.

DNF

This was definitely dramione fanfic which I do love, but I'd prefer to just read ...dramione fanfic rather than fanfic with a few new names marketed as an original idea.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

House of Pain By Karolina Wilde

ARC received via NetGalley

As a personal preference rating I give this book 3 stars only because it is YA…yes yes I know its supposed to be and it nails that - it’s just only 3 stars for me as I need a little bit more.

If you are a fan of Zodiac Academy you will really enjoy this book which is going to be part of a series.

I felt like this book started the race before the gun went off! You dive right in and I found myself a little confused as to what was going on at first. BOOM witches, orgies, hunger games and school, it was a lot!! Once I got my bearings and learned more about the characters (and what was going on in general!) I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading! It is very YA with A LOT of spice.

If you are into fantasy, drama, characters who just can’t seem to do whats best for them!! and you enjoy your smut - this is your book.

This book does touch on abuse so make sure you check the trigger warnings before reading.

During this year's Game, hearts would break.

Gothic Harry Potter meets Gossip Girl, House of Pain is the first book in a dark fantasy romance trilogy set in the magical world of Inathis, where the witches are beautiful just as much as they're wicked.

Alecto Black has spent her whole life in Inathis, yet she never quite fit in being the half-witch amongst the purebloods. When she finally enrolled in the most prestigious witchcraft university, The Venefica Academy, last year and joined the House of Snakes as a rightful legacy member, she thought she had finally found her place.

But every year, The Venefica Academy students that belong to 12 Houses all participate in the deadly Game that many witches don't survive. And when the second year at Venefica starts, Alecto finds herself a target of one of the rival Houses while also having to face the enemy from the inside — fellow Snake, Blaze Leveau. As secrets start unraveling, hate turns into something more dangerous and deadly.

While Alecto tries to fight her new dangerous attraction to Blaze, she also finds herself asking how far she is willing to go to secure her place in the world that wants to destroy her?