Some books haunt you. Some books gut you. The House No One Sees does both. This young adult novel—part psychological horror, part poetic reckoning—follows 17-year-old Penelope Ross as she is dragged back into the shadows of her past. A single text from her estranged mother rips her from an ordinary night with friends and plunges her into the decaying walls of her childhood home. But this house isn’t just haunted; it’s alive with memories, forcing Penny to relive the trauma of her mother’s opioid addiction, the hunger, the neglect, the slow-motion decay of everything meant to protect her.
The story masterfully weaves between present and past, shifting from narrative prose to poetry as Penny pieces together her fractured memories. The result is a kaleidoscope of emotion, much like the way Penny describes poetry itself—a “kaleidoscope of words.”
Thank you to the author and TBR and Beyond Tours for including me on this book tour. Scroll down to read my full review and favorite quotes from The House No One Sees.
Book Details:
Title: The House No One Sees
Author: Adina King
Publishing Date: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary / Poetry
Book Buy Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Synopsis:
Penelope Ross has always felt like a passenger in her mother’s fairytale – until the night of her 17th birthday, when she is forced to enter her own. After a text from her estranged mother rips her away from a night with friends, Penny is forced into a kaleidoscope of memories locked inside the dark labyrinth of her childhood home. As Penny wanders between present and past—prose and verse—she must confront her mother’s opioid addiction to mend her fractured past. But the house is tricky. The house is impossible. It wants her to dig up the dead to escape. And as Penny walks through herself to find herself, she is not sure she has the courage to free the light she trapped inside.
Content Warning: addiction, parent drug use, bullying, food insecurity, child abuse and neglect
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.
If you, a parent, or someone you love is suffering from addiction and needs help, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Line.
Would you read this book? Let’s talk in the comments. 💬👇
About the author:
Adina King is veteran English teacher from Maine. Aside from teaching high school and middle school, she has worked in book stores, played roller derby, and dabbled in dogsledding. She received her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she studied with A.M. Jenkins, A.S. King, Shelley Tanaka, and Martha Brockenbrough. When she isn’t writing or covered in dirt from Olympic yard work, her natural habitat includes one or more of the following: roller skates, dogs, mountains, chickadees, music, and really excellent food.
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