Full of magic and intrigue, House of Marionne is perfect escape for fans of fantasies that straddle the edge of our world and transport readers to dazzling, deceptive, and unexpected places." —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Ballad of Never After

In this delightful little story, we follow this chic named Quell (don't even get me started on the names) who's *not like the other girls* because she has magic and welll... it really isn't quite explained if this is a normal thing to have or not. Anyway, our girl Quell has this thing called toushana (a form of magic) inside her which she knows she has and also knows is bad but doesn't really understand anything else about magic somehow. 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. I think we needed more information on the magic system and how it relates to the world we are in as I'm still unsure how it all works - do people without magic just not see it? is it maybe a hogwarts situation? but honestly I couldn't tell you and maybe I misunderstood. This book is not The Atlas Six meets Bridgerton, nor is it for fans of morally grey characters, forbidden romance, Sarah J. Mass, Stephanie Garber, or Leigh Bardugo.

I’m going to be honest: I really want to give this book less than 3 stars because my reading experience with this book was rough, to say the least. However, I don’t feel like it’s entirely fair of me to give less than 3 stars because a big part of my issue with this book was just how confused and lost I was the whole time I was reading it. But the thing is, I don’t know if that’s entirely on me or not. I saw that many other reviewers were also confused by this book like I was, so I think I’m right in thinking that there are some issues with the writing, but I can’t pinpoint in what way. Really, I just didn’t understand or have a grasp on the world, the magic system, the stakes, or even most of the character’s motivations (this last one could more so be purposeful on the author’s part, but it didn’t help to keep my attention either). Usually, when I struggle with a book being convoluted, I find that it’s because the author employs a lot of info dumping, but I didn’t actually feel like that was too much of a problem in this book. With that in mind, that’s why I can’t really explain why everything was so confusing and overwhelming, but it just was. Inventive, evocative, and epic . House of Marionne is a dazzling magical thrill ride . ― Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying Essentially, the bare bones of this book had the makings of something interesting. The magic system and the premise were intriguing. But I simply was not interested. I am honestly not sure what I read, haha. I probably should have ended up DNFing but I wanted to see what I would be missing if I did. Unfortunately it didn’t get better for me.

And it isn't long before she's forced to choose between her true nature and everyone she's grown to love. Full of magic and intrigue . . . the perfect escape for fans of fantasies that straddle the edge of our world and transport readers to dazzling, deceptive, and unexpected places' STEPHANIE GARBERI 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 After a heated five-house auction, Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, has acquired House of Marionne, a new YA trilogy by J. Elle, author of the bestselling YA fantasy Wings of Ebony. Billed by the publisher as a “modern-day, magic-filled Bridgerton with clashing class dynamics and dark academia flair,” the first book in the trilogy is slated for fall 2023. Jodi Reamer at Writers House sold world English rights to Ruta Rimas, executive editor at Razorbill.

A darkly tantalizing tale of intrigue, glamor, and romance ― Amélie Wen Zhao, New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like NightBased on those comparisons, you would expect a more mature dark fantasy, but this book is incredibly juvenile and surface-level. The "dark academia" and "morally grey" aspects are shallow and simply slapped onto this book to generate more readers. Personally, I am eagerly anticipating the release of the second book in the near future, as I am captivated by the world the author has crafted. The writing was... well, something. At times, it was actually pretty good. At others, it was cringy and tear-inducing. Observe: