This book was A M A Z I N G. The slow burn romance, the fantastical element of vampires, the characters and the setting? Everything was perfect and I absolutely adored it. The ending left me heartbroken and I need the next book like yesterday please? Bastien and Celine are my favourite.

While I loved the atmosphere of the book, the characterisation seemed to leave me wanting --- must be a familiar thing with Adiheh's writing for me, since I didn't connect with her previous books either.

I loved the Wrath and the Dawn and so I was really excited to be approved for this title. I love the setting and I had thought that you can't do anything new and exciting with vampires, but these vampires are amazing.

Reading The Beautiful feels a bit like emerging from a deep dream. You know you are asleep, and your body is heavy, sluggish and can't be moved. Your mind is still trying to catch up with your body, to tell it to move, but instead you are mired down and tangled in your sheets.

For large parts of this story, I felt as though I was drowning in some kind of sticky morass. That certainly doesn't mean that it was bad, but I was wading through a thick, deep and clinging story.

The novel is set in New Orleans in 1872. I loved the setting, the illusion of busy streets, dark deeds and creeping fog, whilst indoors the people of New Orleans reveled like it was 1799. It is a rich and luxurious tableaux but, much like dark chocolate or a hot radiator, there is such a thing as too much.

New Orleans is a city of secrets and Celine Rousseau arrives from France, harbouring a dark secret of her own. But, much like the stays of her heaving corset, she has her own strength and backbone and she will not bend. Not to any man, not even one as frighteningly beautiful as Bastien Saint Germain, Le Phatome and leader of the Cours de Lions.

Unfortunately I didn't feel the attraction between Celine and Bastien, only the lust. And all the characters that weren't Celine felt somewhat ... empty. Like pies with rich, buttery pastry but a bland filling.

I did appreciate the way that Ahdieh hid her French and Italian in the story - words and phrases weren't always translated directly and instead the reader had to translate for themselves, either by the response of another character, or in context. That was artfully done.

But if a story ends in a way that is completely surprising, with unexpected characters in an inexplicable way, then there weren't enough hints for the reader as to what the ending could be. I can handle vampires, but I need something more than a soliloquy-ing villain and untied ends. I need something substantial, not just dark chocolate.

(Although that might be the post-Christmas fug speaking. Pass me an orange.)

This novel has caused me to fall into food analogies, and for that I can't go higher than 3 stars.

This book was very different to what I had expected, I had anticipated it to be a more intense fantasy novel, yet despite being beautifully written and having a brilliant cast of characters I found that the pacing was quite slow and it took a while for the plotline to really get going. I believe this was as a result of setting the initial scene which is why I'm still really looking forward to the sequel as I have a feeling that it will be much faster paced as I generally love Renée Ahdieh's books.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received with thanks an ARC copy of The Beautiful from Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley.

This is my review of The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh. This was published on 8th October 2019

This was the next series for YA author Renee Ahdieh. This time the setting is in historical New Orleans and we are following a lady that has just arrived on a recent boat. The writing style is beautiful as always and I cannot wait to find out more about the vampires that are coming in book 2.

Would recommend if you love a historical and hint of vampire.

There is a lot to enjoy in this book but there was also a lot for me that fell a little short of the mark. It tells the story of Celene, a young, mixed race girl who travels from Paris to New Orleans in the late 1800's and finds herself embroiled with the mysterious Court of the Lions.

The Positives: The atmosphere is fantastic in the narrative. New Orleans is one of those settings that is really evocative and Renee Ahdieh makes full use of this in the book, which I really enjoyed. I thought Celene was a feisty protagonist who was well fleshed out and fun to read about, as were all of the characters. I liked the relationship between her and Pippa, although I did feel that this fell by the wayside a little as the plot progressed.

The Negatives: I found the pacing a little disjointed, which gave me a bit of whiplash. The action seemed to jump around quite a bit and then I was shocked to discover that all of the plot takes place within one month. Also, I thought that the ending seemed a little rushed. Overall, I thought that this book felt a lot like setting up the world and the characters without giving us much of a plot, which was a little disappointing.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have a soft spot for vampire novels as I was obsessed by the Twilight saga in my younger years and have missed vampires in YA literature. I was therefore delighted to receive an ARC for The Beautiful and I couldn’t wait to read it.
Sadly it was just OK but not as good as I thought it would be from the description. Firstly the book was not very true to the time period in which it was set and I didn’t get a strong sense of that time period from the writing or the characters. Secondly the world building wasn’t that amazing either and I was expecting more - perhaps I built my hopes up too high! It was an OK read and the writing style was mostly good though I did skim some pages towards the end. The characters were interesting but I didn’t really connect to them. Thank you though to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review this book.

2.5 🌟. This is historical fantasy set in New Orleans in the late 1800's. We follow Celine on her journey to the city from Paris; running away from her past to build a new life. However she gets tangled up in the underworld of vampires and werewolves.
This book took a long time for me to get really invested. It was really slow for the first 50 percent. It was quite frustrating in parts as 'vampire' was not uttered for quite a while even though it was implied. I felt the vampires and their world was very underdeveloped and had no idea of the connection with the Grimaldi clan but that could happen in book 2. I liked Celine she was a badass feminist even for the era that it was set. I didn't like the love triangle either. This book just felt like one big trope.
*I was supplied with a copy of this book via the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

What can I say about The Beautiful? The setting is stunning, I loved the way that Renée Ahdieh described New Orleans; her descriptions were rich, in depth and luscious -I really could imagine being there with Celine and Bastien.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting when I read the synopsis, but I really did enjoy it once I got into the story. There were a fair few times when I got frustrated; but I also felt like this was probably how a 17yr old in the late 1800's could have reacted so I gave myself a telling to and just enjoyed it for what it was - a really fun and vibrant historical work of fantasy; and definitely one that I'll be looking out for the sequel to, especially after that ending. Yeeeesh, it was killer..

Vampires in a New Orleans setting is a trope I just can't say "no" to. I'm so obsessed I literally wrote my Master's degree thesis on romantic undead women in French literature (Theophile Gautier is the bomb, guys) and while I've become more picky over the years, the mere mention of vampires still catches my attention. So I had to read The Beautiful.

Now here's the thing: the creatures in The Beautiful? Not really vampires. There's not a lot of discussion about the exact lore and the terms they use, so they're not... not vampires, I guess, but basically there's a bunch of mysterious supernatural creatures with factions of some kind that are relevant to the plot but are never explained. And while I did love Odette, I feel like a lot of the secondary characters spoke with a similar voice and had the same references (seriously, how can ALL of those teens quote Shakespe?), which made it harder for them to stand out. Kudos for the all of the French in the text, though, because even if I can't guarantee it's historically accurate, 1) there's lots of it and 2) it's correct. I'm amazed.

But what I really liked is the tension between Celine and Sébastien. Renée Ahdieh is great at writing sensual descriptions. You can smell the air, taste the food, hear the noises, ... And you can definitely feel the heat between those two. The setting, thanks to Ahdieh's writing, charmed me. I already wanted to visit NOLA before but now, I'm positively longing for it. I wish the horrible murders and the suspense they were supposed to bring were featured a bit more than they were, and I could have done without the "love triangle".

All in all, I was hoping for more darkness and actual danger. But to anyone looking for a lush and sexy read about supernatural creatures, or a gorgeous setting, go for it, you'll love it!

I don't think I've ever been this disappointed by a highly anticipated release.
This book was just marketed the wrong way. I expected vampires. Instead I got a lukewarm, been there done that romance, wishy-washy characters, repetitious dialogue and a weird setting that made no sense if you were just going to ignore all the politics and community issues that comes with early 1800s New Orleans. Just no.
Also, the repetition. Where was the editor when Ahdieh decided to compare Bastien to the devil fifty times without him ever doing anything remotely bad-boyish? Not to mention the lame love triangle set-up for the next book that no one, literally no one needs. Both of these guys had the personality of stale bread.
In conclusion, I am bitter and bored by this book.

Overall, I loved this story. Murder mysteries have this way of pulling you in, with the intention to keep you guessing, and this one stands apart from some of the more recent YA mysteries with it's inclusion of vampires.

Celine is strong-willed and self-empowering, and this was what I admired most about her. As she enters the world of the Court of the Lions, she has no idea what's in store and just how central she will be, but she tackles every obstacle without hesitation. And maybe that was partly her downfall.
Of course, what would one of my reviews be without the mention of the side characters. Each one was a mystery, each one developed with a purpose, but truthfully, aside from Odette and Bastien, I didn't feel like the others stood out.
Take for example the investigator, who clearly had an interest in Celine. Aside from his attempts to persuade her, he had virtually no personality. And his feud with the Court of Lions wasn't explained, although I wouldn't be surprised if this was investigated further in an sequels. And the various members of the Court mentioned in passing almost seemed like background characters, including their leader, Bastien's uncle...
And to give it it's credit, The Beautiful kept me guessing until the end. Something that is a feat all in itself because I normally guess the killer right at the start.


That being said, this book fell short for me. More specifically in the last few pages.

For all the world building and character development, I almost felt let down by the end of the book. Keeping this vague, so as not to spoil the entire thing, I wanted more for our protagonist. But at the same time, I'm not entirely sure I understood what has happening.
You know when people say books 'info dump' and that puts them off reading the rest of the book (because it's usually done at the start of the book)? Well that was kind of how it felt to me in the last few chapters.
It was almost like the author forgot she had so many story lines to wrap up, and twists to throw in, and whilst I'd normally love twists and turns, the shear amount of them was a little bamboozling.
The extent to which I got confused meant I no longer cared when one of the bigger twists was revealed. And as a result, my rating for this book fell.

Don't get me wrong, this book is worth a read. I loved the writing and the story itself, but the ending just let it down a little for me. Maybe if this is expanded further in the future, I'll understand more of what happened, but for now, I'm rating this 3.5 Stars, despite my love for Renee Ahdieh.

CHEESY VAMPIRE GOODNESS! This was such a blast from the past and I so hope that this does bring the Vampire glory back to YA. Imagine your favourite vamp read from your teenage years but without the terribly problematic romantic relationships. Thank you so much to Renee for bringing this back into my life - I am 100% here for it!

Thank you both to Hodderscape and Netgalley for the review copy!

I quite liked this actually!! I didn’t have high expectations, but it was actually quite enjoyable. The writing was amazing at the start, which gave me very high hopes. Though it wasn’t mindblowing or anything, and not that focussed on vampires as I thought it would be - In fact, I’m not even sure the creature is a vampire? 🤷🏼‍♀️
I don’t think I’m going to continue this series, but you know... the description of book 2 does sound intruiging..

3.5 Stars!

You know what? I’m not actually mad at this! I thought it was a well done first book in the series that I’m definitely going to carry on with.

It left me wondering what was going on throughout, I had no clue whatsoever who the killer was and I was pretty shocked at the other revelation from there.

The way things ended were very satisfying and I’m interested to see what’s to come especially now some secrets are out, but there’s still lots to find out!

This book is brilliant. This is the perfect vampire and dark story I was looking for. The setting of New Orleans is just perfect for the vampire vibes. The writing style does not disappoint. I absolutely adore Renee Ahdieh's writing, the world building and descriptions are fabulous. The plot flows in an exquisite way. I will be re reading again soon.

It's 1872 in New Orleans, Celine Rosseau just arrived after being forced to flee her life in Paris. She is a refugee in the Ursuline convent, where she and six other girls are staying until they are able to make a suitable match for marriage.
New Orleans is new and vibrant but it seems that the darkness that chased Celine out of Paris has accompanied her to her new city. Quickly she becomes aware of La Cour des Lions, a shadowy group of people that follow the rule of their leader Sébastien San Germain. Bastien quickly grabs Celine's attention, with his dark aura and mysterious glint in his eye.
When dead bodies drained of blood start turning up, Celine realises that killer has his mind set on her. In the midst of these bloody and gruesome crimes, Celine does her best to deal with her new situation and her growing attraction for the mysterious Bastien. She must also find a way to stop these murders, which becomes more and more difficult as her security gets increasingly endangered.
Celine starts to discover that something else is going on, something out of this world. No one offers any explanation as to what it might be and Celine finds herself trying to piece it together on her own. How can this mysterious facet of her new acquaintances be related to the gruesome murders that had been happening in New Orleans? That is what Celine needs to find out before she is killed herself.
The Beautiful is a highly anticipated return to the world of vampires. With its setting in 1800's New Orleans, its romance and otherworldly aspects and its gruesome murders this is a dark and ominous fantasy book. It explores without shame many themes of sexuality, race, feminism and societal repression in the 1800's and one of its main strengths is the wonderful setting in the both dark and magical New Orleans.
Celine is a very, and I repeat, very powerful main character. It should be highlighted that Celine is a character that reflects the very dynamic and varied society of the 19th century, she stands out from the usual whitewashed main characters in books set in that time. Here we are presented with a woman capable of making beautiful things, she is a seamstress of Parisian couture, but that also has a dark side to her soul. In my opinion, that is what I found the most appealing in Celine: she has a dark side, a side that seeks danger and enjoys peril. She does not need anyone to defend her, through her the reader gets a look at desire, darkness and power from the point of view of a young woman.
Another aspect that should be highlighted about this story is the fact that the main character is not the only developed character: much care was put into weaving layers on other characters so they mostly feel multidimensional and realistic. A character I would like to highlight is Odette: she is the character, besides Celine, that I craved to read about. Every time you find Odette within the story you learn new information about her, a characteristic, a taste, a liking, a motivation. This is something that also happened with Bastien and something I really enjoyed reading.
Even though my review and overall thoughts of this book are very positive, I do need to address some problematics that arose during reading. The French passages of the book were not translated for the readers (nor the Italian) which can create some impairment in understanding certain parts of the plot. There were also some world building problems and some confusing details about the mythical side of the book: honestly, I still do not know what are the Brotherhood and the Fallen. Knowing that this is a series, I hope some of these problems are addressed in future instalments.
Overall I ended up loving this book and reading it really quickly. I believe one of the main mistakes in marketing this book as the successor to Twilight since I believe it is very strong on its own and the expectations created by that statement only decreased the overall opinion on this book. I would advise this book to everyone, especially if you like Anne Rice books. This story has a very complex and compelling setting which is raised up by the beautiful setting and the diverse cast of characters and it is also a very easy read!
Published by Ana Esteves à(s) 19:31:00

This book is a mock between Interview with a Vampire and twilight ! And oh so good! I loved the French/New Orleans theme and switch between languages. The main character was well defined and I loved her attitude to life.
Such a great book highly recommended but watch out for the cliff hanger!!!

https://lynns-books.com/2019/11/04/the-beautiful-the-beautiful-1-by-renee-ahdieh/
The Beautiful is going to be a difficult book for me to review. In short, it didn’t really work for me although there are elements that are really good and I enjoyed the writing. To be honest, and also fair to the author, I think I went into this with the wrong expectations and that’s totally on me. I’ve checked out the synopsis on Goodreads again before writing this review and this is described much more as a dark murder mystery with hints that supernatural elements will play a part so I’m not entirely sure why I was so hyped for ‘the return of the vampire’ – which is the very reason I ended up feeling let down. At this moment, I wish I had a time turner, I wish I could go back and pick up this book with no notion of what it’s about, go into the story with fresh eyes and then evaluate my feelings for it. As it is, I can’t help feeling a little deflated but at the same time that feeling is tinged a little with regret because I feel like I duped myself somehwere along the line.

I’m not going to go overboard about the plot, to boil it down this is a story of a young woman (Celine Rousseau) running away from something dark in her past only to find herself in a situation that is far more dangerous. Out of the frying pan into the fire basically. Brutal murders have left the inhabitants of New Orleans reeling and it certainly isn’t safe to wander the streets at night. Celine soon finds herself embroiled in the dangerous Cour des Lions where her attraction to the handsome Sébastien Saint Germain becomes quickly obvious. This is an attraction that will lead to her drawing unwanted attention.

Is The Beautiful a book about vampires? Yes. The book involves vampires, although it does take quite some time for this to become apparent, like I said above this is more about the murders and, more than that, about the motive as to why they’re taking place. I can’t really go into that though without revealing spoilers so suffice to say that the supernatural elements of the story are fundamental and the final revelations leave me thinking that the next instalment has plenty of potential for those elements to play a much bigger role.

So, ‘expectations managed’. This is becoming one of my key phrases of late and I think it’s spot on. I do have a tendency to let my imagination run away with me. Think, murder mystery, think slowly revealed supernatural elements, think of a book that is really something of a set up for a series that could become something much more ‘vampire involved’.

With those provisions in mind The Beautiful does exactly what it promises. The writing is good and in fact, in spite of my reservations about certain issues, this was a very quick read that definitely held my attention and kept me intrigued to the end. It wasn’t weighed down with over elaborate descriptions (although this is something of a double edged sword for me) and there were some lovely creepy elements to the story that gave me the goosebumps.

In terms of my reservations. Two of them are probably fundamental in helping me to blow up my expectations in the first place. The setting and the period. This is 19th century New Orleans. Ohh, how could I help myself. My imagination simply ran riot and the reality fell a little short. To be blunt, I didn’t necessarily feel like I was reading about New Orleans, the place felt like it could have been any other city in the world and the historic period too just simply didn’t seem to really add anything. Yes, of course there was much discussion about fashion and dresses, food and restaurants and these of course helped to provide a little richness but it didn’t feel like the period came across at all, Celine very much felt like a modern thinking woman and whilst I like her spirit and admire her desire to fling off social restrictions, I think for a young woman, living under the care of nuns, during the Victorian period in a city where a murderer is on the loose – well, I think she had a heck of a lot more freedom than you would expect. Why not just write the story from a modern perspective.

The characters. Again, mixed feelings. I can’t say I really fell for either Celine or Sébastien and I’m not sure why. Too much talk perhaps of how gorgeous they both were which always feels a little superficial to me and also the chemistry between the two felt lacking. Celine wants adventure but this comes across as little more than a desire to place herself in the vicinity of Sébastien and Sebastien feels a little like one of those characters who you’re constantly told is ‘dangerous’ but there’s a lot more telling than showing. I really didn’t feel like there was anything dangerous about him at all – other than the strange company he mixed with. The characters I really liked in fact played much smaller roles – Celine’s friend from the convent – Pippa, and her newest friend and acquaintance – Odette. Both are characters I could have happily read a lot more about.

Overall, this probably all sounds very negative which is definitely not my intention. I certainly wouldn’t wish to put anyone off from reading this but I think it’s better to go into the read with the right expectations. This was entertaining and it definitely had a decent pace. There were elements that had a lovely gothic feel – although I would have liked more, and I think it really does set out the stall for the next book. One thing that this experience has left me with is a desire to read more books with vampires and gauging the reaction of other readers I’d say I’m not alone in that respect.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3 out of 5 stars.