#j elle

[eggcatsreads]

I'm only about 50% through, and I'm LOVING IT so far! I am INVESTED and need to finish this tonight 1000%

[jessread-s]

Thanks to @penguinteen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

✩👗🗡️Review:

Elle’s dark academia novel dazzles!

“House of Marionne” follows 17-year-old Quell who has been cursed with forbidden magic flowing through her veins. In hopes of keeping her mother safe and ridding herself of her deadly magic completely, she inducts into a magical debutante society called the Order. But passing the three rites of membership proves to be a difficult task and the more she discovers about the Order, the harder it is to turn her back on the dark magic she’s grown to embrace.

Elle’s intricate world-building blew me away! The level of detail she provides surrounding each house, the magic specialties that exist, the Dragun brotherhood, and the induction process is astounding. I also thought it was cool concept for each inductee to manifest either a crown or a mask that reflected their strength and power.

The amount of information Elle packs into her novel is intentionally overwhelming at first, closely aligning with Quell’s feelings towards the world she is spontaneously thrust into. I enjoyed reading from her point-of-view and learning about the inner workings of the Order at the same time she does. Quell’s perspective is also unique in that it allows the reader to experience how magic—both light and dark—feels through descriptive language.

Additionally, chapters written from Yagrin’s point-of-view create a layer of intrigue that propel the story forward. I enjoyed trying to piece together his role in Quell’s journey of self-discovery and the reveal at the end did not leave me disappointed!

My only qualm with this book is the pacing. Despite “House of Marionne” being 400 pages, the pacing felt off. The speed and ease with which Quell masters her magic and makes it through each stage of the induction made the whole narrative feel unrealistic. The pacing also accelerates Quell and Jordan’s relationship development, creating a whirlwind romance. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, fans of the slow burn trope, like myself, will be left wanting.

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[acourtofpaperandink]

Book Review: The Little Mermaid Against the Tide By: J. Elle

Post by: BookGirl The Little Mermaid Against the Tide By: J. Elle Cover: I love this cover. It’s just beautiful and it wraps all the way around the book. The colors are great. There are some fun details from the story. It’s just lovely. And yeah I know I’m not normally a fan of characters on the cover but if anyone was going to do it right it was Disney. Story: ★★ So I have to confess I just…

[pipperoni32-blog]

Shadows of Perl

by J. Elle / 4 stars

I regret that I didn't give myself time to reread House of Marionne before jumping back into this one, because it started pretty fast! Mostly I was confused about Red - had I met her before? She was the blank spot, though I remembered the luncheon with Nore. Quell had such a journey and growth before, that coming back to find her so sure of her Toushana, and her bond with her magic was a great starting point.

I really enjoyed the magic system the first time around, and that got built on so well. The way the Draguns - the enforcers, tracked with keeping any dark wielders from endangering their people, as well as keeping magic a secret from the unmarked - worked as a force, the inside of their ranking system. What they knew about the damage to the orb, and where their priorities lay. How Quell could learn from an ex-Dragun, and eventually where her journey in learning as much as she can about her magic and her search for her mother leads her to place herself in the hands of another House.

The house systems as they've been known are faltering, and those with power will do their best to hold onto it. With the cracks in the orb - and the danger of all magic disappearing if it empties completely - everyone has their own agenda. Alliances are tenuously formed and broken.

I felt the sequel moved at a faster pace than the first book, and the different points of view provided important glimpses to keep things moving in tandem. Romance is definitely a low priority, so if you were hoping for a quick reconciliation between characters, be prepared for a bit more of a wait.

I am so excited to see how everything concludes, though I will definitely be doing a refreshing re-read of these two before diving in. These would definitely benefit from being fresh in the mind before the final outcome.

Thank you to the publishers through NetGalley for the eARC!

[muatyland]

House of Marionne - Casa Marionne | J. Elle

La diciassettenne Quell ha trascorso la propria vita spostandosi di città in città per nascondere la magia oscura che scorre nelle sue vene. Finché qualcuno non ha scoperto il suo segreto. Per sfuggire all’assassino che le dà la caccia e proteggere sua madre, Quell entra a malincuore in una società di debuttanti, un’élite magica chiamata “Ordine”. Se riuscirà a superare i Tre riti di ammissione,…

[valorrath]

Read along with me: House of Marionne by J. Elle, Chapters 21-23

I’m guessing from the way her diadem responds to the toushana and how beautiful she describes it being that Quell is going to have to embrace that part of herself to survive .

I knew when Quell got partnered with Jordan as her mentor for etiquette class that J. Elle was going to make them dance together.

I worry a little that Jordan wants to start fresh and all that because of his conversation with his Aunt Beaulah. What is she after? What does he know?

[foreverbeautifulbooksandcomics]

I'm about 78% through Against the Tide by J. Elle; and I'm reminded of why I hate Triton and his misogynist 💩 Not only is Ariel typically the smartest one in the room-- she thinks outside the box because she's not confined to the sea. She literally figured it out-- and because Triton is such a narcissist he can't cope that his daughter is right. It's infuriating.

[caruliaa]

staff still hasn't given me polls, what should i do?

🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪 their moms 69%

🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪 their dads 31%

grace image os i get to look at her

[jessryno]

Book Review: The Little Mermaid Against the Tide By: J. Elle

Post by: BookGirl The Little Mermaid Against the Tide By: J. Elle Cover: I love this cover. It’s just beautiful and it wraps all the way around the book. The colors are great. There are some fun details from the story. It’s just lovely. And yeah I know I’m not normally a fan of characters on the cover but if anyone was going to do it right it was Disney. Story: ★★ So I have to confess I just…

[instantkrazy]

My first book festival experience at yallwest was very fun. If I keep going to festivals I will need another bookshelf.

[numbuh424]

The unstoppable, mighty hurricane and the immovable, cold, hard truth.

[94erz]

j-hope @ Audemars Piguet

[venusimleder]

Elle Italia, October 1997.

Ph. Eamonn J. McCabe

[theshadowrealmitself]

Those jokes about Batman bodyslamming people over the most minor of things like jaywalking kinda annoy me since that’s not actually in character for him

But they become so much more tolerable when I pretend they’re jokes henchpeople make and send to each other, knowing damn well Batman always knocks them out because their crimes are actually bad but not wanting to admit it

Hench J, gesturing to their broken arm: And all I did was leave a piece of trash on the ground and he did this!

Hench 11: And it had nothing to do with the bombs you were planting?

Hench J: ….nope

[thimbell]

i miss 2al’s (by the super cool and hip @intotheelliwoods ) grandpeepaw… what if I made his death even sadder in this fan comic of the fan comic?

part 3/??? (sorry, i’m gonna take my time with this)

prev

[spacedace]

Reluctant War AU Part 3

Part 1 Part 2

More of the brain worm that has taken me over, gonna probably post it to Ao3 here before too long. Already got another part started and so many ideas for additional stuff, someone please send help I've been consumed by this thing lol

Sorry if Waller seems out of character, outside of fandom I'm mostly familiar with her through Justice League the animated show & Justice League: Unlimited and her vibe there has always struck me as "deeply incredibly unlikable character that also kind of has a point but also has done so much fucked up shit in the name of her goals that you don't really care about her point anymore." So you know, complicated lol. If she's completely unrecognizable let me know, but I'm hoping she feels at least somewhat like Waller.

Forgot to say this in the last update, but still feel free to use all this as an overly long prompt if yall want. Literally anything I throw out to the void should be treated as a prompt lol If there's anything at all interesting to you in any of this nonsense go for it <3 <3 <3

---

Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.

Ruthless, heartless, vicious, cruel.

She’d been called it all. Wore the words thrown as insults as a badges of pride and valor. Because at the end of the day, when it came to the problems she was given to face, the issues she was meant to solve, those words meant she’d done what others had been too squeamish or cowardly to do. Life was a never ending slog of trolley problems and she the only one unshakable enough to pull the levers that needed pulling.

It wasn’t so simple as a matter of greater good.

Greater good was what the weak willed muttered to themselves after having feelings over doing the bare minimum. A justification used by people on all sides to do what they wanted with fractured, faulty logic thrown around like truth was a thing immutable. To assuage their guilt when they were forced to make a call they didn’t want to.

It wasn’t a matter of greater good. It was a matter of preservation. Of protection. Of digging through the filth to find the threats skittering beneath and crush them with ruthless abandon. Of facing a god and not blinking because if you did it could cost the world.

Of doing what needed to be done, no matter how underhanded or atrocious it was.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands wrapped tight around the throat of something that could threaten to destroy it all.

When the Ghost Investigation Ward had been shoved her way with it’s sucking wound of a budget, it’s bloated incompetent staff, its asinine methods she’d seen a rotted limb in need of hacking off. It hadn’t been until she’d been conducting her inspection, digging through the trash for a few pearls of effective agents she could snatch up and put to work elsewhere, that she’d truly seen what they were working on. The potential.

Potential to better arm themselves with in the forms of the strange new weapons being created.

Potential for threats far greater than anything even she had thought possible before.

The GIW as it had been when she’d first come across it was a fetid waste of time and resources. A laughing stock agency only secret because no one took them seriously enough to look. Made stupid and useless with its own conceited delusions of importance it didn’t actually have. Yet.

She went to work on it. Hacking away as she’d originally intended, but this time with a different goal in mind. She ripped out the weeds with bare, calloused hands and planted proficiency and loyalty in their place. She took over as director herself, tossing the self-aggrandizing fool that had been running the place into the ground to the dogs as the culprit for misappropriate spendings, saving the agency by tweaking things until their ballooning budget was pinned neatly onto the former director as an embezzling charge.

Then she got to work.

The Fentons were brilliant, if entirely insane. But Amanda could work with that. She’d reigned Harley Quinn in - more or less - she could do the same to the two deranged scientists that so eagerly wanted to be apart of the fight against the dead. Especially when the benefit came in the form of the inventions they threw together so easily, especially when those inventions were weapons.

It took very little to get them on board with her plans for the GIW. Keeping their focus could be a chore, at times, but she didn’t even have to really do much in the way of pressing to get them back where she wanted them. They craved knowledge and understanding nearly as much as they craved the eradication of the entities themselves. Letting them have the first look at a new subject here, free reign over a vivisection there, it took so little to fuel their fervor and keep them busy working on the projects she set for them.

Things had been going smoothly.

For a time at least.

Until Phantom.

He’d been the main focus of the previous director’s attention, the big fish he’d so desperately wanted to catch and put up on his wall. Amanda wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t a tempting prospect, but not one she’d put above the other projects she had set in motion since taking over. No, Phantom was powerful, enough to be a real problem one day, but she could the awkward youth in the way he held himself, the inexperience in how he handled situations. She had time to get everything else in order before focusing on getting Amity Park’s would-be hero brought to heel.

And he would be brought to heel. One way or another.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands wrapped tight around the Core of a fledgling god and bending him to her will.

An artifact, old an powerful, recovered with some effort. A means of controlling specters, of chaining them to the will of the artifact’s wielder. Dangerous in the wrong hands. Dangerous in the right hands.

It was shattered, and even whole and functional Phantom was resistant to its power. But Amanda Waller prided herself in her ability to see the potential in things. It could be repaired, be made better. Even gods could be bound, be made to kneel, with the right pieces, with the right application of force.

It was just a matter of time to gather everything needed.

Phantom didn’t know he could single handedly destroy every last member of the Justice League. The baby fat, the innocent eyes, the split-second hesitations when he fought. He knew enough to be confident in fighting the usual ghosts that haunted Amity Park, but he still very much saw himself as a little fish. Maybe it was the part of him that was still Daniel Fenton, gangly teenager not quite sure what he was truly capable of yet.

She had time before the Fenton’s son truly became an issue. Time to judge if his parents’ obsessiveness would overcome their - rather shoddy, by Amanda’s estimation - parental instincts and continue to hunt him once they knew the truth. Time to get as much out of them as she could before hand, should they falter at the idea of attacking their own son. Time for the staff to be repaired and returned to working order, to get the other items needed for the truly big fish hidden on the other side of the veil between worlds.

She had time.

Until she didn’t.

Pariah Dark had not been something she thought she’d have to account for - not yet, at least.

If he wasn’t already dead, she’d ring the Ghost King’s neck with her bare hands. His arrival had opened Phantom’s eyes to what he was capable of, of just how big of a fish he was. Worse still, Phantom’s defeat of the war mongering King changed the state of play. Phantom was no longer an impressively powerful half dead teenager.

He was King Infinite.

He was an Ancient.

He was getting on her last damn nerves.

Phantom’s rogue gallery were now firmly under the boy’s control. Still distinct nuisances around Amity Park, but no longer considered true concerns. They were loyal to their boy king, delighting in ruffling his feathers but never crossing the line into treason or attempted regicide. Which meant that the GIW was the only thing that held his attention.

Amanda took the time to send a care package to the former GIW director in his tiny, dank prison cell. As thanks for his carelessness in revealing to the entire town - both living and dead - of the agency’s existence and their intentions. Had he stuck to standard protocol, Phantom would have been none the wiser to their presence. Would have scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders at the ghost that went missing upon occasion. Would have been boredly uninterested in the people his parents had begun working with. Would have been taken by surprise when they finally came for him.

But no.

No that self-obsessed, fame chasing imbecile had to go and announce to everyone and their dead mother that the GIW existed and exactly what it was they were in Amity Park to do.

Phantom knew what they were there to do.

They could only count on his naive certainty that he could broker peace with them for so long.

Peace. As if he and his people weren’t the invading force, the monsters slipping in through the cracks between worlds, the latest threat that had to be accounted for. As if he himself hadn’t rent their world asunder himself in another world, another time. No. Peace was not something they could hash out with this baby-faced monarch with his too-big crown. Peace was the assurance of safety, security. Of control of the situation.

There could be no peace.

The higher ups were somehow surprised when Phantom took that to mean there would be war.

Amanda Waller was not.

The Fentons, as suspected, took the right side when all was revealed. Steady hands and flinty eyes as they crafted the weapons that would be needed for the coming fight. Minds even sharper in their maddened grief, hearts set on revenge for the son lost and the entity that stole his face and friends and sister in his garish pretense at humanity. They were blinded to the reality of the situation in its entirety, the potential in what their son truly was, but at the end of the day it didn’t really matter. They did what she needed them to do, they could believe whatever it was they wanted so long as they did.

By the time the boy king and his armies marched upon the Amity park facility, preparations had been put into place. The base in Amity had been stripped back to bare essentials, everything of importance moved to more secured locations.

The weapons labs.

The artifact.

The girl.

All tucked well away from the front lines where Phantom and his motley crew could not reach. Their time to be put in play would come, but not yet. First she needed to gauge what Phantom and his people were capable of, what they were willing to do in the name of what they wanted. Amity Park was a pawn well sacrificed on that front. As were the other facilities she’d left easy to find.

The problem with making children gods, with giving them crowns and calling them King and giving them armies to play with, was that they thought there should be rules. That even in the trenches tearing apart their enemies, there was a certain level of playing fair that everyone was held to. They thought there was a way the world worked, of how things should be that blinded them to more effective options even as time stretched on and desperation set in.

It was the Dead’s problem though, not hers.

She reached out to the Justice League. Sour faced, unhappy, bitterly reluctant to accept that she needed their help. Stone faced and barely containing their rage at what little they knew of the situation, they agreed to a meeting.

She didn’t let herself smile until she was well and truly alone in her office.

Greater good. A lie people told themselves. A fairytale told to children. A means of convincing the weaker willed that they had no choice, that they had a noble duty to bend to. A belief that could be wielded like a weapon if the fantasy of the idea had dug in deep enough. And there were few it had dug into so deep as the members of the Justice League.

Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands clenched tight on a victory long in the making.

---

Part Four