“During this year’s Game, hearts would break”
“Blaze belonged in a way Alecto never could, and for that alone, she hated him more every day he spent wasting”
“Oh, you know what I’m taking about, Blaazy”
Wow this book !!! Saying that I need book two now would be a HUGE understatement!!!!
I’m completely speechless !!!
This dark paranormal romance was not what I was expecting at all !!!
Witches and demons, mystery and some Harry Potter and the goblet of fire vibes made it all super interesting!!!!
The plot was amazingly developed and I loved the magic system this book provided !!!
The characters were absolutely amazing !!! Imagine “All of us villains” and you get precisely what kind of characters we are talking about !!!
And the romance in this … it was WILDE !!!!
It is described as a dramione bully romance … but I would say more of a Jude and Cardan kind of relationship… even Rika and Michael if you want !!! (Penelope Douglas kind of bully to lovers)
But this one was also so much more !!!
Alecto and Blaze are so complicated both in their individual being and in their dynamics. The spicy scenes they share … IMMACULATE!!!! Absolutely crazy good !!!
I loved every minute of reading them !!
And I have to say I am a huge fan of the little SURPRISES the author left almost at the end of each section of the book !!!
I wasn’t expecting that at all !!!
People have to read this one !!! And I already can’t wait for book two to be out and go on with this amazing trilogy!!!!
“Your misery is miserable”
“She is mine to fuck with … and I don’t like others messing with what’s mine”
“A cruel beauty”
“Ruin them before they ruin you”

Alecto Black only child from a legacy, old money family witch family, but to the rest of Venefica Academy and especially her house of snakes, she is just a half breed. In her second year at the witch academy this half mortal half witch Alecto is done being the punching bag and is ready to show that there is a reason she in the house of snakes, she bites back. However resident bad boy Blaze Leveau another house of snake legacy wants to keep Miss Black down but also want her under him. Can the house of snakes keep things together to win the battle of the houses or will more than just the internally strife cause one of the top house of Vanefica to crumble permanently?

House of Pain is book one and a debut book advertised as a cross between Harry Potter and Gossip Girl. Would say that is a fairly accurate assessment, but know this is definitely an 18+ book set in college/university setting.
The book definitely drops you right into the drama of the plot and took a few chapters for get into with character identification and world building. Book leans more into the Gossip Girl drama amongst the house of Snakes, Alecto and Blaze than the magical world and Academy. Did get invested in the story and all the characters by the 35% mark and will continue on with the series as it releases.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc copy to read and review. These thought are my own!

This book reminded me of a darker/sexier version of Harry Potter. Although I did enjoy this book and loved the characters especially “blazy”, I feel like the plot of the book was kind of forgotten and the sex kind of it took over.

The plot is that the different houses play a game to win and that’s literally all I got from it. I feel like after the you read through a third of the book, the plot changes and it’s just about Blaze and Alecto constantly going back and forth to get back at each other/have sexual intercourse.

I think the book has great potential and maybe there will be a second one to explain more of what was forgotten in this book.

I gave this book 3.5 stars but I’m rounding up to 4 stars because like I said, I did enjoy what I read.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I do understand the Dramione comparisons, and I was excited for the potential of dark academia with dark fantasy, but in my opinion the writing style felt very juvenile considering the book's violent and sexual content. It felt like a book geared towards adults, but written for young teens, which I felt was off-putting.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

Kind of impressive to write a story where none of the characters are particularly likeable and still enjoy the story lol. It does read like a Happy Potter meets toxic Gossip Girl type story. Smidge more towards erotica than I usually prefer but I liked it overall.

This book is porn with plot. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that if that is what you are looking for. The biggest problem I had, was that I found the plot a bit undeveloped in the sense that I wasn't entirely sure what the characters were doing exactly, and more importantly, why they were doing it. For example, the book centers around a group of teenage witches at school for magic and their hunt for other another group's magic book. I'm assuming the book that they are trying to steal from the other group is like a grimoire, but that was never totally explained, nor was it explained why exactly the students needed to steal one another's books other then it was a game/tradition that earned you some sort of advantage. I just wish that there had been a little more writing dedicated to describing and explaining the world that these characters lived in and what motivated them other than sex and power.

There are a lot of warnings on this book for good reason as there is not a single relationship in the book that is healthy. Be sure to read the warnings before reading the book.

House of Pain by Karolina Wilde is the first book in the Precious Villains Series. This is a spicy paranormal story set in a prestigious witchcraft university.
 
First, witchy and magical stories are my absolute favorite and I loved to see it in this book, and I even wish we could have seen more spells etc. I also liked how this aspect was darker and they even have this deadly game and that gave the book such a good atmosphere. The only issue I had with the world building was that it’s not explained detailed enough in the beginning and I needed a bit to understand it.
 
Our protagonist Alecto is a half-witch, and she is looking for a place to belong and hopes to find it here at the university. She is my favorite character and I really like her. But it’s not as easy and she has an enemy from a rival house who is no other than Blaze. He is such a fascinating character who is very popular, and all girls have a crush on him.
 
Alecto and Blaze are like fire and water and their story is scorching hot due to the enemies-to-lovers vibes as they are rivals. The book also includes some illustrations which are stunning. Even though it’s focused a lot on the spice, and I wish the emotional depth was there more, I still enjoyed it. Their romance definitely reminded me of Dramione and that in combination with the dark academia vibes was amazing.
 
Overall, House of Pain is a great spicy dark academia romance and if you like stories like The Atlas Six, Ninth House and Zodiac Academy, definitely check this one out. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest nonbiased review. House of Pain is a fantasy/erotica with witches and demons and an unconventional romance. I wouldn’t really call it an enemies to lovers romance but more of a bully/bullied to lovers. I’m not a huge fan of the bully becoming the romantic lead to be honest, so maybe this is why I didn’t much root for the couple, which matters a lot to me on whether I enjoy a romance. I actually found myself rooting for the demon, who’s character was underdeveloped and could have brought more to the table if explored. The sex was hot and I liked that the MC was a good girl (by witch standards) but had some backbone toward the end, (however the quick forgiveness she kept giving the romantic lead was annoying). It did also bother me slightly how young the characters were supposed to be in this erotica. All in all a decent story especially if you like the bully romantic lead and hot sex, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you Netgally for the opportunity to read this ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. From the very beginning I was hooked, I finished it in a day. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next one.

The actual writing was good but the story wasn't that great. I just couldn't get into it long enough to keep my interest. I put it down many times before I finished it. Definitely not a read-all-night-to-finish-it type of book.

First off, thank you to the publisher for granting me an ARC to read…. This book was so fun!!! This book was super sexy and I LOVED the enemies to lovers storyline 😍 It was a little hard for me to get into at first but once the story picked up, I was HOOKED! I will definitely be looking to read more books from this author in the future!

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley, Karolina Wilde and Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC of House of Pain.

Secondly, this book had me fairly hooked!! It felt like a mixture between Harry Potter and Zodiac Academy, with a good dosage of enemies to lovers to enemies to....who knows?

The magic, lore and families were so interesting! You can tell there's so much history between each family, that this is a generational thing and that there's a lot of meat there for more stories if we don't find out more in the sequel.

I adored Alecto!!! It was so interesting and amazing to have a female MC who is strong, sex positive and its never viewed as this bad thing, it is just *is*. She knows how to handle herself, and I feel like we're just getting the tip of the iceberg with her growth. Her relationship with Blaze is so interesting because it reminded me of Dramione fanfics and even Darius/Tory from ZA. Morally gray tortured boys are amazing, and Blaze fits that perfectly!!

I will say a few cons for me were:
- I felt like we were dropped into it all very quickly without much explanation about the game, or the day to day running of the school and their houses.
- There were certain things I felt needed more in depth focus like Val, and Rogue (totally under used) and the girl who was found in the House of Tigers.

I'm really excited to read the sequel!!!!! Definitely a good read for people who like enemies to lovers, magic, bully romance, strong female mcs and a bit of spice!

First, thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read & review this book. The cover of the book and the synopsis made me absolutely want to read this. Dark Academia is a genre that I'm dipping my toes into and figured I would give this book a shot especially since a lot of people were talking about it on Goodreads and IG. Well, if this book is what Dark Academia is about, I'm just going to take my toes right back out of the genre.

I, in no way, shape or form, am a prude. I have a mouth like a sailor and sprinkle Fuck in every sentence like parsley. I can turn any comment or statement into a sexual innuendo. It's not hard....

After about 100 pages of these bratty teenagers talking about cocks, fucking their professors for a good grade and the endless talk of drugs & sex, I threw in the towel. I just can't. What is the point of this book? I thought it was about magic and dark arts? Where's the magic? Why is it all cock? Is it a magical cock? Are they going to pull a white rabbit out of the cock? Unfortunately, I'll never find out because this is a solid DNF for me. I would absolutely NOT compare this book to Harry Potter or Gossip Girl. It's neither of those. I don't think I can even think of any book or show that comes remotely close to this. Maybe when I read Erotica but even then, the Erotica books had a story line. This book seemed to just get off on throwing cock around (see? not a prude)

If you're a reader that appreciates content & trigger warnings, the author does have a good number of warnings at the beginning of the book. Unless it's animal cruelty & death, I don't really need to know about content & trigger warnings but I know some people do need it before deciding on reading a book. This author definitely did a good job with adding them. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this book.

Again, thank you #netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Welcome to Venefica, an academy of magic where cruelty and bloodlines reign over all. Alecto is a half-witch with a powerful and influential father. But being a legacy at Venefica doesn't save her from being taunted as a half-breed. Her cruelest tormenter happens to be a member of her own house, Blaze. While having to work together to win a competition between the houses, their mutual loathing and sizzling chemistry create a volatile reaction.

The magic system was really creative, and having them be a part of a house that uses sexual energy for magic was a great touch. Creating moments filled with tension while they still insist they hate each other is the best type of slow-burn. A good bully-romance is hard to find and this one delivered on both the pain and the pleasure.

This might be a petty complaint, but many of their names made me cringe. An important character is literally named Rogue Smolder. Because of this and other writing choices, sometimes the book reads like satire.

Overall, I still rate it four out of five stars. I really enjoyed the tension, the pining, the confusing feelings, and all the cruelty. It just reads like a fan-fic sometimes rather than a full-length novel.

House of Pain is best described as if King of Corium had a naughty love child with a Dramoine fan-fic and Zodiac Academy.

Please read the content warnings, as there are a plethora. A few of the big ones I'll mention are mentions of SA (nothing graphic), dubious consent, revenge p*rn, and mutilation.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.

HOLY WITCH PORN!

That's what it is. Witch-Porn. And I loved every steamy second. Now, admittedly, I read this while I was at work and that added to the spice; but truly this book does not skimp on anything. I've read many books with "smut" scenes and have enjoyed some things being left to the imagination, but every once in a while I love a good book that provides me with it all. The enemies-to-lovers (maybe lovers????) plot also added to the steaminess. Alecto and Blaze are complete assholes to one another and I love the trope. I do hope that in sequels we dive deeper into their actual "relationship" and see what keeps them together as well as apart.

Putting the porn-plot aside, this book had amazing tellings of a witchy college campus. The "Game" and everything about it was intriguing and didn't make me miss a lack of sex scene; it all flowed very well. That being said, I hella don't trust Val whatsoever and actually hope that in future books, she turns out to be like... some type of big bad. Something just is off with that one.

Overall, a great read. I couldn't put it down and knocked this out in a little over a day. Some spelling/grammar errors, but that's to be expected with an ARC. Super pleased and can't wait for the sequel!

This dark, sexy fantasy is action packed from the very beginning! With a very dark Harry Potter-esque vibe, House of Pain will definitely leave you wanting more when it’s over!

This one is unfortunately not for me, but I am very thankful the author included trigger warnings. I would highly encourage readers to pay attention to that list of trigger warnings (as it is a mile long lol) if you think there is any chance you could be affected.

This book was well-written with an interesting premise. At times, it didn't seem balanced and I found it hard to absolutely love any of the characters. However, the main story and the writing are what let me stay engaged. The book itself could use some copy-editing and has a few errors, but that doesn't affect the overall writing itself.

First I want to give a big thank you to for this E-ARC!...now lets get into this book

Enemies to lovers to still enemies BUT lovers
Dark Acadamia
Dark Fantasy
A little bit of mystery
A little bit of action

This book really surprised me in the best way possible. It started a little slow and I'll say almost confusing. But after the first few chapters I was drawn into this book-world and couldn't find the way out until the very end. Alecto Black is a woman of many words, and I absolutely loved how this MC knew who she was and how to bask in her glory. She knew what she had, her strengths and I am really looking forward to this characters growth! Swoon worthy toxic relationship? Its all there and it is amazing. I can't wait to see what's in store for Alecto and Blaze ( I mean the man is obsessed lol ) but also for the snakes!- and the game....who will win I wonder...

I wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about this book at first, but once I got into it, I was hooked. I’ve spent the last 6 hours pouring over this book hardly able to put it down for more than a moment. I really admire the authors ability to take me from absolutely HATING the MMC and pitying the FMC, to finding some common ground between the two and not really hating either, although I’m still a little iffy on him although the next book may change that. They’re both jerks in some ways and definitely are toxic in some ways as well, but the chemistry between them is so thick you can feel it even just reading the book and it takes a talented author to make that possible. Some twists with the entire situation between the student body shook me to my core and I may never fully recover from the shock of it. Overall it was an impressive read and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book and watch as these characters I’ve come to love progress into stronger witches as well as just stronger people in general. I just know the next book is going to be absolutely fantastic if the first is any demonstration of that.