I felt like this book was a bit slower than the first book. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but just felt slow and almost clunky. Overall, I still enjoyed the story and if there is a third book I’ll likely read that one as well.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a great sequel to the first book, and boy, does it end on a cliffhanager to make you beg for the next one again!

I LOVED House of Marrione, and Shadows of Peril was no letdown. This story picks up where the first book left off, following Quell and Jordan as they navigate their own missions at odd with each other. I loved that while this book could have felt very much like filler for the third book, Quell actually did a ton of traveling and finding out new things (trying not to give spoilers sorry) and the story was highly engaging the whole time. Likewise, Jordan was doing his own missions that would lead him to eventually cross paths with Quell again towards the end. I also loved that while the author could have made both MCs dispair and complain about their failed relationship, there was a very appropriate and manageable amount of emotion about it that fit appropriately with the story and didn't overshadow what was happening.

The ARC does need editing as expected, but I plan to just re-read it again when it comes out so I get the full experience. Also, I found it confusing to remember who Nore was and what her story was, and it was distracting to read her perspective in this book. I highly recommend refreshing your memory on her story if you need to prior to reading this just to make things fully flow.

Overall, I love this series so much and look forward to re-reading the finished book!!!

It has been almost an entire year since I read House of Marionne so I have been very anxiously awaiting this sequel and it did not disappoint!
I loveeeeee that we get multi-POV throughout this. There is a surprise reveal/twist related to HOM literally in the prologue and I was shook. We get alot more Dragun- related politics and action and get to see their innerworkings as well as finding out a lot more about just how deceptive the leaders of each House is. You are really shown in this book just how much influence magic and power and status have over the actions of these houses and the head mistresses. They all do some super shady to downright deplorable things to get what they want. Quell is bloodthirsty and out for revenge after a revelation and I was HERE FOR IT. The tension between her and Jordan throughout invoked a lot of emotions and made you that much more invested in both of their outcomes. Honestly my jaw dropped numerous times in the book but especially in the last 15-20%. The last page has me wondering how the heck I am supposed to wait another year to see how everything plays out and the conclusion.
My review will be cross-posted to Goodreads now, to Amazon on release day and on my instagram in the coming weeks @thatbookishteach

I had slightly mixed feelings about going into this read. While I enjoyed the first novel, I didn't fully connect with the characters like I wanted. But, I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to give the sequel a chance. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this as much as the first novel. I wanted so much more world building and finally getting some answers to the way the magic system operated. The main focus was on the character dynamics, which normally would make up for the lack of world building, but in this case, I felt like an observer. It was too much surface level to truly feel like I was immersed in this universe. Some readers may enjoy this sequel, but it didn't end up being for me.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Shadows of Perl picks up after the end of House of Marionne. This is a YA fantasy world where magic is hidden from the normal world and magic users are divided into houses that train them in a debutante style, One type of magic, toushana, is considered forbidden and dark magic, Users of toushana are hunted down by Draguns, Quell, our FMC, has bonded with her toushana and is now considered enemy number one by Jordan, her trainer/love interest/#2 Dragun. Both swear that they hate each other and both are completely oblivious to the fact that they still love each other.
Quell is on the hunt to find her mother and develop control over her magic. Jordan is determined to find Quell but to also save The Sphere, an object that houses the magic in the world which has started to crack, If The Sphere breaks open or magic gets out then all magic in the world will be lost. Will these two be able save magic, will Quell find her mother, will they realize where their emotions truly lie?

Thank you to Penguin/Razorbill and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3.5 stars. While I did enjoy this book I feel that it suffered some pacing issues and was a bit too long. I enjoyed the multiple POV chapters and I enjoy the main characters in this series I felt the addition of Nore as a POV chapter was too much, her story could have just been shortened. Generally this book is too long. I will continue this series with the third book and did already preorder a copy of this book for my home library since I already have book 1.

I will post video reviews of this book on my social medial (TikTok and YouTube) closer to the release date in September,