The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
The House Saphir follows Mallory Fontaine and is set in historical, and also a wee bit magical, France. The atmosphere is steeped in occult elements and we love to see that. Mallory comes from a long-line of witches, but her one actual power is being able to see ghosts.
Mallory makes her living giving tours of an infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place. She’s considered a bit of an expert on the murderer, Count Bastien Saphir, aka. Monsieur Le Bleu, who murdered three of his wives over a century ago.
Mallory is shocked when she ends up meeting Bastien’s great-great grandson, Armand, on one of her tours. The heir to the Saphir estate, Armand offers Mallory and her sister a large sum of money to rid his estate of Le Bleu’s ghost.
He believes the sisters are as talented as their reputations purport them to be when it comes to dealing with spirits. To him, they’re the perfect solution. To them, he’s the perfect mark. A deal is made.
The two women travel to the palatial country manor expecting their same ole’ smoke and mirrors routine. However, when murder once again comes to the House Saphir, their ghost investigation turns into a real-life murder investigation. Will they be able to solve the crime and banish the ghost before more lives are lost?
I knew nothing about The House Saphir prior to picking it up except for the fact that it was written by Marissa Meyer. I’ve had nothing but great success with Meyer’s works in the past and I love picking up her latest releases.
I had the pleasure of Buddy Reading this one with a friend and we both had so much fun with it. I actually read it in a day, which surprised me because it’s over 400-pages. I was completed invested the entire way through though. I couldn’t put it down once I started.
Apparently, it’s a Bluebeard retelling, but I didn’t go into it knowing anything about that lore, so can’t attest to this novel as a retelling one way or another. I have looked up information on Bluebeard since, and it does seem like it would be a fun ride for fans of that story.
What I do know is how consumable Meyer’s writing is. I always love her quirky characters, and she brings just the right amount of humor to her stories for my tastes.
Mallory is such an incredible MC to follow, and I loved the banter between her and Armand. She’s extremely witty and fast-thinking. You can tell she’s had to take care of herself. It shows, she’s tough and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. She’s a hustler. LOL
The murder mystery was such a bonus for me. It definitely added another layer of enjoyment. In that regard, it reminded me a bit of Belladonna. I do think Readers who enjoyed that, would enjoy this as well.
I also loved how many ghosties and monsters there were. I wasn’t expecting all that. Where I could see some Readers being disappointed, is if you go in expecting Romantasy. I don’t read a ton of Romantasy, but to me the Romance is very much a secondary-plot point compared to everything else that’s happening.
If you go in expecting big romance, you make walk away feeling let down. It exists in here, but yeah, it’s certainly not the star of the show, IMO.
I think this novel will hit best with Gothic Readers, or Readers who enjoy witches, ghosts, murder and other paranormal things, but also love humor and compelling characters. The setting of this gothic manor is super well done and it’s certainly action-packed.
Finally, I would recommend the audiobook. The narration from Rebecca Soler, unsurprisingly, was perfection. She brought Mallory to life and made me love her even more!
Thank you to the publisher, Feiwel & Friends and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Marissa Meyer is just so freaking talented!