I really wanted to like this book a lot. I was obsessed with the title, cover and blurb the moment I saw it ... But I couldn't find myself enjoying it as much as I wanted. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it

Overall rating: 3.75

House of Pain by Karolina Wilde is this wicked twist on supernatural academia that had me hooked. It's like a grown-up version of Harry Potter mixed with a dash of Gossip Girl and a sprinkle of Zodiac Academy vibes. You follow Alecto Black, a half-breed witch, as she tries to survive in a magical university where she's looked down upon. Her fellow House of Snakes member, Blaze, is one hell of a character—rich, arrogant, and sexy as hell. When the House competition, the Game, kicks off, these two have to figure out if they can work together or if their rivalry will tear them apart even more. The story had an intense plot, smut, and some seriously risky consequences, all set in a captivating magical world. While I would've loved more world-building and a deeper dive into the House game, the characters and their spicy romance kept me reading. I'm definitely looking forward to book 2 to see where this series goes. A big thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this magical and spicy treat!

Ultimately, this book wasn’t what I expected. I couldn’t get into the plot despite the characters being fascinating.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I really could not connect with this book and DNFd. I should have read the synopsis more before requesting, because I do not care for dark bully romance.

Unfortunately did not connect to this one and DNF’d at 20%. I didn’t feel drawn to the characters or the storyline sadly.

DNF’d at 14%

I am unfortunately really disappointed by this book…
I didn’t enjoyed any of it that I’ve read, I couldn’t connected to the characters or the story. I just felt annoyed and rolled my eyes on the characters.
I want to say some good things about this book but I couldn’t, this just wasn’t for me that’s for sure.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is deranged. Off the rails level psychopathic shenanigans. And I LOVED every second of it. Starting with the world building; I enjoyed the setting of the campus and the different areas that house the students, I also enjoyed the areas such as the cursed/ blessed woods and the Blood Lake. I always find the nature in fantasy novels fascinating because I know that's where the creatures live. The world building in this novel is super simplistic which suits the story best for the biggest impact. The writing was fantastic, there wasn't any point that I felt it was disjointed in any way. I was kind of not impressed with Alecto at first, she seemed sorta spineless and self loathing and I wasn't sure if it was going to be an issue through out her whole arc. It was definitely not a problem, not only did she grow into her own but she grew some pretty deadly claws to boot. The dynamics between her and some of the other characters can be a bit much at times but it definitely all fits into the bigger picture of the story. Blaze I think for me was my favorite in their dysfunctional little family but Jolene is a close second. I'm sure I'm not alone in the fact that I hated Val every step of this story. I'm am however excited to see how their dynamics play out in the next book! It should also be pointed out that I wasn't prepared for the level of spice that is in these pages and oh boy does it get steamy!!

I do enjoy dark fantasy to some extent but I don't think this was the one for me. A lot of the elements in the book felt like they were borrowed from other books such as from Harry Potter or other fantasy worlds. I did like the heroine but I didn't like too much else unfortunately.

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!

(ARC from NetGalley but I read it after the pub date, my bad) This feels off brand, but this was ~too~ spicy. Plot? I don't know her and that's ok I just cannot get into bully romances.

I was intrigued by this title being pitched as a gothic Harry Potter meets Gossip Girl. I think that description is pretty accurate. I devoured this book in a day or two. The story was engrossing and compelling and I could not put it down. I was heavily invested in the characters and the plot. Every single character is morally gray, at best, and I found that I enjoyed that aspect of the book while reading it, but looking back, not as much. I like an enemies to lovers story, but could have done without the bullying aspects of the romance-- that part was just not for me. So, I suggest that readers take a look at the trigger warnings before picking this one up. I would maybe read more from this author or series if I was in the right mood, but I don't think I would actively seek it out.

First of all I would like to thank the publisher for sending me the copy of this book.

I have to say I was intrigued by the Harry Potter vibes and so I decided to read it.
The story is about Alecto Black, who starts to attend the Bene Academy.
Obviously she is bullied by almost anyone because she is a half-witch.

I really liked the writing style of the author. It was dark and gloomy at the right point.
Unfortunately I could not relate to tha characters. Alecto was too difficult for me to understand.

I want to be clear with my review: this is my first time reading dark romance, a bully romance, and a steamy one. It's not the genre I read but I was intrigued by the blurb and I actually ended up liking it! I think it could go up to a 4 stars for readers used to that genre, hence why my 3.5 is rounded up to 4 here.

As said, I'm pretty much surprised to have liked the book (not to say I thought I would hate it, but you know, you're afraid when it's a new genre you're trying). The beginning was hard to read and I needed a time to adapt, and as it's a bully romance there were things that were too much for me - but I tried to put that aside and read it as an entertainment, and I really felt the dark Dramione fanfiction and an even darker / more based on sex and blood of The Magicians tv show.


I really liked how conflicted Blaze's emotions were, the way his feelings evolved and how he acted around that - I think he had a good character depth. A little bit less for Alecto surprisingly, but maybe it was due to the fact we put too much on her mortal side that everything seemed a bit weird? Anyway, I enjoyed their story, the way everything was dark, really twisted, yet I was really into their "relationship".

What I felt lacking was the worldbuilding, the fantasy side. We'r in a campus type of school with multiple houses, with witches, a city (country? I don't even know) outside of the human realm, with weird creatures and known creatures, with demons, magic... And yet, it felt like I don't know much about this city/country's story, we don't know much about the demon/Hel either, why some humans were in Venefica, why this Game happens and how the ranking actually works, etc. It was disturbing to be in the dark: we like what we're reading, the story happening (even tho I actually thought we'd get the whole game but we only got 1st trimester), but we do with what we can get here and there.

Wow-this book-wow. So much blood in this one! Lots of trigger warnings for this one. It didn't bother me too much, but I can definitely see that it might not be for everyone.

I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review. I didn’t know what to expect going in— but I will admit I was a bit disappointed. I do like the dark academia vibes and when I saw the premise for this book I was excited to read it… it just fell flat for me unfortunately. I felt like some storylines felt unfinished and there were some aspects that were a bit disturbing. Overall it was a decent read but I didn’t love it.

While Wilde author clearly has skill and, at times, wields beautiful prose, this novel felt messy and disjointed. The bones of the book are good, but the meat feels haphazardly flung onto the frame. I loved the tease and hook of demon summoning in the first chapter, but deployment of the character felt poorly paced against the backdrop of the story. At moments, this read as edgy and performative rather than intentional, the characters often acting out tropes rather than using the trope for further development.

I feel with further edits and massaging this could be a solid entry into Dark Academia, but as it stands now I would not recommend House of Pain to other readers.

For some reason, i wans't expecting to enjoy this book as much i did. It was so much more than i thought it would be.
There is a dark academia school setting, there is magic and there is quite a bit of s*x.
This surprised me, in a good way, but was also really weird, as in unusual, because s*x was so "normal" there was even s*x magic! I think that is what made the book really unique.
It also had a bunch of unlikeable main characters, or morally grey ones, a trope i am coming to like more and more.
I cannot wait for book 2 as book 1 was one of my '22 favourites!

I love dark academia and when I read the synopsis I wanted to read this book. I went with high expectations and was a bit disappointed. It got me awhile to fully emerge and understand the plot. I love the spice in a book, but think that in this case there's more spice than actual plot. The characters were nice, some of them irritated me to my very core. But overall it was OK and at times kinda fun and interesting.

3.5 stars

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me an arc of this book.

Honestly, I was really excited about this book at first -- it had everything I appreciate: reverse harem, witches and a bit o dark fantasy. However, as much as I was excited for it, I found myself truly struggling to get through this book. It's not that it's a bad book, I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea... I felt like everything took forever to happen and no matter how much I read, the book would never end. It was a tiring read for me, although the book itself wasn't quite as bad... In the end I have mixed feelings about it, so that's way I can't really give it a higher rating.

Overall Rating - 3.75 stars rounded upto 4 stars

I was initially interested in this book because of the vibes and I totally loved them. There was a rich/elite vibe to the book somewhat like gossip girl and then you had a bit of dark academia vibes as well. There was betrayal and drama and fantasy and overall it was just so good.

The story also has a lot of spice which I loved but if you aren’t into that then don’t read this.

Comparing it to Harry Potter would be far fetched though we can definitely see the similarities. This one is adult though so no kids 👀👀

I want to read the second book so badly now. Absolutely cannot wait.