I loved the Marked books 16 years ago, so when I saw there was another one I was excited. And why I liked revisiting the world/ Tulsa and calling the elements, as now a 36 year old some parts made me cringe. I’m going to keep the House of Night in my memories.

Meh. I enjoyed the HON series and was looking forward to revisiting the characters. This was just...nothing.

Cant decide if I’ll read the rest - I already have them from the library, but not sure they’re worth my time.

It was good to have the characters of house of Night back again together. But there could have been more maturity with how they behave considering they all head HoN of different regions.
The bonding, chatter, emotions, love and magic were good. What could have been done better is making all of them responsible and respected than before. Still being at head and acting childish ruins the feel that they have some sort of power.
It dampens them still that there is less use of their powers and affinity here going by assumptions and emotions.
Good parts were Kevin taking up a significant role and Aphrodite not being annoying. Apart from that the usual herd of chatter of characters without difference-Stevie, Kramisha, Shaunee, Shaylin,Nicole(Cause it doesn't matter here since they are almost cardboard characters with each a line of sarcasm, worry or support to Zoey as always which could have been written better). Worse are Stark, Erik and Rephaim who mostly go worrying or going around professing their feelings. Such important characters with nothing much to do kind of spoils the fun.
Hope it does not fall under the category of unsuccessful sequels.
Altogether it was good but could have been way better considering the previous series. Waiting for the next one to be better than this.

<3<3<3 Een nieuw boek over The Nerd Herd. Deze serie is 1 van mijn favoriete series! Ik ben zo blij dat dezelfde mensen weer terug zijn! Zoey is geweldig, en Stevie Rae en Stark en Aphrodite en Damien en... ach, eigenlijk zijn ze allemaal geweldig. Ik heb zo genoten van dit boek, omdat ik weer heerlijk terug gezogen ben naar de wereld van toen, de wereld waar ik mee opgegroeid ben. Het verhaal sluit mooi aan op de serie en ik kan niet wachten (letterlijk niet!) tot het volgende deel! Ik hoop dat er nog vele delen komen.

I was a little weary about starting this series after finishing the House of Night series, but I was pleasantly surprised! It pulled me right back in, just as the first House of Night book did! I am excited to read the rest of the Otherworld Series.

I love the Hon series, read and reread them several times. This new series is great so far. Couldn't put this book down, I finished it the first day I started reading it. It's a page turner!

House of Night Other World:
Loved: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Lost: ★★★★★
Forgotten: TBD

(Original) House of Night Series:
Marked: ★★☆☆☆ (2.5)
Betrayed: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Chosen: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Untamed: ★★★★☆
Hunted: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Tempted: ★★★★☆
Burned: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Awakened: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Destined: ★★★★☆
Hidden: ★★★★☆
Revealed: ★★★★☆
Redeemed: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Full review also found here at Booked J.

"Sometimes our spirit weeps. When it does you must work at comforting it, and then healing it."

As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

For as long as I can remember, House of Night has been one of the series that was a huge part of my literary coming of age journey. Back when, in high school, it dominated my shelves. In my twenties, the series forever has a shelf of its own. I will forever enjoy telling the story of how, during one of the books initial release dates, I had my mom drive through the aftermath of an Indiana snowstorm just to purchase a new release. To say I was devoted to this series would be an understatement.

When I heard that the series was coming back, I was a little skeptical. Still, House of Night Other World, has been on my TBR since 2017. Finally, in preparation for Forgotten and in line with my complete series reread, I was able to binge read the newest series.

As I jumped into Loved it became obvious that P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast were back and better than ever. All of my concerns were gone because not only does the Nerd Herd ride again, it is even better this time around and the whole landscape of the series has been given a new life.

In all honesty, I loved (ha!) Loved even more than the previous installments of the original series. There was this familiar quality to it, still it maintained that enthralling, dramatic and highly romantic feeling for readers, but there was also this hint of newness to it. It, without a doubt, took me back to 2008 or 2009 in the sense that I was completely captivated with having a new House of Night novel to dive into it. You know that feeling of meeting up with an old friend? I felt that within Loved and it was indescribable.

While many author's would fail to breathe a new life and era to an already admittedly long (four novellas, twelve books in the original series, plus graphic novels and a companion novel!) neither P.C. or Kristin Cast stumble. Their writing is better than ever; adding new layers of mythology and world-building (there is, quite literally, A WHOLE NEW WORLD) while still grasping the essence of the original series. They modernize it beautifully, while tying in various political elements that are all too familiar for our current landscape.

As for the Nerd Herd, the characters aren't all on the exact life paths I had hoped for them, but the growth is there:

Zoey is home, at the Tulsa House of Night, and is kicking serious butt as High Priestess. Stark, her warrior and consort, of course, remains at her side, and Aphrodite, too, is not far behind with Darius. Everyone else is scattered, which feels true to life. Erik has finally found his place with acting and Shaunee. Stevie Rae and Rephaim are still going strong. Nicole and Shaylin, too, have solidified their OTP status. Damien's story is, of course, the more bittersweet of the batch--as he still struggles with the loss of Jack.

Seeing them reunited feels like a homecoming of its own and I adored the little group hug we get to see at the start of Loved. The entire gang is back home, exuding #SQUADGOALS to celebrate our girl Zoey's 18th birthday, when danger strikes and Zoey is visited by Kalona in a dream to warn her of potential danger: Neferet could be stirring.

Aphrodite's vision of death soon follows--and once again the Nerd Herd has to save the day and battle new evils. By new evils, I mean LITERAL (!) NEW EVILS. This new layer of mythology changes everything we know about "our" House of Night and introduces a parallel universe into the mix. Aka, the Other World. Not to be confused with the afterlife of Nyx's Otherworld.

Let me tell you: I freaked the heckity heck out in the best way. May or may not have done a happy and excited dance. Which would be a lot more embarrassing if I, you know, had any shame. As you guys know, I love stories of parallel universes if they are done right and Loved definitely succeeds in ways similarly to other YA novels like [b:The Corridor|25534273|The Corridor (The Corridor Duology, #1)|A.N. Willis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431559132l/25534273._SY75_.jpg|45323573], [b:Trial by Fire|20613491|Trial by Fire (Worldwalker, #1)|Josephine Angelini|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1396827051l/20613491._SY75_.jpg|26240928] and [b:Queen of Air and Darkness|13541056|Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices, #3)|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510447136l/13541056._SY75_.jpg|19104298].

(Loved is entirely of its own caliber and is primarily set around people from a parallel world slipping through to ours.)

Needless to say, there was a lot addressed and expanded upon in Loved that felt like more than a stroke of brilliance to me. It just felt right. P.C. and Kristin really knocked it out of the park with this new series!

We got some answers on long lingering questions from the original series run. The Other World holds a different set of mythology entirely, which was fascinating to see. We see what could have happened to our world, had certain events varied even slightly from the path we saw. Aphrodite, spoiler alert, finally regained her marks and is now a fully fledged Vampyre of a new kind. Her development continues to be the best of the series. Zoey's brother, Kevin, or another version of him, has a significant role in Loved which was surprising and refreshing.

Most importantly, Other Jack has arrived--and ALL the emotions happen. I do mean ALL of the emotions. I'm not crying, you're crying. Something about Loved felt like more than a love letter to the fans of the House of Night series, and so much more than a new beginning. I can't really explain it other than I really, truly, loved this book and I can't wait to continue on this new chapter.

Wow! Honestly, after coming back to the series and being a little shocked that I was several years late from catching up to the return of HoN, I was excited to jump into this!

Holy hell, the writing seems to have improved, and the story is brilliant! I can't wait to read through the rest and find out how it goes, though I have an inkling I know and will be pleased to read it.

I'M ALSO SO HAPPY FOR APHRODITE! She's risen to be my favorite from the HoN universe and the fact that (even for a price, and not for forever) she got her Mark back is everything. In fact I think she got the best deal, I think deep down she's exactly the sort of woman who because of her trauma she'd want to have her own children and break the generational cycle.

Time for the next one!!

This plot felt like a whole load of nothing and I don't really see the point in this series. The only reason why I finished this book is because I like the gang and I liked being back with them (especially Zoey and Aphrodite).
One thing happens in this book and that is it. They raise some kind of red vampyre zombie mutation from an other world, have some chats and then send one back. The one thing I was expecting to happen, didn't. So I assume that means I would have to read the next book in the series to find out.
The only good thing about this book was being back with the characters.