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. My envelope from my job slips from my fingers, and I try to dash for it as it tumbles to the pavement. I wish there would have been more about the world-building and the magic. I didn’t understand a lot when it came to both of these and still don’t get it after finishing the book. The book is on the longer side and so there was definitely room for better explanations. On that note though, I feel like the book could have been shortened as well. There were some lulls and some parts of the plot that didn’t really add to the story overall.

With House of Marionne , J.Elle lures you through a portal and into an elaborate, enthralling world of magic and monsters and mayhem , where the twists and turns take you-and her characters-places you never expected to go. ― Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the An Ember in the Ashes series 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. The characters in this were extremely flat. Quell was interesting at first, and even though I felt like some of the decisions she was making were pretty silly ones, I was willing to go with it. However, as soon as she makes the decision to return to the person that her mother ran from when she was 5, she very much becomes a stereotypical young, YA protagonist. She is immediately excellent at everything she tries and is being touted by all her professors as the best they've ever seen. She immediately becomes best friends with her roommate, but there is no depth to their connection and where I left off, they were fighting because Quell had to miss some dress fittings. I think I will probably try and read this again another time because I did want to like it but on first read it overall was not for me. I do think it was marketed weirdly as I was not expecting this book to be quite so young though that isn't usually a problem for me as I do enjoy YA. 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.

From the brand

A blond fellow lassos his arm in the air and the dozen barrels tremor. A haze fills the air, rippling like rain on a window. It clears and he does it again, and this time the barrels disappear. I squint, my heart lodged in my throat. 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. A darkly tantalizing tale of intrigue, glamor, and romance Amélie Wen Zhao, New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night

The forbidden love story of my wildest dreams. This book is going to delight not only fantasy readers, but romance lovers of all ages!" - Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author 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 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. Her roommate grew up in this world and has been at the castle for two seasons trying to pass three tests. Our main character, who didn’t grow up in magical society, is able to pass two of the three tests in days. She is completely untrained, but is also a Mary Sue with the best powers. House of Marionne to me read like a Book of Boring. I made it just past the halfway point but this is where I stop. Because I don't care what happens next. I'm not invested. I wanted to love this because the cover is pretty and the synopsis sounded up my alley. Alas, it was not meant to be. 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

We also really need to talk about the world-building which was just a disaster. I was so confused by literally every single thing so don't even ask me to explain. I had absolutely no idea what was even going on the entire time and I've never felt so disconnected from a world before. Scratch that. I've never felt so disconnected from a world, characters, or a general story like that before. The setting? No idea. The magic system? Not a clue. Overall, I think the author maybe just had way too many ideas that they were trying to work with and it got messy trying to combine all of these ideas into a seamless story, leading to a very clunky book. The House of Marionne is a magic boarding-school, dark academia-esque fantasy set in the modern day. In this world, the magic users assimilated to the rest of the world through using cotillions and debuts as the way to create a separate, exclusive world that they can call their own among the upper eschelon of society. There are four Houses in the US that take in those found to have magic within their territories, and prepares them for their eventual debut.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