ARC Review--The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer

 

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.

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.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Marissa Meyer, Queen of YA Fairy Tale Retellings is back with a newly retold tale, though I don't know if you could call Bluebeard a "fairy tale" necessarily, but it's a story that's old as time! Lol. The House Saphir is her take on a seriously sinister tale of the man who liked to kill his wives and keep their bodies. Though not as body gruesome, this story is still pretty chilling and I LOVED it!

Mallory and her sister, Anais run a lucrative "gig" talking ghostly things with patrons and it's about to catch up with them. Mallory has always given tours of the summer house of Bastien Saphir, the man famous for killing his wives one after another until the fourth one escaped and her brothers came along and killed him. Mallory is quite a performer and knows what people want to hear when it comes to supposedly haunted houses and if Mallory helps liven the story up a bit with a few tricks, what's the harm? There is actually a ghost, one of Saphir's wives lingers in the place but only cooperates with Mallory infrequently. 

It's when she's giving a tour to her latest customers she gets caught by investigators and in a roundabout way, rescued by Saphir's great-great grandson, Armand, who needs Mallory's help in ridding his home, Saphir's home, of Saphir's ghost who has been haunting the place for the last handful of years. He offers to pay a fortune and it sounds too good to be true, so Mallory accepts and brings her sister, Anais, along as well, for Anais is a bit of a con-artist as well.

This story was so good! I haven't read the actual Bluebeard tale in ages but I've read a handful of retellings over the years and it's always interesting to see what route the author will take. This one was particularly intriguing, because this is all post-story material. Saphir (aptly named) is already dead, the wives are long dead, but their ghosts still remain and that's where our story lies.

I wouldn't rate this high on the scary scale, it has its creepy moments of course and there's a handful of fantastical monsters involved too which I loved learning about as most were new to me, but some felt familiar in some format.

It wouldn't be a Marissa Meyer novel if there wasn't some romance and oh boy, is this one tantalizing! Obviously chemistry sparks between Mallory and Armand, but Armand may be hiding his own secret or two and oh boy was I making some seriously speculations throughout this one!

This was definitely a worthy read and pretty much perfect for a retelling of Bluebeard! Meyer's creative spin on fairy tales has long been a favorite of mine over the years and this one is no different! The love I have for this story! Perfection! That she added ghosts and monsters truly was the icing on the cake!

If you're looking for yet another dark and amazing fairy tale retelling from the queen herself, be sure to add Marissa Meyer's The House Saphir to your TBR piles asap! You will not be disappointed!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars

The House Saphir releases November 4, 2025