The pacing was quite slow for this one for me, maybe more than I expected. The personified house is interesting, as is the mix of verse and prose, and I think many will resonate with its themes.

Adina king’s “the house no one sees” is such an interesting piece of literature. It’s extremely unique, the writing style is very different from what I’m used to. I absolutely love the sources on the back, I always like pointing out how much that pleases me when I see it. Much respect!

Gutting!

"The House No One Sees" by Adina King is an eye-opening, gutting revelation of the impact of a mother’s opioid addiction on her young daughter and parents and the community’s response (or lack thereof) to the child’s obvious need for help. The author combines prose and verse to tell the devastating story, which further heightens its impact on the reader. This was one of those stories where you can feel the outcome well before the tale’s end, but, like a trainwreck, you can’t look away nor put the book down.

On her 16th birthday, Penelope “Penny” Ross is beckoned to her childhood home by desperate and ominous text messages from her estranged mother. When she steps across the threshold, the memories of her traumatic life flood her mind and emotions, crippling her with the weight beneath the chaos as she slowly advances through its rooms in search of her mother.

The circumstances of Penny’s past are heartbreaking, stark, and all too real, especially if the reader experienced a similar situation growing up. Penny was emotionally torn apart repeatedly as her family cycled through her mother’s drug use, rehab, premature release, and uneasy reunions, only for her mother to succumb to her addiction over and over again. All the while, Penny is obviously struggling, bullied by fellow students, and leaned on by some school administrators to get her act together and follow the rules and be like everyone else, concepts she’s completely ignorant of and ill-equipped to attain on her own. Her grandparents also struggle to help their daughter and try to keep their granddaughter safe as they work through the sluggish government processes and health systems. Time and again, as her mother relapses, Penny is subjected to neglect, abuse, and danger, at the mercy of the rollercoaster of addiction.

I recommend THE HOUSE NO ONE SEES to young adult fiction readers.

This book was different than I expected. I like the switch between traditional prose and poetry to differentiate between present and past. This book handled a very dark theme well and I was hooked as it was a fast paced book. The beginning and end did not line up as much as I liked as I was confused by the complete switch of personality but that could be a representation of the trauma she has been through and I just didn't see it as well. I wish there was just one more chapter to wrap up the past, present, and future of her character development. Overall I thought this was well done and a unique way to present a very dark and emotional topic.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My Favorite Quotes from "The House No One Sees" by Adina King


A House That is No Home

“The house should have been condemned because it stopped being a home.”


From the very first pages, the house is more than just a setting—it’s a character. It breathes, traps, deceives, and devours. It mirrors the pain Penny has buried, each room a twisted reflection of the past she’s been forced to survive. The horror in The House No One Sees isn’t supernatural, but that makes it even more terrifying. It’s the horror of watching a parent self-destruct, of hunger that gnaws at your ribs, of a home that offers no safety.


Addiction Eats More Than the Sky

“My therapist says nothing can eat the sky, but she’s wrong. She’s right about most things, but not this one. Addiction can eat more than just the sky.”


One of the most devastating aspects of this novel is its raw, unfiltered look at addiction—not just the person suffering from it, but the collateral damage left behind. Penny’s mother is both victim and villain, lost to an illness that swallows everything in its path. Penny is left behind to pick up the pieces, to make sense of a love that was supposed to protect her but instead shattered her. The novel does not offer easy answers, only the painful reality of what it means to survive the unimaginable.


Faith, Lies, and Leaving

"Jesus told a lie,

but I didn’t blame him for lying

or leaving.


If I was Jesus

I would of left

too.”


This passage hit the hardest. Penny’s relationship with faith is tangled in the same grief and abandonment that defines much of her life. The stark, simple phrasing makes it all the more devastating. How do you hold onto hope when even the divine seems to walk away? The House No One Sees doesn’t preach redemption—it exposes the raw ache of being left behind, of having no one to pray to, no one to save you but yourself.


Final Thoughts

This book is devastating. It’s a psychological horror story in the most literal sense, not because of ghosts or monsters, but because it forces readers to confront the horrors of addiction, neglect, and survival. The prose-to-poetry transitions were stunning, capturing the way memories twist and refract like light through broken glass. It’s not an easy read, but it’s an important one—one that lingers long after the final page.


If you’re looking for a book that will make you feel—deeply, painfully, and beautifully—this is it. The House No One Sees is a masterful blend of poetry, storytelling, and raw emotion.


🔥 Trigger Warnings: Addiction, parent drug use, bullying, food insecurity, child abuse, neglect.

I liked this book and I thought the way it was set up was effective and moving. It tackles sensitive topics and makes them easy to digest without taking away from the seriousness of the situation. I found myself hoping for some good luck for Penelope right off the bat, even before learning very much about her character. I also appreciated that King included some resources at the end so that people who recognize themself in Penny don't have to be alone.

A very good take on addiction in family. It is dark, and emotional. The prose is excellent as it is told in verse. It is a tough novel, but it was taken on in an age appropriate way. Excellent.
Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
4 stars

It's been a long time since I've read a book in prose. A House No One Sees is an emotional, haunting, devastating, and heartbreaking story about a girl that grows up with a mother who struggles with addiction. At first, I wasn't sold on the story being told in prose. As it progressed, it seemed like the right choice. As a parent, I struggled reading about Penny and her mom. My fifteen-year-old self would have devoured this story.

The House No One Sees tells an important story. It's fiction, but it could also be anyone's story. It's raw and is loaded with issues including addiction, grief, mental health, neglect, just to name a few. Overall, I recommend the book who appreciates prose and can handle processing such a sad story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing group for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the summary and thought this would be a book I would enjoy. Unfortunately, I was mostly confused reading it and had trouble following the plot.

THE HOUSE NO ONE SEES by Adina King is beautifully written, especially in the way it uses a mix of prose and verse (flashbacks). This is one of those rare novels that isn't afraid to let things get dark as main character Penny processes her mother's opioid addiction. This is a hard subject and it includes the many ways a mother's drug addiction affects her child: mainly neglect and abuse, followed by absence when Penny goes to live with her grandparents. THE HOUSE NO ONE SEES is a great for readers who love Kathleen Glasgow's novels as well as those who enjoy more surreal writers like A.S. King.

Emotionally cleansing!

Penny relives her childhood when her mother calls her. She leaves her friends without telling them where she’s going. When Penny arrives at her mother’s place and finds her overdosed, she’s thrown back to when her mother was a good parent, before her accident and the opioid addiction that followed. Penny remembers the teasing from classmates when she didn’t have clean clothes or a decent lunch from home. She remembers being taken from her mother and living with her loving grandparents and seeing them giving her mother a chance to do better. Penny’s mother didn’t kick the addiction; it took over her life and Penny’s. Penny learned that she has a light inside that has helped her throughout her life and she meets a kind teen boy and makes good friends. She’s finally seen.

Likes/dislikes: Emotionally cleansing. Hotlines for help of many kinds at the end of the book. Words of affirmation, hope and encouragement.
Mature content: PG for mother using drugs.
Language: R for 53 swears, 21 f-words.
Violence: PG for death by drug overdose.
Ethnicity: White and brown skin mentioned.

I found this book to be devastating but hopeful. It's truly a piece of art.
I don't read poetry often -- honestly, sometimes I feel too dumb for it 😅 and I often don't want to ponder over what I'm reading for too long.

The House No One Sees utilizes verse to tell the story of Penny's childhood and prose for the present day narrative. This is a highly affective story telling tool that creates a more unique reading experience; it's not something I have seen often (not saying it doesn't exist but that I haven't encountered it).

There are A LOT of difficult topics including addiction, drug use, overdose, child abuse/neglect. Please proceed with caution if these topics could be triggering for you.

Stars 4.5

This book is absolutely jam-packed with metaphors and surrealism! This is definitely not a book I would usually grab but I was very drawn in by the blurb! There was a mix of memories, past and present text, and more.

~ Review ~

The House No One Sees by Adina King

On her 17th birthday, Penny feels compelled to return to her childhood home. She does not want to be there, yet she can’t help but walk through each room as memories of her childhood emerge. It’s a heartbreaking fever dream of a story told partly in verse, giving it a dark fairytale vibe. This was a quick, kind of bleak read and I do recommend it if you’re in the mood for a sad but ultimately hopeful story.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanusa for an advanced copy!

Penelope must confront the ghosts of her past to address her mother's opioid addiction.

Penelope Ross, now 16, was celebrating her birthday at an amusement park with her friends when she received a text from her mother asking for help. This unexpected message compelled her to confront a troubling situation. In that moment, Penelope must face her past to discover the strength within herself and attempt to rescue her mother from her opioid addiction. How will this unfold?

This book presents a beautifully intricate tapestry that masterfully blurs the boundaries between past and present. It navigates seamlessly between prose and verse, creating a rhythm that captures the reader's attention. Some passages are steeped in raw emotion, evoking deep sadness that renders the narrative utterly unputdownable.
Penelope emerges as a profoundly layered character, and my heart ached for the burdens she bore—especially in the shadow of her mother's addiction and how her mother was neglecting her. Her mother, a figure swirling in complexity, oscillates between moments of tender affection and disorienting detachment, revealing the struggle between love and alienation.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who needs a reminder that they can shine as a beacon of hope for those who are lost and in need.

Happy Reading, Paige ❤️ 📚

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Length: 287p
Source: Physical ARC - TBR & Beyond, Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: March 18, 2025

➦ I’m going to say this: The House No One Sees is for a targeted audience—an audience of those who were once the children of a parent with an addiction.

➦ I was, unfortunately, one of those children and this story resonated HEAVILY with me. As in, I cried so hard reading this story from start to finish. If you’re this specific audience, be prepared. If you’re not, go in with empathy, my friends.

➦ I think the message that hit me the hardest was realizing people KNEW. They KNEW. And yet they did very little or nothing. And that’s a hard thing to process as you’re healing.

➦ A unique blend of written prose and poetry—The House No One Sees is a raw, emotional, unbelievably moving young adult story that will stay on my bedside table for I don’t know how long—until I break the book? 🤷🏻‍♀️

♡ ya fiction/poetry
♥ childhood neglect/abuse
♡ parental addiction
♥ half book x half poetry
♡ fairy tales and dark memories
♥ targeted audience

Three words to describe The House No One Sees: dark, emotional and hopeful. This book weaved a very dark theme within the life of a 16 year old girl who has to face the depths of herself in the start and aftermath of her mother's addiction. I cried because the self discovery she makes is one that some don't realize for many years to come. The author did a great job of making this age appropriate with these dark themes. The verse and the fairy tail depictions help you stay within the mind of a 16 year old who has seen too much but also this child like way of reframing that can speak to the heart of young teens and even adults.

"Once upon a time, I walked into and through myself to get to myself, and now I see. I was never the house. I was always the light inside."

I will never let those words leave my heart. I highly recommend The House No One Sees by Adina King!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC of The House No One Sees!

The House No One Sees by Adina King is gut wrenching exposition on the effect of trauma and the struggle to heal oneself. The book, written in prose and free verse, explores the past and present of a young woman named Penny Ross whose mother suffered from an intense opioid addiction. Through her mother’s multiple attempts to become sober and relapses, Penny reflects on the effects child neglect and abuse throughout her life. The past is written in hazy metaphors laced with a child’s innate innocence. The themes of the book are dark and heavy almost overshadowing the attempt to reflect on beauty of healing and resilience. Overall, it’s a thought provoking story and a somewhat unique reading experience.

The language of the book was almost too simplistic at times, lacking a flow that made reading somewhat difficult but overall a beautiful journey.

Thank you NetGallery for providing the opportunity to read an early copy of such a beautiful book.

The House No One Sees is a young adult novel told in prose and in verse. It took me some time to feel situated with the main character, a teenager named Penny whose mother is struggling with opioid addiction.

Once I settled in to the writing style, I found I liked the poetry much more than the prose that was used to tie it together. And while I did enjoy the poetry, it did lean on some common elements that feel overplayed to me. A few poems towards the end stand out as among the best.

Overall, I found this to be a very middle of the road YA book in verse that does not top my list for this writing style. I hoped for more.

The House No One Sees by Idina King, it seems like this book was written by someone not well-versed and what a proper noun is instead of Miss Wilson having a dog named Rupert she had a Rupert not only that this book was written in such a weird way it was just a strange book about a girl whose mom did drugs and so she got taken away and sent to live with her grandparents and it was just… Weird… Very weird. When she moved in with her grandparents this is how it went Monday grandpa went downstairs I followed grandpa and sat on the step, Tuesday grandpa went downstairs I followed grandpa and stood in the corner Wednesday grandpa went downstairs and I watched him do magic with the wood, Thursday grandpa went downstairs and I went downstairs with grandpa and he asked me about the orange cat in the yard, Friday grandpa went downstairs and I followed grandpa, Saturday grandpa got in his truck accelerated and left the house, Sunday grandpa got in his truck accelerated and returned home and on and on. There were many times throughout the book I would have to continue reading and use context clues to figure out what they were talking about where they were and what was happening. I did not like this book I’m sorry this is not my type of book I know people will say they love it, they totally got it and kudos to them I am not one of those people. I like books that tell stories and use pronouns, adverbs, other punctuation and words that form sentences that make paragraphs that make chapters that tell a story. The story lacked detail, which intern caused me not to feel invested in the story. It took me three attempts to finish the book and only because I made myself continue reading. I notice everyone is trying to come up with a new and strange way to write stories but I think we should stick with the old way because that works best and has for eons.#NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #TheHouseNo oneSees, #AdinaKing,!