Dark, beautiful, and wondrous with body horror interwoven and haunting atmosphere. For fans of life-consuming magic and buried generational vows.

This was a quick compelling read!! It you are a fan of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince and Sarah J Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses you will most likely enjoy this.

Edira was a likeable character from the start - she has a soft spot for healing kids and her love for her brothers will stop at nothing to protect them. Her Threadmending was a novel and bittersweet form of healing I haven't encountered before - she can heal others but at a cost to her own lifespan. This makes her a covetted magical asset to the immortal Ever families, who eventually get their paws on her and set her to an impossible task. The Evers were a unique take on immortals - they reminded me of Fae crossed with vampires and something more alien and monstrous.

Another unique element I enjoyed was the authors clear love of insects - particularly when it came to descriptions of Rorik and his powers.

The Fernglove estate was instantly mysterious, and though the plot points were easily predicted it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. I'm not sure labouring on the flirting and romance with EVERY Fernglove added to the story too much, it got to be a bit unbelievable that Edira could be this horny when her brothers were on the brink of death (romance and the Blight do not mix well in the imagination....in every way they cross in this book).'Nonetheless, I loved Rorik and Ywena as characters. I'd definitely read another book if it involved more of them! And it seems like I might get to, as we still need to discover the source of the Blight!

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Cruel Prince fans, do I have the book for you!

Edira hides her secret or Threadmending - her magical ability to heal by using her life essence - from the village and immortal, powerful Evers who oversees everything.
When Edira's brothers unexpectedly contract blight—an incurable virus killing people throughout the town, one she cannot heal; the head of the Evers Fernglove house offers to help.

Despite Edira’s fear and hatred of the Evers, she is drawn to Orin and his dark brother.
Of course, this is very reminiscent of many other romantasies. This meant I was very aware of the plot twists and reveals, making it less tense than I think was intended.

I did love Edira - she is strong, stubborn, and loves her brothers with everything she has. She is also way too caring for her own good.
Another bonus - magic has a price!!

<b>“Oh, Edira.” He draped one of my hands about his neck before wrapping his arm around my waist. With his free hand, he threaded our fingers together. “The only pain I’d ever intentionally inflict on you is the agony of making you wait to feel the pleasure of release.”
</b>
Who can you trust when everything is glamoured and everyone is scheming and secretive.
Oh, by the way - Orion has A TAIL!

This was addicting, but just missed the mark for me due to its predictability.

Physical Arc gifted by Titan Books.

The House of Blight really intrigued me, because it has all the elements of a five star read for me:

✨unique magic system
🖤slow burn romance
✨gothic fantasy elements
🖤love triangle
✨plot twists

I went into it hoping that it would hit the mark but, unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me 😥

Let's start with what I did enjoy though! I thought the writing was descriptive and painted the world itself in stark detail (always helpful when jumping into a new fantasy world!), Edira was a proactive protagonist and actually made things happen rather than events occuring around her. I also really loved the 'will they, won't they' romance and the slow-burn of it all! That part was really excellent.

The areas that fell a bit flat for me were the pacing, the vivid descriptions of some elements but then not enough of others and finally, the stakes not feeling high enough even though they should have felt really dire.

While the plot itself is super interesting, I felt myself getting a bit bored during random sections where I felt there was too much 'day-to-day' going on, when I really wanted to keep up the tension and continue with the main plot. I also felt that while Edira was a good FMC, she didn't question the actions or words of others enough and did things that were a bit baffling 😂 sometimes this was fun and pushed the plot forwards but other times I was just so frustrated!

Overall, I would still recommend this to fans of gothic fantasy as there were elements I did really enjoy! I just don't think it was the right book for me, sadly.

SUCH a fun concept, and yet I felt it didn't quite hit the mark. The idea of threadmending was so intriguing, and yet I felt like the magic system and world building was slightly flat. The immediate innuendo from the two potential love interests also felt a bit jarring.