Review copy was received from Purchased. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Published by MacMillan Audio on November 4, 2025
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy Romance
Length: 12 hours, 15 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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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.
The House Saphir is an original retelling/reimagining of the story of Blue Beard in a way only Marissa Meyer could spin. A witch without magic but some dangerous secrets, a Lord with a ghost problem and not a large love of wine, and some ghosts both friendly and fiendish.
Set generations later, the story is about a girl who has used the myth of the murdered as a way to grift and tell ghost stories in a house haunted by one of Monsieur Le Bleu former wives and his first victim. That is until she is offered the chance to go with Le Bleu’s great-great Grandson to the home where he committed his other murders and was killed himself. The grandson, Armond, needs someone to cleanse the spirit of Le Bleu out of the estate and he assumes Mallory has the power to do just that. Hint…she doesn’t have a clue on how to remove a spirit but with her grifting catching up to her she needs a way for herself and her sister out of their circumstance so off to exorcise the spirit they go.
I enjoyed this reimagining of an old tale. The history of Monsieur Le Bleu and his purposes behind killing the wives he took along with the rest of the myths surrounding him were shown to the reader in imaginative ways. I had a lot of fun with the ghosts of the wives haunting the estate and all the strange magical creatures that were attracted to the energy of it and the havoc they sometimes caused.
Mallory at times was a little hard to like, just because the reader knows she is trying to pull a long con but I liked how both she and Armand were both a bit smitten and totally clueless the entire time. Mallory’s sister and their bond was also enjoyable to read. They teased one another like sisters do and could be so funny sometimes as they egged on one another.
Overall I enjoyed the twists and the turns in the story as the reader tries to figure out what is really happening at the estate and if Armand is part of it or just impacted by it. The conclusion to the story was action packed, full of danger and didn’t quite go how I thought it would. That said though it was a very satisfying conclusion and I had a really good time while in the story.
If you enjoyed some of Meyer’s other original retellings, or those by T. Kingfisher and Naomi Novak I think this will be another story you will enjoy.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★★
Diction: ★★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★★
Sound Effects: none
Rebecca Soler has narrated many of Marissa Meyer‘s books and so I felt like I was back hanging out with a good friend as they told me yet another great tale. Rebecca is a fantastic narrator of YA female characters and captures the humor and mystery of story well for the reader. As Mallory is fumbling through trying to pretend to be a real witch she made certain moments shine. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles, Heartless, The Renegades Trilogy, and Instant Karma, as well as the graphic novel duology Wires and Nerve. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University and a MA in Publishing from Pace University. In addition to writing, Marissa hosts The Happy Writer podcast. She lives near Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and twin daughters.
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This looks and sounds good. Thanks for the review!
It was a fun YA read.
“retelling/reimagining of the story of Blue Beard” how fun!!! Love that!
Yes. I thought it was totally cool that it was a few generations removed with ghosts.
I think this is one I would enjoy. Great review Robin!
I like her re-tellings so for me it was an easy win. Hope you enjoy!
So Meyer’s Cinder series was hit or miss for me. I did like her contemporaries, so not sure if I’ll like this one. I had a chance to read it early, but passed since I wasn’t sure and had several other review books. I’ll definitely keep it in mind for the future though. Great review!
I enjoyed most of the Cinder series and her contemporaries have been pretty cute. I think there is only one book, where I was like this is taking too long. I think it falls more into the Cinder vein than her contemporaries though in pacing and character growth. So maybe for this one timing will be everything.