Kreela's Reviews > House of Pain

I hate MCs who drink, smoke, and do drugs as if you have to in order to be “cool”. I hate malicious, back-stabbing villains as MCs because I want the average person to be caring, conscientious, and empathetic...things I don’t see when I watch the news.

Yet here I am reading House of Pain. The MCs are a group of witches in a school clique called the Snakes. They lie; they back-stab each other with a smirk. Even sex comes with strings. They summon a demon. One of their projects involves arson. These are not people I want as role models.

Do I want them to win their competition? Heck, no. There are no winners in this game.

But I loved it anyways. The characters are fleshed out, complicated, and deep. Alecto, for example, is half-human and all mean. She won’t let a pindrop of sympathy infect her lest she be seen as incompetent. Every trial she is given she has to have the most creative answer, even if it means burning a dormitory down.

Her nemesis, Blaze, is supposedly on her team, but he treats her as one of the competitors, and there are no rules in the competition. His father keeps tabs, and Alecto is not desirable as a wife. Despite his attraction, he bullies and almost kills Alecto. What a catch! Yet Alecto is lonely enough to want his touch.

“What did Alecto ever do to you that you have to behave this way?”
She was there. 
Always. F---- There. 
Alecto had things Blaze didn’t. 
And she made him feel things he didn’t want. ”

“Alecto’s eyes followed Blaze’s thumb resting on her thigh, making lazy circles and lines as if he were writing poetry on her skin. The kind that was invisible and could only be read by heart.”

What lovely writing. What dark and delicious phrases. I was surprised by some of the backstabbing, and want to know more about the demon.

⁃ M/F
⁃ Dual POV (seamless transitions 😘)
⁃ Academy romance
⁃ bullying
⁃ Murder
⁃ Villain romance
⁃ Steamy. Medium burn?
⁃ He bathes her/bathroom scenes
⁃ Tender bedroom scenes