Reviewed on instagram. House of Marionne (release day August 2023). J. Elle writes a fun plot with all the tropes. We agreed that the characters could have had richer story lines. Even so we are dying to read the sequel, perhaps extending the life-line.

I accidentally submitted feedback for another book on this one! Whoops. Not sure how to fix it at the moment, so this is my solution.

It’s making me rate it. So sorry to the publisher. It’s going to mess up the rating on the book too, but I’ll be contacting netgalley after I finish editing this.

I actually couldn’t even read this book because the file was messing up on both my iPhone and Kindle. I contacted support for that. But it’s not letting me remove this review.

An absolutely stunning novel unafraid to grapple with both magic and mystery. J. Elle's House of Marionne is a wonderful example of what stories about magic should be; ones that examine power, both who gets it and how it is maintained. Combined with an unforgettable heroine and beautiful setting, this book is a jewel of YA fantasy. I cannot wait to read the next book.

List of things I absolutely adore in a book:
Academia setting: CHECK
Magical powers: CHECK
A character thrust into a world they never knew existed: CHECK
Great writing: CHECK
Likeable and relatable characters: CHECK

I really did enjoy this dark academia book. My only complaint is that it lagged a bit in the beginning. I had to push through before it started to pick up.

This is my first J.Elle book, and I am a fan! House of Marionne is a dark academia bursting with magic that had be spiraling and guessing right along with the characters up until the very end.

Our FMC, Quell, I really enjoyed following. She is thrust into a world she had no idea existed and also had to learn magic at multitudes that she could have never imagined. I loved that under everything she was growing to learn, she stayed true to what SHE wanted.

On the other side we have Jordan who is so duty-bound yet impressive in his skills. I really liked his attention on Quell and his strong will to do what’s best for her. I’ll be very curious to see their relationship in future books (side eyes, no spoilers eeek!).

The only thing I would say is beginning is a bit confusing and a lot to catch onto. The story honestly doesn’t really start to pick up until she finds herself at House Marionne. And at first I was confused with the second POV we get snippets of and was constantly trying to figure out why it was there. However, at the end of the book oh man does it boom with surprisingly revelation and it’s an absolutely oh crap moment.

Overall, I absolutely adored this gorgeous crafted ride by J. Elle. The world-building is such a cool ballgowns meets different “houses” of magic. If you love some dark academia, secret societies, slight forbidden romance, and a bombshell of an ending… this one is for you!

J. Elle does something dark and magical with House of Marionne.
She explores the dynamics of generations worth of family expectations and traditions that are meant to be broken.
Quell is afraid of herself, afraid of the toushana in her blood, a forbidden magic that can get her killed. She and her mother are hunted and separated, forcing her to find refuge in her ancestral home at the house of Marionne, She then learns more about her family and the magical world they come from, with daggers masks, and diadems, and secrets on top of secrets.
All the while, Quell meets a young dragun in training, Jordan. Broody, moody, and gorgeous, Quell has a tense disdain for him, that we get to see develop into something more.
J. Elle keeps readers' attention in this dark academia plot, having us wondering what will Quell do? What secrets will she uncover? Will she reunite with her mother? What will grow between her and Jordan? A more importantly, why did J. Elle snatch my soul like this?

Let me just start by saying this is a good 3 star from me. There were a lot of things I liked about this book (also several I didn’t like) but it’s a solid story.

Things I Liked
World and magic
Plot twists
Multiple POVs

Things I Didn’t Like
Pacing
Setting (I wanted this to be an entirely fantasy world instead of a fantasy world that sits on top of the real world)
Romance - let me clarify, I love romance in books but the enemies to lovers to insta love gave me whiplash.

I would definitely continue this series because I did enjoy the story and want to know what happens next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

House of Marionne by J. Elle - ARC review

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Penguin Group for granting me access to an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

read if you like:
Dark Academia
Secret Societies
Dark Magic
Enemies to lovers


Unfortunately, I wasn’t very into this one. I’ll preface my review by saying that although it is considered YA, I’d say it’s more for middle grade readers. The concept really excited me, but the world building was very surface level and the romance was stiff. As I got closer to the middle of the book I found that the plot was slow and predictable. I feel like this book could have held me a little bit more if the magic system was more deeply explored.

Having read the author's previous duology, I went into this book with high expectations! And it did not disappoint! Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend!

Actual Rating: 2.5 ☆

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for sending me an absolutely GORGEOUS physical ARC and eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

House of Marionne gave me Gossip Girl vibes with a featherlight touch of dark academia in a society where your magical coming of age is dependent on three induction rites at debutante ball.

We follow Quell who has been shuffled off from school to school and city to city running away from an invisible enemy any time her magic flares up. Separated from her mother, she ends up back in one of the places her mother had been running from originally – at an elite school for magic users of which her grandmother is headmistress of.

I loved the magic system used - how masks and crowns were an outward manifestation of their powers and I was so invested every time the magic was brought up but I really wished that Elle pushed deeper into the discussion cause the scenes would change too quickly before I could find myself truly invested in the world.

Unfortunately, I also didn’t feel quite as invested into Quell as a character and even less so in the love interest. I felt that with how few interactions they had it was basically insta-love and that the flip from grumpiness into over-protective partner happened far too suddenly for me to be connected to them as a couple.

The writing’s great but this is pitches as a YA Ninth House meets Bridgerton meets Caraval and I don’t feel like that does the book justice as Elle’s writing style reads extremely young and the kind of readers that pitch would pull in are the older YA crowd. I definitely would caution the older YA readers as they might not be the target audience for this book

I think in a book that reads this young, I needed a lot more tension in the main character’s internal growth or between characters, or for the book to be so plot and adventure heavy like a lot of middle grade novels seem to be to keep the younger readers interested.

But, the book did not have either of those. It was just a story of a surprisingly powerful girl with unique and forbidden powers, set in a magical school where there’s an underlying conspiracy. If that interests you, this might be the book for you.

House of Marionne by J. Elle will be on shelves this August 29. Check it out.

House of Marionne is a story full of potential but gets overshadowed by lazy plot device/non-sensical development. It starts off strong (though a little misleading) and ends strong, but a lot of the actions the MC and some of the side characters were really frustrating because they didn't make sense. Overall, I did enjoy the story and I will pick up the sequel, but it won't be a priority on my TBR.

The Regency-like aspects of this story are well intended but clumsily included and not very well explained. Honestly, if I hadn't just binged watched all of Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte, I'm not sure the House (school?) system would have made sense to me. The overall world and magic system are vague and have surface level explanations (which is fine, I'm not super picky about that). The toushana magic was fairly interesting and I'm hoping that it will be explored more in the sequel. My favorite character in this book was the one we started off with, Yargin, and he is main drive behind me wanting to pick up the sequel. Yagrin is a fascinating character and I want to know more about him.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

★ 3.5 / 5

I am so excited to continue this series! By far the best part of this book happened within the final 25%. I was feeling pretty neutral and occasionally "meh" about it throughout the first half, but right at the 50% mark, things began to change—probably because Quell's confidence in herself and her toushana began to shine in the second half. Anyway, the first half is very slow pace and heavy with the academic setting. Quell's making tons of mistakes under her Grandmom's watchful Headmistress eyes, and while it makes sense for that to happen since Quell has not been in this magic world at all until now, I was ready for her unhinged toushana moments. I was a toushana stan from the beginning, so I was bored reading her pushing it down. It took me an extra two weeks to complete this book because that initial portion was dragging so much.

But the good news is the second half made up for that pacing!

As soon as Quell makes the decision to lean into her toushana, especially her first time going into the forest to release it, I was HOOKED. I knew Quell was officially starting her true journey, and it made my heart so happy. I loved getting to see her overall arc. Looking back on her negative relationship with toushana in the first half, it makes sense to lean heavily into that part of her magic insecurity for the sake of this book, and it only made her acceptance of it, in the end, sweeter. The entire binding sequence was incredibly fascinating to watch, and I love how this magic system relies a ton on traditions like stabbing your magic blade into her chest to bind your magic to your being forevermore. Fun, right?

Anyway, the relationship Quell has to her love interest Jordan is pretty knife-in-the-heart-twisted if you know what I mean haha. The fact that he is a Dragun and kills those with toushana just... I knew they weren't gonna have a happy ending, but it still hurt to watch their final scene together! I was rooting for you Jordan!! I was rooting for you to give up your stupid beliefs to be with Quell and love her for every part of herself!! I[m also still bitter about him telling Grandmom that he'd kill Quell IF SHE WANTED HIM TO. Boy, be for real right now. I know you wouldn't actually do it. You better not. But besides their complicated relationship in the end, I did enjoy Elle's slow burn. Their romance does not really begin until the 50% mark in my opinion, and I loved that they didn't even kiss until the end was nearly in sights. Made their relationship feel organic and natural. I'm hoping Jordan sees the error of his ways in the sequel, or better yet, Quell slaps some toushana sense into him.

My last big point—Yagrin. The mystery POV throughout the book that constantly stumped me because at certain points I thought Yagrin could've been Jordan. Well, they're brothers! So I was kinda close with that assumption. Anyway, Yagrin is a staunch Dragun member at the start of the book, but readers notice his sympathies for the toushana girls he murders. Obviously, he still murders them, so it doesn't really mean much, but Yagrin by the end has fully shifted to destroying the Order. He loses Red, the girl of his heart, and he's in vendetta mode. I loved how his POVs came more frequently in the final few pages of the book. The final chapter/epilogue of the story involves us learning his brotherly connection to Jordan, and we see he's actually Octos, the Tavern guy who helped Quell multiple times. It was a perfect conclusion to this book, and it's only furthered my hype for the sequel.

Thank you to PenguinTeen and NetGalley for an eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought this book was a really great start but I was left definitely needing more.. I wanted more history of the world and magic and more about Quell and the other characters. I am fascinated by Quell, her magic, her mother, and her history. I was way less interested in the romance which felt forced to me. Overall the writing was good and the story was compelling and I will be (anxiously) awaiting the next book. Quell has lived her whole life on the run because of a dark magic that lurks inside of her. When she and her mother are almost caught she can’t think of anywhere but her maternal grandmother’s home to go to even though that is part of what her mother has been running from. Quell steps into a world she could not have imagined and finds herself making needing to make a choice she could not have imagined before. It’ll be a long wait for book two but I will be ready.

A glittering dark fantasy about an heir who stumbles into the dangerous world of magic she's been running from her entire life.

Quell has a secret that's kept her running for her life: she carries dark magic in her blood. If the assassins charged with protecting the magic houses found out, she'd be dead. After a run-in with one, Quell flees to the only place she can think of that might be able to protect her: the grandmother she hasn't seen in over a decade. Her grandmother urges her to take her rightful place as heir of House Marionne.

This book brimmed with secret societies, cotillion balls, broody handsome mentors and fierce diadems that spring from your head when you complete your first ritual. As characters plot and double-cross each other, I was hooked. No one was quite who they seemed.

Jordan's great as Quell's mentor. He's handsome, broody and exceedingly dangerous as part of the assassin society pledged to kill all those like Quell. I enjoyed watching their characters dance around the truth: in spite of everything, they care for each other.

A thrilling start to a new fantasy series.

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

This was a fun and decently-paced read. It starts off fast and then slows down once Quell is out of danger for a while. I liked the chemistry between the leads, Quell and Jordan, and especially liked the development of their friendship first.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!
A beautifully written dark academia tale full of magic, secrets, a forbidden love, and at its heart, finding your place in the world that would feel like home.
Quell has been on the run with her mother for as long as she can remember due to the forbidden magic she has thrumming in her veins called Toushana. She doesn't know what it feel like to be safe, or to have a sense of home even as her and mother bounce from hotel room to hotel room. She dreams of one day finding a place on the beach to live with her mother in peace, and away from the cursed magic that does not want.
One day, in the Marketplace, she is found and pursued by a group called the Draguns. The try to kill her, and she successfully gets away from them back to her mother. Her mother packs up overnight, and decides then that the only place she can be safe at all would be with her Grandmother in the House of Marionne, where she had run away from in the first place. But there's a caveat. She can only be safe there as long as she hides her Toushana. To reveal it would mean certain death for her.
Upon her arrival, she meets Jordan on accident, as he tried to stop her from entering the house, mistaking her for an intruder. Right away, he finds that there's something different about her, and right away, she does not like him. She meets her Grandmother, who is excited to see that her rightful heir as returned. From then on, Quell enters a secretive boarding school of magic, learning the tricks of her trade, and what the people she has run away from is all about. She feel comfortable and confident here. However, the one problem is that they only know her as she wants them to see her. They do no know of her Toushana, and thus brings the conflict.
House of Marrionne introuduces us to a world of a secretive magical society, one that his further shrouded by scandal and mystery. There is a sphere that controls all magic in the world, and for an unknown reason, there is a crack to it which means its weakening. The threat of this sphere means a threat to all magic in the world, which would be wiped out for fifty years.
So why four stars? I love that I'm introduced to such a wonderul, magical world with a polished, beautiful facade, but I feel like this could have been explained a little more. I feel like I don't have a good grasp on the Houses and what they're for as well as a few scenes in which Yagrin's POV is seen. I'm hoping more of this would be explained in the next book.
I'm also not really buying Jordan and Quell's romance. Yes, I understand the reasons for which Jordan has to stay away from her and can't get close, but I expect more chemistry, more banter, more tension. I feel like the romance fizzles before it even sizzles. Jordan is kind of boring with not a whole lot of personality, although I know he's supposed to be brooding and mysterious. Meh. Maybe the relationship with Quell and Jordan will be more interesting in the second book.
There were also moments that kind of dragged throughout the book, and I read alot of explaining things but I don't feel like I have a much better grasp on the magic system.
Overall, I love the dark academia feeling with the mystery element to it. I can also identify with Quell's struggle to belong in a world she really does not fit into, feeling like she has to lie in order to belong, but then coming to a decision to be true to herself and allow her dark magic to breathe. The ending was very exciting, and all came together full circle, opening the way to the second book.
If you love dark academia, love magic, love a good mystery with a dash of intrigue, this book is for you!

I was immediately intrigued in this upcoming YA title on social media and so I was excited to see it on here. However, while I feel like I should have been the perfect audience, this story just didn’t connect with me and I didn’t find myself truly enjoying reading. I’m sure that there will be people who will love it , this one sadly was just not for me. I really appreciate the chance to read this one in advance.

This story started out so strong! It was engaging and mysterious and dramatic. Unfortunately, after the first several chapters, it devolves into a YA love story with a young unmothered girl being preyed upon and this is presented as romance. Quite sad to think that impressionable people will think this is the way love should be - if people treat you badly, it's NOT because they secretly love you.
Besides that upsetting story premise, the drama doesn't hold up throughout the storyline. It's seems to ebb and flow with some chapters he-said / she-said back and forth dialog and some chapters are more chase and fight scenes.

Toushana. The poison that lurks in Quell's blood. The reason she's been on the run for years, her mom always uprooting them at a moment's notice. Until now. Now, after running into one of the Dragun, hunters and assassins after those who wield Toushana, her mom has sent her away. To a crumbling safe house. Quell's last shot at safety is returning to the Grandmom they fled from years ago.

Her grandmom's estate is not a family home. It's a school, to train the most powerful of magic users and induct them into society. Over the course of 3 tasks, each student learns to call upon their magic, learn to fit into their society that dwells on the edges of modern society, and bond with their preferred magical gift. It's said that the more you use a certain type of magic, the harder others are to call upon. Could this be the answer, after all these years? A way to rid herself of Toushana, to blend in and not be hunted anymore. To be part of a society, welcome and involved, not forever on the edges.

This was my first induction into J. Elle's books, and her way of describing magic, and how it's used, was one that I found myself enthralled with. The tiaras and masks made little sense at first, and I'll admit I wasn't drawn in by the first few chapters. However, by page 150 I was already needing a sequel, and couldn't help myself from telling others to watch out for this book, to keep their eyes open for when it came out!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

🗡️ Magical School
🗡️ Forbidden Magic
🗡️ Secret Society

I had such a fun time reading House of Marionne! I loved the dark atmosphere that J. Elle created in this book. The magic system and society are very interesting, and I enjoyed following along with Quell as she learned about magic and the society she belongs to.

I liked the little bit of romance we got!

J. Elle did an amazing job using dual POV through the book, and I found the other character helped to create a more complex and intricate plot throughout the book.

I am so excited to see where this series goes, I will for sure pick up a finished copy of House of Marionne.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy!