3.25 stars House of Marionne was a difficult read because of the staggering amount of information being shoved at the reader at all times. It did live up to the morally gray aspect but not too much of the dark academia for this reader. I will say if one can get through the first half of the book, it gets easier to read, and by the end, the reader will want to know what will happen in the next book.

House of Marionne sounds like a book that would immediately be a five star read for me. Marketed as Bridgerton and Fourth Wing vibes, I thought I would love it. However, once I started reading, Quell's character gave me reason to pause. I am used to reading YA where the heroine makes some questionable choices, but Quell's naivety was to the detriment of this book. As a reader you want to be like 'ARE YOU BLIND' as all the answers to her questions swirl around her and she makes no attempt to piece it together. I am hopeful in the second book Quell has some growth so I can root for her more. I also hope the author goes into more detail about The Order and the magic system, as there is a lot of potential for a very cool world that didn't feel fully developed in book one.

3.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. Review based on final copy. All opinions are my own.
House of Marionne drew me in with its strong premise, with a little bit of dark academia, a Harry Potter-esque magic school, and a bit of Bridgerton historical vibes in the world building with magical debutantes. And while some of the promise got lost in the execution, I did somewhat like what this had to offer.
While I did want a little more lore to the magic school itself, I did like what was delivered about the various houses and the school itself. The magic isn’t super detailed either, with it manifesting through a diadem or mask growing from a person’s head, and that being the main distinct element. But I can understand that the point is that this is meant to be more vibes-based.
Quell is pretty interesting, and while her story does contain some familiar tropes, I did feel that J. Elle did make her stand out. After being on the run with her mother and being forced to hide her magic, she’s taken in by her grandmother, headmistress of a magic school, and is now being groomed to be her grandmother’s heir. She was pretty fun to follow as she took on the school and figured out how it all worked, including unraveling all of its secrets. She’s not the most dynamic character, but I didn’t mind too much.
Jordan was…meh. He’s kind of the typical broody love interest, and he kind of overtook the plot, dominating over all the other relationships that were much more interesting, like her family. He wasn’t problematic in any way, but he was just…there.
The plot was pretty fun, and kept me reading, even with some of the other weaknesses in the characters and world building. I did feel like it was a little messy in places, as if it was a shoddily blended Frankenbook of tropes, without thinking about how different aspects might be streamlined to make a more cohesive story. Some aspects are dropped and feel forgotten about, without coming back to its central themes.
While it’s not a perfect first-in-series, there’s a lot of promise here, and I might continue the series to see how it pans out. While readers who want a harder, more grounded fantasy may be disappointed, if you’re interested in a fun, pure “vibes,” tropey romantic fantasy, I’d recommend checking it out.

Enjoyed, but I wanted to like this so much more than I did. There was a lot to keep track of, including character-wise, and I never felt fully immersed in the world.

This book had all of the ingredients for a story that I love. Briedgerton-esque setting, magical societies, dark academia, and romance. However, the book did not come together for me in the end. I felt like the main character's choice at the beginning of the story to go to the very people she had been running from her whole life was odd. The magic system could have used a bit more bolstering, and the explanation of lineages and houses and feuds was a little overwhelming. The ingredients are here, but ultimately I did not love this book.

I hate to dnf arcs and that’s the reason this review didn’t go up before the publish date. I kept trying and trying to finish it but ended up dnfing at 35%.

There isn’t anything specific I can say about what I disliked about it, other than the fact that the writing feels so young. And not in a YA way, because those aren’t written to feel immature, it feels unpolished. There isn’t detail given to the things that need it, such as the Binding and the magic system involving the rites. This may be explored more as the book progresses, I don’t know. Too much detail is given to things that don’t need it, too.

Overall, I just didn’t feel the need to use my time toward finishing this. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and Razorbill for blessing my shelves and imagination.

This YA urban fantasy (J. Elle's specialty) is about a teenaged MC named Quell.  All she has every known is a life on the run with her mom. Anytime her mom senses the block getting hot from assassins they pick up and move. The "safe" option preventing Quell's death is to become a debutante in a secret magical society, think boarding school. 

The author left plenty of room for the reader to imagine the ethnicity of most, if not all of the characters. The physical locations of places is even up to the reader to decide. It kind of reminded me of the Choose Your Own Adventure books I read as a child. In my mind a majority of the story took place in New Orleans. 

The last chapter felt rushed and ended with an unsuspecting cliffhanger. However, I'm invested and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I wanted to love this book so much. Not only was the cover so so beautiful, but dark academia?! Dark magic?! Count. Me. In. The premise for this book was so promising: a girl with dark magic is being hunted, so she joins a school for magic as a means of protection from being hunted.

I was hoping to give this book at least 4 stars, but there were a few times where I almost DNF it and I only kept going because I wanted to keep seeing if it would finally suck me in. The interesting drama didn’t start until about 80% and even then, there were so many things all crammed in that it got a bit confusing. There were a few things that happened that weren’t really explained- it was just assumed we’d know, which I don’t love in a fantasy book. Ultimately I rated this book 3 stars because the story was interesting and I want to know what happens to her, but I don’t think the writing and storytelling were enough to live up to my expectations.

The premise of the book sounds strong, but it completely falls flat throughout the story. The lore behind the magic system was hard to understand and juvenile. The book seems to have some merit, which will hopefully fill the sequel, but everything else fell flat. The romance aspect made no sense to me and I kept cringing when the love interests would interact. Overall, I do think middle school/high school kids might like this book, and I hope that the sequel turns the series around.

Quell is a 17 year old girl who has spent much of her life fleeing. Why? Because she has a type of magic that others will kill for. In her efforts to escape those trying to harm her, she ends up in her grandmother's care. Her grandmother is one of the major leaders in their magic society. She wants Quell to learn the ways and join them. That is if she can keep her magic under control.

I love the various stories going on in this dark academia, magical society book. It has great character development, mystery, and not to mention some great romance as well. This is a great fantasy story leaving you literally on the edge of your seat hoping for a volume two!

I enjoyed Wings of Ebony so I was really looking forward to this next series from J Elle. Unfortunately it ended up being all glamour and no substance, and if I never have to read another sentence where Quell drools over Jordan it'll be TOO SOON. What started off as an urban fantasy devolved into cotillion classes which were honestly so boring to read. There was a confusing magic system, a brooding love interest with no personality, and a bunch of side characters who only existed to tell Quell how special and powerful she was. Also it was really weird how the other characters were pushing her to complete her Season so quickly, even though there was a high likelihood that she would fail if she were rushed? It would have made way more sense if she was pushing to finish and others were telling her to slow down.

The only parts of the book where I felt truly engaged were the ones where Quell had to hide the effects of her toushana (or dark magic). Those moments felt high stakes, but they were quickly swept away by the repetition of going to etiquette classes, being super good at magic for no apparent reason, and falling for a guy who is super rude to her. I probably would have liked this book if I had read it when I was in middle school, but I expected so much more from based on my past experience with J Elle and the levels of promotion this has been getting from Penguin Teen.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill for an eARC of House of Marionne! The description drew me into the story about dark academia, debutante balls, magic, fantasy, etc, however, it is a YA fantasy that is hard to get into at the beginning and is slow to draw you into its work. It was an okay read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, J Elle, and Penguin for my eARC of this book. I did end up listening to the audio after release due to the unformatted kindle file, and I think the audio was really well done! All opinions on this story are my own.

3.75 stars

Ok. At the beginning of this book I was very much

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but by the very last line I was 100%

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While the beginning of this book was off to a very rocky start - we don’t even meet Jordan, he just tries to kill Quell, and then suddenly he’s just referred to by name like an introduction happened somewhere - and the insta-love was a bit much, I actually had a good time.

I really enjoyed the idea of a magical debutante. I am a little confused as to why all the magical people chose this particular House to debut, but maybe I missed that somewhere? I liked the underdog tones we were getting from Quell and ultimately the power she ended up learning to wield within herself.

Overall, this was a decent read but I am definitely very excited for the next book! Everything about the last 15% has me so excited to continue the story.

I had high hopes for House of Marionne, especially after a few good reviews from trusted friends but unfortunately, I don’t think this one was for me. The magic and history of this world did not make sense to me, and the timeline of the story left me very confused. There were elements that I enjoyed: I love a boarding school setting, and there are SO many secrets.

I do see a lot of potential in this series, especially after a few secrets are revealed towards the end of the book. Overall, was a bit confused by the magic system and the romance felt a bit bland to me. I do hope we get more explanation about the magic and this world in book 2.

This book was intriguing, and mysterious. I loved the idea of the houses and the southern debutante idea. This book caught me and held me until the end!!

I'm not sure about this one. I think it has a lot of potential to get a large following but I'll admit it was a bit of a struggle for me especially in the beginning (though that was partly a formatting issue and I did not take off any stars for it as that is not the books fault). By the time I finished, all I could think was "it was okay". The characters were okay. The writing style was okay. The story itself was okay. This is just a middle ground book for me but I'd be interested to check out what the author does next in the future!

Absolutely beautiful. A tad slow, but flawless story telling And the ending was magic. Didn’t see any of those twists coming. I listened to J. Elle talk about the second book on a podcast and she said who we consider the hero and the villain may change and I CANNOT WAIT.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
I loved the magic in this book, especially Quell's magic. I loved the side characters. What I really struggled with was the romance. I just wasn't feeling Quell and Jordan's chemistry. The book is clearly going for a broody mysterious boy vibe which I'm usually into but I found him more off-putting that intriguing. And so much of this book is romance so I kept finding myself bored reading the chapters that were focused on him.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I feel like there's been an increase in boarding school stories that have a new student who needs to prove herself/doesn't belong. It's getting old.

I preordered this one strictly because it's just gorgeous. But the premise was what caught my eye initially. Dark academia, magic and morally grey characters... count me in. Overall, this was not what I was ready for. Part of me expected a villain origin story and another part thought this fell along the lines of Mortal Instruments. However, it's really neither of those. It's an MC (Quell) whose trying to do the right thing to protect her and her mom. On the run from those who want to eradicate her type of magic, she runs to the only safe haven around, House of Marionne, her grandmom's school. There are multiple elements that are left open ended that could use a little more depth (magic system, character bonds) but it also kept an element of surprise waiting around the corner. This is a slow build that takes a bit to hit the drive forward. The cliffhanger was well done and leaves a lot of possibilities for the next book. I'd recommend the audio read by André Santana and Kate Simses.