If you out any one new release on your October/Fall TBR, make it this one!
Gothic and gory, spooky and sexy, exciting and emotional, this book delivered on EVERY LEVEL.

Rayne has lived her entire life on the remote island of Blackridge. The small community is isolated by the harsh beauty of the sea and surrounded by dense woodland, and for better or worse the craggy coastline is her home. Visitors tour the historic, dated place all summer, but only locals dare stay come winter. The dark, cold nights are not for the weak, or the wicked.

Salem sets off on an adventure to wash away to pain of betrayal. When she finds herself at the Balfour Manor, a gorgeous Bed & Breakfast on Blackridge Island, she discovers the owner is the very women she shared an intense and intimate moment with. Salem has no business being interested in anyone, but the broody and beautiful Rayne is a permanent fixture in her head nonetheless.

Rayne tries with all she has to keep Salem at arms length. Belfour Manor has an unwelcome guest that stalks the halls, Blackridge Island has secrets too terrifying to even speak aloud, and winter is coming quickly bringing with it a deadly force.

THIS WAS EVERYTHING. I couldn't put it down once I started. The story is riveting and scary, the romance is erotic and healing, and the writing is poetic and intriguing. Action, suspense, secrets, spice, death, and love, this book delivers on all of this and so much more.

I LOVED Rayne and Salem, they are so good together and as individuals. They relationship is easy to root for and they truly NEED one of other to survive the craziness of this plot.

i’m usually scared really easily but this was perfect. trying to read this in the complete dark had me really jumpy😂

I absolutely adored Rayne & Salem. they’re perfect 😭 this was such a damn good spooky, smutty read. The story flowed perfectly and never felt dragged out. The scenes between Rayne and Salem were just 😮‍💨 SO HAWT.

the angel was terrifying 💀

THE HAND NECKLACES WERE PERFECT 🥹

thank you sooooo much Kensington, Harley Laroux and Netgalley for this gifted copy.

Wow wow wow wow all I can say is I am dead over how much I loved this !!! It’s seriously fire like all of it. The smut the love the spooky vibes the gothic ambience !! I actually felt as though I was sitting there reading it in a cemetery with crazy fog (think vampire diaries ep one) and its sapphic be still my heart!! It’s SO eerie !! Like perfect fall vibes I ate it up

I'm having trouble coming up with the words to describe how amazing this book was. I kept waiting for a place i can put the book down and came up empty handed until i finished the book. I'm talking every chapter had me on my toes. the only negative of this book is I fear it will hinder me from giving the next few books I read fair reviews because I know I'll be comparing them to how this book made me feel

"Nothing was promised, and the rules by which I survived could change day by day. Death could adapt to any scenario."

Blackridge Island was the perfect setting for House of Rayne. Salem was just a visitor until she stayed too long. Rayne lives on the island and cannot leave. The reason for both is the wild ride this story is all about. The secrets and whispers and strange things that happen make Salem question what's really happening on the island. Rayne is at the heart of the battle and determined not to let it take Salem away. I don't want to give anything away so I'll leave it at that but just know that I loved it. Once all the details start to come out I flew through this book. Rayne and Salem were so good together and had the perfect mix of romance and horror. Get your pillow fort ready for this hauntingly fabulous read!

ARC Review
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Quote: "You'll drown, and the deeper you go, the darker it will get."

This book is the wildest of rides and takes you on an adventure mind, body and soul.

Rayne and Salem meet unconventionally and make plans to never meet again, but as they say......life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.

When Salem ends up at Rayne’s remote, and gothic bed and breakfast, the surprise and tension is high for the both of them.

Neither of them can shake the feeling that they are supposed to be together, but each has baggage they don’t want the other to have to shoulder.

When the monsters, real and psychological rear their heads, these women do everything they can to show support for the other, growing feelings neither are ready to admit.

An explosion of love, horror and the heat of a thousand ghost peppers I cannot recommend this book enough!

This is my first Saffic book read and I’m not really one for horror books but House of Rayne had me on edge the entire book. Being that this is Harley Laroux’s first time writing in the horror genre, I believe she did an excellent job.

The two main characters, Salem and Rayne, are women with equal amounts of humor, toughness, spitfire, vulnerability and wisdom.

We meet Rayne and Salem at a bar and they have one night together, never expecting to see each other again. Little did they know their paths would cross twice. The women would find themselves leaning on each other, figuratively and literally, while battling something evil on the island Rayne calls home.

House of Rayne will have you wanting to snuggle with your significant other but also making sure your outside flood lights are working.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I absolutely loved this book! This book was my first mystery thriller romance type book and my first sapphic romance book. Salem and Rayne were to die for, they both kept me on my toes and I was constantly wanting more of them. I could not put this book down, every page turn had me constantly wanting to keep reading. If you like mystery thriller like romance this book is you! Also the vibes of this book are the perfect fall - Halloween read. So make sure you grab your copy when this book comes out on September 30th. Thank you Harley Laroux and Kensington books for this arc!

I absolutely loved this gothic romance. It was just perfect, has the perfect setting, the perfect horribly creepy creature. I read a lot at night, and yea, lets just say I did have some weird dreams. Like did the monster need to be described in such minute detail? Yes, it did, but also, that mental picture is hard to erase lol.

Salem comes to the seemingly quant little Blackridge Island to stay at Belfour Manor, to escape reality for a couple of weeks, just ride her bike through the trails, and forget that she was supposed to be on her honeymoon.

Rayne has lived on the island her entire life, and runs and owns Belfour Manor. It is almost the end of the tourist season, and the last ferry leaves the island on November 1st. There are only a few guests staying at the manor, including Salem, someone Rayne did not expect to see a second time. The evil that usually slumbers until November 1st has begun it's hunt early, and now the town is back fighting to survive the cold season.

Rayne and Salem know their time together is fleeting, but they cannot seem to stay away from each other. Wil Salem and Rayne survive the island?

There are so many twists and turns in this story, it is impossible to put down! I got nervous every time one of the characters went out by themselves, especially after Salem came into direct contact with the creature and describes it. It is so dang creepy, and what it does to lure people to it, just makes you so creeped out. Salem and Rayne form an unshakeable bond amongst the horrors of the island. I loved the slow reveal of all the deep dark secrets that the island was hiding.

I highly recommend this book, just be careful reading at night!

Thank you so much to Kensington Books and the author for a copy of this book!

Sexy. Spooky. Unputdownable.
A haunted island with secrets, cult-like devotion , and a spicy sapphic romance that had me hooked. Rayne and Salem’s chemistry was fire 🔥 they were everything the other needed and more.

The tension was Perfect. The mystery was Addicting. Creepiness of this book and action kept me on edge wondering wtf was coming next. This book delivered all the vibes! spooky, tense, mysterious and was absolutely perfect for spooky season.

Thank you Kensington publishing for sending me this Physical ARC.

Oh how I missed Harley’s writing! I LOVED this book. The beginning brought me flashbacks and the same feel as the Souls Trilogy. I made the mistake of reading this book at night, alone, in the dark and let me tell you… I had goosebumps the entire time! I loved the storyline, the suspense, and Rayne and Salem were beautiful together!

Add it to your TBR, read this beauty and bask in the magnificent story Harley once again creates.

#sapphic romance
#dark romance

They’ve done it again. Harley Laroux manages to imbue all their books with magic I swear. The Souls trilogy was such a great time- but I have to say, I had the best time on Blackridge Island.

Salem, after her fiancée leaves her for his mistress- needs a fresh start. She heads over to a cute little b&b on this quaint little island to heal. Only the owner of the b&b is Rayne, the mysterious woman she hooked up with and promptly disappeared afterwards. Very quickly, Salem realizes that shit is going down on the island.

House of Rayne was satisfying on all levels for me. Not only did it fulfill my newfound lighthouse kink. I was LIVING for the romance between Rayne and Salem and the spice was absolutely immaculate. It was the perfect blend of mystery, horror and romance that had me on the edge of my seat to find out what happens next.

The ambience of the island was so wintery and gothic that it just fit the book so much. Throw in the religious cult vibes and I swear you are decreasing your quality of life if you don’t read this book.


If you are a fan of Keri Lake’s Nocticadia- I would highly highly recommend reading House of Rayne.

Harley Laroux does it again! Spicy from the jump! equal parts romance and spice and just a touch a gothic sapphic love! really loved this one! Not only is Harley a top notch author but their books are so beyond spicy yet somehow they're not just porn with a plot. Harley always finds a way to invest you in the story and the bond. Its what I love most about this book!

Harley and another 5 star book, I could have told you that without reading it.

I finished this book in 2 days, that's the quickest I've read anything pretty much all year. I swear this book has drugs in it because I absolutely could not put it down.

I know I may be slightly biased, I love all of Harley's books but this was once again an amazing read. The atmosphere was just amazing, the descriptions felt like I was there. The romance. Always the romance.

I love how Harley writes about love. It's one of my favourite things in all of their books. How much love can be scary, how it can hurt but ultimately how it's amazing. I felt the love from these characters so deeply, I cried at the end.

I also really loved the anxiety rep as someone who also suffers from it. I may cried in chapter 26 because the feelings of anxiety were just so relatable and real to me, it's like I was being heard.

The characters were obviously fantastic. I love both of our girlies. I love the different personalities and vulnerabilities we see with both of them throughout the story. Obviously the spice was amazing too, some of my favourite. We love sapphics!

If there's one dark romance you read this year, please let it be this one. Read your trigger warnings first as always.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Harley and the publishers for giving me the chance to read this book early.

House of Rayne completely swept me away. Dark, gothic, and deliciously atmospheric, this story had everything I crave in a fall read. The haunted house vibes, the isolated island setting, the mist curling around the old estate it was creepy, moody, and suspenseful in all the best ways.

The sapphic romance between Salem and Rayne was stunning full of bravery, vulnerability, and chemistry that absolutely burned off the page. And let me just say…the spice? Hot, glorious, and perfectly balanced with the tension and heart of the story.

Beyond the romance, the plot kept me on edge. The mystery and suspense were pulse-pounding, and I couldn’t stop flipping pages. I could honestly see this becoming a film with how cinematic the atmosphere and story were.

This book is gothic romance done right: thrilling, romantic, eerie, and unforgettable. I cannot recommend it enough especially if you’re looking for something hauntingly perfect to curl up with this fall. Thanks to Kensington for the gifted ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
🌶️🌶️🌶️

honestly, I love Harley so much! I will read anything by them! I was lucky enough to get a ARC and the ALC. I did an immersion read.

I loved the vibes, the aesthetic, the ambience, and the romance. The main thing I love the most was the scary parts because those were very creepy especially when you listen to the audio! I was creeped out, especially since I listened to it at night time.

I love the romance between Salem and Rayne. I didn’t really care for the Madame stuff. I don’t really like heavy Dom books but that’s just my preference. I don’t mind possessiveness in spice but I did not like the Madame parts. The shine my shoe was everything.

I did feel that some of the spice was at the most random parts of the books however, I do think they are written well. This is coming from a person who absolutely loves Harley but I’m being truthful.

I loved how Harley wrote the studying because I literally could picture every single aspect that was described in this book like I could picture myself in the woods, at the church, in the nest, all of it. If Harley ever wrote any horror books I would be the first in line waiting yelling me pick me, pick me! Harley can write the heck out of a scary scene.

Overall, I think that fans of Harley will love this book. if you love paranormal you also love this book. If you love sapphic, you will love this book. I would recommend this book specifically the audio because I thought the audio was phenomenal. The narration was five stars in my opinion.

”I’ll come back to you, even if I have to haunt you.”
✨ Overall Rating 4.5/5
📈 Plot 4.5/5
🖊️ Writing 5/5
👤 Characters 5/5
⚖️ Interpersonal Relationships 5/5
🗺️ World Building 5/5
🔥 Spice 2/5
😭 Emotional Damage 3/5
🤩 Entertainment 4.5/5
🚨 Pace 3.5/5

🖤 Gothic Romance
🖤 Paranormal/Hauntings
🖤 Sapphic
🖤 Cryptic
🖤 HEA
🖤 Solving a Mystery
🖤 Religion x Ritual


Absolutely LOVED this story of Rayne and Salem. The mystery and general ambiance is absolute perfection! I really loved the hauntings and the creature involved—those parts were exciting and had me on the edge of my seat.
This is the type of story I absolutely adore. The dark, cryptic and haunting atmosphere gives me such cozy spooky season vibes!
The one and only thing I am not so fond of is that there are a few lulls in the story, however they’re not a huge deal, and pushing through was absolutely worth it!

I will certainly be recommending HoR to my friends!


“She looked at me, and it felt like awakening from a dream. Like shedding the veil of a nightmare.”

Thank you Kensington Publishing and Harley Laroux for the ARC 🖤 I’m so stoked to be part of The Demon Squad 😈

Wow a cinematic, sapphic romance with paranormal and gothic elements. Absolutely stunning. This had me hooked from the beginning. It gives 30 days of Night vibes with a climax worthy of its own horror movie. Deliciously spicy and cozy in moments. Filled with a gothic house, paranormal action, and spooky vibes. Perfect for winter or Halloween. Loved the mental health rep and sense of community 🖤

I need some time to formulate a full review and gather all my thoughts. I enjoyed this book, the storyline was something new and interesting to me, I loved the dark, creep factor. And let me tell you, the creep factor was HIGH. But for some reason, parts of the book seemed to drag, and it took me so much longer to finish it than it should have. I can't really pick out why though. I enjoyed the mystery of the storyline, I loved to see Rayne and Salem's relationship grow, the characters in the town, etc. Nothing was bad, and I devoured probably the last 40% but the rest of the book I did like 2 or 3 chapters a day before bed and that was it. 🤷‍♀️

Marked it as a 4, probably more of a 3.8. IDK.

I’ve got to read this as an ark and it was Harley knows how to write these characters to where you loved them and in her other series, which you should read is definitely worth it love her love her