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Precious Villains #2
House of Ruin
A series of mysterious murders break out at the Venefica Academy in the dark and seductive sequel to House of Pain.
Alecto Black and Blaze Leveau aren’t exactly enemies anymore after they were forced to work together last trimester to protect their House from threats. But they aren’t friends either.
While House of Snakes are recovering from the unexpected betrayal and attack on their House, Blaze is trying to figure out his feelings, and Alecto is getting ready to get her vengeance on everyone who had wronged her. Blaze Leveau is on her list, even if he doesn’t know it yet.
The second round of the Game is upon House of Snakes, and they are eager to get back to seeking more prestige and power for their House. But when a series of mysterious murders break out on campus, appearing as ancient rituals cast by the most dangerous and forbidden coven in Inathis, Snakes are facing a threat bigger than ever before.
As Snakes set out to uncover the mystery around the murders and discover the truth behind them, Blaze and Alecto face centuries-old family secrets. And soon, they realize that some things are better left in the past. But sometimes, the past doesn’t want to stay hidden.
House of Ruin will be perfect for dark academia and Dramione fans who want morally grey characters with spice and loved The Atlas Six, The Ninth House, and Zodiac Academy. It's a dual POV, steamy (extremely) enemies-to-lovers bully romance, so please read the content warning list before reading.
Alecto Black and Blaze Leveau aren’t exactly enemies anymore after they were forced to work together last trimester to protect their House from threats. But they aren’t friends either.
While House of Snakes are recovering from the unexpected betrayal and attack on their House, Blaze is trying to figure out his feelings, and Alecto is getting ready to get her vengeance on everyone who had wronged her. Blaze Leveau is on her list, even if he doesn’t know it yet.
The second round of the Game is upon House of Snakes, and they are eager to get back to seeking more prestige and power for their House. But when a series of mysterious murders break out on campus, appearing as ancient rituals cast by the most dangerous and forbidden coven in Inathis, Snakes are facing a threat bigger than ever before.
As Snakes set out to uncover the mystery around the murders and discover the truth behind them, Blaze and Alecto face centuries-old family secrets. And soon, they realize that some things are better left in the past. But sometimes, the past doesn’t want to stay hidden.
House of Ruin will be perfect for dark academia and Dramione fans who want morally grey characters with spice and loved The Atlas Six, The Ninth House, and Zodiac Academy. It's a dual POV, steamy (extremely) enemies-to-lovers bully romance, so please read the content warning list before reading.
- GenresFantasyDark Romance
400 pages, Paperback
Published August 19, 2023
30 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Karolina Wilde
8 books75 followersKarolina Wilde is an author of House of Pain, the first book in a seductive dark fantasy romance trilogy, and a sex-positive freelance writer who worked with some of the biggest brands in the world. She has a serious obsession with chocolate (dark or milk, never white, and always with salted caramel), and when she's not writing another book or another client article, she can be found playing World of Warcraft or trying to conquer her never-ending TBR pile. Find her on social media @karolinawilde or on her website at www.karolinawilde.com.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 28, 2024
Me ha gustado bastante tmb, no voy a hablar mucho de la trama para no hacer spoilers pero siento que la trama principal no son los juegos sino el misterio que rodea la historia. Esta feo que la sinopsis le den tanta importancia a los juegos cuando la vdd es que dan un poco igual (son lo que propulsan un poco las cosas que pasan pero no mucho más) pero no me importa porque el misterio es muy interesante y la autora sabe decir lo que tiene que decir sin andar enrollándose en cosas que nadaquever. La relación de los protas me pone un poquitín nerviosa porque son unos cabezones, pero por suerte no son tan cabezones como para no darse cuenta si hacen algo mal y disculparse e intentar solucionarlo. Tengo ganas de ver como acaba la serie y ver si Val me cae mejor porque hasta ahora es como una Nesta (sin ser tan sumamente mala e insufrible porque la Nesta es para darle de comer a parte pero esta review no va de eso) en el sentido de que hace cosas que son muy wtf y como que de repente le da la vena y es insufrible de cojones pero luego no pero en fin un lio. Pero vaya que si que me esta gustando bastante esta trilogía.
October 18, 2023
Review to come
Miles better than book 1 but still hot garbage basically
Miles better than book 1 but still hot garbage basically
September 25, 2023
A griping and thrilling continuation of this dark Academia story. I loved the character development and the complexities of the plot get even more layered. I really want Book 3 now!
July 31, 2024
The first book was perfect and so is this one. I can’t explain how much I love Alecto and Blaze, these two make me fucking crazy.
August 25, 2023
I really enjoyed House of Pain and was very excited to get an eARC of this book (Thanks, Karolina!). Ultimately I would give this book 3.5 stars, but since there are no half stars I rounded down.
A few things I enjoyed: The dark academia vibes are on point. I really enjoy how Wilde incorporates some of the class lessons into her plot. The dark love story is equally intriguing! Karolina can definitely write a fabulous spicy scene! I also really like the flashbacks and legacy characters. I like how history is effecting the present and the mystery of what happened while the characters' parents were at school.
Some things that could have been better: The editing of this book is SUPER rough and, while I can understand a typo here and there, there are so many that it takes away from the story. I often found myself rereading sentences multiple times to figure out what was being said. In addition, the pacing, especially at the beginning of the book was sometimes hard to follow. Often times the story would skip days ahead and I had to check the previous chapter to see what I missed. This could easily be solved with a quick "The next day" or "The following week." But the time changes were sometimes super abrupt.
A quick side note (and this is something that I noticed in the first book, too)... I really like the concept of "The Game" that takes place at the school, but I have absolutely NO IDEA what the end goal of the game is.... All I can tell is that each of the houses are trying to ruin the others.
I will say, I really enjoy the concept of this book and the story line! Wilde does the enemies to lovers trope so well and while I really would have loved to rate the book higher, the editing and time hops detract from the book too much to do so. I do still recommend reading it for the story line and the massive potential it has!
A few things I enjoyed: The dark academia vibes are on point. I really enjoy how Wilde incorporates some of the class lessons into her plot. The dark love story is equally intriguing! Karolina can definitely write a fabulous spicy scene! I also really like the flashbacks and legacy characters. I like how history is effecting the present and the mystery of what happened while the characters' parents were at school.
Some things that could have been better: The editing of this book is SUPER rough and, while I can understand a typo here and there, there are so many that it takes away from the story. I often found myself rereading sentences multiple times to figure out what was being said. In addition, the pacing, especially at the beginning of the book was sometimes hard to follow. Often times the story would skip days ahead and I had to check the previous chapter to see what I missed. This could easily be solved with a quick "The next day" or "The following week." But the time changes were sometimes super abrupt.
A quick side note (and this is something that I noticed in the first book, too)... I really like the concept of "The Game" that takes place at the school, but I have absolutely NO IDEA what the end goal of the game is.... All I can tell is that each of the houses are trying to ruin the others.
I will say, I really enjoy the concept of this book and the story line! Wilde does the enemies to lovers trope so well and while I really would have loved to rate the book higher, the editing and time hops detract from the book too much to do so. I do still recommend reading it for the story line and the massive potential it has!
August 7, 2023
I don’t think I can words to convey how much grateful I am to this author for sharing an ARC of this book with me !!
“Thinking of you is a form of torture I like to indulge in often.
—Yours”
“Alecto Black was unbreakable, and she was just as cruel as all of them. If not crueler.
And it was a damned turn-on.”
This book was … exactly what I was expecting and then more !!!!! When I finished House of Pain, I was so obsessed, I started reading as many things as possible from this author, binding my time, waiting for Blaze and Alecto’s story to start up again and solve all the questions I had. Were those questions answered? Kinda. But most of anything we get more magic, more darkness, more mystery, more secrets, more parents involved and once again a very complicated and dark and bad bad relationship that will lead both Alecto and ablaze hurting each other repeatedly and always in a worse way until they can stand it no more!!!!
Jealousy, possession, obsession, love letters, enemies with benefits dynamic will turn their story down a path that will either bring them to their doom or their salvation. I loved every second of reading this book and I read it in one sitting (unsurprisingly really)!!!!!
I was melting one chapter, very frustrated the next, anxious another and then hot and bothered the next one. I loved we get to see more about Andro and his personality. I loved every spicy scenes. I loved every magic scene (even the darkest and unexpected ones) and I loved every deep and emotional scenes (especially when Val was involved after reading Lessons in Pain) !!! This book was so so good and it was so so amazing and I can’t believe we are almost at the end of the journey !!! I can’t wait for book three to be available !!!
“There is always a place and time for a little bit of vengeance.”
“I realized that I crave you. I desire you in many ways. I need to have you. And not only in my bed. I want all of you, every single piece of you.”
“The things we keep hidden in the dark tend to come out. And the past we run away from always catches up with us.”
“Thinking of you is a form of torture I like to indulge in often.
—Yours”
“Alecto Black was unbreakable, and she was just as cruel as all of them. If not crueler.
And it was a damned turn-on.”
This book was … exactly what I was expecting and then more !!!!! When I finished House of Pain, I was so obsessed, I started reading as many things as possible from this author, binding my time, waiting for Blaze and Alecto’s story to start up again and solve all the questions I had. Were those questions answered? Kinda. But most of anything we get more magic, more darkness, more mystery, more secrets, more parents involved and once again a very complicated and dark and bad bad relationship that will lead both Alecto and ablaze hurting each other repeatedly and always in a worse way until they can stand it no more!!!!
Jealousy, possession, obsession, love letters, enemies with benefits dynamic will turn their story down a path that will either bring them to their doom or their salvation. I loved every second of reading this book and I read it in one sitting (unsurprisingly really)!!!!!
I was melting one chapter, very frustrated the next, anxious another and then hot and bothered the next one. I loved we get to see more about Andro and his personality. I loved every spicy scenes. I loved every magic scene (even the darkest and unexpected ones) and I loved every deep and emotional scenes (especially when Val was involved after reading Lessons in Pain) !!! This book was so so good and it was so so amazing and I can’t believe we are almost at the end of the journey !!! I can’t wait for book three to be available !!!
“There is always a place and time for a little bit of vengeance.”
“I realized that I crave you. I desire you in many ways. I need to have you. And not only in my bed. I want all of you, every single piece of you.”
“The things we keep hidden in the dark tend to come out. And the past we run away from always catches up with us.”
August 19, 2023
As a forewarning, I highly advise you read book 1 before reading this one. If it has been awhile since you read book 1, I also advise that you quickly flip through book 1 or maybe re-read reviews to remember key characters and plots from book 1.
The only even remotely hardship I had reading this book is trying to remember all of the characters and everything from book 1. 😂 Don't be like me. If I had taken a few minutes remembering book 1, I would have been must faster reading book 2. It's to be expected though, book 2 definitely reads like adult Harry Potter mixed with adult Pretty Little Liars.
I was SO waiting to read this book, and it did not disappoint! It's an amazing continuation of the first, with even more darkness, more vengeance (Taylor Swift Reputation, anyone?!), and more spice.
And without giving spoilers, I absolutely LOVED Alecto and Blaze. My little heart can't take it. ❣️
I did get an e-ARC from the author, but that in no way influenced my opinions. My review is voluntary and 100 percent my own.
The only even remotely hardship I had reading this book is trying to remember all of the characters and everything from book 1. 😂 Don't be like me. If I had taken a few minutes remembering book 1, I would have been must faster reading book 2. It's to be expected though, book 2 definitely reads like adult Harry Potter mixed with adult Pretty Little Liars.
I was SO waiting to read this book, and it did not disappoint! It's an amazing continuation of the first, with even more darkness, more vengeance (Taylor Swift Reputation, anyone?!), and more spice.
And without giving spoilers, I absolutely LOVED Alecto and Blaze. My little heart can't take it. ❣️
I did get an e-ARC from the author, but that in no way influenced my opinions. My review is voluntary and 100 percent my own.
January 13, 2026
3.5 stars
I can't say I loved book one, but was definitely intrigued enough to read book 2. A lot of the same issues I have with book one. The world is interesting, but the execution of the magic is lacking. Stop acting like blood magic is off limits, but it's used almost completely as the primary magic. I still don't love the whole sex magic requiring an orgy, or at least threesome. I understand the author is a "sex positive" writer. And I don't want to fault anyone for enjoying multiple partners. It's not my jam. But I skimmed it.
While I enjoy the series, I don't love any of the characters. Both MCs are lacking in that something. And Val, she is the absolute worst. I haven't read anything to give her any redeeming qualities. If she's supposed to be likeable give me something, anything to make me understand why she's the way she is. If she's a bad guy, get to it already. I'm kind of done with Val.
I can't say I loved book one, but was definitely intrigued enough to read book 2. A lot of the same issues I have with book one. The world is interesting, but the execution of the magic is lacking. Stop acting like blood magic is off limits, but it's used almost completely as the primary magic. I still don't love the whole sex magic requiring an orgy, or at least threesome. I understand the author is a "sex positive" writer. And I don't want to fault anyone for enjoying multiple partners. It's not my jam. But I skimmed it.
While I enjoy the series, I don't love any of the characters. Both MCs are lacking in that something. And Val, she is the absolute worst. I haven't read anything to give her any redeeming qualities. If she's supposed to be likeable give me something, anything to make me understand why she's the way she is. If she's a bad guy, get to it already. I'm kind of done with Val.
August 21, 2023
“House of Ruin” was enjoyable, but I’ll be honest in that I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous book. I think the biggest reason for this is how much time has passed in between publications, and I didn’t reread the first book prior to jumping into this one.
The characters in this book did a great job of keeping me on my toes. Alecto and Blaze’s relationship is tested further, and I love looking at who they became at the end of the book vs who they were when we started.
Andro and Jolene felt so…unnecessary in this book. You could have removed them both and the book wouldn’t have felt much different. This surprised me, as Jolene was one of my favorite characters in book one.
Now Val…I hated her this book. She was nasty, manipulative, and deceptive. I so badly wanted the Inner Circle to turn on her, but we didn’t see that. I am very interested to see what becomes of her in the last book and if Alecto will do something to gain power over Val.
Characters aside, this book was just as moody and dark as I remembered the series to be. You truly feel part of the story and Inathis.
A solid 4 star read for me. I will definitely be reading book three, and hopefully a summary of the series thus far so that I’m not as confused going into the book.
The characters in this book did a great job of keeping me on my toes. Alecto and Blaze’s relationship is tested further, and I love looking at who they became at the end of the book vs who they were when we started.
Andro and Jolene felt so…unnecessary in this book. You could have removed them both and the book wouldn’t have felt much different. This surprised me, as Jolene was one of my favorite characters in book one.
Now Val…I hated her this book. She was nasty, manipulative, and deceptive. I so badly wanted the Inner Circle to turn on her, but we didn’t see that. I am very interested to see what becomes of her in the last book and if Alecto will do something to gain power over Val.
Characters aside, this book was just as moody and dark as I remembered the series to be. You truly feel part of the story and Inathis.
A solid 4 star read for me. I will definitely be reading book three, and hopefully a summary of the series thus far so that I’m not as confused going into the book.
September 5, 2023
Me encantó este segundo librooo 😍
El misterio, las venganzas, la magia, los poderes, los personajes!! Amé todo igual que amé el anterior
Lo único que me pareció que le faltó, es en el conflicto final un poco más de drama. Siento que se resolvió muu rápido 😕 pero en general disfruté muchísimo la lectura! Me encantó una escena en particular entre 3 protagonistas 🌚
Espero con ansias el último!! House of Malice va a estarpotente!
El misterio, las venganzas, la magia, los poderes, los personajes!! Amé todo igual que amé el anterior
Lo único que me pareció que le faltó, es en el conflicto final un poco más de drama. Siento que se resolvió muu rápido 😕 pero en general disfruté muchísimo la lectura! Me encantó una escena en particular entre 3 protagonistas 🌚
Espero con ansias el último!! House of Malice va a estarpotente!
October 30, 2023
Absolutely LOVED book 2! The characters developed really nicely, we got to learn more of everyone's personality. I fell even more in love with Alecto and Blaze, chapter 25 was just the cutest.
Also chapter 19, I don't think I have ever read about bikini-zone waxing. I was intrigued by it! The chapter with Gill was great as well, it immersed me deeper in the world of the witches.
Of course, the SMUT, is definitely what Karolina does best. Gives us all of it without sparing any details. You don't want to miss it!!
Also chapter 19, I don't think I have ever read about bikini-zone waxing. I was intrigued by it! The chapter with Gill was great as well, it immersed me deeper in the world of the witches.
Of course, the SMUT, is definitely what Karolina does best. Gives us all of it without sparing any details. You don't want to miss it!!
Read
November 11, 2025Again not what I was super into. But the plot was fun and moved along.
November 15, 2025
Who doesn’t love a smutty, witchy, murder mystery?!
Ate this book up. Now I need the next book. Although B and A are toxic…I just love them together.
Ate this book up. Now I need the next book. Although B and A are toxic…I just love them together.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews