The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer (Cinder; Heartless) is a witty, romantic, and satisfyingly gory retelling of "Bluebeard."
Seventeen-year-old Mallory and 19-year-old Anaïs Fontaine are "descended from a long line of powerful witches." Due to a badly botched spell at age 10, Mallory is now "without a drop of witchcraft"; instead, she is dubiously gifted with the ability to see ghosts. Mallory and her sister, Anaïs (who hides her own powerful death magic) have been on their own for six years; they run a phony magic shop and Mallory conducts illicit tours through the derelict and haunted House Saphir. There, long ago, the "devilishly handsome" Count Bastien Saphir (known as Monsier Le Bleu because "his hair and beard were so black... they were said to appear almost blue") brutally murdered his first wife, Triphine. Mallory is surprised when she takes Count Armand Saphir himself on a tour--the descendant is a lookalike of Count Bastien and believes Mallory can truly cast magic. Armand hires Mallory to rid his château in Comorre of Le Bleu's ghost. The sisters, and the ghost of Triphine, travel to the "sprawling" Comorre château where they try to trick Armand with "faux witchcraft." But time is short: servants are being maimed and murdered, actual monsters roam the halls, and Mallory suspects that she and Anaïs accidentally released Le Bleu during their botched spell seven years ago.
Meyer's bloody, beguiling version of the Bluebeard story is replete with a fraudulent witch, a handsome count, not one but two haunted mansions, four dead wives, and an array of mythical French monsters. The House Saphir is magical, spooky, and romantic and suspensefully unfolds through the actions of feisty characters with unexpectedly excellent comedic timing. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author