Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC of this book.

Yes I know the following review is the world’s vaguest and most censored ever but the twists and turns and gasps can’t be revealed by accident. This was an amazing 5 star read for me; all the gothic romantasy vibes as promised, a yummy book boyfriend and a badass FMC that isn’t afraid to risk it all for her family.

Then there was when ****** did the thing that made me go WTF and then ****** made me swoon when they ****** . Not to mention when Edina ****** !!!!!!!!!!! Finally that ending had me flipping back and forth in the last page going no … wait … what …. Ugh book two doesn’t come out until when?

In short if you like gothic romantasy you will probably like this so give it a go.

3.5 ⭐️ thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley for the gifted arc! I’ll be completely honest—I struggled with this book for the first 60% or so and contemplated dnf’ing multiple times. But once it actually picked up I couldn’t put it down and the ending was crazy. So that’s the main reason for the lower rating. But everything is not as it seems with this book.
The romance between Edira and Orin wasn’t doing it for me, and it was the focus of a big chunk of the book. The whole family is honestly nuts, but I’m glad some turned out okay in the end. I am looking forward to seeing how the romance develops in the next book
This book has SUCH a unique magic system, which is the main reason I kept reading. I was more interested in Edira’s research with magic and the blight more than anything.
The writing style was wonderful and very descriptive and atmospheric. This was definitely a really unique romantasy, which I appreciate when a lot are starting to sound the same.

Starts a little slow but really gets there. Loved the main character. Gave me big ACOTAR vibes so anyone who wants more romantasy like that will find a lot to love here. Excited for the next book!

🌟 ARC Review 🌟

4⭐

If you’re into a mix of family secrets, female rage, curses, and an adorable moth companion, then House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau might be right up your alley! This gothic fantasy has a slow burn, forced proximity, dual POVS, that reminded me of the vibes from ACOTAR while still feeling refreshingly unique.

Thoughts that may or may not have happened while reading House of Blight –

- “Oh no… I’m gunna have to yell at the author for this…”

- “SERIOUSLY??”

- “You’re kidding me right now.”

- “Don’t you do it… damn it.”

- “Son of a…”

- “Well shit….”

- “YASSSSSSSSS.”

This book had my emotions all over the place! There were moments that made me tear up and think, “Oh no…,” times I was chuckling at the characters' banter, and definitely some instances where characters had me feeling frustrated and wanting to shake sense into them LOL. But then, there were moments of triumph that had me celebrating!

From the very prologue, I could tell I was in for an adventure, and adventure it delivered! I felt completely immersed in the story, with each world being distinct yet perfectly intertwined.
Without giving too much away, I absolutely adored the FMC’s little moth companion, Ywena, who had her own little charming personality! Her interactions with the FMC brought some delightful moments of light during darker passages. Honestly, falling for a moth companion wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025, but I’m not complaining one bit!

House of Blight is filled with some intriguing twists and turns! I thought I had everything all figured out, but I was so pleasantly surprised to discover that I didn’t quite have it all down. It made the journey even more enjoyable with the direction the author took!

I absolutely loved how the karmic retribution fit for this story’s villain! I would have enjoyed seeing a bit more of their comeuppance since they truly deserved every second of it, but I was still really pleased with how it all unfolded. Compared to some recent stories I've read where the villains seemed to get off easy, this was definitely more satisfying!

This is to be a duology, and I look forward to book 2 to see how everything unravels!

Big thanks to Maxym M. Martineau, Harper Voyager US, and Avon Books for the gifted ARC!

This was such a fun read. I enjoyed the Gothic element of this book so much!

Following Edira on her journey as a threadmender was super interesting. She has always kept her magic a secret, but the Ferngloves figure out what she's been keeping hidden for so long. When her brothers are infected with the "blight" that's been killing her people with no cure-she's forced to rely on them for help. And of course that means, she's gonna fall for one of these jerks. She doesn't find Orin to be like the rest of his family, and starts to fall for him. Of course, the Fergloves don't really love this idea, and they may just be more dangerous than what she's been trying to fight.

I am so excited for this second book to release and love that I don't have to say goodbye to these characters just yet. The vibes were immaculate, and Maxym did an amazing job!

Read This Book If…you enjoyed the Spring Court vibes in ACOTAR!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau

Genre: romantasy
Series: The Threadmender Chronicles # 1
Spice Level: 3/5🌶, 1-2 open door scenes
Setting: fantasy world
POV: single, 1st person, past tense
Tropes: forced proximity, Fae-style vows, slow burn

Audiobook Thoughts: I really enjoyed the narration on this one! I read this immersively (audio + e-book) and thought it added a lot.

My Thoughts:
If you wanted Feyre to spending a little more time in Spring Court, but add in a little academia and gothic vibes, this is the book for you! There’s plenty of suspense and intrigue and angst and I loved it.

Overall, this is a slower and more predictable read, but it set up the romance and drama for book two so perfectly! I can’t wait to find out how this duology ends.

Memorable Quote: “Oh, Edira. The only pain I’d ever intentionally inflict on you is the agony of making you wait to feel the pleasure of release.”

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

Unfortunately, I have decided to DNF this for now at 63% as I wasn't enjoying it. It felt very similar to ACOTAR but with blight. I didn't feel any chemistry between the characters.

Wow, this was excellent and exactly what I was in the mood for! It started a little slowly but quickly picked up and I was thinking about this book a lot when I wasn’t reading it.

This book is absolutely hearkening me back to fantasy books I read a lot (and loved) as a teenager - although this book is absolutely Adult and has some very open door scenes.

Edira is a threadmender - essentially a healer who can solve illness and injury, at the peril of her own lifespan. She keeps hidden to avoid attracting attention of the Evers, a supernatural sort of group that basically rule above the humans. But there is a mysterious disease that is blighting (lol, get it?) the land and its people and it’s a death sentence. No one can seem to heal it, and it’s not until Edira’s twin brothers get sick that she will do anything in her power to save them.

The author did a really good job to have you questioning who is telling the truth and who is hiding something from Edira, and as the reader I think you can pick up on a lot more than Edira does in the moment! I was definitely yelling at her a little bit, because I could see a bit more how things were likely to play out with Orin and Rorik.

All that to say, I definitely didn’t predict everything here and was pleasantly surprised by the choices both Edira and the author made.

I’m really excited for the next book in this series! I want to know more about blight and its history - how did it start? Why is it so infectious? What’s the root of it?

Thank you so much to HarperCollins and Maxym Martineau for this eARC!!

This book was insane. First you get the prologue that tells you nothing but leaves you with sooooo many questions and then you're dropped into this beautiful and atmospheric world where literally nothing is as it seems.

Every time I thought that I had figured out where things were going it twisted and I was completely wrong. At no point did I really know what was going to happen and I am obsessed with that. Edira really deserves more good things than anyone else. She's readily willing to die to save her brothers and just ugh my heart 😭. She takes care of everyone else at the expense of herself.

The brothers 👀. Orin knew just the right things to say while Rorik is the broody and flirty one. Oh no whichever shall she choose?? And the slow burn of it all made it that much better.

The vibes in this were immaculate. Dark romantasy but make it gothic?? I eat it up every time. I will be absolutely frothing at the mouth for book two.

This story follows a human, Edira, although she isn’t just any human, she is a Threadmender, a healer, and when her brothers catch the blight she finds herself in a deal with a very powerful Ever. Can she find a way to cure the blight?

I absolutely loved this story. When Ediras brothers caught the blight my heart broke for her after she had already lost the rest of her family.

The Evers are very similar to Fae but Maxym has made it so original and intriguing. The lore and the magic system are so well thought out and exciting I couldn’t get enough.

I can’t wait to read more of this series!

This was such an interesting read! The plot moved at a pace that kept me engaged the entire time & had me fully immersed by the gothic atmosphere. The magic system also had a unique twist to the typical elemental aspect with the Blight & threadmending powers our FMC had. I loved the slow burn romance, & our FMC, Edira, was very likable. Overall I would rate this a 4 star reads & I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series!

I usually hate prologues. I can't stand them. This is by far THE BEST prologue I have ever read in my entire life. If you're talking about a scene that will hook you right in and will make you HAVE to read more... this is it.

I am seriously so impressed by that.

The writing of this author is great, I became a immediate fan and I can't wait for more of her. I especially loved how she created a setting and atmosphere and immersed the reader into the page. It felt mysterious and cozy and dark. Strange combo but always works.

Her descriptions are perfect, not too much and not too little, but she knows how to weave words together to make it sound beautiful. The characters were also great.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. House of Blight was a FUN read. I loved the gothic backdrop and the characters were interesting, I was engaged the whole time, and know so many people that are dying to read something like this story. I can't wait to get a copy in my hands!

5/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1/5🌶️

What to Expect:
🏰Dark Gothic Romantasy
🔮Intricate Magic
🏰Haunted House
🔮Forced Proximity
🏰Slow Burn
🔮Moth Pet
🏰Touch Her & 💀
🔮Suspense!

I devoured House of Blight from the moment I cracked open that eerie, bone-chilling prologue until the very last letter. Maxym M. Martineau doesn’t ease you into this world—she throws you into it HEAD FIRST, haunted manor and all, and I couldn’t stop. Edira, our fiercely loyal and emotionally complex heroine, is a threadmender—a healer whose power comes at a devastating price: her own life trickling away. Every time she saves someone, her own thread of life frays a little bit more. When her twin brothers are infected by the deadly, incurable blight, she’s forced to strike a deal with the mysterious Fernglove family and enter their twisted world… and that's just her first mistake.

The Ferngloves? UTTER CHAOS. PURE DYSFUNCTION with a capital D. Gothic mansion full of secrets, love-bombing immortal lords, power-hungry matriarchs, and a tangled family tree that had me questioning everyone's motives. I absolutely loved all the drama. The dynamic between Edira, Orin (charming and manipulative - narcissist much?), and Rorik (broody, snarky, and suspiciously helpful-ummm… yes?) was tense, slow-burn deliciousness. I kept yelling at Edira to run the other way—and of course, had to keep the pages flipping to find out what bad decision she’d make next. The lore was SOOO WELL DONE—unique, well-woven, and gave me total fae politics vibes. And don’t get me started on the moth familiar/pet… totally obsessed. I always love a good pet in the story!!!

The pacing shifts midway, but stick with it because the final 20%? Jaw. Dropping (think SJM… always saving the best for last). Plot twists came at me like knives and I absolutely could not and would not dodge. Everything clicks into place in the most painful, satisfying way. I gasped. I was very close to tears. And now I’m screaming into the end waiting for book two. So, if you're into gothic romantasy, morally grey fae, secret magic, beastly transformations, and a slow-burn romance full of red flags and yearning… just say yes!

Thank you HarperCollins, Netgalley, and Maxym M. Martineau for the chance to read this amazing start of a series!!!

"If you think I can't stab you while wearing skirts, you're sorely mistaken."

House of Blight is a fun romantasy with threads of gothic woven in!

Edira is a Threadmender; a healer who can cure at great cost - losing pieces of her life essence. She has spent years hiding her powers to avoid being taken away to work for the powerful and mysterious Evers. But when her brothers contract the strange and incurable blight, Edira has no choice but to accept an Ever's offer and enter his employ.

I enjoyed the fast pace of this book! I flew through it in one sitting! My only complaint was that it was tad predictable, but still fun and I will still be watching out for book two!

Packed with magic and betrayal, I would recommend this book to any romantasy fan!

Very predictable and not very noteworthy. While the world was interesting as soon as we were introduced to the Evers and how just dumb and childish they were, I lost all interest in them. I think maybe the author was going for a "don't trust the fae" kind of people but I was more annoyed then anything.

A gory story with a peculiar magic system.

The magic system in this book was different and interesting. Edira is a fierce FMC determined to protect her family. The other characters? Well let's just say they are very deceiving. Unless we talk about Ywena, that little moth companion is perfect. The story is medium paced, but towards the middle of the book the pace starts to slow down and then picks up again towards the end. It did have a good ending that sets up for the next book. The author gives us vivid descriptions of their gothic cottagecore world and character traits, making it easy to immerse in their world. Those vivid gory descriptions were really well written. The romance in this story wasn't my favorite, but it is understandable in the end.

If there was something loved in this story, it was the prologue. You may not understand it until you finish the book.

I have to give a HUGE thank you to Nerdfam, Netgalley, and of course, the author for sending this ARC my way. I started the book today and literally couldn't stop reading. I kept thinking about it every time I put it down. It's been a while since a book affected me so much. I knew I was hooked after the prologue.

In this book, there are healers called threadmenders. They can see the threads of life and the pain/injury on them. Edira is a threadmender in hiding. After her aunt was taken from the family, she was told to stay hidden and never mend. However, a Blight has broken out over the land, and many are dying. There is no cure.

Her brothers are all she has, and when they fall ill, she is forced to make a deal with the powerful Evers. They take her in and agree to keep her brothers alive in a stasis in exchange for her learning to cure the Blight as their elder is dying from it. As it turns out, the Evers aren't as immune as Edira previously thought. 

This book is loaded with Gothic eerie vibes coated in just the right amount of magic. There's a bit of slow burn, and when I say the ending has me, Feral for book two, I mean it!

Thank you to Harper Voyager for the ARC and Harper Audio for the ALC.

The House of Blight is a gothic fantasy focusing on Edira, a healer—except when she heals someone, she loses minutes, days, months of her own life. And she’s living in secret, until the fae leader (Orin Fernglove) finds her and makes her a bargain she can’t refuse and she’s moved to their castle/home.

I imagined their home on the moors; foggy, decrepit, filled with the Ferngloves but no staff. Creepy. Meanwhile, Orin and his family are basically at each others’ throats at all times, particularly his brother Rorick. Nothing like a bit of fae family feuding to make a human feel at home?

I’m suspicious at baseline so I kept side eying some of Edira’s choices; but I get it girl, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. I loved how she kicked ass at the end, she finally took charge and was the strong HBIC I knew her to be.

While this is the first in a series, it still felt like a complete story, with just enough of a cliffhanger to keep me hooked and on board for more. And I hope to read the next as audio! Alexandra Hunter (and the tiny parts of Stephen Dexter) fit the characters so perfectly, it made the reading experience that much more enjoyable.

I loved this book! It took me a minute to fully settle into the world, but by chapters 5–7, I was absolutely DEVOURING it. The atmosphere? Immaculate. The tension? Constant. I didn’t trust anyone—every character felt like they were hiding something, and I was desperate for answers.

The plot kept me on edge, second-guessing every interaction. And somehow, I didn’t just read about Edira—I became her. Her confusion, her suspicions, her intensity? I felt all of it in my bones.

If you’re into slow-burn suspense, morally gray characters, and that delicious feeling of unraveling secrets bit by bit… this one’s for you.