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House of Marionne: Bridgerton meets Fourth Wing in this Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller

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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.

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 But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there's more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and-- assassin in training. The relationship that was set up as the love connection felt extremely forced, and really didn't have any depth to it either. I felt like a lot of the characters were just created to fill roles that are common and expected in YA fantasy. I think it's supposed to enemies to lovers, or some sort of tension along those lines, but I never bought into it, and I never experienced that tension. Basically it was just Quell being afraid of Jordan because of his role in the society as one who goes after toushana users.House of Marionne is one of the most original fantasies I've ever read. J. Elle has created a lush and beautifully romantic world that is as magical as it is dangerous." —Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sun is Also a Star House of Marionne isa captivating contemporary fantasy that’s sure to enchant readers from the start. Perfect for fans of magical boarding schools, dark secrets, and books with glittering atmosphere.” —Kerri Maniscalco, #1 New York Times bestselling author I 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

No prisoners. Not today.” Charlie plants his hands on his knees and glares at their captive, now at eye level. “May Sola Sfenti judge you fairly.” Based 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. Yagrin is there sometimes. He had two POVs that I can recall, and despite being the only other POV character besides Quell he has added little to nothing to the plot as far as I could tell. I really wanted to like this more than I did. I really did. But I was so confused and then bored and then confused again. The book is stunning and the description is everything I go for in a book.I also was pretty interested in the storyline. I wanted to see what would happen to Quell and how she would navigate the situations she found herself in. House of Marionne glitters with magic, deception, and betrayal. Readers will be swept away by Elle’s glamorous world in this enchanting series opener." —Rachel Griffin, New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches World building was good and not overdone. I liked that the focus was on Quell's story and the plot. Also, while most is from Quell's POV, there is another POV we get in a few chapters. Actually experiencing the school aspect of what classes the main character was attending and looking more into the magic that exists in this world. 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.

My envelope from my job slips from my fingers, and I try to dash for it as it tumbles to the pavement. Overall, I think that the politics of the world were intriguing. We didn't get to see much of them, unfortunately, and we also didn't get to see a lot of the extent of the magic system, but those were things that I was super interested in. I enjoyed the setting of the school surrounded by a forest filled with danger and secrets - it was very atmospheric and I could vividly picture the winding corridors and secret passages. I also loved Quell and Abby’s friendship and thought they complemented each other well, bringing much needed warmth to the story. but bumped to 5 becuase this beauty right here got me out of my Fourth Wing reading slump. I was super intrigued by the story and a piece or two of character art I saw. I jumped in on Friday during a busy vacation and finished it today. 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.

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And it isn't long before she's forced to choose between her true nature and everyone she's grown to love. Follow me on BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/j-elle J. ELLE is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult and middle-grade fantasy fiction and a 2022 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth and Teens. Her work has been translated into three languages. The former educator credits her nomadic lifestyle and humble inner-city beginnings as inspiration for her novels. When she’s not writing, Elle can be found on the hunt for new desserts sans Chocolat, looking for literally any excuse to get dressed up, and road-tripping her way across the country with her two dogs in tow. I am not a Bridgerton fan and I honestly know nothing about it, but what I do know is that it's set in the Regency era. Because of that, I thought this book would be set in the past, but it is not. I think this book could have benefitted if it were set in the past, rather than the present, as it would make more sense. I've also seen the author compare this to Game of Thrones, which I just have to laugh about. The world isn’t always described clearly, perhaps because the story is told in present tense by the main character. She’s simultaneously observant of certain things while completely clueless about others. For example, she can see someone who is using magic to be invisible, but then she can’t figure out how to hold a teacup while having tea with her grandmother. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill for generously providing me with a digital review copy of this captivating book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

If a caged bird sings of freedom, and a song can be a wordless utterance, a wish, a burning desire, then I sing of salty air and sand between my toes. Of a home that’s not a moving target. After graduation, our plan is to find some small beach town—a real beach, not like the muddy water we’ve been around these last six months in New Orleans—and blend in with the sand. I ended up reading the end of the book and skimming some of the scenes in-between, so I feel very confident in this DNF. I don't think it's a bad book, it's just not what I was looking for. But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and assassin-in-training. The way mature magic manifests in this world is through either a diadem or a mask growing from the person's head. I have a lot of questions about how this works practically, but it's one of those things that the author clearly thought was a cool idea without wanting to give a lot of explanation. We mostly hear about the diadems, very little detail on the masks and it feels like she probably just likes the idea of individualized tiaras but for gendered reasons only wanted women to have them? Honestly it would have made more sense to me if everyone had a diadem or crown, that would come off less gender essentialist. We do have a throwaway appearance of a non-binary character probably in an attempt to offset this, but I still think it's a weird choice. The other thing is, how do they sleep? Does their hair get caught in it? I have a lot of questions, but it's never mentioned.

When I see those phrases in the synopsis of a book, I expect the moral ambiguity of the characters to be explored in depth, and for the novel to be a critique of academia. Simply being set at a boarding school does not make a book a "dark academia" novel, and having characters with ambiguous morals requires more than just labeling them as such. Now, if you're thinking "This is a YA book, it doesn't need to be like that", you are wrong because many YA books do dark academia (Legendborn, Ace of Spades) and morally grey characters (Six of Crows, These Violent Delights, The Cruel Prince) well. Next, we have our male lead Jordan. A handsome cardboard cutout that reads "Handsome Shadow Daddy". Because I think that's what we're going for. Sadly, it's falling flat for me because I haven't seen any particular charm or cute banter. Maybe that comes later and I'm too impatient but I have a lot of books to read and not enough time, so I need to make some tough calls.

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