Thank You, NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group. I am excited to read this book for my early copy of House of Marionne. This novel is about a young teenager who has dark magic. She must learn how to control her magic and enroll in school to help manage her magic, but she must complete three challenging tasks to be a part of the order. I can't wait to read this book. #HouseofMarionne #NetGalley #Penguin Young Readers

This book was fairly anticipated in the Young Adult world, if I am recalling correctly. I was excited to receive such an exciting book as an ARC, so I was slightly disappointed when this book fell short for me. In the very beginning, I could already tell I wasn't going to like Quell. She is kind of dumb, oblivious, has a weird relationship with her mom, and just again, seems a little too stupid. Her choices are questionable and the magic system itself was harder to follow than I expected. I'm also not sure if it was the formatting of the ARC but all the breaks had some weird letters. I'm still currently working on the book so I wonder if they'll have some significance, but I think it's just an editing thing. Regardless of that, I just haven't been able to get into the story. Quell isn't very likeable, the romance wasn't a huge hit, the world building was confusing, and the whole debutante thing just was strange to me. Overall, I feel like this could be good for a younger crowd, but it's little juvenile for me. When I finish reading, I will post my final review onto Goodreads.

*"Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!!**

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill for an eARC of House of Marionne!

Dark Academia, Magic, Debutante Balls, and a Forbidden Romance- House of Marionne is a solid YA fantasy with a plot twist that will leave you begging for more!!! I had so much fun reading this book and I can’t wait to add it to my shelf!

I really loved the premise of this book and the ending had me super hooked for book two. The middle slowed down a bunch and I think I would have trimmed some of this or refocused on some other aspects of the world. But this was a really solid debut!

Hmmm maybe this is for someone else. It missed the mark for me. It didn't even read as a YA but as a children's book which is not my preferred genre. It was extremely repetitive and focused on to many tropes. I think it had great potential, but will not continue the series.

A YA fantasy book that is heavy on tropes and vibes, House of Marionne follows a teen girl named Quell who has been on the run her whole life with her mom, trying to hide the dangerous magic she was born with. But now she's seeking refuge with her grandmother- the powerful head of a magical house who wants to groom Quell as her heir. Quell will become a debutante and train in traditional forms of magic, but if anyone discovers the secret she carries it will be a death sentence...

Of course there is a fraught romance, plenty of angst, and secrets to be uncovered.

The way mature magic manifests in this world is through either a diadem or a mask growing from the person's head. I have a lot of questions about how this works practically, but it's one of those things that the author clearly thought was a cool idea without wanting to give a lot of explanation. We mostly hear about the diadems, very little detail on the masks and it feels like she probably just likes the idea of individualized tiara's but for gendered reasons only wanted women to have them? Honestly it would have made more sense to me if everyone had a diadem or crown, that would come off less gender essentialist. We do have a throwaway appearance of a non-binary character probably in an attempt to offset this, but I still think it's a weird choice. The other thing is, how do they sleep? Does their hair get caught in it? I have a lot of questions, but it's never mentioned.

In general, I think this book is working more off vibes and tropes as a way to gloss over world-building that can be sloppy at times. That said, I think casual readers who are really just there for the romance, danger, and magic school vibes will enjoy this because those elements are reasonably well-done. It feels like a book that knows what it is and there is definitely an audience for it. Just don't go in expecting detailed world-building or a magic system that is well-explained. I enjoyed it for what it is, but I don't know that it's going to leave a lasting impression. I received a copy of this book for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This novel introduced me to Quell, a young woman who has spent her life on the run, burdened by a dangerous magic flowing through her veins. Her mother and she constantly evaded those who sought to exploit her forbidden power. When their refuge is compromised, Quell reluctantly becomes a member of the mysterious Order, a society of magic-wielding elites, to conceal her deadly abilities permanently. To do so, she must overcome three demanding membership rites while grappling with her complex mentor, Jordan, who doubles as an assassin in training. This story seamlessly combines elements of dark academia, secret societies, dark magic, and high fantasy, creating a captivating and action-packed mystery. While the book's beginning was strong, I yearned for more world-building and character depth. The romantic aspect felt somewhat contrived, yet the compelling writing and the storyline's intrigue held me rapt. I eagerly await the sequel to delve deeper into Quell's world and her journey of self-discovery.

I loved this book So So so much! The characters are something that shine through the story and the plot just enhances them so much! Would definitely reread.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Enchanted Roses

ONE-WORD REVIEW: DECADENT

TAG LINE: Bury your secret or die for it.

OPENING LINE: Yagrin ran a finger along the blade and sucked in a deep breath.

REVIEW:

Huge thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an advanced reader copy!

HOUSE OF MARIONNE is a fantastical story that blends feminine rage, forbidden dark powers, and a magical society of debutants. There were also Dark academia vibes and a mystery with a dash of romance. The story follows Quell, who spends her life quite literally on the run from herself with her mother as she tries to keep her illicit deadly powers a secret.

But when her safe haven is snatched from her, Quell is forced to seek refuge at her grandmother’s foreboding estate. There, she must ascribe to the debutante society known as the Order and undertake 3 rites of membership in order to suppress her magic forever. Insert Jordan, her enigmatic and intimidating tutor.

Jordan is our “shadow daddy” extraordinaire. I mean, who doesn’t love a good shadow-wielding hottie? I just wished he was fleshed out a bit more and there was more chemistry between him and Quell.

As for Quell’s mother: the woman kept her on the run and was cryptic as hell. But Quell didn’t bug her with questions?

HOUSE OF MARIONNE is a well-paced YA romantic Fantasy laden with dark Bridgerton vibes. All in all, HOUSE OF MARIONNE was a very enjoyable, interesting read.

𝐸𝓁𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈
✨Assassins
✨Secret magical societies
✨Enemies-to-lovers
✨Deadly magic
✨Dark academia
✨Morally gray characters

Happy Reading!
Ashley
Bookstagram & Review Site: TheTatteredPage

First thank you to NetGalley for letting me get an ARC copy of this book. Now on to the book!! OMG, J.Elle has done it again!! This book was everything I wanted in a fantasy/romance novel!! I can't wait for book two!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At first I had a hard time getting into this book because it was difficult to understand what exactly was happening and why, but once Quell began ti learn more it made sense why the story starts that way. It was a way to make the reader feel as out of the loop as Quell did. From there the story moved at the perfect pace and had the right amount of angst, conflict and magic. I do want to learn more about the system of magic in this world and want more history about the magic and the houses. I loved how Quell stood up in the end and embraced her toushana even though it is seen as evil. It is as wonderful to see her come into her own. I really look forward to another book and don’t want to have to wait for more. 😩

This book started great but i was left with many questions. I wanted more world building and more about the magic and the characters history. I felt that the characters were wrote well.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. This book would have done really well in the YA market in the post-HP mid-Twilight era. With the plethora of options in YA now, I’m not sure how it will land. Dark academia? YES, the teens love that. But it’s being marketed as Bridgerton meets Fourth Wing and such, which doesn’t quite hit the mark in my opinion, and probably isn’t an analogy that will hit the target audience.

SETTING: I didn’t really “get” this world, but I appreciate its unique flavor. Two thirds of the way through the book, I was suddenly asking myself, wait, this is near New Orleans? Did it say that at the beginning? The real world setting didn’t feel clear and established and the magical world building was lacking at times, too.

PLOT: The pacing was off for me. The last third of the book was really good but felt super rushed. In my opinion, the first 2/3 should have been half as long and the last 1/3 should have been longer. That said, there were some truly great plot twists! One of my favorites was how the permanent tracer that was this huge declaration of love and loyalty almost immediately became a liability for Quell.

CHARACTERS: While the MC didn’t resonate with me, I didn’t mind her either.
Grandmom was one of the most interesting characters in the book; the roller coaster of her character’s motivations is so good as are the resulting plot twists. Felix and Shelby seemed unnecessary and flat. Their interaction at the end felt very out of the blue.

DIALOGUE: Most of the dialogue between students feels like an adult writing how they think teenagers would talk to each other.

ROMANCE: The build up of the romance was predictable and felt somewhat forced. Once the feelings were out in the open, I was on board and it felt more natural. The scene where Jordan discovers Quell’s toushana is so good and packed with emotion.

ENDING: Yagrin’s POV felt unnecessary throughout the book for me. It didn’t build suspense or clarity, and instead just disrupted the flow of Quell’s perspective. The ending made it relevant, but I’m not sure how I felt about it. I think there’s a way to have the same twist without including his whole POV. Additionally, a lot was left unresolved…is there a sequel? I was so confused because the internet made me think it was a standalone.

MESSAGE: “Perhaps the only way to be truly free is to stop fighting against who I really am.” I mean, that’s a solid message for a YA audience or anyone really. That made the book so much stronger and convinced me that I will be buying this for our high school library.

The story begins with Quell, a seventeen-year-old girl who, in order to hide the mortal magic that runs through her veins, has spent her whole life on the run with her mother, going from city to city. But someone has discovered her secret and it is then that to hide from the murderer who pursues them and keep her mother away from danger, Quell will enter the Order, a very dark academy society where she will have to overcome the three rites of admission and bury her forbidden magic forever, before she is discovered and killed. This is not a spoiler, at least not on my part, this is how the synopsis begins.

I must say that the story caught me from the beginning. It has elements that I like such as the atmosphere of Dark Academy, magic, fantasy, murder, romance, betrayal, I mean really, there is a mixture of ingredients that keep you wanting to keep reading.

The plot twist at the end, although I guessed it, surprised me anyway because it has left me wanting to know how the family relationship of these characters will continue and especially what role Quell will have in their decisions.

So now you know, if you like stories of this type, this is a good option either in English or in Spanish, which will soon be available thanks to Puck.

Big thanks to the author, Penguin Randon, Penguin Young Readers Group and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. This is my honest review.

Until the next one😀

I was so dang excited to read this book and it started off so intriguing. Then it turned into something too similar to what I’ve read before. Tbh I had this same reaction to Fourth Wing so this will
likely be a hit with those who haven’t read tons of coming of age fantasy.

Quell and her mom have been on the run for years. Quell has some deep, dark magic that keeps magical hunters tailing them. When they get too close Quell ends up at her grandmother’s estate and soon enrolls in her academy.

The academy seems a mix of a magical and a finishing school.

Of course there’s romance. Of course there’s the not like other girls. Of course there’s the so good at everything easily.

There just wasn’t enough depth for me.

DNF at pg 232, 58%

I ended up reading the end of the book and skimming some of the scenes in-between, so I feel very confident in this DNF. The House of Marionne is a magic boarding-school, dark academia-esque fantasy set in the modern day. In this world, the magic users assimilated to the rest of the world through using cotillions and debuts as the way to create a separate, exclusive world that they can call their own among the upper eschelon of society. There are four Houses in the US that take in those found to have magic within their territories, and prepares them for their eventual debut.

Quell, our main character is the granddaughter of the Headmistress of the southern House, House Marionne. However, her mother ran with her when she was very young and she hasn't been back. Quell possesses a forbidden, dark magic called toushana, and she and her mother have been on the run in order to keep her safe from those within the magical community who would harm her because of this. However, she is discovered shortly before she is set to graduate from high school, she is separated from her mother, and she decides to go back to her grandmother, or Grandmom as she calls her. She is inducted into House Marionne and begins the process of training with proper magic in order to finally gain control over her toushana.

So starting off with what I liked.
- I thought that this world was incredible. I loved all the details and the different teases we got of all that the magic could do. The school itself seems fascinating, and it is something that I was really enjoying at first. I loved that the students grow their own diadems or masks based on their magic, and it just felt like a very lush world. It's dark and it's decadent, so that part was 100% correct.
- Overall, I think that the politics of the world were intriguing. We didn't get to see much of them, unfortunately, and we also didn't get to see a lot of the extent of the magic system, but those were things that I was super interested in.
- I also was pretty interested in the storyline. I wanted to see what would happen to Quell and how she would navigate the situations she found herself in.

Unfortunately these positive aspects were overshadowed enough by the aspects I didn't like that they weren't enough to keep me going.

What didn't work for me, personally:
- I loved the setup and the details, but everything about this was tell and not show. We have a first person POV, and in this case, I think this was a huge detriment to the story because we just have Quell in her head the whole time constantly narrating everything in a way that got to be extremely repetitive and annoying
- The characters in this were extremely flat. Quell was interesting at first, and even though I felt like some of the decisions she was making were pretty silly ones, I was willing to go with it. However, as soon as she makes the decision to return to the person that her mother ran from when she was 5, she very much becomes a stereotypical young, YA protagonist. She is immediately excellent at everything she tries and is being touted by all her professors as the best they've ever seen. She immediately becomes best friends with her roommate, but there is no depth to their connection and where I left off, they were fighting because Quell had to miss some dress fittings.
- The relationship that was set up as the love connection felt extremely forced, and really didn't have any depth to it either. I felt like a lot of the characters were just created to fill roles that are common and expected in YA fantasy. I think it's supposed to enemies to lovers, or some sort of tension along those lines, but I never bought into it, and I never experienced that tension. Basically it was just Quell being afraid of Jordan because of his role in the society as one who goes after toushana users.

Now while this wasn't for me, I actually do think that this would be a good pick for readers in the younger end of the YA genre. Had I read this when I was much younger, I don't think that I would have been nearly as annoyed by all the pieces that just didn't work for me. I would be eating up the magic and the world. And I love that it is a story about a young, black girl that isn't focused on the difficulties of race. It's just her, living her life and having difficulty with something other than race. I think that representation is needed and important. However, it just didn't work for me and for what I specifically look for in YA fantasy, so I felt like I would get more annoyed the longer that I read it.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. House of Marionne released on August 29, 2023.

Thank you so much to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

I'll be honest - I read this book back in June when I was pregnant and I am now writing this review in September so I don't have the greatest memory of what happened in this book. I do remember that the plot dragged on for a bit and that it was a dark academia that had a pretty good story.

I will have to reread this book again before the sequel and give a better review when my memory is a bit refreshed.

With that being said - I would recommend that you check this book out because I do remember enjoying it while I was reading it even though it clearly wasn't the most memorable book I've ever consumed.

With complete power comes total chaos, and one girl's fight to remain true to herself while also bringing order to her world is what drives this story. The plot was detailed and elaborate enough to keep you on your toes while allowing you to follow the labyrinth of relationships and motives of the characters and be engaged throughout. This, unfortunately, ends as a continuation so you’re left with wanting more, but as you’ll see, it’s clearly not able to be wound up within this one book. Definitely a well done YA for those who like a bit of Sci-fi and adventure!

I'm not sure what all I expected going into House of Marionne, but what I do know is this didn't fit it. The world building was clunky and I feel like the story was sacrificed for the sake of the world, which didn't really make for a great reading experience. It has dark academia and secret societies like I was expecting, but not in the way I was expecting it? This book really perplexes me because I wanted so much more from this.

Thank you, Razorbill, for providing me with the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm deeply disappointed and disheartened to find myself leaving such a low review. House of Marionne was a highly anticipated release for me. Based on the blurb, I expected this book to be a fantasy, set in a secret society with elements of magic and secrets. It was supposed to feature an enemies-to-lovers dynamic and a lot of action.

Firstly, the book falls under the category of urban fantasy, which isn't inherently bad, but it caught me off guard as it didn't align with my expectations from the blurb. The plot was disjointed right from the beginning, and the various systems within the story were not adequately explained. We were bombarded with numerous names and terms as if we were already familiar with them.

My main issue was with our main character, Quell. Her mother had kept her hidden and on the run for years. When she finally gets some answers regarding their situation, her mother reveals that they fled from a secretive society and Quell's grandmother because these entities posed a grave danger to Quell. Her mother had given up her entire life to ensure her daughter's safety. However, the moment they separated, and Quell found herself in need of shelter, she went directly to her grandmother!

She was thrown into this secretive society, but she displayed no skepticism, suspicion, or hesitation; instead, she seamlessly embraced everything without question. Even when her mother stopped communicating with her, Quell blindly believed her grandmother's assurances that her mother was safe. This was in stark contrast to her earlier behavior when she had witnessed a sinister murderer claiming to have hunted her down. Despite all these ominous signs, Quell had no sense of doubt or inquiry.

As I continued reading, the story felt more disjointed. Quell's actions and responses did not align with the expectations set by the blurb or the story's initial setup. The romantic aspect of the story was disappointing as well. The pair did not make sense together, and neither character managed to win me over.

I believe that the book's marketing was somewhat misleading. Initially, it was described as "Bridgerton meets The Atlas Six," which, upon reading the story, didn't appear to be entirely accurate. The society portrayed in the book involved characters wearing diadems and tiaras, attending etiquette classes, and holding titles. The only aspect that remotely resembled The Atlas Six was the existence of the secret society.

However, just before the release, the book was rebranded as "Bridgerton meets The Atlas Six /Game of Thrones/Fourth Wing." At this point, I had already begun reading the book and was confused. I couldn't see any substantial connection between this book and Game of Thrones or Fourth Wing, unless the marketing team merely aimed to capitalize on the popularity of these books.

I genuinely wish that more attention had been dedicated to editing the story. With some rearranging of the timeline, more thorough world-building, and consistent character development for the MC, this story could have aligned more closely with the promises it made. Despite my disappointment, I still hold out hope for the second book in the series!