The writing is so good, I felt like starting at the beginning again as soon as I finished it. This is the second of the trilogy set in Pompeii, centred around the worst brothel. Amara has escaped the brothel but it still haunts her - the awful lives of her friends she left behind especially. But she is only free as long as her patron wants her so the games she must play are dangerous and risk all. A truly gripping story.

Review: The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯.”

(This review contains very slight spoilers for the first book, The Wolf Den, in case you haven’t read that yet)

First off – this book had me in an absolute chokehold! If you’ve read my review of the first book in the series, you’ll know I adored that one. If it’s possible, I love this one even more!

Amara is now a freedwoman, but her life certainly hasn’t become any easier. She is afforded certain luxuries by her new social status, but struggles to make the adjustment when there are still slaves she cares about from her old life.

Amara faces a lot of internal turmoil, and is often left with options that place her between a rock and a hard place, with her past always haunting her along the way.

But the story isn’t all doom and gloom – there are some wonderful and unexpected relationships that develop throughout the story which had me rooting SO hard for them.

I love Amara so much, she is now firmly up there as one of my favourite female book characters. Her determination and resolution to survive are second-to-none, and I’m in no doubt that she would stop at nothing to fight for herself and those she holds dear. I also really enjoyed seeing more of Philos’s personality and learning about his background, as well as the introduction of new characters like Julia and Livia.

Now I absolutely cannot wait for the final instalment – there’s so much to find out and I can’t wait to see what Amara’s future holds.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @headofzeus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review 💛 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟮𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝘆.

(Review was originally posted on Instagram by @thebrightonbookshelf)

The best bits of this were the new unlikely relationships that formed, and the return of Elodie’s stunning writing. As with book one, was absolutely incredible in its immersive nature. I would truly read anything written by her at this point!

Where this fell down for me is that it unfortunately lost some of what I loved from The Wolf Den. I adored how one of the friendships developed, but I felt the theme of friendship was less present overall. I was also pained by a lot of the decisions that Amara made, as they just didn’t feel authentic to her personality in my opinion.

However, I am so sold on this series that I absolutely cannot wait to see what book three brings!

Just to say, I have tried not to say too much, but this review may contain slight spoilers for The Wolf Den (Book 1) if you haven’t read that yet❗️

After escaping The Wolf Den, Amara is now living with Rufus as his concubine. She begins to experience the luxuries that come with this slightly more elevated position within society, however deeply misses her friends from The Wolf Den and struggles with her grief of what she has lost.

The deeply meaningful friendships and relationships was something I loved within the first book and this is definitely carried through into book two. No spoilers, but I absolutely loved a certain couple within this and I couldn’t get enough of their interactions with one another!

Amara is up there with one of my favourite female characters. But now I also have an immense love for Britannica.💪🏼

I would say that I do think I preferred the first book in the series, The Wolf Den. Purely because I was way more emotional when reading The Wolf Den. However, I definitely loved reading more about Amara’s world and still thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. I can’t wait for the third and final instalment in this trilogy and hope we don’t have to wait too long!🤞🏼

4.5⭐️

I completely adored The Wolf Den so was over the moon to get approved for the follow up. Amara is now free but her life still has its fair share of complications.

Again another riveting read!

NOT AS RIVETING AS THE FIRST IN THE SERIES

The Wolf Den knocked my socks off. So I might have gone into this book with high expectations. Sadly, the things I really enjoyed about the first book were in short supply here. The candor, which made the first book so special, was toned down here. The story dragged on a bit and lacked urgency for much of the story, which was a real setback. However, I will still be looking forward to the final book in the series.

I loved the first book in this series and it actually made me dream about the book as if it were a movie (I have visited Pompeii so I was versed in some of the background). The second book certainly builds on and enhances the first and was a great follow up.

First, I’d like to thank Netgalley and Head of Zeus for providing me this e-arc.

In this second installment of The Wolf Den Trilogy, we continue to follow Amara, while she comes to terms with her freedom and how to be a concubine. She struggles with memories of her life in the brothel, the people she lost and the guilt of moving on while others she loves still suffer at the hands of her previous owner.

Throughout this book, we se how Amara tries to navigate this new reality of being a freedwoman, an elevated position from her previous status of slave and prostitute. Even though she encounters herself in a higher position in society, this position still has its challenges and precariousness. We see her make difficult decisions and great sacrifices in order to save herself and the ones she loves. I can’t say I agree with the majority of the decisions Amara made, but I can’t really pass judgement on someone living in a reality so distant from mine. The development of her relations with old and new characters is in some cases beautiful and others just excrutiating. The characters development is also absolutely fantastic. I kept thinking of the characters as onions, in the sense that each of them have so many layers, some brutal, some ferocious and confident, but all so deeply interesting in their own way.

Elodie Harper continues to capture with amazing historical accuracy the life and times of 75AD Pompeii, which just blows me away. I especially liked the way Harper wove different festivals of the roman culture into the story itself, giving the reader an opportunity to learn about them, in a simplified and captivating way, instead of having an overly academic approach that would probably turn some readers off. The writing is still, if not more beautiful; I highlighted so many quotes. That last sentence was EVERYTHING. I have high expectations for book 3 and cannot wait to see what the future holds for Amara given the decisions she made in the last 10% of this book.

THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR is a triumphant second entry to this Roman series about prostitutes, courtesans, and the men making their lives awful. Amara seems to have succeeded in escaping, but danger is still very much all around her.

Rufus is controlling and possessive, and one of the ways he does that is through "oh so subtly" hinting about how much food she's eating such that Amara reduces what she eats to very little. It's a small detail (but one that people should be aware of going in) but it's a detail that really drives home how controlling he is, that is certainly far from the "ideal" patron.

The book never leaves you in any doubt that Rufus is abusive and considers her nothing more than a slave for his amusement. It's a lot more subtle than Felix (who I really hope gets destroyed in the final book as he's horrendous) but he is certainly not a safe haven. He used his power over her to have her do what she wants.

THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR focuses on different relationships - Victoria, Britannia, and the man Amara falls for. I loved spending more time with Britannia. She's so different from the others because she displays more masculine strength, and it meant that she and Amara could help and comfort each other in ways the other women couldn't. I liked having that variety of strength in there.

Harper also manages to really dig the knife in this book with the betrayals and twists. I thought she couldn't top the ending of book 1 and Dido's death, but she springs it much earlier this book to make the final act a nervous rope-walk as Amara tries to juggle all the threats hanging over her head, threatening to destroy the snatch of happiness she's found.

It looks like we'll be travelling somewhere new with the final instalment, which I shall be eagerly awaiting.

Amara has escaped Felix and the brothel but is she safe. It certainly appears that she is still haunted by the past.

Amara is paranoid about the safety of Victoria and Beronice (her friends who are still enslaved at the brothel). She becomes obsessed with paying for their freedom. Philos (her patron’s steward) warns her against this course of action, but she is driven by steely determination. As a result she has a confrontation with Felix and only gets one of the women.

I really enjoyed how the slave Philos was given such a large role in the book. His perspective was really interesting.

It becomes apparent that not everyone should be trusted and Amara is betrayed.

What will the future hold for Amara. I most definitely will be reading the last instalment.

The Wolf Den was one of my favourite reads last year and the sequel does not disappoint!

The House With The Golden Door picks up with Amara now out of the Wolf Den and no longer a slave, however as a courtesan her continued safety and hard won freedoms are reliant on her patron.

It soon become clear that Amara isn’t able to fully move on from the Wolf Den and the women she left behind. The female relationships remain a highlight, the women support each other but their relationships are also messy and complicated. I particularly enjoyed Britannica’s increased precedes and following her character development.

Amara is such a strong leading character, at times I didn’t agree with her actions and decisions, particularly at the end of the book, but I always understood her thought process and emphasised with her throughout.

The one thing I wanted most from the sequel, was to explore Pompeii beyond the brothel and the workings of the Roman Empire in general and The House With The Golden Door certainly delivers! Without spoiling anything, I’m very excited for the next book as I suspect it will open the world up even further.

It’s rare that a second book is as good as the first but that truly is the case here. This book builds on everything we learnt from the first one and still managed to surprise me with the direction it takes at times. Harper’s writing vividly brings the ancient world to life and with this book has established this series as one of my all time favourites.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Content Warnings: slavery, sexual assault, rape, violence, death, disordered eating

I listened to the audiobook of The Wolf Den not too long ago (fully believing it was a stand alone) and really enjoyed it, so I was super excited to receive an ARC for The House with the Golden Door and oh yeah. This was really really excellent.

The House with the Golden Door is historical fiction set in ancient Pompeii. In the second book of this trilogy, we continue to follow Amara now that she has escaped slavery in one of Pompeii's most infamous brothels. Though her situation has no doubt improved since gaining her freedom, Amara still treads a dangerous line as a concubine freedwoman in Pompeii.

Reading this trilogy has really reminded me how much I enjoy historical fiction. Despite the dark subject matter - this book doesn't shy away from portraying the rough reality of life for women (particularly enslaved women) in ancient Pompeii - reading them is a thoroughly enjoyable and cohesive experience. Every aspect of how it's written - from the slow pace to Harper's blunt, matter-of-fact writing style - perfectly complements the story being told here. Amara is such a great character - she's so complex and smart, and Harper's portrayal of her is wonderfully nuanced. In this book particularly, her character development and growth - ebbing and flowing as it is - is really great.

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, it should be an absolute no brainer to pick this one up. People often complain that a second book in a trilogy is usually weaker than the first, but I really didn't find that with this one. I can confidently say book 3 has secured itself on my list of most eagerly anticipated future releases!

Thank you to Elodie Harper, NetGalley, and Head of Zeus for the eARC of The House with the Golden Door.

The House with the Golden Door follows on from where The Wolf Den ends: Amara is now free from Felix’s brothel and lives in a house paid for by her patron. However, tensions continue to bubble beneath the surface as Amara comes to realise that she is not truly free - from Felix or from an enslaved existence.

This books continues the excellent work that The Wolf Den started in creating an authentic and real sense of setting. It was informative on the culture of ancient Pompeii without being overly explanatory, and i really enjoyed learning about the culture and setting. The characterisation is also strong, especially when it comes to the multiple layers of Amara herself; she has a manipulative and cold streak within her, that makes her worry she is more like her former pimp Felix than she would want to admit. This book is also very fast pace and much easier to binge than The Wolf Den, possible due to the audience already being familiar with almost every character (with the exception of a few new faces).

This is an intricately woven tale, with countless threads all weaving into one another. However, I felt that these threads started to become somewhat frayed near the end of the book - there is so much going on that it seems inevitable that the author would start to drop some of the plot. You have to pay close attention to remember everything that’s going on and the fleet of characters who are all closely relevant. But then your close attention is only half rewarded when the author themselves appears to forget some of the earlier plot lines: without giving too much away, what happens to Amara’s loan business in the last section of the novel (for example)? There’s also arguably too much going on romantically - it becomes difficult to be fully invested in the forbidden love element of the plot when there appears to be a number of available suitors waiting in the wings.

I enjoyed the fast paced plot of this book a lot (although I would’ve appreciated a slightly tighter and less abrupt ending - the feeling is that the author rushed to bring everything together, which is strange in a book spanning over 400 pages). My main critique however, is that this book was relentlessly depressing. I am impressed at how the author sucked me in emotionally: I was filled with constant anxiety just as Amara was. And with the forbidden romance plot being what it is on top of the harsh reality of living as a courtesan at the whims of a patron, it would be difficult for this book to be truly happy. Yet i just felt like I was being hit by wave after wave of bad luck and sadness and hopelessness. This book made me feel so helpless and sad that I was almost relieved it was finished. That is a testimony to the author’s skilled writing of emotional pain and anguish but I don’t know if I could read a third book as a result.

A good sequel to The Wolf Den that would’ve benefited from a tighter ending and slightly less plot points/characters (and maybe just a little less anguish). Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

A truly addictive read that is a strong follow-up to The Wolf Den. I wasn't expecting the story to continue, so it was great to enter Harper's vivid, well-written world again!

The lives of all the characters are so rich and deep, making the tragic events within them all the more painful to read. Most of them are fundamentally sympathetic, and the difficult decisions they make are ones that stay with you long after reading. I'm glad the story focused on Amara again, and the whole novel I struggled to put it down. I'll definitely read anything else that Harper publishes!

This is the second book in what is to be a trilogy, following the lives of a group of prostitutes and slaves in Pompeii. As withe the first book, the setting is incredibly atmospheric and the characters all feel so real, even the bad guys. I eagerly await the final instalment of this wonderful story.

wow wow wow!!!
elodie harper has once again woven the most incredible tale about women, sisterhood and the strength that they have and do endure.

this was one of those books that was just as good, if not better than the first one. we got to see the extent of amara’s determination and her desire to survive in such an oppressive patriarchy that is stacked against her so we grow to learn more about her in a completely different environment, that tests her in new ways.

elodie harper puts so much nuance and detail into characters that depicts the realness of this story and the characters 100% elevate the tale. every single character has had such back story and time invested into them thist evoked such emotion and hope from me when reading. this again makes the book so heart wrenching to read but also that much more meaningful. like the wolf den i struggled to put it down although it was better paced than the first one which did mean it was near impossible to go to bed and stop reading.

i loved seeing her relationship with britannica grow and her love she has for the other wolves who were with her at the wolf den, although this does grow more complex over time. I also really missed the presence of dido, mainly for amaras sake, but it definitely elevated the plot and played a central bridge for many of amaras relationship that i could see it was necessary for her development.

this series, nor elodie harper is raved about enough, especially if you like greek or roman mythology, historical fiction and books with strong female relationships. read this book for so many reasons, not least because it is done so beautifully.

a for sure 5/5 read <33333

I liked this so much, the writing, story and characters are all getting better as the series goes on. I read The Wolf Den not long ago and couldn't wait to get into the this to see where Amara was and how the story was moving on now that she's no longer in the brothel. I preferred this to The wold Den and am excited to see how her story finishes in the final instalment!

I adored The Wolf Den when I read it last year so this sequel was high in my most anticipated releases and I was thrilled to get my hands on it early.

It was amazing to be back with Amara, she is one of the strongest female characters I’ve ever read and her arc continued to captivate in this second instalment.

The events of the first book set a truly gripping storyline and I couldn’t stop reading because I was worried for the safety of my favourite characters.

The interactions with Felix were truly scary and the dynamic between the two of them was very believable.

Something I really appreciated about this book was that characters that didn’t survive The Wolf Den were still a huge presence in their friends lives. I find sometimes in books if a character dies they can conveniently be forgotten but I thought the way Elodie handled the complexities of grief was really beautiful.

Cannot wait for the next instalment.

Thank you so much to Head of Zeus and Elodie Harper for allowing me to partake in the blog tour for one of my favourite series.

Sarah

@apageofwordsandwishes

This book is one that is unapologetic in letting its characters be human, ugly flaws and all. It was more than one time you began to love a character just to have them do something that tempted you to bash your head into a wall (cough, cough, secondary character that shall not be named marrying a certain brothel owner). But somehow these "character flaws" just made the book even more real and even more enjoyable. Elodie Harper is fast becoming a favorite author, especially with mythology-inspired works. Right up there with Madeline Miller. Which, if you know me, is very very high praise.

I was so happy to have been approved to read this on NetGalley, I dove straight in after finishing The Wolf Den.

It was so captivating; Amara is free from the brothel, but she still feels as though she needs to put on a performance for her patron. The person who can put her back into the brothel if she crosses a line. She’s aware that her role as concubine is time limited as looks fade and her patron can drop her whenever he wants.

I did prefer the first book, but this was still captivating with unexpected twists and turns and you feel pulled along on this journey alongside Amara which is absolutely amazing!

I can’t wait for the final book in this trilogy! The end of this book has me on edge! Definitely a series to add to your TBR!