“BLOODY BRILLIANT!” From the #1 New York Times bestselling “Queen of Fairytale Retellings” and author of Cinder and Heartless, this is the tale of Bluebeard as it’s never been told before–a thrilling romantasy and murder mystery.
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
Published by Faber and Faber Ltd; November 4, 2025
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult | Romance | Retelling
Pages: 366 pages, Paperback
Format: Kindle epub
Source: NetGalley
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T/W: Ghosts, blood, violence, murder, torture, monsters, grief, mysogyny
Rated: YA and up
★★★★★ | 5 / 5
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.
Thank you Netgalley for the eArc.
As a child growing up in the 80s and early 90s, we had a copy of the Golden Fairy Tale Collection: The story of Cinderella and other tales. You can view the Goodreads listing here.
I still have this book, and I read the stories from it to my children.
One of the tales that always fascinated and creeped me out was the one about Bluebeard.
These are just a few pictures taken from the pages of the story itself. The images have stuck with me ever since.
When I found out Marissa Meyer was writing a retelling of this tale, I needed to read it. Even if for nostalgia’s sake, I wanted to see what she would do with the story.
I have read many of her previous works, my favourite being The Lunar Chronicles.
I was pleasantly surprised with the story in The House Saphir, and could not put it down once I started. Yes, it was a little predictable. I still enjoyed it.
The world is set to be inspired by France, and there is magic in the air. Monsters, creatures, ghosts. Haunted houses. People have been given god-gifts. I enjoyed being a part of the adventure and solving the mystery.
The characters are what really drove the story forward. The dialogue and interactions were very well written and made me laugh.
What I really want, after having finished this book, is a series of stories that continue the adventures of Mallory’s sister, Anais.
I like the main characters of Mallory and Armand, but the dynamic between Anais, Constantino and Fitcher attracted me more. I want to know what happens to them. I want to know if they are ever able to break the curse, and find other god gifted people.
Constantino was my most favourite character of all.
★★★★★ | 5 / 5
