diff --git a/src/exports/expect.d.ts b/src/exports/expect.d.ts
index f23ab62..92665ee 100644
--- a/src/exports/expect.d.ts
+++ b/src/exports/expect.d.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export interface Have {
-  status(code: number): void;
+  status(code: number, message?: string): void;
   header(key: string, value: any): void;
   headerContains(key: string, value: any): void;
   cookiesLike(key: any, value?: any): void;
diff --git a/src/exports/expect.js b/src/exports/expect.js
index f6f8e58..5670283 100644
--- a/src/exports/expect.js
+++ b/src/exports/expect.js
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ class Have {
     this.spec = spec;
   }
 
-  status(code) {
+  status(code, message = '') {
     this.expect.statusCode = code;
+    this._expect.customMessage = message;
     this._validate();
   }
 
diff --git a/src/models/Spec.d.ts b/src/models/Spec.d.ts
index b3d9e27..f4ab9a9 100644
--- a/src/models/Spec.d.ts
+++ b/src/models/Spec.d.ts
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ declare class Spec {
    * expects a status code on the response
    * @see https://pactumjs.github.io/api/assertions/expectStatus.html
    */
-  expectStatus(code: number): Spec;
+  expectStatus(code: number, message?: string): Spec;
 
   /**
    * expects a header on the response
diff --git a/src/models/Spec.js b/src/models/Spec.js
index c3e308e..192497a 100644
--- a/src/models/Spec.js
+++ b/src/models/Spec.js
@@ -345,8 +345,9 @@ class Spec {
     return this;
   }
 
-  expectStatus(statusCode) {
+  expectStatus(statusCode, message = '') {
     this._expect.statusCode = statusCode;
+    this._expect.customMessage = message;
     return this;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/models/expect.js b/src/models/expect.js
index 70fb6af..c151674 100644
--- a/src/models/expect.js
+++ b/src/models/expect.js
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ class Expect {
   _validateStatus(response) {
     this.statusCode = processor.processData(this.statusCode);
     if (this.statusCode !== null) {
-      assert.strictEqual(response.statusCode, this.statusCode, `HTTP status ${response.statusCode} !== ${this.statusCode}`);
+      const message = this.customMessage ? `${this.customMessage}\n ` : '';
+      assert.strictEqual(response.statusCode, this.statusCode, `${message}HTTP status ${response.statusCode} !== ${this.statusCode}`);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/component/expects.spec.js b/test/component/expects.spec.js
index f9c029c..90cd097 100644
--- a/test/component/expects.spec.js
+++ b/test/component/expects.spec.js
@@ -137,6 +137,20 @@ describe('Expects', () => {
     expect(err.message).equals('HTTP status 404 !== 200');
   });
 
+  it('failed status code with custom message', async () => {
+    const customMessage = 'An error occurred in the API call because it did not return the statusCode 200'
+    let err;
+    try {
+      await pactum.spec()
+        .get('http://localhost:9393/api/users/1')
+        .expectStatus(200, customMessage)
+        .useLogLevel('ERROR');
+    } catch (error) {
+      err = error;
+    }
+    expect(err.message).equals(`${customMessage}\n HTTP status 404 !== 200`);
+  });
+
   it('header key not found', async () => {
     let err;
     try {