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A review by cristinaciborowski
The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper
4.0
Enjoying this series more with each book. It's a refreshing break from romance and fantasy which are basically all I read these days. This piece of historical fiction is a very digestible look into the inner workings of life in ancient Pompei from the perspective of a woman who was born free and then sold into slavery in a brothel and then ultimately freed as a concubine (a slave to her feelings and circumstances - quote from Georgies).
Amara was our narrator in the first book as well and The Wolf's Den had left off on the day that she was granted her freedom. Now she is living lavishly in a house rented for her by her sponsor Rufus. Rufus is quickly losing interest in Amara and the feeling is mutual. She decides to use her new spot in society to free her friends from the brothel and continue her own loan business to accumulate her own wealth. Along the way she begins to develop feelings for her sponsor's head slave, and they enter into a torrid affair which she then discovers could result in her being reduced to a slave again. To combat this coupled with Rufus' lack of interest she intentionally gets pregnant with Philos' child so that Rufus will basically give her child support.
This book is hard to summarize because I felt like everything I wanted to say would be spoiled so I just gave up on trying to be nuanced. Victoria is a two-faced traitor and she never deserved to taste freedom. Britannica is so loyal, and is a great judge of character, except A: Victoria. The book ended after Amara gave birth to her daughter and then went behind Philos' back and started flirting with a rich guy to ensure her daughter's future which was heartbreaking because she gave up everything to be with Philos but it wasn't enough. Can't wait to see what the third book has to offer.
Amara was our narrator in the first book as well and The Wolf's Den had left off on the day that she was granted her freedom. Now she is living lavishly in a house rented for her by her sponsor Rufus. Rufus is quickly losing interest in Amara and the feeling is mutual. She decides to use her new spot in society to free her friends from the brothel and continue her own loan business to accumulate her own wealth. Along the way she begins to develop feelings for her sponsor's head slave, and they enter into a torrid affair which she then discovers could result in her being reduced to a slave again. To combat this coupled with Rufus' lack of interest she intentionally gets pregnant with Philos' child so that Rufus will basically give her child support.
This book is hard to summarize because I felt like everything I wanted to say would be spoiled so I just gave up on trying to be nuanced. Victoria is a two-faced traitor and she never deserved to taste freedom. Britannica is so loyal, and is a great judge of character, except A: Victoria. The book ended after Amara gave birth to her daughter and then went behind Philos' back and started flirting with a rich guy to ensure her daughter's future which was heartbreaking because she gave up everything to be with Philos but it wasn't enough. Can't wait to see what the third book has to offer.