House of Marionne by J. Elle is a YA dark academia fantasy romance. I heard that this book gives Lana Del Rey dark academia vibes and I am happy to say that it definitely did!! I enjoyed the secret society and the main character Quell learning to tame her dark magic. This book feels like if Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, and A Deadly Education had a baby. If that sounds good to you then definitely pick this one up!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARCin exchange for a review!

I. Am. Speechless. This book was absolute perfection. This story begins in the heart of New Orleans and as a Louisiana native I was hooked. Magic, academia, forbidden love, feminine rage, EVERYTHING I love and more. This story was so well written and so full of details that I was living for. Quell and Jordan!!! Ugh, my heart. Definitely plan to read this one again in the near future because it was PERFECTION.

I really enjoyed House of Marionne. Such a great all-around story. I admit it was slow going for me at the start, I set it down for a bit but after I got halfway through, the story really picked up. The Order was weird and harsh with lots of pretentious people floating around and the classes were interesting but there were not many of them so not much to know. We really do not get close to many of the characters except Abby, Jordan, and Grandma. There is one particular character I can't wait to get to know in the next book. The magic kind of confused me, the whole dark magic deal and how Quell uses it, etc...I have to say the ending was fantastic, I truly loved it and for me, it made the book. I was completely surprised in a good way. I can't wait to read the next book and find out where the story goes.

This definitely feels reminiscent of a lot of yearly 2000's YA. I think I'm the wrong audience for it but would have loved this as a younger teen. It's action packed and the writing style is engaging

3.5/5 Stars

So….. this book was kind of confusing, but interesting at the same time. I would have given it 3 stars, but the ending saved it and made it into a 3.5 star read… will I be reading the next one? Probably because I’m super curious to know what happens with Quell and her magic. It was easy to read, but the plot was confusing at times… especially Yagrin’s part. Would I recommend it? Meh… I feel like the series has potential but this was a very average read for me.

House of Marionne is the magic boarding school book of my dreams. A girl with dark, forbidden magic who has to keep it secret? And she's paired with a mentor who is literally an assassin for dark magic bearers, like she is? It's such a fun set up and I love how Quell is thrust into a world of glamour, ballgowns, and deadly, interesting trials to "earn" her place in the secret magical society.

The last rite is my absolute favorite, and how it goes down was so satisfying! One of my favorite characters is the Grandmom, and I love how their relationship develops in its twists and turns. This book is sure to delight contemporary fantasy lovers and has carved out a spot in the genre by reinventing the boarding school setting into a lush, dangerous place. And no spoilers, but the ending took my breath away and made everything click into place. It's a brilliant set-up for book two and I'm still squealing about that reveal!!

House of Marionne by J. Elle is a novel that started generating buzz a year before its release date. With its posh boarding school setting, forbidden magic, and enemies-to-lovers tropes, there was no doubt the YA fantasy fan base would swoon. While I can't say that it made me swoon, I can say that I enjoyed it despite its flaws.

Quell is an interesting character. She is so needy and lonely that she should be a repellant character. Instead, regardless of what her grandmother says about her and her inner monologue, I find her almost stereotypical for a teenager. After all, that is the age where everyone feels alone and yet needy for acceptance and love, stability, and community.

The world of the Order remains as mysterious at the end of House of Marionne as it is at the beginning, something I cannot discern whether Ms. Elle did on purpose. We know what Quell knows, which is frustratingly little. While one of the narrators is a mysterious person who appears to be a member of the group of assassins Quell spent her life avoiding, we still know very little about the world of magic, the politics of the Order, its origins, and its purpose. We know the party line as the headmistress presents it to Quell, but we also know there is more to the story than anyone shares. Whether it was by design or accident, the lack of information regarding the outer magical world is disappointing. It keeps Quell's world too narrow and undeveloped.

House of Marionne is a fast read, but that speed comes with issues. One of those issues is the lack of worldbuilding. The other is the speed at which Quell moves through the school and passes the three trials. Ms. Elle informs readers several times that students take years to pass the second trial, yet Quell passes that same trial less than a month after first arriving. To me, I feel that pacing took priority over story and character. I still enjoyed the story, but the lack of development is concerning.

Despite all that, I enjoyed my time with Quell. House of Marionne is an easy read and lends itself well to finishing in one sitting. I always love when stories turn dark, and House of Marionne does not disappoint there. The story takes an unexpected turn towards the end, one that makes the sequel a must-read.

This is sort of like, All For One meets A Deadly Education. That being said, it feels even younger than All For One did. I think this would've benefitted from being written darker in theme and aged up to adult. This is the same issue I had with Lobizona, actually. They remind me a lot of each other. I think if you like Lobizona you will enjoy this, but this isn't going to be a favorite for the majority. I think the masks and crowns idea was cool but it felt so very young in how we grow to understand how this and other magical elements work. This isn't supposed to be whimsical like harry potter's approach to magic, and it just felt sort of imbalanced.

The premise of House of Marionne sounded so amazing and while I did enjoy it, I didn't love it like I thought I was going to. It was more of a younger YA than I was anticipating based on some of the advertised plot elements. I also felt like some of the characters were a bit underdeveloped and the world building was a bit chaotic so I was often confused about why things were happening. I was left with a bunch of answered questions, so maybe there is going to be a follow-up novel that will answer some of them? Despite all that, I think I would probably read a sequel.

Filled with intrigue and magic, House of Marionne is dark academia meets finishing school stories. While the end had a crazy twist that left me wanting more, I found the characters a little flat and the pacing to be somewhat off.

This was a fun read!! The ending was such a reveal! I cannot wait to read the second book. The magic society in this book, ahhhh!!

Ahhh this was magical and incredible! I savored every moment. Magic, secret societies, dark academia, fantasy, romance. This was so much fun and unputdownable til the very end! 5 stars from me for the enjoyment factor alone. Thank you SO much to #NetGalley and #PenguinGroup for allowing me to read this one in return for an honest review.

I ended up DNFing this book. It just wasn't for me, though it was highly anticipated. I think the target audience was younger Young Adult? I found it boring and uncompelling. Hopefully others like it. Thank you for the early copy, Netgalley!

"I used to believe that magic was glittering, fanciful pretend. Then I realized magic is real. But it is dark and poisonous. And the only way to hide from it is to not exist at all."

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for sending me an ARC of House of Marionne in exchange for an honest review.

House of Marionne is about a 17-year-old girl named Quell, who has been moving around the country with her mother all of her life with no explanation as to why they can't stay in one place long enough for her to graduate high school. After a chance encounter with an assassin at a convenience store, Quell is thrust into a magical world and a life that she never knew existed.

I really enjoyed all of the magical aspects of this book, from the setting at a boarding school to the in-depth look at the classes that Quell attends. I really got to experience and understand the magic that all the characters possess, which is something special because readers usually get a quick explanation of the magic system and then the story moves on. I also really enjoyed the characters in this book, especially Abby. She was a super sweet girl who could also hold her own with her magic. Jordan was also an interesting character because I spent a lot of the book trying to figure out what side he was on. The plot twist towards the end of the book was super surprising.

One of the only things that I didn't really enjoy about this book was that I felt that sometimes the story slowed down a little too much to explain things that didn't really need explanation. Also. I felt that the secondary viewpoint used throughout the story wasn't really needed or could have been used by another character more central to the story.

Overall, I would give this book a solid 4/5 stars and would definitely read the sequel!

This book was so hard for me to stay focused on for some reason. I don't know why, because it has all the things that I normally enjoy. I may do a re-read at some point, because I'm sure there are things that I have missed. It could just be that I'm not in the right mood for this one.

That's my opinion, but definitely give it a try and see if it checks all the boxes for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for allowing me to read an E-ARC of this title.

Underwhelming. I was so excited by the synopsis for this book and the hype online. Unfortunately just about everything in this book fell flat for me. I didn't love the characters, I found the plot to be lacking, and just wasn't excited at all to keep picking this book up and reading it.

I really, really wanted to like this... and I just did not. I was bored from the very first chapter and confused about the magic system and lack of world building.

It read very young (even for YA) and I didn't feel particularly strongly about any of the characters.

The beautiful cover first caught my attention, and I’ve wanted to read this author for a while.

Quell has been on the run with her mother for most of her life because toushana, a deadly dark magic, runs through her blood. It’s highly destructive and something she can’t control. When they’re found and nearly cornered, Quell’s mother sends her to her grandmom, the headmaster of a magical school and someone who’s been out of their lives for many years. Now, Quells finds herself in a debutante society full of magical elites and learns there’s more to her family than she ever knew.

I liked Quell. Being on the run for so long, she’s a pretty good judge of character and does what’s required to survive, giving her time to accomplish her real goals. She works hard to control her magic and make her grandmom proud, but soon finds herself in dangerous situations. Jordan, her mentor, assassin in training, and love interest, is brooding, angsty, and hiding secrets of his own. I knew something was up with another character whose name I won’t mention, and when the twist came at the end it wasn’t completely shocking, but still a nice one.

Pacing is a little uneven in the first half of the book, but the last quarter finds a faster stride.

If you enjoy dark academia, forbidden magic, and angst-filled romance, this could be your read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was definitely excited to read the House of Marionne. We were introduced to Quell on the run with her mom and her seeing something mysterious and it was so exciting. I thought we would get an explanation really on why she was on the run with her mom and what her magic really was and why her mom left considering what we learned about the Marionne family. I was left with more questions than answers while reading this book. I felt like once Quell arrived at the House of Marionne the history of her type of magic and what was going on with her mom became like a side story and the tension building romance was the main story, which i didn’t mind but I felt really lost on the reasoning behind everyone’s motive and what this society or Order really was. Even though i still have questions about everything I am intrigued especially on how things ended with Quell, Jordan and Yagrin. Because of that I am looking forward to reading book two. .

Thanks to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review.

Quell is on the run with her mother because he has a secret. A form of dark magic, called Toushana, that has a group, the Draguns, are hunting and killing.

Two weeks before her school graduation, she runs into some Draguns and she has to separate from her mother. Who does she turn to, but her grandmom, the headmistress of one of five magical houses, House Marionne. There she decides to stay and perform the three rites, emerging, honing, and choosing her "job". But keeping her secret to herself isn't easy when it wants to come out and she has Jordan, her mentor and love interest, is always around.

I enjoyed the story building of this book. You really can feel and see what the author is trying to portray to the reader.