This book is my new fantasy obsession. It is trope-y and fun and full of what I love about YA fantasy. I’ve seen comparisons to almost every big name book—Ninth House, Caraval, Bridgerton, etc.—and I understand why. It fits so well into the YA fantasy canon (and will surely be a booktok recommendation when it releases). To me, it felt like Legendborn meets The Selection. (Alternatively, I could also see Legendborn meets Shadow & Bone.)

I am normally super hesitant of books that are trope-y, but I really loved this one. It wasn’t necessarily trying to do anything new; instead it read as a love letter to all the things YA fantasy has done well over the past few years. This is clearly a book that was written by an author who loves the genre, and the story she is telling.

Quell was such a phenomenal main character. She was powerful and sweet and a little naive—but she wanted to believe things would work out for the best, and you really can’t help but love her. It’s easy to see why she’s the main character of the novel, and it’s easy to see why every single character loves her so completely.

I did think this was a slower read—although I never really wanted to set it down. It’s definitely a character driven novel, and it sparkles because of its lead.

The only thing I didn’t totally love was the romance. I don’t get good vibes from Jordan—although I’m not sure I was ultimately supposed to. I do wonder if J. Elle is hinting toward a new love interest in book two with a very intriguing side character, and I truly cannot wait to find out what happens next.

If this book isn’t on your radar yet, it absolutely should be.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! All views reflected are my own.

This book takes you on an adventure you won’t expect! I loved how this book had sprinkles of a magical world and secret society all mixed together with a little splash of romance. I was not expecting the ending we got but I’m not mad about it at all!

This had a really interesting premise, but, unfortunately, it was not for me. The story, which reads much younger than I expected (think more MG or lower YA), begins at a fast pace with a lot of action and danger. But the pacing changes just as quickly as Quell enters a magical prep school with a strong focus on etiquette.

For a seventeen-year-old who has been on the run for most of her life, Quell is not very savvy, and her naiveté is unrealistic. I was surprised at how little she questioned, how gullible she was, and how easily she was manipulated. She does so many things that just make no sense, and I didn’t really like her character. She trusts way too easily for someone who is supposed to be so aware of her surroundings. I did, for the most part, like the enemies-to-lovers romance between Quell and Jordan, her mentor. It was a gradual progression, and there are several scenes that were very romantic and sweet.

The magic system is interesting too, but much like the characters and plot, it is a bit underwhelming. And the novel includes so many contradictions, and numerous plot points went against truths formed earlier in the story. I found myself constantly questioning things that weren’t supposed to be questioned because the text contradicted itself from one scene to the next. There were also instances where it felt like something was just arbitrarily thrown in to move the story forward with no real context or explanation. It felt random and forced.

Ultimately, I think the story is trying to do too much. It’s a dark academia that mainly takes place at a finishing school where students must pass three trials and take etiquette classes and host elite functions while also honing their magical gifts. And Quell, who masters the tasks in days while her peers need years of training, is being hunted, and her mom is missing, and she has a moody, broody mentor whose job is to hunt people like her, and there’s an orb that’s cracking that could destroy their magic forever but no one knows where it is, and people with magic start going missing, and she has to meet the expectations of her demanding and shady grandmother, and she’s hiding a dark magic that puts her life at risk, all while trying to pass her classes and make new friends. It’s. A. Lot. I think that’s why, for me, everything felt very surface-level and in need of more detail, fine-tuning, and development.

Thank you to J. Elle and NetGalley for this ARC of House of Marionne.

3/5 stars.

I enjoyed Quell and her sense of direction for her life, her ability to decide what she wants and go after it.

I feel like I am older than the target audience for this book, and perhaps that warps my opinion of it. It didn’t grab me like I hope a book will. Additionally, I found the ending to be too much of a cliffhanger. I understand it sets up for a sequel, however there is a lot of information dumped in the final chapter to the point that I was confused that it just ended.

Someone will really like this book. There is mystery, a unique magic system, academia, enemies to lovers. But it just fell short of meeting my expectations (this had no place being compared to SJM). The world and plot felt very underdeveloped to me. This girl who knows nothing about the magic system learns it all in three weeks? The whole idea of a "season" for magic learning did not really make sense to me and I hated the emphasis on etiquette. I wish the world was better built out. You learn about it by meeting people from different houses but you meet so many at once, it is rushed, and you don't truly get to experience the world. Overall, everything in the book felt a but surface-level.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill for providing an eARC of this book.

House of Marionne is a YA fantasy that takes place in the modern world, reminiscent of Harry Potter. It combines the traditional debutante rituals and balls with magic into a dark academia setting.

Our main character, Quell, has been on the run for her whole life due to a dark power she has. Assassins named draguns have been hunting her and her mother because of the dark magic she has to keep hidden. After being separated from her mother, she runs to the only other place she knows, her grandmother's estate. Upon getting there, she learns that there is a magical society called the Order and her grandmother is the Headmistress of her own House. Quell realizes she can bind away her dark power if she joins the Order and completes the three rites. She is mentored by a dragun, Jordan, who she grows close to while hiding her secret. The premise is very interesting and the magic system is quite unique!

The pacing is relatively good, not too fast or slow. Because it is an urban fantasy, there is not a whole ton of worldbuilding except for the magic system which is explained very well. The overall plot and different rites proved interesting, all leading up to one very large plot twist at the end that I definitely did not guess.

Overall, the writing style wasn't for me. The descriptions seemed a bit lacking and repetitive and the characters as a whole seemed almost too YA or younger audience to me. Because of that, I struggled with the romance and chemistry there between Quell and Jordan. Quell's internal monologue wasn't my favorite to read and I found her interactions with Abby (her roommate) to sometimes be a bit cringey.

I also believe the setting was just not for me, I'm typically not a big fan of urban fantasies and I hadn't realized it was one based on the book description.

This was an enjoyable read, but relatively average. If you like the idea of a magical boarding school, with mysterious and dark academia vibes, this might be for you!

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really struggled with this one. The whole premise of bridgerton vibes and dark academia really drew me in but it just didn’t feel like that when reading it. I feel like publishers rely on specific subgenres and tropes now to sell and I just feel like this was mismarketed. I couldn’t really connect with Quell at all, and I feel like for someone who has been on the run for her entire life that she is entirely too trusting. I cannot understand why Quell would go to her grandmothers house which is a training ground for the assassins trying to kill her. It just felt like the plot was entirely too convenient and didn’t really flow with Quell making decisions for the sake of the plot.. The world also confused me so that definitely didn’t help how I felt about this.

This also read very young and I do read a lot of YA so that itself isn’t the issue. This read like the younger side of YA which I guess helps you understand why Quell is so trusting and not great in her decisions. I really wish I could’ve loved this, and the overall concept was great but I just was not a fan of the execution. Around the 10% mark was when I realized this wasn’t for me and I struggled to finish, if this wasn’t an ARC I probably would have DNF’ed.

I was so excited to read this book, but unfortunately, it just did not land for me. I think this is a classic case of a publishing house marketing department trying to make the book sell, instead of actually writing an accurate blurb. I did not get Brigerton vibes AT ALL. This was listed under epic fantasy on netgalley but is really more urban fantasy and read very much on the young side of YA. I read a lot of YA and this still felt young. The main character was not written in a consistent way. She's street smart enough to elude capture by a crazy powerful magic-wielding dragun at the beginning of the book, then IMMEDIATELY lets her guard down when she gets inside the school. I'm just not buying that a character who was on the run for years is settling into a society role that quickly. If she was at least a little bit suspicious and not just automatically trusting of everyone she meets except the love interest, it would be so much more believable. The pacing felt slow and I really struggled to understand the world-building, often reading a scene and sensing that something important was happening, but I didn't have the context to understand it. I think this would be a better fit for younger readers who are looking for an urban fantasy set at a magical boarding school. Sad to say it just wasn't a good fit for me, but i appreciated the arc in exchanged for my honest opinion.

I don’t even have words for this book! It was so so so so good! From the very beginning I was drawn into this story!

A soft 3 stars for it was interesting but I’m not sure I understood a minute of it.

“House of Marionne” finds Quell and her mother on the run and with nowhere else to go she seeks safety on the estate of her grandmother who also happens to be the Headmistress of an exclusive boarding school of magic. Trying to come into her own while hiding a deadly secret Quell works to navigate social circles and political alliances without giving away her secret.

There was a lot of elements here I found really creative mainly in terms of the Rites and what happens if you fail setting up this life or death scenario that extends a bit beyond typical embarrassment that would fall to Quell trying her best to make her grandmother proud. The rest of it and the differences in Houses and the magic system overall is still lost on me and I’m not sure if that could be fleshed out in future books but as of now a lot of it I just shrugged my way through hoping it would be better explained eventually.

The characters were fine if not expected of your typical book of this nature and while I don’t think I will remember any of them after today they did what they were supposed to for the plot. I think Quell’s fish out of water story was hindered a bit by how easily she was able to do most things or at least hide what she couldn’t and that took away a bit of conflict I would have liked to see. It would have be nice too to explain a bit more about the negative consequences of her talents as she had the opportunity to research this world she was left out of but alas we didn’t have time.

Overall I think with a bit more breathing room it might have turned into something better but based on my experience all future invites to bare witness to the comings and goings of House Marionne or any other for that matter will go unopened.

*special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

thank you netgalley for the arc !

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 1/5 stars *ੈ✩‧₊˚

read if you like:
♡ dark academia
♡ enemies to lovers
♡ slight bridgerton vibes

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ endowed with a scintillating premise, promising magical secret societies throbbing with darkness and a boarding school setting à la hogwarts, house of marionne fluently draws the eye. for lovers of the dark academia subgenre this is the promised land of literary potential. regrettably, the operative word there is potential - which as you may have inferred by now, remains unfulfilled.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ quell and her mother have spent their lives in a constant state of flux having to flee from city to city. born with a dark and persecuted magic, nowhere is safe for quell. and now, on one ill-starred day, someone’s just found her out. in an attempt to evade her would-be killers - a deadly cadre of assassins who call themselves draguns - quell’s going back to her roots to live with her grandmother. a grandmother who belongs to an elitist magical society which would just as soon see someone with quell’s magic dead. in order to make it out unscathed, she’s going to have to navigate three rites of induction, hide her powers at all costs and keep her wits about her when it comes to her byronic mentor - and incidentally also an assassin after her - jordan.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ in deference to an attempt at giving j. elle the benefit of the doubt, i’ll admit that had i not spent 80% of this book utterly bemused by the magic system and world, my rating would have been more middle-of-the-road (so the jury’s out on whether or not the blame lies with me for this). of all the shortcomings i’ll suffer least in a novel, it will always be lack of clarity. it’s frustrating and does such a disservice to any author who for all intents and purposes has potential - which it's plain as anything that elle does.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ as a self-proclaimed composite of bridgerton, harry potter, ninth house and allegedly even succession (someone definitely didn’t read this book in marketing for that one), the plot trended towards a strange centrifugal motion from any solid idea. with the storyline having to cover so much ground, my attention was simply stretched way too thin. there’s something to be said for being too ambitious in times such as these. veined with this absolute bulk of ideas, it’s no wonder that the pacing then struck me as being jolting. also, there were more than a few abrupt and opaque time jumps just interloping in the middle of pages. suffice it to say, my confusion did not benefit from that.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ however, giving credit where credit is due, the writing itself works well (if perhaps more geared towards middle grade than ya). what i could comprehend of the magic system was enticing and inspired and the ending itself was surprisingly very enjoyable. whilst i was indifferent to most of the characters, yagrin distinguished himself in my eyes. his moral ambiguity in particular - delineated within the chapters told from his vantage - consistently enthralled me. despite his lesser literal presence in view of, say, quell’s or jordan’s, he felt far more flesh and bone than they ever did.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ conclusion:
i could wax some more lyrical on other aspects i took exception to but i’m not in the business of overdoing things. i think it’s apparent enough this just wasn’t the book for me. nevertheless, if you’ve an affinity for fast-paced dark academia books, house of marionne could still be for you

I will be 100% honest and say that the cover is the main reason I needed to read this book. It is absolutely gorgeous! Then I read the synopsis and I knew that this would be one I would need to get my hands on it. I was extremely excited when I was approved to read this. The beginning of the book throws you right into the story head on and doesn't let up. Once Quell gets to the school, it does slow down a bit, but I appreciated being able to dive into the world building at that moment. I do think that towards the middle the pacing got a touch too slow, but it picks up towards the end again. I feel like possibly this could have been shortened to speed up the pacing, but I was still able to continue to enjoy the book. I have a feeling though that this may read a tad bit too young and some may not enjoy this as much. I did want more world building and it did detract a bit from my rating. I am very eager to continue reading this series and cannot wait for the sequel!

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me, which makes me sad because the premise sounded so cool. I am normally hesitant to rate books this low because book preferences are so subjective (so do with mine what you will), but the initial set-up for how Quell got to the House of Marionne was so implausible, that I really struggled to move past it. I get that characters make poor choices in books, but Quell seemed to be making them because it was more convenient for the plot rather than because Quell had bad luck or made bad choices.

Quell is a 17 yo girl who has been on the run with her mom for her whole life. She finds out pretty quickly that the reason they’ve been in hiding is because there are assassins who kill people with magic (toushana) like Quell’s, so her mom stays back to distract the assassins literally beating on their door, giving Quell a safehouse address and a magical compact that will teleport her anywhere in the world. Quell arrives at the safehouse to find it destroyed and another assassin waiting there to capture her. The compact only has enough magic to teleport her one more time, but instead of traveling somewhere safe (literally anywhere in the world) she chooses to go to her grandmother’s house, which her mother had just told her was the Hogwarts-equivalent for these assassins who are hunting her. I get that Quell has to end up at the House of Marionne for the plot of the book, but I can’t for the life of me believe a seasoned runaway would consciously decide to escape one assassin by going to a place crawling with them. We do finally (in the seventh chapter) find out there is a legitimate reason for her to choose to go there (bonding to one of the “allowed” types of magic would help her better suppress/hide the magic that would get her killed), but by that point, I was already having a hard time getting invested in Quell’s journey. I really wish the book had started with her knowing that and using that as the reason to end up at her grandmother’s house.

I did really like the magic system and world J. Elle created, which is why I still gave the book three stars even though I struggled so much with Quell. In some ways, the world felt very familiar (Hogwarts x Bridgerton), but in other ways it was very unique in the sense that I didn’t feel like I’d already read this story before (which is hard to do with someone who reads so much fantasy). I also think she did a very good job capturing the toxicity/cult-like feeling of Southern debutante culture, to the point that it was almost triggering to me after growing up with/rebelling against that culture.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers for the early copy of this book.

J Elle writes outcasts carving a new life for themselves so darn well. I love this book. There is quite a bit of world building which is important to the plot but also if thats not your cup of tea this may not be the book for you. This book features Quell, an incredibly endearing antagonist. Her journey with her dark magic and with herself was wonderful to see. I loved seeing her confidence grow. I adored the ending and I'm excited for the second one.

This book is a captivating read that seamlessly blends elements of magic, dark academia, enemies-to-lovers romance, and mystery with thrilling action. The author's skillful storytelling kept me engaged from start to finish, and I found myself completely immersed in the world they created. The characters are well-developed and their relationships are complex, adding depth and intrigue to the plot.

This book just wasn’t it for me. At 20% finished I had to put it down for now. I couldn’t connect with the main character or the plot. There wasn’t enough background info for the mc, her magic, etc to really hook me as a reader. It really has potential with the magic school and unique forbidden magic of the mc but if I have to read 1/5 the book and there’s still no hook or anything that makes me feel like I can’t put it down… then it’s just hard for me to continue

Arc provided by netgalley. This book was such an easy read and so much fun. I read the whole thing under 24 hours and enjoyed it immensely. Of course for a YA novel it was cliche and predictable at times but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment that much. The only thing I wished was done better was the relationship between Jordan and Quell, it felt very one note and underdeveloped. Additionally, the beginning was slightly confusing as all the terms and lingo was being thrown at me. Overall, a fun YA novel . 3.75 stars

Okay I read this book in one day. I kid you not I could not stop reading. I am so in love with this book! It was so magical and I can't wait to read more.

Quell is thrown into a world of fancy dresses and magic when she's targeted by assassins sworn to kill anyone with her type of magic. At the school that her grandmother is the head of Quell must protect her secret or risk being killed.

While navigating this new world Quell makes new friends and forms a tentative relationship with an assassin in training.

This book sucked me in so easily. Yagrin's chapters might be the reason why because I just wanted to know more about him. I feel like J. Elle is weaving an intricate tale that leaves you wanting more and as the first book does a good job of setting things up.

Other things I loved were the magic system, family dynamics, magical crowns, and that ending!

I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves magical schools, a girl accepting her power, and lots of intrigue.

Out August 29, 2023

I enjoyed the setting and imagining the school, its history, the danger lurking in the surrounding forest. - it was very atmospheric and I could vividly picture the winding corridors and secret passages. I also really loved Quell and Abby’s friendship and thought they complemented each other so well, bringing warmth to the story. But, I found the romance subplot underdeveloped and the chemistry lacking. I think the story would have been better with the romance removed.

The plot was slow to start and I found myself a bit confused when characters names, abilities, and houses were mentioned since we had to real introduction to them or the magical system and history. It was written in such a way where the reader was assumed to know about the magic system and history. Also, I’m not sure if it was the formatting of the digital ARC, but the writing felt choppy and chaotic. That being said, the last 20%ish percent is EXACTLY what I wanted from the whole book - sinister secrets revealed, the suspense heightened, and the pace sped up. I really wish the romance had been eliminated so we could’ve had more information about the headmistresses and the Draguns.

To be honest, the Bridgerton comparison confused me and I was expecting a historical fantasy, or at least time travel, so I think it’s important to note this was, in my opinion, not an accurate comparison. I think it’s a bit more comparable to The Atlas Six, just add a cotillion. I liked the dark academia elements, but I wanted more magic and less finishing school elements.

While I don’t think this was perfect and needed some major editing, I liked the ending and that the door was left open for another book.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I loved the world building and drama that occured. The magic aspects were very pleasing to read for me. I loved the drama and exclusivity of the wealth and the commentary on the parallels of this fictional world and our real world. The family dynamics and relationships was written in such a stellar way. Also the found family in this was epic. I loved the relationships between Quell and the other people she meets on her journey. The ending definitely to me seems to like up to a possible next book in this world and it that happens I would automatically buy it. While this was my first experience with this author, I loved every minute of it. The twists at the end shocked me and had me ranted to my very confused family and people around me in the airport. Overall, I loved the world and how Quell was a strong female badass character who while falling out of love soon after falling in love, the breakup didn't damage her journey and mission.