My biggest regrets about finishing this amazing first book in a new series, are: (1) that it hasn’t published yet; and (2) that I have no idea how long I have to wait for book 2 to come out. If you are looking for an absolutely enchanting world, breathtaking magic, a generations-long battle between light and dark, and a star crossed romance that will leave you swooning, this is your book. After 3 days of non-stop reading in my free time (and dreaming about reading when I wasn’t able to), I finally finished this incredible story. I am blown away.

This story is packed full of magic and fantasy. There is darkness, secret societies, enchanting academics, ongoing and unspoken war, forbidden magic, rivalries between magical houses. J Elle takes what you think you know about protagonists and villains and turns it on it’s head. Quell’s story, in ever aspect, is the birth of a villain, yet she’s the perfect hero. Lost in the world, she’s had to live in hiding for as long as she can remember. Her mother’s protection has reached its limits as Quell reaches the cusp of adulthood. When a surprising safe haven arises in the form of her grandmother’s estate, Quell jumps at the chance for stability and the comfort of family that she’s never know.

But the darkness that’s plagues her cannot be pushed away forever. As dark and hateful secrets begin to surface, Quell begins to see the gilded cage for exactly what it is. She questions what it means to be free and searches for a way to forge her own path. She’s an incredible strong with a fire within her that even she doesn’t understand. I imagine that her strength and power will only grow as this series progresses and I know I can hardly wait to see how she transforms and how her path develops in books to come.

I was not able to finish this one in time to give a full review by the publish date. However, I gave this book 2.5 stars

It took me a little while to get into it--I didn't connect with the narrative voice, so it took a bit to find another access point to make me keep reading. But once Quell found her grandmother (trying not to give spoilers more than you'll find in the first few chapters!), that marked a turning point where I NEEDED to know what was going to happen!

Going to add this one to my classroom library for my students who love intrigue, magic, and dark academia vibes!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review!

A good YA fantasy book, that I would definitely recommend to those who think it sounds interesting!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher

Wow - what a great novel from J Elle! Mystery, magic, love, finding who you truly are and accepting the parts of yourself that have been called bad and dark all wrapped up in a glittery world where not everything is as it seems. This is going to be a best seller for sure and I hope this series continues so we can find out more about Quell’s journey (and Jordan’s too!)

This premise has everything: forbidden powers, magical debutantes, and a complicated enemies-to-lovers dynamic. However, despite all the promise within the synopsis, I struggled with this one for months, nothing within its pages managing to pull me in or keep my attention and oftentimes only serving to further confuse me.

Though often quite lovely, the prose more often felt stilted somehow, and I found myself rereading passages multiple times to make sure I was following the action of the story. There’s an odd balance of too much information and too little explanation that resulted in the sense that there was a mystery intended for the readers to solve within the dregs of distraction by superfluous details. No matter how intrigued I was by the promise of the premise, the writing kept me at arm’s length, frustrated, and unable to grip my attention.

I’m sure this book has its audience but the narrative voice did not agree with me.

DNF at 20%.

Entertaining, but I wanted more from this story and from Quell as a character. Still, would recommend!

#HouseofMarionne #NetGalley Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel. Young adult novel readers will enjoy this fantasy novel.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-ARC! I will be reviewing and/or showcasing this book on my social media accounts when I can. Thanks again very much appreciated and looking forward to this book!

This book has so much potential which makes it almost painful for me to not like it. I just didn’t feel any connection to the story. The writing is good but felt more like a middle grade book. The magic system was confusing and I couldn’t make head or tales of it.
1.5 stars because i really feel like this had potential.

I really enjoyed this book and J. Elle's writing style. I was hooked from start to finish and loved the way the characters were so detailed and the plot was so imaginitive.

I was rec this author by Stephanie Garber and she was spot on! If you've loved her works you will also love J. Elle. I first fell in love with the gorgeous cover and the promise of Bridgerton with magic. This is a great intro to fantasy book for those wanting to dip their feet in. I loved the magic and dark academia vibes. Ready for #2!

Dark magic academia with assassins and debutants. I wanted there to be more to the story. It felt like I was rushing through the whole book instead of things unfolding naturally. Other than feeling like I was missing key pieces from the hurried plot line it was good.

# House of Marionne
# 2/16/2024 ~ 2/18/2024
# 3.0 / 5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review,

Seventeen-year-old Quell has been living in hiding and on the run with her mother, fleeing from city to city to hide her magic. She is inevitably found by an assassin tasked with finding her, and in an attempt to hide and keep her mother safe, she joins a society of magical elites who present her with rites that she must pass to gain membership to the order and remain safe.

This book can be described as being heavy in vibes. There are a lot of ideas and things going on without a lot of world-building, namely the use of lots of tropes being thrown around. There is a mediocre romance that brews as well as that whole magic school secret society element going on, that I think a lot of people would enjoy.

The magic system was so underdeveloped and not very well explained that I was confused for nearly the entire book. Quite frankly, I am not sure I would be able to explain it if someone asked me to. This impacted the experience as I felt like I could not completely understand what was going on when magic was present in a scene. In the story, there were a lot of terms used such as diadem, druguns, and roles such as tracer, shifter, and others, to the point where the book would've benefitted from a glossary.

Overall, I still enjoyed the read to an extent and would recommend it to fans of YA fantasy, just because it wasn't necessarily for me does not mean that it won't be exactly what someone else is looking for in a book.

Actually at a glance this doesn’t look like “dark” academia. The school was very glamorous and the vibe was “bright”, but in the end I get where the dark lies. Overall it’s not impressive whatsoever but it did make me curious throughout the story. Plus the audiobook narrators did such a good job that made me enjoy it more. I love Quell & Abby’s friendship. The slow-burn romance was slow-burningg. There’s a lot of information in the last chapters that made me feel dumb for not seeing it even though come to think of it, it made sense. I was confused why there’s a second narrator that didn’t really overlap with the story but oh well 🙃 will definitely read the next book.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I read this a while ago and forgot to write my review right away, but honestly this book is not one with staying power. I typically love dark academia and the beginning 20% of this book was exciting and I was really interested. However, after the first 20%, I lost interest and it took me about 3 months to read the rest of the book. The pacing was really off and I'm not sure I fully understand the magic system.

Our main character, Quell, was honestly really frustrating and there wasn't a lot of mechanism to move the plot from one point to another. I recognize the book is YA, but Quell's naiveté was really frustrating for a girl who spent most of her life on the run.

Overall, I think with another edit and some more refined world building, this book could have been really good. Given my first impressions I'm not sure I'll continue on with this series when the next book comes out.

Thank you NetGalley, Razorbill, and J. Elle for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I enjoyed the writing in this one and the premise. The setting was really fascinating, but at times I was a bit bored with this one. I wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the plot points, but someone who likes YA fiction would likely enjoy it a lot still. I recommend it! Her other book, Against the Tide, is really good as well.

3.75 ⭐️
0 🌶️
I really enjoyed this story, there was a lot of concepts that I felt were original in this story. There was a lot of information in this book that was useful set up for the series and I am very excited to see where this series goes. I feel like this was a very good first book

House of Marionne was a quick and easy fantasy read. The lead character was persistent and believed in herself, even when sometimes she would have to overcome doubting her ability to overcome her dark magic. I loved the surprising end, and I look forward to a sequel.

3.5✨
Fantasy. Romance. YA. POC author.

House of Marionne is a contemporary YA fantasy about a girl, Quell, who has been on-the-run for her entire life when she gets separated from her mom. Even though she wields a forbidden magic, she decides to take her chances hiding in plain sight at a magic school rife with those who would hunt her if they knew what she could do…at least until she can find a way back to her mother.

What I liked most about this book was the magic system! The concept of diadems was cool and different (and I’m not gonna lie, I definitely wanted a diadem of my own). I also genuinely liked Quell, and thought the set-up of the book had a lot of promise. However, what I struggled with was the plot. Several times, Quell’s decision-making was questionable and seemed like a plot device as opposed to authentic to the character. Also, the twist at the end just really didn’t work for me.

I also couldn’t get invested in Yagrin’s perspective.
I didn’t dislike this, but but I just felt kind of disconnected from the story by the end. Also, this was pitched as “a modern, magic-filled Bridgerton with a dark academia flair and an enemies to lovers romance.” It was modern and magic-filled, but didn’t hold enough atmosphere to match Bridgerton or the dark academia vibe. And the romance was subpar for me.

Although this book didn’t quite work for me, I would pick up the second book to see if the world gets more fleshed out and to continue in Quell’s story.