Are you an avid reader who loves to be immersed in fascinating stories of magical houses? From miniscule dollhouses to mythical dwellings, these five books provide exciting and enthralling tales that will have you captivated from start to finish.
The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone
About the Book
The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges
Genre: Fantasy, Literary Fiction
Book Review
A big-hearted fantasy about a magical dollhouse and its true-to-life full-size counterpart.
Reclusive 34-year-old Myra Malone blogs about the tiny dollhouse she constantly reworks in the attic of her childhood home. Scarred in a terrible accident, she focuses all of her attention on her tiny world, where rooms sometimes magically disappear and reappear at random. But when her only friend, Gwen, convinces her to share the tiny mansion on a blog, she finds she may need every bit of publicity to save her childhood home from foreclosure. When an eligible bachelor her age contacts her about living in the real-life version of her miniature mansion, Myra has a chance to find the answers to what her dollhouse really represents, but first she’ll have to let someone in.
Myra’s adorable and loveable, putting so much time into loving the tiny mansion passed down to her. I loved how Gwen practically forced Myra to become friends with her, expanding her world with an additional person. Gwen’s got a loud, obnoxious personality, the yin to Myra’s yang, but together, they’re perfect.
I loved the flashbacks to the history of the real-life house and the turbulent family who called it home. Willa, the matriarch, holds the household together through sheer force of will, even as members of the family reject the magic of the home. Her grandson, Alex, has recently returned to the mansion when he sees Myra’s blog. Together, they could confront the magic that neither of them understand.
This book will stay in my head and my heart for a long time.
Hotel Magnifique
About the Book
Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
Genre: Young Adult Dark Fantasy
Book Review
What if, instead of you traveling to the hotel, the hotel came to you? The Hotel Magnifique appears in cities across the world for one night only, offering the wealthy a two-week stay of immense, magical luxury, leaving them with an overwhelming sense of happiness at the end of it.
After their parents’ death, sisters Jani and Zosa traveled to Durc hoping that Zosa’s singing voice would open doors for them. Rejected at her first audition, now the sisters scrape by with barely enough for food and a room overhead. Jani and Zosa cannot afford to be guests, but Jani finds an advertisement for jobs at the hotel. Jani sees the mysterious Hotel Magnifique as their second chance to see the world and earn enough coin to settle them wherever they want to go. Zosa’s singing voice wins her a contract, but Jani gets rejected. She has to force a deal with the mysterious Bel to win a spot as a maid. But when Zosa and Jani finally enter the mysterious hotel, they’re separated almost immediately, and it isn’t long before Jani suspects that something sinister is hiding behind all the glamorous magic.
Jani’s headstrong and curious and not the type to follow all the rules about where the staff can go or when, even when it becomes apparent that breaking the rules as a staff member can lead to dire punishments, including losing body parts. She’s determined to void the magical contract trapping her in the hotel and save her sister. She finds an ally in the handsome, frustrating doorman, Bel, who tells her more than he should about the inner workings of the hotel, but still leaves out key details. If they can learn to work together, they have the power to change the destinies of everyone within the hotel.
This dark fantasy draws you into its world, unspooling its bewitching enchantments and chilling dangers a bit at a time. It reminded me of The Splendor, one of my favorites from last year.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
Piranesi
About the Book
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Genre: Magical Realism, Dark Fantasy, Literary Fiction
Book Review
“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.”
I picked this up because it was the Goodreads Audiobook of the Year in 2020, and I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. I have to say, Piranesi has the best audiobook narrator I’ve ever heard.
As far as Piranesi knows, there exist two people in the world: himself and the other. They live in the house, which consists of thousands of halls filled with statues. The drowned halls are claimed by the tides, and the clouds sometimes obscure the upper halls. Piranesi lives in the house, cataloguing the statues in his journals and seeking to expand his knowledge. He also visits the dead, skeletons he has discovered in his travels, and brings them offerings.
This book is a dark, contemplative, gorgeous slow-build. About half-way through the book, I was wondering what the what was going on! But it kept me listening. I had to find out what the twist was, who Piranesi was and how the house ended up like that.
I don’t think I’ve ever known a character and their world as intimately as I knew Piranesi. His scientifically-driven yet childlike mind captivated me. I felt like I was right there with him, walking through the halls and cataloging the statues and the people who had lived – the biscuit box man, the folded up child, and the people of the alcove. This book took me completely into its world. I could describe the house as well as if I’d actually walked there.
This is a very unique book. I don’t want to say more about the concept because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I greatly recommend it for anyone who loves an off-beat, character-driven, slow-build novel.
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
About the Book
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
Genre: Magical Realism, Fantasy
Book Review
Magical realism at its finest. I’m a huge Allende fan, so seeing this book compared to her work made me want to read it. This had all of her best features: lush, intoxicating prose and a gripping multigenerational saga of the ties that bind a family together.
The Montoya family’s lives are built on a bed of secrets. No one knows why their house appeared out of nowhere one day, built in a valley that changed from desolate to green. Or why Orquidea, the matriarch, never left the home and its protection symbols.
When she summons her children and grandchildren, descendants of her many marriages, to come claim their inheritance, she leaves them with more questions than answers, as well as a little bit of magic.
Marimar, one of the granddaughters, is determined to solve the mystery, especially as it becomes apparent that something – or someone – is after the descendants.
This book is a beautifully woven tapestry, spanning the life of one remarkable but flawed woman.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
The Splendor
About the Book
The Splendor by Breeana Shields
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Book Review
If you could get rid of your worst memories, would you?
Juliette and her older sister Clare have always wanted to visit The Splendor. The magical hotel brims with decadence and luxury, promising to once in your life make your wildest dreams come true. Juliette dreams of it fulfilling the emptiness of growing up without parents at a children’s home. When Juliette finally saves enough to send one of them, she chooses to send Clare, the older sister who loved her and made the children’s home bearable. But then Clare comes back, and she doesn’t want to be around Juliette anymore.
Heartbroken, Juliette steals the rainy day fund she and Clare were saving to buy their own place and books herself a reservation at The Splendor to find out what took Clare away from her.
The glitz of the The Splendor and its magical illusionists will draw you in as much as it does Juliette, until you find out that all that glitters is not gold. Imagine being the star of a masquerade ball, or being able to wish a dragon chariot race into existence. But someone has to pay the price of all that magic, and slowly but surely, The Splendor’s sinister side is revealed.
Juliette bonds with Henri, the foster son of the Splendor’s owners and heir apparent. He blames himself for breaking her heart, since he’s the reason Clare doesn’t want anything to do with Juliette anymore. Henry removes unwanted memories, then reworks them for other people. He can take a perilous battle scene that’s giving one person PTSD and change it into a heroic experience for someone who wants memories of saving the day. He can rework the shape of a person’s life – at least in their memory. Henry sees himself as using his power for good, so learning of Juliette’s pain shakes him.
But the secrets of The Splendor go far deeper than either of them have dreamed, weaving a tapestry of lies around everyone associated with it. Henri and Juliette will have to work together if either of them will have a chance at escaping.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Review Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.ew copy of this book.
Need more recommendations? Find more book lists here.
As a Books a Million affiliate, I may earn commission from qualifying purchases made after clicking links in this post. All opinions are my own.
