The House Saphir by. Marissa Meyer | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: The House Saphir

Author: Marissa Meyer

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 432

Publication Date: 11/4/25

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Paranormal, Retelling of Bluebeard

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mallory Fontaine is a fraud. Though she comes from a long line of witches, the only magic she possesses is the ability to see ghosts, which is rarely as useful as one would think. She and her sister have maintained the family business, eking out a paltry living by selling bogus spells to gullible buyers and conducting tours of the infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place.

Mallory is a self-proclaimed expert on Count Bastien Saphir—otherwise known as Monsieur Le Bleu—who brutally killed three of his wives more than a century ago. But she never expected to meet Bastien’s great-great grandson and heir to the Saphir estate. Armand is handsome, wealthy, and convinced that the Fontaine Sisters are as talented as they claim. The perfect mark. When he offers Mallory a large sum of money to rid his ancestral home of Le Bleu’s ghost, she can’t resist. A paid vacation at Armand’s country manor? It’s practically a dream come true, never mind the ghosts of murdered wives and the monsters that are as common as household pests.

But when murder again comes to the House Saphir, Mallory finds herself at the center of the investigation—and she is almost certain the killer is mortal. If she has any hope of cashing in on the payment she was promised, she’ll have to solve the murder and banish the ghost, all while upholding the illusion of witchcraft.

But that all sounds relatively easy compared to her biggest learning to trust her heart. Especially when the person her heart wants the most might be a murderer himself.

Content Warning: violence, death, murder

+ I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book because I haven’t read a book from this author in awhile and I am not totally familiar with the Bluebeard story. So I can speak to how good of a retelling this is since I don’t know Bluebeard’s story too well. But what an enjoyable story this turned out to be.

+ Mallory and her sister are hacks – they claim to be witches and have powers, and maybe they are part of a bloodline of witches but something happened in the past that messed it up for them. Now someone from the Saphir bloodline has come asking for their help to rid his estate of dangerous ghosts. Mal and her sister agree because they need money but how are they going to get rid of ghosts if they don’t really know how to do that?

+ My favorite part of this book – it is funny! I was laughing out loud, literally! Mallory and her sister are such characters and the ghosts of the wives Monsieur Le Bleu had murdered were funny as well. I haven’t had this much fun reading a book in a long time! Also later on in the story Mal solicits helps from some other characters who have magical powers and hunt down monsters, and they were a fun duo as well.

+ Mallory is such a fun character because she loves everything spooky. She gives people tours of a haunted house (she’s basically trespassing and scamming people). Thing is though she can actually see ghosts, but I love that the more morbid something was, she wasn’t afraid, she was delightfully obsessed with it.

+ There is a little bit of romance in the story and I adored it. I also loved the twists and turns of the story. Monsieur Le Blue as a villainous ghost did a great job at being an awful person/spirit. I was hoping Mallory would end him. There is monster hunting, ghost hunting and the ending is chaotic but again, fun.

~ The only thing about the story that maybe I had a little issue with is – how was Mallory going to fake her way into getting rid of Monsieur Le Bleu’s ghost? She had no clue what she was doing at all (and her sister liked to point this out). I was hoping her being at the estate and meeting the ghost wives would teach her something about magic. Eventually she figures out she needs help but I did want more witchcraft in the story.

Final Thoughts:

I loved this book because I had such a fun time reading it and that’s kind of rare to find now especially in a romantasy type of of book. It’s actually perfect for a fall read because it has haunted houses, ghosts still in their murdered form, mythological monsters, possession, murder, magic and mystery! Even a little romance.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From this Author:

Cinder by. Marissa Meyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Renegades by. Marissa Meyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Give Me a Reason by. Jayci Lee | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Give Me a Reason

Author: Jayci Lee

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 7/29/25

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Retelling

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Korean drama actress gets her second chance at love with the man she left in order to save her family–if she can work up the courage to risk her heart on forever…one last time.

For ten years, Anne Lee told herself that Frederick Nam was her past. In order to save her father from bankruptcy, she left Frederick for an acting career in Korea. This was the only way she could stop him from following her and ruining his future. It was the best way she could love him.

After Anne left, Frederick spent years loving her, missing her, and hating her until he decided to live his life for himself. He followed his dream and became a firefighter in Culver City. He didn’t need romance. He had his work and his friends.

When Anne returns to Los Angeles, she and Frederick are thrown together in the same wedding—she as her cousin’s bridesmaid and he as his friend’s groomsman. Even though he is angry and distant with her, Anne can no longer deny that she never got over him. Not even close.

With so much hurt and uncertainty between them, Anne and Frederick suffer their love in silence. But all it would take is a single leap of faith to bring them together…

Content Warning: death on a job

+ I didn’t know this was a Jane Austen Persuasion retelling until after I’ve read it so that was my fault but after I found out – it made lots of sense! And I love Persuasion so after reading this I can appreciate it a bit better. If you know Persuasion, there is a lot that both characters don’t get to express until way later, so there is miscommunication and in Give Me a Reason, it was that miscommunication that kind of gave me issues but now that I know it’s a retelling, I can see why it’s there.

+ Anne is a K-drama actress, who is back from South Korea, and planning to try out Hollywood and be near her family in California. She runs into her ex-boyfriend Frederick, the boy she’s always loved, but was encouraged to leave behind because of her aunt. But now that she’s back she realized all of the feelings she had for him never went away. Anne comes off very graceful, nice and polished.

+ Frederick has always been in love with Anne even though she broke his heart, left him, and was left to pick up the pieces. And once he sees her again and is forced to be around her because of his friend’s wedding that he is a part of, he is struggling to leave his feelings for her in the past. But he doesn’t want his heart broken again. He’s a hot captain for the fire department so I thought that was fun.

+ This story is basically about the yearning and longing between them. We are in their thoughts a lot and the moments they are in are super-charged because of all their feelings from the past coming to surface. The spice was just enough because this story really is about love.

~ Before knowing this was a Persuasion retelling, I didn’t like that his friends were trying to set Frederick up with Anne’s cousin. She is really close to her family, so I just didn’t like that she had to see them push her cousin and her ex-boyfriend together. Thing is no one knew they had a past except for her aunt and Frederick’s best friends. So I could see why they were trying to make a match with him and Bethanny (Anne’s cousin).

~ I did wish they confronted one another about the past much earlier so that maybe more of the book could have been them learning about who they are now, because 10 years have passed.

Final Thoughts:

I love this book cover and I love a Jane Austen retelling. I can say that really followed Persuasion pretty good and really captured the longing and yearning that was in that story. Frederick, I think really was the character who was coming undone by Anne’s presence and I felt for him. I’m just glad they worked it out in the end but I did find myself impatient with Anne’s reluctance to just tell him what happened until near the end.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

That Prince is Mine by. Jayci Lee | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The Dating Dare | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️💫

ARC Review | A Sweet Mess ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful Villain by. Rebecca Kenney | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Beautiful Villain

Author: Rebecca Kenney

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: 7/16/24

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Categories: New Adult, Romance, The Great Gatsby Retelling, Vampires

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Seven years ago, I lost him for good. Now he’s back, but is he still the Jay Gatsby I used to know…or is he something more? Something…darker.

Daisy Finnegan is looking forward to the endless golden freedom of summer. She doesn’t want to think about life after college, or the newly awakened power of her voice, which has a way of making people do frightening things. But when her cousin goes missing at an exclusive house party, Daisy confronts the mysterious host…only to discover the wealthy recluse is Jay Gatsby, her childhood sweetheart―now sinfully hot and impossible to deny.

It isn’t long before Daisy becomes entangled in a web of dizzying wealth and lies and obsession darker than she could have dreamed―culminating in a shocking act of violence that shatters the summer haze and threatens to drown them all.

But it isn’t until Gatsby is shot through the heart―and survives―that Daisy discovers the truth of how Gatsby clawed his way up in the world by selling the secret of immortality to the highest bidder. Now with her friends’ lives at stake, her own untested power still volatile, and an unimaginable threat closing in, Daisy will have to face an impossible choice: side with the man who claimed her body and soul…or with the monsters who would see him lost to her forever.

An addictive and truly original spicy New Adult retelling of The Great Gatsby with a magical twist.

Content Warning: abuse

I never read The Great Gatsby but I did watch the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio mostly because of that Lana Del Rey song, Young and Beautiful.

Daisy is a young adult who is out of college, doesn’t have much direction, she broke up with her abusive ex-boyfriend, and just got invited to an infamous party thrown by some mysterious guy people refer to as Gatsby. The name is familiar to Daisy and wonders if it’s the same Jay Gatsby she was best friends with when she was younger, before she moved to a new town.

I thought this was a fairly quick read because I wanted to see how the vampire element would fit in the Gatsby story and I thought it did it pretty well. I like that the explanation about how vampires are created is different from the usual lore. Jay is such mysterious, wealthy young man, that it makes sense he would be a vampire.

Daisy and Jay’s attraction happens very quick and things get spicy between them almost right away. Their feelings for each other from when they were younger resurfaces but they do make an effort to get to know one another since so much has changed – especially with Jay.

I can’t say I connected to anyone in this story. Also, there is a lot of pop culture references in the book – if you aren’t into that, then just know it’s there.

My Thoughts:

I thought this one was okay. I did think it was a pretty good retelling of The Great Gatsby only from what I saw and remembered from the movie. The vampire storyline worked pretty well but I just didn’t connect to the characters. I think I wanted more drama and maybe have it be a little more darker because sometimes it felt like a young adult story just a very spicy one.

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Book Links:

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Her Dark Wings by. Melinda Salisbury | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Her Dark Wings

Author: Melinda Salisbury

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 12/11/23 (first published 7/6/22)

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Greek Mythology, Retelling, Friendship, Contemporary Fantasy

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Delacorte Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

In this powerful, passionate reimagining of the Persephone myth for fans of Lore Olympus and Melissa Albert, two former best friends–split apart by betrayal–find themselves reunited in the Underworld. But will either one make it out, or will the darkness that’s growing in each of them consume them whole?

For all of Corey’s life, it’s been Bree and Corey, Corey and Bree. Best friends, the girls are inseparable—until a devastating betrayal leaves Corey shattered and alone. Corey is sure nothing could hurt more, until Bree suddenly dies. Now Corey is heartbroken and furious. How can she mourn her one-time friend when she is still so angry at her?

Yet Corey and Bree’s tale is far from finished. When Corey accidentally catches a glimpse of Bree’s spirit passing into the afterlife, she finds herself face to face with a god pulled from the darkest myths of her Hades, lord of the dead.

Turns out, the legends are real. But Hades is different from what Corey imagined—and so are the Furies, terrifying and beautiful creatures who encourage Corey to embrace her rage. The more Corey discovers about the Underworld, the more her own power stirs. But can she resist the lure of the darkness within?

Content Warning: death

+ I wanted to read this book because of the Hades and Persephone retelling. I think it did a fairly good job at keeping this story a modern retelling of the mythology but I do wish there was more romance between Corey and Hades since that’s what I like about the myth. I did like the trip to the Underworld and Furies in the story though – they added a little bit of danger to the story. I also like Hermes!

+ The young adult aspect of the story centered around Corey’s drama with her best friend Bree who basically stole Corey’s boyfriend and when Bree dies – Corey has no closure about their friendship and the betrayal. It is something she works through the story.

~ It’s a really quick read, which is great but I just wanted more, especially between Hades and Corey. They were barely together in the book I feel since Corey was stuck with the Furies.

My Thoughts:

I like that it was a quick read and it was a modern retelling about Hades and Persephone but I just wish there was more world-building and more chemistry and time between Hades and Corey. This was just an okay read for me.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Bellegarde by. Jamie Lilac | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Bellegarde

Author: Jamie Lilac

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 7/11/23

Publisher: Harperteen

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Coming of Age, Retelling, Historical Fiction

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Harperteen for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Ooh la la! A historical rom-com with a modern twist — perfect for fans of Bridgerton, A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, and She’s All That.

Evie Clement has perfected the art of avoiding attention as she works at her family’s bakery and dreams of a life where she can trade dusting flour for designing dresses. Her focus is on honing her sewing skills–she doesn’t need to be fawned over by some teenage boy.

Least of all Beau Bellegarde–the playboy of Paris, the second son of the ultra-wealthy Bellegarde family, the most popular guy in their prestigious high school. Others may swoon over his rakish charm and winning smile, but not Evie.

Unfortunately for Evie, Beau needs her. His conniving step-brother has roped him into an impossible bet: turn the biggest wallflower they know into the winning Bellegarde Bloom at the annual Court of Flowers Ball, or lose his entire fortune.

Evie can’t understand why Beau has taken an interest in her, but she can’t help but be intrigued…

Can love bloom in the most unexpected of places?

“The She’s All That historical romance retelling of my dreams! When I wasn’t savoring the lush, descriptive prose, I was eagerly devouring the smart, perfectly paced, heart-pounding romance. There’s no doubt about it: Jamie Lilac makes a sparkling debut. — Brian Kennedy, author of A Little Bit Country

Content Warning:

I was obsessed with She’s All That when it came out in 1999 so when I saw this was a retelling, I had to request it! I think the story did a great job with retelling She’s All That and I like that Evie is a promising fashion designer, sort of like how Laney Boogs was an artist in the movie. It was fun reading the book, but because I know the movie so well there weren’t too many surprises for me in Bellegarde.

I thought Evie and Josephine were fun characters. The best friends had each other’s backs and seem to have lots of fun together. Beau was just okay – he was definitely a carbon copy of Zack from She’s All That but I didn’t feel anything for him. I kind of wanted Evie to end up with the duke!

As for the setting – I like that it takes a historical fiction approach with it being in Paris, France and the popular kids have titles and wealth. In my imagination I could imagine some opulent scenes if they were ever to make this story into a movie on Netflix. t would be cool to see Evie’s fashion creations come to life. The only thing that was a little bit jarring for me was that the characters spoke in modern speech and it took me out of the story a bit. I thought overall the story was cute and I think it will appeal to younger readers.

Why you should read it:

retelling of She’s All That
teenage drama and romance

Why you might not want to read it:

it’s historical fiction with modern speech

My Thoughts:

I found it fun seeing how the story compared to the movie and it pretty much follows the whole thing minus a few changes here and there. For me it was just okay, but I think this will definitely will appeal to younger readers.